Hi joachim,
We were able to finally playtest cp_glacier today (I assume it was the newest version), here is some feedback I received from our level designers:
· Map is very large with long travel times to each cap point
· Confusing layout hard to figure out which point is which.
o Signage indicates direction to go but when arriving at the cap point it isn't clear which one you've arrived at.
o Lots of tunnels and passages.
o Cap points are hard to find in the first two capture areas, always tucked down and out of the way. A is reverse from the way you enter the zone. B is down below hidden away from view.
· Visuals
o The art feels disjointed, the snow doesn't blend well with the ice, feels jarring but it may be the shape of the ice instead. Pillars of ice with wood jutting out of it is odd, I wouldn't have expected that structure to exist.
o Buildings often have a mixture of textures that pulls your eye to the wrong spots. For example the Blue spawn building uses blue brick work and then a darker blue brick for support pillars.
From another designer:
"The theme is nice and clean and the spaces themselves had a good variety of geometry. I had a problem with the layout of the map though. By splitting the game between two points to start with (A and B), you promote dividing teams up and creating ‘wrong’ choices for players who know no better. For example, should red be in force at point A, a blue guy heads there and has no chance because his team mates are in B and is outnumbered. He wasn’t to know that however. The same thing goes for a guy on the red team. Because he doesn’t know which point is the ‘correct’ choice for him, he has a good chance that he’ll head to the wrong one.
The other issue I have with the layout is that when both A and B are captured, the blue team has to meander through A or B to get to C. They invariably choose different paths and can run into opposition before they even get to C from a lone scout or spy, which is frustrating. A linear route for blue to take to C would be better.
In general, fun spaces and a decent theme, but the layout lets it down for me."
Hope this is useful for you.
-dh