Playa

Change the name of the map to koth_uyuni in future releases?


  • Total voters
    52

H-land

L2: Junior Member
Jul 15, 2009
53
39
KotH_Playa
A Run-of-the-Mill King-of-the-Hill Map by H-land
Special Thanks to Void for his Salt Textures
Special Thanks also to Acumen for his cacti

So, for whatever reason, I decided that I wanted to make a King of the Hill map, and the idea possessed me that I might make a map set in a salt pan, or salt flat, or a playa*, if you'd rather call it that. This map is set on a salt pan loosely based on Salar de Uyuni, a frickin' huge and pretty darn amazing salt flat in the Altiplano of Bolivia.
My biggest issue currently is definitely how to balance a map set on one of the flattest surfaces on the planet. I've created an improbable island of sorts, obviously, but it's still quite open. And I need more cactus and rock models.

Playa is now on the workshop.

*That's with Spanish phonetics, mind you. It should rhyme with fiyah, like what you scream when you're running around like a quick little bunny and happen across a stray flare. It is not in any way related to a playa, like the sort of dashing gentlemanne that would seduce the mother of a quick little fiyah-prone bunny. Or demopimps.
 
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nik

L12: Fabulous Member
Aug 14, 2009
987
564
whatever you do, do NOT try to add natural features to something that occurs in nature as totally flat. Make the obstacles and cover man-made.

for a theme like this, I imagine a train wreck, where the tracks go across the super-flat area, and the cars are all on their sides, dug into the ground and thrown across the landscape.


that's just my take.


*EDIT*: just saw your screens and I rather like it, actually.
 
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Flawless

L1: Registered
Apr 19, 2009
23
6
I think this looks very impressive! But you have to cover those crazy line of sights or your have a map with only snipers and scouts...
 

Mexican Apple Thief

L3: Junior Member<br>LEAD FARMER
Aug 23, 2008
345
60
First off every corner of your map has a sniper zone, which pretty much means everywhere that's not the point caters to snipers. To combat this, remove the spawn balcony so snipers have to walk to their position. Then expand the capture area of the point to the full size of the wood platform. This will allow people to hide behind the walls while capping to protect themselves from the sniper menace. Next, you'll want to remove all health that isn't the four small ones in the middle. Those are sufficient, especially because the resupply locker is so close by. Having large kits around the outside encourages camping the rim. Then add a door between the now vacant dead end path and the sniper bunker allowing classes to easily storm the sniper and clear him out. Also, consider increasing respawn time, as your map is pretty small for a KotH, though I don't think this was much of a problem. Finally, if you want to nerf sniper sightlines, add a wall outside the window 45 degrees off from it, thus forcing the sniper to (depending on which side you decide to put it on) focus on either the spawn or the other sniper bunker and be blind to the other side.

And finally here's a crappy picture that kind of summarizes it.

koth_playa_a02a0008.jpg
 
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StickZer0

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aa
Nov 25, 2008
664
647
Lower the roof on the middle or clip it off completely
Have two large(r) entrances and two smaller entrances to the mid, but the larger entrance should be smaller than the current entrances.
Possibly extend the building by adding more geometry and building attached to it.
Make the capping zone smaller.
Pull the whole map in closer
 

chickenm4n

L1: Registered
Nov 27, 2009
49
6
just judging from your main pic, it seems very open. maybe try something like this?

ideas.png


hmm. well in any case. you need something that will make your main point stand out
 

Rikka

L5: Dapper Member
Feb 10, 2009
208
388
Game tonight was probably the best I've played on it. The mid building was pretty easy to hold with a few heavy classes inside, though. I'm worried that with more players that problem would just get worse. Might want to try out some kind of openings on the roof.
 
Aug 10, 2009
1,240
399
Yeah from what I've seen above, MAJOR improvements. Overall I think the map could be scaled down which I mentioned to you earlier. Also, some places just felt unused, such as the corner buildings that had doors facing the spawn area.
 

Rikka

L5: Dapper Member
Feb 10, 2009
208
388
I think you went a little overboard on the additions. The ramp and the new lookout tower thing made the map feel more cramped without actually shrinking the area. I'd remove the ramps and try out a few different kinds of holes in the roof. Nothing too large, just enough to either get some support spam or a demo the enemy isn't aware of can get one good sticky trap detonation.

I also think you should close off those far buildings in the corners. They only serve to give snipers a sweet spot to shoot into your spawn buildings. And obviously you need to redesign it there so it's not a dead end. I'm not sure about those new tower things. I didn't use it, but then I never tried.
 

Hellfire

L9: Fashionable Member
Jul 9, 2008
601
142
this is jsut a suggestion. yes,its kinda big, but it should make map more dynamic\
playa09s01.jpg


hope this will atleast give you some useful ideas
 

Westerhound

L5: Dapper Member
Feb 5, 2009
248
104
In the beginning it was too open, but now its too messy and too many paths around in my opinon. Hellfire has some good suggestions in my opinon, but I dont like the whole double spawn idea. Its only a koth, and its so small you really dont need two spawns. Closing of a big area like that isnt maybe such idea either.

Another thing that bothered me a bit was the bridge. I think the ramps up to the roof are enough, but if you want to keep the bridges, at least make them easier to access, since the way you have it atm (enter house, exit to balcony, enter another house, exit to the bridge) is a bit messy and a bit confusing)

The ammo/health placement is fairly good at the moment. Defo dont add more ammo around the mid since it seemed fairly easy to set up already (might be cause of low playercount)

E: I like the access to all roof. Might be just cause Im main soldier tho.
 
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Walker

L2: Junior Member
Oct 22, 2009
85
86

I like this, but definitely don't make the orange buildings separate spawns, they're rarely fun, especially when they're so far apart.

Edit: Also! The spawns as they are right now are absolutely huge. Please shorten the distance out of them. :(
 

Penguin

Clinically Diagnosed with Small Mapper's Syndrome
aa
May 21, 2009
2,039
1,484
I like it alot. Needs more flamingo.

It's also got a bunch of nice straightaways for the ol' 6:40 Pain Train to barrel down.