Smalltime RC1a

A pretty major update, despite the map's layout not being touched.

Once again with Burguers' help, we were able to change some fundamental aspects of PASS Time to make the gamemode (hopefully) a lot better.

CHANGELOG A13B:

- Removed the JACK Ball Trail effect!
The first thing that annoys people a lot - the JACK Ball Trail. Unlike the Flag in Capture the Flag who has a cute effect, this Trail absolutely *dominates* everything you see and sticks around for a long time. It massively adds to the clutter of the gamemode, making it very unappealing instantly. There is also the funny glitch where the trail goes mental and all over the place.
As such, the Ball trail has been removed. With both the JACK and the JACK Carrier glowing through walls, you'll still be able to tell where the ball is at all times.

- Removed the shield icons
The second thing: floating shield icons, a lot of them. These are actually decently useful, but players react very negatively to them. They clutter your vision a lot, and are generally more annoying than helpful to most. They tend to be a large turnoff for anyone new looking to play PASS Time. They are useful in a coordinated setting, but as was mentioned before, that setting is not a pub setting. So, they have been removed. Your HUD is now clean of them - quite a large relief!

- Removed HUD icon for bonus goal locked, unlocked and endzone
Minor stuff - this is about the small icons on the "line hud" that PASS Time has. Because all the goals are on the same place, they appeared stacked, which looked weird. As such, I have removed the other two icons.

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Incredibly excited to see the response to this, as this should be a major step to make PASS Time more appealing to your average joe.

Announcer Changes, again:
- Switched TTS model back to WillFromAfar as Queen Elizabeth was pretty negatively received and doesnt have the spunk.
- To fight the old feedback of him talking too slow though, I have manually mixed and shortened every single line of the 55 voice lines. Includes reverb since he is the announcer afterall. Hopefully this will be the best announcer yet.

- Fixed displacements peeking out the ground at the cubby around the goals.

CHANGELOG A12A:

- Reduced the duration of both the speed boost and invulnerability when picking up/Intercepting/stealing the JACK!

This should make a decently big difference! The default duration for the speedboost/invul is 2 seconds, and thanks to Mr. Burguers I was able to cut it down to 0.5 seconds instead. Due to the map's small size, 2 seconds of a speed/invul was just too much - this change should be *very* noticeable!

CHANGELOG A12:

- Announcer Changes:
--> Changed TTS model from WillFromAfar to Queen Elizabeth. This isn't a joke - she is the best model I could find and also sounds the most like the Announcer. She speaks a lot faster than WillFromAfar, and a lot clearer too. God save the queen.
--> Rerecorded some voice lines: Generally made them shorter. In addition to the new TTS model, this should reduce how much the announcer speaks while communicating more with less words.
--> Changed announcer format from .mp3 to .wav. Should deal with some weird console errors? Also made some voice lines a bit louder.

- Mid Changes:
-> The left side (from RED) of mid has been significantly changed:
--> Indoor area has been completely removed
--> Wall has been moved in a bit more (Mid "squeezes" a bit more now)
--> The left side is now outdoors and is a displacement connector from the left outdoor area to mid.
This should heavily affect how the map plays as it not only allows attackers a more obvious approach when it comes to getting to the highground, but it also generally offers more outdoor areas now. Also prevents people from sneaking by mid if one team controls the area.









- Misc Changes:
-> Increased alarm interval from 7s to 8s
-> Increased base respawn time from 5s to 6s
-> Attacker respawn now gets reduced to 5s, while defender respawn gets increased to 7s
-> Upon a team scoring, during the time it takes for the ball to respawn, the team that scored has their spawn time set to 7.5s, while the other team enjoys a respawn time of 3s. This should prevent rolls a bit more, and compensates the losing team for the enemy team likely having control of mid when they scored. When the ball respawns, the respawn times get reset to 6/6.
-> Moved throw-in a bit to the bonus goal. This centralizes the throw-in goal a bit more, offering more intuitive throw-angles from all sides.
-> Fixed hole inside the map's ground
-> Slight optimization work

CHANGELOG A11:

- The Announcer will now announce what team controls the JACK! Should be a central step to raising gamemode awareness. The voice line only gets played if the ball switches teams, e.g. if the ball is owned by red, then neutral, then red again, it wont play the second time. If it's red, then neutral, then blue however, it will play.
This should aid both defenders and attackers, and generally help players understand the current gamestate more, allowing them to attack and defend better.

- Added wall/ground textures for displacements

- Reworked Connector from spawn to the building with the fence on top:
--> Raised base ground a bit
--> Removed prop-jump, raised ground of brush and ramp instead
--> The building from spawn to the rooftop no longer features a staircase up top, and the door to up top has been removed. It's now a sole connector to that place outside of the bottom ramps.



- Made ramp rock easier to walk up

CHANGELOG A10:

- Reduced gaps in the sentences of the announcer, making him say more in less time.
- The announcer will now congratulate you if you win, and boo you if you lose.
- Finally fixed teams respawning despite the round being over
- Jump Pad particles now point into the direction they launch you
- Made some displacement spots more "walkoverable"
- Added a lower ramp for defenders to access the highground of the building with the fence on top
- There are now two control point-esque points on the walk-in goal. Hoping that it might make it clearer to new people that you need to walk into the zone with the ball.

CHANGELOG A9a:

- Fixed missing alarm light trigger in RED's base
- Extended playspace of the left (red side) roof with the box on it by 64Hu since it felt a bit too small
- Made planks onto box on that roof also a bit more steep to offer more playspace
- Moved alarm light up to the edge of the playspace platform so its easier to see

CHANGELOG A9:

- Reworked left (from red side) area: It is now outdoors and a bit bigger! You can also throw(jump over that fence.





- All Spawns now face forwards
- Added a very inviting lowground ramp up the highground from spawn



- A potentially familiar voice is now an Announcer on the map. Pass Time strangely enough doesn't have one, so this particular person will do the job for now until 15.ai is back and I can use the admin's voice.
Announces a lot of stuff, from the ball spawning, to the ball being in the enemy base, to the bonus goal opening.
Helps a lot for letting people know when the score increases dynamically.

- In addition to the announcer announcing it, there is now a loud horn when score increases dynamically.

- The ball now has a glowing outline through walls.

- The JACK Carrier now has a glowing outline that can also be seen through walls!

Special Thanks to Mr. Burguers for carrying my green ass through this! This was very convoluted to implement, but should be worth it.
The outlined JACK Carrier is a bit of a double edged sword:

- Attackers will find it much easier to tell where their team is pushing, no longer having to rely on the inaccurate HUD.
- Defenders will have an easier time tracking the ball down, preventing "sneaky" goals.

- Various smaller changes/fixes

Very excited to see how the outline affects play. Sure hoping I don't have to axe it since it took me like 4 hours to get it working. Also hoping there aren't 3000 bugs since this was very wack.

Smell ya next imp!

- Fixed a strange hole inside a roof on both sides

- Adjusted respawn times when JACK is in either team's base to account for new changes made previously

Previous:
Attacker Respawn 5 -> 4
Defender Respawn: 5 -> 7.5

Now:
Attacker Respawn: 5 -> 5
Defender Respawn 5 -> 7

This version comes with very very major changes to the map and it's layout. The goal was to make the map feel less cramped but still keep the spirit of small pass time there.

The TLR: is that I have:
1. Increased distance between spawn and goal area
2. Increased width of goal area and it's playspace
3. Slightly increased length of mid
4. Slightly increased the width of mid
5. Tweaked a shit ton of building spaces to make them feel less cramped
6. Dealt with a lot of stinky sightlines and tried to simplify some spaces so players feel less overwhelmed
7. Removed the horizontal jump pads
8. Reworked the building at mid

The base layout of Smalltime is still there, the devil lies in the details. The very-big-details.

Posting a proper changelog for this would be a fruitless effort since I changed so much stuff.

Instead, soon after this post I will update the images of this download.

Will be interesting to see how this one plays compared to older, smaller Smalltime.