CTF HarvestLander

Khorps

L1: Registered
Nov 9, 2014
29
0
HarvestLand

Has a 3D skybox, 2 forts, a sniper roof with cover, 2 spawnrooms for each team, layout is simple and there's lots of water around the forts.

I am sure there's lots of bugs, feedback is nice.
 
Last edited:

Lenny

L2: Junior Member
May 2, 2013
90
35
Well, your map isn't very buggy from what I noticed. But it does have its fair share of design flaws.

The first and most obvious point is that the map is huge. Huge. You specify that you have an area specifically for Snipers, but aside from the (small!) health and ammo pack (singular!) up there, it's no better than probably the rest of the entire map for sniping. And it's not just huge horizontally either. The spawn rooms are tall. The intel room is tall. The skybox is comically tall, and would probably make Market Gardeners everywhere oh-so-happy.

The "tower" in the middle of the map is weird. At first, I thought it was just to prevent Snipers from sniping outside of spawn, but explosive classes can jump on it - and there's a health and ammo pack there too. I'm not sure what the point of standing up there is, as you're very vulnerable to headshots from the enemy spawn. It's not a particularly good spot for height advantage, either, because the battlegrounds are so wide that it's very hard to aim rockets (and I can only image how it'd be as Demo).

The water is useless. You can barely see where you're going and it's way too deep. If an enemy jumps in there while you're fighting him, good luck finding him. It's a free escape ticket, and it's very easily accessible - something a TF2 map should not have.

The intel's incredibly hard to grab if the enemy team has at least two sentries: something that's hard to remedy in Capture the Flag. An Uber push is rendered null because of the knockback from either side.

Also, you can walk around the outside border of the level, making alternative pathways completely trivial. Here is an image.

Overall, though, I'd say the general concept of a layout isn't bad. But you have problems with scaling and awareness of space. It's just very huge, and not very fun to play on at the moment. That's just all my opinion though.
 

Muddy

Muddy
aa
Sep 5, 2014
2,574
4,592
I find that placing character props around the map helps with scaling, since it gives you an idea of how big or small an area is in relation to the player. (I normally use the Soldier model.) Dev textures also help.
 

Khorps

L1: Registered
Nov 9, 2014
29
0
Definitely not beta. Try alpha.

Alpha: Something not playable.
Beta: Playable but still may be bugs and issues.

Try playing it. You can win and you can cap the intel. You can spawn and there is no fullbright.
It'd be a problem if I set it to release candidate.

Also can you please give me some feedback? I have none on the current version and I'd like it alot if I'd get some more.
 
Last edited:

killohurtz

Distinction in Applied Carving
aa
Feb 22, 2014
1,016
1,277
Alpha: Something not playable.
Beta: Playable but still may be bugs and issues.

No, this isn't really how it works. Planning is unplayable, Alpha is fully playable but the layout is still being tested and adjusted, and Beta is when the layout is done and you start detailing. A beta should not still be buggy.
 

Zed

Certified Most Crunk™
aa
Aug 7, 2014
1,241
1,025
Alpha: Something not playable.
Beta: Playable but still may be bugs and issues.

Nope. Sorry, but you are completely WRONG.

Alpha is the first playable state of a map. It's prone to bugs and glitches. The main purpose is to create a fully functional layout.

Beta is when you start to add things like detailing and clipping to your map, as well as fixing glitches. Most of a map's playtesting and changes happen in Beta.

Release Candidate is something that can be considered a final product.

Crash even has a video on the subject.

If you think alpha is something that isn't playable, why do you think the map workshop has PLANNING as a selectable map development state?! Why do you think there are so many totally playable maps posted in Alpha? Use your brain!
 
Last edited:

Khorps

L1: Registered
Nov 9, 2014
29
0
Nope. Sorry, but you are completely WRONG.

Alpha is the first playable state of a map. It's prone to bugs and glitches. The main purpose is to create a fully functional layout.

Beta is when you start to add things like detailing and clipping to your map, as well as fixing glitches. Most of a map's playtesting and changes happen in Beta.

Release Candidate is something that can be considered a final product.

Crash even has a video on the subject.

If you think alpha is something that isn't playable, why do you think the map workshop has PLANNING as a selectable map development state?! Why do you think there are so many totally playable maps posted in Alpha? Use your brain!

Hmmm, true. I'm going to have to change the name of the map though.
 

Zed

Certified Most Crunk™
aa
Aug 7, 2014
1,241
1,025
Hmmm, true. I'm going to have to change the name of the map though.

You only have to change the suffix, really. And avoid calling it b1 once it hits beta.
 

Zed

Certified Most Crunk™
aa
Aug 7, 2014
1,241
1,025
The thing is I used all the alpha prefixes before release while developing it. Then switched it to beta after releasing it.

Well, they aren't released, right? Just delete all of the old "alpha" versions, then.

I also don't really see the point of using multiple suffixes on a WIP that hasn't been released to the public in any capacity.
 

Khorps

L1: Registered
Nov 9, 2014
29
0
Well, they aren't released, right? Just delete all of the old "alpha" versions, then.

I also don't really see the point of using multiple suffixes on a WIP that hasn't been released to the public in any capacity.

I do that. Because on a previous map I worked on, I don't know what caused it but if I renamed it, compiled it, tested, changed then saved it; hl2.exe wouldn't be able to find the file specified. Not sure what caused it but that started happenin' so I save scummed this map so that I wouldn't have to face that problem.

Anyways. This is off-topic, I want feedback for my map. I'm not getting any, and not working on it. Just please this business is over I need feedback on the map.
 

Zed

Certified Most Crunk™
aa
Aug 7, 2014
1,241
1,025
Are you deleting the .bsp from the maps folder?
 

killohurtz

Distinction in Applied Carving
aa
Feb 22, 2014
1,016
1,277
Anyways. This is off-topic, I want feedback for my map. I'm not getting any, and not working on it. Just please this business is over I need feedback on the map.

Did you address the first reply to this thread? It covers the biggest design issues, and that should be enough to get you started. After that, you can submit the map to the weekly gamedays and let people playtest it.
 

Khorps

L1: Registered
Nov 9, 2014
29
0
Did you address the first reply to this thread? It covers the biggest design issues, and that should be enough to get you started. After that, you can submit the map to the weekly gamedays and let people playtest it.

I did address that and updated it. I'm waiting for feedback on the current version.