PD Cursed Cove rc3

awwww i really liked the pirate skeletons

Don't know if this is just me, but its way too dark. I thought there was a problem with my monitor since it didn't look anything like the screenshots. I couldn't really see my character in a lot of areas of the map and even some of the buildings seemed to blend in with the background.

I wanted to like this more because it clearly has a lot of effort put into it and seems really polished. The custom voice files and hud elements are definitely impressive, to say the least.

This map is very impressive in so many ways. I hope I one day can either organize or partake in such an ambitious project.

However, I feel the lighting/colors are a bit drab. Perhaps consider either applying a bit of color correction (assuming you aren't using it already) to boost the contrast/saturation of the colors a bit and/or increasing the light from the light sources to create more of a contrast between light and dark and accentuate shadows more.

Additionally, besides the excellent announcer lines, every sound feels like it needs to have its volume increased a bit (especially the music and the ship emerging from the sea). The pirate ship moving silently through the level is also a bit weird: Maybe mix a low pitched version of the Halloween.Merasmus_Float sound with creaking wooden boards to give the ship weight/a stronger presence in the map?
The same applies to the giant whirlpool closing in on the player: Giving it some loud, low-pitched sound of rushing water, and maybe a subtle env_shake, would give it a better sense of mass and danger (perhaps also make the texture more opaque, to better mark the bounds of the killzone).

Anyway, that's just my two cents... nice job so far!

Congrats guys its in the game (check out the blog)

Yes! it made it into the update! Congratulations all contributors!

Reas said:

Congrats guys its in the game (check out the blog)

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Posts like this always really amuse me. Do you think that somehow the creators of the map wouldn't know that it was in-game?

Spipper said:

This map is very impressive in so many ways. I hope I one day can either organize or partake in such an ambitious project.

However, I feel the lighting/colors are a bit drab. Perhaps consider either applying a bit of color correction (assuming you aren't using it already) to boost the contrast/saturation of the colors a bit and/or increasing the light from the light sources to create more of a contrast between light and dark and accentuate shadows more.

Additionally, besides the excellent announcer lines, every sound feels like it needs to have its volume increased a bit (especially the music and the ship emerging from the sea). The pirate ship moving silently through the level is also a bit weird: Maybe mix a low pitched version of the Halloween.Merasmus_Float sound with creaking wooden boards to give the ship weight/a stronger presence in the map?
The same applies to the giant whirlpool closing in on the player: Giving it some loud, low-pitched sound of rushing water, and maybe a subtle env_shake, would give it a better sense of mass and danger (perhaps also make the texture more opaque, to better mark the bounds of the killzone).

Anyway, that's just my two cents... nice job so far!

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Hey, I covered the audio and announcer lines for the map!
Just seeing your post now and I'm going to try and address some of these problems.

A major problem in general with soundscripts and level_sounds is that they're brought down insanely low. They're barely audible, so I have to make each line unbearably loud in order to be heard when playing. There's a point where the line will sound blown out or over saturated when it gets too loud - I try to only tread on that line if at all possible. Most of the lines are already maxed out and I may need to completely recreate them in order to raise their volume (due to audio dynamics).

The ship emerge sound had to be done with ambient_generics which in general sound low, so we may be able to just double or triple it up. The other sound effects will just need to be increased a bit.
As for the ship move, I'll see what I can do.

Thanks!

【EmNudge】 said:

Hey, I covered the audio and announcer lines for the map!
Just seeing your post now and I'm going to try and address some of these problems.

A major problem in general with soundscripts and level_sounds is that they're brought down insanely low. They're barely audible, so I have to make each line unbearably loud in order to be heard when playing. There's a point where the line will sound blown out or over saturated when it gets too loud - I try to only tread on that line if at all possible. Most of the lines are already maxed out and I may need to completely recreate them in order to raise their volume (due to audio dynamics).

The ship emerge sound had to be done with ambient_generics which in general sound low, so we may be able to just double or triple it up. The other sound effects will just need to be increased a bit.
As for the ship move, I'll see what I can do.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Reading my own post again, I should probably clarify that I have no problem with the voice lines - the volume is just right for them! Again, it was mostly the music and the sound of the ship emerging that I found a bit too low.
I don't have any experience with soundscripts and level_sounds, but considering how cumbersome it can be working with ambient_generics (and always having to stack at least two for a sound to be even audible) I believe that they can be really troublesome.
Also congratulation to the entire team for getting the map in the game!

I played this quite a bit last night and have some feedback. Stuff that is probably not going to change, but that you should consider for future designs.

First, the explosive barrels are clever, but they don't scream danger like the pumpkin bombs do. It actually took me several rounds before I realized those were bombs; I'd hear the explosion of one near me, even took damage a few times and realized I'd been hit by a pumpkin bomb, but didn't know the source.

The problem is that I'd scan the area, and the barrels didn't stand out from the environment -- my first thought when I'd see one is "oh, that's like the barrels from cp_well." They had XXX on them, which to me is shorthand for "scrumpy" not "danger." I would have recommended that the barrels be a more contrasting colour, or at the very least, the XXX be a bright pumpkin-orange colour. Maybe even go so far as to put dynamite sticking out of the top of them in a strong red. Even after I realized, I'd have to look specifically for where they were which is not a problem you get with the default pumpkin bombs.

Second, there are several routes that feel like they twist back on themselves and lead o places I wasn't expecting. For example, the route that goes up stairs, then across a small plank into a damaged wall, always threw me off because I was expecting to end up in a different area.

Overall, this map is so much fun. I enjoyed it immensely. Congrats!

I second the comment about barrels, they could maybe stand to have the traditional "explosive barrel" white-painted middle segment, with XXX painted on top of that, instead of the XXX being the only marking.

(additionally i think the explosion particle could stand to be more obvious but idk how much control over that you have)

Definitely my favourite of the Halloween maps this year.

Valve really needs to do something with Player Destruction. Having all these maps only available during Halloween is a shame.

This is one of my favorite Halloween maps of all time. Probably because I live near the coastline.

Is the pirate pack used for this map available to the public?
I think I will need some props for my map cp_caribbean soon.