LeSwordThoughts

LeSwordfish

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Aug 8, 2010
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Sludge
Gameplay
First wave feels kinda samey and overlong. The mega heavies break things up nicely but the rest of it is endless demo knights and not terribly fun
Is it just me or are there lots of sentry busters?
Second wave better, heavies still dull
Third wave pretty cool. Saharan spy icon would be nice
Tank icon
Other waves good
Pretty fun generally

Knockback area perhaps op
 

LeSwordfish

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Aug 8, 2010
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Sludge Aesthetics
Remove the rain
Lack of shitty details, at least

Destruct
Aesthetics

Good grasp of the basics
Lots of small mistakes
Density of detail all off whack
Not overdetailed
No soundscapes?

Technical
Clipping pretty piss-poor actually. Either non- exist ant or massive and clumsy
Particularly annoying in small corridors
Console spam- HDR cube maps, props without collisions

Ventus
Aesthetics
Damn nice, generally good, density of detail etc good.
Lots of little mistakes, mostly lighting

Clipping
Good i guess.
 

LeSwordfish

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Aug 8, 2010
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ATOMGRAD
Aesthetics
Pretty decent. Pretty basic.
Excellent lighting for a night map, textbook case
building at the start over-busy, picking out the robot spawns not as easy as it could have been
some areas- floors in particular- very sparse
some areas not well lit
few more scatter props, overlays, that sort of little detail
sounscapes, yay

Technical
Nodrawing decent but far too many big areas around the backs of buildings
clipping not great, very basic, good vertically but poor horizontally, lots of little edges
massive hole out of the map above spawn
only a few console errors
wireframes good, fps good
in the doorways into the building, basically everything is rendered

DESTRUCT
technical
nodrawing decent, lots of fiddly little surfaces that could have been got, though
optimisation not great, still plenty of stuff displaying on the other side of the tunnel
first area could also have been far more carefully optimised
lots of console spam- errors in icons, hdr errors


ISOLATION
Aesthetics
Good, bare,
nice sound and soundscapes
density of detail good, if low throughout
disappointingly bare, even for mvm. comparitive size and complexity means that there are far more obvoious empty patches than usual. Shame
i'm not sure i like the contrast between the black ground and white snow: it's a little too stark for me
lights attract attention reasonably well but not fantastically. Partly a problem of the high buildings, i think, you need lights all over the place just to normalise
lovely spawn

Technical
plenty of nodrawing as needed
good optimisation
spawn overlays don't seem to be working
clipping not good, lots of edges and corners
no console spam

MAELSTROM
as bare as Isolation, but the rich and varied colours make it seem less so, somehow?
feels like a lavish, living environment
plenty of strange prop placements- convenient piles of barrels, fucking containers
some slightly ugly brushwork, which really lets it down at times.
overall very nice, just needs a bit of polish

technical
no more nodraw needed, really
some small console spam
Clipping very variable. Some areas good, some really not.
optimisation about as good as it can be, really


PLATEU
very simple, underdetailed
brushwork big and clumsy
some nice use of the base tf2 style though
More reference from maps like dustbowl, and more time on detailing could have made this quite nice
nothing can really disguise that it's a big box with things in
sure are a lot of owls and crows for the desert

not very much nodraw needed, at least partially due to few brushes
layout TERRIBLE for optimisation
clipping pretty good- not much stuff, but i never caught on it.
Watch your displacements- some small patches are too steeply angled to walk on

SLUDGE

VENTUS
 

LeSwordfish

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Aug 8, 2010
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destruct gameplay

only one route, waves are shitty

maelstrom gameplay

i like starting with a giant
the pit is broken it just chucks me away instead of letting me jump in
flying guillotine unnecessary
some of the waves are too
forward thing stops working
tanks are bad
i don't like the tanks
if they took the same route so you didn't have to split the teams it would be fine
everything is pointlessly whack
whats the point of the crit whip soldiers? completely useless
i like how it gives you plenty of stuff
slightly too small, in places
outer routes don't seem to be used often


plateau
interesting heights
simple and clean- far too much so
same with bots
had a crit canister entire way through, never needed it
base layout is good but desperately needs twists and turns and asymmetry
deathpit good

sludge
not as bare as some
waves are super long
kinda monochrome, needs a bit more colour
trees kinda pathetic
forward thing broken
density of detail pretty whack, lots of unneeded detail rooms off to the sides
music is nice
crashing display drivers?
first wave super long and a little dull really
 

LeSwordfish

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Aug 8, 2010
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crit liberty sucks
aside from the first abd the occasional miss waves are good, nice balance of "interesting" and "not dumb"
dont like the layout, kinda just two crossed paths.
i have a love of big payouts of cash
i like the last-but-one wave, hunting medics is fun

atomgrad
holograms stay on
sentry busters get stuck

ISOLATION
samureye, please
i like the first wave feels like an official first wave
doesnt feel as obsessed with being hard
roof is very powerful position
not much use of side routes
lot of cash lost to the deathpit
possibly too easy?
final wave sharply more difficult
should play more
 

LeSwordfish

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Aug 8, 2010
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Atomgrad
Screenshots

Gameplay
Original score: 5
Adjusted score: 5
I suppose it's good enough. The start area has plenty of interesting routes and room to maneuver. All classes are viable, though close-range classes can do little more than hit and run.
I don't like the middle area. It's too slow to move between levels, and if you end up below the wave of bots there's basically nothing you can do, except climb slowly up under harassing fire
The last area is alright, but not very good. Players are constantly trapped at the bottom of a bowl, with cover and height in favour of the robots. This would be painful to defend against human enemies, let alone dozens of robots.
They can't feel fun, you don't need to give them height advantages. The massive amount of ammo makes one sentry position blindingly obvious, and sentry busters can't reach it.
The fences at last also make climbing to the height advantage nothing short of painful. Notice how all official mvm maps make the high ground about as accessible to humans as bots?
Overall it's pretty overscaled. I feel like there was something good here, it just needed more time.

Waves
Original score: 2
Adjusted score: 3
I tried, man, i tried. Never got past wave three.
I can't even say i enjoyed the waves i did play. You're unable to focus on any one threat because there's always a constant wave of scouts or snipers sweeping through. Giants and tanks are just painful to fight when you have to constantly break away from them to deal with harassers. This is all exaggerated by the advantages to the bots meaning you end up falling back often and quickly.
All the waves are too long and too difficult. Staggering them might have made them easier, but they'd still be painfully long. They don't even vary much. One big guy and lots of little guys. It might pick up after wave three... but i've played this map perhaps three times as much as any other, and never beat wave three. It empties servers.

Aesthetics
Original score: 6
Adjusted score: 8
Pretty decent. Pretty basic. It's got some excellent lighting for a night map, a textbook case. A plethora of little details let it down though. Containers in impossible places, and such. I also think the super-bright snow looks strange, like the floor's not being rendered.
The bot spawn is over-busy, picking out the robot spawns not as easy as it could have been. As Idolon pointed out, the scale on the windows are off. Opposite, there's a brick building only visible from one side.
Some areas- floors in particular- are very sparse
Soundscapes are nice, and set the scene well.
I think it could have been improved with a few more scatter props, overlays, that sort of little detail.

Technical
Original score: 5
Adjusted score: 7
  • Holograms stay on.
  • sentry busters get stuck at the plank bridge below the rocket, making the sentry position directly above the pit very powerful.
  • Nodrawing decent but far too many big areas around the backs of buildings are drawn.
  • Clipping not great, very basic, good vertically but poor horizontally, lots of little edges. Messy around props at finale.
  • Massive hole out of the map above spawn. You can jump under the map and all.
  • Only a few console errors.
  • Wireframes good, fps good.
  • In the doorways into the building, basically everything is rendered
 
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LeSwordfish

semi-trained quasi-professional
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Aug 8, 2010
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Destruct
Screenshots

Gameplay
Original score: 2
Adjusted score: 3
Uuuuuuuuhhhh, i really don't know what to say about this. Only one route, limited heights, sentry/heavy positions that invalidate all the other players, broken spawns, the finale being a pain to defend thanks to the bots having a height advantage. It's just kind of a drag really. Sorry. I know this isn't helpful, but the problems are big enough to be easily, sweepingly described.

Waves
Original score: 3
Adjusted score: 4
Again, uuuuuuuhh. Most of the waves are ridiculously easy, with players barely needing to fall back from their very foremost prepared positions. I took my hand off the keyboard to answer the phone and didn't need to put it back on. I didn't take a single point of damage while i had ammo left. And then the crit solders come along, and instakill everything.

Aesthetics
Original score: 5
Adjusted score: 5
I think there's a solid grasp of the basics here, although what lets the map down is the massive amount of small niggling mistakes.
One of the main problems is that not much thought seems to have gone into what makes realistic sense. Some of the buildings are a bit of a mishmash of detail types. I like the use of the basic tf2 style, although i think you need a little more practice with it.
The debris around the destroyed section is kind of hideous.
The density of detail is all off whack- nothing draws the eye right. Detail is all over the place. As someone said, there's a overlay on every wall.
Also, no soundscapes?

Technical
Original score: 4
Adjusted score: 6
  • Clipping pretty piss-poor actually. Either non-existant or massive and clumsy
  • Particularly annoying in small corridors
  • Console spam- HDR cube maps, props without collisions
  • Nodrawing decent, lots of fiddly little surfaces that could have been got, though
  • Optimisation not great, still plenty of stuff displaying on the other side of the tunnel
  • First area could also have been far more carefully optimised
  • lots of console spam- errors in icons, hdr errors
  • Some of the crit soldiers... don't.
 
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LeSwordfish

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Aug 8, 2010
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Isolation
Screenshots.

Gameplay
Original Score: 8
Adjusted score: 10
The best, i guess. That might just be because most waves are kinda easy, and there's plenty of money and i like that, but the layout is good too. I feel like it breaks down the usual "spine" mechanic for the raised side, which works really well.
The roof is a very powerful position, and there's not much use of side routes. It feels wider than most mvm maps, which draws attention to how relatively bad flanking in mvm is: although i bet it's a good spy map.
The deathpits are pretty good but it's a shame so many bots just go miles away from them.
The finale is pretty big, snipers are more powerful than they should be.

Waves
Original score: 8
Adjusted score: 10
I like the first wave. It feels like an official first wave. That kind of hangs over to the rest of the map- the difficulty curve is a little off whack but I don't think there's really a bum note anywhere here? Some feel obsessed with being wacky/difficult, but this hits the sweet spot between "interesting" and "reasonable".
I think you might be too generous with your rewards- 1100 coins for the tank?
Also, Samur-eye, please.

Aesthetics
Original score: 7
Adjusted score: 8
Good, bare, probably too bare. Even for mvm. Comparitive size and complexity means that there are far more obvoious empty patches than usual. Shame, really, particularly given your usual detail standard.
I'm not sure i like the contrast between the black ground and white snow: it's a little too stark for me. Sounds and soundscapes are nice.
Density of detail is good, if low throughout. The lights attract attention reasonably well but not fantastically. Partly a problem of the high buildings, i think, you need lights all over the place just to normalise.
Lovely spawn. Lovely fire.

Technical
Original score: 7
Adjusted score: 10
  • Plenty of nodrawing as needed
  • Good optimisation
  • Spawn overlays don't seem to be working
  • Clipping not good, lots of edges and corners
  • No console spam
 
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LeSwordfish

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Aug 8, 2010
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Maelstrom
Screenshots

Gameplay
Original score: 7
Adjusted score: 9
I think the basic layout is good, but there's some definite mis-hits. Firstly, it's slightly too small in places, particularly in the less used routes. This doesn't matter so much because the side routes get used very rarely- I almost never took any path but the bot paths. It also seems a little light on height differences, with not much actual combat taking place at much of an angle. No really good sentry positions, though that might just be my inexperience as an engineer: i just threw sentries down roughly in the path of the bots.

Waves
Original score: 5
Adjusted score: 6
In my notes for this I have, in capitals, "EVERYTHING IS POINTLESSLY WHACK" which i think basically sums it up. It seems that nearly everything has some gimmick or change that means that playing on this map is a constant procss of learning what the hell is happening THIS wave. For example, why are the scouts armed with flying guillotines? It feels like an unwelcome extension of the "horde of small allies" philosophy to give them bleed for no reason. Also, the whip soldiers? Why whips?
That said, I like the game starting with a giant, and I like the gnome heavies.
I also like the large amounts of cash: I think the difficulty is pretty reasonably matched. Once you get used to the crazy, it's a above-average difficulty map, with a good amount of rewards. It's just... the crazy is annoying.
I don't like the tanks. You're forced to split the team, the routes are pretty short, and they mess up the whole wave that follows them.


Aesthetics
Original score: 8
Adjusted score: 9

It may be as bare as Isolation, but the rich and varied colours make it seem less so, somehow? It feels like a lavish, living environment as much as anywhere does, with some very smart decsisions made as to where to allocate the prop budget. The soundscapes are well chosen and placed, and the whole place feels more like a real place than any other map, i think.
It's far from perfect. There's plenty of strange prop placements- convenient piles of barrels, fucking containers. Some of the map, particularly the side buildings, also has some slightly ugly, clumsy brushwork, which really lets it down at times.
Overall very nice, just needs a bit of polish to be, well, valve-quality.

Technical
Original score: 6
Adjusted score: 9
  • No more nodraw needed.
  • Some small console spam
  • Clipping very variable. Some areas good, some really not.
  • Optimisation about as good as it can be, really
  • The forward upgrade station only worked sometimes.
  • Bots that fell into the "pit" often kind of just stared out, like dogs looking for you to drop a bit of ham. It was almost sweet.
 
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LeSwordfish

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Aug 8, 2010
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Plateau
Screenshots

Gameplay
Original score: 4
Adjusted score: 5
It's far too simple and clean, far too much of just a single big arena. There's some redeeming features- interesting heights, and i love the deathpit, the deathpit is really well done, i think, but otherwise it's just a bit too vanilla to be much fun.
The symmetry really hurts it. Apart from anything else, It means that the bot routes can never be truly difficult or interesting, as they're practically the same.

Waves
Original score: 3
Adjusted score: 4
Again with the bots, it's far too vanilla. I've berated other maps for going out of their way to be interesting and crazy, but there wasn't really any changes to the standard pattern. Those that there were didn't seem to be mentioned or have attention drawn to them in any way- these scouts were just tougher, for no reason.
It's also pretty easy. I had a crit canister the entire way through, never needed it.

Aesthetics
Original score: 4
Adjusted score: 5
It's very simple, and actively under-detailed. Some of the brushwork is big and clumsy, and props are generally well-placed but limited.
I sense some nice use of the base tf2 style though. More reference from maps like dustbowl, and more time on detailing could have made this quite nice. Ultimately, though, nothing can really disguise that it's a big box with things in
I think your soundscapes are broken- sure are a lot of owls and crows for the desert.

Technical
Original score: 6
Adjusted score: 9
  • Not very much nodraw needed, at least partially due to few brushes.
  • Layout is TERRIBLE for optimisation
  • Clipping pretty good- not much stuff, but i never caught on it.
  • Watch your displacements- some small patches are too steeply angled to walk on.
 
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LeSwordfish

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Aug 8, 2010
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Sludge
Screenshots

Gameplay
Original Score: 7
Adjusted score: 9
I guess the layout is alright? It's good enough. Some bits of it didn't really feel right, particularly the staircases, which are a bit tight. I think there's too much of a dichotomy in the height differences- you're either high up and killing stuff or low down and things are shooting you. Possibly another route in/out of the water would be good.
I think the knockback area is OP, particularly when the bots try and take the flag through it.

Waves
Original score: 7
Adjusted score: 9
The first wave is what loses you the points here. It's super long and a little dull really. There's a few other misses- crit liberty launchers are basically instakill. Mostly, though, it's very fun. A nice balance of "interesting" and "not dumb". Possibly it's a bit easy, or the rewards are too high.

Aesthetics
Original Score: 7
Adjusted score: 8
It's not as bare as some mvm maps, but i still don't like it. Everything seems to be the same shade, a variation on an ugly grey-brown. It needs a bit more colour, I think.
Something about the trees feels kinda pathetic, compared to maelstrom. Like there's only a few trees there and they're dying.
Density of detail is pretty whack, lots of unneeded detail rooms off to the sides.
The music is nice.

Technical
Original score: 6
Adjusted score: 9
  • What in gods name is up with those shadows?
  • Forward upgrade station seems to break sometimes.
  • Clipping seems... actually good, god forbid. I'd like to see the rock collisions cleaned up.
  • Great big load of console spam.
  • Optimisation not great, but couldn't really be.
 
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LeSwordfish

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Aug 8, 2010
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[IRC] doc : There is very little cover and the bots beeline right to the bomb, they only need to make 4 turns total
engineers good
hard to judge waves when routes are broken
first wave pretty alright, the pyros peak it nicely and the heavies are interesting while being easily readable
some console spam
no cover + snipers = bad
endless swarm of ineffectuals prevent you from reasonably combatng real threats
not as bad as atomgrad but the snipers are just an annoyance
broken nav means constant outflanking
wave 2 very hard and painful. far too many archers
later waves are better
far out routes rarely used
overscaled
engie position really hard to hit

isolation
p good
wide but not too wide
outer routes not used often
deathpits good
waves nice like theming
tank wave nice but maybe too easy? 1100 coins too generous
finale v big, snipers v powerful

destruct
 

LeSwordfish

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Aug 8, 2010
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Ventus

Gameplay
Original score: 5
Adjusted score: 6
So first of all, some of the routes seem to be broken? As in, the bots just go straight for the hatch in the earlier waves. That makes them dramatically more difficult. If you can't hold the beach you have to fall back all the way to your spawn, as bots flank through the docks, making the bridge unholdable.
There's no cover: it's all so open. Which, when 12+ archers are bearing down on you, basically means that you play perfectly or die. More on the archers later.
The further out routes are rarely used: in addition the engineer locations are really difficult to combat. I think we never broke an engineer's hold on an area.
I think it might be generally overscaled.

Waves
Original Score: 4
Adjusted score: 5
It's hard to judge waves when routes are broken. The first wave pretty alright, the pyros peak it nicely and the heavies are interesting while being easily readable. It goes downhill from there, though. The snipers are really bad- no cover, and an endless swarm of ineffectuals prevent you from reasonably combating real threats. We could never fight off the engineers, because we were always dealing with the waves upon waves of standard troops. There's no downtime. It's not as bad as Atomgrad but the snipers are just an annoyance.


Aesthetics
Original score: 9
Adjusted score: 10

What can i say? Pretty damn beautiful, basically. Watch the shadows and shadowing on some props, and some spytech or something to guard at the finale would be nice. I also still don't like the brown brick building, but otherwise, great.

Technical
Original Score: 6
Adjusted score: 9
  • Broken routes
  • Some console spam
  • Clipping isn't great, really.
  • No more nodraw needed, though.
  • As i mentioned before, the shadows are frequently off.

ORIGINAL SCORES
Maps|G & B|Waves|Aesthetics|Technical
Atomgrad|4|2|6|5|
Destruct|2|3|5|4|
Isolation|8|8|7|7|
Maelstrom|7|5|8|6|
Plateau|4|3|4|6|
Sludge|7|7|7|6|
Ventus|5|4|9|6|
 
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LeSwordfish

semi-trained quasi-professional
aa
Aug 8, 2010
4,102
6,597
LeSwordfish Judges Maps

Note on scoring
Each map for every category has two scores. One is the original score- what i would rate it out of ten. The other is the final score, the original score adjusted to fit the contest judging standards. The adjusted score is the final one.

Atomgrad
Screenshots

Gameplay
Original score: 5
Adjusted score: 5
I suppose it's good enough. The start area has plenty of interesting routes and room to maneuver. All classes are viable, though close-range classes can do little more than hit and run.
I don't like the middle area. It's too slow to move between levels, and if you end up below the wave of bots there's basically nothing you can do, except climb slowly up under harassing fire
The last area is alright, but not very good. Players are constantly trapped at the bottom of a bowl, with cover and height in favour of the robots. This would be painful to defend against human enemies, let alone dozens of robots.
They can't feel fun, you don't need to give them height advantages. The massive amount of ammo makes one sentry position blindingly obvious, and sentry busters can't reach it.
The fences at last also make climbing to the height advantage nothing short of painful. Notice how all official mvm maps make the high ground about as accessible to humans as bots?
Overall it's pretty overscaled. I feel like there was something good here, it just needed more time.

Waves
Original score: 2
Adjusted score: 3
I tried, man, i tried. Never got past wave three.
I can't even say i enjoyed the waves i did play. You're unable to focus on any one threat because there's always a constant wave of scouts or snipers sweeping through. Giants and tanks are just painful to fight when you have to constantly break away from them to deal with harassers. This is all exaggerated by the advantages to the bots meaning you end up falling back often and quickly.
All the waves are too long and too difficult. Staggering them might have made them easier, but they'd still be painfully long. They don't even vary much. One big guy and lots of little guys. It might pick up after wave three... but i've played this map perhaps three times as much as any other, and never beat wave three. It empties servers.

Aesthetics
Original score: 6
Adjusted score: 8
Pretty decent. Pretty basic. It's got some excellent lighting for a night map, a textbook case. A plethora of little details let it down though. Containers in impossible places, and such. I also think the super-bright snow looks strange, like the floor's not being rendered.
The bot spawn is over-busy, picking out the robot spawns not as easy as it could have been. As Idolon pointed out, the scale on the windows are off. Opposite, there's a brick building only visible from one side.
Some areas- floors in particular- are very sparse
Soundscapes are nice, and set the scene well.
I think it could have been improved with a few more scatter props, overlays, that sort of little detail.

Technical
Original score: 5
Adjusted score: 7
  • Holograms stay on.
  • sentry busters get stuck at the plank bridge below the rocket, making the sentry position directly above the pit very powerful.
  • Nodrawing decent but far too many big areas around the backs of buildings are drawn.
  • Clipping not great, very basic, good vertically but poor horizontally, lots of little edges. Messy around props at finale.
  • Massive hole out of the map above spawn. You can jump under the map and all.
  • Only a few console errors.
  • Wireframes good, fps good.
  • In the doorways into the building, basically everything is rendered

Destruct
Screenshots

Gameplay
Original score: 2
Adjusted score: 3
Uuuuuuuuhhhh, i really don't know what to say about this. Only one route, limited heights, sentry/heavy positions that invalidate all the other players, broken spawns, the finale being a pain to defend thanks to the bots having a height advantage. It's just kind of a drag really. Sorry. I know this isn't helpful, but the problems are big enough to be easily, sweepingly described.

Waves
Original score: 3
Adjusted score: 4
Again, uuuuuuuhh. Most of the waves are ridiculously easy, with players barely needing to fall back from their very foremost prepared positions. I took my hand off the keyboard to answer the phone and didn't need to put it back on. I didn't take a single point of damage while i had ammo left. And then the crit solders come along, and instakill everything.

Aesthetics
Original score: 5
Adjusted score: 5
I think there's a solid grasp of the basics here, although what lets the map down is the massive amount of small niggling mistakes.
One of the main problems is that not much thought seems to have gone into what makes realistic sense. Some of the buildings are a bit of a mishmash of detail types. I like the use of the basic tf2 style, although i think you need a little more practice with it.
The debris around the destroyed section is kind of hideous.
The density of detail is all off whack- nothing draws the eye right. Detail is all over the place. As someone said, there's a overlay on every wall.
Also, no soundscapes?

Technical
Original score: 4
Adjusted score: 6
  • Clipping pretty piss-poor actually. Either non-existant or massive and clumsy
  • Particularly annoying in small corridors
  • Console spam- HDR cube maps, props without collisions
  • Nodrawing decent, lots of fiddly little surfaces that could have been got, though
  • Optimisation not great, still plenty of stuff displaying on the other side of the tunnel
  • First area could also have been far more carefully optimised
  • lots of console spam- errors in icons, hdr errors
  • Some of the crit soldiers... don't.

Isolation
Screenshots.

Gameplay
Original Score: 8
Adjusted score: 10
The best, i guess. That might just be because most waves are kinda easy, and there's plenty of money and i like that, but the layout is good too. I feel like it breaks down the usual "spine" mechanic for the raised side, which works really well.
The roof is a very powerful position, and there's not much use of side routes. It feels wider than most mvm maps, which draws attention to how relatively bad flanking in mvm is: although i bet it's a good spy map.
The deathpits are pretty good but it's a shame so many bots just go miles away from them.
The finale is pretty big, snipers are more powerful than they should be.

Waves
Original score: 8
Adjusted score: 10
I like the first wave. It feels like an official first wave. That kind of hangs over to the rest of the map- the difficulty curve is a little off whack but I don't think there's really a bum note anywhere here? Some feel obsessed with being wacky/difficult, but this hits the sweet spot between "interesting" and "reasonable".
I think you might be too generous with your rewards- 1100 coins for the tank?
Also, Samur-eye, please.

Aesthetics
Original score: 7
Adjusted score: 8
Good, bare, probably too bare. Even for mvm. Comparitive size and complexity means that there are far more obvoious empty patches than usual. Shame, really, particularly given your usual detail standard.
I'm not sure i like the contrast between the black ground and white snow: it's a little too stark for me. Sounds and soundscapes are nice.
Density of detail is good, if low throughout. The lights attract attention reasonably well but not fantastically. Partly a problem of the high buildings, i think, you need lights all over the place just to normalise.
Lovely spawn. Lovely fire.

Technical
Original score: 7
Adjusted score: 10
  • Plenty of nodrawing as needed
  • Good optimisation
  • Spawn overlays don't seem to be working
  • Clipping not good, lots of edges and corners
  • No console spam

Maelstrom
Screenshots

Gameplay
Original score: 7
Adjusted score: 9
I think the basic layout is good, but there's some definite mis-hits. Firstly, it's slightly too small in places, particularly in the less used routes. This doesn't matter so much because the side routes get used very rarely- I almost never took any path but the bot paths. It also seems a little light on height differences, with not much actual combat taking place at much of an angle. No really good sentry positions, though that might just be my inexperience as an engineer: i just threw sentries down roughly in the path of the bots.

Waves
Original score: 5
Adjusted score: 6
In my notes for this I have, in capitals, "EVERYTHING IS POINTLESSLY WHACK" which i think basically sums it up. It seems that nearly everything has some gimmick or change that means that playing on this map is a constant procss of learning what the hell is happening THIS wave. For example, why are the scouts armed with flying guillotines? It feels like an unwelcome extension of the "horde of small allies" philosophy to give them bleed for no reason. Also, the whip soldiers? Why whips?
That said, I like the game starting with a giant, and I like the gnome heavies.
I also like the large amounts of cash: I think the difficulty is pretty reasonably matched. Once you get used to the crazy, it's a above-average difficulty map, with a good amount of rewards. It's just... the crazy is annoying.
I don't like the tanks. You're forced to split the team, the routes are pretty short, and they mess up the whole wave that follows them.


Aesthetics
Original score: 8
Adjusted score: 9

It may be as bare as Isolation, but the rich and varied colours make it seem less so, somehow? It feels like a lavish, living environment as much as anywhere does, with some very smart decsisions made as to where to allocate the prop budget. The soundscapes are well chosen and placed, and the whole place feels more like a real place than any other map, i think.
It's far from perfect. There's plenty of strange prop placements- convenient piles of barrels, fucking containers. Some of the map, particularly the side buildings, also has some slightly ugly, clumsy brushwork, which really lets it down at times.
Overall very nice, just needs a bit of polish to be, well, valve-quality.

Technical
Original score: 6
Adjusted score: 9
  • No more nodraw needed.
  • Some small console spam
  • Clipping very variable. Some areas good, some really not.
  • Optimisation about as good as it can be, really
  • The forward upgrade station only worked sometimes.
  • Bots that fell into the "pit" often kind of just stared out, like dogs looking for you to drop a bit of ham. It was almost sweet.

Plateau
Screenshots

Gameplay
Original score: 4
Adjusted score: 5
It's far too simple and clean, far too much of just a single big arena. There's some redeeming features- interesting heights, and i love the deathpit, the deathpit is really well done, i think, but otherwise it's just a bit too vanilla to be much fun.
The symmetry really hurts it. Apart from anything else, It means that the bot routes can never be truly difficult or interesting, as they're practically the same.

Waves
Original score: 3
Adjusted score: 4
Again with the bots, it's far too vanilla. I've berated other maps for going out of their way to be interesting and crazy, but there wasn't really any changes to the standard pattern. Those that there were didn't seem to be mentioned or have attention drawn to them in any way- these scouts were just tougher, for no reason.
It's also pretty easy. I had a crit canister the entire way through, never needed it.

Aesthetics
Original score: 4
Adjusted score: 5
It's very simple, and actively under-detailed. Some of the brushwork is big and clumsy, and props are generally well-placed but limited.
I sense some nice use of the base tf2 style though. More reference from maps like dustbowl, and more time on detailing could have made this quite nice. Ultimately, though, nothing can really disguise that it's a big box with things in
I think your soundscapes are broken- sure are a lot of owls and crows for the desert.

Technical
Original score: 6
Adjusted score: 9
  • Not very much nodraw needed, at least partially due to few brushes.
  • Layout is TERRIBLE for optimisation
  • Clipping pretty good- not much stuff, but i never caught on it.
  • Watch your displacements- some small patches are too steeply angled to walk on.
[/QUOTE]

Sludge
Screenshots

Gameplay
Original Score: 7
Adjusted score: 9
I guess the layout is alright? It's good enough. Some bits of it didn't really feel right, particularly the staircases, which are a bit tight. I think there's too much of a dichotomy in the height differences- you're either high up and killing stuff or low down and things are shooting you. Possibly another route in/out of the water would be good.
I think the knockback area is OP, particularly when the bots try and take the flag through it.

Waves
Original score: 7
Adjusted score: 9
The first wave is what loses you the points here. It's super long and a little dull really. There's a few other misses- crit liberty launchers are basically instakill. Mostly, though, it's very fun. A nice balance of "interesting" and "not dumb". Possibly it's a bit easy, or the rewards are too high.

Aesthetics
Original Score: 7
Adjusted score: 8
It's not as bare as some mvm maps, but i still don't like it. Everything seems to be the same shade, a variation on an ugly grey-brown. It needs a bit more colour, I think.
Something about the trees feels kinda pathetic, compared to maelstrom. Like there's only a few trees there and they're dying.
Density of detail is pretty whack, lots of unneeded detail rooms off to the sides.
The music is nice.

Technical
Original score: 6
Adjusted score: 9
  • What in gods name is up with those shadows?
  • Forward upgrade station seems to break sometimes.
  • Clipping seems... actually good, god forbid. I'd like to see the rock collisions cleaned up.
  • Great big load of console spam.
  • Optimisation not great, but couldn't really be.

Ventus
Screenshots

Gameplay
Original score: 5
Adjusted score: 6
So first of all, some of the routes seem to be broken? As in, the bots just go straight for the hatch in the earlier waves. That makes them dramatically more difficult. If you can't hold the beach you have to fall back all the way to your spawn, as bots flank through the docks, making the bridge unholdable.
There's no cover: it's all so open. Which, when 12+ archers are bearing down on you, basically means that you play perfectly or die. More on the archers later.
The further out routes are rarely used: in addition the engineer locations are really difficult to combat. I think we never broke an engineer's hold on an area.
I think it might be generally overscaled.

Waves
Original Score: 4
Adjusted score: 5
It's hard to judge waves when routes are broken. The first wave pretty alright, the pyros peak it nicely and the heavies are interesting while being easily readable. It goes downhill from there, though. The snipers are really bad- no cover, and an endless swarm of ineffectuals prevent you from reasonably combating real threats. We could never fight off the engineers, because we were always dealing with the waves upon waves of standard troops. There's no downtime. It's not as bad as Atomgrad but the snipers are just an annoyance.

Aesthetics
Original score: 9
Adjusted score: 10

What can i say? Pretty damn beautiful, basically. Watch the shadows and shadowing on some props, and some spytech or something to guard at the finale would be nice. I also still don't like the brown brick building, but otherwise, great.

Technical
Original Score: 6
Adjusted score: 9
  • Broken routes
  • Some console spam
  • Clipping isn't great, really.
  • No more nodraw needed, though.
  • As i mentioned before, the shadows are frequently off.


Scores

Original
Maps|G & B|Waves|Aesthetics|Technical
Atomgrad|4|2|6|5|
Destruct|2|3|5|4|
Isolation|8|8|7|7|
Maelstrom|7|5|8|6|
Plateau|4|3|4|6|
Sludge|7|7|7|6|
Ventus|5|4|9|6|

Final
Maps|G & B|Waves|Aesthetics|Technical
Atomgrad|5|3|8|7|
Destruct|3|4|5|6|
Isolation|10|10|8|10|
Maelstrom|9|6|9|9|
Plateau|5|4|5|9|
Sludge|9|9|8|9|
Ventus|6|5|10|9|