Affinity
Layout : Not a lot to say. It's an L-shaped map, which is rather uncommon, with a good use of high and low ground mix (I don't know how much the robot path is impacted when the bomb gets pushed back). But high-level beams do tend to block rocket jumping (I've hit one of these each time I rocket-jumped back to the front), and I do find clipping on certain parts of the map being questionable. There's also some parts of the maps that do deserve fences over railings (the access to the helipad for example), but it did not affect my rating.
Aesthetics : There are some parts that have some problems and/or do deserve more details and fixes, but for a beta map, this is some really good job ! I heard people question the concrete building in the middle of the jungle, but I think it was a nice idea ! There is some pretty weird reflections on the windows tho. While it didn't affect my rating either, the deathpit at the start is rather weird : the bones aren't really a good indication that's a deathpit, and it was weird that you take drowing damage when falling in it.
Creativity : Nothing out of the extraordinary. As I said, I do like the idea of high and low-ground mix.
Population : It breaks my heart to give such a low rating. The mission itself seems nice and really well made, but the broken nav file just throw everything in the trash. Because you didn't do a nav_analyse after doing manual modifications on the nav file, robots cannot detect players that are even a bit too far. If I did not try to hug the robots, I wouldn't have got shot once in the entire mission, and I was in the robot's view range. Really sad, because the mission looks really well made, I'm sure I would have put something above 6 otherwise.
(I am surprised this map made it to the shortlist with a disqualification-worthy bug, but the judges made it clear that it was near impossible to judge every maps fairly)
Also, you pre-defined the path used instead of randomising them. It's a weird design choice to not randomize them. Maybe it's to compensate with the high/low path design ?
Airdrop :
Layout : the layout of the map is rather simple, but it does the job well. It's rather easy to get from the right side to the left one, but not the opposite however, which is a bit weird. I like the abundance of cover (and how it affected the Tank's paths), and how they break the Sniper's sightlines. But the abundance of health and ammo at those cover points isn't that great. I mean, I couldn't walk 2 meters without falling on a medium ammo and health pack.
Aesthetics : the map is really cubic by itself, which doesn't really make the map looks really professional, but you did a really good job giving it a war theme. The nice use of Frontline's props was the icing on the cake, and the sounds the cherry on top ! I'm sure if you put some time on detailing the map, it would be gorgeous !
Creativity : I LOVE the idea of airdropping robots coming from a plane ! It really shakes up the game and force the players to be much more aware of their surroundings and adapt. The choice of robots in those airdrop however, aren't that great (this mostly affected my Population rating tho), and there wasn't any cover that allowed protection against them (this mostly affected my Layout rating). Just curious : how much does the bomb's position affect the position of dropped bots ?
Population : the Advanced mission was rather bad. All the bots had Hard/Expert AI, which made the mission much harder than it was supposed to be, and ironically made the large amount of cover useless. You couldn't get close to the robots without getting shredded to pieces (good luck Scout/Pyro players). It was mostly visible on airdropped robots. The SMG snipers was basically sniping us and destroying us from afar, and the lack of projectile deviation on the airstrike robots gave us near to 0 chance of survival. The transition between the hard wave 1 and 2 to the mostly melee-based wave 3 was weird too. There was also multiple occasions where a single random bot would ignore the bomb and players and go straight to the hatch. I did like how the robots came from in front and behind us when the bomb was near the hatch, since there was a nice cover and height advantage for us.
Calico
Note : the robot's arrows were still here and the upgrade station was still active after we started wave 1, but it did not happen on the later waves. I put this here because it did not affect my ratings.
Layout : Nothing exceptional. It's a nice and working layout. I do question the tight upgrade station's corridor, but it's not game-breaking. Nice Sniperbot spots. Good job !
Aesthetics : Needs some work, but we can see the overall theme of the map. The weird wooden ramp at the robot's spawn are questionable. It's a nice little map.
Creativity : The shield on the Tanks are a really unexpected and nice idea ! You did made someone curious about how it's made. It's some map-related logic ? Other than that, nothing exceptional. Good stuff there.
Population : The advanced mission was fair and fun. But despite how creative and original the Tank's shield were, you didn't compensate it by reducing their health. We had a Phlog Pyro and a Carabine+Bushwacka Sniper on the Tanks, and we struggled with them. Also, it's me or the mission kind of lack Uber Medics ? Maybe you replaced most of them with Vacc Medics.
Dockyard
Layout : The layout is pretty simplistic, but it works. I feel that the map is a bit flat, and it's weird how there's only one path (and two when you reach the hatch). I was scared first seeing that the Tanks spawned forward after the point get captured, but it's fine actually. It's weird tho that the gate is so close to the bomb's path : you protect the gate, you protect the bomb.
Aesthetics : It really reminds me of Mannhattan with a touch of Foundry. Nothing exceptional, but it's really good nonetheless.
Creativity : It's a pretty bland map when you look at it. The mid-way point try to save the creativity rating, but you don't flip over it when you see it.
Population : I think this is the kind of mission I can play over and over again. Sometimes, the beginning of the wave is a bit rough, but the point do help slowing that up, and there is plenty of space between the bomb and the hatch, despite the map being rather small. I feel that you do need a Pyro to take out the Tank before it reaches the first point, but not for it when it reaches the hatch. Good shit, I would love to see this replace Two Cities.
Factory
Layout : There's a good reason why robots drops down from a ledge, it's because if they don't, it's complicated to know when the robots won't have spawn protection anymore. This is something I don't like about Bigrock too, but Bigrock at least indicates when the robots lose this invincibility, and Factory don't. Other than that, the overall Layout of the map is rather simple : it's simply two corridors that are exactly the same.
Aesthetics : It needs some work, but I think you are in the good path.
Creativity : I really wanted to test your map when I saw you tried to push forward a creative idea. Because, back before the shortlist was made, you were a direct contestant with my map, Pitfight, for the most Creative map, alongside Airdrop, Canyonpush, and Potassium. I did not made it to the shortlist, but you did, and I wanted to know why. And... I was a bit disappointed. You really pushed an idea that was trying to be creative, but in the end, it didn't brought a lot. At first, we always had a guy capturing the conveyor when it was available. But because the Advanced mission wasn't really an Advanced one, we ignored it and only went after it when robots tried to capture the point or already captured it. Also, the fact that it slowed down the Tanks to near 0 speed was almost making Tank fighting a chore rather than an actual Tank fight.
Population : Did you mixed-up the missions ? Because, when we first loaded the map, the Normal mission had 3 of those Plague Medics at wave 1. We didn't play it because we wanted to play Advanced, and we did not even faced a challenge. The only thing this mission did was point out the flaws of the map due to how easy it was. It was switching between Intermediate and Steel Trap Advanced difficulty. Also, infinite bleeding ? It's more annoying than being an actual problem. And bulletproof bots ? Even if they are melee only, you are punishing the use of certain classes. I think if the mission was properly balanced with the robots you used, Heavies would have a pretty hard time. I do like the crow Pyros tho.
Fiori
Layout : I feel that some part of the maps are a bit too large. Not sure since I didn't had the occasion to fight the robots closer to the hatch. It wasn't overwhelming to me. My problem was with the spawns : why is the smaller one the main spawn and the bigger one the side spawn ? You stuck yourself by making small squads only and didn't compensated the size of the big span with big groups of robots.
Aesthetics : It's easy to see what you want your map to become. I like the idea of a somewhat Italian-themed map, it's almost poetic. Find a model maker and finish this
Creativity : Nothing worth noting. The use of Neon Pyros fail due to the mission. I liked that Tank going out of the water tho.
Population : You shouldn't have rated your mission as Advanced. This wasn't even Steel Trap advanced, and I doubt it was even Intermediate level at some points. I don't think we even tried to play seriously due to how of a cakewalk it was. The robots also doesn't seems to respect the arrows pathing. I don't even know what the final boss did since it was stuck in his spawn.
Havana
Layout : It's a nice layout. two distinct robot paths with plenty of buildings and space to flank them. It's a good one really.
Aesthetics : That's a pretty map you got right there. I like the overall theme, and all the work put into it. There was spots I found rather cubic, but still, it's a nice looking map.
Creativity : There wasn't a lot done creativity-wise and, despite my rating, it's for the best. It's a map best enjoyed like a good old MvM map.
Population : I remember playing this mission when it was a Giant Medic spam fest. Glad this changed. And for the best ! This is a really enjoyable mission. You could have varied your support bots tho : Fan O War and Escape Plan bots goes old pretty fast. There also was a 200hp Giant Soldier on wave 3.
Kelly
Layout : I feel that your map is a nice mix of Coaltown and Decoy, with a pinch of Mannworks. A good recipe in my opinion. But the large side paths and the middle barn do favor Snipers a LOT. Also, the roof on the left at the robot's spawn is really too powerful for any class there. And the forward upgrade station do seem a bit too far from the actual front. I also question the large health pack at the robot's spawn, it does favor Spy a bit too much. I would be more for a small one.
Aesthetics : I had the feeling that the side paths were lacking in content, and the buildings do feel more like large walls rather than actual buildings. But it is good enough, this map deserve more detailing (you could have put much more cows to help with the overall's map theme, I don't think I saw a single one)
Creativity : I had a big smile when I saw the spaceship dropping robots and Tanks, and the mission fit so much with the overall theme, I found it pretty creative ! And it did not hinder the gameplay at all ! But there wasn't any new idea being brought forward tho.
Population : I don't remember having so much fun playing MvM. I absolutely love the Expert mission ! Especially when coupled with the map's theme. But I felt that the overall difficulty dropped down after wave 2, and it went from Expert to an up and down from TC/Mecha level Advanced and Steel Trap Advanced. The Sniperbots were also a bit shy : they were mostly on their own at the right spawn (which doesn't seem to spawn any other bot) with near no impact in the mission. Some had problems with the small melee Scouts, but I did not mind.
Relic
Layout : I feel like the left paths (where the bomb goes b the side buildings/cave) is much easier to defend than the middle one. I think this is due to the middle path being too much in favor for the robots : they get thrown in this path first, it's rather short, and it's pretty open (compared to the other paths at least).
Aesthetics : I remember a version that seemed more detailed than that. What happened to it ? Now it's mostly a dev texture mess. The few textured parts are well done however.
Creativity : The robots being thrown away is a nice mechanics to shake things up, forcing the players to be more aware of their surrounding. But it does become a victim of his own success : robots with parachutes tends to not use this mechanic to its fullest. Hell, we even had a parachute Giant getting stuck in the air by going in the trigger over and over again, staying in the air until a Soldier with Rocket specialist shot him.
Population : It's not Expert. It went between Steel Trap advanced and TC/Mecha advanced. The only moment it was Expert was near the end of the last wave with the Giant spam, and it was Expert for the wrong reasons. If your vision of Expert is just faster bots, then just give them normal speed and make it Advanced. Also, all your banner robots didn't have banners active at the start. Is it normal ?
Seabed
Layout : It was confusing at first, but then I saw how clear and unique the layout of the map is. Robots only have 1-2 paths, but players have so many more ! There's a lot of mobility for all the classes, even for Heavy. I really like it ! I was also surprised how the spawns, instead of being split up left and right, are just one above the other !
Aesthetics : When I first loaded the level, I thought it was a dev texture map. Boy was I wrong. Even if there's work to be done, you have a pretty map. The theme is really unique too, and I dig it personally.
Creativity : The map itself is the whole creativity of the map. The layout is unique, and the gates do work well.
Population : This is where your map falls short. You only give us two well made waves and nothing with it. Only troubles I have is the big spam of wave 2. Also, Giants tends to get stuck under the ramp in their spawn on the second gate, I heard that was fixed now.
Sequoia
Layout : It wouldn't be that bad if the map wasn't so large. Not in the sense "the map is big", but there's no spots where there's close quarter fighting. Our Pyro couldn't even do anything at the robot's spawn due to how vast and open it is, and there's barely any spot to flank the robots. And the water, yes, because it's a layout problem for me. Why is it so high ? I could barely see anything due to how deep I was in the water. Lower it a bit, everywhere (or put the ground higher, just don't make us drink the water while we walk in it). I do promote the placement of medkits and ammo.
Aesthetics : Seriously, this is a pretty map. I had performance issues, but I won't put that in my rating. I like the whole rainforest theme, it's pretty uncommon to see. Pretty original hatch too !
Creativity : You try to do something with the gate that gives the robots a shortcut, but it fails short. The bomb doesn't even always use that path, and you just go back to the robot's spawn once the gate is captured. On other gatebot-based maps, gates do make the robots spawn closer, forcing the players to move back. Here, the gate just allow the players to go back to the front immediately and act as a helper than a problem.
Population : It's Advanced level, let's agree on that. But it's a structureless one. All waves excepted the last two always had Support bots from start to end, and there were not occasional bots. There wasn't any form of subwaves and it was just one big stream. Wave 6 didn't have support, but you just thrown everything you had without trying to put some form in it. There was also a spot near the gate where robots got stuck, maybe because of a bad pop file. Also, there was occasions where the Tanks would simply destroy themselves on the gate : this is because the gate doesn't start opening soon enough. Oh and there's a difference between fun robot names and trying to rename everything with "boy".
Spacepost
Layout : Spacepost got a pretty original layout that mixed both high and low ground paths without having a lot of common ground between those paths. This is neither a good nor a bad thing. The map is also a little bit confusing at first, but you get used to it easily. I have problems with the robot's spawn zone : you have two completely separated spawn points, but they end up in a single tight corridor. When we were defending, we just set ourselves on the left/front of the middle building (left/front when you comes from the player's spawn). It makes the rest of the robot's spawn zone a bit useless.
Aesthetics : Holy shit ! That map is really pretty. I really feel like I'm in a true space station. A friend of mine had trouble making a correct moon-based map, but the custom props you brought are perfectly blending in ! (You are using custom props, right ?). Also, those upgrade stations, I love them !
Creativity : The map itself doesn't bring a lot new to the table, but I do like the popfile's themes : a mix of sci-fi, pirates, prehistorical... It's almost like you decided to mix every B movies in existence in a space-themed map.
Population : the advanced mission was fun. I do have the feeling it was going toward Expert at times, but nothing overwhelming. I wanted to add a bonus point for making a boss that counter sentry/body blocking, but the fact that he was affected by his own explosions kind of ruined it. Still, good stuff.
Steep
Layout : I saw this map as two big lines, one on the side of the cliff, and one that goes in a cave. It's not a bad thing, but true that with a cliff-based map, you don't have a lot of space for imagination. I also found the ammo/health kit in the robot's path a bit weird, but the others were in a good spot. Finally, there was some inconsistencies with the fences near the cliff : they were all clipped excepted the ones next to the death pit. Weird, but not a critical problem.
Aesthetics : It's a Valve map. Seriously, the environement, the style, the colors... It's a Valve map ! And I'm not saying this in a bad way, it's fucking good to look at !
Creativity : It doesn't bring many creative things. It's not a bad thing however, the mission itself is still fun.
Population : And I can guarantee you that I had a lot of fun in this advanced mission ! Honestly ? That's a Valve mission as well, with Vacc Medics brought in the mix. Oh about that, edit a Medigun to prevent the Vacc's model from breaking. The only problems were that, I felt that the early waves had a bit too much Support bots. I was better and better, then the Boss arrived with a good chunk of Support bots. Honestly, the mission was less enjoyable after the final boss arrived. Also the Tanks, you should stop them from spawning once the Boss arrives. Before, it's actually fun ! It's something to take care of, but not overwhelming when mixed with the rest. But after, they just stay behind the boss being useless, and we only care about them after the boss is dead, where they got nothing with them.
Teien
Layout : The map really favor Sniper a lot : big long corridors with at least a safe spot for Sniper with ammo and health on each of them. I think it's way too open for an MvM map, and the big length of the map isn't used at his full potential. There is also multiple spots where we got crushed by Tanks on multiple occasions, like the big door on the left side and the last bridge.
Aesthetics : Holy. Fucking. Shit. This is so freaking pretty ! The theme, the details, the custom content... If i was a bit younger, I would have said : "When I grow up, I want to make maps just like you !". Well I'm grown up, and I want to make maps just like you !
Something I did not have but my friends did : there is a lot of performance issues when playing. The size of the map, layout, details, and the large amount of cosmetics on robots is a bit too much for the Source engine, some servers and older computers. Also, a friend of mine said you only put
a single areaportal. Is that true ? I'm not sure if performance issues should affect my rating tho.
Creativity : I like the use of water in your map, and how it affected your robot composition (Neon Pyros). This is something that hasn't been done before and wasn't really exploited. The train looks like a fun idea, but I do wonder the impact of it on the mission. Also : BOOOOOOOOOOOOoooOOOoooOOOoooOOOooooOOooooOOooooOOoooooOoooooOoooooooooog.
Population : Now the ugly part. The Expert mission have a lot of... questionable choices. There is a lot of robots for an Expert mission, but you don't give the money to allow the players to compensate for this (and the map size is not enough to justify this either). All the waves, excepted the final wave, pretty much went the same : lot of trash robots, with overpowered Giants, with high-health Tank, and barely any money, and the end of the wave have filler bots that just make the wave a minute longer. I seriously wonder if you managed to beat this mission yourselves without the use of a Medic. It took us around 2 hours and 30 minutes to beat this mission, and it was not with randoms, but actual pro MvM players, the 6 of them. This mission isn't Expert level, it's ABOVE IT ! The spam, the Giants, the Tanks, Spy support on every waves, all at once, without a proper amount of money, is not a good Expert mission. Speaking of spam and Spy, being Spy here is hell : a lot of Pyrobots, semi-Giant Snipers with Razorback, the spam... Did a Spy hurt you in your childhood ? And those Giant Soldiers with +70% damage bonus with crits, faster rockets and Battalion's ? This is way too much for a single bot. At first, we were surprised he had no health bar, because we thought it was a bot. But no, this was an "above average" Giant. Also, I say "NO" to grapple-like Heavies. Even if they were here for only one wave, movement-imparing bots are not fun to face. This is annoying for the money collectors, it's annoying for the Pyros, it's annoying for the Heavy... It's annoying without briging anything to the table. And why does the bowmens and that one Giant Soldier on wave 5 had bleed on hit ? If it's to go past resistances, I would say why not... if we had the money to buy them !
I would have put a 4/10, if it wasn't for wave 6. All the problems I've said above were doubled : permanent triple-banner support, trash bots spam, those Giant Soldiers, and the big health pool on the Tanks, with barely any money to help us with this... We spent most of our time on this wave. It was painful, and I want to say again that it wasn't with randoms. We struggled way too much for an Expert mission. This is far from normal ! And at the moment we actually manage to get near the end of the wave, you give us an other layer of difficulty on top of the army of robots and the other Tanks we have to face, and this layer is hell itself :
Sentries on a Tank.
Now you would have gave me this in a decent mission, I would have said "Oh, that's a nice idea" and put some points in creative, but here, you made people lose it. When we saw that Tank, we finally said "Screw this, we take a Medic". We only won that wave because the train took out one of the Tanks, and the sentries failed to spawn on the final Tank.
If you reduced the amount of spam, the mission would have been ok. If you reduced the power of the Giants, the mission would have been ok. If you gave us more money to cope with the increased difficulty, the mission would have been ok. Hell, if you invented a difficulty level above Expert, and said that this mission is above expert difficulty, the mission would, have, been, ok. But this is not the case.
The mission can be done, we did beat it, but if the jury had the time to judge properly your map, and so your Expert mission, I wouldn't have been surprised if your map got disqualified because the Expert mission couldn't be finished, I would have understood them.
Waterfront
Layout : I don't have a problem with the map being small, it's good to see to be honest. But I have troubles with the right path being so small. You can't even fit 2 Giants in there, and not only it's hard for robots to move forward, but for players too. The door in the left spawn that gives a direct access to the left side is too powerful in my opinion if the bomb was on the left : you can directly fight the carrier without him being at the hatch. And why are the Tanks coming from so far away ? I like the various spawns for the robots tho.
Aesthetics : That is some pretty shit right there. It was nice to see a BLU themed map. I heard others finding the props in the map being too invasive, but I did not have that problem.
Creativity : Honestly, you have ideas. I like those Caustic robots. It supported your map theme really well ! Speaking of those, nice use of the tutorial hint.
Population : I was surprised to see an Endurance mission. A nice surprise ! Even if your robots were close to Valve ones, you did have some good robot compositions (avoid putting shield-based robots with slow Giants tho). Some were asking why the bomb reset, but I don't have a problem with it. But I failed to see the point of the mid-wave upgrade : why not simply end the wave ? It just enforced you to make the missions longer than they were supposed to be (even for Endurance), and it was simply frustrating to lose after reaching that point. The mission would have been so much better if you throw away that mid-wave upgrading and cut the waves in half.
