Progress

I set up the encounters and triggers in the Big Room (what I'm calling the room I replaced the silo with.) There are enemies patrolling the catwalks, and more that come in as backup when the bridge is extended. Setting up the AI spawners and movement nodes took a while, as they weren't working how I wanted at first. Turns out that if you place a series of AINodePatrols, set one as a CAI's Initial Node, and set all nodes as SmartObjects such as MenaceNonInfinite or something, the CAI will perform the SmartObject motion on the initial node, but simply walk right past the rest of the nodes in the patrol. The fix: I set the SmartObject on the Initial Node to none, and the CAI recognized the commands on all of the following nodes. My main concern wasn't the SmartObject motion, but that there was a command telling the CAI to pause for 5 seconds at each node. With his Initial Node set as a SmartObject, the CAI ignored all commands and SmartObjects at the following nodes in the patrol, including the 5 second delay. Moral of story: use a neutral node outside of the patrol loop as the Initial Node when setting up the CAI on patrol, and make that neutral node's initial command tell the CAI to go to the first AINodePatrol. That way every AINodePatrol can have commands and SmartObject behaviors associated with it.

AWESOME, HUH?

I also spruced up the space with some big imposing pillars for cover, and went back and associated all of the CAI earlier in the level with AI Spawners. I hadn't been doing so from the beginning, meaning that any CAI unassociated with a spawner and trigger existed from the outset of the level, leading to a bunch of unnecessary AI routines taking up processing power. So I did some housekeeping and now only enemies in relevant sectors appear when the player approaches them.

SWEET DEAL, HUH??

I feel like I need some more setpieces, or little flourishes to break up the level. I guess I'll get to that when I'm focusing more on the visual and polish side of the project, but at the moment the level just feels like "FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT pause FIGHT FIGHT." I should think of adding some side storage or control rooms to the main rooms, winding the path a bit more, and think of some bits of scripted events here and there. Of course, I've planned all along to include original voiceover elements frequently throughout the level, so that'll help.

I guess this was all sort of a note to myself. Sorry.