Shenanigans

Stormcaller3801

L5: Dapper Member
Jul 5, 2009
249
28
Shenanigans is my attempt at a lolmap, if I understand the terminology correctly. It's intended for one purpose and one purpose alone: screwing around completely unseriously, without regard to points, intelligence, carts, or time limits. It's a map designed to encourage people to launch Bonk!ed Scouts for distance (and targets), engage in Heavy boxing matches, get in a few matches of rocket tennis, and otherwise just have some old fashioned, only slightly competitive fun.

The map is designed with several hallways leading to different areas, each one developed with a specific type of shenanigan in mind:
  • Melee Battle - If you want a boxing match, shovel fight, or old-fashioned brawl, go here.
  • Ranged Battle - Like Melee, only set up for shooty types.
  • Rocket Tennis Court - If it involves lots of airblasting, go here.
  • Scout Missile Range - Drink your Bonk!, give the Demoman a thumbs-up, and see if you can hit the (really) far wall.
  • Hide and Seek Arena - Up for some Marco Polo? Maybe the ultimate Spy battle? Here's your room.
  • To Be Announced - There's space for two more add-ons. Ideas are welcomed.

Teleporters and normal doors are both used depending on whether or not RED and BLU teams should start out side by side. All teleporter-access areas have teleporters in them that return you to spawn, while the Missile Range has teleporters placed periodically to shorten the run back to the beginning.

The map ends via a voting system, courtesy of A Boojum Snark's ingenuity. Two rooms are set up on the map to act as 'voting booths,' which tally the number of individuals present versus the total on the map. If a majority of players enter these rooms, the map ends. Otherwise the map continues, potentially infinitely. This is designed so that no single individual can affect the end results; the players as a whole much come to agreement.

Potential ideas for additional areas are welcome; at the present time my only one so far is something akin to a go-cart track; think Wacky Races, Mario Kart or Balloon Race.
 
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Penguin

Clinically Diagnosed with Small Mapper's Syndrome
aa
May 21, 2009
2,039
1,484
I fully support this map. We need a good game room.
 

Chaopsychochick

L4: Comfortable Member
Jun 16, 2009
189
91
So, I had an idea for an area.

A sniping/target range.

Basically fill one side or parts of it with various breakable objects. Perhaps have some look like players, some be hind cover and what not. Then make it so that every 20-30 seconds or so, they respawn. I don't know how breakables work, so I don't know if that is possible. But if it is, it would be totally awesome!
 

Stormcaller3801

L5: Dapper Member
Jul 5, 2009
249
28
I was actually thinking of doing something like that with the Scout Missile Range, although not so much with the shooting part: while traditionally Scout Missiles are used to see who can get the furthest, or highest, or land on a particular target (such as going from the 2nd point to the 4th point in Balloon Race- difficult but possible with double jump and FAN), I was thinking it might be fun to try and set up some sort of breakable targets for the Scout to smash into. That might require triggers that deal damage to the item, and so on, but I like the idea.

In other news, I've gotten more done on the map; I've now got roughly 33% of all the lighting figured out, so that now I just need to apply it throughout the map, and I've got the Melee and Tennis areas set up so that they're playable. Not perfect, mind you- I've still got work to do with gates, barriers, respawn areas, and so on, but they're set up to the point that you could go in and play.

In the melee area this means that there's two distinct areas you teleport into which open into a simple courtyard that you can see in the first screenshot (that's the full resolution I run TF2 at while testing maps, roughly 800x600), complete with things you can climb and jump off of, or over, ammo packs and health packs. I'm also going to add cabinets to the starting areas, which along with the few ammo and health packs sitting around should give everyone everything they need for a good brawl. I kept ammo to a minimum since it is melee- the only reason there's any is in case someone has an idea that requires it.

The Tennis area is set up very simply: it's an open area approximately 1024 HU by 512 HU, with six BLU Dispensers and six RED Dispensers set up at opposite ends. These will instantly respawn if destroyed, meaning it should be possible to keep airblasting away until someone misses- no lack of ammo here. I'm hoping to go in and fool around with the floor brushes to get something that looks more or less like a tennis court; I'm thinking an actual net would be bad. This should also be an area where you can play Pyro Volleyball without trouble, as there should be enough dispensers to allow you to get, and keep, an opposing player airborne.
 

gamemaster1996

L13: Stunning Member
Sep 30, 2009
1,064
134
Should be fun :I
 

Delusibeta

L3: Member
Mar 21, 2009
100
14
Project: Sneak TrackMania Terminology Into TF2 Community Phase 1 complete. Launching Phase 2.

Seriously, it looks like a superior idle map: you actually get to do stuff. Perhaps include a jump map section?
 

Seba

DR. BIG FUCKER, PHD
aa
Jun 9, 2009
2,364
2,728
Jump maps have ledges of various heights that require players to reach them as fast as possible, most often as Demos or Soldiers. That would be fun.
 

Stormcaller3801

L5: Dapper Member
Jul 5, 2009
249
28
Hmm- interesting. So it'd be sort of like a rock climbing wall, only with jumping.

Do you think it would be as fun if it used something akin to trampolines, launching people from platform to platform, or do you think the general lack of control in mid-flight would ruin things?
 

Stormcaller3801

L5: Dapper Member
Jul 5, 2009
249
28
I'm now considering a couple options to be added into this, once I get around to it. Some of them are more basic than others.

The first is adding Nobuild areas to all non-arena areas. This is primarily an anti-trolling measure to prevent someone setting up a Sentry at spawn, or otherwise causing havoc (could also prevent anyone from setting up a teleporter in the hallway to get people from spawn into an arena faster). I'm mentioning this primarily to see if anyone can think of a reason not to do this.

The second is, as mentioned in the change log, a button in the Tennis Court that would allow you to trigger zero-gravity in the room. This could be disabled by hitting the button again. Primarily for 3-D rocket reflecting. I don't know if that would be of interest to people.

Beyond this I'm still considering ideas people have mentioned, including my own- I'm thinking of a go-kart track, a shooting range, and a climbing wall. I'm debating trying to integrate one or more of these into existing areas- the climbing wall in particular might be easily set up in the Missile Range by simply arranging platforms so that they can be scaled one after another, up into the sky.
 

Stormcaller3801

L5: Dapper Member
Jul 5, 2009
249
28
The Ranged Battle area is taking shape now; I still need to add something to the middle, put in some windows, detail, add lighting, fix some minor things here and there, and so on- but it's got the basic layout done. No ammo or health packs, but cabinets are only a second or two away from any point in the forts.
 

Stormcaller3801

L5: Dapper Member
Jul 5, 2009
249
28
The initial five areas are now ready for testing! Feel free to load 'er up and see what you think. I look forward to feedback.
 
Aug 10, 2009
1,240
399
waitwaitwait I thought this is a map that you join, invite some friends, and screw around on right?

anyways, I thought a bonk baseball field would be in order, with a bonk podium that's elevated and yardage bars to see exactly how far you hit the person.

You could also have a teleport system for easy access

A cart/train ride for people

A cause/effect place where you do one thing (cause) and something (effect) happens. I.e. I shoot something and a cow falls and kills someone.

EDIT: I had a bunch (like 10) of ideas that I thought I posted before but I guess I didn't sorry :(
 
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Stormcaller3801

L5: Dapper Member
Jul 5, 2009
249
28
That's exactly what it is- but I'd also like to know whether it accomplishes that goal by being well-designed for the sorts of screwing around that it's made for. For instance, are the health kits in the melee area placed well? Does the terrain suit the play? How about the missile range- do the platforms get in the way or do they offer something useful? Is the tennis court large enough? And so on.

As for your suggestions, the Scout taunt-for-distance thing could be done on the missile range without a problem, there's lots of teleporters around already (both in the range and to get from location to location) and I'm intending to add in a go-kart track now that I've hit beta, along with other suggestions people have made.
 

Stormcaller3801

L5: Dapper Member
Jul 5, 2009
249
28
After scouring the tutorial section and lots of trial and error I managed to put together some simple signage in Sketchup (and alliteration awesomeness) in order to aid in figuring out your way around the map. Also Pakrat'd the map and redid the save name in all lowercase, for compatibility with Linux servers.
 

Dr. ROCKZO

L8: Fancy Shmancy Member
Jul 25, 2009
580
159
If you're going to include a jump section, make sure you get a look at some of the great jump maps out there (rj_rckteer is an example)