PL Swiftwater (swift revisited)

[Citizen Snips]

Sounds great. Can't wait to check it out.

 

[What Is Schwa]

I realized today there isn't a SINGLE area that has gone untouched. Essentially the "final" version of Swift will have been a complete overhaul from my first release.

I can't wait to be done with this bastard.

 

[tyler]

I can't wait either.

 

[Citizen Snips]

I would still like to see the back spawn be closer to what I envisioned, but if this version ends up fixing the current problems, then there will be no complaints from me.

 

[What Is Schwa]

Update 4.9/2011

DOWNLOAD pl_swiftwater_frc20

This is perhaps the largest overhaul yet. I rebuilt the entire shortcut area so it is more obvious and less campable. In doing so, I lowered the height of the super tall bridge area above CP2 so it is more useful for defense. I'm also experimenting with the CP2 bridge areas connecting slightly differently. I'm hoping defensive engineers and snipers will have an easier time.

Red spawn is even more streamlined and puts red players closer to the proper exit. NO MORE VENTS ANYWHERE. I've done my best to incorporate Citizen Snips' feedback without compromising my design goal of a single red spawn.

The CP4/5 area has also undergone quite a bit of change. Red has another access route to the upper buildings and engineers have more options for sentry placement.

I deleted the old skybox and am in the process of expanding the visual areas beyond the playable boundary.

As a reminder, these versions are all test versions. I haven't posted them anywhere else on the internet, so please keep in mind that I'm using them to test different ideas. If you don't like something, LET ME KNOW. I'll do my best to incorporate it into the design. This build is especially experimental and has some obvious visual places that need work. I'll be fixing in the next week or so but really wanted to get out another version to test some significant gameplay changes.

Once again, thanks everyone for playing and thanks for all the great feedback.

-Aaron

 

[Trotim]

final release candidate

twenty

 

[What Is Schwa]

Okay so the versions have gotten SLIGHTLY excessive. I initially meant this to just be a quick bug fix and move on, but I got carried away.

Still, I haven't posted the map anywhere else. The first public release to other servers will be "pl_swiftwater_final_rc" I've also done a ton of internal testing, so while this does have the number "20" attached, I think it is more like the 5th actual release.

 

[tyler]

Played this for the first time last night. Full 24 man server, people that were familiar with FRC16. Blue lost the first two rounds and won the third. I don't want to comment on balance just yet but I will bring some things to your attention:

This displacement isn't sewn properly

Walking up this ladder, I got caught on the displacement or something

Bad fade distance on this doorway

This door is TOO DAMN SLOW

If you made it so the cart can't go backwards after clearing a rollback section, you could probably get rid of the second to last CP, and rollback sections would also be working as intended

Not sure if seeing through this matters, but I can.

Overall I liked the new shortcut area; RED has a really easy time of getting into it after CP2, though, and I think that you'd be better off not letting them into it so far. That's my only feeling for right now. This is the server; you can join and nominate it. The head admin loves Swiftwater a ton, he'd be jazzed to see you tonight. I think you're EU though, aren't you?

 

[What Is Schwa]

If you made it so the cart can't go backwards after clearing a rollback section, you could probably get rid of the second to last CP, and rollback sections would also be working as intended.

The rollback sections are more or less an experiment. The biggest complaint I've heard about swift is that it is "impossible to defend" so I put the rollback spots in place to hopefully give defense some advantage.

What do you mean by working as intended?

Also, I like the second to last CP. It lets me tweak spawn times and gives players a reason to defend the courtyard area. I could move it to the peak of the rollback areas.

 

[What Is Schwa]

My favorite quote from the above
"Why is this map not done yet? Map making is so easy"

=)

Too bad the players can't get together and decide what a good map is. Building is the easy part, figuring out what is fun and balanced is the hard part.

 

[tyler]

I meant to leave a note about that "why isnt this done" comment. Circe's actually just started picking up the SDK and has been complaining about how hard it is, so it was a tongue in cheek jab, don't take it seriously.

As for rollbacks, if you look at Upward or Thunder Mountain, the cart never rolls back down them after you roll them to the top of one. Never. It's like a mini-CP. If you mimicked that, the last area would play better. I kinda freaked out when the cart rolled back a ton down that last hill because I thought the rollback zone would stop it.

People LIKE the rollbacks, just not that they don't stop the cart.

Does that make sense?

 

[What Is Schwa]

Yep it does makes sense! Thanks for the quick heads up - I didn't know they were doing that. I'll have to look at the mechanics more in depth. I think in payload race the cart never moves back unless they are on the rollback zones, so implementing it might be a little tougher in normal payload where the cart can move back.

Will the following be about right or will it mess up some other part of the mechanics? (Putting out the ABS signal)

Path_track Output
OnPass target previous path_track with input DisablePath

 

[tyler]

I believe it is something to that effect. It's definitely something you have to disable after you pass it, but I've never worked with payload entities. Hopefully someone will show up to school us both.

 

[LeSwordfish]

Hold on, i'll check my decompiled thundermountain.

 

[tyler]

I looked at Thunder Mountain and Upward, and I looked in game, and turns out I'm wrong and was mixing it up with plr. :x

Still, right after the rollbacks there's usually a CP, so... consider moving the one you have back a bit, maybe? If nothing else the HUD will look nicer.

 

[What Is Schwa]

Imma give it a quick try to see if disabling the path after it reaches the pinnacle will help. If that what players were expecting anyhow I doubt it will be confusing.

So was there a collective horror when the cart rolled back a little bit into the rollback region and the cart just tumbled backwards? =p

 

[tyler]

Imma give it a quick try to see if disabling the path after it reaches the pinnacle will help. If that what players were expecting anyhow I doubt it will be confusing.

So was there a collective horror when the cart rolled back a little bit into the rollback region and the cart just tumbled backwards? =p

I think I was mostly the one confused, so don't worry about it.

And yeah, kind of. We didn't have a lot of time left and barely managed to cap CP4 in time. After that it was easy though.

By the way, people liked the new shortcut area and red spawn a lot.

 

[What Is Schwa]

Hooray!

Now I just have to light red spawn better.

Thanks for the kind words. I've been super worried that I've somehow screwed the map up. I personally feel the changes have been good, but who the heck knows. Making a "good" map is voodoo magic man.

 

[tyler]

So the more we play this the more it seems like nothing is horribly imbalanced.

I noticed last night that the grass in front of blu spawn changes from dark green to light green and it's very noticeable where it happens.

People like this version a lot, good work.

 

[Citizen Snips]

I noticed last night that the grass in front of blu spawn changes from dark green to light green and it's very noticeable where it happens.

Toldja.