KotH Chilltower

[HQDefault]

Is it Creekwood

Nah.

I did think about remaking creekwood though, but that's a story for another day.

 

[Another Bad Pun]

Is it danktown

 

[HQDefault]

Is it danktown

 

[Muddy]

Is it Shaftworks

 

[Kube]

Is it wubwubwub Remix: Remastered?

 

[PyroDevil]

Is it that map I try to forget about?

 

[HQDefault]

My god, is my map really that forgotten already?

 

[Zed]

What, Hangar? We enjoyed Hangar?

 

[Muddy]

He made a hangar? Damn, that's impressive.

 

[Prolyfic]

Dude you missed detalling a smally part of the roof (on control point)

http://i.imgur.com/i9oSd4z.jpg

 

[HQDefault]

What, Hangar? We enjoyed Hangar?

WE HAVE A WINNER.
And, yeah, as far as I can tell. There were just a few issues holding the map back that I didn't know how to fix at the time.

So, it's getting remade from scratch.

 

[HQDefault]

So, now that we've got the "veteran crisis" behind us, let's get back to mapping business.

So, take a look at the likes of nucleus, hightower, and then chilltower.

Notice how they all make a complete circle, have a strong vertical center, and a "deathmatch zone" in the middle.

Take a look:

Nucleus:

Hightower:

And chilltower:

Now I feel like I got the general circular design + vertical center thing right, but then this observation led me to the fact that the control point issue may be more of an issue that even YOU guys realized! If I could fix the control point, then in theory, the whole map would be much better tied together. So, what's the culprit? Well, I figured there were 2 things holding it back:
-the hole in the roof
-the shutter door

so the 2 of those things are getting cut, and this is what it currently looks like:

(Door hasn't been removed yet in this picture)
Hopefully this will improve the flow of the point, and the map as a whole.

EDIT: On second thought, door is staying. After seeing what it would be like without it, I realized the upsides greatly outweighed the downsides.

 

[Zed]

I'd still say the height advantage the roof provides is too large and gives too much coverage over the rest of the map. A soldier or two standing up there can deny players access to the point pretty handily, even without the hole.

At this point I'd almost say you're better off restructuring the point entirely. It's probably the worst part of the map gameplay-wise, and it doesn't function well as an objective, either.

 

[HQDefault]

I'd still say the height advantage the roof provides is too large and gives too much coverage over the rest of the map. A soldier or two standing up there can deny players access to the point pretty handily, even without the hole.

At this point I'd almost say you're better off restructuring the point entirely. It's probably the worst part of the map gameplay-wise, and it doesn't function well as an objective, either.

I'll keep that under "if all else fails"

Because I don't know how else I'd put it together.

Also, I could always clip off the roof.

 

[worMatty]

I think you have to be careful not to confuse aesthetics with gameplay. Hightower doesn't have a "strong vertical centre" in gameplay, but it does have a big tower in the centre, that pushes most of the gameplay out in to the circle surrounding it (though much of the action should be focused around the payload carts, since the idea of payload is to have a moving battle focus). Nucleus is a KoTH map whose centre focus is the control point, but KoTH maps typically have control points in the centre anyway. It has an interesting aesthetic centre because it uses unusual props that don't fit in with the typical Spytech theme. It draws players toward it partly because it's highly visible and flashy but also because it's the control point. Hightower does neither of those things. In fact the tower in Hightower is more of a block to visibility, and can be ignored unless there are sentries or soldiers on the thin walkways.

If you want a 'strong vertical centre' for gameplay, the KoTH game mode goes some way towards that already, since that's where the battle for the control point should be most of the time. If you mean aesthetically, then you would need to deliver on that, because all that's there is a shack. If you made the centre building taller, then you wouldn't need to worry about clipping the roof breaking realism by introducing invisible barriers.

EDIT: If you would like an idea for a theme, perhaps you could make it a grain silo building. There is one in Liverpool, UK that has very interesting architecture, though you would need to chop out the bottom to accommodate the point.

 

[HQDefault]

I think you have to be careful not to confuse aesthetics with gameplay. Hightower doesn't have a "strong vertical centre" in gameplay, but it does have a big tower in the centre, that pushes most of the gameplay out in to the circle surrounding it (though much of the action should be focused around the payload carts, since the idea of payload is to have a moving battle focus). Nucleus is a KoTH map whose centre focus is the control point, but KoTH maps typically have control points in the centre anyway. It has an interesting aesthetic centre because it uses unusual props that don't fit in with the typical Spytech theme. It draws players toward it partly because it's highly visible and flashy but also because it's the control point. Hightower does neither of those things. In fact the tower in Hightower is more of a block to visibility, and can be ignored unless there are sentries or soldiers on the thin walkways.

If you want a 'strong vertical centre' for gameplay, the KoTH game mode goes some way towards that already, since that's where the battle for the control point should be most of the time. If you mean aesthetically, then you would need to deliver on that, because all that's there is a shack. If you made the centre building taller, then you wouldn't need to worry about clipping the roof breaking realism by introducing invisible barriers.

EDIT: If you would like an idea for a theme, perhaps you could make it a grain silo building. There is one in Liverpool, UK that has very interesting architecture, though you would need to chop out the bottom to accommodate the point.

Keep in mind that there is a really big area under the point, which is the vertical center I was talking about. But I see what you're getting at.

EDIT: A bit off topic here, but I think they changed ranking to thanks... and I went up?... ok... (I really don't deserve it though)

 

[radarhead]

Keep in mind that there is a really big area under the point, which is the vertical center I was talking about. But I see what you're getting at.

EDIT: A bit off topic here, but I think they changed ranking to thanks... and I went up?... ok... (I really don't deserve it though)

Ranking appears to be posts-based again, but now it uses strange cosmetic levels! I think veteranship is still given out from thanks, however.