Good news for me, bad news for you :(

by mrfranswa on 1259210942|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hey everyone, regrettably I have some bad news for you, while fantastic news for me….

Well it's not all bad news. Actually it's good news if you like playing custom campaigns. Regrettably I will be putting development of Cold Case on an indefinite hiatus. While I won't completely state that I have abandoned the campaign, I will still answer installing questions. This indefinite hiatus is on the extra content I was planning on releasing, (the survival maps, map 6, and covert operations).

Am I just abandoning the project because I'm bored? Absolutely not! The reason I am doing this, is because I just signed a contract with a company, and I have started development on another L4D campaign! Since this is a paid job with a deadline, I will be devoting all of my resources to this new project.

Thank all of you for the massive support you have given me over the months, and HAPPY TURKEY DAY!!!

4 comments - add / view comments

VPK problems

by mrfranswa on 1258384433|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hey everyone,

Just to keep everyone in the loop, I have tried and failed with attempting to vpk forsaken. All together it is 810MB, and people tend to have vpk problems with anything over 800mb. I will keep trying to vpk the campaign.

Oh valve, and your crazy vpk….

2 comments - add / view comments

Slowdown, (thank god)

by mrfranswa on 1258044897|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

As some of you know, I have entered the slowdown phase after the release of my campaign. All I can say is "thank god". I'm using this time to catch up on a lot of different things, (such as mailing out everyone's t-shirts. Btw if you don't get one, it's because YOU NEVER SENT ME YOUR SIZES!!!). I'm also working with a lot of people I met with GAMEX to prepare my resume/portfolio for distribution. Again, hopefully I can secure a career at some point. By doing so I could probably start on my next project while I bridge the gap, (sadly it would probably be in their game engine, since I want to start building experience for it!!!). But who knows, I have a lot of really awesome ideas for l4d2, and the only thing that is really stopping it right now is the lack of a job :P.

As far as updating the versus campaigns, I have had mixed results in updating the versus campaigns. The problem with a 3 yr old budget pc is you can't really do high-end compiling due to the limitations of the CPU. I was hoping to make enough money off of the registrations to justify buying a new pc, however like I thought I broke even. If only I had a whole website, (coughl4dmods.comcough), devoted to promoting me :P hehehe.

Anyways, it doesn't seem to be a big problem. I haven't received a LOT of requests for vpk. I guess thanks to DBD people have learned to deal with it. I will keep everyone in the loop to my development!

mrfranswa

0 comments - add / view comments

Future steps

by mrfranswa on 1257525956|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hey everyone,

I would like to thank cold for updating the page. Now that I have a download tab, I can finally start posting news again!!!

7 days, 1 sickness…

Ahh, It is actually quite refreshing to take time off. It's strange, even while I was sick, I still found myself sitting at the computer for long periods of time thinking to myself, "so what am I going to do today". I guess it just becomes standard after 10 months of hard work.

As for reviews, I am fairly pleased with the response. Reputable sites have given my campaign pretty high marks. All of the professional game developers who I have shown my campaign to have also given me some really fantastic feedback. Most of the problems with the campaign are either with people who don't like the game play of the main campaign, (which is followed up by their respect for the length and dedication of the work, and their admiration of the versus campaign), or simply don't know how to select the versus campaign. Even though I could go on and on about how this is a problem with VALVe, as a game developer being seen as a professional, it is my duty to rectify problems myself. That is why I have made a pretty detailed change log due to popular demand;

1- My main goal is to put together my portfolio so I can start sending it off to companies. Getting a job immediately isn't necessary, (since I have at least 5 months to find one), however the goal of my campaign was to build my portfolio, so I might as well spend a week putting it together.

2- Each versus campaign will be separated and distributed as their own campaigns. This will double, (maybe even triple!), the file size, however there have been numerous trolls on steam forums, (please don't start with, "well it's steam forums what did you expect. I will delete your post if you say it"), who don't know how to select map 6, (ones labeled "forsaken"), and play. This also creates a lot of problems for people trying to make a versus server. Uploading a vpk is a lot easier than doing folders. Separating the campaigns was actually an idea I was contemplating within the final week of the campaign, however I didn't want to delay release over something I thought was trivial.

3- I will be focusing most of my remaining dev time on the versus campaigns over the single player. I REALLY don't like how it has received such a mixed response with some posters, and without a team to give it some polish, (lots of complicated entity scripts, game-play tweaks, etc), I don't think it will improve a lot over the versus campaigns. This is a time issue for myself. It takes at least 10X the time to update the storyline campaign over the versus campaigns due to its complexity, and I actually do listen to the criticism. I don't want to leave anybody high and dry. Besides, I need to make "pub friendly" actually mean something :P. The survival maps are also farther back in my mind, because they are also complicated.

3 comments - add / view comments

DOWNLOAD IT!

by mrfranswa on 1257028695|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Y1KIV7PN

http://files.l4dmapdb.com/campaigns/cc.7z (might need to right click and Save As)

http://www.black2uesday.com/L4D/maps/cc.rar

http://www.fileplanet.com/206932/200000/fileinfo/Left-4-Dead---Cold-Case-Campaign-Map?r=5?r=5

(852 MB)

have fun

52 comments - add / view comments

Sign up news!

by mrfranswa on 1257005630|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

JUST TO CLARIFY SOME STUFF THAT'S BEEN POSTED ON OTHER SITES!

1- This first release of cold case will feature 2 campaigns, and only 15 maps. Even though the rest is done, I didn't think they lived up to what I wanted to do. There has been some confusion with the 6 map campaign issue. I meant a campaign with 6 maps, not 6 campaigns :P.

Sorry guys, I wasn't trying to mislead you. I guess I should have wrote it betterz. Anyways, there is still plenty of game to play. It takes a couple of sittings to beat my content.

2- To join the party, simply join the steam chat. It is located in the steam group's chat. To get to it, simply go to http://steamcommunity.com/groups/coldcase, and select "enter chat room" on the right hand side.

3- Try to be in the room 6:30 at the latest. That way you can form groups to join!

Hope to see all of you there!!!!

4 comments - add / view comments

THE AFTERMATH

by mrfranswa on 1256711111|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Another cup of coffee, another all-night'er…

This will be my final post before the release of my campaign. I will go a little into my personal life, along with recent events.

The days are counting down. Cold Case is currently sitting ready for distribution right on my hard drive, (there is a RC out there that a select few people have). I kinda feel like myself sitting in the studio a few days prior to another big student show at the university. My sculpture is done, and now I just have a few days to reflect on it. I've been taking the last few days off from the massive amount of stress that has come with developing this campaign. 60+ hr works weeks will do that to a man. So why in holy hell am I still awake? Why am I currently drinking yet another coffee at 1:25 AM when I could be in bed with my fiance? Is it insomnia? Is it anxiety?

Actually, I think of it as reflection time. There is still a lot that needs to be done, but being an artist I've always seemed to have this happen right after I finish something. I haven't talked much about my artwork on the site, so not many of you are aware that I am a professional sculpture. My primary mediums are in wood, steel, and clay. I've decided to work more digitally, because as an artist with no support, it is impossible to afford bare essentials. Besides, I never wanted to be like Van Gogh, who was a parasite onto his rich brother, (was it his brother? I know it was a family member). I've always wanted to take care of myself and the people I care about. That is why I decided to pursue a career in video game design. I really see it as the future of our society in the same sense of movies during the 1920's. Video game sales have already beaten movie sales, so the money is out there. I've also been keeping tabs on VALVe, and I can see that they definitely need help with their products.

Lets go back to the start. What mood was I in when I decided to make Cold Case? Well, back in 2008 around Christmas, I was having yet another Charles Dickens Christmas. Having to ask your parents for rent money is never a good thing. I always thought it was ironic that even though I've made Deans List at my university, and won every single major award that was given, and I still was unable to find a means of paying my rent. I started a bit of self-reflection; was this really the future I wanted for myself? My fiance has always been very supportive of me. She is currently going to school to be a Special Education teacher. During those few days after Christmas I started contemplating what I could do with myself. I've been working with video games on a non-profit basis with P1@Y with years now. While it is very rewarding, I felt it was time that I worked for something new. So that's when I decided to go all-out and create what is now called Cold Case.

So where did the campaign come from? What made me set it's time and place? Believe it or not, the idea originated from the abandoned idea for REO2. At first, REO2 was located on an entire island, and the players were able to back-track through the maps. this would revolutionize how Sven CO-OP was played. I scrapped the idea due to time constraints. Not to mention it simply was too much of a pain and time sync to make this stuff for free. So I shelved it, and cut it down to a mansion and overgrown factory. The idea festered in the back of my head for FOUR YEARS. For four whole years I contemplated the island idea. What maps I wanted, (An island which had a prison, an air-strip/oil refinery ,a lab, a military base, a city, a mansion, and a forest to traverse), the storyline, everything. On December 28th, I made a decision. I would make the campaign and use it as a portfolio to finally start my career….. or die trying. And I'm not being dramatic. I was serious. What ensued was some of the most difficult, time consuming, thankless hard work I have ever done. I don't think people grasp the enormity of work I have produced for this campaign, and this is because I have yet to release it. When I say there is 36 maps, that means there are 36 maps. Just because they are near mirror images of one another, (versus and coop), does not mean I didn't spend 2x the amount of time to test and prepare them. Consider this a good comparison. Death Before Dawn, Darth Brushes campaign which will also be released on Halloween, has "technically" been in development for at least 4 years now. Like some parts in Cold Case, his campaign started as work for the mod No More Room In Hell. I actually remember seeing screenies of it way back in the day. Not only this, but Darth Brush has a whole TEAM working on his campaign. I on the other hand have no team. Outside of a few donations, some SDK content, and the help of a select few fantastic people, all the work was done by myself. It's been a lonely road.

So then came GAMEX. I had skipped purchasing my text books for my college classes, and instead got a table. It was 250$. I was promised a lot of promotion, a 6 foot table, and some wireless internet. I can easily say I got none of it. So how was GAMEX you may ask? Well, lets just say it was a huge waste of money, with the occasional golden jem or two. To set the tone, perhaps I should just state my trip TO GAMEX.

And this happened…..

1- I get up very early; 5:30 to be exact. Our goal is to be out the door by 6. It is a 2 hr drive to GAMEX, and I want to have plenty of time to set up, and make sure my campaign is running on the entire LAN center. I am taking my brother, and a kid I mentor who is a friend. Both of which are late getting ready, and we leave at 6:30.

2- We stop at McDonalds. Both of them get mcmeat sandwiches and OJ. I get an egg+cheese bagel since I am a vegetarian.

3- We cross the border into jersey. We are late, but at least we will still be an hour early. All of a sudden I hear my mentor teen making weird noises in the back. I think in my head, "oh my god, he better not be doing what I think he's doing". I pull over

4- I open the back door to see my entire back seat covered in vomit. I sigh with a grit in my teeth. My friend repetitively apologizes to me. With an iron constitution…. and 250$ on the line I tell him to get out and take off his pants, (which are covered in puke), and put them in a bag, while I literally scrape the shit out of the car. That's a reusable bag that won't be reused……..

5- We pull over to a gas station. He goes inside to clean up. I buy a bottle of windex, (since that's all they have), and grab a bunch of paper towels. I reach into my pocket to pull out my debit card only to find my fiance took it last night, and never put it back. What followed was a string of very loud words which made the gas station attendant give me a, "better not fuck with him" look.

6- Very late now, I begin scraping and cleaning out the back seat. My brother is behind the building puking himself because of what happened. At this point I'm in such a murderous rage that I could care less about getting puke chunks on my hands while I scrape it out of my back seat.

7- Arrive at GAMEX EXACTLY at 9:30, (aka 1:30hr late). My friend walks over to a BJ's to buy new clothes. I begin setting up in the corner. While my brother sets up my computer, I walk over to the GXL lan center to pick up my projector, and check up on the campaign.

8- Find out that not only is my campaign on NONE of the PC's, but none of the software is installed on the PCs. The event is officially running for about 15 minutes now. When I ask about my projector the people say, "what projector". When I ask to speak to Kyle, (aka the guy who runs it). I first get "who's Kyle?" Since they were saying, "so where's turkey?" prior to me showing up, (turkey is Kyle's online moniker), I then asked, "Turkey… where is turkey". That responded with a bewildered gaze in his eye. "who is Turkey". I said, "THE GUY YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT TWO SECONDS AGO!". After showing this individual his number in my phone, he said, "OHHH he is not coming in until tomorrow". Long story long, he then told me the computers would not have L4D until tomorrow.

9- I set up my table with everything I brought… like I thought I would have needed to.

What followed was surprisingly a helpful day. I had a lot of game developers frequent my table, along with numerous level designers from various companies. All of which were EXTREMELY impressed with the quality of the campaign. ALL OF WHICH also expressed deep resentment for not being able to play my campaign on the big lan center like they thought they could. I was quite surprised to see exactly how positive of a reaction to my campaign people had. I even had some people take my photo, or sign a flier for them. I had a lot of people take my business cards, (less of which gave me theirs. I only received one card…. and you will be getting an email from me soon!!!). When I told them about my desire to work for VALVe, the universally told me that they are one of the premier game companies…. however this campaign should be enough to get me a job. Hearing this from the head developers at numerous video game companies really made me feel a sense of ungrounded accomplishment. Lets hope I can ground it :). I've also been in contact with Chet over at VALVe about my campaign. I'm currently preparing a special version of Cold Case for just them. Day 2 was more of the same, except more gamers who play console L4D, and less developers. There was also a goddamn DDR game machine set up RIGHT NEXT TO MY BOOTH and I had to scream at the top of my lungs just to say hello to people. So was it worth it?

Erm….. um……. Give me a few weeks to give calls back to these companies. GAMEX themselves were a disaster, but getting my campaign out there and receiving such appraise was really helpful to my spirits.

So now it's 2:21. Let me wrap this up:

A- Your T-Shirts will be sent in the next day or two along with your posters. I was waiting for more pre-reg people, but I haven't gotten a new one in a week, so I'm just going to send em out. GAMEX was a bust in that department.

B- Cold Case will be distributed free of charge this Saturday at 7PM EST. I probably won't update the news here since I will be busy, so I STRONGLY ENCOURAGE YOU TO JOIN THE STEAM GROUP! http://steamcommunity.com/groups/coldcase . I will be making an announcement where to join the MIRC party there. IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE LEFT OUT JOIN THE GROUP AND CHECK THE NEWS OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS!

C- Today, www.planethalflife.com "should" be posting a review of Cold Case. If not today, then tomorrow.

4 comments - add / view comments