PL 6Pinnacles

ripmax

L1: Registered
Oct 8, 2011
5
0
Hi Guys

I have been hesitant about posting but look foward to some critiquing.

This is my second map but first I am releasing. I was always told never release or let people play your first one :)

This is a 4 stage Payload map where each cap point has it own section and theme I guess.

Payload Starts at Blue base
Point A is Blue's Factory
Point B is Business/Church area with Graveyard
Point C is a Train Station
Point D is a Red Factory/Brewery Style. Aimed at Red Defence

Each "Pinnacle" is linked by a bridge but there is always two ways across to another section. Some are not easily visible till you spend some time walking/looking around.

Red Base loses access to the shortcut bridge when Blue Caps Point B
Point B also acts as a forward spawn once Blue Team caps Point C

I have tried to make it so most buildings are functional in the game to give alternate paths to move/hide/shoot. I also have tried to balance out so each class has something to offer without being overly dominant.

Looking at alot of other maps, I think mine needs a little "Prettying Up".
Any feed back / comments most welcome.

Cheers.
 

Sergis

L666: ])oo]v[
aa
Jul 22, 2009
1,874
1,257
the 6 little areas seem alright (apart from hl2 textures which are a deadly sin) but from what i can gather from screenshots the connecting tunnels seem to be boring tubes of sniperfest. you have to keep in mind that the fight will be happening all along the track. also all the map seems to be renderable at the same time, which will guarantee performance problems.
 

Jeremy

L11: Posh Member
Oct 24, 2010
829
299
Unless you have done a lot of testing on this map (human testing that is, not bots) and are absolutely certain the map plays out well, I suggest you keep this map in alpha until it does.
 

ripmax

L1: Registered
Oct 8, 2011
5
0
the 6 little areas seem alright (apart from hl2 textures which are a deadly sin) but from what i can gather from screenshots the connecting tunnels seem to be boring tubes of sniperfest. you have to keep in mind that the fight will be happening all along the track. also all the map seems to be renderable at the same time, which will guarantee performance problems.

Hi Sergis

Which textures do you refer to? I have made sure only to select brushes that have TF next to their name in the selections. I have added some items into the long tunnel between A-B-C to stop sniping. All the bridges you can jump into the side of the tunnels aswell.

Thanks for the feedback.
 

ripmax

L1: Registered
Oct 8, 2011
5
0
Unless you have done a lot of testing on this map (human testing that is, not bots) and are absolutely certain the map plays out well, I suggest you keep this map in alpha until it does.

Hi SirRaffi

I have not done any bot testing at all. All of the time its been 3v3 with players testing out various classes and giving feed back as to what they like or didnt like and me adjusting the map accordingly.

Its been tested over the last two months to be released now as beta 1.

regards.

Ripmax
 

Wilson

Boomer by Sleep
aa
May 4, 2010
1,385
1,223
3v3 is not going to give you a lot good feedback on gameplay, you need more than just 6 players.
Check out TF2Maps gamedays for chance to get much bigger playtest.

Also, there is edit button so you can add more quotes to your post without making a new one.
 

Urban

aa
Jul 27, 2009
212
352
Ok I did a quick run through but I couldn't play for very long for a few reasons. First off as Doom mentioned the whole map is rendered at the same time which gave me fairly terrible fps, you really need to think about optimising this before it can be playable since the framerate drops were horrible.

Also even though you say you only used textures with the tf flag it is obvious you are mistaken, they are running rampant in the map literally everywhere. In your second screenshot the gravel under the tracks and the concrete under the stacks of barrels are both HL2 textures. In your third screen the church wood texture and some of the brick and maybe the roof texture are also HL2 textures and don't fit. I would go on but I think it should be fairly obvious, even to a new mapper, which textures fit tf2's style and which ones are too realistic.

I encountered a gamebreaking bug early on in the game. After setup time is finished BLU players started respawing in a forward spawn and from which they could not escape, effectively making red the winner by default. I did not bother testing any more after that point.

I think even if you fix these things it is hardly an alpha let alone a beta. 3v3 testing is nowhere near enough players to accurately test a map and iron any gameplay bugs out.
 

ripmax

L1: Registered
Oct 8, 2011
5
0
Ok I did a quick run through but I couldn't play for very long for a few reasons. First off as Doom mentioned the whole map is rendered at the same time which gave me fairly terrible fps, you really need to think about optimising this before it can be playable since the framerate drops were horrible.

Also even though you say you only used textures with the tf flag it is obvious you are mistaken, they are running rampant in the map literally everywhere. In your second screenshot the gravel under the tracks and the concrete under the stacks of barrels are both HL2 textures. In your third screen the church wood texture and some of the brick and maybe the roof texture are also HL2 textures and don't fit. I would go on but I think it should be fairly obvious, even to a new mapper, which textures fit tf2's style and which ones are too realistic.

I encountered a gamebreaking bug early on in the game. After setup time is finished BLU players started respawing in a forward spawn and from which they could not escape, effectively making red the winner by default. I did not bother testing any more after that point.

I think even if you fix these things it is hardly an alpha let alone a beta. 3v3 testing is nowhere near enough players to accurately test a map and iron any gameplay bugs out.

I thought I was pretty carefull in selecting all the brushes . I havent installed in HL2 parts and removed it from Hammers configs etc and select any props I always pick TF items. Thanks for the feed back. I will see if there is a way to strip out the HL items completely and replace the offending textures.

As for the forward spawn bug. I have never seen that before ever. The second spawn area should not become active until Point C is capped which then disables Blue_Spawn_01 area. Other than this there is no relays/logic that enables the forward spawn.
 

Terwonick

L6: Sharp Member
Aug 25, 2010
278
190
bud, I don't think you'll have a problem with snipers, does badwater have a problem with snipers NO (people would argue that its because they have other routes to go, you have other routes to go, don't hide them). my map koth_saltmine was HEAVILY criticized for being so open on the bottom point. Not a single sniper used it to their advantage BUT people still complained over it, so I agreed to change it. That's why it's taking so long for another version to come out.

Another way to pick TF2 textures only is: in the texture selection screen, at the bar on the bottom, you have your area to type in texture names and to the left of that is an area to pick which game's textures you're picking.
 

Urban

aa
Jul 27, 2009
212
352


As you can see we haven't even touched the cart and yet we seem to be spawning in the forward spawn. Oh and the final CP isn't displaying on the HUD.
 
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Jeremy

L11: Posh Member
Oct 24, 2010
829
299
Also, HL2 texture on the floor.

It's not hard to tell what is TF2 content and what is HL2 content.
 

ripmax

L1: Registered
Oct 8, 2011
5
0
Well thanks everyone for the fast feedback, really appreciated. I am quite guttered about the HL textures so will spend some time going through sorting that issue out. I was paying attention to this but seemed to have slipped up somehow.

Also the blue spawn issue and missing last cap point on hud I will take onboard and resolve soonish.

I wont worrying about upping another version till the texture thingo is sorted.

Cheers again

Ripmax