Yes, there's lots of dev orange around. But I want to get the map tested for balance and such prior to doing large amounts of texture work. Texturing is boring enough without having to do it twice. Also, sorry for the text dump, I guess I got carried away.
The basis for the map came from an imaginary castle some guy drew up (I'd totally tell him, if his email was still valid) and initially was going to be a 3 round attack/defend map, but due to the limits on the number of CPs in a map (8), as well as the overall design of the castle it worked better as a 2 round attack/defend. I turned another one of his castles into a L4D map.
I'd appreciate any play tests that get done. If you plan one and get several people I'd like to know about it so I can join in. I haven't been able to play my own map!
Note that on round 1, a teleporter near blue spawn enables access to the back side of the map after point C is captured. It can be overlooked due to its location, but it's shorter than running all the way around in order to flank D.
Also note that point B is optional in the first round (if the signage isn't clear--which it probably isn't for Red). Taking C makes it easier to take, and vice versa. Having both increases attack options on D.
Map features a non-kill fall feature on round 2 that a friend of mine came up with (though I had to engineer myself!) where if you fall off the roof, you take some damage (a scout pushed back by a FaN probably won't survive), instead of instant death and then you then spend a few seconds out of game before being teleported back to your team's spawn. The idea is that it should be advantageous to push people off the edge, but with a lower penalty than being killed (5 seconds "time out" vs. 15 second respawn). Instant kill could be implemented easily, if that's what people decide works better; I just liked the uniqueness of the idea.
Initial prognosis is that the second round will be more fun, so hopefully the first round will be a hard one for red to win. The first screenshot highlights the second round pretty well. Point A is in the lower right, just barely visible, B is to the left, again, barely visible, C is obscured by the dome, and D is inside the middle tower (the tall roof is a spiral stair, D is to the left of that). The second screenshot is from the opposite corner of the map, with point C visible.
There is both breakable glass and unbreakable glass on the map, the unbreakable stuff is green and has security wires in it. The breakable glass has a moderate threshold for damage, so a pistol can't break it. Every class can break it, there are no weapon loadouts that leave a player incapable of damaging it (though there is an issue with the huntsman: arrows break when they hit breakable objects, nothing I can do about it).
FYI: ignore any "spawn point is not clear" warnings, it has to do with the clip brush that prevents anyone from getting onto the roof (second round) during the first round. It was 10 times easier to make one large brush than it was to block out only the accessible sky.
Things I particularly want to know:
(Seriously, try and break the map, if there's anything that can make the game unfun, I want to know)
Please, screenshots! It's really hard to know where something is without a screenshot, even I have a hard time describing locations and I know that round 1 point D is placed in the Kitchen! (I think I named the points based on the room they were in, but I don't think I went back and fixed those names when I moved them around--the names are meaningless enough that I kept forgetting to change it to ABCD).
I threw a texture inside the map that has my email on it, but post to this thread, the email is there for players who want to report something, but don't know how.
*Hopefully I've already covered these, but people have been known to be quite clever.
==Additional Screenshots==
The basis for the map came from an imaginary castle some guy drew up (I'd totally tell him, if his email was still valid) and initially was going to be a 3 round attack/defend map, but due to the limits on the number of CPs in a map (8), as well as the overall design of the castle it worked better as a 2 round attack/defend. I turned another one of his castles into a L4D map.
I'd appreciate any play tests that get done. If you plan one and get several people I'd like to know about it so I can join in. I haven't been able to play my own map!
Note that on round 1, a teleporter near blue spawn enables access to the back side of the map after point C is captured. It can be overlooked due to its location, but it's shorter than running all the way around in order to flank D.
Also note that point B is optional in the first round (if the signage isn't clear--which it probably isn't for Red). Taking C makes it easier to take, and vice versa. Having both increases attack options on D.
Map features a non-kill fall feature on round 2 that a friend of mine came up with (though I had to engineer myself!) where if you fall off the roof, you take some damage (a scout pushed back by a FaN probably won't survive), instead of instant death and then you then spend a few seconds out of game before being teleported back to your team's spawn. The idea is that it should be advantageous to push people off the edge, but with a lower penalty than being killed (5 seconds "time out" vs. 15 second respawn). Instant kill could be implemented easily, if that's what people decide works better; I just liked the uniqueness of the idea.
Initial prognosis is that the second round will be more fun, so hopefully the first round will be a hard one for red to win. The first screenshot highlights the second round pretty well. Point A is in the lower right, just barely visible, B is to the left, again, barely visible, C is obscured by the dome, and D is inside the middle tower (the tall roof is a spiral stair, D is to the left of that). The second screenshot is from the opposite corner of the map, with point C visible.
There is both breakable glass and unbreakable glass on the map, the unbreakable stuff is green and has security wires in it. The breakable glass has a moderate threshold for damage, so a pistol can't break it. Every class can break it, there are no weapon loadouts that leave a player incapable of damaging it (though there is an issue with the huntsman: arrows break when they hit breakable objects, nothing I can do about it).
FYI: ignore any "spawn point is not clear" warnings, it has to do with the clip brush that prevents anyone from getting onto the roof (second round) during the first round. It was 10 times easier to make one large brush than it was to block out only the accessible sky.
Things I particularly want to know:
(Seriously, try and break the map, if there's anything that can make the game unfun, I want to know)
Please, screenshots! It's really hard to know where something is without a screenshot, even I have a hard time describing locations and I know that round 1 point D is placed in the Kitchen! (I think I named the points based on the room they were in, but I don't think I went back and fixed those names when I moved them around--the names are meaningless enough that I kept forgetting to change it to ABCD).
- Where to place/remove cover. It's pretty scarce right now, but may not be well placd.
- Where to ban sentries/buildings (i.e. spots that make it impossible to counter)
- Where to discourage snipers
- Where I need signs (round 2 is not as well marked, but locations of trouble spots on either round would be helpful)
- Spots where you can get into enemy zones (note: Red has total control of half of the second floor, on the D side of points A and B, Blue should not be able to get in there, likewise Red should not be able to get outside)*
- Similarly, if you can access the ground and second floors during round 2*
- Any way I can improve the health/ammo spawn placement. It's pretty evenly covered, I think, but if you find a place that think should use something, let me know!
- Shadows! I know there aren't any lights yet, but if you think a particular location should be in shadow (good for spy decloaking) I'd like to know so I can take it into consideration when I muster the courage to add lights (my, that will take a while ).
- Where I can get some flavor props! I really don't want to have to decompile existing maps to grab things out like crates and tires and things. Victorian themed anything would be awesome! There's nothing wrong with a clutter free map, of course, but it looks so sterile right now. x..x
- And anything else you can think of!
I threw a texture inside the map that has my email on it, but post to this thread, the email is there for players who want to report something, but don't know how.
*Hopefully I've already covered these, but people have been known to be quite clever.
==Additional Screenshots==
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