PL Rust final1

[LeSwordfish]

I'd personally put at least one more route out of the cave bottom before doing anything else. maybe ven move the upper area down as well.

 

[Fruity Snacks]

I undid the cave. I feel like this might be a little more cramped, so if anything i'll get rid of those barrels. And no, I don't know if this will work... but we'll see.

Next up is trying to see if this slows down Blu between 2 and 3, or if I need to find a way to make it longer.

(lol magical floating barrel stacks)

 

[re1wind]

i think all the vertical supports might be more of a concern than the barrels, fjorzen

also, make blu spawn exit facing the direction of the overall map progress.

 

[Fruity Snacks]

Updated to a12.


I redid the second are a little. It's a little more closed off in the area's. This should help keep some of the more open-area classes in check, but also give some of the less-open classes some chance. Hopeing this works well because I want to get this layout down.

 

[Fruity Snacks]

Okidokey.

Last test was really solid, felt good about it. looking at feedback and stats from the tests and pulling data from there, I'm going to say that this is basically done layout wise now...

 

[Sergis]

i approve of undoing the cave. this is one of those cases where a step back is actually a step forward

 

[Fruity Snacks]

Yea, I was thinking more "contained" when i did the cave. This makes things easier since I reduce the wall, make the area feel a bit more open, and the map plays well.

 

[Pocket]

There's a spot where, as you approach in the direction the cart moves, the 2fort bridge prop pops into existence. Looks like a flaw in how the skybox brushes are structured.

 

[Fruity Snacks]

There's a spot where, as you approach in the direction the cart moves, the 2fort bridge prop pops into existence. Looks like a flaw in how the skybox brushes are structured.

Thats just a minor detail thing that I won't be worrying about atm. But it isn't a skybox thing it's a "I was in a rush when I was setting fade distances" thing.

 

[Ravidge]

merging areaportals: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1281220/2012-07/Screenshot-2012-07-27_21.53.15.jpg
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1281220/2012-07/Screenshot-2012-07-27_21.53.39.jpg
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1281220/2012-07/Screenshot-2012-07-27_21.54.54.jpg

Next time compile with vvis. Also you have a lot of weird worldbrushes still around in the map, that you probably want to f_d

 

[ForbiddenDonut]

Hmm. I thought merging area portals were okay if they were in close proximity of each other (like in the same room on the same wall). I thought it was when they make big jumps to area portals in a different room that it can become an optimization disaster.

Or have I been lied to?

 

[Sergis]

isnt merging a very intended feature

also, taking a look ar sdk_badwater is known to remove all concerns about areaportals

 

[Ravidge]

You're right. These mergers aren't a big deal, however I pointed it out because it didn't seem like a intentional addition.

It was just something I found at random when I loaded the map locally to find out what went wrong with the optimization.

 

[Fruity Snacks]

I compiled on fast vvis is what was wrong.

 

[Fruity Snacks]

Doing some tweeks.

Cut this area off, but made it so the attackers can see whats in the yard (the drop down was unnecessary)

Cut this door off, since it was unnecessary

Moved Forward spawn to here, added 10 seconds to setup time. (still no teleporters)

 

[Fruity Snacks]

updated _a14

+Adjusted some visibility onto cp2
+Slightly increased the amount of Ammo around CP2
+Clipped some stairs I forgot to clip
+Clipped a tiny bit in a few (not all) area's that soldiers/spys could exploit
-Slightly decresed the amount of Ammo around CP2
-removed dogbread

 

[Fruity Snacks]

Okay, so I've seen a lot of feedback about the balcony overlooking final and how it is overpowered. I am seeing feedback though that mostly says "Hey, this is hard!". To which I respond, "well yes it's hard, its the final push!" One of my TF2 Design Beliefs is that for the final area an uber or some coordination or just sheer brute force is needed. (Why? because its the final area, feel satisfied by what you have done, if it was easy, where is the satisfaction?)

I believe that the balcony is balanced and would like to outline why I put it in, and why I think that as of now it is fine. That being said, if further tests show that it is too powerful, I will adjust as needed, but from the tests I have seen, it hasn't been that bad. (I do listen to feedback, but I do have my own vision for the map and need to make compromises.)

So here is what I was thinking when I put in the balcony:
Pro's:

• Solid Height Advantage over the point
• Safe from Spys
• Located next to spawn room.

Cons:

• Very small field of view for attacking
• Can be outranged from multiple locations.
• Players can hide behind cart and be fine (this has happened multiple times, blu won even with the sentry up).
• Can be demo spammed (atm, a little hard. will make easier next iteration).

Now, with that, I am hearing feedback that people would like a spy route perhaps. I don't see a need for it yet, but I will be taking it into consideration if I feel like the balcony is too overpowered.

 

[TheKieranator]

On defense, that balcony is my favourite place to be as a Demo. With constant supply from a dispenser I was able to keep a side route (left when viewed from balcony) completely spammed out with pills by shooting over a wall. I'm not entirely sure if that was an intended feature, but it was very fun (for me anyway).

A Spy/any non-jumper route couldn't hurt. Goldrush's balcony over the final terminus has one door coming from spawn and another trick-jump route for the attackers. Admittedly, Goldrush's balcony is at least twice the size of yours, so in the case of Rust a Spy would have a bit of trouble due to the cramped nature of the balcony but it would give them a chance to do something.

 

[Pocket]

As I said in feedback, from a distance that's considered reasonable for sniping at a sentry gun, I couldn't even tell that there was chicken wire there and thought I could shoot at it. It wasn't until a few shots later that I finally figured out why I didn't seem to be doing any damage.

 

[Fruity Snacks]

I'll make sure to cover up that wire a bit then with something to show that you can't shoot through it.

In other news: today's gameday was partially a wash in terms of feedback since the teams got horribley stacked and no one bothered to scramble (why?)

Expect a new version out this weekend. I know you all can't wait.