Microcontest #6: BATT Builder

14bit

14bit

L14: Bit Member
aa
Oct 5, 2014
661
2,121
Feedback time! These are listed in the order they were tested in.

As usual, thanks everyone for participating! We had a decent turnout, and we got some neat maps this time. Despite a lot of people dropping out, we somehow managed to get 14 (mostly) functional maps with this one!

There's almost no map outside of the track! The result is that it's a game of spawn camping and tug-of-war. There's no way to flank except jumping over the buildings, which leaves non-jumping classes at a major disadvantage. The path you've made isn't inherently flawed, it's just everything around it. The way you've done the spawn rooms is weird too; Blu spawns ahead of the point they just capped, so they have to backtrack to get to the cart, and Red spawns directly on the point making it hard to push.

The overall structure with the central Red spawn is neat, it's just that most of the areas feel very open so it's hard to push. The corner at B is also pretty hard, and the fact the tunnel route goes past the point is a bit of an odd choice; I didn't see Blu using it much since you don't come out in a useful spot most of the time. Maybe it's good for spies? I never got to attack final, but defending it wasn't terribly interesting. There's not really any height variation, and you have to do a weird jump over the corner of the pit to defend unless you take the other spawn exit much further from the cart. Decent overall, I'd just like to see some shorter sightlines and clearer routing.

I like the design of the first point. The two routes complement each other nicely, and it's a fun fight for both teams. Unfortunately it falls apart in the second half. The cart is too fast, so defenders can't actually defend. Second isn't fun, since there's just two small doors going into final. Maybe a small second floor route from inside the saw blade room? You'd have to give Red more space to work with; their spawn being on low ground isn't terribly useful during Blu's final pushes. I like the track layout thought!

I really like the use of the track parts; the compact layout is really neat. Feels like a PLR map. Not very balanced though, too easy for Blu to cap the first two points. Final wasn't very fun to me, though it's not the worst I've seen. Red just needs better places to defend from for most of the map.

Mine. Ugh, not bad, not great. Shame I broke the spawns. First is too easy for Blu, so is second. Final is very odd, requiring a forward hold for Red since I ran out of time to build a proper spawn for Red. If I were to keep working on it, I'd probably build out more places to defend first for Red, make the choke at second harder, and rework final a bit. I like the height variation at final I managed to get in, but everything is too small in the moment-to-moment gameplay throughout the map. I probably won't do much with this going forward.

Oh dear, this one's quite broken. The HUD doesn't work, one of Blu's spawn exits doesn't work, and there's missing textures. Overall, it's far to tight to get anything done. The routes don't flow to the points; it would be easy to completely miss first as Blu if it weren't for the fact that you'll probably die before you get there. It was either a hard lock for Red or a roll for Blu, so it's hard for me to give much feedback on the areas that didn't really get played. Second seems a lot better than first, except for the fact that Red spawns directly at the point rather than behind it.

Nice gimmick, not a great layout. You're the only one that finished that rotated the tracks to weird angles, so props for that! I love the heavy on the cart, it's quite funny. I'd have loved some kind of indicator of where the capture zone is, maybe a func_brush parented to the cart that is transparent? The layout's got some issues; the opening is very chokey, and the end is very open. For something this crazy I'm not sure what else I can say on the layout, there's been nothing like it that I've seen. Since the cart can't be used for cover, it completely changes how you need to approach area design. If I had to guess, you'll need more cover to make up for the lack of cart cover.

It's all too open, but seems like it might be a solid start. I like the use of section A as the opening. Point B is very long and very strange. I get that you needed to use the pieces I gave you, but it feels too long. Most of point B is just getting the cart to the front lines, and once you get there it's a weird fight. Final was a slog for Blu considering how far back their forward spawn is, but as soon as they made it around the final corner it was all over due to the height advantage.

This one's weird. The opening has insane sightlines, but it doesn't matter since Blu seemed to roll it due to it being one big hallway. There's nowhere for Red to set up or hold, and the only thing Blu can do is sit and push the cart. No flanks, no anything. There a bunch of weird clipping around final; places it looks like you should be able to go that you just can't. Final is chokey as hell as well; again it's just one giant hallway with no flanks or strategy. You just sit at the top of the hill and shoot down into the one entrance to the area and you win. Something like this as the potential of being interesting, but you need to add some other route up the hill that Blu can set up in and use to try and push. Also that run time from spawn all the way to the cart at final is just unfair for Blu.

Map's got a leak. Very difficult to push as Blu since there's no good ways to contest the high ground if Red sets up there first. The whole outer area with the barrels doesn't seem like it's used much, since the obvious best route to both attack and defend from is the high ground on the inside of the curve. Final is also bizarre, since there's so much flat space to push through to actually get to the end. The whole thing being inside makes it feel claustrophobic, and the yellow lighting makes me feel sick. Throw in some skybox textures and add an env_light please!

The points are way too close, and the map is too small. There's no way for Red to get to where they need to defend from the moment their teleporters go down, since they spawn with a massive height disadvantage. Final is too easy to hold for Red I think? We held it for almost ten minutes just by sitting there shooting with little strategy. This probably should have been just two points. Might work alright if you give Red another way out of the pit and more space they have to cover for final.

I like the ideas here, there's some neat stuff. First is the weakest one to me, though I can't quite place why. I think it might have to do with how tight the buildings are around the points themselves, which carries though to point B. Overall it's a bit tight in some places because of that. Blu's forward spawn in broken, you can get out the second exit early. I like final, the use of section A into section B makes for some fun use of height variation.

A bit large overall. I like A a bunch, though moving the point back a bit might work well. Second isn't terribly fun, since it's so open and there's not many options for either team. Final is odd, I expected more room between section E and final, so when I died while defending I was totally unprepared when we suddenly were at the pit. I'd expand that out a bit; there's not much space for Red to defend. Now that you can modify the tracks, crunch down points A and B, and extend final a bit.

You almost snuck the track modifications past me, but I saw them near the end. Your tweak works well for this layout, but I would have preferred to see it done without breaking the sections. This map really needs forward spawns. Point A feels a bit long, but that might not be a bad thing. If anything I'd move A closer to the bottom of the rollback so Red can set up a bit more, making it longer. B didn't really feel defensible since there's little cover to set up behind. Not sure how the trees don't burst into flames with all the lava around.

See you all next month for the next event! Remember: 72hr will take the place of a Microcontest if it happens during that month.
 
Mathtriqueur

Mathtriqueur

L1: Registered
Aug 11, 2018
40
19
Gonna be honest, I don't even know how the leak happened on my map and how to fix it. I'm just happy that it can some what run.

EDIT: (not gonna finish it to be honest since I wanted to do something other than map in minecraft and trying to fix the hydra that is the audio issues caused by the new geforce update)
 
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