The Ball - Cahua Released!

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Hourences

New Member
Aug 29, 2000
5,050
0
0
40
Belgium/Holland/Sweden
www.Hourences.com
Slightly later than planned, we ran into some upload and mirror problems, but we are on :)

We have released Cahua! This final mod release features a good set of new features and content. We were on a tight schedule for Cahua. We had only two and a half months to create everything, and we also had to work on the UDK demo in the mean time. So the level is a bit smaller than what you are used to from our previous releases, but it has a new style and new types of gameplay to compensate for that.

This is not the last level of the mod. There will be a commercial release later that contains the actual last level, among other new content and areas. Cahua level I takes you through a big cave near the heart of the volcano and have you fight a number of Tlaloc's. The guardians of Cahua. At the end of this level the player arrives at the "factory", the last level and home to "them". This release is more combat focused than previous releases. There is not that much puzzling.

DOWNLOAD - 509MB
http://www.fileplanet.com/193016/190000/fileinfo/Unreal-Tournament-3---The-Ball:-Cahua
http://www.moddb.com/mods/the-ball/downloads/the-ball-cahua-final-mod-version (not up yet - will be hopefully later this evening/night)

You do NOT need any previous The Ball episode to play this. This release includes ALL previous releases too. You only require UT3 with patch 2.1. Also make sure to completely remove any old The Ball install you may have first or it will not work.

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G.Lecter

Registered Tester
Dec 31, 2004
1,257
3
38
36
Spain
www.oscarcrego.com
Feedback Time!

Just noticed you guys have a survey at the website. I'm posting the feedback here instead since some stuff about survival and ball modifications wouldn't fit those questions... :p

First of all... Just when I thought the mod couldn't look better than Hueca, you come up with this... :con: The visuals in the last episode are absolutely amazing, congrats!

Now some thoughts about the game, just about polish and stuff that may have some potential, very few negative things tbh... :tup:

Puzzles:
My main concern with this version of the mod is the puzzling elements get less and less attention throughout the game and it turns out to be a mainly atmospherical experience in the last episodes: As you advance through Oztoc, the puzzles get more interesting: I particularly like all the puzzles with water, moving stuff and magnets in Oztoc II ;). In Teotl, however, I enjoyed the combat sections against the mummies, but most puzzles were pretty obvious and they didn't make so much use of physics as the previous episode... I was expecting puzzles that involved 4-5 buttons, more magnets and moving stuff, but those elements practically disappeared from the game later on... We got ball modifications in Hueca which are really cool, and that's not a reason to leave puzzling out IMO... My least favourite parts of the game are the outdoor parts of Teotl (the ones where you can choose the order you solve the puzzles), and Oztoc1's part where you have to push the cubes through the long gravity field and remember the symbols...

Ball Modifications:
- IMO ball modifications should have been introduced earlier in the game... they are just so much cool to introduce most of them in the last episode... :D As much as I loved Cahua it was kind of a disappointment to see 3 ball modifications introduced in a row to battle against the same monster... guess it was just a teaser of what you plan for the commercial game though... :) Fire ball should be the first one to introduce IMO since it is the most 'basic' one (could be activated by lava, no need to wait for the factory)... The way electricity has been implemented has lots of potential against those giant worms too... could be added to one worm fight as some sort of 'connect the dots' puzzle: the worm could attack from different holes and, depending on which hole the worm is, you'd have to place the electric balls in one setup or another...
- Instead of making some ball modifications last for a short period of time, you could make use of the middle mouse button to give the player more control on when they want the powers to be activated... for example it could be used to change between 'attract' and 'drop' mode for mines... or similarly, it could be used to 'release' all the attracted spikes in the magnet idea you've talked about in the Facebook page... ;)
Had a couple of ball modification ideas that could make use of the midddle mouse button too...
· Projectile Ball: Once you put the ball into one of those factory chambers, it is surrounded by an orbiting wind trail or something like that. By pressing the mid mouse button you'd be able to 'shoot' the ball at a specific location, like an asteroid. Should be interesting to fight against flying enemies or ball-throwing mummies located at high spots.
· Inverted Gravity: Mid mouse button could make the ball switch between 'floor' and 'ceiling' modes... this may turn into a great element for some puzzling areas of the game... and maybe in combat to squash some enemies from above... ;)

Combat:
- Sometimes it's very easy to camp some hallways and wait for all the bugs and mummies to come... I think when you enter a combat room, the doors should close (like Zelda games?) so you can't go back to camp the hallway. It would be cool if you were ambushed instead of seeing the enemies from long distances, something like Teotl's first combat room...
- In some areas of the game, especially the dark areas of Hueca, enemies could respawn after a short period of time so they may attack you from more unexpected locations...
- I think enemies should be able to stop the ball if you throw it at a very low speed. Sometimes it is a bit weird so see a slow ball making mummies explode into gibs! :p
- Different enemies could have different attitudes against the ball: For example, bugs wouldn't do anything, mummies could try to push the ball, and maybe other smarter foes could try to dodge it. It would also be seriously awesome if the Gorilla was able to pick the ball up and throw it at you! :D
- The giant bomb-dropping bird feels like a missed opportunity! :( I have no idea about how could something be done, but a battle that involved the vehicle would be epic...

Survival:
- Just like in normal combat, I feel that it is very easy to camp a hallway and kill everything that tries to attack you. I think survival shouldn't abandon the 'exploring' spirit of the singleplayer campaign, just with more freedom to explore the rooms in any order you want. To complete every wave you should have traveled most of the map, enemies ambushing you from unexpected places. To sum up, I think it would be more interesting to explore the area looking for enemies, rather than letting huge hoards of enemies find you... :p
- Ball modifications will be added to Survival, right? That would also encourage players to travel through the map... or they could be given as a reward for combos...


...duh, this has gotten longer than expected... :rolleyes: Best of luck with the final release! :tup:
 

lango

Markus Arvidsson
Feb 22, 2009
119
0
16
www.toomuchlogic.com
Thanks for the awesome feedback! Some of the things you mention is actually planned for the commercial release, you think like us here =). Some of them are new and very good.

We plan to rework some of the puzzles and rewrite the combat sections, and introduce special ball features in earlier parts of the game.

We also plan to redo the bird fight and the gorilla fight.
 
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