Reactor

Reactor V2 A6

Egan

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Feb 14, 2010
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Yo @14bit I made a quick feedback video for you from the Jan 12 impromptu: https://youtu .be/fS4OvKlzsyY

The video covers all that I really think about the map so far, but in quick text form - probably my largest qualm with the map is the low satisfaction B point was giving, and that may simply be because navigating the surrounding rooms was a bit confusing (because everything looked the same).
 

14bit

L14: Bit Member
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Oct 5, 2014
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A7: The Respawnening
  • Changes at A:
    • Added more signage to the door to D
    • Door to B opens significantly faster
  • Changes at B:
    • Doorway from spawn courtyard centered
    • Doors from A and to C open significantly faster
    • Center building at B was rebuilt
      • Direct route through the building has been replaced with a staircase and balcony on the outside
      • Sniper deck for blu remains, but it’s higher and more risky
      • Part of the roof is now unclipped, we’ll see how this goes
    • Added cover to route to back building at B
    • Adjusted props and geometry around B point
    • Rebuilt B point
      • Capture area is now larger
      • The point building now only half-finished, providing less cover
  • Changes at C:
    • Doors to C open upwards instead of downwards
    • Fixed (?) steam vents turing off after capping
  • Changes at D:
    • Bridges now extend slower
    • Updated finale events
      • Added explosion sounds
      • Added kill trigger
  • Changes at Red’s first spawn:
    • All doors now switch to the “No Entry” skins after B is capped
  • Changes at Blu’s spawn/room outside of spawn:
    • Rebuilt Blu’s spawn
      • Spawn building has been expanded
      • Spawn building now has a window!
      • There are now three exits into the A/B connector
        • The third exit leads to the (newly expanded) raised platform that leads to the upper building at A
  • Optimizations (I think frames dropping near B are finally fixed)
  • Slight detailing
  • Slight health/ammo adjustments
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14bit

L14: Bit Member
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Oct 5, 2014
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A8: The Recappening
  • All dead players on Red are instantly respawned when A,B, or C is capped
  • Changed some signage/lighting cues in Red’s first spawn.
  • Rebuilt part of the B/C/D connector:
    • Added exit to upper floor in place of back flank
    • Rebuilt part of the geometry
  • Doors to C open even slower
  • Changes at B:
    • Upped cap time by a bit
  • Changes at C:
    • Lowered capture area to jumping height
    • Added more cover across the point on ground level
    • Added a window/cover to Red’s entrance to the area
    • Reworked some of the catwalks
      • Far catwalk now leads to new upper floor of B/C/D connector
      • Close catwalk has sightly less of a height advantage over Red’s entrance to the area
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14bit

L14: Bit Member
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Oct 5, 2014
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I'LL DO THIS LATER THERE'S AN IMP NOW KSLFJ:KADSLFJKL:AK

Edit:
A9: The Respawnening 2: Radioactive Boogaloo
  • Red's spawn has been rebuilt:
    • Red team now spawns facing the door to point A
    • Door to A now leads to the buffer room between A and D
      • The door between A and D is now always open as a result
  • Point A was changed a bit:
    • The point is now slightly closer to Blu's side of the area
    • There's some a bit more cover in the new dead space created by this move
  • Changes at B:
    • Staircase in building near Red's spawn door removed to reduce camping
    • Added a door on the B side of the A/B connector so people heading for D don't get lost
    • Upper doors to the B/C/D connector now start open so it's easier to flip between B and D while defending
    • Secondary door from Blu's spawn to B opens slower now
  • Changes at C:
    • Capture zone raised to allow capping while being thrown by the vents
  • Clipping fixes
  • Probably more I forgot
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14bit

L14: Bit Member
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Oct 5, 2014
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A10: The Repowering!
(Because C and D were changed? Get it? No?)
  • Changes at A:
    • Added a medium health pack under the bridge
  • Changes at B:
    • Flipped building on the point to give more cover to defenders and less to attackers
    • Upper door to B/C/D connector now starts open to allow red to flip between B and D faster
    • Door that opens after A to B from A/B connector opens slower
  • Changes at C:
    • Changes to the catwalks
      • Catwalks lowered
      • New path up to catwalks from Blu’s right entrance to C
      • Added some cover
    • Rebuilt the entire point
      • Point is now on a raised platform/catwalks
      • There is a lot more cover across the room and surrounding the point
      • Vents are no longer on the point, rather they let teammates get onto the point from the ground level
    • Finally fixed the vents, they now remain on after C is capped
  • Changes at D:
    • Added a height advantage to Red’s back hallway
    • Added route from Red’s back hallway back up to Red’s sniper/sentry deck from for after upper door shuts
    • Removed lower route through A/D connector
  • Improved some lighting
  • Clipping fixes
  • Changed some health/ammo
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14bit

L14: Bit Member
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Oct 5, 2014
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Did we skip releasing B1 through B4A? Yep, but that won't stop us. They were mostly artpasses anyway. The biggest change was the fantastic (partial) art pass by the wonderful @Corvatile! The new custom HUD icons and new door textures were both made by @Yrr, thanks again and great job!

Here's the actual change log (don't get upset if I missed somthing, I'm writing this from my phone with not way to compare versions):
  • Artpass has begun!
    • Super cool Arctic base theme with lots of yellow!
    • Custom HUD icons and new signs to help players figure out what's going on!
    • New locked-door door textures!
  • Optimization!
  • Clipping improvements!
  • Too many exclamation marks!
This is the final version for the 2015-2016 Dynamic CP Contest. We do plan to continue this after the judging is over. Stay tuned for future updates, and thank you everyone for your support over the past few months, it really has meant a lot to me.

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ades

L4: Comfortable Member
Jun 27, 2014
165
58
Glad to hear your going to continue on it. I really enjoy playing it
 

14bit

L14: Bit Member
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Oct 5, 2014
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This is actually the final contest version @Corvatile submitted for the contest the download was correct in the submission thread, but I only put up B4B here. Whoops.

Also: finally screenshots!

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Bunbun

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May 18, 2014
401
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AcFwa25.jpg
 

wake

L1: Registered
Jan 23, 2016
9
5
I think that having all three blue spawn doors open up to one room is detrimental to the gameplay of a steel style map.
 

Ixy

L2: Junior Member
Jan 29, 2016
75
67
I hope you haven't given up on this map. I just came across it today and it looks absolutely awesome!
 

14bit

L14: Bit Member
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Oct 5, 2014
642
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Wow, this took a lot longer than I thought it would. It's been 1 year, 11 months, and 13 days since this map was updated, and a lot has happened since. Also, this is also my 200th post on the site! Pretty neat how that worked out, huh?

A12: The Return
  • Changes to Blu spawn
    • Rebuilt completely
    • Added spawn courtyard with new connectors to A and B
  • Changes to Point A
    • Moved whole area South a couple hundred hammer units
    • All new entrances to the area for both teams
    • Reworked the roof and attached building
    • Added high ground behind fence near the one-way door
      • This should make it easier for Red to combat the one-way door
    • Moved A -> B shortcut slightly
    • Re-added slow door to D
      • Blu players heading for D at the start must take the long way around through B
  • Changes to Red's Forward Spawn
    • Completely rebuilt and moved
    • New A/B/C/D connector I'm calling "Computers" in place of old spawn
    • Spawn moved closer to A
      • Enters into A through what previously was a detail area, closes when A is capped
    • Route to B goes past D, over A -> connector, into Computers
      • Door from Computers to B closes when B is capped
  • New A -> B connector
    • Takes place of Blu's old spawn courtyard/building thing
    • Clearer signage to D
  • Changes to Point B
    • Removed shack from point
    • Expanded point and capture zone
    • Increased signage directing to C/D
    • Interior sniper room for Red has been removed
  • Changes to B/C/D connector (the yellow pipe room)
    • Exit to D shortened and moved to feed into Computers/take you towards D because it moved
  • Changes to C
    • Hallways behind the point resized to be consistent
    • Turbines moved to allow move movement on ground level
    • Red's entrance to the area and C->D connector merged and reworked
      • Catwalk nearest Red Spawn removed, replaced with hallway outside of Turbine room
        • Also connects to D
      • Red's Spawn is much closer to C now
      • Lower C -> D connector near Red has been removed
      • New C->D connector accessed from point level, leads to Computers
    • Most of the catwalks have been turned into solid ground
    • Strange metal cover has been replaced with crates or removed in favor of geometry changes
    • Blu's mid-ground entrance has been converted into a control room
    • New ramp from ground level to the control room, then up to the point
  • Changes to Point D
    • Moved closer to A
    • Entirely rebuilt
      • Much smaller, so sentries should actually be viable again
    • Bridge from Red's side removed
    • Water no longer kills you, does damage over time
      • The deeper you are, the faster it kills you
      • There's an escape from the water on Red's side of the Reactor
    • Red's lower entranced lowered to almost water level and given cover
    • Red's high ground moved to the side, expanded to look over back hallway
      • New route to high ground with a new room for Red to hang out in
      • Really fancy effects with pipes breaking when C is captured that blocks off the route/room
    • All new routes into D for both teams
    • Battlements overlooking D for Red's forward spawn double as their route to B
    • Blu can no longer enter with height advantage, they must go through Computers to access the battlements overlooking D
  • Changes to Red's Final Spawn
    • Closer to C
    • No longer exits into a hallway between C and D
      • One exit is directly into C
      • The second exit leads to a new room that then has two exits into D
  • Chalkboards updated to match new layout
  • Optimization
  • Soundscapes
  • Lighting improvements
  • Health/Ammo changes
  • Signage improvements/changes
  • Easter Egg
I think that's everything, it's been so long I've started to forget the changes. As always, don't hesitate to leave feedback, and thanks for taking the time to look at my map!

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14bit

L14: Bit Member
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Oct 5, 2014
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Hello again. It's been a while.

2 years, 3 months, 7 days, 23 hours, and 43 minutes.

Reactor always has been and will be a very personal project for me. Right after I started it back in October 2015 during my senior year of high school my mom was diagnosed with colon cancer. Working on Reactor alone in my room was one of the ways I worked through it; I poured my heart and soul into it to help distract myself from reality. My mom's doing fine, and has been in remission for over four years now.

Since I started this map, a lot has changed in my life. I've started and almost finished a degree in Game Design, designed and published a board game for the city I now call home, came out as gay to my friends and family, and got brought on as TF2maps staff. I've made new friends, and said goodbye to one that used to work on this map with me.

Over the years, I've pulled this map apart and put it back together countless times, and only some versions have seen the light of day. Around April of last year I got close to releasing an a13 which was to introduce sweeping changes with over half of the map completely redesigned. But then I got a message asking if I knew it was getting competitive testing, which set off a panic attack, one of the very few I've had in my life. It turned out someone else on the project decided to get it competitively tested against my explicit instructions not to do so until I felt it was ready. They broke my trust and hurt me in their desire to see the map finished, and it killed all motivation for me to keep working on Reactor. For the rest of 2019 it sat unfinished.

After much reflection, I decided I needed to do something more drastic than keeping rebuilding points over and over. So on January 7th, 2020 I opened a new file and began working on rebuilding Reactor from the ground up. A complete reboot to help distance myself from the mess the map had become, and one of the people that caused it to become that way.

I know it won't be perfect on my first try; honestly it'll probably be pretty bad. But Reactor means too much to me to not finish it, and I refuse to let it die so easily. So, welcome back to Reactor. I hope it's been worth the wait.

-14bit

Reactor V2 A1 change log:
  • Completely rebuilt the map from the ground up

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14bit

L14: Bit Member
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Oct 5, 2014
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Significant portions of the map have been reworked:

Changes to Blu Spawn:
  • Completely rebuilt to facilitate the new layouts of A and B
  • Spawn points are significantly closer to the actual spawn exits, so you get into the action faster!
  • Light detailing to communicate Blu's holed up in the shipping/receiving section of the base
Changes at A:
  • Expanded playable space around A
  • Gave Red a lot more room to work with while defending
  • Rebuilt both of Blu's spawn exits
  • Rebuilt Blu's half of A
  • Reworked ramp shortcut into a gate, platform, and stack of boxes
    • This should make it harder to use while attacking A, while also making it easier to use this route to eventually attack D.
  • Pushed A/B connector door a bit further from the point
Rebuilt the entirety of the A-->B connector
  • Now ends in a drop-down into a less-advantageous place for attacking B as Blu
    • This also means that the health and ammo that was there is now inaccessible to any players not coming thought the dropdown
Changes at B:
  • Made the point smaller
  • Added some boxes so attackers can jump up onto the point if they want
  • Increased cover on/around point
  • Reworked Blu's spawn exit into multiple exits
    • This should be much harder to camp
  • Made some scaling adjustments
    • Some areas are narrower
    • The whole area is slightly shorter
  • Lowered the lower shortcut a bit
Rebuilt the entirety of the B/C/D connector
  • The new version is much closer to the version from Reactor v1
  • There's a lot more usable space, and parts of it should flow better
  • Blu has better access to the highground in the connector, which should also make it easier to hold
  • Brought back the full health kit
  • Increased signage
Changes at C:
  • Added additional cover around the point
  • Flipped Blu's entrances to the area to work with the new connector better
  • Slowed Blu's doors to give Red more time to set up
Changes at D:
  • Reworked the A-->D connector to be more free-flowing and provide another angle of attack for Blu
  • Made the control point larger slightly
  • Reduced cap time slightly
  • Made the bridges slightly wider
  • Closed off the C-->D connector until B is capped
  • Added a door that closes when C is capped to make getting to D longer for Red
  • Changed some textures to try and make it less visually symmetrical
Changes at Red's Final Spawn:
  • Red can no longer enter the final spawn until it activates
    • This should help keep people from getting lost on the wrong side of the map
Overall Changes:
  • Improved lighting across the map
  • Increased health and ammo across the map
  • Increased amount of small cover all over the map
  • Both the radio tower and satellite dish are visible at both points
  • Optimization work
  • Clipping improvements
Red's area at final still needs reworking, but there's already so much changed that I might as well test it now.

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