Jump-Pads (From koth_backwoods)

Fantaboi

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Mar 11, 2013
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Modified and created from assets made by the MVA team and FusionMetroid. You have every right to modify this as I did, however I've left a few guidelines for their usage, also please post your maps here! I'm genuinely interested in what people make


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Jumppads are a very uncommon element in the team fortress 2 mapping scene, due to this I believe it is important that every map that contains jump-pads must leave the user with a positive experience so people don't get turned off by them all-together. For instance if jump-pads led the player off a cliff on one map, people will be hesistant to use them on other maps. Due to this I've set up a short list of rules for people to follow when implementing them, if you do not want to follow these rules that's fine but please do not use the same model/texture for the jump-pad.

The rules are:

Keep it as updated as possible

Your jump-pad must not knowlingly lead the player to an enviroment death, for isntance it must not shoot them off a cliff or into a saw, no exceptions. If I can die from using it without any player involvement then it does not meet this criteria (Unless it is fall damage which is acceptable)

The jump-pads must have a ambiant sound, as well as an activated sound, people need to know if someone has used one, and if one is nearby.
If the jump-pad behaves a lot differently compared to the one given, it must be differently colored/modelled. For instance if it's going to give you health on use make it purple, or shaped like a health pack. I have not included seperate skins unfortunately, but feel free to modify.

Jump-pads should be used to gain access to a higher area, however alternate routes must also be implemented. Many players suffer from low ping or will dislike them, give them a path to take

Jump-pads should not be team-specific, this is cheap level design as well as tacky. HOWEVER if you do this, make sure they are red/blue skinned.

Jump-pads should roughly be the strength that Is used in the example, as well as similarly consistant in the map, password is hotshot, and if you're going to deviant largely in the map, make sure that you increase the particle speed/strength/size as well as color
 

Lain

lobotomy success story
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Jan 8, 2015
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I always wondered why people say that Jump-pads don't work in tf2, from watching cp_ridgeline matches it seemed to be a nice addition to the gameplay of the spire area. The only problem was the bugs it had and the annoying times it would activate randomly when jumping down near it.
 

Fantaboi

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Mar 11, 2013
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I always wondered why people say that Jump-pads don't work in tf2, from watching cp_ridgeline matches it seemed to be a nice addition to the gameplay of the spire area. The only problem was the bugs it had and the annoying times it would activate randomly when jumping down near it.

A lot of people draw criticism on how it upsets the natural flow of mobile/non-mobile classes. For instance rocket jumping is no longer important when jump-pads exist.
 

Lain

lobotomy success story
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Jan 8, 2015
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I don't think so. Jumppads are in limited areas, have limited force, and many characters can't follow up on the momentum of using it. Rocket Jumping would still be useable in a combat situation because using a jump pad is very predictable, whereas a Rocket Jump is very unpredictable for the msot part. A jump pad is even less intrusive than a ramp, when using a jump pad you need to hit extreme height disadvantage first and then you get to predictable jump up to the area, unlike say a ramp where you can control your movement much more.
 

Woozlez

L3: Member
Jul 28, 2010
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Thank you so much for helping me on this!

In MVM Area 52:

KYr6lkS.jpg


vEFfatQ.jpg
 

Benroads

L1: Registered
Aug 10, 2015
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I remember seeing your map koth_nikori (now renamed I assume) on teamfortress.tv that made use of these jumppads, while they are somewhat interesting I do not think that they should be something that is used in a serious map.

First and foremost so much about TF2's class balance is movement based and these would lead to some very silly things (Spun up heavies flying around). I also feel that the current implementation of them in source is quite poor compared to the ever popular Quake styled jump pads, this is because they actually function very differently. In Quake you would have a trigger_push linked to a target_position. This ensures that without player interaction they would end up in the same place every time. In TF2 just setting a trigger_push in a direction has two somewhat large problems.

The first being that each class will get pushed in a different way based on their weight and second being if you land on from a higher place the jump pad it will not boost you and will instead just normally poof you slightly up and would most likely end poorly for whoever it happened to. This would also cause issues if people were to approach the jumppad in a strange direction. Obviously this could be fixed by a player using air strafing to their advantage but it would be quite frustrating to people unfamiliar with this mechanic. Finally if you jump onto the trigger instead of walking you will not be getting same boost as your character would have the falling speed take away from the velocity added by the trigger_push. Even with a strict set of guidelines I do not see jumppads ever really becoming a solid feature that will add to the gameplay of a map rather than subtracting from it. Honestly even in Quake jumppads are quite unpopular as most people feel super helpless when they take them and in TF2 I could see this being amplified due to how effective the push force on hitscan weapons is.
 

Fantaboi

Gone and one day forgotten
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Mar 11, 2013
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I remember seeing your map koth_nikori (now renamed I assume) on teamfortress.tv that made use of these jumppads, while they are somewhat interesting I do not think that they should be something that is used in a serious map.

I think the teamfortress.tv version is VERY outdated, afterwards I modified them to add a set-velocity instead. However thank you a ton for the feedback.
 

Benroads

L1: Registered
Aug 10, 2015
15
6
After testing the version that came with the prefab basically everything I said in my post above still applies, the only real change I would say is that when you jump into/onto it you kind of get this strange boost, if you time it correctly you can use it to get even more height than before so I imagine that could be pretty obnoxious if used in a more open area. Also it seems if you land on it you will get a small boost and then sink into the trigger. Not sure how or if you could fix that but until valve adds stuff so that the behavior would mimic the Quake ones I imagine they will always be super buggy.
 

Fantaboi

Gone and one day forgotten
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Mar 11, 2013
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After testing the version that came with the prefab basically everything I said in my post above still applies, the only real change I would say is that when you jump into/onto it you kind of get this strange boost, if you time it correctly you can use it to get even more height than before so I imagine that could be pretty obnoxious if used in a more open area. Also it seems if you land on it you will get a small boost and then sink into the trigger. Not sure how or if you could fix that but until valve adds stuff so that the behavior would mimic the Quake ones I imagine they will always be super buggy.

I just wanna say thanks a ton for taking the time to feedback the new variant as well, anyways i'll definitely be looking into this in the future
 

Woozlez

L3: Member
Jul 28, 2010
129
287
I'm just gonna say they work perfectly for MVM, as there is no PVP combat changes to worry about. Jump pads are a really good gimmick for Area 52, because it both fits with idea that Mann Co is utilizing alien technology, and it just makes MVM that much more fun!

Also, it allows for a more open environment (less stairs), and allows for a human-only route, giving a bit of a shortcut back to the bombpit, to help the players beat back bots at the last second.
 
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Fantaboi

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Mar 11, 2013
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Kube

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Kube

Not the correct way to make lasagna
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