I wanted to post some observations I've made after an internal playtest with Crinitus, who provided a new mission for us to test with. Lest I forget them when I update this map.
Firstly, the two point design does wonders for map balance. It feels a lot more satisfying to play and defend with something to stagger an incoming horde before arriving into true danger. Interestingly, this also felt like a lot of pressure was alleviated when defending the final point, as it would usually only happen when half the wave was complete, so it felt more manageable.
Upgrades are interesting, I anticipate that the standard team composition will be one Engineer, and then one "Power Class," such as a Soldier, Pyro, Demoman, or Heavy. As a result, there's less players to try and collect money, and there's more than likely not going to be a scout who can avoid damage to do easy money collection. In a way, substantial money loss is a potential for mission balance, as a large sum can be lost in a horde of bots. Even with our first playtest missing around an average of 50-100 credits every wave, it still felt reasonably beatable with the amount lost, even taking bonus credits into consideration.
Mission design in itself is interesting. 2-player focused MvM missions have been made in the past, but I doubt many have been made with such a small scale in mind. Crinitus has done a good job with an initial pass for balance, and I'm surprised with what he was able to get accomplished with the smaller scale in mind. At the same time, there's definitely aspects that don't seem to work well, such as giant medics or large blobs of explosive classes. Regardless, there is quite a bit of room that can still be played with while keeping it engaging. Even Giant Spammer Soldiers (after a minor rebalance) felt good to fight against. This can also probably be thanked by the addition of two points, where just one would most definitely cause any mission design to dissolve into a messy chaos.
One thing I do want to be looking out for is respawn times. Dying in Guardian is absolutely brutal if the respawn is too long. If both players die and the gate gets capped, it can feel like a race against time. I think this can be alleviated by force respawning any dead players after the first point is captured. Crinitus and I are also keeping an eye on what a good maximum respawn should feel like for the gamemode. For now, around 2-4 seconds max feels good.
I'm overall satisfied with this project thus far, and I'm optimistic about where this layout will go and, potentially, where the gamemode can go. Here's for the best!
