The Gauntlet

Inphidel

L1: Registered
May 27, 2009
4
0
Hey everyone,

This is my first tf2 map. however i'm no stranger to Team Fortress.

I go way back to QWTF so forgive me if my style of gameplay and map making remains reminiscent of the good old days (before gren jumping and such) :p

previous maps i've made and might make again:
TF2k
Realmd2
Ditch2
Cryptic1

download the map. check it out, if anyone has a server i'd love to see it up and running and get some people on it to see how the game play balances out.

thanks all!

Inphidel.

edit:

woops messed up screenshots and download link *fixed*
 
Last edited:

Inphidel

L1: Registered
May 27, 2009
4
0
its hard to capture the look of the map - so i took them from no clip mostly cuz its layered :p - its all about game play. defensive interier to the forts with multiple entry's so its hard to defend all entrances.
 

StoneFrog

L6: Sharp Member
May 28, 2008
395
81
Pretty cool. From the outside, the bases look very TFC like - all abstract and stuff. Very innovative. :)

Keep it up!
 

botboyx3

L1: Registered
May 24, 2009
20
0
I would totally play that, but I can see myself getting lost fast. Are signs a point on your design priorities? They really should be.
 

A Boojum Snark

Toraipoddodezain Mazahabado
aa
Nov 2, 2007
4,775
7,669
I think it's far too complex. There are so many ways around the base you'll just have everyone defending the flag room since any particular hallway is unimportant by itself.
 
Apr 13, 2009
728
309
Probably too large and too complex for a ctf map. Expect people running around and not finding anyone to fight. :(

This could be a great ctf map, but for anothe game.
Might work as a 5 cp push.
 

Inphidel

L1: Registered
May 27, 2009
4
0
Well I've thought about removing hallways. But i'd like to see how it plays first.

There are 3 main choke points. each has a way to access the flag so its important to protect them. the Flag room is pretty small so I could see how a team might try to turtle its defenses in just that room. however I think its too small with too many ways to access it that a scout with some help could get in and out with the flag pretty easy once he's near the room.


Choke Point #1

The Main Entrance is viewable from eithin the forts from both sides having ledges to support sentry guns which make for an odd angle where incoming troops would have to stand in the door way as they strafe in and out trying to take them down while and engineer could easily keep it repaired. and himself in full health with a dispenser. while troops try to take out the sentry they are open bait for anyone in the side battlements or from within the base itself since the front door can be seen from pretty far away.

Choke Point #2

The Battlements are both accessible from the ground just outside the base. going up the spiral stair cases from either side grants you instant access into the fort. which is great for by passing the Main entrance which is in itself as I said before. the first choke point. this allows for spys to get access through the chaos or most other troops to either help disable sentry's and defenses at the main gate or go straight to the flag and hope they can escape out the basement.

Choke Point #3

The Basement area - on the far wall inside has a ledge with some crates and boxes. - point is a sniper could easily stand behind the crate blocking his feet from view from any incoming enemy's while shooting at their feet before they can even see him. a sentry might have the same effect. in essence it could be defended with as little as two people.

--

So keep some of the game play possiblilties open. I like the idea of alot of hallways to give engineers some hope to hide teleports in the enemy base and for spys to run rampid, the base being so wide open inside makes it defensive friendly since classes like snipers can have some distance on the slower moving targets.
 
Apr 13, 2009
728
309
I downloaded your map and spectated around, and I think it really is too large. It looks like you could shrink the map to about 50 to 75% of its current size on the X and Y axis and have something enjoyable. As it is, I'm afraid it will be plagued with the same problems my own previous attempt at ctf was... except it looks better.

Looks like it would be fun with quake physics, though.
 

Sgt Frag

L14: Epic Member
May 20, 2008
1,443
710
My first thought was 'it looks cool, but it's SOOOOOOOO big!'
Alot of other people posted that too so you might wanna look into it.

My current ctf started as a circle. 2 paths to the other base (the bases themselves are very simple inside). Yet during testing I heard:

1-I'm lost (basically if you leave the base and keep going you will run into the other)

2- its too big. but the flag to flag time was only 20 seconds for a scout. 2 fort (maybe not the best but certianly the standard Valve map to compare to) is 30 seconds.
But it wasn't so much cap to cap time but the fact that if half the players went on one path and the other half were on the other path there was too little action, and too hard to stop your flag.

So I made it one path and still heard 'I'm lost' LOL.

Just goes to show simplicity is NOT overrated. And ctf gameplay is best left in more limited spaces and tighter access so that players have to confront each other.

It is a little hard to see your full layout because there are many layers but I think one place I'd deffinately look at shrinking is the mid area. (It can stay big but liit the players to half of it or something).
Run across it as a heavy. It would probably take 15 seconds (LONG) and with no cover, just plain deadly. A bad sniper could probably manage to keep it heavy free.
 

Sgt Frag

L14: Epic Member
May 20, 2008
1,443
710
Played it at Cc last night.

We had about 20-25 people.

First thing everyone said was 'it's WAY too big'.

I honestly think you could scale it down to at least half the size and it would be much much better. I'd almost think you could shrink it more.
Even the stairs are large. Seems like they are at least 16 units high and it wouldn't hurt if they were only 8.

The good thing is everything is probably on a large grid, no small details. So if you shrink it in half everything should still be clean on a grid.

also, only using grey dev tex might be fine for you in editor, but its somewhat disorienting for players. Eveything looks the same. I really think if you'r gonna have people playtest you at very least need to use grey for horizontal and red/blue/orange whaever for vertical.
This isn't just you, it's anyone who releases alpha. I honestly don't like dev or see any real use, it's no harder to use a few regular textures even if they are just lazily applied so it looks something like what the finish product will look like.
I know, I know, scale blah blah. But this map shows that dev tex doesn't garantee scale will be right. Using a certian grid size is just as effective imo.

The drop into the hole causes large damage, but like rest of map it is way too big.
----------
enough complaining eh?

I honestly think the layout is pretty decent and at a smaller size could be fun. We were locked down in our base by snipers in their base. For the last half of the round I couldn't get out the front door without being sniped, much less half way across the bridge.

No cover outside doesn't help. Going to balcony didn't help, I got sniped inside my base up there too. I took like 20 seconds to get to the front door, another 20 across bridge, never got into the other base. But at that time it would take 2 minutes for a regular class to cap, needs to be more like 1 minute. I didn't time exactly but I think that's close.

I think one teams scout touched our intel once. We never touched theirs.
 

captainAngry

L420: High Member
Feb 1, 2009
434
247
I tested with Original (Sgt. Frag) and I came on here to write the same thing. I think we all liked the layout but everyone agreed it was way too large (scale wise). It took half an hour to walk across the map, only to get sniped.

If it was scaled back it seems like it would be a great map.

 

Inphidel

L1: Registered
May 27, 2009
4
0
I tested with Original (Sgt. Frag) and I came on here to write the same thing. I think we all liked the layout but everyone agreed it was way too large (scale wise). It took half an hour to walk across the map, only to get sniped.

If it was scaled back it seems like it would be a great map.


haha I like to check in once ever few years.

any who - thanks input.

I'm looking into changing the out door area to be much smaller. I feel the insides of the bases to me still feel right, no one has said much about that being too small. I do see how walking out the front door could be frustrating.

I'll work on some stuff and make a new build. in the mean time. those of you who haven't seen this check it out.