Nitro's Gaming Bits: November 26

Nitro's Gaming Bits is a new series in which due to a lack of time and motivation, will be going over small tid-bits from updates, new games, and other types of ROBLOX game-related media.

- Famous for the popular Roblox RPG series Rangescape, RangeMeludE has finally come back, thought it is unknown if he is here for yet another temporary stay for maybe a month, or back for a long time. To celebrate, he is adding a boss named "Thunderclaw" to The Lord of Range's Cape which should be arriving sometime today.


- Asimo3089, well-known for his award winning places like The Wind and RoadRunner Canyon has released another recently, going by the name of Equinox Station which features an interesting gimmick involving place teleportation, instead of simply stepping into a teleporter, you can get into the train and it will actually take off and teleport you to wherever the train stops. If anything, I recommend you look at it if only for the building.

- Wobbly brickbattle, a place recently featured on Roblox News has been updated with a good amount of new content since the post was made, with the map expanded to a pretty good size from what it once was. The Roblox Battle weapons have also been added, along with a few other things I cannot spoil, play it here.

Even if this post is a bit short, I promise the next will be longer.. whenever that is. Again, I thank you for reading and have a good day!

Review: PropHunt V2.40 by CloneTrooper1019

I swear this is probably the 4th or 5th source mod ROBLOX demake game I have reviewed.. Anywho, CloneTrooper1019's old game PropHunt has shot back up onto the front page, probably due to him announcing a sequel that will be made whenever that happens. Onto the review!

Gameplay

PropHunt has 3 big things to know about it, which aren't that all hard to grasp;

• There are two teams, the Props and Pyros
• The goal of the Pyros is to find and kill all of the props on the map, and to accomplish this are armed with "flamethrowers" (which are just retextured paintball guns but oh well) that they will use to inspect for players disguised as props.
• The players chosen as props will have to make themselves blend in with the environments by choosing the correct prop and positioning themselves wisely for if they fail to do so, they will be lit on fire and run around panicking as they slowly burn to death and nothing but ashes are left.

Besides that, the game isn't really complicated from the TF2 version, I know the Prophunt "mod" originated from Garry's Mod but I've only played the TF2 version so I can't say much in the way of the differences from there. The main change from this version I can see though is you're actually able to pick your prop which is nice, but the predictability from the small(ish) amount of maps doesn't help since you can just pick whatever prop is most effective and maybe not get caught but the luck is all in if they pick the very spot, which adds to the fun and frantic nature of the game.

Ramblings aside, the last remaining prop will have to option to use a pistol but it's quite likely they will not even bother to use it since all of the Pyros have gone into "burn everything in sight" mode trying to frantically find that last prop as the clock ticks away. So yes, giving the pistol to the last remaining prop seems a bit pointless but then again the last remaining prop in the TF2 version of Prop Hunt is able to run around and shoot since props in that are basically reskinned scouts. Another thing too, most of the props have proper collision with objects, so that's something to keep in mind if you're trying to run away from a group of merciless Pyros.

A big tip I can give you especially if you are a tree, line your studs up correctly, as this will improve your survivability chance quite a bit, since you won't be able to be as easily distinguished as an imposter among the other trees, but people will still burn everything in sight so it's not exactly that much. The last things to mention are the shop, which have upgrades for your Flamethrower and prop speed, each ranging from 50 - 200 points each, flamethrower upgrades are noticeable by the color of it after purchasing one of the upgrades, Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow in order I'm sure. Prop speed isn't really useful to be honest, since the spread on the flamethrower is quite iffy at times and the problem is Pyros can easily gang up on you due to design on most of the maps.

Building

Most of the 8 maps are pretty basically built, one of them just a recycled version of Telamon's classic Haunted Hill, the only two I can think of that really took time were the Wild West map, and the other one with the freight ship and all the pipes, planks, etc. The game does have Dynamic Lighting, but really only properly utilizes it on the Haunted Hills map.


But by far the map with the biggest glaring design flaws is the "Pyroland" one, since the lollipop prop's model somehow allows for Props to get onto areas not intended for them to get up to, as demonstrated by this screenshot. Sure things like this happen in the regular Prop hunt but that's to be expected since they can double jump (again TF2 prop hunt "props" are reskinned scouts). I have received confirmation from CloneTrooper that this will not be fixed unfortunately, and said to just wait for Prophunt 2. I mean this isn't really a gamebreaking bug, more of just an annoying inconvenience for those playing as Pyros.

Creativity 

Not really a creative concept per say, but I like the idea of a Prophunt game on ROBLOX.

Overall

In a nutshell, the weakest part of Prophunt by far is the map design, but I have no doubt that CloneTrooper is working to improve this and I eagerly await the changes to come in the "sequel" to this source mod inspired game.

As far as suggestions go for the sequel.;

• Make the Pyros lose health when they use their flamethrower, just like the real prophunt, although players will get frustrated it would be nice to see more strategic gameplay.
• Add a hat shop or something like in The Stalker, the present upgrades in the "shop" in Prophunt are a bit lackluster and not that useful.
• Utilize the Dynamic Lighting, which I would really love to see actually used correctly. (dark maps anyone)?
• Map design, take some inspiration from the TF2 custom maps or just have people playtest them and give feedback before they're added to the actual game.
• Add a spectate function.

As long as these are fulfilled, I'll be pretty much satisfied with Prophunt 2, if you want to make a map for use in Prophunt 2, use this one for inspiration and PM it to CloneTrooper; http://www.roblox.com/Map8-item?id=101724347

Besides that, I'm pretty much out of things to say about Prophunt, weekly articles seem to be the norm for now so expect them usually on the weekends.

Community Article: Interview with MahPizzaIsHere!

Ever since I viewed the update #1 video on YouTube of the infamous 'Borderline' project; I was shocked as to how great it looked, even in such early development stages! In my words, if I had a choice between Borderline or Battlefield 3, I would choose Borderline! In my opinion when it's completed, it'll wipe Apocalypse Rising v5.0.4, Battlefield, etc off the front page! 

Now for my interview with MahPizzaIsHere which was conducted through the ROBLOX chat feature!




Me: Hello Mah.

MahPizzaIsHere: Hello.


Me: Will Borderline have lens flare?

MahPizzaIsHere: Most likely.


Me: How will vehicles work,control-wise?

MahPizzaIsHere: Can you be more specific?


Me: Like keyboard controls and mouse controls.

MahPizzaIsHere: A combination of the two. It varies by vehicle.

Me: How will vehicle movement be? Obviously not just clicking and going to that direction like normal ROBLOX planes,helicopters,etc?

MahPizzaIsHere: We'll be largely developing our own movement. While ground vehicles will drive in a way that at least mimics classic physics, air vehicles will be much more intuitive. Comparable, perhaps, to Crazyman32's physics.

Me: Can you go third-person in vehicles?

MahPizzaIsHere: We expect to implement that feature, yes.

Me: Rumors have been going around stating,your character spawns by parachuting in the map. Are these rumors true?

MahPizzaIsHere: I'd like to know who started them, haha. While we were never planning this feature, it does sound intriguing.


Me: I don't really know who started the rumor. It just got passed to me.

MahPizzaIsHere: Interesting, haha. It sounds pretty cool though, I'll discuss it with StudioMM.


Me: Will aerial vehicles have similar flight like it does in Battlefield 3?

MahPizzaIsHere: Having never played Battlefield 3, I wouldn't be able to say for sure. However, we can guarantee an immersive flight and combat experience.


Me: What will character movement be like?

MahPizzaIsHere: We'll have some nifty camera moves for certain actions, and the requisite head bob when walking and running, but aside from that it is essentially everything you'd expect from an FPS game.


Me: What type of gameplay will it be like? Battlefield 3 related gameplay or ArmA 3 related gameplay?

MahPizzaIsHere: At heart, it is an arcade shooter. Realism will only go so far, and we want this to be fun too. Having never played either game, you'll have to make of this what you will.


Me: Will maps change?

MahPizzaIsHere: Yes, for sure. There will be four distinct maps, each supporting several game modes.


MahPizzaIsHere: Well, I must go, good-bye.

Me: Bye. Good luck with the development of Borderline,to all of you.


This interview proved to be intriguing. Borderline will be released in 2 months time! I for one, can't wait!



Thanks are owed to Kintozi for providing Roblox News with this interesting community interview. We hope to be hearing more from him in the future!

Edited by arbirator

Review: Alien Survival by Droideka1

Alien Survival is certainly an interesting concept, "robloxifying" the Aliens franchise. But does the game live up to the name and expectations of the players? Well, let's find out. In this review I will be using very few screenshots to keep the game a surprise.

Gameplay
Upon entering you're greeted with a pretty fancy intro, that zooms around what I assume is an alien and then pans the camera into a logo saying "Alien Survival". After that you're thrown into the game with three tools,


Flamethrower- Has very limited ammo, mostly used to burn aliens to death, and does that quite nicely.



Pistol- A good amount of ammo, but it's doubtful you'll use it since the flamethrower is much more effective overall.


Flashlight- Pretty much just a block that puts out light, but it will become one of your most useful tools as you roam throughout the map.

Now for your HUD, you will see an indicator next to 4 robloxians with numbers on their shirts, and next to them it will say  alive, unknown, or deceased. I'll explain the point of this a bit later on.
Next you have your ammo indicator, that well, displays your ammo.
A radar that will beep when you are close to an alien or infected ally. Also a timer, that will count down until the end of the round.

Now, your objective of Alien Survival is to ensure the safety of 4 civilian AI that will roam about the map, so you and your team must work together to keep tabs on them at all times.
There are no AI aliens if I remember correctly, but 1-2 players will usually go to the Alien nest and start to roam about the map killing off the civilians or you. There is an alien map usually in the center, touch an egg and get a facehugger put on you to begin the transformation process.

Maps are somewhat linear, sometimes more spread out, there are always long underground tunnels you can take but aliens usually roam these.

Building

Building seems to be relatively simple, besides your dropship at the beginning at each mission, but it works out nicely in the style of the game. Each map features doors you can close to keep the aliens out.

The design on the aliens is nice, skeletal but good use on the meshes.

There are only 3-4 maps if I remember correctly.

Creativity

Alien Survival is a fairly unique idea, while there have been a lot of "alien survival" games, none in the style of the "Aliens" franchise.

The Good

The game features a pretty tactical style of gameplay since you have to keep tabs on the civilians to make sure they aren't killed by aliens, but usually you won't get to experience it fully since most of the players in the game pay no attention to them. Being able to burn infected teammates to death is also pretty nice, it gives me a "deception infection" feel.

Playing as the alien I can say, is fun. Lurking around in the tunnels as a lone, ungaurded player roams around and then mauling them to death is satisfying in the least.

Dynamic lighting around the maps immerses you into the game nicely, especially the outdoor maps.

The Bad

Now, I see potential here, but the biggest problem with the game lies within the players. The biggest thing is, no one pays attention to the civilians and just lets them die off, which ruins the point of the game, aren't you supposed to PROTECT them? Another problem is within the gameplay, but it's a problem nonetheless, once all of the civilians are killed, the game should reset, yes? Well, no. The game does not reset after the civilians are killed, even though it's the objective, instead you have to wait about 15 minutes for the map to reset and the process starts all over again.

Don't let this happen to you D:

Overall

Alien Survival is a fun game if you can get past the problems, which are minor but need to be addressed if possible. So if you have time to kill or are a fan of the Aliens series, I recommend you check this out.

For the best experience I'd recommend getting a few friends to roleplay with, and play in first person.

But, before we go, onto the suggestions I have.

Suggestions

• Make the round reset after all 4 civilians are killed, I'd rather not wait 15 minutes for the game to reset.
• Make AI aliens  Turns out there ARE AI aliens, they just usually appear in an empty server.
• Give players more of an incentive to protect the civilians and not go recklessly off into the nest
• Add some interesting gimmicks to maps, like alternative paths.

That marks off my first of many reviews, although it's nowhere near my best work I wanted to get this out as soon as possible, and no I don't do rating systems.

Feedback is appreciated.

Dead Zone and Apocalypse Rising: The Terrain Dilema

Don't get me wrong, Dead Zone and Apocalypse Rising are both great zombie survival games. The guns (especially ones on Dead Zone) feel really nice, the loot is interesting and refreshing, the tension from the atmosphere makes me jump when I see another player, but one thing is lackluster in both games. The map.

Now, the reason I wanted to write this article is due to Apocalypse Rising's announcement that a new map is coming so I wanted to make some issues apparent. So let's start with Apocalypse Rising's map, which I consider to be the worse of the two. If you load up the game right now and play for just a short, 15-minute session, you will notice two distinct "biomes," if you will: the cities, and the "there's nothing here worth your time" zones. Also, there's nothing really unique about any section of the map, no weather changes, no elevation changes, no style changes, nothing. The cities are all monotone too, no significant landmarks to tell you which city you are in and very little difference in density and height of buildings.

SO FLAT! Small hills help, but aren't enough

Next, let's look at Dead Zone's current map, I say "current" because there was a much better map before ZackZak decided to change it back for whatever reason, which was also the map I did the review on. This might seem odd at first, but the current map is better than Apocalypse Rising's map because it slightly restricts the player's movements through the use of impassable mountains. These days, people are looking for a lot of freedom in games, but a little bit of restriction helps create a more natural environment (you can't go everywhere in the real world, can you?).

Old image of Dead Zone I had left form the review. Note the hills and mountain range, so much  better!

There is one super duper important feature which is lacking in both maps, that is elevation and terrain differences. I saw Gusmanak posted on twitter an image of a radio tower along with a message which implies that the elevation problems will be solved, however, it won't be unless large amounts terrain gets elevation differences. Not to say adding a radio tower or a small hill is a bad thing or it's not an improvement, but it's just not enough to fully immerse a player.

To be honest, I'm not too impressed with the alpha version of the new map Gusmanak posted on his twitter. Sure it has some nice hills, sure it has a larger city, but the terrain still screams "BORING!" A mountain range right smack in the middle of the map which separates two sides of the map, or a canyon which houses a top secret military outpost could provide so much in terms of gameplay.

Alpha version of new map, note the flatness

(As a side note, since it strays from the point I'm trying to make, the number of small towns is way too high. They seem like fillers and can be replaced with terrain features. No one loots there past the first 5 minutes anyways.)

On top of this, the map still provides no flow. There are way too many roads and not enough restrictions which will force players to encounter each other more often in the wild. Reducing the number of roads and increasing the number of terrain features which block certain paths to cities will create way better flow. Being able to walk in a straight line to any city is boring and requires a larger map to elongate the travel time. But impassable terrain like a canyon or a wall (perhaps for quarantine reasons) will make the travel time longer and make the map feel larger than it really is. Non-flat terrain serves to accomplish 5 major things:

1. It improves uniqueness of a particular region, you will no longer have to guess which part of the map you spawn on. When you see a canyon or a mountain in the distance, you will immediately know where you are and what routes to take to get geared up.
2. It gives more "flow" to the map. Obviously, you can't fly over a chasm, so smart placement of different terrain elements can force chokepoints and dangerous areas to occur naturally.
3. It gives more options to the player in terms of PVP options. Currently, when you see a player in the open you want to kill, you both will engage in what I like to call "the dance of the derps" in which both of you fire rounds at each other, jump around, and pray to god they hit. With terrain features, you could, hide on a mountain and setup an ambush, snipe noobs in a city from a mountain, or shoot down at people in a canyon camping for loot.
4. It allows the fog to be pulled back. No one likes fog. For fog to be in the game to purposefully prevent you from seeing all the way to the other side of the map is really annoying. Terrain features will limit your vision naturally, not artificially. Fog still has to be there, it just won't be so "in your face."
5. Make the map feel larger than it is by making the player work around the terrain in order to get to their destination, thus, increasing travel time.

I really want the maps to provide more than just locations for spawning loot. I want to be able to use the terrain for more than just running in straight lines. Also, just bring the old map back ZackZak, it is much better.

TL;DR Mountains, canyons, and other terrain features will make maps of Apocalypse Rising and Dead Zone much more interesting. No one likes flat things.