"She's alive!... I believe you... But in 19 minutes this area is going to be a cloud of vapour the size of Nebraska": Reduction: Final Words

(Bishop's response to Ripley as Ripley prepares to go all the way, for the final rescue.)

What to say about this amazing Kickstarter experience?...

"Well, we've gotta get the other dropship..." Reduction V2.1 Has Jumped Off

Okay, folks. Possibly the last version of Reduction, the way things are looking.

Here you are: Version 2.1  (Clicky).

Play it. Have fun. Feedback is always appreciated. If you like it, please support it.

Changelog:

"This little girl survived longer than that with no weapons and no training." Reduction Feedback: The Gamers (and Veterans) Have Spoken...

(The line Ripley uses when she coaches the always pessimistic Hudson to stop doomsaying.)

(And yes, the last one IS authentic...)

"Damn it looks nice! Do you agree guys? It's looking pretty pretty good!" --- enex (in-game comment)

"I have to say but this is just.....THE ONE THING THAT IS COMPLETELY AWESOME! Keep up the good work!Definatley going to support this project!" --- Anonymous

"Impressive work there. Keep it up." --- Anonymous

"Fantastic work!... Valve to should learn from you!" --- Diggy246

"All Right People, Let's Move Like We Got A Purpose": Reduction V2: New Mission Is Online Now!

You heard the man! A new mission in the Reduction campaign is in the drop hanger.

So what are you waiting for!?! Go here and download that motherhumper! 

Come on people! Move it, move it! Go here. Download. Go here. Download.

Planned from the beginning (two years ago), this is Mission 2. Featured in the most recent trailer (click here). This is why the campaign released in April had the puzzling structure of Missions 1, 3, 4 and 5.

"Maybe You Haven't Been Following Current Events Pal, But We Just Got Our Asses Kicked": Reduction, The Kickstarter Halftime

(...So says Hudson, in "Aliens", after the squad gets their asses handed to them in their first battle against the bugs.)

Okay, so it's pretty obvious to anyone who can see that Reduction is not lighting on fire on Kickstarter.

So, time to regroup. Darwin, I-Ching. Gotta adapt, improvise. Roll with it.

I am far from out of this.We're at the halftime and it's not over until the fat lady sings.

So be advised: you'll be seeing some heavy updates to Reduction and its Kickstarter campaign coming in the next few days.

In the meantime, I'm pulling my gear out of the APC and getting ready for the long haul.

And don't be a stranger. Any contribution is a good contribution, and all are appreciated.

Stay tuned.

Vasquez, take point! LET'S MOVE! - Mission 2 trailer is online, and KICKSTARTER IS GO!

Go go go! Let's move it out!

Okay, so the Reduction Kickstarter campaign is launched! Let's try this experiment - to see if it's possible to roll a game campaign out using Kickstarter.

In the meantime, here's the trailer for Mission 2...



 I'll release this mission if the Kickstarter campaign succeeds. It will be your first reward.

What Alien Swarm Means To Me

A Gritty Kind Of Sci-Fi

When I was young, years ago, I used to design and gamemaster science-fiction tabletop roleplaying missions and campaigns. This was where I cut my teeth on mission design, game design - even screenwriting and filmmaking to some extent, as many of my campaigns and missions were delivered in a cinematic way.

Ten Seconds, People! Look Sharp! (V1.9 Online; Kickstarter Imminent)

Tomorrow Kickstarter for Reduction goes live, along with a new video trailer.

In the meantime, I'm releasing this: Version 1.9 of Reduction. Development based on your feedback of a month. Changelist:

Take us in low... Immediate dustoff on my command! (Mission 2 Trailer is Online!)

Offworld Drop Marines, I hope you have your gear squared away.

Here is your video teaser for Mission 2...

Where's the damn beacon?... Oh I see it. (Version 1.8 up)

(Spooky music as you see the ghostly surface of the planet - which you just know is overrun with scarey aliens - come into view beneath you...)

Okay folks, I've gone in and fixed Mission 3 (in which you begin having crashlanded on Earth). Get it here, as usual...

Changelog:

• Overhauled all of the spawning on Mission 3. To reduce LAAAGGG! It's a little easier now, but more importantly playable. (Tough mission because the bugs are running around a lot in the open lawns and parking lots, and being alive so long means they generate more traffic.)

(All of this tech-support updating is going to pay off on future maps.)

Thanks to DimedRoll for giving me a kick in the ass to deal with this.

Also, new trailer inbound shortly.

Somebody wake up Hicks... (Version 1.7 is up.)

Just in case you thought this was not going to end nicely... I am pleased to disappoint... (Or reassure... as the case may be...)

Version 1.7 is up. Get it here...

Changelog (pretty much all in Mission 1):

• Optimized many traffic-generating entities on Mission 1 - to really reduce lag.
• Raised the ceilings of all the hallways, to be friendly to grenade launcher spammers everywhere.
• A few minor prop and visual design changes and stuff.

Also... Be advised: Incoming video trailer for Mission 2 (the missing mission) this weekend.

All right! Gear up! Two minutes people. Get HOT!

Offworld Drop Marines... Listen up!

My latest build of Reduction - Version 1-point-6.

(Hoah!)

Changes are:

• Improved the Escape Pod drop sequence... Now you (hopefully) won't be bouncing out of the ceiling as you're being blasted through the floor in an escape pod. But also, now you'll hear the call to get ready...
• Altered the buzzer spawn parameters in Mission 3: fewer buzzers, but each is stronger. There were complaints of lag, and frankly it comes down to the terrible audio coding on this NPC monster: the buzzer. It's audio output is lagging the game servers (sorry mappers: not even setting it go gag works, as the gag ceases when the NPC becomes "angry"). Anyway - I just reduced the number to try to cut down on lag for that part of Mission 3.

Thanks, in particular, to DimedRoll - for your excellent feedback...

Get the download here: http://www.preparetodrop.com/p/downloads.html.

Drake, Check Your Camera... (WHAM!)... That's Good... (Version 1.5 Is Online Now)

Okay, after a bumpy first week, I've uploaded version 1.5. Get it here: http://www.preparetodrop.com/p/downloads.html

Changes since the beginning:

• Fixed lag issues in Missions 4 (the Train Mission) and 5. (Most of this came down to the animated NPC drones skittering along the bottom of the train, in the former case, and the animated Marine "extras" in the latter case.)
• Conformed the bug spawning to the Alien Swarm standard - basically removed the tiers of spawners that activate only higher levels of difficulty. This should cut down on masses of drones being spawned when you play on Insane and Brutal modes (thus reducing lag).
• Raised the ceiling in the larger rooms in Mission 1. (Against my better judgement. Look closely: Can you can see those light fixtures on the invisible ceiling over the Marines head? That means there's a ceiling there. It's invisible not because there is no ceiling, but only so you can see the Marines [it's what is called the "invisible fourth wall" in theatre - so the audience can see the action]. So if there's an implied ceiling there, I'm not sure why anyone would expect a grenade launcher shell would just pass through it as if there was no ceiling... But hey, give 'em what they want...)
• Made the boxcar weaker, so it's faster to cut in Mission 5.
• Fixed a bug that caused the chainsaws to disappear unexpectedly in Mission 5.
• Put in a better sky for the final scene of Mission 5.
• Allowed you to get to the battle scene in Mission 5, sooner. (May switch this back.)
• Fixed captions not showing up (provided YOU have your Game Instructor enabled!).
• Removed the joysticks on the crane prop in Mission 5 (just to make it more implicit how to control the crane: you stand on floor pads, kind of like "dance dance revolution" but for cranes).
• Stripped away a lot of the scrolling scenery in Mission 4 (to cut down on lag).
• Reduced the number of buzzers on Mission 4 (thanks to enex for this suggestion).
• Other minor glitches here and there.

I hope you enjoy this version, and please do send me feedback.

I'm expecting the Kickstarter campaign to start in the next week or so - to make it possible to continue Reduction.

Solid Beta Version (1.5) Coming Online Soon

Folks, either tonight (Friday) or early tomorrow (Saturday) I should have Reduction V1.5 up online.

This will definitively fix the lag issues some of the missions (I know, since I have now identified the exact causes of the problems - which entities were generating the most net traffic and so forth).

V1.5 will also provide a number of game balancing fixes and will make some parts more fun, based on your feedback.

And there'll be some polish here and there.

Primary Coupler's Released... Version 1.4 Is Up!

Just released Version 1.4. Get it here...

Changelog:

• Nuked the f*** out of Mission 4 (the Train Mission). All the treadmilling 3D scenery is GONE! (I told you I nuked it.) Now it's just a flat slab of bsp in a skybox with a scrolling texture (of the same 3D scenery). This should really cut down on the net traffic. It's not quite as pretty, but it gets the idea across: you're on a moving train - now let's get down to killing aliens.
• Reduced the difficulty of spawners in Mission 4 - including cutting down a lot of the buzzers (thanks enex for the suggestion). 

I still have to revise the spawners for Missions 1 and 3, but I'll do that later. For the time being, I suggest you don't go harder than "Hard" - as that is kindof equivalent to regular Alien Swarm "Insane".

Will also raise the ceilings on Mission 1 in some spots, to make them more grenade launcher friendly. (But remember: Mission 1 isn't an outdoors mission - it's a space station. A grenade launcher might not be the best weapon to use inside a cramped space station. I always respect the invisible fourth wall [which is the ceiling in a top-down shooter].)

Anyway, 5 releases in 3 days... I am now going to go take a little time off and watch Prometheus... Finally!

Have fun killing crawlers.

Fix Coming For The Train Mission

I just went in and created a server for Mission 4 (the "Train Mission").

It's still too laggy.

So to fix it I'm going to "nuke it from orbit".

Basically, the scrolling terrain is a treadmill system running in the background. (I wish I could convert all those entities to client-side only, in which case you'd have absolutely beautiful 3D scrolling terrain with no network traffic - but that's something to do if the Kickstarter campaign goes totally incredible.)

Basically, I'm going to rip it all out and just lay in a slab of bsp with a scrolling texture. That way the terrain will generate no net traffic, whatsoever. (Okay, I might put in train lights that whip by now and then...)

This is too bad, because the ending of that mission is actually funny...

Version 1.3 Is Online!

Get the latest version - V1-3 - here...


Fixes:

• Fixed Mission 1 Objectives. (The "Go To The Docking Office" objective wouldn't complete if you cut the Docking Office door down - meaning that you couldn't finish the mission at the end. Now it completes whether you open the door or chainsaw it down.)
• Fixed Mission 4 (the Train Mission) lag. (I mistakenly put up the wrong version of Mission 4 in V1-2. This time I for-real have stripped out most of the entities that are causing lag.)
• FIXED THE DIALOGUE! Now you actually can see the in-game dialogue captions - spoken by the Pilot ("BigDog") and the Marines and so on. This dialogue gives instructions what to do in critical moments - so early reports of players getting lost should be resolved now.

The Difficulty Levels: Something I'm not sure of yet: the difficulty levels:

People are going into Reduction and setting it to play on Insane, Insane Onslaught, Brutal and Brutal Onslaught thinking this is normal Alien Swarm.

One of the complaints of Valve's Alien Swarm was that it was too easy - even on those high difficulty levels.

In Reduction I made it so that "Insane" and "Brutal" are actually and truly insane and brutal. Do not go into those levels thinking they are normal Valve levels - they will eat you alive!

However, this is causing some lag because there are SO many drones being spawned. So I'm still debating what to do about that. Your feedback is welcome.

One last thing: This campaign is still in beta! It's not finished yet, so please weather the glitches and so on.

Have fun and send me feedback!

Thanks to those initial players who are helping out. It's been a bumpy launch - just because it rolled out without any multiplayer playtesting prior to you guys playing it.

Especially thanks to DimedRoll for his demos (totally indispensable feedback), and Victim for his dedicated server.

Version 1.2 Is On The Ready Line

Hopefully fixed the in-mission dialogue from not appearing.

Right now the Commander and other characters talk, but players can't see any of the dialogue (which is relayed as captions). This is leaving players feeling stranded, not knowing what to do next - especially in Mission 5.

I found out that each caption entity - which is normally used only for telling players to press a button or go here or whatever - needs a target entity. Since I was just using those as disembodied captions - instructions and context dialogue from the Commander (and, frankly, backtalk from the Marines!) - I didn't point them to any targets. So I went in and just added a general "target" as a slug. Hopefully, this fix will deal with that. If not, I'll need to use a different caption entity.

(Though the ultimate goal would be to record actual audio captions - that is acted dialogue. But that's a WAYS down the road. If the Kickstarter campaign succeeds, that would make that possible.)

Get it here: http://www.preparetodrop.com/p/downloads.html

And yeah, there's more work to do yet.

Version 1.1 Is Up

Fixed most of the lag in Mission 4 (the train mission).

Get it here: http://www.preparetodrop.com/p/downloads.html

Still have lots of work to do.

We Need To Run A Bypass!

Okay, so Dimedroll sent me a bunch of demos of gameplay (that was amazing feedback).

A lot of you seem to like the look of the levels.

One problem is lag. I'm addressing a lot of that now. Some of that is caused, frankly, by the aliens - the buzzers in Mission 3 have issues which spam the audio engine. That would need coding work to address.

Second problem - which you don't realize - is that none of the dialogue is coming through. The missions are full of hints and instructions for what to do - especially the last mission (Mission 5). They are supposed to appear as pop-up balloons. All those times that the Commander screen comes on, there is dialogue giving you clues what to do next. I used env_instructor_hints all through, and they work in single-player, but they just aren't rendering out in the multiplayer. (What can I say? Argh, Source SDK...)

The other thing is, you're missing the story, too because of this! The Marines talk to the Commander - but you're hearing none of it. (Damn... Very frustrating.) There's a story going on...

My ultimate goal is to turn this into a standalone conversion, so I am interested in hearing from talented Source developers who would like to join the project. I'll probably try to replace those hints with actual recorded dialogue as well - though that will be a lot of work, too.

What I want to do is fund all future development of this - to pay developers - through a Kickstarter campaign. Just because it's a lot of work to do. The plan is for another 8 levels on top of this.

Okay Marines, We're Goin' To Get Some! REDUCTION IS LIVE!

(Please see the Update below.)

Yes, you heard the man! GET ON THE READY LINE!

Get Reduction here now!

(Right in time for Prometheus, too.)

See the installation instructions here...

To those hardcore types who blast through this, give me feedback here:

General Feedback: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2740074

Technical Feedback: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2740072

(And I sincerely hope the crawlers don't tear you too much of a new one...)

UPDATE!

(Friday 8 June 2012) Version 1.1 is coming shortly - hopefully by tonight or tomorrow!

Initial feedback shows that Mission 4 - the "train mission" - is lagging badly. Going back over that, I know the cause of the problem (too many moving entities), and I'll get on that (will remove moving entities and consolidate the moving scenery into fewer entities). It should be fixed with Version 1-1.

Reduction - The Trailer

Open Letter To A Mr Brian Upton: Key Designer At Red Storm

I heard your presentation "Shaping Player Experience Through World Geometry" today...

I was working on a level / prop, and listening to WinAmp - and I have a huge collection of GDC audio clips mixed in with my music. So suddenly at random, this presentation of yours appeared. I'm guessing its a few years old now. No matter. (Didn't know your email address... So I thought this would do.)

And I thought of the language of geometric experience you presented, within the context of the campaign I'm about to release (www.preparetodrop.com). There's a video there. Anyway, it occurred to me that much of my level design coincidentally followed the same ideas of yourself and Kevin Lynch (the latter's from his book you cited, The Image Of The City) - without me really knowing crisply about these ideas.

(Danger: Mild spoilers ahead...)

The first level is a mix of node-structure and path-structure. The players, naive to the situation on Earth (having only recently arrived from out-system), come into a silent space station. Of course, it turns out infested with aliens. I tried to give a sense of a chase through a space station, with the main threat coming continually from *behind* the player (e.g. triggers that spawn aliens [out of vents, smashing through doors, etc] only *after* the last member of the team has passed). That's a real advantage of the top-down shooter: the ability for a player to move laterally - or even in reverse - while he watches his main danger zones.

Second level is an edge one: having escaped from the space station you land in a suburban office area, and running onto the green lawns you need to try to find the edges (fences, the comfort of which the aliens are programmed to deny you, by crawling right over them). The edges will lead you, eventually, to the objective.

Third level is a pit-of-doom one: you're on a train, and if you fall off, you're dead. So while the first level was extreme forward momentum, and the second level lateral dodging and edge-finding, this level is one-step-at-a-time, you-cover-the-front-I-cover-the-back... Tight cooperation (Alien Swarm is a co-op game), because if you dodge about you'll fall to your death.

So I guess I realized that I was switching up the styles of geometric player experience.

Final level is essentially a district level, AND a strong corner. There is no fighting here. It's a work-together level. You are loading a key payload, and you hear artillery in the distance. As you get closer, you hear it louder and louder; it shakes everything. (Actually, this I used as an experience from when I was in the army: during one battle-oriented training exercise, holding a bridge and hearing the relentlessly oncoming [simulated but still loud] artillery shells, signalling the approach of threats.) Meanwhile all around are personnel working working  working... Just trying to keep the friendly Marines fed with ammo so those Marines can keep killing killing killing aliens... So there is a sense of ambient threat, but also a sense of district (an "army life" feel), and a sense of wonder - witnessing a different kind of braveness: that of the rear-area soldiers who toil toil toil...

But the final part of the last level has a strong portal: you need to blow a hole through the wall. This kind of gives "birth" to you, as you then step out to the battlefield, to join with the other Marines, about to be thrown into the frontline...

Meanwhile, the curious thing of any top-down shooter is that, in terms of vistas, you have to think *downward*. Thus, there are many catwalks and bridges and so forth. To visually foreshadow the coming level, it always has to be below you. Thus in the second level ("Mission 3"), your escape pod begins having crashed into the side of an office tower: allowing you to see, below you, in a single sweep, the entire battlefield you will need to now cross.

The edge-as-transition definition is quite true as well, but in the top-down shooter this winds up quite frequently being a bridge: you can see a vista below a bridge. The space station of the first level has this in mind as well: the vista you see - at the very beginning; what you will eventually (re)enter - is the earth itself: your home... which you are unaware, in your absence, has been overrun with the same hostile creatures you set out to fight a year ago on the offworld colonies.

Anyway, your talk was a great presentation and suddenly gave me a much clearer language of essential concepts I had been building into this campaign. You can see the trailer at the website, if you like (www.preparetodrop.com).

Best regards,

Tim Carter

Prepare To Drop!

Offworld Marines! Prepare to drop!



Finally. After two years of development. I'm about to release this: Reduction.

It is a campaign for the Valve game, Alien Swarm. A very James-Cameron-esque "top-down shooter" that is freely available at www.alienswarm.com.

But Reduction is my story. My personal take on the aliens-invade-the-earth subgenre (which Alien Swarm doesn't even touch).

(Though Alien Swarm does happen to be a kick-ass game by Valve. And, just to be clear, I am not employed by or connected to Valve in any way. I'm just a community mapper using the tools that Valve has released to us to make new maps.)

Anyway, I'm just putting the finishing touches on the beta campaign. I'll be uploading the file shortly. Will keep you posted where to download it when I get it up.

In the meantime, please enjoy the trailer (above) of in-game footage set to a rocking soundtrack...