Truly the FINAL UPDATE:
I implemented some ideas from the community. These changes include different placement of the classic sniper rifle, avril and grenade launcher. I also removed some pickups, as there really were too many.
Here is the latest version, or just get it from the server: http://www.vctf.us/maps/VCTF-CTC-Gazzah-Night.zip
Looks good Jim. Just a personal preference for this map... keep it manta and raptor free. Looks like it would be a fun foot battle map with benders and scorps and possibly a paladin.
McShagger wrote:Looks good Jim. Just a personal preference for this map... keep it manta and raptor free. Looks like it would be a fun foot battle map with benders and scorps and possibly a paladin.
Thanks. I was thinking the same but we got hella-flak when our last map didn't include mantas so I just don't know what's best here! Maybe I'll release two versions and see what happens.
What he said. I would like to see some more foot run maps, more or less in the mold of Veniis and Afghanistan. Aerial vehicles tend to ruin good foot run maps, such as being a few feet from capping and being squished by a guy in a raptor who just spawned 5 seconds ago. Paladins and tanks also make the maps too defensive heavy; the onus of good defense should be on the fragging ability of the players and not how well one guy can sit on a flag with a tank or paladin.
So far the map looks really nice. Keep it small in size and it will be played. Add a large expanse of nothingness between the bases such as in Halliburton'sPAYground and expect it to never be played. Hellbenders and scorpions should be the only vehicles, in my opinion.
Last edited by badasp on Fri Jan 23, 2009 9:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
Like others have said, it looks like it has some fun foot routes. I like the theme as well. I haven't seen any new middle-east maps. I think that mantas and rapters are good as long as they are balanced out. By looking at the map, I think the foot runners have sufficient cover and route options. I can't wait to play it.
Extremely fun map, Jim. cant wait to play it again. And after some thought, maybe having a raptor wouldnt be too bad. The map has lots of places to hide and having a raptor would help out with finding the flag and keeping snipers from camping.
Also, I mentioned that it would be nice to have some amo in some places... A lot of people agreed, but having amo is not necessary. Its awesome the way it is.
McShagger wrote:Extremely fun map, Jim. cant wait to play it again. And after some thought, maybe having a raptor wouldnt be too bad. The map has lots of places to hide and having a raptor would help out with finding the flag and keeping snipers from camping.
Also, I mentioned that it would be nice to have some amo in some places... A lot of people agreed, but having amo is not necessary. Its awesome the way it is.
Thanks, Shag! Yeah, I like the idea of ammo pickups as well... Maybe in the next version (which I'm thinking of adding terrain as well). I like the idea of a raptor maybe... Just one per side. There are a lot of place to hide and the raptor can do recon and find the flag carrier and take out snipers.
I got to play the map once and the most glaring issue was the map is so bright it's blinding. I had to turn my gamma down and I already had it very low. A few others made the same observation about the brightness. I can always see my green crosshair and rarely can't see my yellow enemy skins, but I couldn't see either in this map. I'd suggest dimming the light.
Other than that, the map seemed to play well as a foot run map, a lot of areas to explore. I spent most of my first go around exploring and trying to learn the layout of the pickups. As I play the map more, I'm sure I'll find a ton of foot running possibilities.
No raptor. It's not really a raptor map. Most of the flag running seemed to be done within covered buildings, rendering a pursuant raptor useless. I understand having a raptor would help with finding the flag carrier, but a lot of the time, half the fun is searching for the flag carrier before they can find yours. Kind of like Zoned has those long flag stand-offs.
I think the lighting is right on for an outdoor map. The realism is really outstanding in my opinion. From all the mappers I've been aquainted with, Jim is head and shoulders above them in lighting skills. I think the "blinding" feeling that we're getting is the light colored (almost white) lower part of the skybox.
This map looks like a lot of work's gone into it. I made the misassumption that all those buildings were a bunch of static meshes. I get tired just thinking about all those subtrations and additions... Phew! That's heck a nice of Jim to do all that work for our enjoyment. JimRimya FTW!
