pl_halfacre

Zwiffle

L6: Sharp Member
Jun 24, 2008
269
161
Hey really good map so far. I don't have as in-depth comments as others probably, but since I played mostly as scout, I can say that I kind of wish that more of the beginning were scout-jumpable. I mean that I wish the cliff edges were a little lower to be able to double-crouch-jump onto them in more places. That might not be necessary for balance, I seemed to do pretty well without it.

One thing though I would mention is to move the first point before the corner. It seems to be a bit too hard (my team had a hard time with it, the enemy team didn't seem to have a hard time) to capture, or increase the initial capture time by a minute or so?

Looks better than hoodoo imo tbh.
 

bob+M|M+

L6: Sharp Member
Mar 31, 2008
346
394
Another great map Youme, I especially love your displacement work.


Thoughts from today's gameplay:


My first impression of this area was too spacious. Maybe it is just the nature of being an alpha version.
indoor1tp3.jpg



This red area could use an open slope to reach higher ground. When you are pushing the cart up that slope past checkpoint 2, there is barely enough room for one person to pass by, also the track seems unnessesarily close to the wall.
overhead1ly9.jpg



Another slope would be good here as well. I felt very confined in this corridor without any convenient way out, and while defending I also wished their was a slope somewhere here.
overhead2rn2.jpg



This area is also very cramped, and there is very little space to manuever while pushing the cart through the doorways of the building. Not necessarily a bad thing, but this area definitely favors pyros.
building1xf0.jpg




There was also the Blue walking distance issue, but it looks like you already addressed that.

bob+M|M+
 

YM

LVL100 YM
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Dec 5, 2007
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not bothered about unsewen displacements at all yet, whilst there are still non-displaced displacements around I'm not ultra careful about sewing them. I forgot about those nodraw faces but again whilst its still alpha it doesn't really affect much.
Though playing I've also noticed that it feels very unfair (not unbalanced, but unfair) if you're on the track and you can't get to the higher ground easily at all so I'll be adressing that.
And that corner is too spacious, its going to get smaller and have props in it so in the end it wont feel too big, I've also expanded that tight building a bit so it should be more open.
I've also reduced how open the first arena is, not a huge ammount but it should be slightly better for sentries now that there are more rocks in the way.
 
Feb 14, 2008
1,051
931
About the fence, why not put some mining buildings/track instead of the fence, so, the building on to of the raised area, but retain a fence-like area where there isn't a building.
 

Ida

deer
aa
Jan 6, 2008
2,289
1,372
Found a couple of issues in the gameday test.


Oops?


Brushes overlapping in the doorway.


It appears that I can build here, but I can't. By the way, it's a bit hard to place a teleporter logically for a BLU engineer, so that my teammates can see it easily, because there's not really a specific exit that people seem to prefer. I think it's a good idea to be able to build inside the spawn.
 

S3BB0_L1C1OUS

L3: Member
Nov 2, 2008
118
13
Gameday test feedback:

The map looks promising but I have some things that I not very fond of:

1. The huge blue spawnpoint. It looks very good, but (yes I counted) it takes you as soldier 7 seconds to get out of the spwan into the open area, which wouldn't be all that bad if you then were directly in the area where the action takes place, but you aren't unless its the start of the game.
If you don't have like 2 or 3 engineers on the team, you find yourself walking like 30 seconds before you even see an enemy, when the cart is close to the 2nd or 3rd point? With the new spwan point it goes down again, but it comes to the same situation when the cart is in front of the last point. Though this walk felt shorter.

2.

sorry for the big image:

- I don't think the soldier should be able to get up there ;-)

pl_halfacre_a40005.jpg


3.

3016596738_6cab0bbfdf.jpg


To the left of the tracks the "ledge?" felt really unnatural, because its to perfect. Shouldn't at some point little pieces of this curved rock have fallen off? Which brings me to the suggestion that there should be a way up to the higher ground right after the house. Just make a big piece of rock come out of the "ledge" so you can get up there with one or two jumps. I really didn't like having to go back the tracks when I saw someone there all the time.

4. the way the tracks are laid out (especially the first part) is a little bit too boring. No offense but I think you should spice that part up a little. There are all these different heights in the first part and the tracks just go ground level and straight in one line. yes they curled, but you can see from the start to the first real curve all the tracks. If it weren't already that late, I could even draw some suggestion, maybe tomorrow.

I have not really been following this thread, so if anything was already mentioned then I'm sorry I repeated it.
 

YM

LVL100 YM
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Dec 5, 2007
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Its and unfortunate inevitability that as the cart nears each point walking times get longer, and keeping the actual spawn points away from the entrances is a must to prevent spawncamping but I might be able to narrow the gap a little.

With the arangement and colour of players in your second screenshot I do wonder what really happens at these gamedays and if their balancing info can actually be trusted.....


Left or right?
The left is significantly brighter than the right with the right being what currently exists. I've swapped out the badlands skybox for the 2Fort one, I'm using an env_sun for the sun effect rather than the model and I'll put some clouds in later if I keep it.
 

Chilly

L6: Sharp Member
May 3, 2008
326
127
I actually prefer the right. If someone has their monitor adjusted a little bright, the left side will burn their retinas out. If they have it adjusted dark, the right side will still be fine. Less harsh = easy to play longer. :)

I had a couple of complaints/questions/suggestions about the map. It's possible to climb the rock outside blue's first spawn, leap across, and place a teleporter exit on top of the spawn. Not sure if that's intended. It's kind of fun, though. :)

My main complaint was with blue's forward spawns. There are 2 forward spawns but you only gain a short distance when you move from the first to the second. I'm not sure if that's worth it considering the engineers have to move their teleporter entrances forward at that time. Personally I'd prefer always keeping the rear one and having a shortcut open to the other side when you cap the next checkpoint. It's really not that big of a deal, though, since engineers can always just build at the final spawn even though they're not spawning there yet.

I think FLOOR_MASTER was right about some of your sniping areas. The two that really bothered me were after the first and second turns. They're so long and narrow that an excellent sniper can really lock them down. The inside route on the first part is a good alternative, but it needs more cover when you finish the detail work. The upper route on the second part could use a bit of cover from the red side. That would allow the defenders to use it to cover the tracks really well, but once the attackers take it they'd gain a bit of cover.

Finally, there's a ledge on the final area that only blue can get to. It's outside the upper spawn to the left. It's a really good sentry spot, especially since spies can't get to it nor can pyros. In fact, the offense would be forced to use an uber demoman to take it out. I'd suggest adding a couple barrels below that would allow a spy to slowly climb up there.

Nice work so far. :)
 

S3BB0_L1C1OUS

L3: Member
Nov 2, 2008
118
13
Youme:
With the arangement and colour of players in your second screenshot I do wonder what really happens at these gamedays and if their balancing info can actually be trusted.....

That's a bit arrogant don't you think? I really tried and I think I succeded to post constructive criticism. If you think I was out of line with anything than please say so, but don't try to comprimise the gameplay-tests.
I don't know who that red demo was, but it happens on every server now and then that you get a bit lost.

Left or right?

right!
 

Scotland Tom

L6: Sharp Member
Jan 19, 2008
332
64
I've gotta go with the left image. Honestly, both look great. But even though the one on the right does seem to have more of a richness or warmth to it, the left one is brighter. I personally always seem to enjoy myself more on the maps that are lit more brightly.
 

YM

LVL100 YM
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Dec 5, 2007
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That's a bit arrogant don't you think? I really tried and I think I succeded to post constructive criticism. If you think I was out of line with anything than please say so, but don't try to comprimise the gameplay-tests.
I don't know who that red demo was, but it happens on every server now and then that you get a bit lost.

Not really, I'm not questioning you, I know a screenshot only takes a second to do, but the soldier up there doesn't look like hes testing gameplay....

Anyway, I've not had an overwhelming responce to either one so _a5 is the brighter side to test it out.
http://forums.tf2maps.net/downloads.php?do=file&id=803
 

Altaco

L420: High Member
Jul 3, 2008
484
120
Not really, I'm not questioning you, I know a screenshot only takes a second to do, but the soldier up there doesn't look like hes testing gameplay....

Anyway, I've not had an overwhelming responce to either one so _a5 is the brighter side to test it out.
http://forums.tf2maps.net/downloads.php?do=file&id=803

It looks like the blu demo just landed from a sticky jump. I don't see what's wrong with that.
 

S3BB0_L1C1OUS

L3: Member
Nov 2, 2008
118
13
kept getting stuck here while trying to go up and left.

pl_halfacre_a50013.jpg


Who knows whats wrong with this picture?

pl_halfacre_a50015.jpg
 

bob+M|M+

L6: Sharp Member
Mar 31, 2008
346
394
lol @ chrono and his floating speech bubble ^_^

Not sure how I feel about this medium size medkit here so close to blue spawn. Consider reducing it to small or moving it elsewhere. Need to test it a bit more.
plhalfacrea50033oz8.jpg


I didn't have a problem with this area, but I could imagine many people exiting spawn and turning right toward the wrong direction.
plhalfacrea50035ux1.jpg



Not too much else to say about the map for now. I really enjoyed the flow of the gameplay and the forward spawns were great.
 
Last edited:

l3eeron

L8: Fancy Shmancy Member
Jan 4, 2008
593
88
this map is great, better than hoodoo

I didn't notice anything else that hasn't been said...

I just wanted to say I like the advancing spawns, I like the simplicity. Seems like every custom (including mine) is kind of confusing. I found this one pretty easy to navigate.
 

S3BB0_L1C1OUS

L3: Member
Nov 2, 2008
118
13
I remembered that I kept getting stuck on the ladder or sth when I tried to get the pack. Felt a bit odd.

plhalfacrea50033oz8.jpg
 

III_Demon

L2: Junior Member
Sep 28, 2008
57
29
this was the only real map i got worthwhile time in on for this gameday, and there was only one thing that stuck out that i have anything to say about.

i got multiple dominations in this spot, just as a soldier, raining rockets down on this choke point, with not much help from the rest of the team at the time. it was a little too easy. i wasnt being a super badass or anything, i just happened to be hanging out there and kept collecting the health and ammo. maybe reduce them to small health and ammo? or ditch the health entirely and leave the ammo for engineers?
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