ARENA Donald

Muddy

Muddy
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Sep 5, 2014
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Somewhere in Europe, the mercs fight for control over an expansive underground facility and trading post disguised as a retirement home disguised as an old-timey village.

We're still not sure who Donald is.
 
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HQDefault

...what
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Aug 6, 2014
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This would work much better for KotH than arena. This looks fairly linear, arena maps are usually diverse and open.
 

Zed

Certified Most Crunk™
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Aug 7, 2014
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What's the next map gonna be called?

Greg?
 
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Muddy

Muddy
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Sep 5, 2014
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Ah, you're learning! Learn from mistakes, move on. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Good work. This looks neat.
I find that's the case with a lot of creative works. Also cheers!

This would work much better for KotH than arena. This looks fairly linear, arena maps are usually diverse and open.
It started out as a KOTH map, but I changed it to Arena 'cos it ended up being a bit too small for KOTH and I didn't want to have to completely redo the layout. Anyway, there are routes around the point, so it's not entirely linear...

What's the next map gonna be called?

Greg?
If I decide to make a Payload map, sure. I think pl_greg has a nice ring to it.

EDIT: Oh yeah, a1a:
* added extra routes to the buildings on either side of the control point

EDIT 2: Or maybe pl_gregory.
 
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Muddy

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Sep 5, 2014
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I was going to attend tonight's gameday, but then stuff came up. Oh well.
Judging by the feedback and demo from this map's gameday session, it seems this map is actually pretty good (which is certainly more than can be said about Sally Valley). I liked how the rounds were short, 'cos I feel that that's the whole point of Arena mode.

As far as I'm aware, there weren't any major complaints (besides the fact that it's Arena and is therefore the spawn of Satan and the cause of all evil in the world), but there were a few niggles here and there which shouldn't be too hard to deal with.

And regarding that one comment about the map not having anything special about it: I'm not prepared to waste my great ideas on not-very-great maps (which is partly why I named it Donald). But if I do get far enough with this map (to Beta stage, I dare say..!), I've got a few ideas in store for it...

Anyway, any extra feedback from the gameday (or not from the gameday, whatevs) is very welcome!
 

Muddy

Muddy
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Sep 5, 2014
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Look at all this extra feedback I didn't receive! Anyway, update.

a2:
* made the bridge look less bad (also damaged the roof slightly, tee hee)
* removed small health kit under the bridge, replaced it with a refreshing pool of water
* added 3 env_cubemaps
* made the ramps near the spawnrooms wider and less steep
* changed the wooden barrels near mid to physics props for the lols
* some other things
 
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Muddy

Muddy
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Sep 5, 2014
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Alright, calm down everyone. A3 is up.

* added textures, because why the bloody hell not
* made some doorways wider
* added ramps linking the underneath area to the bridge
* changed the bridge's roof slightly
* made the pool of water under the bridge larger and deeper, so it's easier to extinguish fires
* made the skybox taller
* minimal detailing
* fixed the control point hologram being visible when the point is locked
* also made the control point prop change colour when it is captured
* probably other stuff too

I've had quite a few people say that the map might be too small and basic for Arena, but in my mind, small and basic is the kind of thing that Arena mode maps need. The rounds should be short and people should not have to wait for too long for a match to end, so for the time being, I don't intend to make the map any larger or more complicated. If it starts to become a real issue, then I'll see about changing the layout a little.
 
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Muddy

Muddy
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Sep 5, 2014
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In the very unlikely case that anyone actually cares about this map, could someone from the a3 test of this map please give their feedback of this map on this thread? It seems the feedback system was on the blink during the game day, and I couldn't attend because my laptop broke (and is currently still broken).

Depending on how serious the issues are, I might bump it into beta stage since there doesn't seem to be any glaring issues with the map. I'd rather be careful though.
 

ok comp

L2: Junior Member
Mar 16, 2011
51
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I don't like arena in general but I did enjoy my time playing this map. Truthfully I think the small size did exactly what you wanted it to do: I felt like the rounds were sufficiently brief that I didn't get bored while waiting.

A few things I recall: the barrels on the ledge near the middle bridge were not solid. Also, it's not clear to me how other classes can get up on top of the covered bridge... or is that intended for jumping classes only? At one point an Engineer found his way up there and built a mini, probably by climbing his buildings. Oddly enough, there are medium ammo boxes up there accessible only to the players that can get there, but I feel the height advantage is benefit enough. I doubt it matters much in an arena round where you probably won't be running out of ammo, but I think if they did they should be forced to come off of the height advantage.
 

Muddy

Muddy
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Sep 5, 2014
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Good news! The Dacia Sandero arena_donald is back! Unfortunately my hard drive was completely wiped in repair and I didn't back up my map's vmf because I'm a chump, so I have no choice but to decompile the latest version. Oh well.
 

Muddy

Muddy
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Sep 5, 2014
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After a month of having no laptop and one evening of mapping, a4 is here!

a4:
* hollowed out the building with the balcony and added a route leading to it so it's now accessible by all classes!
* removed ammo packs from the balconies
* uhhh some other things probably
 

Muddy

Muddy
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Sep 5, 2014
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Did someone say beta? No? That's what I thought. One day though...

a5:
* art-pass:
*** replaced big ugly dev texture blocks with actual textured buildings
*** replaced (most) generic orange brick textures with team-coloured textures
*** replaced lazy dev texture slopes with ACTUAL STAIRS!
* fixed players being able to walk through the wooden barrels (about time, eh?)
* fixed spawn doors sticking up through the spawn room roof
* added a couple more breakable barrels because too much ain't enough barrels (to satisfy me)
* put ammo packs back on the balconies (and other ammo pack modifications)
* made the balconies wider so heavies no longer have a hard time getting onto the roof of the bridge
* control point now unlocks after 30 seconds (á la KOTH) and can be captured in just 12 seconds
 
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Muddy

Muddy
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Sep 5, 2014
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... And that day is today! Donald is in beta at last!

Tllj9hJ.jpg

IFA3bx2.jpg


b1:
* beta!
* did a heck of a lot of detailing
* worked on optimisation a smidgeon
* fixed roof brushes being too thick
* removed some dev textures I accidentally left in
* various texture fixes
 

Shogun

L6: Sharp Member
Jan 31, 2014
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Wow, that looks great! I really like the bright environment, it's very cheerful. The doors on the platforms above the points are sort of bugging me though. Who would put a door there, and for what reason?

also,
Neat. But how is that building a hotel? Where is this place that somebody would need a hotel?

While I agree with your point, every time I have seen someone use that "Hotel" overlay someone always asks why a hotel would be there. It's hard to get it to fit into a map's setting.
 

phi

aa
Nov 6, 2011
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Just off of the second screenshot I've found a couple things you should probably touch up/fix. they're incredibly minor but i don't have the time to go and take pics of the bigger issues so eh here you go

IFA3bx2.jpg


Red circles: you know what these are. Every single person who's ever used this prop does

Orange ropes: suggested detail improvement. wires from the lightswitch across to the lights

Yellow line: suggested place where you should probably add a bit of wooden trim to obfuscate the texture seams where the rooves meet.

Pink rectangle: your tires are clipping into the wood trim on the wall.

might go through the map and pick more things out who knows. probably don't have the time for that though so gg this is probably all I'll have the time to muster up