Dead Space

Well, the map is done- it's just being playtested right now. It'll be uploaded to my fileshare on friday, and I'll post the links to it on here on saturday. But, in the meantime, why don't I give you some info on it, and yes- pictures.

Story- It's another day at work in a three story office building. Or so it seems... bob is sitting at his desk when he hears some shuffling in the ceiling above his head. Unaware of the zombie apocalypse taking place outside, he decides to investigate. The noise is coming from the vents! He thinks he can see something up there. It looks like- like a- a- SWORD! The camoflauged zombie leaps out of the vent at Bob and slays him on site. Bob's friend Pete witnesses the carnage and pulls a battle rifle out his desk, that he's been saving for emergencies. He shoots the zombie, warns his fellow workers, and then makes his way to the secret passage that only he knows about...

Dead Space

The name is original, it's the sequel to Work Space. But much like the videogame Dead Space- it features zombies coming out of the vents.

The first zombie spawns in a room where the teleporter unblocks after 30 seconds, giving the humans a decent amount of time to prepare for their fight for survival. The zombies respawn on the roof in a small, boxed area where they can enter the vents.

The humans spawn on the second floor of the building. They can go to the top floor where the best weapons are, but beware, this is also where a lot of vents are. The basement is safer, but weapons are more sparce and weaker. There is also a secret passage on the map that is a good place to make a stand.

There are five different ways that the zombies can enter the building through the vents. There are two that lead to the top floor, two that led to the middle floor, and one that drops off the balcony.

This map features two long hallways, two impressive staircases, a balcony, vents, a secret passage, and a basement. The building's shape is rather like an "L" save the top floor, which is more like a triangle.

And so, without further ado, here are the pictures and the link that will be updated on Saturday

Dowload Dead Space Map Here

Download Vent Zombies Gametype Here

The top floor balcony


The grand staircase

View 2 of the balcony


The curved staircase

A vent exit

The top hallway and vent


The bottom hallway

The vents

The middle floor

The basement

You're welcome

-Mander

Big Update

Okay, so as some of you may have noticed many of my vids are being removed from Youtube or muted. Apparently it's the start of some sort of epidemic, as there are a huge amount of complaints currently flooding Youtube. If you use any popular music in your videos they will be removed. It doesn't matter if you give the artists credit, or whatever- it will get taken down. The only way to have the music is to purchase the 20 thousand dollar licenses, which I think it is safe to say that is not a realistic option for the majority of Youtube users. This is being done by WMG (Warner's Music Group), apparently they own the rights to the music, and will take the videos down if they include any of it- even if the artist of the song doesn't want it removed! Seriously, just search WMG on YouTube and you'll see what I mean. United Nations of Halo got removed, and now I'm pissed. So I guess from now on, I'll have to use lesser known music in my vids.

Whatever, that doesn't affect the good news that I'm about to give you. A new map. It's not done yet but it will be within a couple of days. And no this one isn't a puzzle map, it's an infection map. It's Dead Space, the highly requested sequel to my original hit Work Space. It's currently in the process of being made, and I'll tell you now that it is extremely superior to Work Space. This time the havoc takes place in a three story building, and the forging is top notch. Seeing as how Work Space was only the third map I made, my forging has improved greatly since then.

I should beable to get it to you by the next update.

I should also tell you that I plan to make a couple more new maps once I get my hands on the Mythic Map Pack. One will be my own version of the minigame "Monster Jam". The other will be my long-planned "Infection Colliseum" as Sandbox is the ideal map to forge it on. I also plan to do another puzzle map on Sandbox in the future. There are some problems that I have with Sandbox though. Sure, it's got three levels of forging awesomeness but the item content is less than what I expected. They got tons of cool new stuff, but they took out fence walls, sheild doors, and I believe a lot of the movable objects, such as crates, dumpsters etc. This eliminates many of the great tools for puzzle maps, so I'll have to see what I can do.

And here`s another cool thing: I posted my idea of a gamerscore system with rewards (see post below) on Microsoft's xbox forums. It was greatly received by the community and so I sent the forum to Microsoft and it seems that they've taken the idea seriously. I was sent a link where it looks like future games will reward avatar clothing for achievements associated with the game! How cool is that- and it was my idea!

If you're interested, here's the link:

http://www.massively.com/2009/02/03/future-xbox-360-games-may-award-clothing-for-avatars-as-achievem?icid=sphere_blogsmith_inpage_joystiq

As for the great gap in updates, I have a reason. I went to Sayulita, Mexico for two weeks of fun, and then came back to loads of school work, exams, and essays.

Don't believe me? Here are the pics:

This is how lush it is.

That's me and my old man, chilling it out together

My parents, and I, hitting up the surf.

I got up almost every morning to go surfing at 7

And still with this... Cut it out.

New Old Video and Gamerscore Idea

So I re-edited and reuploaded my Work Space video to my SavageShore Creations account on Youtube only to find out that they've removed the Mind Trap video! Now I can't remember whether or not I named the song I used (Duality by Slipknot) in it. I thought I did but there's a good chance that I didn't. All I know is that videos are being seized like crazy right now on Youtube for copyright infringement. Digitalph33r also got a video taken down when he had even purchased the rights to the music in it. I might have troubles reuploading Mind Trap too because the video file I have of it is Mp4 format which is not read well by my editing programs. Oh well, the show will go on, I just hope they don't seize some of my better videos like UNOH- that would suck.

Here's the link to the new Work Space Video

On a different note, the Mind Gouge walkthrough will be out soon and I'll be sure to list the song used in it. Mind Snare Machinima is half completed, and Chief's Journey Episode 1 along with UNOH episode 2 are mapped out. I have some big plans for UNOH 2, as I'm going to redo all the voices so they sound more accurate to their stereotypes as well as introduce some new characters.


The Gamerscore Idea:

To finish off, I just want to put a good idea of mine out there and see what you guys think. As you all probably know Microsoft has a gamerscore system worked into xbox live where players can earn gamerscore points by unlocking achievements which are certain tasks one must accomplish within a game. While it's kind of a cool system, the problem is that gamerscore gets nothing but bragging rights, which are not that great because from my standpoint usually the higher your gamerscore is, the less of a life you have.

What Microsoft needs is incentive, a system that rewards players for achieving high gamerscores thus driving more gamers to play and buy more games. The problem is, what can Microsoft reward players with for achieving high gamerscores and endorsing their product? It needs to be reasonable, inexpensive, yet something that players would want to get. I have the answer (actually a few).

With the recent introduction to the New Xbox Live Experience Microsoft added avatars to the Xbox experience. For those that don't know, avatars are customizable characters that can be made to look like yourself or not, it's up to you. I say that gamerscore should beable to unlock new features for these avatars. Other rewards Microsoft could give out are themes, gamer pics, and microsoft points. Now I'm aware that Microsoft may be hesitant to give out Microsoft points since some gamers have illegitimately boosted their scores but the points aren't necessary and the system is well kept and monitered enough that they wouldn't have to worry about this too much anyways. They could also have game companies contribute to the system, such as having Lucas Arts give permission for Star Wars or Indiana Jones content. This would be a win win situation as the game company gets advertisement out of it and Microsoft gets better rewards to give out.
So if I were in charge at Microsoft here's what I'd do:

When gamers reach the following gamerscores here's what they unlock. If they already have that gamerscore the features would unlock automatically when the new system is implemented. Keep in mind that this is only a quick example of the possibilities.

500gs= An Amatuer shirt and hat for avatar.

1000gs= A TruGamer Theme and TruGamer outfit for avatar.

2500gs= Assasin's Creed Outfit

5000gs= New Head gear and gruesome makeup for avatar.

7500gs= Master Chief's Outfit (Helmet included)

10,000gs= A ProGamer Theme and ProGamer outfit for avatar.

12,500gs= Gears of War Outfit

15,000gs= The Sword of Determination for avatar (along with the animation for avatar to utilize it)

17,500gs= Fable Mythical Outfit

20,000gs= A NightGamer Theme and NightGamer outfit for avatar.

22,500gs= Bioshock Outfit

25,000gs= The Sword of Persistance for avatar

27,500gs= Indiana Jones Outfit

30,000= An ExpertGamer Theme and ExpertGamer outfit for avatar.

32,500gs= Left 4 Dead Zombie Outfit

35,000gs= The Sword of Perseverance for avatar

37,500gs= Star Wars Sith Lord Outfit (light saber included)

All the way up to 100,000 gamerscore where the MasterGamer theme and outfit is unlocked along with the Sword of the Masterful. You get the idea.

Whenever any of this content is unlocked an achievement-like message will pop up and say so. Once the content is unlocked the gamer can download it from the Xbox Live marketplace for free under the Gamerscore Rewards heading. This way if the gamer is not interested in the content that was unlocked they don't have to worry about it taking up space on their hard drive.

The content obviously doesn't have to be in that order, it's just an example, but I believe a system like this would be awesome and would also greatly benefit Microsoft by drawing more people into the xbox community and increasing game sales. Why they haven't come out with something like this already is a mystery to me. Microsoft needs to be more involved with their community so that they can get a better feel for what the community wants.

If you like the idea then help spread the word and maybe, just maybe, Microsoft will take notice of it. Tell me what you think by commenting. If you're new to the blog and want to comment, all you have to do is click on the "comments" link just below this post and then add your comment. You don't need to register, create and account or anything like that, you can post as "anonymous" or click on "Name/Url" and just type a name (url is not required).

-Mander

Merry Christmas and all that...

What's up viewers? Happy holidays, I hope you guys are enjoying them as much as I am. And I obviously have been as I've been too busy to get a damn project on here. I've been putting in the hours at my job, even had to work on Christmas, which I spent at my parent's place with the whole massive Mervin family. Also got to go sledding and play some ice hockey at an arena. It's been awesome. For Christmas I got some great new games such as Call of Duty 5, Left 4 Dead, and Prince of Persia, alongside many other things including scuba gear for our Mexico trip, jeans, shirts, microsoft points, a watch, a belt, and even a box of Froot Loops cereal, my favourite.

Then on Boxing day I went out and purchased a new Samsung 32" flatscreen HD TV. It's awesome, and means that now videos will be much easier to make since I should beable to run the feed through my TV instead of having to run it directly into my computer as I had to before. I'm slowly making progress on the Mind Snare Machinima, but since it's so time consuming, I'm going to release my Mind Gouge Walkthrough before it, just so you guys got something to watch. I'll also have to redo my Work Space video since it got removed for a copyright violation (I used Enter Sandman and didn't give credit). It seems that Metallica is cracking down on the use of their songs on the net as one of Digitalph33r's movies was also removed for using one of their songs. It's not a big deal though, it won't be very hard to re-edit the video and upload it on my SavageShoreCreations account.
I hope that it was because I didn't give them credit that it was taken down, because if videos are violating copyright laws by having songs in them which haven't had their rights purchased, regardless of whether they're given credit or not, then half of the videos on Youtube will be removed. I know that this is the case for videos of which a profit is made from, but most Youtube videos are non-profitable, and so should be exempt. For more on this you can watch DigitalPh33r's Guide to Making Halo 3 Machinima : Part One, where I believe he touches on this subject in the second half of the video.

Anyways, I doubt that it'll be much of a problem, as my only other video that doesn't give credit for a song in it is my Recluse Mansion video which uses the song "Requem for a Dream". This video is also on my old account so the plus side of this will be that if "Recluse Mansion" gets removed too then I'll have all my videos under one account.

Happy Holidays, and keep an eye out for my Mind Gouge video, which will be released soon.
-Mander

Pictures of Me

Here are some pictures of my life. Now stop pestering me about what I look like...

I'm on a Boat!

Left to right- My dad, my mom, my sister (it's her grad), me, and Kristina

Me and my girlfriend Kristina


She might not like me putting this one up...

First 5 minutes of every sign on is getting rid of these things. Trust me- it gets annoying after a while.

I'm badass

Mexico Pictures:

This is how lush it is.

That's me and my old man, chilling it out together

My parents and I, hitting up the surf.

This wave was a lot bigger before it crashed. I'm serious. I'm just riding it in, that's all. Only pussies would ride waves that start this big.