- Jul 10, 2011
- 355
- 299
Konnichiwa.
This is my entry into LittleEdge's BATT contest, technically called pl_BATT_EngMob, but I refer to it as Nippon (Pronounced "Ni-p-on"; it's how you say Japan in Japanese). As you may have guessed, it's Japan-themed. I figured it's high time TF2 had a Japanese map, with all the Shogun weapons and whatnot.
Originally, I toyed with the idea of making this a Medieval map, but was disappointed by the lack of good textures and too lazy to make more. At the time, I was also working on a second BATT map, Constellation, but in the end I felt Constellation was too gimmicky and refocused on Nippon.
Once Nippon began taking shape, I decided to remove the Medieval aspect of it and just have it take place around what appears to be a Japanese Temple/Palace, but is actually the launchpad for a RED rocket. The rocket originally came from Constellation (which was to take place in space), and eventually progressed into my failed Assignment Frenzy Arena map, where a rocket takes off to reveal the point.
I modified and re-used the entity setup from my AF map for the final cap of Nippon and themed the final 2 points around that.
The opening is designed to provide for lots of verticality. A good deal of the roof of BLU spawn is accessible by Scout, Demoman, and Soldier, although the lack of ammo and health will eventually force them down.
The next fallback for defense is a shrine just outside the point. This shrine can be flanked easily, but plenty of health and ammo is nearby and Sentries can stop the cart cold unless a clever Spy or Demoman makes use of flanks, making it worth the risk.
The second point is much more simple. Due to the design of the track I was working with, the Attackers are fighting downhill. Since any point at the bottom of this hill would be nearly indefensible anyway (and there needed to be a forward spawn/point at the bottom of the hill to compensate for the HUGE hill following the downhill section), RED can use it to delay BLU while they retreat to the third point. Capturing the second point gives BLU an alternate route to the third point as well as a nifty forward spawn, so RED should do whatever they can to slow or stop that from happening.
A lot of Single-Stage Payload maps have people abandoning the third point. This is especially true of Upward, which LittleEdge's BATT map reminded me a lot of, but can also be seen in maps like Badwater.
I wanted to refocus on defending the third point, which provided for me the most interesting area thematically. There is also what can be considered a second setup time while BLU pushes to point 2 (again, something unavoidable due to the nature of the track while allowing for decent time between caps), and the verticality of the room and many flank routes make for interesting gameplay, a second beginning, as it were.
To accomplish this, time is needed to set up a defense. Once the first CP is taken, RED respawns just outside the third CP and has plenty of time to set up a decent defense.
Once CP 3 is taken, the challenge of making the final point interesting arises. The defenders have a little bit of time to set up a defense as a gate rises to allow the cart through, although admittedly this isn't much (I wish I could use an elevator here, but alas, that would be changing the track).
It's no cakewalk for BLU, not by any means. If RED can halt their push coming off of their capture of CP 3, it can be very hard for BLU to regain momentum, even with all the flanks available to them and the ability to turn the "War Room" of CP 3 into a forward base.
My tests against bots have been fun, but bots aren't at all like humans. I'm also worried about framerate; I've done a lot of optimizing and it runs fine on my computer, but I have a top-of-the-line computer, so I can't really be a good judge of framerates.
Credit:
A Boojum Snark - Every map needs to credit Boojum. In my case, a while back he entered contest number 7, creating an intel room (in the TF2M archives). The VMF was put up for download so people could make prefabs out of it. Bits of my "Spytech" area were taken out of such prefabs, with permission.
Aly - She made a wonderful cherry tree, and then told me it was ugly and gave me a different one.
Earkham - He made some awesome paper lanterns! And awesome privacy screens!
The creators of the TF2M Swamp Pack - Payload explosion, various textures, all-around awesomeness.
The creators of the Community Medieval Update - General Japanese-ish Medieval props.
Seba - War Room Accessories
Void and Rexy - Computer Screen Banks
Rexy - A forklift. Of forkiness.
If I missed you in the credits, please excuse me, for I am a failure. D:
This is my entry into LittleEdge's BATT contest, technically called pl_BATT_EngMob, but I refer to it as Nippon (Pronounced "Ni-p-on"; it's how you say Japan in Japanese). As you may have guessed, it's Japan-themed. I figured it's high time TF2 had a Japanese map, with all the Shogun weapons and whatnot.
Originally, I toyed with the idea of making this a Medieval map, but was disappointed by the lack of good textures and too lazy to make more. At the time, I was also working on a second BATT map, Constellation, but in the end I felt Constellation was too gimmicky and refocused on Nippon.
Once Nippon began taking shape, I decided to remove the Medieval aspect of it and just have it take place around what appears to be a Japanese Temple/Palace, but is actually the launchpad for a RED rocket. The rocket originally came from Constellation (which was to take place in space), and eventually progressed into my failed Assignment Frenzy Arena map, where a rocket takes off to reveal the point.
I modified and re-used the entity setup from my AF map for the final cap of Nippon and themed the final 2 points around that.
The opening is designed to provide for lots of verticality. A good deal of the roof of BLU spawn is accessible by Scout, Demoman, and Soldier, although the lack of ammo and health will eventually force them down.
The next fallback for defense is a shrine just outside the point. This shrine can be flanked easily, but plenty of health and ammo is nearby and Sentries can stop the cart cold unless a clever Spy or Demoman makes use of flanks, making it worth the risk.
The second point is much more simple. Due to the design of the track I was working with, the Attackers are fighting downhill. Since any point at the bottom of this hill would be nearly indefensible anyway (and there needed to be a forward spawn/point at the bottom of the hill to compensate for the HUGE hill following the downhill section), RED can use it to delay BLU while they retreat to the third point. Capturing the second point gives BLU an alternate route to the third point as well as a nifty forward spawn, so RED should do whatever they can to slow or stop that from happening.
A lot of Single-Stage Payload maps have people abandoning the third point. This is especially true of Upward, which LittleEdge's BATT map reminded me a lot of, but can also be seen in maps like Badwater.
I wanted to refocus on defending the third point, which provided for me the most interesting area thematically. There is also what can be considered a second setup time while BLU pushes to point 2 (again, something unavoidable due to the nature of the track while allowing for decent time between caps), and the verticality of the room and many flank routes make for interesting gameplay, a second beginning, as it were.
To accomplish this, time is needed to set up a defense. Once the first CP is taken, RED respawns just outside the third CP and has plenty of time to set up a decent defense.
Once CP 3 is taken, the challenge of making the final point interesting arises. The defenders have a little bit of time to set up a defense as a gate rises to allow the cart through, although admittedly this isn't much (I wish I could use an elevator here, but alas, that would be changing the track).
It's no cakewalk for BLU, not by any means. If RED can halt their push coming off of their capture of CP 3, it can be very hard for BLU to regain momentum, even with all the flanks available to them and the ability to turn the "War Room" of CP 3 into a forward base.
My tests against bots have been fun, but bots aren't at all like humans. I'm also worried about framerate; I've done a lot of optimizing and it runs fine on my computer, but I have a top-of-the-line computer, so I can't really be a good judge of framerates.
Credit:
A Boojum Snark - Every map needs to credit Boojum. In my case, a while back he entered contest number 7, creating an intel room (in the TF2M archives). The VMF was put up for download so people could make prefabs out of it. Bits of my "Spytech" area were taken out of such prefabs, with permission.
Aly - She made a wonderful cherry tree, and then told me it was ugly and gave me a different one.
Earkham - He made some awesome paper lanterns! And awesome privacy screens!
The creators of the TF2M Swamp Pack - Payload explosion, various textures, all-around awesomeness.
The creators of the Community Medieval Update - General Japanese-ish Medieval props.
Seba - War Room Accessories
Void and Rexy - Computer Screen Banks
Rexy - A forklift. Of forkiness.
If I missed you in the credits, please excuse me, for I am a failure. D:
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