Line

Level Previews

Line

Written by Tim Hayes


Singleplayer Previews


Temple at Yavin 4    


JK Singleplayer
Author - Ryan

Comments-

When I loaded up the level the first thing I saw was a nicely constructed hangar. Nothing to get excited about, but solid architecture nonetheless. As I began to explore the level though, I started getting excited, I was seeing architecture that rivaled LEC's both in attractiveness and functionality. Every single room was interesting and I rarely had framerate problems - when I did, the drop in framerate was barely noticeable.

This is the exact level of architecture that every author should strive for, you really can't ask for a better balance. Even my weak 2d card had no troubles with the complex areas. This is a perfect example of thought out and organised cleaving - no more sectors or adjoins then absolutely necessary. The architecture was also very believable as an ancient temple, massive pillars of stone and gothic looking arches were around every corner; with some good lighting the level could be very creepy. Texturing was also well done and obviously thought out, no texture looked out of place, and they all blended together well.

Another nice addition to the level is the use of a new character for the player. As you can see in the screenshots, there's a nice new skin for the player, Kyp Durron. Some people may recognize Kyp from a few of the star wars novels, but for those of you who aren't familar with him, he's one of Luke's jedi apprentices, and potentially stronger then Luke himself. To accomodate this, you start the level off with several force powers - jump, speed, pull, persuasion, protection, and throw. I'm not a big fan of protection or persuasion in single player, they make it too easy, but the rest of the powers will come in handy.

Prediction -

There aren't any enemies or objectives in the level yet, so it's hard to get a real solid feel for how the level will turn out, but judging from the architecture the author is very skilled and very inventive, so I feel safe in saying the level will be a big success.





Pax's Level (Working Title)    

MotS Single Player
Author - Patrick "Pax" Mulnix"

Comments -

This is a really inventive new level, nothing like it has been done before in JK. The premise is that you're on a speeding train and you have to get past some security to assassinate someone. The plotline is sketchy right now, so it's not clear who that "someone" will be.

The level is executed very well, you start off on top of the train and you have to carefully navigate towards the back of the train to gain access. If you're not careful, it's not hard to fall right off the train to your death. The effect of the train moving is accomplish simply be scrolling the sides of the level at a fast rate and using a sector thrust to simulate the train's high speed, so the train itself in actuality isn't moving (to do so would be a major pain). The final result is believable, and very nice.

The external architecture of the train isn't too impressive, but once you get inside it really picks up. Each car is unique and well done, with a lot of attention paid to architecture and texturing. The relatively small size of each car (as should be) allows for high detail architecture without much framerate impact.

Only one puzzle was implemented so far, and it wasn't very tough to figure out. Pax had a quick fix for that though, so in the final version it should be harder to get past. The enemies so far are noghri's, but Pax has some new enemies that will be found in the final version - new noghri's, more like how they're described in the Thrawn trilogy - small, quick, and quiet. Should be very cool.

Prediction

If Pax keeps up the creativity, this'll be one of the most memorable levels to date. It's a great break from the normal type of levels, and a great level, period.








Note to Authors

Previews can be an excellent way to announce or build up hype for a level or mod you may be working on. No, you don't have to send us an alpha or beta (although they would make it easier for us) just send us a paragraph or two with some information on it and a couple of screenshots. If you are interested, e-mail Tim at gms_slug@hotmail.com.


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