Chamber

[gcone81]

Alternate download: here.

Arena_chamber_b7 is a melee only map with two fighting chambers, each designed for 1 versus 1 melee duels. Unlike many other melee only maps, I have tried to create an environment that is as ‘regulated’ as possible. By this, I mean a map that doesn’t allow for a free-for-all combat style. In turn, I hope teams are encouraged to strategize and enjoy a more competitive style of play.

The Basics
​

The workings of this map are relatively simple. Each team is put into an opposite but symmetrical half of arena_chamber. For one fighting area, a team will choose one teammate who will fight against an opposing team’s member. The chosen player will drop down into the ‘preparation area’ (a small pit adjacent to the arena) and a sliding door above will seal the teammate in. Once there is one person in each preparation area, the doors in front of the two fighters will open, allowing them into the arena to duel. When the fighting has concluded and only one player remains, the doors to the preparation area will open and a lift will allow the winner to return to their teammates. The cycle then starts again from the beginning, until all players on one team have been killed. The second fighting area allows the process described above to happen twice at the same time.

Chamber is set in an industrial underground environment at night. Each fighting area features a hollowed out vertical tunnel of rock that opens up to the night's sky.

The 'Fine Print'​

Only 1 player is allowed in 1 preparation area.

The winner of a fight must return to their teammates for the fighting area to reset (they can fight again though).

The Sandman is not allowed due to a bug where players can hit the baseball through solid surfaces.

Conclusion/Miscellaneous

Feedback is greatly appreciated. Please point out any bugs or exploits that may have slipped through.​

 

[Leminnes]

It probably would've been a better idea to ask an admin to rename your old thread (or now, they can lock it.)

 

[Micnax]

Great idea for quick deathmatches, and the whole team can watch the action!

It's just like Robot Wars all over again

 

[gcone81]

It probably would've been a better idea to ask an admin to rename your old thread (or now, they can lock it.)

Thanks for the advice; is there any specific admin I should contact?

Great idea for quick deathmatches, and the whole team can watch the action!

It's just like Robot Wars all over again

Thanks!

 

[absurdistof]

Alright, a few things I think could make this interesting.

First, I would actually make a large number of arenas, potentially with glass walls facing each other. This is because I think the 'team chooses' honor system would be very susceptible to grief (I've seen this stuff in Halo 3, with sword 1v1's, it's incredibly annoying to be a spectator again, and again, and again.). With multiple arena's you could choose to have glass walls so fighters could watch others, or you could have each one isolated to further propagate the feeling of solitude/ one vs. one.

As for allowed melee weapons, I agree with the lack of sandman, but I additionally suggest others to be disallowed. Namely the equalizer. While it is possible for someone to out-melee a soldier, their chances of winning rapidly decrease as the soldier gains more and more health. The 'melee extremes' classes (I.e. if you were to place the classes on a spectrum of damage done) which are pretty much the soldier (without the equalizer), the scout, and the heavy are very, very susceptible. to an equalizer. The heavy because he simply can't dodge, and a crit equalizer from a very weak soldier does over 350 damage. The scout, because he has a tiny portion of health and does little damage.

I would also suggest the disallowment of the charge n' targe for obvious reasons. Banning the eyelander would be more of a favor to the demos then anything else.

TL;DR: Creating mirror arenas next to each other allows all the players to fight, I would suggest using arena rules in combination with several map features that ensure the round ends (I.e. if 7/8 red players kill the blues, but 1 blue kills a red player). Not allowing the equalizer, sandman, charge n' targe, and the eyelander is suggested, perhaps consider using sv_pure.

If you got really carried away, you could try and have screens of all the other fights in each arena, so the winner could watch

 

[Gundam]

If you got really carried away, you could try and have screens of all the other fights in each arena, so the winner could watch

Is this even remotely possible?

 

[Bermuda Cake]

Is this even remotely possible?

It shows up a lot in HL2, but I've tried and it doesn't work in TF2

 

[gcone81]

Alright, a few things I think could make this interesting.

First, I would actually make a large number of arenas, potentially with glass walls facing each other. This is because I think the 'team chooses' honor system would be very susceptible to grief (I've seen this stuff in Halo 3, with sword 1v1's, it's incredibly annoying to be a spectator again, and again, and again.). With multiple arena's you could choose to have glass walls so fighters could watch others, or you could have each one isolated to further propagate the feeling of solitude/ one vs. one.

As for allowed melee weapons, I agree with the lack of sandman, but I additionally suggest others to be disallowed. Namely the equalizer. While it is possible for someone to out-melee a soldier, their chances of winning rapidly decrease as the soldier gains more and more health. The 'melee extremes' classes (I.e. if you were to place the classes on a spectrum of damage done) which are pretty much the soldier (without the equalizer), the scout, and the heavy are very, very susceptible. to an equalizer. The heavy because he simply can't dodge, and a crit equalizer from a very weak soldier does over 350 damage. The scout, because he has a tiny portion of health and does little damage.

I would also suggest the disallowment of the charge n' targe for obvious reasons. Banning the eyelander would be more of a favor to the demos then anything else.

TL;DR: Creating mirror arenas next to each other allows all the players to fight, I would suggest using arena rules in combination with several map features that ensure the round ends (I.e. if 7/8 red players kill the blues, but 1 blue kills a red player). Not allowing the equalizer, sandman, charge n' targe, and the eyelander is suggested, perhaps consider using sv_pure.

If you got really carried away, you could try and have screens of all the other fights in each arena, so the winner could watch

Thanks for the detailed feedback. I definitely agree with you on adding more fighting areas to decrease the time spent spectating. I recently polled players on a server using this map and it was almost a unanimous "yes" to whether or not more of them should be added. Don't be disappointed though, because I'd probably start out with adding one extra fighting area for a future release and gauging reactions. If they liked it, I'd probably continue to add more. The first thing to do however, is to make sure this is possible from the perspective of Hammer and make any necessary adjustments to the entities.

For melee weapons, I'm hesitant to further restrict anything because I want to keep the map as 'free' as possible, but I'll certainly keep your suggestions in mind when testing and see what others think on the subject. As far as the charge n' targe, the weapon remover does prevent it from being used in this version, but for some reason it doesn't remove the model seen by the player. However, if you taunt you'll see it isn't there.

Thanks again for the feedback.

 

[gcone81]

3/5/10
Alpha 8​

The newest version is now out and has 2 fighting areas. Feedback is greatly appreciated.

 

[gcone81]

5/1/10
Beta 1​

The first beta of Chamber is now out. Let me know what you think.

 

[The Political Gamer]

I like the map concept but overall it feels visually lacking. Their is no real eye candy beyond the bland walls.

Just my opinion but this would make one badass spytech base.

 

[honorum646]

OR! Make each room equal playerclipping-wise, but give each a different theme!

 

[gcone81]

I like the map concept but overall it feels visually lacking. Their is no real eye candy beyond the bland walls.

Just my opinion but this would make one badass spytech base.

Thanks for your feedback. Is there anything you would like to see, specifically, as far as visuals go in future versions?

OR! Make each room equal playerclipping-wise, but give each a different theme!

That's an interesting idea. By "room", do you mean each fighting area, or each team's side?

 

[gcone81]

6/1/10
Beta 2​

The second beta of Chamber is now out.

Thank you to all who have helped test it so far.

 

[Gonfin]

with the built in limit of one player for each "arena" room why is this arena?

 

[absurdistof]

I like the map concept but overall it feels visually lacking. Their is no real eye candy beyond the bland walls.

Just my opinion but this would make one badass spytech base.

Disagree, I think it looks fine

My limited feedback:
Looks pretty sweet. Also, you CAN use cameras to show on TV's (I'm 90% sure) just ask Boojum about it.

Also, after I saw this I was considering having a map that has up to 16 chambers in it, so that all players could play at once, then die. Maybe consider upping the number of chambers to 4?

Or you could consider keeping the winner inside, so that it plays like a relay of sorts? After each person was killed, a small health pack could become available to accommodate the winner.

 

[gcone81]

with the built in limit of one player for each "arena" room why is this arena?

The map has "arena" in its name because it uses the arena game mode where each player spawns once per round. I suppose I could have named it 'melee_chamber' but I chose arena.

Disagree, I think it looks fine

My limited feedback:
Looks pretty sweet. Also, you CAN use cameras to show on TV's (I'm 90% sure) just ask Boojum about it.

Also, after I saw this I was considering having a map that has up to 16 chambers in it, so that all players could play at once, then die. Maybe consider upping the number of chambers to 4?

Or you could consider keeping the winner inside, so that it plays like a relay of sorts? After each person was killed, a small health pack could become available to accommodate the winner.

An interesting occurrence I've run into while testing the map on public servers is how people react to multiple chambers. What I've seen is that the majority of players will actually congregate around only one of the chambers and ignore the other one. I've definitely thought about increasing the number of chambers, but I'm afraid that if I do, the extras will only go unused and increase the distance required for one team to travel in order to meet across from the opposing team at a chamber.

I understand what you mean by a relay type chamber, but I'm hesitant to create something like that because of how it will 'lock' the player in. If I were a player, in my opinion, I'd probably stay away from the relay chamber because I'm either going to win by beating multiple people in a row, or I'm going to die because of a single enemy. In this current version, it is possible for a relay type fight to take place, but I also understand, on the other side of the argument, that most likely a teammate will take the spot instead.

Thanks for the continued feedback absurdistof.

 

[gcone81]

7/5/10
Beta 3​

The third beta of Chamber has been released.

 

[gcone81]

7/17/10
Beta 4​

The forth beta of Chamber has been released and it now supports the Engineer update.

 

[gcone81]

8/26/10
Beta 5​

The fifth beta is now out.