CP Breakout a8

[Doctor Paprika]

I have similar problems to Swordfish. If you would like more detailed feedback, I can go through and take screenshots and post comments on them, but in general:

1. The textures are haphazard and inconsistent. Treat the buildings like they're real and think "Does it make sense that this wall would be this material?". There are so many places where a metal plate texture used for high ceiling paneling runs around a small wall and flush into a brick surface.

2. The detailing is even more haphazard. Aside from the name and the jail doors, nothing about the detailing suggests a prison, or even a prison disguised as something else. Indoor props are randomly strewn about, farm- and swamp-style decals are huge and on industrial walls, spytech gear is mixed in with the regular manufacturing equipment.

3. The arrows make the already confusing layout worse. Use them to guide players to points in places where main halls split into longer flanking routes, not to just point at doors that we can already see. Also, be careful about what color they are. Red players, ideally, should be ignoring Blue arrows, so don't use them near Red spawn.

4. Having to shoot your way out of Blu spawn is just over-complicated and confusing. Once you know to do it, it's not a big deal, but it really adds nothing fun. New players just go "Wait, how do I get out of this room... oh, okay, I get it, like a jail cell." But by then, they've been annoyed at having been trapped in a small room for part of the setup time.

5. The spawns in general need simplifying. Blu's is too open to enemy fire, the exits on Red's first spawn are confusing and lead to a few gameplay problems I won't bother listing, and there's no real reason there needs to be two separate spawns around C for Red. Come to think of it, why does Red have more than one spawn at all?

 

[Karnage]

Thanks for the feedback dudes!

I'm not sure when I'll pick this up again but when I do I'll work in all the points you guys made - it sounds like there's a lot to do all over the place :3 In the summer I want to start a new map (I know I should finish what's on my plate before I can have more but waah) and learn to model so maybe I can make some prison assets

LeeWSabo is there a chance you could provide a screenshot or more specific description related to your first point?

 

[Doctor Paprika]

Sorry about the Scout pistol in all the shots, I forgot how to get rid of it.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80000.jpg

Why is the wall between these cells padded? Also, why are the walls padded anyway? Is this an insane asylum, or is this like The Hole for the RED prison? It just doesn't seem to make sense. Up close, this texture looks totally fake anyway, and even at a distance, it looks like a mattress or a cheap couch.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80001.jpg

I don't see a purpose for these little rails, or this tank thing in general. This is the sort of thing that bugs me throughout the map: most existing TF2 models make no sense in a prison setting.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80002.jpg

I kind of get it - like, they just haphazardly piled together some extra furniture to get it out of the way - but it just looks ridiculous. I can't even imagine how they got the top one on.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80003.jpg

Why is there a hamburger advertisement inside a prison?

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80005.jpg

This kind of texture automatically makes people think that it's a door. Also, this is another texture that is better suited to being far away.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80006.jpg

Not only are these two picnic tables too close together to use even if you were to sit down at them, but they're also strictly an outdoor piece of furniture. Also, again, why are there picnic tables at a prison anyway? I know you have a "Mess Hall" in the map, but these are clearly picnic tables, not cafeteria tables or kitchen tables.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80007.jpg

That security camera pops in too close. This screenshot is halfway between it being invisible one foot behind me and fully rendered one foot in front.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80008.jpg

This jail cell is bizarre. First, when I ran the map, there is a flickering light in there, and since I don't know if it was like that when I played it on game day, it's either bad design or some kind of bug. Second, there is not only an arrow in the cell, but it's a perfectly flat decal on that 3D padding texture.

The jail cells in general look weird. That copper paneling texture doesn't just look bad up close, it doesn't make sense as a wall material. The bars are square, there are no handles on the doors, and there are no beds, toilets, et cetera in the cells.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80009.jpg

Some of your spytech props seem out of place. In the TF2 universe, things like those computers and that map are at the ends of the map, where the spytech bases are concealed by facades of fake industrial and agricultural facilities. Here, they're right in the middle of a prison that, as far as I can tell, isn't supposed to be a spy base disguised as a prison. Also, you really shouldn't use the same computer panel five times right next to each other.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80010.jpg

I can't really say that this floor grate looks bad, but it is very complicated. Also, corrugated steel only comes in panels and large pieces, so it looks silly as a texture on those thin bars.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80011.jpg

I don't see why this tractor poster is inside a prison.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80012.jpg

Here you have a brick wall merging into a concrete wall with metal beams going into the concrete. That brick is also a painted brick, which is usually found only on the outside of buildings (though that's not necessarily true).

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80013.jpg

I can see three "B" signs from this one spot, plus a two-way arrow that says "Capture Point". I can also see four doors that lead into the B area, and none of them are hard to find without signs.

Also, those metal beams in the ceiling intersecting doesn't really make any sense, at least not with that texture.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80014.jpg

This is one of the only parts of the map that actually looks like a prison, but, again, it just looks off with those textures.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80015.jpg

That metal paneling texture looks weird on angled pieces of architecture like that. It's also weird to see metal corner structures on a brick building.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80016.jpg

That is a VERY tall lamp post. My guess is that's where you want your light, but I would suggest either moving it way lower and experimenting with the light properties or coming up with some other way to "hold up" the bulb.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80017.jpg

Some more weird texture collision.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80018.jpg

This massive sightline - and the whole route, really - coming straight out of Blu spawn onto B is just jarring. Even from just a gameplay perspective, being able to snipe into a spawn area like that is strange, much less when a spawn opens literally right onto the second point of an A/D map. It's one of many things in this map that make teleporters difficult to use.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80019.jpg

I hate this thing. Seriously, not only does it look bad and weird and out of place, but what is it? There has to be a better way to do this - like, for instance, just delete it. If players can't figure out to go that way without it, then the problem is your layout. This thing won't fix it.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80020.jpg

The signs here are confusing. I can clearly see the A sign, so what is that little arrow for? I think you may be underestimating players' ability to instinctively know when they need to make right turns.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80021.jpg

More texture clashing, and that ramp is ridiculously steep.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80022.jpg

Another texture that looks horrible up close, and why is it even here? Why can't this just be a normal window?

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80023.jpg

Is this prison in the middle of some kind of industrial compound?

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80024.jpg

How is anybody supposed to get to these storage containers? Why are they there in the first place? It's just making your fencing more complicated than it needs to be.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80025.jpg

What the heck is going on with these pipes?

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80026.jpg

This bricked up door was already pointed out, but I want to ask...

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80027.jpg

... where does it go? This is the other side of where that "door" is, and not only is there no evidence of a door, but it's raised up on a wall off the bare ground.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80028.jpg

Unnecessary arrow. I can see the A and B signs, I'll be able to figure out which way to go. Also, it's kind of covered up by my stupid pistol, but there's a grate in the middle of that concrete floor that just seems out of place, at least without more detailing.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80029.jpg

This prop is for the command center of a spy base, but you've got it high up above a spawn door on a brick wall, a texture usually used for the Red base that's supposed to hide the spy base. Also, this hand is on the door whether you can go through it or not.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80030.jpg

This is an outdoor sign, and it's unnecessary anyway.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80031.jpg

There are so many different textures here. You've got reflective spy base tiles with plain concrete floors, concrete walls running into those pale bricks, a concrete ceiling, and those narrow grates. None of this is bad, per se, but a lot of them don't seem to go together.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80032.jpg

Why is this door blocked by a pallet and not a door, and why is the pallet on the inside?

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80033.jpg

I get that this is like a cafeteria buffet thing, but all the textures on it are weird and I don't understand why it's right next to the main cell block.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80034.jpg

This model goes with distilling equipment and makes no sense in a prison.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80035.jpg

Please don't use these door frames unless they close. It's confusing.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27652498/cp_breakout_a80036.jpg

Look at all these blue arrows and imagine you're a Red player who's never been on the map before, seeing this practically right out of spawn.