Alrighty, with the addition of the image gallery, the pitch bible is now complete. The first 8 images highlight some of the key elements missing from BMS OaR that should be included in the remake. It’s sort of a “pitch bible lite.” The most important images however are #9-#10, which represent my proposals for redesigning C2A2E and C2A2G, respectively.
After a THOROUGH comparison of both HL OaR and BMS OaR, I’m of the opinion that:
- HL C2A2B1+C2A2C (the office complex) are VERY well designed maps and should be replicated closely.
- HL C2A2F is fairly well designed, making effective use of vertical space w/a simplified loop element showcasing the materials transport theme. The only flaw is that the loop can be bypassed entirely, which creates a little player frustration if he gets suckered into it. It should be made mandatory (like in BMS C2A2A) to give it a sense of purpose. This could easily be done by requiring the player to turn on a power generator or flipping the switch to a toll gate. From a dev standpoint, this will allow you to showcase ALL of your work in this chapter.
This leaves C2A2E and C2A2G as the problem maps and hence my redesign schematics.
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The issue w/C2A2E is that the design of the rail system here can be a bit confusing, w/parallel tracks and turns that lead nowhere. In addition, several of the best scripts in the entire chapter are often missed entirely. My proposed redesign has several advantages, including eliminating the problematic rail elements while staying VERY close to the HL C2A2E layout, keeping ALL of the cool features, maintaining the sense of linear travel, providing lots of room for new encounters, working w/in the constraints of the BMS TOW launcher and creating two VIABLE paths, each with their own advantages/disadvantages, rather than a single best one (see pitch bible for explanation). In this case, you really CAN have your cake and eat it too. The one thing I should note is that the second gate (by the button) does not have to be there. In HL, pushing the button lifted both gates…the 2nd gate was meant as a visual cue, but this can easily be done by using a video monitor to show the 1st gate lifting. This gate is critical because the player could skip the giant vort battle otherwise.
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C2A2G is a little unusual in that the 1st ½ of the chapter has been cut along w/the quiet area. Since C2A2F is a small map, there’s a good chance that these missing sections could be included and expanded upon. My proposed schematic is really just a sketch, dividing this map into a materials transport section (underdeveloped in HL C2A2G) and an outdoor tram travel section (an extension of the quiet area). There’s lots of room for creativity here and this area should be a challenging but fun section to design. The claw could even make a late game appearance to break up the action. It could be used to move giant crates obstructing the exit to the outside.
Since most of the conceptualizing is done (at least on my part), this should help expedite the mapping process.
Also, I’ve FINALLY figured out how to do the “commandeer the HECU tram trick.” It’s in the C2A2E section of the pitch bible and there’s a pretty cool picture of it in the image gallery.
@Text
Once you’ve had the chance to compare BMS and HL OaR more thoroughly, I’m pretty sure you’ll reach most of the same conclusions as me. W/regards to mapping, I’d recommend doing C2A2B1+C2A2C first followed by C2A2E, as these can be ported almost verbatim. This will also allow you to figure out how many maps you’ll really need as it’s unclear whether the office complex could be done justice w/a single map. By doing these maps first, you’ll have more time to think about C2A2F+C2A2G and generate more ideas. These sections will require the most creativity. Only when these are done should you consider adding a xenofauna section resembling C2A2B2 before BMS C2A2A, as this is the least important part of OaR.
@Forum
If you want to make design suggestions early in the development process, I HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend that you study BMS OaR and HL OaR carefully and/or reconcile it w/the pitch bible. The worst thing that could happen is to have an idea incorporated into the new maps only to find out much later that it is completely inconsistent w/HL or OaR.
To chip in on the music discussion from our moderator, although the HL Sirens tune is heard in OaR, it’s actually the garg theme. You hear it at the beginning of Power Up and the end of ST. I would argue that Abrupt Awakening should be ported to the beginning of Power Up, as there’s currently no track there. It’s one thing to add stuff that the devs didn’t make, but it’s a bit inappropriate to REPLACE stuff that they did make, assuming it isn’t shit, like the garg. Joel Nielsen’s first track does fundamentally change the tone of OaR but I’d argue that it’s not better or worse…just different. In HL, OaR felt old and haunted. In BMS, OaR feels old and sad/lonely. I think that’s OK since Apprehension is a damn scary chapter, so this adds a little diversity. The Year of Death could perhaps skew BMS OaR to make it more ominous but the choice of ambient music would really need to wait till most of the new sections and content is finalized. It’s unclear what tone they would set.
Final thought:
While I initially had reservations about remaking OaR, they are completely gone now. After this remake, OaR will no longer be a boring old rail system that looks the same everywhere. It will be thematically diverse and exciting. The variety of enemy engagements and potential for scripted sequences is tremendous…this chapter could be EVEN BETTER than ST_Uncut.
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