Reflex level editor

[Eraser]

Since a number of you never visit GD, I thought I'd post this here.

If you don't know about Reflex, watch the video on their Kickstarter page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/191095869/reflex

It's a competitive first person arena shooter that is pretty much a clone if Quake 3 (arguably CPMA) in a modern engine. Editing levels is done completely in-game, including real time multi pass lightmap generation. Here's a 50 min showcase of the editing process. It's all early alpha code, but already quite impressive:

[youtube]Brg5eiOzIIU[/youtube]

[AEon]

From what I have seen so far, you seem to be able to rebind your keys easily, that is neat to let you get the "Radiant" feel.

Interesting, unless I am mistaken light is not only projected on walls, these walls actually bounce back light without needing light entities to "fake" that effect. That could turn out to be subtle and pretty cool. I really like how the lighting looks from the skylight. I always try to use the skylight as primary light source, avoiding having to mess with light entities, so that is quite promising.

Editor reminds me of the Portal 2 one... editing made accessible.

I do miss a z-View though ... and still think that xy-top-down view would make brushwork faster.

Vertex exiting seems to be easy enough... wonder what kind of polycounts the engine gets away with. 30k+ in brushwork and more would be nice. But I would actually be hoping for 100k+... to really brush-out the world.

Multi-selection of brushes and entities still seems to be missing.

Using console commands for everything is really hardcore (yes, this is a early version), but I could actually imagine some mappers, myself included, to use some of those commands to more quickly add something to the map.

The real-time compilation of light, letting you follow how it works on the surfaces is rather interesting to watch, could help debugging lighting because you can see how step by step things happen.

I am getting the feeling Valve might buy up these guys to give Hammer finally some real-time features like light entity placement etc.

Just watching the video would make me try to play around with a geocomp map where I cut holes into walls and put light-emitting blocks in there, just to see what one can do... i.e. creating a map that is more like a light sculpture. Nifty stuff.

[Pext]

Hm... sloppy brushwork. Do the tris get optimized automatically?

But other than that: Amazing. Having this tool for cooperative editing will be ace!

[Hipshot]

It's similar to trenchbroom, the quake1 editor.

I've used it to make Q1 things, but after a while, I just kinda liked 2d better. It's just that finer details get's annoying in 3d after a while, I don't know why =/

[Hipshot]

I am getting the feeling Valve might buy up these guys to give Hammer finally some real-time features like light entity placement etc.

Valve already have Source 2 and Hammer 2, probably have really good preview modes in that one.

[cityy]

I've used it to make Q1 things, but after a while, I just kinda liked 2d better. It's just that finer details get's annoying in 3d after a while, I don't know why =/

I had the same feeling when I tried the shootmania editor shortly before that game released (although that was a lot more limited). I feel like not only finer details are annoying to work with in 3d but also making even basic structures takes considerably longer.

However, I haven't worked a lot with the reflex editor so my judgement is probably not very meaningful.

Edit:

That being said, I don't think they want people to do advanced stuff with their editor. From what I recall they wanted raw layouts to be released in a workshop kind of thing and have the good ones added to their internal polishing process. Don't quote me on that one though. I can't imagine their detailing wont happen in a 3d modeling tool, especially after seeing their concept art.

[Castle]

Hey guys check out the "this supports multiple people working on the same map" elephant in the room.

Its not just trenchbroom. Its trench broom multiplayer.

Even still, the time it took for him to make a staircase made my cry.

[KittenIgnition]

Did you cry tears of sadness, or tears of joy?

[Eraser]

I'd like a level editor like Radiant, but with the 3D preview being in-engine, rather than having its own poor 3D rendering implementation.

[MKJ]

isnt serious editor 1 like that?

[Eraser]

Yeah it is. I've spent a few hours with that editor (for the first encounter). It's quite nice in that everything (geometry, models and even lighting) is shown in real time in the editor using the game's engine, but it is kind of clunky to use.
I never really got around to making a complete Serious Sam level.

[camel]

http://store.steampowered.com/app/328070

[obsidian]

Hey guys check out the "this supports multiple people working on the same map" elephant in the room.

I now get to trollololololol all of your map making efforts.

[Theftbot]

also #reflex on QuakeNet

[Castle]

Do you guys know if its possible that I can get my hands on the level editing tools and the game? Is this available if I buy the game on steam right now?

The reason I ask is that I want to do a review of the tools and show videos of it in action if possible. It looks really interesting in general, and yes I realize this response is like 500 year delay on it.

[KittenIgnition]

Yes the game is available for purchase and download. Everything that exists is in it right now.

[Castle]

Yes the game is available for purchase and download. Everything that exists is in it right now.

awesome! ill grab a copy today then.

[Pext]

I'll give it a shoot next week. Time to finish building my 10 year old tourney beta.

[Castle]

Holy mother of slick editing tools this is a shining example of editing tools for a game like this. Probably one of the best examples I have ever seen.

Ill be gushing over this in my videos very soon. I am kicking myself for not paying closer attention to this gem much much sooner.

[AEon]

Castle,
I'll be watching your videos then... though I do enjoy the UT4 ones too.

[Castle]

Castle,
I'll be watching your videos then... though I do enjoy the UT4 ones too.

I am focusing my energy on a wider range of "Lets Edit" style videos where I grab editing tools and play with them the same way that people do "Lets Play" style videos.

so, dont worry, Ill be keeping up on my UT4 stuff too!

[Castle]

The reflex editing tools and the game will likely be the reason I dont try to make a level for the Quake 3 mapping contest. On closer inspection the editing tools for this game are too remarkable and too exciting for me to ignore. I plan to begin working on a level for this soon and I hope to do it while in multiplayer mode.

Here is the video of the first look. I realize that some of the technical stuff was covered in the video before but I want my first looks to have a clean reaction to the tools before I actually dig into the real details about how to use the tech. I do think that first impressions with no forward understanding of the tech does matter.

http://youtu.be/fgj_cHfxAGs

Anyway, in my opinion this toolset is probably one of the best toolsets for beginner FPS level designers right now. Its extremely bullshit free and while some of the the tech is a bit hidden through console commands it seems almost too easy to dig into things. The support for multiplayer while editing is also massive, though I am not sure yet how to get this working yet. I also want my next videos to compare this to both UE4 and Crytek on many different fronts.

I am very impressed and it deserves recognition! While you might argue that the game is a quake clone the tools are a mother fucking marvel.

[MKJ]

Sidebar: I recently replayed the Doom2 XBLA edition, this time in coop with my wife (she had never played doom before). We were searching for some of the secrets in the advanced level pack and I suddenly noticed "The Castle was here" in the automap.
I said "whoa wait, that might actually be one of the guys from the q3 forum! \o". All she said was 'Uh that's cool I guess?" but it made me giddy

(searched the old thread D2 release thread here and saw that that was already mentioned back then.. probably slipped my mind over the years).

anyway. carry on.

[Castle]

Sidebar: I recently replayed the Doom2 XBLA edition, this time in coop with my wife (she had never played doom before). We were searching for some of the secrets in the advanced level pack and I suddenly noticed "The Castle was here" in the automap.
I said "whoa wait, that might actually be one of the guys from the q3 forum! \o". All she said was 'Uh that's cool I guess?" but it made me giddy

(searched the old thread D2 release thread here and saw that that was already mentioned back then.. probably slipped my mind over the years).

anyway. carry on.

While working on those levels I made it a point to make callbacks to oldschool easter eggs in reference to Levelord. Since as a whole those levels represented a mashing of both old and new design philosophies I wanted really have fun with the concept.

[Eraser]

Castle, have you seen the video in the first post of this thread? A lot of questions you pose in your video are answered in there.