polarplant b1c

fuck

The rocket chutes had some degenerate faces that apparently weren't an issue with b1, but were an issue with b1a. Don't know how that slipped by, but it was causing VRAD to freak out, and the map would only render in fullbright. This has been fixed.

Also, the archways above the alleyway between mid and 2nd have been pulled closer to mid by 64HU. This will help facilitate the 'Dwaggy Jump'.

fuck

It's the morning after a rough storm...

Beta is finally here! Super special thanks to Waugh for providing an excellent art pass. It's been phenomenal working with such an accommodating and talented person!

...What, you want a changelog? It's been too long since the last version... It'll be better just to treat this as a new first version. But, off the top of my head:

• The platforms next to the midpoint have changed; the tops are higher up, and a second layer has been added. This is likely a controversial change, I'm looking forward to how it plays.
• The 2nd point has new highground directly above it with the satellite towers having a broken-in second floor. Soldiers, rejoice. It is generally intended that Scout should be stronger on the mid, and Soldiers should be stronger on the 2nd point.
• Redid the "boiler room" between mid and 2nd again, hopefully both Scouts and Soldiers have interesting options for holding / pushing through it.
• Redid the secondary route into the boiler room to be an open alleyway with a shutter door. This way Soldiers can do blind highbombs while keeping the nasty sightline to the other side of mid under control. Also, Demomen get a shutter door there to encourage teamplay.
• New midpoint! It's now 90% less janky, so you can't jump on top of it with just any class.

The midpoint had no capture zone.

Motivation has returned. Shoutout to Waugh101 for coordinating with me to get this map moved to beta. If the last bit of testing I do doesn't reveal any major map flaws, this will be the last alpha version.

Geometry Changes

Mid
-It snowed while I was away, so the lowground has been raised. The underpass areas beneath mid have been covered over with snow.
-Removed the small health and ammo in front of the forward spawns.
-The spiral staircase leading to the inside building has been replaced by an outdoor straight staircase.
-The alleyways on the other side of mid have been brought inwards.

Second
-The alleyway wall has been straightened out, making the path more open.
-Reworked the right side wall to be a smaller shack, which makes high bombing more limited.
-The pathway along the right side now extends all the way to the tiny raised slope.
-Reworked the two small staircases in between the alleyway and the main entrances to second from mid to flow better.
-The path to second from the building no longer immediately leads to a staircase; there is a platform connecting to the forward spawn and up towards last. The health pack and ammo have been raised there.
-The leftmost door to last (which bypasses lobby) has been raised significantly. This should make second feel less big.
-A wall breaks LOS from the black roof (above the forward spawn) to this door. In general, snow has piled below this area to create a smoother transition from lowground to the lobby entrances.

Last
-The path that bypasses lobby has been raised significantly. The difference in height between the doors at last is now much less.

...And probably several smaller changes. This version's production stopped back in January (it's June now), so I've probably forgotten some of the changes I made.

The philosophy behind this update was to tighten up the pathways between the points and make things less wide. To accomplish this, a rework of the lobby felt necessary. I expect this to be controversial, but hopefully it will prove to be beneficial.

Generally speaking, I am not very happy with how the map looks from a detail perspective. I wish it looked better.

Geometry Changes

Mid
- The metal platforms have been reduced a little bit to make it easier to jump to as scout.
- The underpass areas beneath mid have been opened up more. Hopefully this makes the lowground seem more spacious.
- Added a box which allows another route to get from the lowground to the midground.
- Added a large wall on the lowgroud to facilitate high bombing. Maybe it'll see some use.

Second
- The point has some cover on it now.
- The long, open path that lead to what was "ruins" has been brought in closer to the point. Hopefully it's less disconnected from mid and second.
- The area near ruins has been completely redone to reduce the playable area and make geometry simpler. There is a "building" along that entire side of second, and the path itself leads straight to the highground.
- The ground between this highground, the point, and the entrance into lobby is different, and the health that used to exist just past ruins has been moved here.
- The room with the fence / water barrels has had its entrance into second rotated by 90 degrees. I personally feel like there isn't a good reason to push this way at the moment. Looking for feedback here.
- The entrances into lobby have been redone. From left to right (attacker's perspective):
- On the lowground, a quick path that bypasses lobby altogether, but has tight doorways and puts attackers in a pit without any health.
- The main shutter door on battlements, which is low but wide.
- The open side door on battlements.
- The small door on the far right that is level with the point, but is disconnected by a gap. It connects to the open side door before connecting to the lobby itself. It's a difficult door to use properly, but I hope that it will encourage unique gameplay.

Last
- Lobby is smaller now, and has two ways into last. The path on the right (attacker's perspective) is the same, but the left entrance has been raised up to give a small height advantage.
- There are (possibly) less crates scattered around. I don't want to count them.
- A semi-circular ring of metal blocks sightlines from the left lobby entrance to the spawn doors and to provide ample highground over the point that I'm sure scouts can abuse to no end. Might be overpowered for them.

Other Changes
- Increased attacking team's spawn times after capping 2nd from -4s > -2s (this means that attackers will have to wait 2 more seconds to spawn compared to before).
- I'm probably missing a few things. Oh well.

On break from school, time to get back into mapping.

Mid
- Raised the side platforms to be a bit higher. This makes the highground a bit more valuable.
- Lowered some side panels of the platforms to extend to the ground. Flankers will have more cover and won't be as easy to spot. Also helps sniper sightlines.
- Reduced the size of the shutter door. Helps with sniper sightlines and makes holding mid a bit easier.
- Lowered the arch to make bombing in between more difficult. Also textured it with something. Better than nothing I guess.
-Redid the room with the shutter and metal fence thing. The fence is in the middle, with two ramps. They're both tight so a Soldier can once again deny anything trying to come through, but now there's additional height variation to play with in the form of the water barrels. This allows a Scout to potentially juke a Soldier and bait him into shooting rockets. I will be looking at this area closely.

Second
- Textured the area next to arch, and did a couple small height tweaks.
- Extended the fence and platform in front of the forward spawn on second to help sniper sightlines.
- The main route between mid and second no longer has a height difference. The "patio" on second has been lowered. This prevents snipers from having a sightline to that entrance from battlements.
- The shipping crate has been raised, and the snow has also been raised to compensate.
- The point has been raised as well, to make it all seem less flat and to block sightlines.
- The area encompassing behind the point / battlements has been completely reworked. There's a sniper fence on battlements (if you still want to call it that). Battlements has been lowered and the weird fence has been turned into a small building. There's a staircase near this building because the ground in front of battlements has been raised a bit. Snow builds a ramp from the other side.

Last
- The path to last from second (rightmost from the defender's POV) has been altered to come it at a 90 degree angle and is generally more spammable.
- Added barriers behind point to help block sightlines.
- Added a crate on one side of spawn to help rollouts.

Fixed an asymmetry. Also made a ramp on mid easier to approach from the side by raising snow.

Roamers were able to survive forever by jumping between medium packs on mid and second, and midfights were lasting a bit too long for my tastes, so I've reduced the amount of health on those points.
Also removed some weird geometry and fixed a missing texture.