[Contest Entry] pl_cashworks

[Open Blade]

Hey,

I think it's looking fantastic and I see alot of detail already.

The only thing that totally sticks out to me at first glance is 2 things.

On the first pic that tall red building just seem unecessarily too tall and skinny. The other is the beams on that same tall red building. The wood texture should go verticle so it looks like a real wood beam, not just wood texturing to match the lower part of the building.

 

[flubber]

I just made the heatmaps for cashworks_a2, there's only 1h49 minutes on it but since it's in 2 of our 5 servers more data should come quickly.

http://psychostats.canardplus.com/mapheat.php?id=86

 

[Shadowfield]

This map looks great so far, and I can't wait to try it out. Only one comment: try keep all your buildings with similar themes. Especially the building with the vault at the end, it really doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the map at all.

Keep up the good work.

 

[eerieone]

wow, that heat-map is great, will help me quite a lot

i tried to make the vault-building stand out a bit, since its there to protect the valueables, in addition to that it wouldnt make sense building a giant metal-vault into a wooden building.. i might bring the textures down to a more dirty and used look, thats true

 

[flubber]

I know it's a little things, but could you release a version with the door bug solved, it's really running the gameplay and people are asking the map to be removed from cycle, and that makes me a sad panda.

 

[Uriak]

I'd remove it way more because it's purely unwinnable. People used to go past a fair part of the map before but now they know the map they are unlikely to go past the curve at the end of the big slope. Even the first point is sometimes sucessfuly defended to the point of letting the BLU team with 2 min left to win the map.

 

[eerieone]

Pl_cashworks_a3

MASSIVE UPDATE #2 11-15-08

http://www.fpsbanana.com/maps/69298

___________________

PL-CASHWORKS_A3

FIXES:
* restructiored first area
* added 2nd red forward spawn near 2nd cp
* added alternatenate paths to 2cp and 3rd cp
* fixed red forward spawn doors getting stuck
* general optimization, areaportals, hintbrushes, nodraw, brushwork
* added 3D-Skybox
* added environment
* one-way door toward 3rd cp bottleneck
* adjusted respawntimes
* adjusted cart speed
* adjusted time added
* optimized vault-collision
* lighting improvement
* further clipping
* added flowing water at cp4 bridge
* added custom overlays
* added env-sounds

TO DO:
* problems with water at blu spawn
* further fps-optimization
* optimize displacements
* cartpath corrections
* improve 3D-Skybox
* improve use of textures
* correct viewdistances
* add more custom material

_____________________________

overview


starting area for blu


1st cap


Serpentines snaking down the hill


2nd cap


chokepoint to 3rd cap


way to last cp


final cap area

 

[Cerious]

Brilliant, as usual. I was particularly stunned by the blu spawn.

 

[Jamini]

Top rate map you have here. I played it today and I was really impressed. My only gripes are that some points are particularly laggy, and the last turn before the last cap's straightaway is virtually impossible to take. :/

Still, I'm lobbying for Cashworks to be added to my clan's servers rotation.

 

[eerieone]

Glad to hear

Tweaked the map heavily and squinched 30-50 more fps out of my rig at the laggy turns.
You probably played the A2

I added a one-way door for the attackers into the room beside the bridge, giving them some shelter.

Thx for lobbying

 

[FLOOR_MASTER]

[edit] Never mind - I thought there was an issue with the new path from CP1 to CP2, but it's merely hard to find (a one-way drop down in a caged area). The new path would benefit from clearer signage or more obvious geometry.

From a brief, 2-round 15v15 test, both teams were stalled at CP2. The first team wasn't fully aware of the alternate path because it's so easy to miss. The 2nd team was somewhat aware but didn't make good use of it. The major issue now is that BLU has a very long trek from their spawn to CP1 then all the way back to the bottom of the hill. I'm not sure what the best solution for this is yet. I don't think adding new paths is ideal - I'd think reducing BLU's respawn time substantially would work best (by 5-10 seconds less after CP1 is taken).

I'll continue to test a4...

 

[NoHeroes]

Dedicated Cashworks server now up at 64.34.184.221:27015

I'll leave it up for a few weeks to see if it gains some traction. we have a pretty strong following for our other Payload server, which also servers up 3 customs in addition to badwater/goldrush, so we'll see how it goes.

 

[FLOOR_MASTER]

A3 feedback:

Point 1 is on the difficult side to take when it should be much easier for BLU. I'd lean towards adding 5 seconds to RED's respawn timer for the start of the round.

This location needs to be clipped off - RED demos can hop up here and camp the spawn exits:

Likewise, I've seen this area used to spawncamp:

The new path from CP1 to CP2 is a step in the right direction, but isn't very useful for BLU yet since it's too easy for RED to prevent BLU from using it. In fact, it just gives RED another sentry position over CP2. The following images address that new path.

This platform needs to be lowered to help mobility:

Signage here would help BLU realize the path exists:

This is the most important change needed - the stairway down to the point needs to be sealed off. It makes it too easy for RED to access that path and prevent BLU from using it at all. I'd also recommend widening the two doorways indicated for mobility and visibility:

In the new CP3 path, the one-way door is easily camped by RED snipers and demos. I think the one-way door should be removed (the fact that the door is high up is enough and makes the one-way somewhat redundant). Widening it would also be helpful:

Turning around, the one-way exit at the far end of this screenshot is easily camped. I think the door should be moved closer to the foreground:

The sniper lane in this stretch of the track is a bit unfair for BLU. Additional cover would be helpful while still giving RED/BLU snipers plenty to work with:

This path is in need of a ramp across to the opposite roof:

A medium health pack would help make this path useful. Nobody takes it currently since it's too risky:

I recommend moving this health/ammo combo to the opposite side. In its current position, it helps RED more than it does BLU:

 

[eerieone]

giant thx, implemented fixes should be up by tommorow in an alpha 3a

 

[MangyCarface]

Small things:
Change your water in the bottom of BLU spawn to expensive, so you don't get the weird cubemap errors
Change the glass panes visible in F_M's screenshot #7 to a more solid color, like the green, so that it's clear which windows you can shoot out of

 

[eerieone]

i will raise the house with the windows to a reasonable height and the doors will remain as they are now. all serious attacks on the final point started there, deleting the one way door eradicates blu´s chance to walk safely to the other side of the bridge

 

[FLOOR_MASTER]

I disagree.

However, which one-way door are you referring to? I didn't advocate deleting it - I wanted to see it moved to a different location. I'm referring to this screenshot:

In its current position, the one way door on the far end of this screenshot is too easily camped by RED. The door hinders the ability to pop in and out of that doorway to clear out any RED players lingering in that area. Moving the door back retains BLU's access to this area while giving them room to push forward without being unfairly bottlenecked by the one-way door in its current position. Also, if the one-way door is moved up front, it's MUCH easier to tell that RED is attempting to camp the door and it's much easier to counter said camping.

 

[eerieone]

the way is see it, there isnt that much wrong with the door at its current location, the problem is the steep slope leading up past it, making it impossible to see if its being camped, unless you open the door or see stickies. i plan to elevate that room to the level of the area past that door.
this way it would be the dustbowl situation at stage2cp2, where blu has a save zone to charge up uber for a push
the main problem at the last stage that such a save-zone for blu in really there and people try to make camp at the bridge

 

[eerieone]

pl_cashworks alpha3a available

http://www.fpsbanana.com/maps/69298

PL_CASHWORKS_A3a (11-17-08)

QuickFIXES:
* increased red spawntimer for cp1
* fixed exploit of missing clipping at the giant rock at the old raised tracks
* fixed exploit of missing clipping above blu spawn
* added signage to path leading to cp2
* adjusted, added, repositioned med + ammo packs
* optimized movability at blu sawmill
* made it less easy for red to camp the alternative route to cp2
* added ramp after the shortcut through the sawmill leading to cp3
* removed the one-way gates at alternative route to cp3
* added barricade at last turn to provide cover and block line of sight for snipers
* changed warning lights at final points vault to static
* rearranged right house before final cp to provide better cover and staging area for attackers
* retextured windows in right house before final cp
* erradicated 2 unfair sniperpositions at starting area
* minor changes on not accessible areas

 

[l3eeron]

I like the changes listed above....

Don't know if this has been brought up yet, but, IMO this map really needs advancing spawns. The million mile march for blue towards the end of the map is too long. Also, I would really like to see a different solution for balancing other than making red spawn waves at 32 (or what ever) seconds. That's borderline arena mode!


Other than that, I would say that the layout could use some stream lining. There's so many ways for blue to get to the last point that no one ever ends up there together. Theres like 5 ways to attack the part, and each of those 5 has 2 or three different paths to get there. I think it's too complicated, and BLU will never get the coordinated uber attack (in a "casual" public atmosphere needed to make the final push.


I really like the map, but please consider a way to keep BLU from getting stretched out over the map as they traverse to the last area. Maybe close off areas?