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ACSC09 - Operation Chronos
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Author |
File Description |
Lord Basse |
Posted on 06/02/09 @ 03:42 PM
File Details |
Screenshot:
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Version: |
The Conquerors 1.0c |
.: OPERATION CHRONOS :.
This is my entry to the AoKH Cinematic Scenario Contest of 2009, ACSC09, hosted by Matt LiVecchi aka matty12345. If you haven't played the two earlier Jones Blond scenarios, I highly recommend you to do so before watching this one. It's not necessary if you don't want to/don't have time, there is an instruction to the story in the pregame texts of the scenario, but playing the games is to be preferred.
Brought to you by StormWind Studios. |
Pages: [1] 2 » Last » | Author | Comments & Reviews ( All | Comments Only | Reviews Only ) |
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Dtrungle
Official Reviewer |
Posted on 06/04/09 @ 03:03 PM
Nice cutscene. I lol'd at one part, can you guess it? :)
Excellent use of sounds, I was hooked in near the end mostly. The intense upbeat music was great.
Good try attempting to make an office and a restaurant. AOKTC wasn't cut out for it though. =/
The story part was well done. I'm left wanting to watch/play the 'to be continued'. |
legoguitars |
Posted on 06/04/09 @ 06:42 PM
Yeah, Basse. The restaurant was genius... No tables. Ha. Genius. |
John_G |
Posted on 06/06/09 @ 10:49 AM
I like the cult scene, and the story. Also good illustration of modern time with cars and huge buildings. Well done. |
Lord Basse
Official Reviewer
File Author |
Posted on 06/08/09 @ 09:10 AM
Thanks chaps :)
@Dtrungle
Nope, enlighten me! |
Tanneur99
Official Reviewer |
Posted on 06/15/09 @ 07:41 AM
Lord Basse, I do like your work, you are in the top of my favourite designers but this scenario did not meet my expectations, the earlier Jones Blond adventure and other scenarios like Christmas Story, The Tower of the Moon of yours were better IMO. The biggest letdown was that reading all the text became boring; there was too much talking, no pace. In a cinematic things should happen to watch; instead you see frozen scenes with text to read. If people want to see moving scenes they go to the cinema, if they want to read they stay home and read a book. The second disappointment was the story, to suggest to play the earlier scenarios is unprofessional, especially for a contest. A story cannot be considered for a review or for a contest in a scenario where it is not told. I found parts of the design unrealistic, Roman ruins in Northern Scandinavia; the Romans did not come that far, Ruins, Roman ruins and plants without light in a tunnel? The Romans went west of Germania to the north and then to England. Cologne is about the furthest east they got in the middle of Europe. In another scene were too many flames, I realised the villagers only after reading the text. Some good things, I liked M's office, the inside of the restaurant, sitting on carpets was funny and for me the highlight was arriving in Lapland, the car driving through a snowy landscape and a herd of deer passes by. |
Lord Basse
Official Reviewer
File Author |
Posted on 06/15/09 @ 12:28 PM
Thanks for the comments and critique Tanneur!
I suppose the text and dialogue might have become a bit too extensive. I was trying to make this story deeper and more detailed than the previous Jones Blond scenarios, but I might've went over the top, at least for those who want more action to it!
I suggested that people should play the previous scenarios because, frankly, that's the best (and most entertaining) way to get the backdrop for this one. However, I did point out that you could read the history section just as well, and that's what I'm expecting the judges to do. For people who, after the contest, find this and decide to download it, I think it can be helpful to have the description say what you should've played before this, before you download it. It's still not compulsory, but it's a notice to downloaders who might be new to the Jones Blond world.
About the romans ruins, here I just believe you need to be a little more imaginative. Just because the unit is named Roman Ruins in the editor doesn't mean my intention was to show the Roman presense in Sweden, but rather to show that there had been some sort of construction which had collapsed. Using Roman Ruins is basically the only option you have if you want a small, nice ruin standing there, so you make the best out of what you have. I could've renamed the unit "Random Viking Romanesue Ruin", but it wouldn't have mattered since you can't select the ruin in-game ;)
The plants are of a very rare kind which can survive eextremely hostile environments with only tiny bits of sunlight, or other light sources; these get their light from the torches ans flashlights used by the Cult as they travels back and forth in the tunnel system!
Now the flames & villagers part is very much a valid point, something I certainly will look into and improve for the full version. |
Dtrungle
Official Reviewer |
Posted on 07/11/09 @ 10:39 PM
Playability: 5-
I enjoyed watching this cut scene very much. It was a story from start to finish. There were no lag and zero big bugs/errors that harms the watchers’ viewing experience. Some little issues I did have was that the first view of the cave should have had the water drop sound effect, it would have made it clear from the start that it was a cave. Some dialogues went by a bit fast, I'd say about 4 seconds too fast, this may be only me though. Also, the way the dialogue was arranged was sometimes irritating. The previous chat was still there while the new chat appeared above/below it, it would have been better if the previous chat disappeared soon after the new chat appeared. The already revealed snow area from the beginning could have been fixed I'm sure, to keep the map consistently black. During the end, was it necessary to have the explosion kill the worshippers?
Balance: 5
Everything seemed balanced to me.
Creativity: 5
The uses of sounds were great. The backstab scene was very well done, especially the last kill, seeing Agent M die through the fog was very creative. The author did a good job creating a restaurant, office, laboratory, parking lot and open-road driving scene. Some of it did not look quite right but it was a good effort nonetheless. The added humour is a plus, making the viewer smile is always good.
Map Design: 4+
The scenery was nicely done, but there were a few things that bothered me. The ‘floor’ in the restaurant, office, laboratory was not appealing, I did not like how some areas were ‘good roads’ and some broken. In the snowy hills scene, I believe it could have used more elevation and the trees there had no snow on them whatsoever. Using dirt for the road might have been better since cars driving on broken road does not seem right to me. The trees in the tunnel did not work well; the 'Ruins' (the destroyed building) also did not fit in the tunnel. The sacrificed villagers were very difficult to see and the ES Flag did not look like it belonged there at all.
Story/Instructions: 5
Clear cut instructions. A story from start to finish. A custom bitmap and good title. Objectives, Hints, History, Victory and Loss has informative writings in it. One thing though, the right-most words in the top paragraph in Victory is cut off by the scroll bar. There were also a few (very few) spelling errors, some could have been intentional.
Additional Comments:
A well done cut scene. Download it!
EDIT: I watched it again with the editted data file and the score I gave shall remain the same.
With the data file, the ES flag turned to flames and it made it easier to see the burning villagers.(Unless it's easier because I know it's there?)
The data file also made the parking lot scene better. Viewers would know for certain that it's a parking lot and the gloomy night effect that's coupled with it is good.
I still believe that the trees in the snow scene should have snow on it. =/[Edited on 07/20/09 @ 01:43 PM]
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TheLaughingMule |
Posted on 07/13/09 @ 06:51 PM
I enjoyed watching your cutscene very much Basse. |
Lord Basse
Official Reviewer
File Author |
Posted on 07/19/09 @ 07:03 PM
Thanks Mule!
@Dtrungle
First of all, thank you very much for the review, it's higher than I expected! :) I do have some comments on it though;
On the non-disappearing snow area; well, it wasn't my intention to make this cut-scene all too complex, especially not for me to work with, seeing as I had two weeks to finish it when I started working on it, so I didn't go for the allied visibility trick, which Crasher and others have used.
The explosions were meant to kill off the worshippers or, more accurately, send them flying to the ground from the blast.
Indoors areas are always very hard to create, so I did what I found looked least bad. I suppose it might not look perfect, far from, but I'm satisfied with it anyway ;)
The Lapland hills weren't supposed to be politically, err, designwise correct, with eye candy and terrain mixing, instead, they were supposed to look as realistic as possible, to stay true to the real thing. The road might be called broken road, but I used it because it was as close as I could get to asphalt. Plus, using a mix of dirts probably would've looked like crap, in my eyes anyway.
The reason behind the trees and ruins in the cave will be explained later on in the story. The ES flags is a mistake on your side I believe; the data file included with the scenario changes these flags into burning fires, along with many other things that you must've missed out on. I suggest you watch it again, with the data files, and see whether or not you need to change your review accordingly.
Again, thanks for the review and that you took the time to write it! :) |
Dtrungle
Official Reviewer |
Posted on 07/20/09 @ 01:45 PM
I had another watch with the editted data files and added an EDIT area at the bottom of my review. |
Pages: [1] 2 » Last » |
HGDL v0.8.2 |
Rating |
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4.8 | Breakdown |
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Playability | 5.0 | Pacing | 5.0 | Creativity | 5.0 | Map Design | 4.0 | Story/Instructions | 5.0 |
Statistics |
Downloads: | 1,143 |
Favorites: [] | 4 |
Size: | 12.40 MB |
Added: | 06/02/09 |
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