KotH Grange

[Dr. Sasha]

there's something very odd about those 45 degree fence textures.

It's alpha, those brushes are only placeholders until I start detailing.

 

[Dr. Sasha]

I haven't been getting a lot of feedback on the map testing.

Don't know if that's a good or bad thing, because I'm unsure what players think of the map. Most praise, though.

My temptation to artpass will only be resisted for so long

More feedback please

 

[Dr. Sasha]

The point is rather spammy and easy to hold, as it seems, or atleast with 24 people.

Will try to fix that best I can in a7

Increased or decreased cap times might do good

More height variation, too

Welp.

 

[ibex]

Where to begin..

I'll have to agree with Wareya here. "koth_harvestduct" is an accurate description of the map at it's current state. Going further into that, I think it's is actually counter-intuitive to have combined these two styles. Viaduct presents a "long" map that focuses people onto the object, and Harvest presents a "compact" map that allows players to skirt the object. The former is primarily objective based as a result, and the latter is very DM-y.
Here you seem to have taken viaduct's length and harvest's use of space/theme. This combination has resulted in a slower paced, dm style map. The length from spawn to the area around the point is approximately that of viaducts, however the area in between doesn't present many interesting places to fight as it consists of mostly chokes. Upon arriving to the main event you're presented with a lot of open space that is relatively flat (I'll touch more specifically on what I mean here later).

With this in mind I think you have to decide what you want your map to really "do". Whether that be dm or objective is up to you.

But, let's move on to ways to improve what is already here.
We've got:

• Explosive jumper only roofs
• Choke-y paths
• Relatively flat areas
• Large capture area

These are the first things that really jumped out at me. You've adopted the harvest style mid, however you present no equal grounds for the classes that have no explosive jumping abilities. You've got approximately 5 unreachable heights on each side. One of which over looks spawn in part (could lead to messy camping), another over looks a doorway (not necessarily bad, just ambush-y). This one in particular has broken clipping, allowing people to shoot into another area:

(I'm standing on the edge of the building to my left, and you can see the explosion decal above my crosshair)
Especially the height over the point, allowing explosive jumpers to easily dominate the point and the area around it.
Along with that the perches you've created are only slightly lower than the buildings around them, and this one in particular is at the same height:

(Not the best picture, but this was mostly to demonstrate that this ledge also has bad clipping and I could stand on it---also, I still don't understand why people put tires on roofs)
This little roof also seems completely pointless, as it is hard to jump to and the area around it is completely uneventful:

To counterpoint a harvest style mid, and all the explosive jumper only positions you need to offer some advantages for other classes, namely height. Harvest and even viaduct have two floor buildings that allow other classes to gain some high ground (it even creates more interesting areas of play); even the ridges on viaduct can be accessed both ways (the large rocks to the side of the point).

Not the best picture of it, but this little room presents such a tiny path from area to area. Furthermore, you added some support beams across the fastest path to further get in peoples' way.

This is where that tiny room comes out. I'd camp the shit of the room I'm in in this picture, or even the path below it to the left. I've got access to a medium health and ammo, and a height advantage, and they are coming out of a choke. It seems too easy.
You really have to expand that room, and the doorways in some sense. Also, I'd move the health in the second picture close to where my crosshair is in the first picture.

I like this area, and will wait to see how it progresses. But, coming into that area, you've got to deal with:

Which is basically just another choke. The little partitions you've added only seem to get in the way of movement as well. The partitions even serve as recesses for the likes of stickies and pills, doubling the pain.

Chokes can be find and dandy, they are a valid part of gameplay. In this situation not so much. You've only got two routes from spawn to mid; these are the routes, and they both present chokes. Honestly, it would be best if you added a third route, as three seems to be the magic number, but you can work with what you've got.

Okay, so what I mean by relatively flat is that the slopes you've created don't necessarily present any crazy gameplay changing approaches. To stack on top of that, in the picture you can see that the slope present doesn't even cover the doorway on the opposite side. If anything the height you've created serves players heads on a platter to snipers, putting them just above the curvature. The only available height advantages are just for soldiers and demos who are already powerplayers.

It may be personal, but the large capture area is uninteresting. In my opinion, capture areas should be smaller, and present a sort of sumo arena, such that the players competing for it struggle to hold the area in attempt to win. If anything your capture is flat and large, locking people inside with its walls.
I'll have to play more to see.

Random thoughts:

This area feels ultimately tacked on, however its got an interesting dynamic. I don't really have a good recommendation, but the area feels a little off.

I like this room. Can't wait to see how you detail because right now it feels so empty.
What little detail you've got seems to be going in the right direction so far.

http://imgur.com/a/OXnvd
Picture album for me to keep track of what I wanted to talk about. There are some sightline pictures (I don't like them because they are pinholes that allow the sniper to sit safely away).

Go back and read the first and second paragraph after you're done.
It's a lot, read it a few times, think about it. Consider what you like and dislike; do what you agree with; don't what you disagree with.
Then again, you could just skip ahead and detail it, it is playable.

 

[Dr. Sasha]

Thanks. I tried adding a third route but I ended up not knowing where that route would end, without making an area look crowded.

That "broken clipping" is very strange and I have no idea how it is possible; the rooftops are completely clipped.

Any ideas on how to make the spawn routes less choky?

 

[Dr. Sasha]

A7 Released! A lot of texturing done, plus even more height variation
Download it right about here

 

[Dr. Sasha]

A8 Released! Less harvest and more farm
Download it right about here