The Mind Gouge video is up: you can view it at the following link:
Mind Gouge Walkthrough
I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out and am glad to finally give my subsribers a new video. The Dead Space video will be out next week and then a video previewing our Sandbox map will follow that.
Enjoy and stay tuned!
Friday, May 1, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
Get Excited
Yes, get excited. Why, why Mander, why? Because shit is going down.
First off yes, I have been out of comission on here for far too long. Why, you ask? Exams, I say. Moving on, there will be a lot of action on here coming up this very week.
I currently have a number of maps on the go (meaning that they are in the process of being forged) and some videos planned to be made and uploaded this week. So what have I been working on?
Well, I've been working on my first competitive map "Altitude" which takes place in Sanbox's Sky Bubble. Altitude will be a six-story map compatable with all gametypes and yes, as you may have noticed, it's unique feature is its height, something that I'm surprised other forgers haven't taken advantage of.
Next, I started a map on Foundry called "Jail Break" where basically Cops & Robbers meets puzzle maps. There will be one guard on duty (the infected) and four criminals who must work together in order to escape the prison. This map will both be fun for the cop and the criminals as there is plenty activities for the both of them.
I also plan on making "Infection Colliseum" on Sandbox, along with another puzzle in the "Mind" series but those won't be started for a while.
Dead Space has been out for awhile now and has been doing well. I've posted it on Forgehub along with Mind Gouge and both have been receiveing a fair amount of attention eventhough they're in the midst of a Sandbox epidemic. I've decided to do videos for both maps and hopefully get them out this week and the next.
And now here's the part to get excited about:
There is a rumour going around that the best of the best puzzle forgers have united to make one insanely awesome puzzle map on Sandbox... It couldn't be true, could it? Nothing like this ever actually happens...
It's true. BuddhaCrane, Yeeman Iz Bak, T3CHH800, The Flippy One (Mr Beastly), Jmen77, WickedSOADMAN, ZZmayo and myself have joined forces to forge a puzzle on Sandbox. T3CHH800 came up with the idea to unite us and has organized it into happening. Each of us will be designing a few challenges so that together it will form the ultimate puzzle map! We're making sure that the challenges we create our some of our best yet, since they represent us as puzzlemakers. We each want our own section to be the favourite section of the map. A little competition never hurts anybody, does it? It just makes sure that each and every challenge on the map is mind-blowing.
I've already got my section planned, and I think that fans of my puzzles will be delighted. So delete some of your crappier custom content to make sure that you have room for this thing because it's coming, and it's going to be INSANE! It should be complete within a month or so, so keep your eyes and ears open. Tell all of your friends, tell everybody you meet on Xbox Live, and tell your mother, because this is definately something to look forward to.
After my Mind Gouge and Dead Space videos, I'll likely make a preview video for this prodigy of a map.
Thanks for your time,
-Mander
First off yes, I have been out of comission on here for far too long. Why, you ask? Exams, I say. Moving on, there will be a lot of action on here coming up this very week.
I currently have a number of maps on the go (meaning that they are in the process of being forged) and some videos planned to be made and uploaded this week. So what have I been working on?
Well, I've been working on my first competitive map "Altitude" which takes place in Sanbox's Sky Bubble. Altitude will be a six-story map compatable with all gametypes and yes, as you may have noticed, it's unique feature is its height, something that I'm surprised other forgers haven't taken advantage of.
Next, I started a map on Foundry called "Jail Break" where basically Cops & Robbers meets puzzle maps. There will be one guard on duty (the infected) and four criminals who must work together in order to escape the prison. This map will both be fun for the cop and the criminals as there is plenty activities for the both of them.
I also plan on making "Infection Colliseum" on Sandbox, along with another puzzle in the "Mind" series but those won't be started for a while.
Dead Space has been out for awhile now and has been doing well. I've posted it on Forgehub along with Mind Gouge and both have been receiveing a fair amount of attention eventhough they're in the midst of a Sandbox epidemic. I've decided to do videos for both maps and hopefully get them out this week and the next.
And now here's the part to get excited about:
There is a rumour going around that the best of the best puzzle forgers have united to make one insanely awesome puzzle map on Sandbox... It couldn't be true, could it? Nothing like this ever actually happens...
It's true. BuddhaCrane, Yeeman Iz Bak, T3CHH800, The Flippy One (Mr Beastly), Jmen77, WickedSOADMAN, ZZmayo and myself have joined forces to forge a puzzle on Sandbox. T3CHH800 came up with the idea to unite us and has organized it into happening. Each of us will be designing a few challenges so that together it will form the ultimate puzzle map! We're making sure that the challenges we create our some of our best yet, since they represent us as puzzlemakers. We each want our own section to be the favourite section of the map. A little competition never hurts anybody, does it? It just makes sure that each and every challenge on the map is mind-blowing.
I've already got my section planned, and I think that fans of my puzzles will be delighted. So delete some of your crappier custom content to make sure that you have room for this thing because it's coming, and it's going to be INSANE! It should be complete within a month or so, so keep your eyes and ears open. Tell all of your friends, tell everybody you meet on Xbox Live, and tell your mother, because this is definately something to look forward to.
After my Mind Gouge and Dead Space videos, I'll likely make a preview video for this prodigy of a map.
Thanks for your time,
-Mander
Thursday, March 12, 2009
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.
View 2 of the balcony
The curved staircase
The vents
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
The top floor balcony
The grand staircase
The grand staircase
View 2 of the balcony
The curved staircase
A vent exit
The top hallway and vent
The bottom hallway
The bottom hallway
The vents
The middle floor
The basement
You're welcome
-Mander
Saturday, March 7, 2009
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.
This is how lush it is.
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:
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.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
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
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
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