Chicane

Boylee

pew pew pew
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Apr 29, 2008
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Bumping for a8, I think I'm going to put this version in for gameday testing as I think the layout is nearly there.

Changelog:
A8 released
+ Reinstated cap point layout from a5
+ Reinstated flanking corridor in forward base area
+ Removed upper corridor in forward base area and widened the ground area slightly
+ Added countdown to intel spawn at start of round
+ Changed / added a few lights and added a few missing textures
+ Switched skybox texture and reinstated 3d skybox
+ some more stuff I can't remember :p
 
Feb 17, 2009
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one thing:
ctf_chicane_a80000.jpg

These patches look a bit out of place, maybe put small wooden platforms under them?
 
Jan 20, 2010
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ctf_chicane_a80000.jpg


Is this supposed to be for soldiers and demomen? If so, it's a bit awkward to get into. It also looks a bit out of place. Like "Oh look, random hole with a light in it!"

ctf_chicane_a80001.jpg


I feel like the no-entry symbol should be behind the doors.

ctf_chicane_a80002.jpg


These should either be non-solid or clipped so they can be smoothly navigated around.

ctf_chicane_a80003.jpg


It bothers me that you have to jump to get onto this rock. Felt like I should just be able to walk onto it. Small clipramp up maybe?

ctf_chicane_a80004.jpg


I'd have to be in a playtest for this, but these med/ammo kits seem to be in an overly powerful spot.

ctf_chicane_a80006.jpg


Put resupply sign over this?

ctf_chicane_a80007.jpg


These windows look odd, I think they should line up on the bottom and top.

ctf_chicane_a80005.jpg


Off center.

ctf_chicane_a80008.jpg


Spice this up a bit? A bit plain and odd looking at the moment.

That's all, hope it helps. :)
 

Boylee

pew pew pew
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Apr 29, 2008
1,068
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Awesome, thank you LaughingMan. All good stuff, I'll get those things fixed up in the next version.

There's a couple there that I've noticed before but it's so useful having someone post a list as it's stops my sieve like brain from forgetting. :D

Also worth noting that there's several in there that I hadn't spotted which I really should've. :confused:

EDIT: WRT that hole in the wall, I like having it there as an alternative route for solis, demos and scouts but I'm not sure if it's overpowered or not. Also I'm not sure how to theme it so it looks like like part of the map as opposed to a random hole. :|
Suggestions are more than welcome.
 
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Rexy

The Kwisatz Haderach
aa
Dec 22, 2008
1,798
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BoyLee and I have been discussing in great length about his neutral intelligence model, and we're both happy to pop the cork:

chicane_intelligence_007.jpg


More to come.
 

Acumen

Annoyer
aa
Jun 11, 2009
704
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now that looks hell of awesome !
like a rocket booster :D
wasn't sure with the model shot but ingame it looks mindblowing !
 

Boylee

pew pew pew
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Apr 29, 2008
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OK, took me a while but it's finally done. A9 is out, featuring a slew of subtle but hopefully sublime changes, tweaks and additions. I'll see about getting this version on the servers as it's starting to get to the stage where it's nearly ready for beta I think.

Let me know what you think folks. :D

ctf_chicane_a90018.jpg


ctf_chicane_a90034.jpg


ctf_chicane_a90024.jpg


ctf_chicane_a90026.jpg


ctf_chicane_a90030.jpg


ctf_chicane_a90036.jpg


Bits of detail starting to creep in here and there...
 

Ida

deer
aa
Jan 6, 2008
2,289
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For some reason, the intel room seemed extremely laggy. People were saying it was the server, but it disappeared when we changed the map, so I'm not convinced. You might want to optimize it (more?).

The layout isn't bad, but there's an issue with the spawns. They're so close to the middle. As someone said, they feel like forward spawns in a 5 CP map. I think it's the spawn's position that broke the flow, because for a long time, 2-4 BLU players were just hanging out in the RED intel area... While RED was winning the game. If this was a regular CTF map, this would be good design, but it's not very well fit for the attack and defend style of gameplay that comes with this mode. Hell, I think I'd love this if it was changed to regular CTF!

Either way, it certainly looks lovely. Good job! :thumbup:
 

Cynick

L4: Comfortable Member
Feb 7, 2010
153
284
One of the most fun contest maps I've played. A few things:

- Some people were commenting on lag on this map. I didn't experience any, but everyone else seemed to have.
- The whole time, my HUD displayed in two-flag mode (with both indicators pointing to the same flag)
- One of your doors wouldn't open for me at all (it was one of the doors leading out of RED's spawn room I think). It was nosolid, so I got through, but the door never slid out of the way. Only noticed this once, don't think it happened again.

Overall, great map!
 

fubarFX

The "raw" in "nodraw"
aa
Jun 1, 2009
1,720
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I felt like the cap zone was too far when I was about to cap for the first time, I thought the cap zone should have been somewhere around there

chacane.jpg


maybe I felt like it should have been there because of the proximity of the spawn. I dunno

anyways here's what I'd suggest

chicane.jpg

because the whole backward cap area isn't really used at all.
 

Flame

aa
Jul 19, 2009
368
865
I dont want to tell you to scrap the whole back most area of your map to increase the amount of fighting at mid and increase the # of caps since its pretty nice looking and does flow well.

I'd suggest moving the flag up, getting the capzone out of a small building, and maybe making a 5cp version as well.

Your mid plays pretty well, I think it can do without the spawn exit though since its easily campable. I'd say move the spawns to somewhere in the 2nd/4th area of the "5cp" and throwing the flag in there too.

map played pretty well, looked good, a bit dark, but I thought it was fun. keep up the good work ;)
 

Boylee

pew pew pew
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Apr 29, 2008
1,068
709
@Muffin Man
OK, there's not really been any great effort to optimise this yet so that's a definite need.

The spawns are a real difficult issue to be honest, I built them like that so that team members can head back through spawn if the flag has been grabbed and is on route to the cap point. I understand that this does put the doors onto the middle area right in the heart of the action though. It seems that this is less of an issue with smaller player numbers from what I've heard (6 to 9 players per team)

TBH if players are hanging around at the cap point that they're supposed to be taking the intel to then they're playing invade wrong and that's not really a map issue. If they were stuck there because they were lost or couldn't fight their way back to mid then that is a map issue, the demo should help me figure that out.
I might try a regular ctf variant if anyone's interested.

@Cynick
I've noticed these issues cropping up in prior versions and I'm not sure what's causing them but I'll look into it. I was hoping the doors would be fixed in this version as I went through and replaced all the doors with Booj's prefabs, I guess I'll have to look at each one closely. Any chance of a screeny of the door that was giving you issues please?

Also not sure what's up with the hud, I'll try some tests with some different entity setups to see if that fixes it.

@fubarFX & Flame
Hmm, interesting. I had wondered about moving the cap point up, and it's still an option but I'm wary to move it all the way up to the forward base area as it would make an already fairly compact map into a tiny map. I'm open to any other suggestions though, for example, do you think that by moving it up slightly and increasing the ease of routes into it would suffice?

Also Flame, what do you mean by moving the flag up?


Main things to address then are:

  1. Optimisation
  2. Fix doors and HUD problems
  3. Look at changing the cap point, maybe increase the building's size and move it.
  4. Look at trying a regular CTF variant
  5. Consider rearranging the spawn doors, maybe moving the one at mid further from the centre, or add cover to make it less campable

Any thoughts on these topics would be appreciated.

P.S. Thanks to all of you btw, both for playing and for the very useful & constructive feedback. To those who have contest maps, I'm afraid I won't be able to feedback much about gameplay on your maps (I live in a funky timezone here in Korea so I don't get to play much at the moment) but I will make an effort to load up, run around and screeny & feedback on any detailing / lighting / or optimisation issues that I come across in your maps.

P.P.S. Flame, I'm definitely going to make a CP version once the contest is over that's a great suggestion. ;)
 
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