Wait what. Whaaaaaaat. is this true? anyone got second opinions on it? The map is looking purt sexy I want to play this
http://forums.tf2maps.net/showthread.php?t=20691 Sometime after Aly made this she told everyone in chat that -final was another one that causes server crashes. Element compiled a2 with -staticproppolys and sure enough, it crashed the server, so I'm inclined to believe it's all MvM maps this will affect.
I really enjoy this map. I can see effort and originality everywhere. The upgrade station at the front lines is handled very well, and the waves are fun to play. However, there are a few problems: 1. The cash drop rate is INSANE. You can practically upgrade EVERYTHING by the final wave. I like my upgrades, but earning a thousand on each tank and giant is overdoing it. 2. The bot routes are WAY too cramped when they enter buildings. You might want to consider widening up the routes, and maybe moving the bot spawn more towards the middle. 3. The water route on the far right seems pretty pointless. If it's supposed to be a "push the bomb back" zone, could you maybe give players a way back onto the rooftops quickly? (Like the broken stairs on Decoy, or the small ramps on Mannworks) This map show great promise, and I look foward to seeing it progress.
Great Map! looks awesome, should play well, but i only have one question. at the area with the boats, are robots going to be coming from there?
Wow, this map was way more fun than I was expecting it to be! (no offense, i just don't usually care for the bayou-style) I loved that the bots didn't follow the set path in trying to retrieve the bomb when it was near the drop site. With all the alternate pathways and varying heights and whatnot, it was super fun having to stay on our toes like that. The layout reminded me of a funhouse for some reason - or those big play areas in MacDonalds xD. It was really fun to maneuver around in once I got the hang of it all, even if it was a bit of a trek to reach the higher platforms. And just as a little personal note, the ledges surrounding the main swamp area in the center: I love that they're short enough for me to Det jump to as a Pyro. It's little things like that to help a class be more mobile in positioning, y'know? Like somebody mentioned earlier, though - those robots were positively leaking money. The game really felt like it was getting progressively easier as time went on, instead of harder. And part of that was really due to how easy it was to get upgrades after the first wave. The bots themselves also seemed less and less dangerous as time went on, too. A ton of super-strong melee support in the form of the Warrior's Spirit Heavies, but never really any projectile-based threats. Like the Liberty Launcher Soldiers! Those were great! Even the waves of Brass Beast Heavies. But by and large, most of the waves seemed to be composed of slow-moving, short range mobs, and they were super easy to dispatch because of it. Except the tank. The tank definitely wasn't slow-moving. An interesting choice, haha! I was really hoping that during the last wave, all of the tanks would move at high speed just to add a bit of tension and hectic-ness to the round. So yeah, in summation: The map itself is super-fun and really well laid out, and in my experience you handled the tight spaces inside pretty well. I'd just vary up the waves a little bit with more projectile/bullet spam, and reduce how much money you get from killing things.
Thanks for all the cool criticism and feedback! Neat idea. I'll take it. Haven't spoken with Turbo about this yet, but i personaly agree with this very much. That area was pretty much only for launching the bomb backwards. Tried to include a tank route there as well, but i couldn't really make it sensible. Overall, it feels like we have learned a lot about this neat thing called feedback during this contest. We have pretty much ruined any chance for a top-3 position due to the game-crippling visuals and the not-fully tweaked mission, but it definitely feels like most of it could be fixed within a good 5 hours of work. The contest may seem over for me (turbo has a share in maelstrom too ) but i feel like i can guarantee a lovely B5 release sometimes after the contest.
Gameplay: 8 Fairly straightforward. The initial area is pretty fun to hold off, although I wouldn't mind being able to more easily access the building on the left – its high ground was hardly ever used. The middle area is probably the weakest part of the map, as there's no way to get a good vantage point on bots on the bridge. Having a pyro on your team is an absolute must to beat this map. The reset path was also really hard to use if bots didn't use the route that ran right next to it. This map is a lot of fun to play, but it needs some fine-tuning. Waves: 9 The waves are pretty solid, and a lot of fun to fight. However, there's a few issues that are easily fixed – your first wave is really, really long. Also, seeing bear claw heavies every single round became monotonous, and made it harder to distinguish between waves. Lastly, switch all of your soldiers to stock rocket launcher, please. Other than those few gripes, it felt solid – bot choices were well thought out and we felt accomplished when we defeated a wave. Aesthetics: 8 Your aesthetics pretty much worked, but the colors were drab and gray. Consider switching the wood of the buildings to be more colorful and saturated to break up the monotony. There isn't really much to complain about otherwise – prop placement and architecture is good, and the rain really helps set the mood. Technical: 5 -No cubemaps -Huge framerate issues! (I sometimes went into single digit fps) -Weird shadow issues Full Judgement PDF
Thank you all for an amazing contest. It feels absolutely awesome to see that people liked our map so much that they decided to award us 3rd =) Now i need your help tho. I found that the swamp theme was pretty hard to work with, so now i need to know what people would think about it if i abandonned some of the swampiness for some jungle thematics.
NO! Keep the swampiness! But there are some textures, that really don't fit. If you would stick to the swamp theme, I would give you a deeper feedback on the visuals.
I only got a chance to spectate the final wave, but here's a clip: TF2: mvm_sludge_b4_fix1 finale As the others have mentioned, you shadows are wonky at spots.
I'm optimizing the map's different structures, and giving the entire thing an overhaul. Hopefully those shadows will ie now.
I just finished it after playing it a few other times. The challenge really seems to be in the first wave. Its quite the endurance. I really like the look, it feels different and there's more challenge here, especially with brass beast heavies and fast tanks. There are a lot of good and interesting routes here whether its through the sludge or up above the walkways. It was a lot of fun. The only thing though was for me all the reflections appear as purple checkers.
