arena_sandshaft

Trust

L1: Registered
Dec 6, 2008
42
78
arena_sandshaft_b1

Beta 1 released! Full of bugs, but hey, worth checking nonetheless.

http://www.fpsbanana.com/maps/79153

Any feedback welcomed! All the other new screens are there.

180551.jpg

180552.jpg

180553.jpg

180554.jpg

180555.jpg

180556.jpg


Old post:
Hello everyone! Again. While eating candy at 3 am on this fine night I decided that it would be interesting to hear other peoples opinion on this map right here. As I don't have appropriate degree just yet, I sadly can't wrassle a teleporter right here to teleport everyone to my map, so you'll have to believe these screens that this map is better then sex.

Well, probably not. It's my first serious map, actually. But don't judge just yet! I've been working on it actively for over a month and playtesting it with my midget friend quite a lot. I think it's quite the charm, the map. But thats up to you to decide. And no, not you, Carl.

Your name probably isn't Carl, but it was worth a try. Let's move on! The map is arena N type map. Control point becomes capturable in 60 sec. Both middle doors also open after 60 sec, but you can access the control point anyways. It takes Heavy approx 14 seconds to get from one spawn to another. It takes Heavy approx 17 seconds to get from one spawn to another and punch a scout to death. It takes Heavy approx 80 thousand dollars for him to- Sorry, got carried on.

There still are some fixes that I got in mind, so thats not the final backbone of the map.

Things you can't be a female dog about just yet: (Fun fact - at first, I wrote "can't bitch about" there. Then I thought, y'know, some people might think I'm rude. So I wrote "talk". Then I thought, do I really think that "talk" is synonym to "bitch"? So then I wrote "be a female dog")
Texturing. Except general texturing (i.e. I think watchhouse should have darker texture, it looks like shit now)
Details. Almost haven't touched them.
Skybox. The mountain-side skybox is pretty much done, other skybox sides, on the other hand, not so much.
Lightning.


Take a moment to explore first two screens.

http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/9324/bigpicoj8.jpg
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/773/bigpic2jz4.jpg
http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/6206/scrn1lf8.jpg
http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/9206/scrn2tm2.jpg
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/8211/scrn3et5.jpg
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/400/scrn4az5.jpg
http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/485/scrn5fa2.jpg
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/7056/scrn6wo6.jpg
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/7131/scrn7hz8.jpg
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/263/scrn8ip7.jpg
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/2332/scrn9oj0.jpg
http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/5592/scrn10ct5.jpg
http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/3796/scrn11fa2.jpg
http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/9662/scrn12cr3.jpg
http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/5431/scrn13at4.jpg
http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/6438/scrn15vb8.jpg
http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/2766/scrn14dy1.jpg
http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/6918/scrn16ub3.jpg
http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/885/scrn17jv1.jpg
(Displacements will be added)
http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/5830/scrn18fn3.jpg

Enjoy the screens! Any feedback welcome! Obligatory thanks goes to all the good people who wrote tutorials here and helped other people. And my testing midget friend Ares.


And OH GOD ILL BE SAD IF THIS IS ONE OF THOSE TOPICS THAT WILL RECEIVE 0 REPLIES. So gimme a line about what you think.

Name of the map could change, I guess. But I tend to stay with things I first think of.
 
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grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
aa
Mar 4, 2008
5,441
3,814
Well it looks nice, the cliff especially. You just really need to work on fluffing it out, and hopefully cleaning up some of your displacements.
 

Cerious

L420: High Member
Aug 10, 2008
455
133
Way too many full health/ammo boxes. Put only 1-2 small medkits around certain dangerous places, and definitely put ammo boxes indoors or in small little places.
 

Trust

L1: Registered
Dec 6, 2008
42
78
Oh, they're there only for testing. And I'll still work on the cliff later, need to fluff it out a little, like you said.

Edit: Totally posted 3 seconds before BladeMasterPsi! Take that! Yeah, like I said, they're only for testing.
Edit2: All Valve arena maps have 60 sec (I believe?), but thats a subject to change.
 
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RavenStryker

Former Alias: †Blade†/Xi.Cynx
aa
Nov 25, 2008
782
844
Also, just my opinion, but that's what you wanna hear right? Lol

Get rid of all those damn full health and ammo packs! =) If anything you should have 2 partial health kits and maybe a full ammo or 2 for your engineer with a couple partial scattered around. But if you can cap the point in 60 sec. might not have time to do anything with an engy.


EDIT: Ooops, he posted while i was typing... *blushes* my bad.


Another thing I see... When going from grass to wood or platform or something, try to make it more smooth like add a lip to it or something to make it look like it just didn't morph into wood. Like in Screen shots 6, 8 & 11 for example, the bridges and that platform to the stairs.
 
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Trust

L1: Registered
Dec 6, 2008
42
78
Yeah, I'll totally add that. Thanks. The plank will also be divided in smaller planks (with invisible wall on top, etc) for more natural look.

One more thing about the medpacks, I know my midget friend is reading this topic now, so I just wanted so say that MAYBE THERE WOULDN'T BE SO MUCH OF MEDPACKS IF YOU WOULDN'T KILL ME ALL THE FUCKING TIME!
 

Chilly

L6: Sharp Member
May 3, 2008
326
127
I laughed at your second pic. Nice captions. :) I'm not sure why people feel the need to sketch all the red/blue paths for arena maps, especially when they're not restricted to those areas. The map should just be a mix of enclosed areas and open areas, which will allow each class to flourish.

I do think you need some more corners or other "hiding" spots in the middle. This will allow engineers to set up sentries near the CP and allow spies to recharge their cloak. Your outdoor areas seem a little too sniper-friendly so you may want to reduce the available sight lines a bit. A good sniper on this map would guarantee a win.
 

Trust

L1: Registered
Dec 6, 2008
42
78
Well, you see, I saw someone else do that to his arena map, so I thought, hell! I'm not worse then him, now am I?

I probably am, but that's not the point. The point is, now I have a sketch and you can see all the paths! Speaking of middle, look what I've just done!

mapfeatureut9.jpg


And while open spaces for snipers is a bane of this map, I'm doing everything to add something in your way, Carl. Will add props, etc.

Probably also should stop camping this topic for replies.

Probably.
 

MrAlBobo

L13: Stunning Member
Feb 20, 2008
1,059
219
well...i have to say...it was quite entertaining to read your posts...I hope some of that humor gets worked into the map...though I can imagine such a thing would irritate the mapping nazis around here

and im inclined to disagree with all the people that think health has no place in arena...just because valve does something on their maps doesn't mean doing something different is wrong...you simply need to have a different theory on how to balance it, it also gives you the chance to clearly define where you want choke points to be. People will follow paths where health is more often then they will any other single path, it makes the game a bit more fun for classes that need to kind of plant themselves in one spot who also happen to fail at long range. So...yeah...
also on that note...it could always be fun to taunt people...like putting it in a detail room or other place that they have no hope of getting to...

and to further emphasize...the outside areas look far too open, perhaps moving the "this is where youre born" further out may minimize that a bit
 

Sgt Frag

L14: Epic Member
May 20, 2008
1,443
710
Yeah, the health is too much lol.

The funny thing is when the arena tip comes up in game it says 'becareful you only live once and there are NO health packs' even though lumberyard does have one.
Of course it's in a precarious spot that occasionally kills someone.

So I think that's the biggest thing, like MrAlBobo said. If you add some make sure there's a reason, or it's hard to get to.

Like one in the midle of that sniper field. Which is my main concern with your layout so far.
Tons of wide open spaces.
 

RavenStryker

Former Alias: †Blade†/Xi.Cynx
aa
Nov 25, 2008
782
844
You should totally post some new OP screens so we don't have to download it to see what it looks like. =) You know, like 4-5 1024x768 screenies.
 

Trust

L1: Registered
Dec 6, 2008
42
78
I updated the first post with your fancy screens.

In my day, we didn't have any screens. We had to buy overpriced NES games just to find out back home that they suck! Or, on the contrary, aren't so bad. But usually suck!
 

RavenStryker

Former Alias: †Blade†/Xi.Cynx
aa
Nov 25, 2008
782
844
LOL!!! omg that was my laugh for the day, that was awesome, if I could give you a +rep right now I would, unfortunately this forums don't have anything setup like that. Lol.
 

RavenStryker

Former Alias: †Blade†/Xi.Cynx
aa
Nov 25, 2008
782
844
I really like the 3rd screenshot down, showing only the inside part of that building, looks very nicely layed out.

BUT Here on the other hand
180552.jpg


I notice that the door is THICK prolly should skinny that up by about 8 units or so, I didn't think a raise door should be any thinker than 2-4 units thick. Other than that and some textures it's look fantastical! Beta_1 should be a blasty blast to play! :)
 

Trust

L1: Registered
Dec 6, 2008
42
78
Hey, thanks. I kinda wanted to make some of the walls quite thick, otherwise some of the houses would look like they're made from paper. And I ain't no livin' with thoughts that 'em people think I'm a crafty crafter. Real men use plasticine, not puny paper. But yeah, it's only first beta, so I'll probably change some things in the second beta. Probably.