PL Alembic a1

[The Wiggin]

Hi all

Pl_Alembic is my first map. Alembic is the product of part of my yr 12 studies, I have been researching Hammer for the past Months and this map is a demonstration of the skills and knowledge I have acquired. I would love feedback, negative or positive and I cant wait to get it tested.

The story goes something like this....

After Blue pushed Red out of a old, decrepit storage facility they thought they would be able to easily transport their bomb cart into the old Red buildings to destroy them. Little did they know Red had re-occupied the area and wouldn't go down without a fight.

Thanks To:
Tf2maps.net everyone was always super helpful and willing to share knowledge
Atrophy for heaps of advice and feedback
Crabman for art
Goon for a ton of personal advice and assistance

Current Notable Issues (advice/ideas wanted):
Site lines
2d skybox
Missing section of the Crane (could this be to do with it cutting through the skybox?)

 

[Fruity Snacks]

Could you toss up some screenshots?

 

[The Wiggin]

I am at the moment bud, iv been having some trouble uploading them sorry :/

 

[tyler]

For the most part this looks pretty well detailed, but

• When you fall into the hole that uses the Upward track piece, is it just right into the skybox? Make it an actual hole
• A lot of wood areas should have trim or support, etc
• Your displacements are extremely blocky

 

[The Wiggin]

Thanks for the quick feedback yyler

-The Bridge is actually my own creation ( some of its real dodgy but i like the way ti turned out)
-The hole does have a "base" it just cant be seen in the screenshots
-I didn't focus to heavily on detailing because of my time constraints
-Displacements are definitely not my strong point, many of the one that look blocky now are actually my second or third attempt (except for the cliffs, im fine with them being blocky for now)

I probably should have cleared up originally that for this project I was given 12 months, however I basically only had around 4 months for the actual process of making the map. Subsequently I realized after beginning some detailing that I would not have time to fully detail, I then finished the basic layout and ran some basic tests with friends. The biggest problem with this time constraints is that I couldn't develop my map in the normal stages and had to jump to here before really play testing. You see my moderators will be assessing whether I have developed all the skills involved with Hammer so I have tried to demonstrate an understanding of all the parts of Hammer (to a degree).

 

[Fruity Snacks]

in the first screenshot, in the first image, you have that metal wall. The way that you have that, it will be very difficult to optimize when you hit a full beta, since you could theoretically see both yards.

 

[xzzy]

I really dig the overall layout you got going. The skyline in the second screen shot is quite nice, gives a nice Upward ambiance. Detailing has some rough edges but it looks like you already know that.. find the time to clean it up and it could really transform the map into something that looks spectacular.

You do have some visibility issues, the entire map is rendered when standing in BLU spawn which I guarantee will cause framerate problems for people with less powerful systems.

You seem to rely on props to provide a lot of your cover, especially in indoor areas. There's nothing "wrong" with this if you have some leftover FPS budget, but most TF2 maps keep them sparse. Things tend to get cluttered pretty fast.

Really not a fan of no forward spawns, the hike from start to the last CP is quite long (for both teams). I guarantee having RED spawn so close to the final CP will cause significant gameplay issues. Spam happy classes such as the demo will easily be able to protect the cart from next to a supply cabinet.

Need to set up team filters too, BLU players can open RED spawn doors.

 

[The Wiggin]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

-optimization is something I struggle with and really need to develop my skills and basically get my head around

- I have a few idea of were I could easily halve the number of props by adding a brush or two

- I would love to use some forward spawns, but I worry that the red team will have to much of an advantage do to their huge height advantage early? During the few testings I have had (only 8 people in the sever) the games have ended with a Blue win around 40% of the time, the other 60% of the time the cart was stopped within a meter or so of the final edge, we only had one round were the cart didnt make it to the second to last cap. Do you think forward spawns might unbalance gameplay? I agree that the final cap could turn into a huge spam with a decent number of people playing though :/

- thanks for the comment on the layout. I spent a while planning it and then altered it on the go. I find alot of the new pl maps are complex, like amazing looking and fun to play but my fave map is and probably will always be goldrush, just because its so simple especially its first stage it only take one of two lives the first time you play it to understand the layout and the way it will play. Subsequently I decided for my first map I would try and replicate this simplicity having a obvious path and only 3 possible routes at the most.