Hey everybody, This is the gameplay alpha of Arena_Caravan, one of a set of arabian-themed maps I'm working on, with custom assets by Shaylyn Hamm (ChemicalAlia). To install, unzip to the tf2 directory. Please send feedback! I'm particularly interested in hearing feedback on flow and class balance. Thank you!
First thing I notice: get some screenshots up! People aren't going to want to try your map if they don't know what it looks like first.
Two screenshots out of those three bug me really, really badly: http://forums.tf2maps.net/geek/gars/images/9/9/2/1/arena_caravan_alpha_010000.jpg - Way, way too open. A Scout has enough room to probably be a game-breaker here. Massive sightlines, too. One Sniper can see across the entire battlefield, and those smaller block brushes aren't enough to duck behind. http://forums.tf2maps.net/geek/gars/images/9/9/2/1/arena_caravan_alpha_010002.jpg - Get some more light in here. The viewmodel blends in with the ground, it's that dark. ALSO: When taking screenshots, set sv_cheats to 1, cl_drawhud and r_drawviewmodel to 0, turn up your settings to as high as they can go without TF2 crashing (your FPS during those moments won't matter with still screenshots), and then use noclip.
Yeah, I'm definitely going to add higher cover in the middle, and probably put partial blinds over the upper windows to limit their field of view to the near side. Thanks for the tips!
Huge Sightlines... Also looks pretty boring geometry wise. When you take away the archways at stuff It's just a large box, with a tiny amount of cover and a second story. What I think of when I think of something like this is a huge maze of tents selling goods and similar. You need hight variation and interest, though don't go over the top. This could be quite an interesting theme for tf2, just need to make sure it debuts in a good map. In conclusion, at the absolute minimum, completely re-do the middle area, maybe put the point a bit higher than other things around it, and make sure it's not just a box.
Yeah, with the next version I'll definitely be adding a lot to the middle section to break up sight lines and make it easy for the player to take cover / run over top of cover. Thanks for the feedback!
I've updated the map, biggest changes being more cover and second-story paths in the central area. New screenshots are up too!
http://forums.tf2maps.net/geek/gars/images/9/9/2/1/arena_caravan_alpha_020001.jpg - Gigantic sightline across the gray devtexture area. Considering it's the only sightline that covers the point, it'd probably be abused quite a bit. Also, I'm fairly sure that's a HL2 texture filling the area in between the safety tape on the point. Get rid of that.
Oooh, I like the changes! Ragnar's probably right about the line down the middle - maybe flank the point with a large crate or other such prop on each side?
The sight line across the middle is defiantly a huge problem and will definatly be abused. Add some cover around the point so people can try and cap the point without being a sitting duck. Also, the platforms are rather useless, as you run out into the courtyard, you see a staircase to the side, and a point in the middle, players will defiantly just run straight for the point and not bother with running up onto a platform with only two entrances. Maybe change it so the platform is more of a decisive advantage to attack over the point, and maybe make it so that you can use it to cross to the other side and get into the battlements on both sides. Finally, the map looks a bit big for an arena map with some far out of the way corners where it is useless to travel to... Maybe consider changing this to a koth.
Another update to the map is up! I broke up the line of sight along the dividing line, added an upper-level courtyard path to better connect red and blue while increasing height advantage on the control point, added ammo to the upper areas of the courtyard to encourage people to go up there, and made some additional visual changes. I'm considering making some changes to the outer passages on the next pass if anyone has any suggestions!
