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a9 test notes:
-honestly hard to tell what was going on because the server kept hitching and teams weren't balanced. not a great test overall from where i was standing though
-trying to use the upper route into B as blue was frustrating when a red player from within B could just hop on up and wreck your shit. making that route just slow to access is not enough, it shouldn't be accessible to blue players at all. remove all jump routes up there.
-the new A lobby seems better to play in but i'm not sure? already have changes planned that will remove the number of ways in and out which i think will help make it less chaotic than it was today
-not super duper in response to anything from the test but i've already moved some stuff around in B lobby and altered blue spawn a decent amount.
future change pics:
blocked this area off for two reasons: it will allow red a better forward hold (the shed will be a better position to start the match from) and red players behind that fence aren't doing a stupid awkward thing with the fence to try and spam at spawn. also blocks some sightlines into spawn, allowing me to open the interior of the spawn a bit (no more metal fence). also the interior of blue spawn has shrunk a fair amount.
opened this door up instead of just using a dinky side door so that blue can spam the point from a distance and the match isnt just about trying to fit through a shutter door. also i reverted the dropdown back to the stairwell that it was before, because that dropdown wasn't super useful and probably just made the lobby as a whole more chaotic, and that stairwell can provide some sneaky ways into the upper part of lobby (for pyros and heavies, also for snipers to pick players off the point). this does also mean lower lobby is harder for blue to access, but so be it
moved stairs to the middle, making them impossible to miss and also an easier/faster rotation for blue
new stairs up to the balcony route. red can still get up to the high ground from B, but they can be denied by blue. on the other hand, blue can rotate up to the balcony if they manage to push this far forward. basically this just makes the map more like gorge, except the stairs are in a more "extreme" position
-honestly hard to tell what was going on because the server kept hitching and teams weren't balanced. not a great test overall from where i was standing though
-trying to use the upper route into B as blue was frustrating when a red player from within B could just hop on up and wreck your shit. making that route just slow to access is not enough, it shouldn't be accessible to blue players at all. remove all jump routes up there.
-the new A lobby seems better to play in but i'm not sure? already have changes planned that will remove the number of ways in and out which i think will help make it less chaotic than it was today
-not super duper in response to anything from the test but i've already moved some stuff around in B lobby and altered blue spawn a decent amount.
future change pics:
blocked this area off for two reasons: it will allow red a better forward hold (the shed will be a better position to start the match from) and red players behind that fence aren't doing a stupid awkward thing with the fence to try and spam at spawn. also blocks some sightlines into spawn, allowing me to open the interior of the spawn a bit (no more metal fence). also the interior of blue spawn has shrunk a fair amount.
opened this door up instead of just using a dinky side door so that blue can spam the point from a distance and the match isnt just about trying to fit through a shutter door. also i reverted the dropdown back to the stairwell that it was before, because that dropdown wasn't super useful and probably just made the lobby as a whole more chaotic, and that stairwell can provide some sneaky ways into the upper part of lobby (for pyros and heavies, also for snipers to pick players off the point). this does also mean lower lobby is harder for blue to access, but so be it
moved stairs to the middle, making them impossible to miss and also an easier/faster rotation for blue
new stairs up to the balcony route. red can still get up to the high ground from B, but they can be denied by blue. on the other hand, blue can rotate up to the balcony if they manage to push this far forward. basically this just makes the map more like gorge, except the stairs are in a more "extreme" position
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a10:
-changed blue spawn in order to enforce a more predictable flow and allow red a further forward hold at the start of the round, as well as eliminating an awkward perspective from red's high ground towards blue spawn
-changed cliff flank health from small to medium, moved health/ammo further in from cliff
A LOBBY CHANGES:
-opened the big door going right onto the point (instead of small dinky door next to it).
-reverted dropdown back to stairwell.
-tightened lower platform in by 64 units.
-reverted to original under-helipad exit.
-changed cliff flank entrance to basement for better flow.
-moved health/ammo up to shutters.
-moved stairs in B lobby to the center to make them more obvious and more easily accessible. flow of the lobby should make a bit more sense
-moved upper B lobby pickups to other side of area where they were before
-moved pickups in B flank to other end of hallway
-moved B balcony pickups to pyramid room, changed health from small to medium
-removed all jump routes to B balcony. only accessible if you're a jumping class
-added stairs from the pyramid room/B connector that allow players up to the B balcony/pyramid room high ground
-double-checked the make sure that the bushes at B still have nobuild (they do!)
-increased red respawn time for first half of round to 8 (16) seconds
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-changed blue spawn in order to enforce a more predictable flow and allow red a further forward hold at the start of the round, as well as eliminating an awkward perspective from red's high ground towards blue spawn
-changed cliff flank health from small to medium, moved health/ammo further in from cliff
A LOBBY CHANGES:
-opened the big door going right onto the point (instead of small dinky door next to it).
-reverted dropdown back to stairwell.
-tightened lower platform in by 64 units.
-reverted to original under-helipad exit.
-changed cliff flank entrance to basement for better flow.
-moved health/ammo up to shutters.
-moved stairs in B lobby to the center to make them more obvious and more easily accessible. flow of the lobby should make a bit more sense
-moved upper B lobby pickups to other side of area where they were before
-moved pickups in B flank to other end of hallway
-moved B balcony pickups to pyramid room, changed health from small to medium
-removed all jump routes to B balcony. only accessible if you're a jumping class
-added stairs from the pyramid room/B connector that allow players up to the B balcony/pyramid room high ground
-double-checked the make sure that the bushes at B still have nobuild (they do!)
-increased red respawn time for first half of round to 8 (16) seconds
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a10 test notes:
test was actually good this time and i think pretty much every change made a positive impact! awesome
new blue spawn works more or less as intended. the shack isn't super great for holding forward if blue team knows what to do (a kritz soldier jumped and got a triple kill pretty much as soon as the gates opened) but it feels more viable and probably would be somewhat with less skilled teams. may still try to work this but we'll see how that develops over time.
new A lobby is a lot more fun to play in than the old chokey version. being able to shoot at A from a distance feels nice, the area as a whole is more open and not as miserable. it actually seems to be a bit imbalanced, teams were defending A more than they ever have before and the teams that did get A tended to also get B. not sure what that's about. @Another Bad Pun tried to tell me something about this but i couldn't hear over the neighbor's lawnmower
moving the stairs to the center of B lobby helped a lot. rotating felt better and i THINK blue was going up there more often. it looks weird but it works. Kube mentioned trying to orient them towards blue team, but im not sure how i could make that work at all and i also want red to use them so they'll probably stay as is.
new B layout works really well. getting onto the balcony as red and using it finally feels as safe as it was meant to be thanks to red not having direct access, and the new stairs leading up to it have a really fun dynamic. honestly made B play like 100x better even though it was already pretty good
predicted changes: something about A lobby?? not sure what to do with it. obvious answer is to take out the stairwell and put the dropdown back in, but i feel like that reintroduces some chaos that i wanted to eliminate. there's also what i think abp might've been suggesting, which is to block off the shutter closer to A. i'm not sure how i feel about this, since i think it would just redirect the spam at the shutter (which is mitigated by said shutter) to the other large doorway. what if the area under the helipad was a one-way exit from within the lobby? i also think a better set of pickups for pushing through the first shutter will help a lot, as at the moment you have to back up quite a ways to the full health/ammo or drop down to the cliff (which some people might not even know about).
test was actually good this time and i think pretty much every change made a positive impact! awesome
new blue spawn works more or less as intended. the shack isn't super great for holding forward if blue team knows what to do (a kritz soldier jumped and got a triple kill pretty much as soon as the gates opened) but it feels more viable and probably would be somewhat with less skilled teams. may still try to work this but we'll see how that develops over time.
new A lobby is a lot more fun to play in than the old chokey version. being able to shoot at A from a distance feels nice, the area as a whole is more open and not as miserable. it actually seems to be a bit imbalanced, teams were defending A more than they ever have before and the teams that did get A tended to also get B. not sure what that's about. @Another Bad Pun tried to tell me something about this but i couldn't hear over the neighbor's lawnmower
moving the stairs to the center of B lobby helped a lot. rotating felt better and i THINK blue was going up there more often. it looks weird but it works. Kube mentioned trying to orient them towards blue team, but im not sure how i could make that work at all and i also want red to use them so they'll probably stay as is.
new B layout works really well. getting onto the balcony as red and using it finally feels as safe as it was meant to be thanks to red not having direct access, and the new stairs leading up to it have a really fun dynamic. honestly made B play like 100x better even though it was already pretty good
predicted changes: something about A lobby?? not sure what to do with it. obvious answer is to take out the stairwell and put the dropdown back in, but i feel like that reintroduces some chaos that i wanted to eliminate. there's also what i think abp might've been suggesting, which is to block off the shutter closer to A. i'm not sure how i feel about this, since i think it would just redirect the spam at the shutter (which is mitigated by said shutter) to the other large doorway. what if the area under the helipad was a one-way exit from within the lobby? i also think a better set of pickups for pushing through the first shutter will help a lot, as at the moment you have to back up quite a ways to the full health/ammo or drop down to the cliff (which some people might not even know about).
a11:
-missing from a10 changelog: removed most railings from blue fwd spawn roof to make spamming A more comfortable
-changed full health on high ground outside blue spawn to two mediums
-moved cliff pickups inside, changed health from medium to full
-made cliff route a bit bigger by the lower lobby entrance
-added one-way gate to underneath helipad from lower lobby
-changed health under helipad from small to medium
-several minor geometry changes in preparation for artpass
-raised some bushes to block a cheeky mini-sentry spot at B
-minor optimization work
-fixed blue setup gate not opening
-fixed being able to build in blue spawn
-clipped some soldier perches on B. was waiting for someone to properly abuse this before i clipped it off and guess what! they're annoying
-added snow
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-missing from a10 changelog: removed most railings from blue fwd spawn roof to make spamming A more comfortable
-changed full health on high ground outside blue spawn to two mediums
-moved cliff pickups inside, changed health from medium to full
-made cliff route a bit bigger by the lower lobby entrance
-added one-way gate to underneath helipad from lower lobby
-changed health under helipad from small to medium
-several minor geometry changes in preparation for artpass
-raised some bushes to block a cheeky mini-sentry spot at B
-minor optimization work
-fixed blue setup gate not opening
-fixed being able to build in blue spawn
-clipped some soldier perches on B. was waiting for someone to properly abuse this before i clipped it off and guess what! they're annoying
-added snow
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a11 test notes:
a good sniper on red's balcony at last is really hard to take out. can easily rotate between watching all the entrances, and it's hard to get to them when there's 11 other red dudes in the room (especially when red decides to stack explosives classes). maybe blue's balcony needs to be easier to jump from?
red was able to hold forward from B a lot easier than usual? not sure what that's about, other than possibly just small teams.
will probably make far balcony more enclosed to make sniper less powerful, and maybe up red respawn time a bit. didn't get great testing on A because teams were pretty small for most of the match.
a good sniper on red's balcony at last is really hard to take out. can easily rotate between watching all the entrances, and it's hard to get to them when there's 11 other red dudes in the room (especially when red decides to stack explosives classes). maybe blue's balcony needs to be easier to jump from?
red was able to hold forward from B a lot easier than usual? not sure what that's about, other than possibly just small teams.
will probably make far balcony more enclosed to make sniper less powerful, and maybe up red respawn time a bit. didn't get great testing on A because teams were pretty small for most of the match.
a12
-adjust geometry near B far balcony to make snipers less powerful
-removed glass above B attacker balcony to allow jumping out of it
-added small flank to B main entrance for sneakier plays
-moved pickups in main B area to other side of room, near spawn
-red respawn time when defending B from 8 (16) to 9 (18) seconds
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-adjust geometry near B far balcony to make snipers less powerful
-removed glass above B attacker balcony to allow jumping out of it
-added small flank to B main entrance for sneakier plays
-moved pickups in main B area to other side of room, near spawn
-red respawn time when defending B from 8 (16) to 9 (18) seconds
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a13
-added nobuild to the column crotches
-added cliff route at A. experimental change
-clipped bush ledge at B
-added more cover around blue's balcony at B
-adjusted cover at main B entrance to block sight from where red leaves spawn
-adjusted B flank - now leads to back balcony. red must use this flank to access back balcony
-added letter signs at A and B so you're sure which is which
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-added nobuild to the column crotches
-added cliff route at A. experimental change
-clipped bush ledge at B
-added more cover around blue's balcony at B
-adjusted cover at main B entrance to block sight from where red leaves spawn
-adjusted B flank - now leads to back balcony. red must use this flank to access back balcony
-added letter signs at A and B so you're sure which is which
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a14
-removed stair from outside of A lobby to simplify routing (didn't seem to be used often and made next change possible)
-added fence to try and mitigate airblasting a bit
-added handrails around perimeter of A
-added door to prevent (easy) access to upper balcony. can still be used by engineers but they must sentry-jump up
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-removed stair from outside of A lobby to simplify routing (didn't seem to be used often and made next change possible)
-added fence to try and mitigate airblasting a bit
-added handrails around perimeter of A
-added door to prevent (easy) access to upper balcony. can still be used by engineers but they must sentry-jump up
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a15
-added cover to A shack to give red an easier time holding there, probably
-extensive changes to the areas surrounding A. for the most part, these are all to allow more angles to approach A for both teams, which should make it less of a spam festival and allow more strategic plays.
-also consequentially reworked B lobby a bit to fit new doorways
-added more cover to blue B balcony
-added doorway from blue B balcony to B flank, allowing blue to push into it more easily, probably
-additional signage at B to hopefully help players find their way out
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-added cover to A shack to give red an easier time holding there, probably
-extensive changes to the areas surrounding A. for the most part, these are all to allow more angles to approach A for both teams, which should make it less of a spam festival and allow more strategic plays.
-also consequentially reworked B lobby a bit to fit new doorways
-added more cover to blue B balcony
-added doorway from blue B balcony to B flank, allowing blue to push into it more easily, probably
-additional signage at B to hopefully help players find their way out
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a15 test notes:
A definitely plays a lot better. the new cliff route works well (i feared it would be vulnerable to snipers, which it is, but snipers dont have a good reason to hang out there), the whole new open gameplay space around works well, the far flank saw some use although it wasnt super useful all of the time. the dropdown in A lobby is not very good and ill probably just scrap it? not sure - it can be a useful route, but its easily camped and very blind.
complaints about awkward angles, which is normal and i dont think there's anything that can really be done about it at this point. mikroscopic brought up good points about "false forward spawns" that i need to address. also noticed red teleporters can be easy to miss cause there's a lot of ground - one spot in particular is right on the point but directly behind some crates and blue couldnt find it. i love this strategy, i want to keep it, but im not sure if its actually a good idea to keep it because it seemed to totally fuck up red's defense on B.
new dropdown in the flank for B is a lot of fun and makes the flow for blue feel less constricted. the low entrance for the flank on blue's side needs better telegraphing somehow. the main entrance into B lobby changed positions and as a result is much easier to camp if red manages to get the opportunity, which i want to address... somehow. not sure how yet. also, no complaints about navigating out of red spawn, which may be a first! i put caution stripes and a bright red sign on the main exit and that seemed to be what players needed to find their way out.
EDIT: also noticed players were jumping from a barrel by A onto the awning above the door, giving red players a weird place to stand and attack the rooftop. not sure if this should stay, as it tends to just be awkward in combat. awaits further testing / asking players what they think.
A definitely plays a lot better. the new cliff route works well (i feared it would be vulnerable to snipers, which it is, but snipers dont have a good reason to hang out there), the whole new open gameplay space around works well, the far flank saw some use although it wasnt super useful all of the time. the dropdown in A lobby is not very good and ill probably just scrap it? not sure - it can be a useful route, but its easily camped and very blind.
complaints about awkward angles, which is normal and i dont think there's anything that can really be done about it at this point. mikroscopic brought up good points about "false forward spawns" that i need to address. also noticed red teleporters can be easy to miss cause there's a lot of ground - one spot in particular is right on the point but directly behind some crates and blue couldnt find it. i love this strategy, i want to keep it, but im not sure if its actually a good idea to keep it because it seemed to totally fuck up red's defense on B.
new dropdown in the flank for B is a lot of fun and makes the flow for blue feel less constricted. the low entrance for the flank on blue's side needs better telegraphing somehow. the main entrance into B lobby changed positions and as a result is much easier to camp if red manages to get the opportunity, which i want to address... somehow. not sure how yet. also, no complaints about navigating out of red spawn, which may be a first! i put caution stripes and a bright red sign on the main exit and that seemed to be what players needed to find their way out.
EDIT: also noticed players were jumping from a barrel by A onto the awning above the door, giving red players a weird place to stand and attack the rooftop. not sure if this should stay, as it tends to just be awkward in combat. awaits further testing / asking players what they think.
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a16
-missing from a15 changelog: re-opened A balcony since it's now easier to out-range
-missing from a15 changelog: moved stairs around in B lobby. not really sure why but it felt right
-added minor detailing in front of non-gameplay doors, removed no-entry symbols
-blue forward spawn's "RESPAWN" sign does not appear until spawn room is active
-raised A far flank by 32 units
-fixed z-fighting at A far flank stairs
-added window to B flank (experimental change, intended to make the route more obvious to blue, but may come at the cost of making this route less useful)
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-missing from a15 changelog: re-opened A balcony since it's now easier to out-range
-missing from a15 changelog: moved stairs around in B lobby. not really sure why but it felt right
-added minor detailing in front of non-gameplay doors, removed no-entry symbols
-blue forward spawn's "RESPAWN" sign does not appear until spawn room is active
-raised A far flank by 32 units
-fixed z-fighting at A far flank stairs
-added window to B flank (experimental change, intended to make the route more obvious to blue, but may come at the cost of making this route less useful)
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a17
-added broken glass in an open window to make it more obvious it is open
-opened door into B lobby, added walls within lobby in relation to new entrance (experimental change)
-removed chairs from B for the sake of clipping
-replaced all instances of metal grate texture with reckoner variant, which i think blocks explosions
-changed all doors that open after capping A from hand symbols to lock symbols
-changed all doors that never open (scenery) from no symbols to hand symbols
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-added broken glass in an open window to make it more obvious it is open
-opened door into B lobby, added walls within lobby in relation to new entrance (experimental change)
-removed chairs from B for the sake of clipping
-replaced all instances of metal grate texture with reckoner variant, which i think blocks explosions
-changed all doors that open after capping A from hand symbols to lock symbols
-changed all doors that never open (scenery) from no symbols to hand symbols
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a18
-began artpass
-added stage 1 elevator to blue spawn
-added barrels to A balcony in response to feedback that I didn't really understand
-added various gameplay signs
-fixed clipping issue reported by pumpko
-closed a window by B lobby entrance in the interest of vis
EDIT: i forgot these:
-changed prop ramp by blue spawn hut to stairs
-changed scenery doors back to plain door texture
-changed active shutter doors to have a yellow stripe at the bottom
-added shutter doors (open once, never close) to B lobby exit to A
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-began artpass
-added stage 1 elevator to blue spawn
-added barrels to A balcony in response to feedback that I didn't really understand
-added various gameplay signs
-fixed clipping issue reported by pumpko
-closed a window by B lobby entrance in the interest of vis
EDIT: i forgot these:
-changed prop ramp by blue spawn hut to stairs
-changed scenery doors back to plain door texture
-changed active shutter doors to have a yellow stripe at the bottom
-added shutter doors (open once, never close) to B lobby exit to A
Read the rest of this update entry...
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missing from a18 changelog:
-changed prop ramp by blue spawn hut to stairs
-changed scenery doors back to plain door texture
-changed active shutter doors to have a yellow stripe at the bottom
-added shutter doors (open once, never close) to B lobby exit to A
a19:
-moved blue forward spawn to a more sensible location
-adjusted all A lobby roof props to be more roof-appropriate, removed jump route to AC unit
-more artpass (snow! displacements! B!)
-fixed clipping issues reported by pumpko, yrrzy
-fixed missing pickup patches (related to artpass)
-added signage to (hopefully) better indicate where blue spawn is for new red players
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-changed prop ramp by blue spawn hut to stairs
-changed scenery doors back to plain door texture
-changed active shutter doors to have a yellow stripe at the bottom
-added shutter doors (open once, never close) to B lobby exit to A
a19:
-moved blue forward spawn to a more sensible location
-adjusted all A lobby roof props to be more roof-appropriate, removed jump route to AC unit
-more artpass (snow! displacements! B!)
-fixed clipping issues reported by pumpko, yrrzy
-fixed missing pickup patches (related to artpass)
-added signage to (hopefully) better indicate where blue spawn is for new red players
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a19 test notes:
two things i wanted to test:
-is the new fwd spawn good? answer: most likely. it feels much more natural to head towards B, big improvement over the previous one in its position. blue walk time is a tad shorter now, which might mess with balance, but its far too early to tell, and its easy to fix (bump up blue spawn time by a second or two).
-is visibility on B fine? answer: it needs improvement, but it is better than i expected. i may want to throw in a few white walls so red players dont blend in so easily, or be more careful about lighting, especially on walls that red snipers like to hang out on.
there's a few other things i want to tighten up, like a particular handrail and door frame combo that has always been annoying. this fella:
i would like to just enlarge the doorways, but im a bit worried the door on the left might look a bit weird being slightly taller than literally every other door in the map, which is why ive been hesitant. i may just remove the frame on the right side and have the door on the left be a bit of an oddity... the best solution would be a way of blocking the left passage that isn't a door, but im not sure i want to fill it up with crates. that would also look silly. i'll figure something out!
last topic is the map's name. i was planning on renaming this map to Halcyon, which is the name of a bird in greek mythology that nests on the sea in the winter. however, some people commented that "Snowbase" is already a very good name, and much more memorable, which i agree with, and now i am torn on which to use. regardless of which is used, the facility itself will be named Halcyon, i am just unsure what the map's formal name should be. thoughts?
two things i wanted to test:
-is the new fwd spawn good? answer: most likely. it feels much more natural to head towards B, big improvement over the previous one in its position. blue walk time is a tad shorter now, which might mess with balance, but its far too early to tell, and its easy to fix (bump up blue spawn time by a second or two).
-is visibility on B fine? answer: it needs improvement, but it is better than i expected. i may want to throw in a few white walls so red players dont blend in so easily, or be more careful about lighting, especially on walls that red snipers like to hang out on.
there's a few other things i want to tighten up, like a particular handrail and door frame combo that has always been annoying. this fella:
i would like to just enlarge the doorways, but im a bit worried the door on the left might look a bit weird being slightly taller than literally every other door in the map, which is why ive been hesitant. i may just remove the frame on the right side and have the door on the left be a bit of an oddity... the best solution would be a way of blocking the left passage that isn't a door, but im not sure i want to fill it up with crates. that would also look silly. i'll figure something out!
last topic is the map's name. i was planning on renaming this map to Halcyon, which is the name of a bird in greek mythology that nests on the sea in the winter. however, some people commented that "Snowbase" is already a very good name, and much more memorable, which i agree with, and now i am torn on which to use. regardless of which is used, the facility itself will be named Halcyon, i am just unsure what the map's formal name should be. thoughts?