Moon Maps with Low Gravity?

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Aeix

L3: Member
Feb 14, 2016
147
58
So my project (pl_moonrock) is a moon-themed map, as the title would suggest. Having recently stumbled across the point_client/servercommand entities, I have now realised that low gravity would be possible within the map :p
Whilst this would certainly make for fun gameplay, would it make for good gameplay? If not, would the enjoyment of the gameplay outweigh the fact that maybe the gameplay is not as good quality as it should be?
Any thoughts?
 

Vel0city

func_fish
aa
Dec 6, 2014
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Well, things like Demo's grenades and general air control is determined by gravity. Messing with it is fine for a joke map (like Wubwubwub) but actually having it on all the time on one map can really mess up aim for people, something they might not like at all.

It's why Asteroid doesn't have low gravity enabled.
 

Berry

resident homo
aa
Dec 27, 2012
1,056
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I wouldn't use a point_servercommand for low gravity, they can come off very suspicious as you can send any command to the client/server at the end of the day and servers by default have them disabled IIRC. However I believe there is both a functioning (since moonbase) trigger_gravity and possibly tf_add_player_cond (or whatever the name is) for low gravity which are much easier and much less ehhhhhh.
 

Another Bad Pun

In the shadows, he saw four eyes lit by fire
aa
Jan 15, 2011
801
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Use trigger_gravity. It's gravity level is determined 0-1, so use decimals as if it's 0-100.
Lower numbers will create lower gravity. 1 is normal, 0 is nothing. Negative numbers create reverse gravity (similar to a trigger_push upwards.)
You will have to create another trigger_gravity at spawn set to 1 if you want to reset a player's gravity to normal, as gravitational conditions still affect the player after death.
 

Uncuepa

aa
Oct 25, 2014
793
1,159
Use trigger_gravity. It's gravity level is determined 0-1, so use decimals as if it's 0-100.
Lower numbers will create lower gravity. 1 is normal, 0 is nothing. Negative numbers create reverse gravity (similar to a trigger_push upwards.)
You will have to create another trigger_gravity at spawn set to 1 if you want to reset a player's gravity to normal, as gravitational conditions still affect the player after death.

On top of this, you could do something i've been meaning to try for a long time. Try having all outdoors have gravity of 0.6 or so, all indoors normal. Unreal Tournament does this for their spacecraft maps, and it's a pretty fun mechanic.
 

Avaray

L2: Junior Member
Oct 14, 2011
72
4
You can also use trigger_multiple with shorter "delay before reset", like 0.1 maybe.
Code:
OnStartTouch > !activator > AddOutput > gravity 0.25
OnEndTouch > !activator > AddOutput > gravity 1

And about gameplay... it depends on map design.
For example: map ctf_facing_worlds is very nice for newbie players. They got a lot of fun on that map.
But for more experienced players low gravity gives too much advantage because of open space.
So player can easily jump from edge to edge of map.
 
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Three Million

L4: Comfortable Member
Jul 2, 2015
197
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I played on maps where the server owner leaves sv_cheats on (yeah they exist), so the gravity is always something different . Based off of that expereince, is having low gravity on a map fun? Sometimes, it gets annoying after a while. Is it good gameplay? Not really, let me break it down like this:

In Low Gravity:
  1. Sniper:
  • Easy Head/Body shots, when you are falling down you dont have much movement and turn into an easy target
2. Demo
  • Your 'nades dont have much force, so results widely vary
3. Soldier
  • Just like Sniper, easy to predict where your target will land and when you are in the air become an easy air target

There are a few more, but it depends on what your gravity is set to and the map. This is just some of the generall things that I have noticed happening when gravity is lowered.​
 
Oct 6, 2008
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look for my mpl_losthorizon map in the steam workshop - it has low grav and regular gravity sections in it.
 

Aeix

L3: Member
Feb 14, 2016
147
58
I played on maps where the server owner leaves sv_cheats on (yeah they exist), so the gravity is always something different . Based off of that expereince, is having low gravity on a map fun? Sometimes, it gets annoying after a while. Is it good gameplay? Not really, let me break it down like this:

In Low Gravity:
  1. Sniper:
  • Easy Head/Body shots, when you are falling down you dont have much movement and turn into an easy target
2. Demo
  • Your 'nades dont have much force, so results widely vary
3. Soldier
  • Just like Sniper, easy to predict where your target will land and when you are in the air become an easy air target

There are a few more, but it depends on what your gravity is set to and the map. This is just some of the generall things that I have noticed happening when gravity is lowered.
My favourite x10 server has slightly lowered gravity. It isn't too extreme and I personally find it much more fun with lowered gravity. (Although once the gravity becomes too lowered...)
 

Jekyllson

L3: Member
Jun 20, 2015
115
67
I don't think you could have low gravity be at the center of any reasonable action. That said, perhaps you could use it cleverly at a very specific point of the map so that enemy Soldiers, Snipers, and Engies could easily defend a section of the Payload's track because it goes through a brief low-grav section. In that scenario, BLU would need to go around that part of the track (using one of multiple flanks) and clear the room ahead before returning to the track to push the cart through the low-grav section. That would be hard to implement, but I could potentially see it working if it was executed really well (and, of course, underwent plenty of testing).

You could alternatively maybe have a small, clearly-delineated low-grav area that offered a potential flank route to BLU at the cost of being a risky route to take. That might not be the best, though, simply because that route would likely get a certain reputation.

Alternatively - and this is certainly the easiest way of implementing low-grav, if not necessarily the most creative - you could just make it a fun, mostly unobtrusive feature by having it in a mostly non-conflict area (think a one-way flank route with a one-way door at the end that's difficult to guard, or an "outdoors" section of one of the spawns like the one in Snowplow's first BLU spawn). It would be a fun touch to the map without messing with any of your map's (hopefully) strong gameplay.