Skyrim Special Edition OUT NOW

Uh... wat?

So I gazed upon the wonder that is Skyrim Special Edition, and checked out the reviews from users:

Just what the fuck is going on?

I'm about to find out, so check back often to this blog (and my channel!) for more Skyrim SE.

And, oh, yeah, it's out now.

SnapMap Chronicles #3!

I get mad, too.

Hi guys, Snapmap Chronicles #3 released! GET IN HERE!

Twenty minutes long. Twenty. Why twenty? Because on the hardest difficulty setting (I mean, c'mon, you wouldn't play this on anything lower, right?) this map absolutely DESTROYED me. In the fairest way possible.

Or maybe I'm just too stupid. In which case ragequitting is the right thing to do, am I right?

ALSO, an announcement: Skyrim Special Edition has been released TODAY, so I'll be playing some of that. Expect content from Skyrim SE in the future!

Be sure to leave a LIKE and SUBSCRIBE to my channel for more SnapMap!

Call of Duty 4 MP Funtage out now!

So, apparently I play other games too.

Hi guys! New video's up: just me dickin' around on a public server in Call of Duty 4!

Enjoy! Leave a LIKE and SUBSCRIBE to my channel for more videos like this!

New Map!

Been gone for a week. Now we mappin'.

How many Doomguys does it take to change a giant light bulb in the middle of a demon invasion? 

Just one.

Be that guy. Electro City. Snapmap. Go play it now.

AN6E2P4C.

Be sure to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE to my channel for more SNAPMAP!

Finally, a playthrough!

SnapMap Chronicles are up and running! Be sure to check out the videos, do LIKE and SUBSCRIBE for more!

DOOM: Free Update 4!

It's been a while.

No, not posting in this blog - we got a decent DOOM UPDATE!

Yes, DOOM 2016 has some lovely additions from it's recent Free Update 4, go check 'em out! Arcade mode, new multiplayer game modes, and a bunch of new features on SnapMap.

CAMPAIGN

• Added Arcade Mode for all players

MULTIPLAYER

• Added the new FFA mode called Bloodrush
• Added the new team-based, Prowler vs. Marine mode, Possession

SNAPMAP

New DOOM Classic Campaign

• Feature Pack Campaign mission including new classic DOOM levels

Classic DOOM Content

• New classic DOOM modules, props, interactable items, lifts, pickups, sounds, classic player deaths and music

Community Support

• Community Curation system enabling new maps to be published to be reviewed and recommended by the community
• Community HUB overhaul to make finding your favorite content easier
• SnapFeed support allowing users to subscribe to authors, players and maps to get up to the minute details on new content

Custom Environment Creation

• Detailed hotspot and tiling textured blocking volumes can be used to create custom environments (Author's note: get excited for this. We'll see a lot more PBV custom maps - I'm looking at you, Void Runner!)
• Decal Tool to add blood, numbers, demonic symbols, grime, corrosion, etc. to your maps (more gore, extra nice)
• Massive update of new Hell and UAC environment props
• New container object models (I'm thoroughly excited to see what this is)

Additional Logic Tools

• Copy content and logic from one map to Paste into another
• Created multi-level campaign using Next Map Logic
• Added Hazard and FX as a category of Spawners
• Set color input added for all volumes and hazards
• Snap Grid Offsets added to editor settings to allow authors to offset in XYZ coordinate space
• POI can now be set on spawner items
• Authors can get precise camera position by previewing the camera view within the editor
• Added set environment and fade to camera properties
• Authors can set their editor view to ignore current module environment settings
• Cylinder volumes can be used as shootable triggers
• Added support for silent (no VO announcements) lockdowns
• No longer need to set a DOOM ID to post to map leaderboards

Additional DOOM Single Player Consistency

• Additional DOOM weapon upgrades from Campaign – mastery versions of the HAR and Combat Shotgun
• Campaign-styled communication HUD elements
• Editable interactable GUI
• Additional FX and Hazards
• Added Rune Tablet interactable
• Publish maps with Campaign intro screen and lobby
• Additional equipment pickup items
• Add Static keycard and weapons props
• Added setting to disable hit feedback sounds
• Added setting to disable damage indicators
• Added setting to disable AI teleport FX
• Added Berserk powerup

More Stuff

• Additional Armor and Weapon Customization Skins
• Revenant Player Demon
• Usable volumes will now work in the front of doors
• Blocking Volumes (previously called Player Blocking Volumes) now default to static and visible when placed
• AI can now be affected by Blocking Volumes
• Some props can have their FX toggled on and off

For more information, head on over to Bethesda's Doom News.

Snapmap Tutorials are now LIVE! Snapmap Tutorial Episode 1

We big league now.

You read the title right - video tutorials for Snapmap are now up! 

We kick off with the basic of basics in Snapmap: making a new map and navigating through Blueprint and Object modes!

Expect content to flow in regularly, contents of this blog may be published as videos - so watch out!

SnapMap Tutorial #2 - Dynamic Looking Stores

Noice shopkeepin' there, mate.

Great, you made a store. It looks spruced up, with relevant information for players to see. But sometimes, Interactibles just won't cut it - you may need a better visual cue, or simply want to add variety to your map.

This is where the wonder of Volume Triggers come into play. These wonderful buggers will ensure that people can activate stuff on a certain space, and when set up properly, can be as discrete...

Or audacious as it can...

Or something in the middle. In order words, here's your chance to get really tingly in the brain pan.

The Ingredients

• The shopping counter. Volume trigger is what we want in this circumstance. I suggest using the Cylindrical Trigger, with at least 180-unit radius, of jump height (around, say, 64-96 units). Since we need a visual cue now, you need to design something from the Large/Small Objects menu, but make sure that they are small enough to fit inside the circle without blocking the player
• The cashier. A resource - Player Resource or Team Resource. Like the last tutorial. Again, Player Resource for individual stuff.
• The item to sell. Again, Inventory, Vitals, Pickups... it's all up to you. In this case, we're doing weapons, so we'll be sticking with Inventory.
• The bells and whistles. Messages, World Texts and/or FX, in combination with 2D/3D Speakers or announcer Speakers. Or use Callouts.

Store Front

1. You get to be more flexible with this one. This is what I used on my map in progress...

Mmmmm... sexy crates.

I want something that contrasts on purchase so I used Crate 03, Crate 03 Open, and Crate 03 Lid. I'll put both closed and opened crates in the same spot later, with the Open version and the Lid being hidden from start. The weapon on top serves as an indicator.

Again, if you don't want to accidentally pick up the items, configure your Pickup 'setpiece' with an "Any AI" filter.

2. We now set up our volume. Right now, it's nothing more of a volume existing in a world space - no function whatsoever. So we press 'X' on the volume, and adjust the properties. Remember that you need to set the 'Colors' to 0, 0, 0 in order to "hide" the volume, set the 'Make Usable' to True, and adjust the cooldown by about 5 seconds to stop the players from being spammy mcFspam.

You can be as discrete or outright as you want - personally, I like taking the discrete approach 
and let the presentation do the work.

3. The layout would be the same as the last time. We'll still use Spend as our output.

By now, you should know the drill: 
Tap X when placing objects until everything aligns to the grid.

Configure Spend as needed.

4. We then use the input On Spend Resources Succeeded when the purchase succeeds. But instead of doing output on Vitals, this time we output on Inventory using Give Weapon, and choose the appropriate weapon on its Properties.

Some weapons can have mods installed. Choose wisely.

And we set the On Spend Resources Failed with a message. Standard.

Now this is where the beauty of Volumes come in - we now try to 'animate' the store.

5. Remember that we've set the Crate 03 Open and Lid to Hide on start? We will now make them 'appear' when the purchase has been succeeded, and replace the closed one in a single, unnoticeable tick. To do this, we need to link On Spend Resources Succeeded input to Hide the closed Crate 03, and Show the 'opened' Crate 03 and Lid! Remember to multicast!

Complete the illusion by showing and hiding elements. Similar items with stark contrasting 
properties work best; but you can also work with World Texts, lights and sound effects.

And the finished product, with the cylinder trigger in place and Crates aligned:

Doomguy approved!

Final Notes

• You can show and hide elements to change the way your shop looks before and after purchase. Plasma, Steam, World Texts, Hell Props - get creative! 
• You can make a 'template' of shops and just copy and paste them anywhere on your map. Saves a lot of time and effort! Don't forget to change accordingly.
• Aligning nodes along the grid will help you debug when something goes wrong. In contrast, a shoddy node network results in frustrating debugging.

Thanks for reading! Be sure to check back often for more SnapMap!

SnapMap Tutorial #1 - Interactibles as 'Shops'

Waddaya buyin?

We're now starting a slew of tutorials for SnapMap! Hope you keep watch over this blog, as I will be posting updates. I can also make SnapMap tutorials over on YouTube, but I'm still working on the general look and feel of the videos.

When I started playing SnapMap, I noticed a lot of Surival-themed maps that centered around gathering points for players and shops. Which raised the question: how do I make shops a la Call of Duty: Zombies?

For this tutorial the scenario would be: 

Making a shop that dispenses ARMOR if the player has enough credits, otherwise it tells the player to get more credits.

The Ingredients

• The shopping counter. A trigger - Volumes, Interactibles, or even Player Input (if you wish to have a shop you can 'carry around'). I find Interactibles to be the best, but you can use Volume Triggers as well. Personally, if I'm purchasing weapons, I go with the Volume Triggers; Interactibles are reserved for Health/Armor/Ammo/Powerups.
• The cashier. A resource - Player Resource or Team Resource. This is our backbone for purchasing stuff. I use Player Resource if individual players are claiming resources (cash) on their own pace, like most multiplayer games with an economy system.
• The item to sell. Whether it's Inventory, Vitals, Pickups... it's all up to you. Pickups can be spawned or given directly, same with ammo/health/armor (and any modifiers). You can even have obstacles clear out, doors open, friendly Demons spawning...
• The bells and whistles. Finally, some audiovisual cues - you can use Messages, World Texts and/or FX, in combination with 2D/3D Speakers or announcer Speakers. Or use Callouts. Technically speaking you can use any object you can find, as long as you get the effect that you want, so get creative! I would suggest avoiding World Texts though, as they add about 0.40% towards your Objects cap.

Minding the store

1. The storefront. You want a shop that attracts customers, right? Let's do one that easily catches the eye:

I'm pretty sure that terminal sells armor.

We used a Tripod Panel on this one so that we can add texts inside the panel, instead of just having a button. Saves us time and precious resource counts!

If you're curious, here's the properties:

Make sure that Allow Reuse is set to True, otherwise, 
whether the transaction succeeds or not, 
we will not be able to use this again.

Now, time to put our shop to work.

2. Working with Player Resource. Let's now put the Player Resource in, and node it to our Panel with input On Used and output Spend:

Align it well, or you'll be in debugging hell.

So every time we use the Panel, we will be spending Player Resource. The amount spent will be based on the Spend output properties. Any amount will do, but for this example, let's set it to 500:

You can assign a Variable to the value, if you want it to scale 
(or offer discount) after certain conditions are met.

3. Successful purchase. Now, we press "G" on our Player Resource variable, and select the input On Spend Resources Succeeded:, and node to the Vitals with output Give Armor:

Remember: Vitals for HP/Armor, Inventory for shooty stuff.

We want our armor to be completely restored, so we adjust the properties of our Give Armor output:

Amounts are almost always adjusted in blue Output nodes. 

4. Insufficient funds. What if the player doesn't have enough resources? That's where the other output, On Spend Resources Failed, will come into play. Simply link it from our Player Resource to a very obvious object: the almighty Message.

I'll be subtle here, and not rub this in people's faces when they can't 
afford what I offer. Of course, there's fun in the opposite approach too!

Then we just set our Message, and that's it!

And our finished product:

Final Notes

• You can add and change variables to whatever suits your liking, but be sure to take in mind your Objects and Network limits!
• You can scale the amount of resources to spend for every successful purchase by linking On Spend Resources Succeeded with a Variable (Integer or Number) via Add, setting the amount to increase on the output, and using the Variable as the resource amount to spend on our earlier output Spend.
• Volumes have a better degree of freedom, since the Interactibles are so limited in terms of visuals and function.

Thank you for reading and as always, I hope you have fun mapping!

Skyrim SE official requirements released!

Chances are there's no need for you to upgrade your rig for Skyrim: Special Edition.

That's right, folks. The system requirements for Skyrim: Special Edition has been released, and boy, is it low. So, so low:

Minimum System Requirements:

• Windows 7/8.1/10 (64-bit Version)
• Intel i5-750/AMD Phenom II X4-945
• 8GB of ram
• 12 GB free HDD space
• NVIDIA GTX 470 1GB /AMD HD 7870 2GB

Recommended System Requirements:

• Windows 7/8.1/10 (64-bit Version)
• Intel i5-2400/AMD FX-8320
• 8GB of ram
• 12 GB free HDD space
• NVIDIA GTX 780 3GB /AMD R9 290 4GB

Of course, if you plan to heavily mod Skyrim, you need to have a buffer for these requirements. Texture packs will surely be abound and plentiful, so invest in that VRAM!

What are your thoughts on Bethesda's Skyrim remaster? Go ahead, discuss in the comments down below!

Game: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition

Release: October 28, 2016

Welcome!

Thank you for taking the time to view this blog - I am very much active despite the deleted post I had before (simply because I took down the vid, it wasn't up to my quality 'snuff').

So anyway, gameplay videos will commence about a week after I post this, and I will be posting regularly. Be sure to check out my YouTube channel for more!

What you'll expect from my videos:

A metric fuckton of DOOM: SNAPMAP (tutorials and playthroughs, and a possible campaign - I've only spent 4 hours in the campaign, to be honest)
A whole lot of SKYRIM (Including the upcoming Remaster)
Some BEAM.NG DRIVE and SIMPLE PLANES (because why not?!)
Some MOBA TRIPPING (because, why not?!)

And more possible content to come!

So, there you go. For any inquiries, email me at zepolleon27@gmail.com.

LIKE and SHARE my page as well! 
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