Atrophy

MangyCarface

Mapper
aa
Feb 26, 2008
1,626
1,325
This is a contest entry for the OZFortress Custom TF2 "So you Think you can Map" Contest. The thread for it is here.
I aim to please both pub and pug crowds with this one and am currently testing at both levels privately.

Atrophy is a mock version of tournament mode's stopwatch, where both teams get a chance at playing offense, and their final scores determine the overall winner.

In atrophy, one team defends as RED 3 open CPs; Their capture times vary from 12-15s. Upon a third capture, the first two CPs unlock, and the third unlocks after 20 seconds. The other team as BLU has 5:00 to capture the CPs as many times as possible. RED receives one minute of set-up time to prepare for the initial rush.

Each team, upon spawn, may choose from one of two teleport destinations to reach the playable map by. This allows players the chance to attack or defend the various parts of the map as they see fit. As points are captured, blue's spawn time lowers but red's remains the same, meaning that the difficulty curve as points lock is not as harsh as it could be.

After the time runs out, the teams switch and the previous defenders now get 5:00 to beat the first offense's score. After the 5:00 is up, the winner is declared and the map resets.

At any time players may press TAB to view the Team Scores, which represent the number of times they were able to capture the point.

The overall theme will be of a sunken and destroyed Mayan temple, reclaimed both by the swamp around it and the REDs that have begun to convert it into a base. My texture artist for this project is my good friend Acegikmo, who will be helping me set the theme of the map as detailing begins.

LONG CREDIT LIST:
  • Acegikmo: Textures, Teleport system, Layout Help!
  • 2f2f: Testing and Support!
  • ABS: Great prefabs! Helped lots! Entity support!
  • Swamp team: Great models and shit!

In providing feedback for this map, I am more interested at least at first in the effectiveness of the new mechanics in terms of gameplay, teamplay and fun; layout will take a lesser priority until the rules have been finalized. Things to look at: Capture times, setup/round time, Variable point values?, Spawn times, and Cap Reset times.

Thank you all-
Mangy
 
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Void

Local Man Unable To Map, Sources Say
aa
Sep 14, 2008
1,867
2,977
Yay swamp theme!

Can't wait to see how the rest turns out.
 

Penguin

Clinically Diagnosed with Small Mapper's Syndrome
aa
May 21, 2009
2,039
1,484
I have high hopes for this. And I know you won't fall short.

I can't wait to play this.
 

Ida

deer
aa
Jan 6, 2008
2,289
1,372
You deserve a trophy.

Yes, it had to be done. Better get it over with, eh?

Can't wait to try this game mode, I think it sounds really fun and not very confusing as opposed to many other custom game modes. Nice theme too.
 

Westerhound

L5: Dapper Member
Feb 5, 2009
248
104
Decided to run around a bit, mainly cause I wanted to see the gamemode (which I forgot to test). The thing I liked most was that there was lots of walls you could jump up on, but you had some weird clips too, so here goes:

First of all, there is a invisible wall here, which you prolly know. I understand that you maybe want to keep the players away from running in there and get stuck, but I think it leads into too much confusion
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/887468/mapscreenies/cp_atrophy_a20000.jpg

And here, another weird clip. It wouldnt matter so much if it was straight, but it seems to come out of the wall kinda randomly, and you get stuck on it :|
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/887468/mapscreenies/cp_atrophy_a20001.jpg

Why can I jump up there to get the healthkit, but not on this block of concrete beside me, that is lower than the kit.
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/887468/mapscreenies/cp_atrophy_a20003.jpg

Invisible wall here. Mostly confuses when you try to jump over it, so I think it would be better to just have it be on same level all the way instead of lowering it.
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/887468/mapscreenies/cp_atrophy_a20004.jpg

This isnt weird, but I think it could be a really bad when a demo jumps there and can easily throw stickies on the ground below without being seen, and killing, from the right side is hard too (unles someone jumps up). You seemed to have another place similar to this, which was clipped tho :)
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/887468/mapscreenies/cp_atrophy_a20005.jpg

Lack of smileys makes text bit boring, but cba to think about them now
 

MangyCarface

Mapper
aa
Feb 26, 2008
1,626
1,325
Gonna be workin' on A3 tonight. Comments before I pump it out....? Thanks guys

edit: courtesy F_M, a brilliantly reduced layout overview
atrophy6.jpg
 
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Westerhound

L5: Dapper Member
Feb 5, 2009
248
104
So after an extremely fail organizing i managed to get a 6v6 up and got some feedback

First of all, the water edge is maybe a bit too high, as sometimes you get stuck on trying to jump up over and over in the middle of the battle. This might get fixed when you start doing displacements, but shouldnt rely on that in my opinion. Make the water just a few units, 8 or 16 lower, and it should be pretty much fixed.
Then the next water thing. YYou could also make it a bit deeper at some parts, so you could exstinguish yourself, at least when crouching. This again brings problems when you run around and you suddenly start to swim, which may annoy people even more than that they cant exstinguish themselves.

Another thing, at B, you feel really helples when capturing as you cant even see if they are coming from the B/C spawn, so they can really easily surprise you with a rocket jump or a few stickies. I think something such as moving the CP on the other side of the water, or then just putting simple stairs/ramp straight from the CP to the upper level/platform/block of concrete might help.

Even tho I didnt suffer from it, the other people kept on saying they were getting lost in dead ends from time to time. I dont know why I didnt do it (maybe cause I was the only following signs, dont know), but I dont think you should get lost in dead ends too many times even on the first time. Its another thing if you wanted to go to B but ended up at C, but dead ends arent overally fun, so if possible reduce the amount of them.

Then, regarding spawns. Its prbably not a big problem in 6v6 if the entire team is waiting at the other end of the tele. But if the teams divide 50/50 in pub, and build a sg at each exit, you might run into some big trouble with the small door and not much space to do anything in the middle room. cant remember if there is a door between teleroom and the outside, but if there isnt, add one

I dont know if the low level of detail had something to do with the overally negative feedback from others, even tho its early alpha. What do you do, stupid people are stupid :p

Then, bugs. I suppose youre not meant to use stopwatch when playing, but for some reason it didnt turn off, so we played with it anyway :D First we played a round defending, and when the 4:30 ended the Stalemate window popped up. Then after another round, it didnt stop, but continued, telling that there was 5 minutes left (the stopwatch did, not the ingame timer) o_O after that it stopped tho. 3 rounds in a row for some reason. And when we played again it took just one round before going back to unready mode. So, the first match lasted 3 rounds, the second one lasted 1 round :/

And lastly: another small bug to be clipped
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/887468/cp_atrophy_a20006.jpg
You get stuck on that bridge part sticking up
 

Ravidge

Grand Vizier
aa
May 14, 2008
1,544
2,818
I kept hearing the teleporter sound troughtout the entire map. Nothing big, but it was noticable.

The new spawnrooms for blue were great, but the spawncamp issue is still present when you go to the one with all the knee-deep water outside.

I also had a hard time finding my way around. I was lost pretty much as soon as I left a capture point, and this made it hard to assist in defending points that were contested.
I can see how it will be easier the more I play (naturally), but It's still a maze for me.

FPS was great, no issues at all... Can't wait to see what the next version brings