ARENA Danktown

Nov 2, 2010
355
1,048
An arena map using rotational symmetry and the Sawmill theme. Close quarters combat around a greenhouse.
 
Last edited:

Zed

Certified Most Crunk™
aa
Aug 7, 2014
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Oh god

brickinator is breaking through the barrica--
 

Turbo Lover

Fight me under Glasgow Central Station
aa
Feb 15, 2011
333
344
You are quite clearly still working on this map, so perhaps you should consider updating this thread and the thread in the orphanage with the relevant details.

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I think your map has a problem with sightlines. As you can see, there are only two viable options for cover in the outdoor areas of your map, and neither are particularly effective. The low ground cover is flanked on both sides by lines of sight into every side building exit. It's not depicted on the drawing, but it's also possible to lob grenades over this piece of cover from the greenhouse roof and deal roller damage. The high ground cover can be fired upon from both exits on one of the side buildings and from on top of the middle building. In practice, these pieces of cover see little use and players opt instead to mill about on the raised area or retreat into the uncomfortably cramped interior spaces.

I would also argue that this problem is exacerbated by the lack of any significant height variation throughout the map. While it is true, there are a variety of changes in elevation, the difference in height from one level to another never exceeds 150 units, approximately, resulting in an effectively flat exterior space.

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This brings us to the interior spaces of the map, which as I've mentioned previously, are rather narrow and constricting. The side buildings are effectively short corridors, their sole point of interest being the map's only location in which you can find health or ammo pickups, albeit in damningly small amounts. The buildings that connect the spawn to the greenhouse, also nought but corridors, with a few winding staircases here and there.

On that note, I'd like to bring up the view of these routes when the round begins and the spawn doors open.

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Two doorways of similar dimensions, the most prominent of which is determined by where you spawn, with no indication of an additional route's existence and no indication of purpose for the routes which are easily visible, whether they are intended as a flank or the main route for arriving at the greenhouse. This area in front of spawn is also an especially cramped area, dominated by a largely blank wall, mere metres from the spawn exits. This combined with the lack of guidance the player receives from positioning or lighting cues creates some confusion and indecision for new players attempting to find their team and the greenhouse.

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My suggestions for improving this map would be to add some kind of small building in the red area, this would grant each team a staging area for attacks and a safe location to retreat to, perhaps include an ammo pickup for Engineers in this area too. Secondly, I would suggest you widen the side route to encompass more of the blue area, which would make fighting inside this room less of a cluttered mess.

Lastly, I'd like to bring up a matter of personal preference, which pertains to your choice of detailing theme and the map's name. I said something to this effect in chat, but I think it bears repeating with additional detail, that featuring marijuana plants in your map and naming it after internet slang is neither particularly funny nor productive, and instead comes off as immature and detractive to map's overall image. God forbid Valve ever include a weed map in their next update. Even if it was hilarious, not everybody gets the joke and the last couple of times the map has been played someone has had to explain to a curious tester the origin of the name. I believe you can find suitably appropriate substitute plants to be grown in the map's greenhouse and I trust you can come up with a fitting name to go with it, which would hopefully come to show this map in a more respectable light.
 
S

saph

First off, the map isn't mirror symmetry, it's rotational symmetry. The map is very open, but the point is congested. Any classes with explosives (soldier and demoman) can camp very easily. I would make the side routes less wide. For the point, make that building a bit larger. Also, I would remove the planters on the sides because any class can easily jump-crouch up to it, then escape. I easily jumped up to the roof, which is a bit overpowered considering you have vision on most of the map. I think the layout and geometry is great, but some scaling would improve the map.
 

Zed

Certified Most Crunk™
aa
Aug 7, 2014
1,241
1,025
Lastly, I'd like to bring up a matter of personal preference, which pertains to your choice of detailing theme and the map's name. I said something to this effect in chat, but I think it bears repeating with additional detail, that featuring marijuana plants in your map and naming it after internet slang is neither particularly funny nor productive, and instead comes off as immature and detractive to map's overall image. God forbid Valve ever include a weed map in their next update. Even if it was hilarious, not everybody gets the joke and the last couple of times the map has been played someone has had to explain to a curious tester the origin of the name. I believe you can find suitably appropriate substitute plants to be grown in the map's greenhouse and I trust you can come up with a fitting name to go with it, which would hopefully come to show this map in a more respectable light.

dank
[dangk]
adjective, danker, dankest.
1.
unpleasantly moist or humid; damp and, often, chilly:
a dank cellar.

The name fits.