Smalltime RC1a

[Fluury]

CHANGELOG A12:

- Announcer Changes:
--> Changed TTS model from WillFromAfar to Queen Elizabeth. This isn't a joke - she is the best model I could find and also sounds the most like the Announcer. She speaks a lot faster than WillFromAfar, and a lot clearer too. God save the queen.
--> Rerecorded some voice lines: Generally made them shorter. In addition to the new TTS model, this should reduce how much the announcer speaks while communicating more with less words.
--> Changed announcer format from .mp3 to .wav. Should deal with some weird console errors? Also made some voice lines a bit louder.

- Mid Changes:
-> The left side (from RED) of mid has been significantly changed:
--> Indoor area has been completely removed
--> Wall has been moved in a bit more (Mid "squeezes" a bit more now)
--> The left side is now outdoors and is a displacement connector from the left outdoor area to mid.
This should heavily affect how the map plays as it not only allows attackers a more obvious approach when it comes to getting to the highground, but it also generally offers more outdoor areas now. Also prevents people from sneaking by mid if one team controls the area.









- Misc Changes:
-> Increased alarm interval from 7s to 8s
-> Increased base respawn time from 5s to 6s
-> Attacker respawn now gets reduced to 5s, while defender respawn gets increased to 7s
-> Upon a team scoring, during the time it takes for the ball to respawn, the team that scored has their spawn time set to 7.5s, while the other team enjoys a respawn time of 3s. This should prevent rolls a bit more, and compensates the losing team for the enemy team likely having control of mid when they scored. When the ball respawns, the respawn times get reset to 6/6.
-> Moved throw-in a bit to the bonus goal. This centralizes the throw-in goal a bit more, offering more intuitive throw-angles from all sides.
-> Fixed hole inside the map's ground
-> Slight optimization work

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[Fluury]

CHANGELOG A12A:

- Reduced the duration of both the speed boost and invulnerability when picking up/Intercepting/stealing the JACK!

This should make a decently big difference! The default duration for the speedboost/invul is 2 seconds, and thanks to Mr. Burguers I was able to cut it down to 0.5 seconds instead. Due to the map's small size, 2 seconds of a speed/invul was just too much - this change should be *very* noticeable!

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[Fluury]

Announcer Changes, again:
- Switched TTS model back to WillFromAfar as Queen Elizabeth was pretty negatively received and doesnt have the spunk.
- To fight the old feedback of him talking too slow though, I have manually mixed and shortened every single line of the 55 voice lines. Includes reverb since he is the announcer afterall. Hopefully this will be the best announcer yet.

- Fixed displacements peeking out the ground at the cubby around the goals.

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[Fluury]

A pretty major update, despite the map's layout not being touched.

Once again with Burguers' help, we were able to change some fundamental aspects of PASS Time to make the gamemode (hopefully) a lot better.

CHANGELOG A13B:

- Removed the JACK Ball Trail effect!
The first thing that annoys people a lot - the JACK Ball Trail. Unlike the Flag in Capture the Flag who has a cute effect, this Trail absolutely *dominates* everything you see and sticks around for a long time. It massively adds to the clutter of the gamemode, making it very unappealing instantly. There is also the funny glitch where the trail goes mental and all over the place.
As such, the Ball trail has been removed. With both the JACK and the JACK Carrier glowing through walls, you'll still be able to tell where the ball is at all times.

- Removed the shield icons
The second thing: floating shield icons, a lot of them. These are actually decently useful, but players react very negatively to them. They clutter your vision a lot, and are generally more annoying than helpful to most. They tend to be a large turnoff for anyone new looking to play PASS Time. They are useful in a coordinated setting, but as was mentioned before, that setting is not a pub setting. So, they have been removed. Your HUD is now clean of them - quite a large relief!

- Removed HUD icon for bonus goal locked, unlocked and endzone
Minor stuff - this is about the small icons on the "line hud" that PASS Time has. Because all the goals are on the same place, they appeared stacked, which looked weird. As such, I have removed the other two icons.

------------------------------------

Incredibly excited to see the response to this, as this should be a major step to make PASS Time more appealing to your average joe.

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[Fluury]

CHANGELOG A14a:

- Hopefully actually performed the changes from 13b. CompilePal has failed me and didn't seem to actually properly pack the shit, leading to only some stuff working. I'm manually packing using VIDE now, and tests have shown that it *should* work now - the trail and shield icon removal.

- Changed mid again. The previous one has resulted in mid becoming the Hyrule Temple fight pit in which explosive classes reign and everyone else suffers.
To counteract this, I have changed the right (from blu) side of mid. It's now a route that is on roughly the same level as mid/a bit more of a lowground route. The "balcony" has been removed, and the building has instead been changed to be a connector between the highground and lowground which you can access from mid. There is also a pillar there now to offer some cover.

- Changed some healthpack locations/generally added more ammo to the map. Still mostly small, though, so engineers will have to run around a lot.

- Lowered displacement at goal a bit so you can walk it up now

- Optimization! The map should have way better performance now. Hopefully.

- Increased base respawn times by 0.5s

- Respawn time change if the JACK is within a team's base is now a scaling mechanic instead of a binary on/off switch. The longer the JACK is within a team's base, the more the respawn times will change to favor attackers. This is to prevent a team just camping in their base with the JACK and also prevents respawn times changing if the JACK is only in your base for a few seconds.

0 - 10s: Uses base respawn times
10s - 25s: Attackers: 6s / Defenders: 7.5s
25s - 50s: Attackers: 5.5s / Defenders: 8s
50s+: Attackers: 5s / Defenders: 9s

Getting the JACK out of your base will reset the timer for the respawn times as well as the respawn times in general.

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[Fluury]

I've had a rude awakening: The caching issues which were apparently fixed are still present, causing the changes made in the previous update which relied on overwriting game files to flop in a hilarious fashion. Means that axing the ball trail, shield icons and goal icons in the HUD will break if you load any map before the specific pass time one.

I have found other means to achieve my goals though! This update includes some exciting system changes.

CHANGELOG A15A:

- The JACK Carrier will now enter Third Person! Originally an idea by Diva Dan, implementing this makes a surprising amount of sense. By putting the JACK Carrier into Third Person you:

- Instantly communicate that you are in a special state and can't attack.
- Communicate the fact that you take mini crits more reliably if the JACK Carrier is alone.
- Prevent the JACK Carrier's screen to become bloated with PASS Time visual effects such as the Ball Trail/Ball healing beams
- Allow the JACK Carrier a greater view, which enables them to not only more reliably spot sentries, but also allows them to detect and asses how many of their team mates they have around them more reliably.

The downsides are that it might be disorientating at first, and that rapid passing between team mates could prove awkward since you constantly switch between third and first person. However, players do not tend to do that a lot. Third Person could also negatively impact aiming the ball.

Super excited to see how this change plays out!

- The JACK's Trail has been drastically shortened! To reduce visual clutter, the ball trail has been reduced massively. This time it does not rely on custom files, making it work under all circumstances!

- Removed small fence at lowground flank
- Changed displacements up to ramp at lowground flank
- Removed small ammo pack from the building with fences on top
- Removed small ammo pack behind rocks into mid
- Added small ammo pack under the roof with fences on top around mid
- Removed metal cover from sniperfence at spawn highground
- Added small ammo at the spawn highgrounds small healthpack

- Reworked defensive building over the cubby:
--> The cubby has been replaced with a small connector room with stairs that lead up to the defensive high ground room
--> Room in question has been widened to account for the new stairs
--> ammo pack on top has been removed, health pack shrunk to small
--> There is now a rim you can stand on around the entire structure.

- Adjusted Respawn Time scaling to favor Attackers even more, up to a 10 second respawn wave duration for the defenders in case they have the ball in their base for a > 45 seconds.

- Reworked left (from blu) side of mid: The interior of the building with the medium healthkit has been massively simplified and the "high ground" out of it has been removed leaving the building at the exact same height as the normal ground. This should make traversing through it less awkward, and it's lowered height should make it feel less cramped, too.

- The "Rings" of the Throw-In goals have been changed from playerclip to blockbullets 2, preventing you from hiding stickies in them.

- Reduced Setup time drastically
- Changed some Announcer Voicelines
- Fixed Announcer Voiceline @ JACK spawn peaking

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[Fluury]

CHANGELOG A15B:

- The map now features an Intro Movie! It's a generic one filmed on Brickyard that explains how PASS Time works. More info here: https://tf2maps.net/threads/pass-time-map-intro-tutorial-video.43999/
EDIT: Nevermind its fucked, will fix next version.

- Fixed Hint/various triggers not being stretched to fit the new defensive buildng width

- Made the room and door of the left (BLU) bottom room at mid a bit wider. giving you a bit more space to fight there.

- Fixed being able to stand in the Throw-in Goals

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[Fluury]

movie doesnt work, I cry, here is the map with a lower filesize, boohoo

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[Fluury]

Last test of this map was pretty bad. Stacked teams and the famous "JACK short circuits carrier" effect caused for some awkward and frustrating issues.
But I still wanted to make a few changes to deal with some issues that did become present with this map test:

- Disabled Capture Crits! Something that I think a large group of people will be happy with. Capture Crits have been a large pain in the arse of this map and had gameplay implications that were far, far too severe to ignore. As such, I have disabled them.

This should have a MAJOR impact on the post-goal gameplay, as the losing team will no longer be cleaned up - having to fight back. The scoring team will either die and suffer the longer respawn, allowing the losers to come back a bit - or retreat to mid, allowing the losers to gain control of the goals again. Should make getting scored on VASTLY less frustrating.

- Restructured Spawn a bit:
--> Spawn has been widened and now is as wide as the map. The exits looking outwards now look forwards.
--> There are now three "spawn pockets" of 5/6/5 - all look forwards.
--> To account for the new exits, there are 2 new respawn cabinets.

Reason for this is to once again help the losers keep their ground and direct players a bit more towards the highground they have available to them from spawn. The "main exit" is the lowground one, and few players pay attention and go for the high ground ones.

- Disabled Third Person upon ball pick up: While I am still a major fan of it, feedback to it has been largely negative as players note that they find it disorientating.

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[Fluury]

I originally wanted to do this in the next version but I might as well do it in this one.

While I fully intend to give aggressors the majority of the advantage when trying to score, the highground they are given did feel a little bit too imposing at times.

As such, I have taken the entire high-rope and lowered it by roughly 32Hu, bringing the height advantage they had from 288 to 256 - the magic number.

I also took the time and updated the map's screenshots to more properly reflect it's current state.

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[Fluury]

Upon scoring, the team that got scored on will now be granted a speed boost in spawn that lasts 4 seconds and stays in their spawn for 14 seconds.
This should make it easier for the losing team to recover a bit and also make their spawn area a no-no for enemies to dwelve in after scoring without affecting combat in outside areas.

Something like this is actually present in official PASS Time maps - the speed boost pickups.

Except they only work for one person.

And then have to respawn.

Effectively disconnecting that one person from their own team, making them easier to kill.

Which sucks. So let's see how this affects play.

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[Fluury]

CHANGELOG A17:
- I have remade mid

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[Fluury]

I polished up the new mid with new Hoodoo technology. Fuck rocks, me and my homies hate rocks.

CHANGELOG A17b:

- Previous "Cliff" at the Pickup cubby @ mid has been replaced with a displacement upwards to offer more routing from that area

- Replaced most rocks at mid with fashionable hoodoos instead. Takes up less space and let's players stand on them in a consistent fashion.

- The main route sightline block rock build has been replaced with a sightline blocker hoodoo that also acts as a ramp upwards.

- Lowground route has been made a bit lower so you dont bump your head on the ceiling of it

- The rock you could stand on to access the bonus goal has been changed to a hoodoo so you can stand on it more reliably

- Crate has been removed from that spot too, planks now directly lead you to the hoodoo platform

- Rock that was used as a tech jump to access the defensive building position at the goals has also been replaced with a hoodoo so that jump is more obvious and easier to do

- Added E

- Removed rim around defensive building at goals, was awkward

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[Fluury]

CHANGELOG A18:

I'll use screenshots to communicate the changes this time.




I finally went ahead and changes the stupid ramp rock to a neat displacement instead with a small hoodoo friend. Players really didn't find the "rock ramp" inviting, so I figured this might help. I also added a door to show that it's actually a secret entrance(tm) to somewhere, explaining the vent.




That building got quite a large change to it. I had removed the entire lower room and decreased the size of the building and the "ramp hoodoo" next to it. I also added means to access that high ground via ramps right next to the main entrance to mid.

The goal of these changes was to make that flank much easier to access for the defenders, and to generally increase flexibility in routing. The removal of the bottom room also gets rid of another route for defenders to keep an eye on, which should reduce the amount of goons slipping into your base.

As far as the other side goes...



The entire lower area that used to lead you to the lower room has been changed to house some water instead. I originally toyed with the idea of making that a deathpit instead, but went with water as an alternative. I think it's cute.



Overall the changes make approaching from main with the JACK less of a stupid choice as swell. Will you go frontal? Left high ground? Right ramp? You sure have a lot of options.



This door has been changed to a one way. Enemy players pushing from this flank had a strangely effective way of just going to your spawn instead of the goal zone fight pit. No more.



While I'm at it, the spawn has been changed a bit as well. What was previously 3 frontal exists and 3 "spawn groups" has been changed to 2 frontal and 2 spawn groups.



This is a change I am less confident off. It's a "window" to the room that leads up the top rope of mid which you can access from this flank. The goal was to once again give a bit more flexibility for people going from the goals to mid from this side. It's a change that primarily benefits defenders pushing into mid...



Since this window cannot be accessed without mobility tools from the other side. I don't know if this is a good change though. It feels a bit swiss-cheesy. We'll have to see.



Lastly, we have this change. This side is now a "defender only!" high ground unless you have mobility tools. It robs the aggressors a route into the defending team's base unless they have mobility tools and gives the defenders a clear ground to stand on when trying to push back to mid.

Another big change that doesn't have a screenshot however is that I have removed respawn scaling based on the JACK being within a team's base. I think that kind of stuff makes sense for the more vanilla-esque PASS Time maps (even though it should still trigger only after n seconds passed, not instant) but for Smalltime it was a pretty clear blunder. It didn't help aggressors a lot and let to a slow bleed of defenders instead, making it harder for them to push out.

Outside of that, there were various smaller changes/fixes not worth noting.

Let's see if these changes are dogshit or help the map out. Smell ya next imp.

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[Fluury]

CHANGELOG A19:

- Increased base goal worth from 1 to 2! Bonus goals still grant 3 points.
If PASS Time would give me the option to lower the "playing to..." variable from 5 to 3, I would do it. Unfortunately there is no such option, so setting the base score worth from 1 to 2 does the job just as well. This also means that the bonus goal only awards 1 extra point compared to 2.

- Score scaling changes:
--> 2/4min mark have been changed to 3/6 min mark to account for the new base goal worth.
--> The bonus goal is only affected by the 3min mark, meaning that at it's max it caps at a score of 4. No "One goal" victories anymore!

- Increased base ground height of goal area a little bit to reduce "shoot the feet" syndrome a bit.
- Reangled and positioned the jump pad effect a bit to make it clear where it will launch you while also preventing it from clipping outside the rock zone

- Spawn Changes:
--> Spawns remain the same, with the difference that either the top or bottom are enabled/disabled depending on if the JACK is within your base or not. Top is active when it is, bottom is active when it is not.

- Smoothed out a variety of lips for easier traveling

- Bathtub has been made a bit smaller so you can jump over it now as an average speed class, the ground also is a bit more raised when going towards the ledge of it.

- Added a small window to the one-way shutter on the right spawn exit (blu to red direction)

- Added "roof" over walk-in so you can't catapult yourself into it from mid as easily. It's still a strat, just a bit harder.

- Adjusted some geometry around the "small hut" on the highgroundd with the fences to make it easier to schmove through

- Made it easier to escape the kiddie puddle

- Adjusted width and height of defensive structure at goal to adjust for that new fancy "roof"

- Speedboost on cap now has a team filter on it, meaning that after winning the winning team will no longer get a speedboost when invading your spawn. You'll keep it though, because why not.

- Slightly increased ball trail length so people without glow outlines enabled can still get a good idea of where the ball man

- Some minor other shit

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[Fluury]

I want to experiment with a new mechanic for PASS Time which, in theory should improve the mode and JACK Carrier experience massively.

TLDR: Turn the JACK into an AoE team-buff ball to incentivize playing around it more and to give the team that owns it a larger edge in the fight, encouraging aggressive play.

Current Problem:
Having and holding the JACK kinda sucks for a lot of players. There is a strong "get that shit off me" mentality where people just pass it around because the ball prevents you from "playing the game" normally and now makes you rely on your team mates to do the work.

While pushing with it, you feel more like a damsel in distress that has to be protected by your teammates while at the same time not providing anything meaningful to help in the fight.
There is a VERY minimal heal buff, but it is barely noticeable. Overall, it's clearly a negative experience for a lot of players and makes the gamemode unappealing.

There is also the balancing concern where the game mode clearly puts a bias on classes like Scout to have the ball, because the (arguably enough) only buff that you really get from the JACK is the movement speed being adjusted to the fastest in the group - which just puts more of a focus on a class that's already godly in the mode!

The Solution:
The solution I have in mind is the following: Make the JACK provide a meaningful AoE buff to people in the group.
Doing this:
- Makes people more incentivized to stick around the JACK Carrier and thus play the objective as they want to get buffed!
- Makes being the JACK Carrier feel a lot better since you now provide something very meaningful to the fight!
- Generally makes people give more of a shit about the JACK, since it being a big team-based buff ball is a large advantage you want to get your hands on!

The JACK Carrier and the team that controls it should feel *powerful* - not mediocre. The other team should want to get their hands on it at all times - so you need to give players a larger (and more fun) reason to interact with it. The buff gained would affect teammates around you - not the JACK Carrier himself. If the team sux, people can still just pick off the unbuffed JACK carrier and yoink the ball.

With a gamemode that is heavily biased to defensive play in pubs due to lack of coordination, this also gives aggressors an edge and generally makes it easier for a defending team that now gained control of the JACK again to push out of their base. The JACK is where gameplay happens now - and the team that controls it now has a significant edge, instead of practically being a player down that does nothing but look nice with the ball.

Potential means of Implementation:
All of these would deal with the issue of being the JACK Carrier sucking and all would incentivize playing around the JACK more/give the team that controls it a more defined edge - I won't mentioned that as a Pro, since that goes for all.

Type A - Constant, single buff:
This implementation does what it says on the tin - we just add a single, new buff for the team that owns it and is around the JACK carrier.

Pros:
- Easiest to implement.
- Easiest to understand for players since it's just a consistent, added buff.
Cons:
- Doesn't fight the problem of incentivizing other classes to own the JACK.
- Hardest to decide on - what would it be, mini crits? Defense? Faster speed? Better heal? Something else?

Type B - Dynamically changing buff depending on JACK location:
This implementation would have the buff the JACK gives to your pack dynamic depending on it's location on the map. If you own the JACK in your base, you are clearly on the defense and need to push out - so the JACK would offer you a buff that helps with that. If you are in mid/in their base, you are attacking - so why not give you a buff that deals with sentries (Bat. Backup?)

Pros:
- More controllable and dynamic - makes the JACK the ultimate tool for specific situations.
- Makes the JACK even more attractive in all situations.
Cons:
- Doesn't fight the problem of incentivizing other classes to own the JACK.
- Somewhat hard to understand/Could feel janky.

Type C - Buff based on which class category the JACK Carrier is:
This type would switch the JACK buff to one determined for your Class' category type - Attack, Defense and Support. The Attack type would provide Buff A (Mini crits?) - the Defense type would provide Buff B (Bat. Backup?) and the Support type would provide Buff C (Healing?).

Pros:
- Adds meaning to who the JACK Carrier is - Gives an incentive for other classes to screw with it, and makes players adapt to the situation they are in with different players.
- Makes having the JACK feel even more meaningful and adds another layer of skill and possible coordination to it!
Cons:
- Somewhat complicated
- Doesn't fight "The Scout" issue, as it just makes him even more powerful.

Type D - Buff based on which class the JACK Carrier is:
This is my favorite, the one I get most excited for, but also the one that could provide the most issues for players.
The idea is simple: The buff gained is based on the class the JACK Carrier is. Scout for example would get no extra buff - his buff is already in the game, being the extra group speed.
You could go full personality with this - the medic gets a healing buff, suddenly having the JACK as a medic is a clever idea. The Heavy could get a defense buff that makes it endearing to have him be the Carrier in case they have a sentry or particularly strong defense, etc. - it adds such a massive layer of strategy and possible coordination that just thinking about it makes a stupid grin appear on my face.

Pros:
- Adds the most meaning to who the JACK Carrier is and incentivizes everyone to screw with it, as the individual now matters a ton.
- Most potential for fun, coordination and unique combinations.
- Raises the skill ceiling the most.
- Deals with the "Scout" issue.
Cons:
- The most complicated of them all!

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I am completely and 100% biased towards Type D. But I want to hear your thoughts about this idea and what type you would prefer - if any at all. This is a very interesting idea that is completely feasible to implement mapping wise, and I truly believe it would make PASS Time a lot better and more fun for players.
This idea doesn't have to revolve around Smalltime in particular, it could very much be implemented in any PASS Time map as a base addition to the game mode.

Let me know what you think!

 

[Deleted member 33500]

I want to experiment with a new mechanic for PASS Time which, in theory should improve the mode and JACK Carrier experience massively.

TLDR: Turn the JACK into an AoE team-buff ball to incentivize playing around it more and to give the team that owns it a larger edge in the fight, encouraging aggressive play.

Current Problem:
Having and holding the JACK kinda sucks for a lot of players. There is a strong "get that shit off me" mentality where people just pass it around because the ball prevents you from "playing the game" normally and now makes you rely on your team mates to do the work.

While pushing with it, you feel more like a damsel in distress that has to be protected by your teammates while at the same time not providing anything meaningful to help in the fight.
There is a VERY minimal heal buff, but it is barely noticeable. Overall, it's clearly a negative experience for a lot of players and makes the gamemode unappealing.

There is also the balancing concern where the game mode clearly puts a bias on classes like Scout to have the ball, because the (arguably enough) only buff that you really get from the JACK is the movement speed being adjusted to the fastest in the group - which just puts more of a focus on a class that's already godly in the mode!

The Solution:
The solution I have in mind is the following: Make the JACK provide a meaningful AoE buff to people in the group.
Doing this:
- Makes people more incentivized to stick around the JACK Carrier and thus play the objective as they want to get buffed!
- Makes being the JACK Carrier feel a lot better since you now provide something very meaningful to the fight!
- Generally makes people give more of a shit about the JACK, since it being a big team-based buff ball is a large advantage you want to get your hands on!

The JACK Carrier and the team that controls it should feel *powerful* - not mediocre. The other team should want to get their hands on it at all times - so you need to give players a larger (and more fun) reason to interact with it. The buff gained would affect teammates around you - not the JACK Carrier himself. If the team sux, people can still just pick off the unbuffed JACK carrier and yoink the ball.

With a gamemode that is heavily biased to defensive play in pubs due to lack of coordination, this also gives aggressors an edge and generally makes it easier for a defending team that now gained control of the JACK again to push out of their base. The JACK is where gameplay happens now - and the team that controls it now has a significant edge, instead of practically being a player down that does nothing but look nice with the ball.

Potential means of Implementation:
All of these would deal with the issue of being the JACK Carrier sucking and all would incentivize playing around the JACK more/give the team that controls it a more defined edge - I won't mentioned that as a Pro, since that goes for all.

Type A - Constant, single buff:
This implementation does what it says on the tin - we just add a single, new buff for the team that owns it and is around the JACK carrier.

Pros:
- Easiest to implement.
- Easiest to understand for players since it's just a consistent, added buff.
Cons:
- Doesn't fight the problem of incentivizing other classes to own the JACK.
- Hardest to decide on - what would it be, mini crits? Defense? Faster speed? Better heal? Something else?

Type B - Dynamically changing buff depending on JACK location:
This implementation would have the buff the JACK gives to your pack dynamic depending on it's location on the map. If you own the JACK in your base, you are clearly on the defense and need to push out - so the JACK would offer you a buff that helps with that. If you are in mid/in their base, you are attacking - so why not give you a buff that deals with sentries (Bat. Backup?)

Pros:
- More controllable and dynamic - makes the JACK the ultimate tool for specific situations.
- Makes the JACK even more attractive in all situations.
Cons:
- Doesn't fight the problem of incentivizing other classes to own the JACK.
- Somewhat hard to understand/Could feel janky.

Type C - Buff based on which class category the JACK Carrier is:
This type would switch the JACK buff to one determined for your Class' category type - Attack, Defense and Support. The Attack type would provide Buff A (Mini crits?) - the Defense type would provide Buff B (Bat. Backup?) and the Support type would provide Buff C (Healing?).

Pros:
- Adds meaning to who the JACK Carrier is - Gives an incentive for other classes to screw with it, and makes players adapt to the situation they are in with different players.
- Makes having the JACK feel even more meaningful and adds another layer of skill and possible coordination to it!
Cons:
- Somewhat complicated
- Doesn't fight "The Scout" issue, as it just makes him even more powerful.

Type D - Buff based on which class the JACK Carrier is:
This is my favorite, the one I get most excited for, but also the one that could provide the most issues for players.
The idea is simple: The buff gained is based on the class the JACK Carrier is. Scout for example would get no extra buff - his buff is already in the game, being the extra group speed.
You could go full personality with this - the medic gets a healing buff, suddenly having the JACK as a medic is a clever idea. The Heavy could get a defense buff that makes it endearing to have him be the Carrier in case they have a sentry or particularly strong defense, etc. - it adds such a massive layer of strategy and possible coordination that just thinking about it makes a stupid grin appear on my face.

Pros:
- Adds the most meaning to who the JACK Carrier is and incentivizes everyone to screw with it, as the individual now matters a ton.
- Most potential for fun, coordination and unique combinations.
- Raises the skill ceiling the most.
- Deals with the "Scout" issue.
Cons:
- The most complicated of them all!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am completely and 100% biased towards Type D. But I want to hear your thoughts about this idea and what type you would prefer - if any at all. This is a very interesting idea that is completely feasible to implement mapping wise, and I truly believe it would make PASS Time a lot better and more fun for players.
This idea doesn't have to revolve around Smalltime in particular, it could very much be implemented in any PASS Time map as a base addition to the game mode.

Let me know what you think!

Hmm, I get why you are thinking of doing this, and honestly, I think it's a good idea, since most of PASS Time is the following;
1) Find someone who is good with ball
2) Give ball to the certain someone
3) ???
4) Profit

I think this would make PASS Time a bit more team-focused, which is a good thing or bad thing depending on which side you are on, but I personally think it's a good thing, well, as long as the buff isn't too much powerful.

So, Type C is imo the worst one, since you could go Scout (good mobility) as offense, Heavy (good health) as defense, and Medic (Health regen + Heal gun) or Spy (You can avoid death with the death ringer, and call enemies for pass while disguised), other classes in each of these categories would be less ideal.

Type A & B are near each other, but i'd say Type A is the better one, due to simplicity, Type B would be a bit of a chore to fight against, because the buff would depend on where the carrier is (at least that is what I am assuming based on how the mode works), instead of where the enemy you are fighting is, so they could get a buff that counters YOUR CLASS/LOAD-OUT or not even just your class out of nowhere, which I imagine would be infuriating depending on who you were fighting. (eg. Batt. Backup blocks crits, so your krietzkrieg medic would be kinda screwed)

That brings us to the last one, Type D. This one would be most ideal, but might be hard to get by your regular tf2 players (like mannpower's power-ups, but it's not a fucking 30 page book), and balancing it would be prolly a bit of a pain, since you have to think of 8 different buffs for each of the classes. However, I imagine the hard to get issue could be easily gotten rid off if you just said smth along the lines of "Jack carrier gives a buff that corresponds with their class to teammates close to them" at the start with the annoucer, or with the HUD, or idk.

tl;dr this would be a good change, Type D is the best one, though, I am not sure how it would play out, since this has never been done before.

 

[Fluury]

I will once again use images to convey the changes made.

LAYOUT CHANGES:



The entire bottom "in-door" route has been cut. After checking out the demo and playing a bit, even with the most recent change of making it mostly defender to mid sided, it was still a number 1 spot for players to just bleed directly into your base. Defenders didn't really use it either.

This leaves BLU with 3 entrances into the goal area, while the defenders now have 4 means to get back into mid, with the left route now being heavily biased towards them - allowing for a definite entry into it.

I've used this opportunity to add an extra focus to the top-rope and make routing to it far, far easier for defenders. It is a vital position to hold, and the two giant ramps should now make it more inviting to go and hold there.




The other side has been "shrunk" a bit by moving the outside wall inwards.
The brush before was made smaller, tilted and heightened - making it incredibly obvious for ground-dwellers that no, they can't jump up there.
Defenders can use this as an additional height advantage to push into mid, and mobility classes can use it to get up on the high ground from an alternative position.



A smaller change: I have extended the ramp upwards to be as wide as the entire room. Should make it easier for attackers to push up there.


SYSTEM/OTHER CHANGES:

- The heal rate of the JACK has been upped to that of a level 1 Dispenser. It now heals 10hp/s instead of 2hp/s.
- The JACK will now grant teammates in the pack Minicrits!

These JACK System changes are HIGHLY experimental and have a good chance of going tits up. I want to see if this changes how players interact with the JACK and how much they treasure it.
The Minicrit status effect can be easily switched out for a different cond, so I want to experiment with what sticks and what players feel like is fair.

- Metal on the map has been upped significantly around bases. Mid still only has small ammo packs.

With the above changes to the JACK, I feel more comfortable giving Engineers a bit more power on the map.

- There is now a "MOTD Image" that elaborates on some of the map's changes so players are more aware of what they are getting into. It appears on the loading screen (after having the map loaded at least once) and on the map's MOTD.



Read the rest of this update entry...

 

[Fluury]

Art Pass Time.
Not a lot of actual layout changes. The TLR: is that I have encased spawn inside a minecraft cave, added some planks from the defensive highground to the offensive top rope and removed point scaling. I've also removed the "top blocker" from mid for various reasons.

CHANGELOG B1:

- Art Pass! Skybox, Textures, Geo, Spectator cameras, the whole package.

- Point scaling has been removed. The fundamental basis of my reasoning for keeping it was flawed: In Pubs, there will *almost never* be a situation where people will take less than 2 min to score 5 times in a row. In that case, it's a stomp. The goals granting 2 points each by default decreases round length already to a nice average of 7-8 min.

- Round Time has been decreased from 15 Minutes to 10 Minutes. Nuff said. With the changes made rounds already end before hitting the 10 min mark, this is more of a faillsafe to ensure that rounds end - at most - after 10 minutes.

- There are now planks leading from the defensive highground to the offensive top rope. This both allows attackers and defenders easier access to that particularly vital gameplay spot.

- Added a small platform over the puddle to grant players more wiggle room when pushing in.

- Encased spawn in a minecraft cave. This prevents the ugly spawncamping situation and also generally makes the spawn area much safer from particularly toxic sightlines when players are jumping real high. Also helps with optimization. The minecraft cavefication has also led to some routing changes to the spawn area.

- Adjusted floor height in goal area.

- Healthpacks in the buildings at mid are now small instead of medium. Mid should be an area that is controlled by the JACK owning team, with the JACK's increased healing sustaining them there for longer.

- Updated MOTD Image to account for the new changes.

- The JACK now gets aggressively thrown out of a window when it spawns. I wonder what's going on in there.

- An explosion sound effect now plays when players score in the Run-In and Throw-In goals, granting it more "oomph".

- Made it easier to escape the kiddie puddle.

- Ever so slightly expanded mid horizontally to grant more space to fight in.

- After scoring, the losing team will now spawn in their top spawn for 10 seconds after scoring, instead of instantly switching to the bottom spawn.

- A ton of other changes which I forgot about, probably.

I'm planning to wrap this map up soonish since it's been on my mind a lot and I also intended to release all the funky logic the map is using to improve PASS Time as a Prefab pack for people to use.
There are probably a few rough edges both in gameplay and visual that I've missed, and I am especially interested in performance. Since the map is so open, it's been a real pain trying to optimize it. Let's hope it worked.

I will update the OP with new screenshots of the map shortly after this update.

Read the rest of this update entry...

 

[YOYOYO]

Art Pass Time.

How do you manage to do this?? you detailing wizard