Moonballs

KotH Moonballs A3

A Boojum Snark

Toraipoddodezain Mazahabado
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Nov 2, 2007
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My only serious question is what is the point to this map? It almost seems like billiards.
It's koth. What's the point of any koth map? What is the point of your question? :p

Wow um....What was your inspiration for this map?
The inspiration went like this:
I turned everything in cp_granary into chrome for amusement.
I noticed how cubemap reflections look good on curved objects (the silos) and crap on everything else.
Decide to make map with lots of chrome spheres.
Determine that "moonballs" is a fun/catchy name for such a map.
 

Ravidge

Grand Vizier
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May 14, 2008
1,544
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One thing I noticed while playing is that there is very limited space to be in.
Like, you're either defending the point, or you aren't. It was very hard to (as defenders) trying to take more ground and push the other team back without reaching their spawnroom just around the corner.

I see this in a lot of koth maps... There just isn't enough space to hang around in, areas where you can build forward bases, charge uber, coordinate an attack (I wish).

Instead of a: [spawn -> objective <- spawn] layout, I'd much rather play a: [spawn -> neutral -> objective <- neutral <- spawn] kinda layout....
 

Sgt Frag

L14: Epic Member
May 20, 2008
1,443
710
My map threads are horrible. The whole first page fills with blather!

OK, sorry. But didn't you expect it? Nuthin wrong with a little humor (even if it is as terrible as what's in this thread).

But seriously, the ramps and stuff look pretty cool. Haven't got to play yet, but the comment about space between spawn and point makes sense for any koth map.
I'd like to see you take it a bit further. Right now the ramps look cool but what if they went way up in the sky with all kinds of cool arches and stuff, just to make it really trippy.

While it would be cool to have moving balls those maps can kindof suck to. With that many balls rolling around you'd just keep dieing all the time, and that sucks even in a 'fun' map. Just having all the chrome spheres around would be cool enough imo.

rename moonspheres ?
 

A Boojum Snark

Toraipoddodezain Mazahabado
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Nov 2, 2007
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That wasn't directed at the ball jokes, but rather that both of my other map threads have had to get past initial useless blather before anything useful showed up. I did expect jokes, but I guess I underestimated the immaturity around here :p

The name was chosen on a bit of a whim, but I liked how it rolled off the tongue. Moonspheres or any other synonym just sounds boring and I'd rather completely change the name instead. However the name is now driving the theme so I'm not too inclined to change it, and I don't really care if people want to joke about the name that much (if it's not cluttering my thread! <.<)

Subdivided arches/ramps will be showing up more both in form and detail. The theme I'm going for is heavy use of sweeping curves.

I do agree with the neutral area stuff, which I tried to do but fell short on by making paths of unequal length. I will likely be making some hefty changes to that area.
 

Stormcaller3801

L5: Dapper Member
Jul 5, 2009
249
28
Ran around a bit last night trying to find any actual weaknesses in the map, as opposed to actually playing it. I found two areas of concern, which may disappear later on in development.

First, the spheres themselves. In the course of checking for locations where a Sentry could be set up to cover the point but not destroyed without coming under fire (i.e., you must have a Spy sap this), I noticed that Mexican Apple Thief's rockets left an odd scorch pattern on the spheres due to their shape. Basically it would show the seams in the balls, leaving a Y-shaped pattern in the scorch, with the uppermost triangle having more of a torus-like scorch mark as opposed to the standard one.

Second, both areas outside the spawns have platforms off to the side that can't be seen from the spawn doors. These don't appear to have any purpose currently, but they could be used to effectively camp the spawn by setting up an Engie nest and allowing one team to teleport in there. I don't know how practical that is, but in those games I've played (such as Dustbowl) where my team's been not only kept from reaching the point but basically unable to leave spawn without dying have been extremely frustrating. I'm assuming that these areas between the spawn rooms and the point are meant to allow teams to spread out and avoid getting camped at any one door to the point. These platforms seem to be antithetical to that.

Otherwise, very nice. I think you left off the func_respawn brushes or whatever it is that allows you to switch classes without dying in the respawn rooms, but it's an alpha so I'm sure those will show up later on. I look forward to seeing a more complete version and pestering my regular server hosts to load it.
 

Zwiffle

L6: Sharp Member
Jun 24, 2008
269
161
Ummm, yes. Well. This is a unique theme, first of all.

Second of all, it seemed pretty well balanced in the testing last night, because I don't remember either team being rolled. I was also constantly watching over my shoulder because the middle has a lot of openings for spies/pyros to ambush with, which is a good thing. The lack of health/ammo was a bit difficult to get used to, unless I just happened to miss any besides the one health/ammo pack in the middle.

Fighting in the middle is pretty intense, and it has enough hiding spots and little nooks to allow for a fairly balanced class composition. It'll be interesting to see how it looks with chrome everywhere.
 

A Boojum Snark

Toraipoddodezain Mazahabado
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Nov 2, 2007
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item placement. I had them all marked with the paint swash on the ground for when they are respawning. I did try to keep health low in the middle in an effort to keep the battle dynamic and not provide the defenders too much safety. Any comments in light of knowing where they were?
 

Zwiffle

L6: Sharp Member
Jun 24, 2008
269
161
Ok, well now actually looking at that picture I've realized two things:

1.) I really need to pay better attention to item placement when playing, because I only noticed the northern center packs (to be fair, I'm sure people were nabbing up the other packs as soon as they appeared.)

2.) It also seems like there's too much! Combine that with my first assumption that there wasn't enough, and it seems like you have just the right amount. :p
 

Stormcaller3801

L5: Dapper Member
Jul 5, 2009
249
28
I didn't have any trouble locating any of them, but I was running around an empty map. The lack of symmetry on the south/north setup bugged me, but that wasn't a balance issue, just an annoyance factor.
 

Radaka

L420: High Member
May 24, 2009
491
244
Played this map in a test today. Initial impression: badass looking and good layout.

I would have to say make the side path opposite the white central battlements have some sort of advantage to taking that route (height advantage perhaps?). Right now, when the enemy controls the hill, it feels a bit like a meat grider, with each path being equal value.
 

DJive

Cake or Death?
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Dec 20, 2007
1,465
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After a run through today.

The middle path still feels like the way to go because it doesn't offer much risk and puts you able to not only 20 feet or so from capture but also allows you to take the top.

The left side route is good however leaves you too open on exit, and the right side route is a good route however doesn't give you as many advantages over the middle and you lose the ability to go up top.

Also im not sure on typical KoTH maps so this might be universal however as an engineer i felt very useless. Everything would POOF before it finished building hehe.
 

Rexy

The Kwisatz Haderach
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Dec 22, 2008
1,798
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Boojum, let me know if I can make you any custom items, it would be no trouble.
 

lucky

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
May 25, 2009
583
145
While I can't give any feedback on the play of the map, I love the curves, and hope you continue working on the map!
 

DJive

Cake or Death?
aa
Dec 20, 2007
1,465
741
How is this coming?