The Asylum updated Pipeball Ultra with a new update entry:
A3!
Read the rest of this update entry...
A3!
Read the rest of this update entry...
A3!
That's enough of that little oversight
smol pip
There we are. Now it should be obvious what the fuck is going on.
The PD HUD and CP HUD won't play together the way I want, but this is good enough.
CHANGES FROM A2
- Added Player Destruction scorekeeping
- Screen fades out when goals are scored
- Added text to help players understand WTF is going on
- Windows in side buildings are now closed. No more spawn sniping for you
- Serve pipe gets shortened, and the ball doesn't get launched quite as high
- other stuff
That's enough of that little oversight
smol pip
There we are. Now it should be obvious what the fuck is going on.
The PD HUD and CP HUD won't play together the way I want, but this is good enough.
CHANGES FROM A2
- Added Player Destruction scorekeeping
- Screen fades out when goals are scored
- Added text to help players understand WTF is going on
- Windows in side buildings are now closed. No more spawn sniping for you
- Serve pipe gets shortened, and the ball doesn't get launched quite as high
- other stuff
So yeah, vscripts are a thing now. Imagine how giddy I was when I learned I wouldn't have to rely on servercommands anymore. Then imagine how crushed I was when I realized "wait a minute if servercommands were disabled by default to prevent malicious uses what's the difference with vscripts?" Sure, they'll work for now, but I don't expect that to last long.
Essentially, it's just a much more complicated way to arrive at the same problem.
Keeping players out of the ball, however, or even doing things like applying a hurt trigger to the ball if it gets moving fast enough though.... well, I guess we'll see...
Essentially, it's just a much more complicated way to arrive at the same problem.
Keeping players out of the ball, however, or even doing things like applying a hurt trigger to the ball if it gets moving fast enough though.... well, I guess we'll see...
In the meantime, here's what I'm cooking up for A4:
To make the vent flanks in both the regular and bonus room rinks less viable, they now have fans in them (they are vents, after all). These will impede progress to the point where slower classes will want to think twice about using them. Scouts will be somewhat annoyed. Heavies will be slowed to almost a crawl.
Oh yeah, and this:
There. Brighter. Best I could do to balance moody atmosphere with people complaining about it being too dark.
Since I'm not going to have time to play TF2 during an IMP anytime this year, or, forseeably, in the future at all for a very, very, long time, I'm completely reliant on having the retest of A3 run in my absence, with hopes that I'll get a session that's at least somewhat competitive (seriously, was BLU team taking a nap?). Sucks that I won't be there to explain things, but, you know, this is a blessing in disguise. Since I won't be able to hop on and be available to hold player's hands on EVERY server EVERY time they hypothetically run this map, gives me a good measure of how intuitive it is.
A4 will be around when I actually have time to play an IMP. So, don't hold your breath.
To make the vent flanks in both the regular and bonus room rinks less viable, they now have fans in them (they are vents, after all). These will impede progress to the point where slower classes will want to think twice about using them. Scouts will be somewhat annoyed. Heavies will be slowed to almost a crawl.
Oh yeah, and this:
There. Brighter. Best I could do to balance moody atmosphere with people complaining about it being too dark.
Since I'm not going to have time to play TF2 during an IMP anytime this year, or, forseeably, in the future at all for a very, very, long time, I'm completely reliant on having the retest of A3 run in my absence, with hopes that I'll get a session that's at least somewhat competitive (seriously, was BLU team taking a nap?). Sucks that I won't be there to explain things, but, you know, this is a blessing in disguise. Since I won't be able to hop on and be available to hold player's hands on EVERY server EVERY time they hypothetically run this map, gives me a good measure of how intuitive it is.
A4 will be around when I actually have time to play an IMP. So, don't hold your breath.
Soooooo.... something fucky happened with Sudden Death just today and I have no idea how it happened. The only enabling of Sudden Death entities are handled by the timer running out. So what triggered it, I have no clue. The PD score display also had a little blip, giving an unwarranted point once. Again, fuck me if I know. I'll have to give things a tuning for A4.
As for the bonus rooms, I'd rather not mess with the time length if I don't have to. Let's try not mucking around with respawn times first, and then we'll see if it feels as long. If only you knew, dear reader, just how much tomfoolery was going on behind the curtains of this dumb map.
It's like staring into infinity
As for the bonus rooms, I'd rather not mess with the time length if I don't have to. Let's try not mucking around with respawn times first, and then we'll see if it feels as long. If only you knew, dear reader, just how much tomfoolery was going on behind the curtains of this dumb map.
It's like staring into infinity
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The Asylum updated Pipeball Ultra with a new update entry:
A4a!
Read the rest of this update entry...
A4a!
Read the rest of this update entry...
UPDATE!
CHANGES FROM A3:
- HUD timer switches from main timer to bonus room timer
- No more respawn time trickery. It's a standard 8 seconds all the time.
- Tweaked the scoring system. Now it should award the correct amount of points consistently
- Redid the fences outside the rink
- Added push triggers to the various venting flanks. Now it's not so easy to get the drop on the other team
- Maximum score is 10 points. Good luck trying to get that much in legit competition though
- Bonus rooms get a little brighter
- No more spawn-to-flank shortcut
Fences and the associated playerclips are a little better defined
Also, instead of "playing to 99" that made players drop their jaws in horror, we're now playing to 10. Not that it's ever likely to occur in real competition, but it looks at least a little more "reasonable"
Realistically, I think this may be the last Alpha build before finally moving into Beta. Happy Holidays, everyone!
CHANGES FROM A3:
- HUD timer switches from main timer to bonus room timer
- No more respawn time trickery. It's a standard 8 seconds all the time.
- Tweaked the scoring system. Now it should award the correct amount of points consistently
- Redid the fences outside the rink
- Added push triggers to the various venting flanks. Now it's not so easy to get the drop on the other team
- Maximum score is 10 points. Good luck trying to get that much in legit competition though
- Bonus rooms get a little brighter
- No more spawn-to-flank shortcut
Fences and the associated playerclips are a little better defined
Also, instead of "playing to 99" that made players drop their jaws in horror, we're now playing to 10. Not that it's ever likely to occur in real competition, but it looks at least a little more "reasonable"
Realistically, I think this may be the last Alpha build before finally moving into Beta. Happy Holidays, everyone!
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well that sucked
Watched today's playtest. My brilliant "ball never fails to respawn" system did just fail to respawn the ball. Not only that, but it did so by YEETING IT THE FUCK OUT OF THE MAP. I mean, I've had some spectacular backfires before but this... this was a god damn chef's kiss of a fuckup. I actually am impressed.
Soooooooooo, other than that, I think I should finally get around to addressing another big problem- and one that's not just limited to Pipeball. That problem is, of course, people asking what the fuck is going on. It is, unfortunately, a problem that all funmaps have to one degree or another. Do I, a funmap aficionado, make a boring and vanilla mechanic that everyone understands right out the gate, or do I be FABU-
... hold on...
Do I be
with bizarre gimmicks and have nobody know whats happening?
I really, really tried. I think what I will have to end up doing is holding hands in a vicegrip. That pyrrhic setup timer? Yeah. That's going to be extended and used as a tutorial. How, and what, those are unknowns right now. But they will be in the next build, which may or may not be coming out next year. My guess is as good as yours.
Watched today's playtest. My brilliant "ball never fails to respawn" system did just fail to respawn the ball. Not only that, but it did so by YEETING IT THE FUCK OUT OF THE MAP. I mean, I've had some spectacular backfires before but this... this was a god damn chef's kiss of a fuckup. I actually am impressed.
Soooooooooo, other than that, I think I should finally get around to addressing another big problem- and one that's not just limited to Pipeball. That problem is, of course, people asking what the fuck is going on. It is, unfortunately, a problem that all funmaps have to one degree or another. Do I, a funmap aficionado, make a boring and vanilla mechanic that everyone understands right out the gate, or do I be FABU-
... hold on...
Do I be
I really, really tried. I think what I will have to end up doing is holding hands in a vicegrip. That pyrrhic setup timer? Yeah. That's going to be extended and used as a tutorial. How, and what, those are unknowns right now. But they will be in the next build, which may or may not be coming out next year. My guess is as good as yours.
Something that just occurred to me: a tutorial would kind of suck, wouldn't it?
Think of it. At the start of every round you'd have to sit and watch the same slideshow/presentation or whatever each and every time. And everyone skips the into movies even on Valve maps and just mashes the join button. And what if players could opt out, what then? They'd be stuck waiting for the tutorial to finish anyway, confined to the spawnroom for however long it takes to adequately explain the rules.
You'd really think the whole "put ball in other team's goal" objective would be easy enough to grasp right away, but apparently that is very much not the case. After watching tonight's demo and seeing all the new and creative ways players can own goal their team repeatedly, I dunno, guys. I dunno.
Think of it. At the start of every round you'd have to sit and watch the same slideshow/presentation or whatever each and every time. And everyone skips the into movies even on Valve maps and just mashes the join button. And what if players could opt out, what then? They'd be stuck waiting for the tutorial to finish anyway, confined to the spawnroom for however long it takes to adequately explain the rules.
You'd really think the whole "put ball in other team's goal" objective would be easy enough to grasp right away, but apparently that is very much not the case. After watching tonight's demo and seeing all the new and creative ways players can own goal their team repeatedly, I dunno, guys. I dunno.
The Asylum updated Pipeball Ultra with a new update entry:
A5!
Read the rest of this update entry...
A5!
Read the rest of this update entry...
So here's the deal:
Life in Asylumland has gone from bad to exponentially worse. I've had to cancel just about every service except my barebones Internet to stay afloat and even then that's on shaky ground. Photoshop was one of them, and until I can claw back enough money to afford it again, no more custom content.
Honestly, I felt the spark go out a little bit. Want to see me tempt fate? Watch this: How could things possibly get any worse?
I was through two major sections of the first beta build when the shit moved on from the fan to the jet engine, so as for a next release, its a halfway point between alpha and the jump to beta. Two super pretty spytech areas, and the brand new Vscript that completely removes the need for point_servercommand. This was definitely a long time coming, and given that I'm working three jobs because life is naught but endless suffering, it's likely to be all there will be to Pipeball Ultra for a long, long time.
Not to worry, though. My will to live hasn't been completely trampled out of me yet. Slowly but surely, I will be adding more for the next build. This stage is like the ugly caterpillar that's spun itself into a cocoon, and will yet emerge with a beautiful transformation. When that happens though, is anyone's guess. But it will happen. Eventually.
Going dark.
CHANGES FROM A4:
- Vscript functionality added. No more need for servercommands! Whoohooooo!!
- Sudden Death will work like it's supposed to, I promise this time.
- Re-added the original flank access hole in the walls
- Buffed the ball cannons. Their new trajectory and velocity are actually useful now!
- Some minor clipping
- Added signage to the Control Points, now they'll indicate what they do
- Minor optimizations
Life in Asylumland has gone from bad to exponentially worse. I've had to cancel just about every service except my barebones Internet to stay afloat and even then that's on shaky ground. Photoshop was one of them, and until I can claw back enough money to afford it again, no more custom content.
Honestly, I felt the spark go out a little bit. Want to see me tempt fate? Watch this: How could things possibly get any worse?
I was through two major sections of the first beta build when the shit moved on from the fan to the jet engine, so as for a next release, its a halfway point between alpha and the jump to beta. Two super pretty spytech areas, and the brand new Vscript that completely removes the need for point_servercommand. This was definitely a long time coming, and given that I'm working three jobs because life is naught but endless suffering, it's likely to be all there will be to Pipeball Ultra for a long, long time.
Not to worry, though. My will to live hasn't been completely trampled out of me yet. Slowly but surely, I will be adding more for the next build. This stage is like the ugly caterpillar that's spun itself into a cocoon, and will yet emerge with a beautiful transformation. When that happens though, is anyone's guess. But it will happen. Eventually.
Going dark.
CHANGES FROM A4:
- Vscript functionality added. No more need for servercommands! Whoohooooo!!
- Sudden Death will work like it's supposed to, I promise this time.
- Re-added the original flank access hole in the walls
- Buffed the ball cannons. Their new trajectory and velocity are actually useful now!
- Some minor clipping
- Added signage to the Control Points, now they'll indicate what they do
- Minor optimizations
So as far as temporary abandonware goes, a5 has held up pretty good. Though, it does have its gaps given the rush I made to release it- if you guys could please not shoot the ball over the scoreboard on RED's side of the main rink, I'd consider it a close personal favor, thanks. So what can we expect for the first official Beta build, whenever it does come out? Here's my to do list:
- Fine tune the main timer to resume when the game returns to the main rink, and not the 2-ish seconds it does resume early. Ditto for the ball being served on the return to the main rink.
- Rework the ball return system. It works well enough, even if sometimes it does take awhile, but it definitely could be better.
- Better timer syncing for transitioning between the main and bonus rinks in general
- Maybe make a portion of the main rink spawn hallways accessible to the other team. Cuz fuck Snipers, that's why.
- Maybe add a path up to the balconies in the bonus rooms for the defending team. Make it a time-costing route so defenders will need to weigh risk-reward. Maybe.
- Something fun like how the ball gets blown upward on the main rink serve, it'll also blow players who are standing on the pipe upwards too. Maybe do some damage too, since it is steam, after all.
- For those who have seen the Sudden Death arena (and the fewer still who have seen it actually working), yes, it's ugly, and I'm making it look better.
Other than that, it plays pretty much how it needs to. Beta is going to look soooooo much prettier, and finally, FINALLY, the end of this ridiculous 8 year saga is within sight.
- Fine tune the main timer to resume when the game returns to the main rink, and not the 2-ish seconds it does resume early. Ditto for the ball being served on the return to the main rink.
- Rework the ball return system. It works well enough, even if sometimes it does take awhile, but it definitely could be better.
- Better timer syncing for transitioning between the main and bonus rinks in general
- Maybe make a portion of the main rink spawn hallways accessible to the other team. Cuz fuck Snipers, that's why.
- Maybe add a path up to the balconies in the bonus rooms for the defending team. Make it a time-costing route so defenders will need to weigh risk-reward. Maybe.
- Something fun like how the ball gets blown upward on the main rink serve, it'll also blow players who are standing on the pipe upwards too. Maybe do some damage too, since it is steam, after all.
- For those who have seen the Sudden Death arena (and the fewer still who have seen it actually working), yes, it's ugly, and I'm making it look better.
Other than that, it plays pretty much how it needs to. Beta is going to look soooooo much prettier, and finally, FINALLY, the end of this ridiculous 8 year saga is within sight.
For those who remember it, Checkpoint was my first really serious attempt at making a normal map. It didn't go quite the way I had planned, but I did a lot of things that I (and others) liked- the showers below the spawnrooms being one of them. So that terrible looking bonus room spawn on the right side for the defending teams are getting the Checkpoint makeover.
And a sauna!
Yeah so the coal pit needs work, I'm too dumb to use blender, sue me
And what about the terrible looking bonus room defense spawn on the left sides? Why, that's now a little laundry room! All that blood gets real sticky after awhile.
Again, the laundry machines are simple brushes because blender breaks my brain
And the main rink gets some attention too:
On serve, these doors will pop open, let the ball fly up, and close again.
So, 7 years after first promised, THIS year we'll finally see Pipeball Ultra make its first ever April Foolsday appearance. And no, Asylum Megamix doesn't count. So mark your calendars! 1 April 2023 will see the triumphant return of Pipeball Ultra! Bigger! Badder! Beta-er!
Be there-er!
And a sauna!
Yeah so the coal pit needs work, I'm too dumb to use blender, sue me
And what about the terrible looking bonus room defense spawn on the left sides? Why, that's now a little laundry room! All that blood gets real sticky after awhile.
Again, the laundry machines are simple brushes because blender breaks my brain
And the main rink gets some attention too:
On serve, these doors will pop open, let the ball fly up, and close again.
So, 7 years after first promised, THIS year we'll finally see Pipeball Ultra make its first ever April Foolsday appearance. And no, Asylum Megamix doesn't count. So mark your calendars! 1 April 2023 will see the triumphant return of Pipeball Ultra! Bigger! Badder! Beta-er!
Be there-er!
The Asylum updated Pipeball Ultra with a new update entry:
BEEWON!!
Read the rest of this update entry...
BEEWON!!
Read the rest of this update entry...
Welp looks like I have to be an adult this April Foolsday, so fuck it. It's B1 time bitches!
also the sudden death arena is no longer absolutley hideous
Changes from A5:
-Did some playerclip trickery to let the ammopack that players drop on death fall out of the bonus room ball serve pipes instead of being held up inside of it
- Fixed issues with the out of bounds ball teleport brushes
- Fixed issue with the ball re-serve system sometimes taking a long ass time to re-serve the ball
- better playerclipping
- props props props props and MOAR PROPS
- Added doors to the main rink ball serve pipe
- The bonus room ball pipes now shoot the ball out at high speed, to clamp down on the quick goals
- Better timing of the bonus room to main rink transition. Now the main round timer will resume when you're actually back on the main rink, not before
- Speaking of, there's better timing on the first serve of the return to the main rink
- Actually, why don't I just save a lot of time and just say there's better timing on everything in general? Yeah, let's do that.
also the sudden death arena is no longer absolutley hideous
Changes from A5:
-Did some playerclip trickery to let the ammopack that players drop on death fall out of the bonus room ball serve pipes instead of being held up inside of it
- Fixed issues with the out of bounds ball teleport brushes
- Fixed issue with the ball re-serve system sometimes taking a long ass time to re-serve the ball
- better playerclipping
- props props props props and MOAR PROPS
- Added doors to the main rink ball serve pipe
- The bonus room ball pipes now shoot the ball out at high speed, to clamp down on the quick goals
- Better timing of the bonus room to main rink transition. Now the main round timer will resume when you're actually back on the main rink, not before
- Speaking of, there's better timing on the first serve of the return to the main rink
- Actually, why don't I just save a lot of time and just say there's better timing on everything in general? Yeah, let's do that.
......
I can't be the only person here who has seen literally any sport being played before.
I dunno guys. I think I'm done.
I can't be the only person here who has seen literally any sport being played before.
I dunno guys. I think I'm done.
I was almost over it, guys.
Go and look through the last demo for B1, and see if you can spot the question that made me lose all hope for humanity. I really did consider just fucking off and never coming back. Like every self-absorbed snooty artist before me, I was utterly convinced- they just don't get it. I had myself a real Candlelight Fantasia moment. As clichéd a Pagliacci Paradox as there ever was, and then some.
Then, my spirit animal, Marcel Duchamp, spoke to me.
I mean, I had no idea what he was saying. Sure, I'm Canadian, but that doesn't mean I understand a damn lick of century-old French. If I had to guess, he probably would be telling me to keep doing whatever the hell I want to do, because I am The Asylum, and I will. Not. Conform. Pipeball exists because fuck you I want it to.
Sooooooo.... back to the big problem, then. How to show people what the hell is going on. You know my earlier idea of having a tutorial of some kind? Let me be clear. Actually, let me be crystal clear. Actually, no. Hold on...
Rotomairewhenua, aka the Blue Lake, is a lake in New Zealand that is widely recognized as the clearest lake in the world. Seriously, look at that shit on Google. It's fucking gorgeous. It has a depth visibility of *80 METERS.* That's unbelievable how clear that is. So, with that in mind, let me be even more clear than that.
I really, REALLY, don't want to make a tutorial. I will hammer a rusty nail through my urethra with my feet being fed through a woodchipper while listening to Nickelback before I decide on making a tutorial. So, here's part of the current plan:
They're going to have their hands held so tightly that when I'm done with them they'll look like the Wall Street Bets mascot.
Notice the arrows from Pipeball Classic are back? Yeah. You know that spree of questions I asked awhile back? Some dumb shit about "what do you think this hypothetical new game is?" That was to gauge just how obvious (or not) it is to players which direction to hit the ball. I asked a lot of people. Most people got the idea bang on. Some others had some somewhat different takes. And a few others were.... so out there I don't know how to begin to describe them.
People are weird. And that's coming from me.
How to idiot-proof the concept of the bonus rooms is still an unknown right now, but I've got a few good ideas I'm trying out right now. Oh no, there is no way this is all happening before April Foolsday. That ship has already sailed. You're getting B1 and that's all there will be for quite awhile now. I got a lot of work to do.
Go and look through the last demo for B1, and see if you can spot the question that made me lose all hope for humanity. I really did consider just fucking off and never coming back. Like every self-absorbed snooty artist before me, I was utterly convinced- they just don't get it. I had myself a real Candlelight Fantasia moment. As clichéd a Pagliacci Paradox as there ever was, and then some.
Then, my spirit animal, Marcel Duchamp, spoke to me.
I mean, I had no idea what he was saying. Sure, I'm Canadian, but that doesn't mean I understand a damn lick of century-old French. If I had to guess, he probably would be telling me to keep doing whatever the hell I want to do, because I am The Asylum, and I will. Not. Conform. Pipeball exists because fuck you I want it to.
Sooooooo.... back to the big problem, then. How to show people what the hell is going on. You know my earlier idea of having a tutorial of some kind? Let me be clear. Actually, let me be crystal clear. Actually, no. Hold on...
Rotomairewhenua, aka the Blue Lake, is a lake in New Zealand that is widely recognized as the clearest lake in the world. Seriously, look at that shit on Google. It's fucking gorgeous. It has a depth visibility of *80 METERS.* That's unbelievable how clear that is. So, with that in mind, let me be even more clear than that.
I really, REALLY, don't want to make a tutorial. I will hammer a rusty nail through my urethra with my feet being fed through a woodchipper while listening to Nickelback before I decide on making a tutorial. So, here's part of the current plan:
They're going to have their hands held so tightly that when I'm done with them they'll look like the Wall Street Bets mascot.
Notice the arrows from Pipeball Classic are back? Yeah. You know that spree of questions I asked awhile back? Some dumb shit about "what do you think this hypothetical new game is?" That was to gauge just how obvious (or not) it is to players which direction to hit the ball. I asked a lot of people. Most people got the idea bang on. Some others had some somewhat different takes. And a few others were.... so out there I don't know how to begin to describe them.
People are weird. And that's coming from me.
How to idiot-proof the concept of the bonus rooms is still an unknown right now, but I've got a few good ideas I'm trying out right now. Oh no, there is no way this is all happening before April Foolsday. That ship has already sailed. You're getting B1 and that's all there will be for quite awhile now. I got a lot of work to do.
Remember when Valve's initial refusal to add Snowplow became a meme? All of us were laughing at "too confusing for new players".
...I guess they had a point.
so here's what I've got so far for Pipeball Ultra B2, or, "Asylum Experiments with Incrementalism"
So, real preliminary shit here, just want to know "can these moro- I mean, uh, "new players," follow a line?" Doesn't make much sense to go making elaborate decorative brushwork only to find out that the idea doesn't work to begin with.
Also, more arrows. Should be real hard to not get where you're supposed to be going now.
Also I filled the secret killswitch room with swimsuit models because fuck you i can
So, real preliminary shit here, just want to know "can these moro- I mean, uh, "new players," follow a line?" Doesn't make much sense to go making elaborate decorative brushwork only to find out that the idea doesn't work to begin with.
Also, more arrows. Should be real hard to not get where you're supposed to be going now.
Also I filled the secret killswitch room with swimsuit models because fuck you i can