Anyway, this is gettin playtested on captain angry's server on Monday and Tuesday, so here's some concept art that I drew beforehand
I did.
The "nov. 19" thing was a mistake
The "nov. 19" thing was a mistake
initial playtesting results are in!
3.2 with 15 votes as of this posting. Not bad, considering this is it's first released build. Of course, the experience may or may not be an accurate depiction of actual game flow, as 5 v 4 is nowhere near the experience of 12 v 12 (especially when 3 of your 5 are snipers. RECIPE FOR ULTIMATE SUCCESS!!)
A3 is currently in production, and I'm looking at adding doors to the side walkway entrances, and a cozy little train shack replacing those god-awful barrels in the middle. Screens as they become available.
3.2 with 15 votes as of this posting. Not bad, considering this is it's first released build. Of course, the experience may or may not be an accurate depiction of actual game flow, as 5 v 4 is nowhere near the experience of 12 v 12 (especially when 3 of your 5 are snipers. RECIPE FOR ULTIMATE SUCCESS!!)
A3 is currently in production, and I'm looking at adding doors to the side walkway entrances, and a cozy little train shack replacing those god-awful barrels in the middle. Screens as they become available.
Quasi-update time!
With the middle redone, I've been diligently working away on some basic cosmetic issues on the ourdoors, specifically the rock walls on the outside of the bases. Everything in the skybox has been shitcanned for the time being, and I'm still in the process of deciding wether I want the "valley" to be an endless open expanse ala the sides of 2Fort, or to have it walled off, so the map looks like it's in the middle of a giant excavation. The A3 build itself is pretty much all ready to go, but I'm holding off on screens until I've had a chance to look at the demos recorded by cC to get a sense of game flow from the perspective of other players (and how the experience is for a team that actually knows they can be other classes besides Sniper- seriously, was my team trying to fail?) before I release anything concrete.
SUPER FUN AWESOME SECRET PARTY BONUS GAME: Can you get in before Nerdboy?
With the middle redone, I've been diligently working away on some basic cosmetic issues on the ourdoors, specifically the rock walls on the outside of the bases. Everything in the skybox has been shitcanned for the time being, and I'm still in the process of deciding wether I want the "valley" to be an endless open expanse ala the sides of 2Fort, or to have it walled off, so the map looks like it's in the middle of a giant excavation. The A3 build itself is pretty much all ready to go, but I'm holding off on screens until I've had a chance to look at the demos recorded by cC to get a sense of game flow from the perspective of other players (and how the experience is for a team that actually knows they can be other classes besides Sniper- seriously, was my team trying to fail?) before I release anything concrete.
SUPER FUN AWESOME SECRET PARTY BONUS GAME: Can you get in before Nerdboy?
Well this is embarrassing.
Apparently, the name ctf_valley is already taken. So, based on these screens from the new build:
(RED catches BLU shipping missiles, BLU catches RED shipping nuclear waste)
I'm renaming it. ctf_checkpoint. (Which, to my knowledge, isn't taken.)
Whadda ya'll think?
Apparently, the name ctf_valley is already taken. So, based on these screens from the new build:
(RED catches BLU shipping missiles, BLU catches RED shipping nuclear waste)
I'm renaming it. ctf_checkpoint. (Which, to my knowledge, isn't taken.)
Whadda ya'll think?
Last edited by a moderator:
NEW AND EXCITING! CTF Checkpoint B1!
One day a Soldier decided to grab BLU's intelligence.
"I have decided to grab BLU's intelligence!" The Soldier loudly declared.
Thus, he fought his way though the newly-constructed train shed and into BLU's base
"I have nabbed their intelligence!" He cheered, while a sexy Medic clung to his leg for no apparent reason
Back at the RED base, the Soldier suddenly realized he couldn't cap the intelligence by bringing it to his own intelligence cart!
"What sort of treason is this!?" He bellowed.
"What kind of sick mind designs a base that doesn't tell people where to cap the intel!?"
Suddenly, a Spy de-cloaked, and pointed to the large vault-like thing that the Soldier had never paid any attention to before.
"A-hem."
The Soldier quickly stuffed the intel into the vault, and to his awe, he had captured the intelligence!
"I am AWESOME!" The Soldier cheered.
"Ugh, merde..." the Spy muttered as the scene faded to black, and the credits began to roll.
Screens showing the train shack that has replaced those awful barrels:
overhead:
CHANGES FROM A2
- Fixed a potential Griefer hazard in the Intel room. Of course, I'm not going to tell you what it was.
- Added doors to the side exits of the bases
- Did away with the ridiculous shit in the middle with the barrels. It's now a cozy little train shack.
- Also added ladders to the sides of the traincars, sp players can walk up and on top of them. And onto the train shack, if they wish.
- Minor cosmetics in the intel room again, this time fixing more things in RED's base that got lost in the flipping of BLU's base.
- Added angled rails beside the computers in the bases, so people backing away from the big door (ie demomen inspecting their traps) won't get snagged up on the computers.
- Tweaked the rock displacements covering the front of BLU and RED's bases, giving them both nigh indistiguishable (But ultimately more aesthetic) uniquenesses.
One day a Soldier decided to grab BLU's intelligence.
"I have decided to grab BLU's intelligence!" The Soldier loudly declared.
Thus, he fought his way though the newly-constructed train shed and into BLU's base
"I have nabbed their intelligence!" He cheered, while a sexy Medic clung to his leg for no apparent reason
Back at the RED base, the Soldier suddenly realized he couldn't cap the intelligence by bringing it to his own intelligence cart!
"What sort of treason is this!?" He bellowed.
"What kind of sick mind designs a base that doesn't tell people where to cap the intel!?"
Suddenly, a Spy de-cloaked, and pointed to the large vault-like thing that the Soldier had never paid any attention to before.
"A-hem."
The Soldier quickly stuffed the intel into the vault, and to his awe, he had captured the intelligence!
"I am AWESOME!" The Soldier cheered.
"Ugh, merde..." the Spy muttered as the scene faded to black, and the credits began to roll.
Screens showing the train shack that has replaced those awful barrels:
overhead:
CHANGES FROM A2
- Fixed a potential Griefer hazard in the Intel room. Of course, I'm not going to tell you what it was.
- Added doors to the side exits of the bases
- Did away with the ridiculous shit in the middle with the barrels. It's now a cozy little train shack.
- Also added ladders to the sides of the traincars, sp players can walk up and on top of them. And onto the train shack, if they wish.
- Minor cosmetics in the intel room again, this time fixing more things in RED's base that got lost in the flipping of BLU's base.
- Added angled rails beside the computers in the bases, so people backing away from the big door (ie demomen inspecting their traps) won't get snagged up on the computers.
- Tweaked the rock displacements covering the front of BLU and RED's bases, giving them both nigh indistiguishable (But ultimately more aesthetic) uniquenesses.
UPDATE TIME YAY
CHANGES FROM B1
- Modifed the big doors to the bases a little, made them look a little better
- Also spiffied up the team bases a bit with purely aesthetic mini-rooms.
- Added actual stairs in the bases too instead of those gaudy stretched-texture slopes
- Added some stuff inside the train shack so it's not a direct line from base to base
- Speaking of the train shack, it looks infinity million times better now
- Significantly redecorated the spawnrooms
- Up until now, I had no idea that the Spytech roof truss support beam models had RED and BLU skins. Something new every day.....
And, most importantly:
- Added MOAR capture zone signs with arrows pointing to your capture vault. Honestly, if you still don't know where your capture zone is after this, I'd be amazed if breathing is a reflex for you.
And now, the screens!
CHANGES FROM B1
- Modifed the big doors to the bases a little, made them look a little better
- Also spiffied up the team bases a bit with purely aesthetic mini-rooms.
- Added actual stairs in the bases too instead of those gaudy stretched-texture slopes
- Added some stuff inside the train shack so it's not a direct line from base to base
- Speaking of the train shack, it looks infinity million times better now
- Significantly redecorated the spawnrooms
- Up until now, I had no idea that the Spytech roof truss support beam models had RED and BLU skins. Something new every day.....
And, most importantly:
- Added MOAR capture zone signs with arrows pointing to your capture vault. Honestly, if you still don't know where your capture zone is after this, I'd be amazed if breathing is a reflex for you.
And now, the screens!
Bumping for gameday tomorrow.
Some early suggestions of what to do with the middle of the map would be great
Some early suggestions of what to do with the middle of the map would be great
Sel
Banned
- Feb 18, 2009
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The only part of the map I liked were the intel rooms, and even those were plagued with some gameplay breakers. Two sentries locked down the entire intel room, consider breaking it up with pillars, and whatnot.
Make the intel pedestal bigger, I decloaked as a spy to get behind an engy and get his sentry, but my disguise dropped because i picked up the intel.
Playerclip the cliffs in the intel room too, they're insanely difficult to walk on.
I'm not gonna get into the middle, it should be redone entirely.
Make the intel pedestal bigger, I decloaked as a spy to get behind an engy and get his sentry, but my disguise dropped because i picked up the intel.
Playerclip the cliffs in the intel room too, they're insanely difficult to walk on.
I'm not gonna get into the middle, it should be redone entirely.
I agree. One swift stroke of the delete key rid the world of the train shack.
As for the continual Engineer problem, here is an early solution:
As for the rocks being hard to walk on..... that's kind of the point.
As for the continual Engineer problem, here is an early solution:
As for the rocks being hard to walk on..... that's kind of the point.
My God, your intel rooms look sexy.
But your outside on the other hand....well....those hazard barrels are ugly, don't use to many of them. Also, I love the overhead, it SMEXY.
Good Job.
But your outside on the other hand....well....those hazard barrels are ugly, don't use to many of them. Also, I love the overhead, it SMEXY.
Good Job.
Chokepoints and camping are part of the point of Capture the Flag. It is the most defense heavy of the game variants. While I will agree that 2fort lends itself to making defense too easy, it's proportions are right it just needs more paths and balance between the paths.
Some of the variants I've seen on 2fort (2fort Engie power and 2fort Egypt) loosen things up by bypassing the chokepoints, but in so doing they just create alternate routes that get played to the exclusion of the original route in 2fort.
In the canyon map I'm working on the quickest route to the intel is the easiest to defend what with it leading down a sniper alley into a sentry nest. There is a longer route that avoids these chokes, but has choke points of it's own. Each route has an advantage and disadvantage, and the routes cross over twice to both ease the defender's ability to rapidly cover them but befuddle the defenders since they can't be sure of the exact route back home the attackers are taking.
In my opinion Sawmill and Turbine haven't been as popular as 2fort because they are too short. There almost no chance for the enemy team to recover from an intel grab. Also the lack of variety to their terrains means the engie's teleporters have no real spot to be placed. In 2fort an unwatched section of your base can quickly become an enemy forward point leading to your team's downfall.
The largest downfall of large CTF maps I've noticed is none of them, including this one, provide variety for the scale up to a 34 player scenario. They play fine on the original 14 player squad maps but once the server is crowded everyone has no where to go except into a central room.
In short my impression of the map is it's a CTF map for people that don't like CTF to begin with. Nothing wrong with that I guess, and I appreciate the effort gone into setting it up.
Some of the variants I've seen on 2fort (2fort Engie power and 2fort Egypt) loosen things up by bypassing the chokepoints, but in so doing they just create alternate routes that get played to the exclusion of the original route in 2fort.
In the canyon map I'm working on the quickest route to the intel is the easiest to defend what with it leading down a sniper alley into a sentry nest. There is a longer route that avoids these chokes, but has choke points of it's own. Each route has an advantage and disadvantage, and the routes cross over twice to both ease the defender's ability to rapidly cover them but befuddle the defenders since they can't be sure of the exact route back home the attackers are taking.
In my opinion Sawmill and Turbine haven't been as popular as 2fort because they are too short. There almost no chance for the enemy team to recover from an intel grab. Also the lack of variety to their terrains means the engie's teleporters have no real spot to be placed. In 2fort an unwatched section of your base can quickly become an enemy forward point leading to your team's downfall.
The largest downfall of large CTF maps I've noticed is none of them, including this one, provide variety for the scale up to a 34 player scenario. They play fine on the original 14 player squad maps but once the server is crowded everyone has no where to go except into a central room.
In short my impression of the map is it's a CTF map for people that don't like CTF to begin with. Nothing wrong with that I guess, and I appreciate the effort gone into setting it up.
That pretty much sums it up.
But anyway, pending unforseen issues that I didn't experience myself at Gameday, here's screens of the new build
Trenches dug out underneath the battlements
Intel rooms, now without the big sign behind the capture vault
And of course, the screen you've all been waiting for,
Well, after much hemming and hawwing, I've finally just decided to release what I've got now for b3
http://taotd.250free.com/tf/maps/ctf_checkpoint_b3.bsp
CHANGES FROM B2
- Extended the playerclip ceiling in the outdoors
- Added patchwork to the sniper fences on the decks to cover those "holes" on the side.
- Replaced the awful Sawmill log bundle in the middle with something better
- Tweaked the intel cart ramp a little more. Now you should be able to move around the intel cart.
- Added playerclips around the railings in the bases
- Also illumunated the intel
- Added a dugout underneath the battlement decks
- Spiffied up the capture vaults. Now there's no ugly light pole thing shit getting in the way of the big world domination monitor
- Re-added the skybox stuff
- Added a medium ammopack opposide the side of the small healthkit under the battlement decks
- Deleted the ammo and health kits underneath the ladders onto the train cars
- And most importantly, told the train shack to GTFO
http://taotd.250free.com/tf/maps/ctf_checkpoint_b3.bsp
CHANGES FROM B2
- Extended the playerclip ceiling in the outdoors
- Added patchwork to the sniper fences on the decks to cover those "holes" on the side.
- Replaced the awful Sawmill log bundle in the middle with something better
- Tweaked the intel cart ramp a little more. Now you should be able to move around the intel cart.
- Added playerclips around the railings in the bases
- Also illumunated the intel
- Added a dugout underneath the battlement decks
- Spiffied up the capture vaults. Now there's no ugly light pole thing shit getting in the way of the big world domination monitor
- Re-added the skybox stuff
- Added a medium ammopack opposide the side of the small healthkit under the battlement decks
- Deleted the ammo and health kits underneath the ladders onto the train cars
- And most importantly, told the train shack to GTFO
omg omg omg
Played on cC today. I was totally expecting the new intel room walls and the removal of the train shack to be a good thing.
Surprisingly, it wasn't.
It was EVEN BETTER HOLY SHIT. I can't believe how much better it played today, and boy does it show.
Feels good man.
Played on cC today. I was totally expecting the new intel room walls and the removal of the train shack to be a good thing.
Surprisingly, it wasn't.
It was EVEN BETTER HOLY SHIT. I can't believe how much better it played today, and boy does it show.
Feels good man.
gameday bump