That's right folks, sometime in the next day or two <cough> I will be releasing a new high-definition trailer for Paradise! Smaller versions will also be available, but this trailer was filmed, edited, and composited all in HD, so you don't want to miss out! Keep an eye out for the announcement, as well as other news about Paradise. ;)

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Click the banner image below to download the latest available beta version of do_Paradise. Current Public Beta Version: Beta 0.11



>>>Leave Feedback<<<

General Information:

Many of you have played my map "do_Virginia", which was the first user-made map to gain official ranked status on Massgate. "Paradise" is my second map, and this Public Beta is your chance to help perfect it! As a 3D graphic designer by trade, I aim for professional-quality polish on all of my projects. In July 2008, Paradise won the Grand Prize in the Official World in Conflict Map Making Contest.

Features:

- Over 400 hours of work (March -> July 2008)
- Grand Prize Winner of the Official World in Conflict Map Making Contest
- Over 8 months of WiC level design/modding experience applied to my second map (over 7 years of general RTS mapping experience)
- Hand-painted ground texture
- Crysis-inspired tropical setting for an epic battle in the Hawaiian sun
- Carefully balanced gameplay from multiple public beta tests
- Fully customized surround meshes featuring epic Hawaiian mountain ranges
- Custom props, including palm trees and tropical plants

6/28/08

Well, with just over 24 hours left in the contest, I gave up on trying to fix the last few tiny bugs with Paradise (WHY, oh WHY does the Soviet team STILL have a USA reinforcement voice!? And for the love of BOOOOOM, why won't that stupid C-130 keep its damage state!?) and I submitted the map. I'm very pleased with how it turned out, and I was actually able to solved 99% of the problems I've been having. The final version is extremely polished, and should have around a 20-30% increase in FPS/performance thanks to about 4 hours of careful prop optimizing.

I also had an interesting time in the last 24 hours finalizing the map and uploading it. A series of severe storms knocked the power out at my house until about 11:30pm last night, so I was up until 2:30 tweaking Paradise, and then I spent another 8 hours or so today working on it. My internet is still out, so to post this and upload my entry, I had to use my girlfriend's DSL connection.

Here's a few of the tweaks that I made:

Many people reported the strange "missing dock" bug, where running the game on Very Low graphics settings would make some of the docks near the town disappear, leaving floating props. I've reworked some of the docks to get around this, and I think the solution works well.

Docks on very high graphics:





Low graphics:



VERY low graphics:



And finally, a few shots from the final version:

Mr. Seagull:



Good morning, paradise!



On that note, I'm going to go ahead and announce that I'll be taking a break from WiC map making, for a least a few weeks. Besides my internet being out, I'll be going on vacation for a while as well. I've been working on WiC maps since last November, and as much fun as it is, I'm ready for some off-time. I also hope to do some freelance work to save some money up for the fall semester. So for now, a big THANK YOU to everyone who has been extremely helpful with testing Paradise, and I'll see you all around!

Good luck to all the participants in the map making contest as well! :)

-EvilViking

6/27/08

Just a small update today. do_Paradise was around 95% complete with Beta 0.10, so before I submit it for the contest, I'm just doing some final tweaks.

Updated palm tree texture

Old:



New:



(view from WiCEd)

I removed a few more walls at the Russian drop zone to clear up pathfinding issues:



And I added a road leaving the map and going across the surround mesh:



I'll update later with more images from an actual ingame version. :)

6/14/08:

Hello again, fellow WiC players! I'd like to start with a very special thank-you to everyone who has downloaded the beta of do_Paradise and provided excellent feedback! Your input is helping to shape do_Paradise into a well-polished map. I'd also like to thank the good folks over at the RAT clan [www.rat-clan.sweben.nl] for hosting an online test earlier today. If you missed out, there may be another game tonight! Check this thread for more information: [www.massgate.net]

Since the 0.08 public beta was released two weeks ago, I have been carefully going over the feedback provided. I have made many changes to the prop/tree layout of Paradise, opening up choke points, improving pathfinding, and giving the map a little breathing room. :p I've also been working on finishing up the remaining graphic updates (custom tropical vegetation props, custom roads in Modo, final texture detailing, etc). Since the last beta, I'm modeled, textured, coded, and added physics systems to 4 palm trees and palmettos. I have also added lawns for the residents of Paradise, who finally appear to be cutting the jungle grass in their front yards! Here's the goodies:

>>> Click here to see the entire image gallery for Beta 0.09 <<<

Click on each image to see the full version.

Tropical palm goodness (WIP):












And here's some mowed lawns!





Finally, some spiffy action shots from the latest update:











>>> Click here to see the entire image gallery for Beta 0.09 <<<

That's "all" for today. :p

Tropical island... crashed plane... do you watch Lost by any chance?

Cant wait to see this one!

Maybe... but I am ;p heavy addict at the moment... stayed up all night watching the end of season 2 and just started season 3.

Quote from indy^Mortis-ledo:
Tropical island... crashed plane... do you watch Lost by any chance?

Walt did it. He's the reason behind it all.

Looks good, I hope you don't use the bananahammok infantry mod on this map though.

Quote from [A0D]Groo:

Quote from indy^Mortis-ledo:
Tropical island... crashed plane... do you watch Lost by any chance?

Walt did it. He's the reason behind it all.

Looks good, I hope you don't use the bananahammok infantry mod on this map though.

ROFL...damn Groo just about spit soda all over the computer screen....

I cannot wait for this map!!! Update more screenshots when you can =D

Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty.

EvilViking you are on a role with those maps. You are the greatest mapper that I have known. Keep making those maps!!!

+1 Cultural Literacy points if anyone can name where those lyrics came from. AND NO GOOGLE CHEATING!!! O_O

this looks great

That looks pretty :D

Quote from -=PTTP=-Lt. Sherpa:
+1 Cultural Literacy points if anyone can name where those lyrics came from. AND NO GOOGLE CHEATING!!! O_O

Could be the loading song...

I'm not sure if I want a seven minute load time though...

Quote from NoZ1:
Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty.

I'm guessing you also owned a bandanna back in the days of GNR, Rock on!

3/24/08 - Screenshot update!

Things are progressing well, and I have a few more "postcards" just in from the battlefield to share with you all:

[Older screenshots removed]

That last screenie reminded my of Far Cry, with the abandoned aircraft carrier.
Looking good as always Viking keep it up!

This is where my apparatchiks will be sent on vacation... just have to secure those control points first.

Quote from indy^Mortis-ledo:
That last screenie reminded my of Far Cry, with the abandoned aircraft carrier.
Looking good as always Viking keep it up!

Crysis and Far Cry have been very big graphical influences on this map. I'm actually almost finished playing through Far Cry for the first time. I waited until I had a PC that could play it at 60fps, 1920x1200, with all settings on Ultra High and full AA. :)

1920x1200 is big man, what kind of monitor do you have? Guess it's a CRT..
Question about the map; are amphibious assaults a must?

Quote from indy^Mortis-ledo:
1920x1200 is big man, what kind of monitor do you have? Guess it's a CRT..
Question about the map; are amphibious assaults a must?

I actually work off of a 17" desktop replacement notebook made by Hypersonic. It took some getting used to the smaller text, but I love how sharp and detailed my display is. :)

As far as water-locked CPs goes, there's only one of them, which is the two-circle Lighthouse CP. There's a 3-circle CP on an island just off shore, but it's accessible by all land units.

**** I think, I just wet myself O_O

I have to play this...on a PC that can handle WiC on higher settings than mine (seriously...new games on a 4 years old Computer don't look too great)

I see you have the blue lagoon working there. I did a few things different from the default template see here: [www.massgate.net] You can grab the whole map and all to check out the texture settings.

You might want to limit the maximum elevation of the blue sand to just below the surface or even a few feet below. That way you get the blue water effect but the sand stays golden. Also, steep sloping rock faces that enter water look better without the grass in them (fish ate it all when the tide went up, you know). The mountain textures in the winter templates look great for cliffs in the water.

Other than that - looking great EvilViking!

:P








Show off. (lol)


You should ask massive for a job oppening (seriously)

Thanks for your feedback everyone!

Quote
You might want to limit the maximum elevation of the blue sand to just below the surface or even a few feet below. That way you get the blue water effect but the sand stays golden. Also, steep sloping rock faces that enter water look better without the grass in them (fish ate it all when the tide went up, you know). The mountain textures in the winter templates look great for cliffs in the water.

Way to call out my map on it's beta state. :p Good eye, I hadn't noticed that my sand layer (which is actually a custom mask) had drifted below "water" on my textures list. And that water grass is on my hit list, hehe.

Quote
You should ask massive for a job oppening (seriously)

I'd settle for some sweet WiC loot... *COUGH* I've still got two years of college left. ;)

If he is working on this map? Who's working on Virginia??? Or did I just missed the launch of the map?
Yargh!!!

Quote from -=MOON=-Royalmethod:
If he is working on this map? Who's working on Virginia??? Or did I just missed the launch of the map?
Yargh!!!

Virginia is essentially finished, minus the 3D roads. I'm just working on this while I finish up the roads for VA. :)

Looks great Evil was worried about Virginia, We had not heard anything on it in a while.
New map looks great can not wait to sing the praises of the next great map.
Is massive still considering Virginia have they offered any other help on testing and balancing. Cant wait

I have another, kinda off-topic question: how do you make the water blue? mine always turns out red...I know that there has been a topic about this somewhere around here, but I can't find it...