DynCP Egan Votes:
I wish more admins ran contest imps.
Map name | Dynamicness | 'Fun' | Aesthetics
cp_abyss_b1|8|9|9
cp_alloy_rc1a|7|8|9
cp_blizzard_b1a|6|5|4
cp_catalyst_a1|1|3|3
cp_hadal_b2|6|6|8
cp_intrusion_a6|2|4|6
cp_reactor_b4c|4|6|6
cp_ricochet_a6b|2|5|4
cp_sulfur_b3|6|8|10
cp_winer_a3|8|8|6
Reactor:
C and D felt too open
D was frustrating to take because the point progress seemed to go away so quickly. like, sure you can have a point that takes a long time to secure, but it was more like both teams didnt want to approach the point because it was so dangerous and so when blue started capping it was hard to back that up.. and it wasnt that red defended it by throwing themselves onto the point necessarily, they defended it by clearing out the area completely, which wasn't really fun..
the dynamic element on c wasn't really active much. i feel like the steam catapult trigger should have been a bit more leniant as i would sometimes get caught in them if i was moving against the steam direction, repeatedly launching.
A point felt pretty good.
B point felt ok.
the routes behind D and from A felt good I think.
the routes from B to C felt a bit open too - and maybe a bit too easy for red team to secure? they got really uncontested highground at least in the rounds we played.
As much as I ripped on D's fight, while weirdly focused it was a battle that included all members of both teams (I say weirdly focused because we all at a weird distance). While weird a bit, it was fun.
Dyn: 4 Fun: 6 Aesthetics: 6
https://youtu .be/fJx2TSIH2f8
Catalyst:
I must be an idiot because I didn't realise it wasn't a more gimmicky 3cp, but I was expecting the dynamic element to be more prevalent I guess.
there are some sightline issues at mid, just walk around as a heavyweaponsguy and try to approach the middle CP - you cannot without encountering a sniper staring you down from 2500 units away, totally blocking the approach - all approaches!
there were missing resupply cabinets for red team at least (idk about blue team), a couple of the doors were missing or broken, and not having a texture on the ground seems like a weird choice because you couldnt easily tell how far people were away from you, i kinda dont like that people use flat dev textures generally but on the ground makes no sense @ all mappers.
I feel like if you had released two more versions of this prior to the end of the contest you could have fixed up most of the more obvious problems and the map would have felt generally better all around.
Ill try to play more..(egan maybe update)
General theme seemed good. Green is a great color!
Dyn: 1 Fun: 3 Aesthetics: 3
Alloy:
Harder to make critical feedback of a more complete feeling / looking map..! Aesthetics feel very tf2 and the glowing heated caged things approaching red base and #1 unique and cool, but also really good feeling. I wonder if the map could have had more of that feeling but it's probably fine. B point felt a bit too grey, particularly towards the higher locations around it.
I seemed to get separated from the attacking force (when i was attacking i mean) a lot, like, i'd go through A to mix it up a little, but my entire team is going through B because the B door is closer to Blue spawn exit - I feel like the exits should be equal distance to the blue spawn room, even if it is less visually interesting, small thing.
C felt really good. The dynamic bridges, I know like Im rating other maps down for their lack of dynamic element and then I say here that the dynamic bridges are cooler - but they do feel cooler here because there isnt a bridge from red's right exit to the point - and so you really do notice that negative space junk - you notice the other bridges and how important they feel, and that feels good! (whether unintentional or not I dont know, maybe intentional, anyway its good).
red spawn feels really good too. its probably the same style of steel but that's fine, it looks and feels warm and red and good and spytech too in the mix.
I wonder how comp would like it, i bet theyll like the lack of interesting floor texture mixes for their sticky traps.
I will say that as much as Im praising the bridges and maybe as much as more dynamicism wouldnt really fit - I do kinda wish there was more obvious dynamicism in play somewhere, even if its just a moving-feeling detail object, like billows I think theyre called, those accordian-like things that power a furnace. making noise and blowing in some particles and like somewhow affecting C sometimes, or like in the route approaching C. or like some moving furance parts turn on when blue starts capping.. etc. Idk.
The fight in the approaching coordioors to C, as we approach C - that rush to secure the point itself - when we were all there it felt good.
Dyn: 7 Fun: 8 Aesthetics: 9
Ricochet:
I feel like A is good. B is a bit too open and weird. The dynamic element neeeeeeeeeds to be broadcasted #1 to blue team better all around - blue team kept exclaiming "why isnt there another route past this awful choke!" and they didnt even notice the weird dyn tunnel thing..! also #2 its purpose / rules / method needs to be broadcasted better. sometimes it would turn off .. but for how long would it turn off? I dont know and Ive played the map at least 2 hours by now..! (sorry if im being harsh). also that one way door doesnt quite look like a door - it might look like a solid glass wall somehow instead.
C feels hard to attack on the point itself a bit, but id need to play more of it to be sure.(egan maybe update)
B felt weird and open because the upper routes gave a weird sense of ownership to blue team, but then theyd have to deal with the encamped red team all over the place, and it was hard to tell who was really owning the area - it kinda felt like we were all everywhere. even for red team it was hard to tell.. suddenly blue is on the point and now they capped and theyre on their way immediately to C o shit get on the point all! the demos are already here with their annoying catapulting blue-glowing pills! I wish on C that I could, as red, go from one side of the defense area to the other without getting seen so easily by snipers. it seems really hard to counter that feeling as a red guy at all. like, I want to defend, but I cant that well.. but not because Im bad, but because Im blocked off by a sniper sightline. :^(
Glass on that corner route felt good, I like that change I think.
(egan maybe update)
A feels good! I like A! I think if you were to keep working on the map that you could detail, or polish the gameplay of A a bit, but mostly just go into detail of A right now and I'd be fine with it (assuming you made that dyn element easier to understand generally).
Also, the name of the map Ricochet doesn't feel that good - I keep forgetting what on earth Ricochet means to the map. There wasn't really anything ricocheting around.
Dyn: 2 Fun: 5 Aesthetics: 4
Hadal:
Lighting felt weird and gray sometimes, like, a bit boring and darker than it could be. I feel like D could #1 have had the D label on the HUD so I remember that D is in fact the last point better, #2 could have looked more aesthetically dramatic - it felt as indoors as C and B and the routes behind A. There are windows above D but I only noticed them when I died and my camera randomly flung upwards a bit - they seem good, but they could be so much cooler I bet!
The map drawing in blue spawn is so cool.
B point attacking feels a bit limited but we had low players. B point otherwise felt great.
A felt good other than aesthetically being a tad boring in the red-held area.
-1 point (half joking) for not letting red back into their spawn through the locked A door if they ever fall of D when it's raised to its highest peak. I suggested that feedback in that long video for a few minutes honeslty because I really wanted something like it or alternatively solving its problem..
(egan update)
Dyn: 6 Fun: 6 Aesthetics: 8
Abyss:
i liked it!
Mid dynamic element was very noticeable, it was part of that feeling I was hoping for when I thought 'Dynamic Control Point Contest' initially. The big window themes were great. Great use of colored lighting, good mood themes. Actual good looking volumentric lighting!
Map was generally fun to attack and defend, even repeatedly, as it happens with 3CP maps.
I want to play this more.
As nicely clean the map looked, and it was very easy to read the locations of players - of gameplay - which is great - the walls sometimes do look a bit empty. Maybe having more pipes along the ground-to-wall connections in blue base.
http://i.imgur.com/TVu6cG3.jpg
(egan maybe update).
Dyn: 8 Fun: 9 Aesthetics: 9
Sulfur:
I currently need to play it more - with more people.
Blue spawn looks great. Fix that weird pop-in thing going on with the hanging signs.
A feels decent. I'm not sure I quite like the routes blue can take they feel a bit open and dangerous, I'd need to play it more.. I don't quite like the aesthetics on A - the ground being so gray, all-weathered rock with moss/grass growing on it in patches - looks ugly in this lighting. I think if it was more green, particularly towards the edges that meet up with the cliff wall - opposite the waterfall I mean, it would feel less weird. That the roof above A is unclipped but every other roof that looks that way is clipped was surprising and annoying, maybe have like broken shingles revealing wood places and like a box with a lantern up there - show that you can get up.
I think B was too hard to attack. It was a lot to control, it was too horizontally spacious for me - you'd almost need to rocketjump over to the sides to maintain a push on the point, but red seemed too powerful in respawn times for you to consider it. There does seem to be a medium healthpack over there on the right from blue's perspective, but I still felt like I'd never want to try it. The water underneith was a deadzone for blue team - no one ever used it because you could be seen entering easily, and it put you at a serious disadvantage. Moving around in spectator this is the first time I've seen this place down under B, had no idea this existed until now (make it bigger and light it up better):
http://i.imgur.com/OaUplMX.jpg
C looks really great! I wish there was a bigger battle for it - it does kinda seem to take a backseat once it's available to blue capturing D point, maybe that's fine.
D also looks really good. Red spawn I know you were wondering what you were gonna do with it for a while but I genuinely think it looks really great.
I did feel like D was a bit big to control at first but I liked that after playing it a while.
(I hope I can play more of it - Egan maybe update)
Reason for a 6 in dynamicism is kinda my beef with steel maps generally. Changing how gameplay feels on the final point doesn't really affect most attackers since most will be attacking the easier-to-contest points prior to the last one. The gameplay also doesn't change anytime really thereafter on the final point - not while people are attacking I mean. The door to C really did have an impact at least, so did the doors that open behind A point.
Dyn: 6 Fun: 8 Aesthetics: 10
Blizzard:
Stage 1 - A, Really gray and boring-looking. Gameplay feels ok, better than previous versions for sure. The routes that blue could take onto B felt interesting, lots of different strategies to attempt.
Stage 1 - B, Thank you for actually having a Dynamic Control Point where it being dynamic had an affect on gameplay..!!!!!!! (however short-lived it was). I kinda wish it took longer to move that platform up, and that cap time was increased by like 5 seconds. I know it's the first stage and it shouldn't be 'so difficult', but I intentionally had to turn away from the point because I could capture it so easily that it felt bad to end the round so quickly. It could also look better a bit, maybe a bit more moody right on the point.
Stage 2 - A, Hard to find point because the train blocks your perspective of it once it rolls out. The two building rooms from A's resting place after the train stops and behind it are confusingly similar. Probably could increase captime on this point also by 4 seconds without too much worry. The battle for this point was pretty interesting, good height variation.
Stage 2 - B, Same problem as stage 1 b where it felt a bit too easy to attack. Lighting looks kinda ugly at the moment, especially with the error models/textures strewn about:
http://i.imgur.com/APzEmpB.jpg
Dyn: 6 Fun: 5 Aesthetics: 4
Intrusion:
A: Short lived. I don't remember defending it more than the initial startup gates, which got overrun by rockejtumping soldiers and heavies too easily it felt. Too easily I mean in the sense that once that was gone, so was the point..
B: Too much space to cover? The boulder was kinda funny for 5 seconds and then it rolled out of the playspace and never made another appearence..? The rooms adjacent to the point felt too large to defend conveniently.
C: Not bad to defend, kinda interesting. Felt maybe a bit easy because that height was so powerful and blue needed a really good push when red was distracted to make it onto the point. I think a lot of players were almost worn out by the time we arrived here that they weren't too happy to play it.
Of course the map could be detailed more, a lot of blank walls with no props or decals even in the main play areas - like, on capture points. Good attempt at going with the general TF2 aesthetic though, does remind me a lot of early TF2 maps, which is nice.
More focus on dynamicism would have been neat to see. I think B would need to be trimmed down a lot. A made easier to defend from on the capture point - maybe let red get to the point a bit faster.
Dyn: 2 Fun: 4 Aesthetics: 6
Winer:
Exiting blue spawn was a bit confusing for the first handfull of rounds that I played on the map. I'd spawn and be very close already to the doors exiting into the point sections, and I'd hold W or whatever to exit, and I'd be at some point before I even knew where I was! Not necessarily an inconvenience, but it was a bit confusing. I wish simply I spawned a wee bit farther back from the exit doors.
A: Short lived, got taken really quickly. Geometry above and around is sick af yo! Really cool style.
B: Good amount of differentiating gameplay elements. Time it took to cap felt good.
C: A lot of fun! I was hesitant about the water at first, that it hurt you when A and B aren't capped - seemingly without reason might I add. Pyrosharks were crazy cool in the dark misty waters.
A lot of maps in this contest did doorways that opened after points were captured, but these doors that opened were the only routes into C so they had a massive impact - like Alloy's bridges. So they alone felt decent for dynamicism - but you also had the C gizmos that felt good also once they opened up.
P.S. Why is this map called Winer? What is a winer?
Dyn: 8 Fun: 8 Aesthetics: 6
Good job you mappers!
