Powerplant

MVM Powerplant RC1 (Reupload)

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Gadget

aa
Mar 10, 2008
531
527
Here's some progress on the design after another 10+ hours of detailing - still much more to do before it's done. The neon sign is just a placeholder and the cooling tower props are not final yet. There's probably going to be one more alpha version before it goes into beta.

mvm_powerplant_a40001.jpg
 
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phi

aa
Nov 6, 2011
832
1,815
That looks really, really nice. Some areas are a little dark but I presume you'll fix that before the next update.
The only thing that bugs me is that the only place where there is detail sprites is on the grass that's actually blending with the concrete. Looks a little awkward and I suspect you'd either want to make it so that all the grass has detail sprites or none, cause having sprites in just those locations looks a little silly.
Nice work so far and I look forward to the next playable version that we can test.
 

JeanPaul

L6: Sharp Member
Aug 5, 2010
284
279
Wayyyy too many lights.

Its a clusterfuck and my eyes arent drawn to any area in particular. Look at how bigrock first area is lit. Much fewer spotlights that highlight important areas.
 

RaVaGe

aa
Jun 23, 2010
733
1,210
Keep it well lighted like that, but forget about the point_spotlight, or use them sparingly.
EDIT: same with the env_glow.
 

Gadget

aa
Mar 10, 2008
531
527
Updated to Beta 1 now with improved layout for the second half of the map. See the first post for updated screenshots.

For testing purposes I have included one of the Rottenburg missions. It's compatible with the Mannhattan missions, too, although the gate bots don't work. I have to further look into the gate logic in the future.

If you have a custom server running this map please let me know.
 

Potato Uno

L1: Registered
Jun 14, 2014
17
9
The map looks amazing. Looking forward to putting it on my server in the next couple of days and play testing it.
 

Snowbat

L4: Comfortable Member
Apr 23, 2013
165
74
Got to play this tonight with a couple of buddies.
For me, as a Demoman, this map was very enjoyable. I had good spots to plant stickies from and ammo recharges were adequate.
Just two things I would change:
- As you saw, that chokepoint makes it too easy. I'm not sure what your pan with it is, but having a chokepoint is ok as long as there is a wide path too. I would send about 20% of bots through the choke and the rest through the wide path.
- A forward upgrade station would be nice :)

More feedback will follow when we test more.
 

Potato Uno

L1: Registered
Jun 14, 2014
17
9
I see you put in my suggestion for the forward upgrade station (I was there when you played the map with Alias).

My one question is: Is this not going to be a gatebot map anymore?

Also, for whatever reason, it seems like the map is a lot smaller and more crowded now than it was before (no idea why). I'll post actual feedback whenever I get around to playing it for real (or if Alias holds another play day soon).
 

Potato Uno

L1: Registered
Jun 14, 2014
17
9
So we played the map today (10 PM EST) and it actually went a lot better than I predicted. Now that right spawn is no longer a chokepoint that can be easily camped to kill the bots in a cheap manner.

- However, we noticed a huge problem:

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The sentry gun can be placed on top of those boxes. As a result, this happens:

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The sentry buster blows up at its spawn because it cannot reach the sentry. That is something you should patch immediately, as it makes the game way too easy for the engineer.

- Gatebot pop file for a non-gatebot map is not really a great idea. If anything, you should have kept it to a rottenburg mission instead. For one, the hats are distracting (since seeing a gatebot hat immediately rings "gate defense" to most competent players), and in addition, they cannot pick up the bomb. So they just awkwardly camp at the bomb hole and attempt to kill players as they come out. That doesn't make it hard, but makes it broken. If your map is not going to be a gatebot map, stick to non-gatebot missions.

- I don't know if you do this already, but you should make the robots cut through the path that's right next to the 2nd upgrades station (and the little house-like building with the health pack - see Alias' screenshot #2 to know what I mean). I actually liked that as a flanking route, since players cannot just blindly watch only the main path. They have to pay attention to both paths or else something will sneak up from behind to deploy the bomb (or ambush players from behind).

That being said, I did notice some flanking going on, but it wasn't that great of a flank. Like maybe 1 robot went down that path for every 10 that went down the standard path. However, what I wanted to get to is that you should make it an actual possible bomb carrier path. That is, make it a path that most the robots can go through, and allow the bigger, longer path to be used as a flank route. That can help change up the game by a lot.

- Not a whole lot of robots are utilizing the used-to-be chokepoint path, or the middle spawn. Maybe it's because of the pop file mostly spawning bots at the spawnbot marked on the left path, but variety would be nice.

- WRITE YOUR OWN POP FILE! Part of the fun in custom maps is the custom mission that comes with it. We have played all valve missions to death already, so new waves would be amazing.