KotH Minewars

[Sergis]

First off, version your mapname unless you want people to get "your map differs from server's" errors.

You're still doing...what you shouldn't be. Take a look at official maps and how they put skybrushes above the cliffs to cut visibility.

This line of sight goes across the entire map, unobstructed by solid geometry. That is inviting performance problems.

A forward-ish spawn exit, while helpful against spawncamping, might be quite un-fun for any attacker that happens to be near the area. Or, it might not.

Avoid making dead ends, especially ones that a player new to the map cannot instantly recognize as such.

The point is narrow and constricting, the approaches to the point are narrow, and the deathpit is huge. It really should be the other way around. On a point like this, you basically either become a stationary target, or risk 93% chance of falling off.

The whole map is narrow, actually. Narrow, narrow, narrow. Narrow means no space for dodging and maneuvering, no space for dodging means uncomfortable, uncomfortable means annoying and annoying means I don't want to play the map. The map would really benefit from becoming 1.5 times bigger, twice bigger in its' most narrow places.

The map would also benefit from having a less noisy cliff texture. I feel like I'm looking at a very effective camouflage.

Put some overlays or planks or whatever under your pickups, so that players can easily find them without having to learn the map in and out.

The deathpit should really look more deeper than that.


Overall, the map, while requiring a small ton of work, does look like it has some potential. It's just hidden very, very deep at the moment

 

[HarMala]

Thanks for a comprehensive feedback Sergis! These really give me some motivation to improve my map!

First off, version your mapname unless you want people to get "your map differs from server's" errors.

Someone else has said this, but I just forgot to do it Maybe in the next update!

You're still doing...what you shouldn't be. Take a look at official maps and how they put skybrushes above the cliffs to cut visibility.

I have been really lazy with making my skybox better. Maybe I will take a look at those official maps and try to make it more proper.

This line of sight goes across the entire map, unobstructed by solid geometry. That is inviting performance problems.

I have put some fences to block that line of sight (It used to go from spawn to spawn). For me it looks like it goes only across half the map. Is it too big of a problem?

A forward-ish spawn exit, while helpful against spawncamping, might be quite un-fun for any attacker that happens to be near the area. Or, it might not.

Yeah my main point of making that exit was to prevent spawncamping.

Avoid making dead ends, especially ones that a player new to the map cannot instantly recognize as such.

I agree. I probably will change those a little bit.

The point is narrow and constricting, the approaches to the point are narrow, and the deathpit is huge. It really should be the other way around. On a point like this, you basically either become a stationary target, or risk 93% chance of falling off.
The whole map is narrow, actually. Narrow, narrow, narrow. Narrow means no space for dodging and maneuvering, no space for dodging means uncomfortable, uncomfortable means annoying and annoying means I don't want to play the map. The map would really benefit from becoming 1.5 times bigger, twice bigger in its' most narrow places.

I agree with you 100%. The map is pretty narrow. I might make those walkways wider, but that will probably take some time.

The map would also benefit from having a less noisy cliff texture. I feel like I'm looking at a very effective camouflage.

Any advice how I could make the texture look less noisy?

Put some overlays or planks or whatever under your pickups, so that players can easily find them without having to learn the map in and out.

I actually have put overlays under most of the pickups, looks like I've missed that one. (and probably the one on the other side)

The deathpit should really look more deeper than that.

And again, I've been really really lazy about making the pit look deeper. But I will improve it to the next update!

Overall, the map, while requiring a small ton of work, does look like it has some potential. It's just hidden very, very deep at the moment

I just want to point out that this is the first map I've ever made. (Not counting the tutorial map which included spawn rooms, control point, basic skybox and some props.) It has many many flaws, and Im proud that I even made it so far that I could publish it. But like I said, these kind of comments really give me motivation to make my map better!

 

[Sergis]

I have been really lazy with making my skybox better. Maybe I will take a look at those official maps and try to make it more proper.

I mean not the skybox itself, but the sky brushes that separate the map into pieces so the whole thing does not render all at once.

I have put some fences to block that line of sight (It used to go from spawn to spawn). For me it looks like it goes only across half the map. Is it too big of a problem?

Fences are not solid geometry, therefore while they block shooting, they do not block rendering and peoples' framerates may suffer.

I agree with you 100%. The map is pretty narrow. I might make those walkways wider, but that will probably take some time.

It's not just walkways, it's everything. And it does take time.

Any advice how I could make the texture look less noisy?

Either do it the hard way by making your own or the easy way by picking a suitable replacement like the Gravelpit or Upward one for example.

 

[Pocket]

That business with the sightline and the fence might be a good place to use a func_areaportalwindow, although it'd be kind of kludgy. The ideal situation would be to have two of them, one on each side of the fence, so they'll fade in "behind" the fence when the player moves far enough away from it. But just coming up with a better design is probably more advisable.

Also: Blendtextures. Learn how to use them, and how to make them actually blend. I think that's part of the problem with the textures in this map (and that other mine-themed map that this was reminding me of for reasons I couldn't put my finger on).

 

[HarMala]

MAP UPDATED 2/22/2013
Long time no seen! I have mapped really lazily, mainly because of some compiling problems I've been having, but finally I can update this map. I made some major changes. Here's some comparison how the map has changed:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

 

[HarMala]

Aaand more screenshots! Hoping for feedback!

 

[Phenol]

I think you merit congrats just for molding your feedback into your map so effectively. I haven't actually played it, so I can't say anything about how much it's actually improved, but visually it's hugely better.

 

[ForbiddenDonut]

I think you need to clean up your point area dramatically. It's prop spam and total detail overload. You're using that fence model so many times that 'overkill' feels too weak of a word. The lighting is all over the place and has no flow. There's too much brown - there's no contrast or direction of visual attention. The point is barely recognizable.

I think it was a good move removing how much the death pit took up the area, but I also think the prop usage in the 'Before' picture of the point was much more natural (but also still relying a bit too much on that fence model). Now it's just insane.

 

[HarMala]

I think you need to clean up your point area dramatically. It's prop spam and total detail overload. You're using that fence model so many times that 'overkill' feels too weak of a word. The lighting is all over the place and has no flow. There's too much brown - there's no contrast or direction of visual attention. The point is barely recognizable.

I think it was a good move removing how much the death pit took up the area, but I also think the prop usage in the 'Before' picture of the point was much more natural (but also still relying a bit too much on that fence model). Now it's just insane.

I agree with you. I will get on to this as soon as I can.

 

[HarMala]

4/10/2014
So, about a year ago I decided to remake this map pretty much from scratch since the optimization was horrible. I progressed pretty slowly because I didn't have much time/motivation on finishing the map, but finally I can release a somewhat "working" version.
Map is far from finished and it has a lot of problems (missing healthpacks, overlays, props and other details, pretty poor lighting, long sight lines, all sorts of other things), but at least you should get decent FPS on it, and that's enough for me. I might still update/fix the map if I find the mood for it. :bored: