I'm gonna go ahead and post what I have done so far... Expect the others soon. Vapor Lock I wasn't terribly impressed with the aesthetics on Vapor Lock. Everything looked disjointed and lacked cohesion. The textures in many areas of the map are poorly chosen, making the map look unprofessional. The stunt ramps in particular just don't fit well with anything on the map. You should ditch those and replace it with an object that is more appealing. The only aesthetic that I did enjoy was the fact that the map was open, so it didn't look bland like many other forge maps. I honestly didn't enjoy myself when I played on Vapor Lock. The map was too big, and every battle occurred in the center. And every battle consisted of going up an down the hole in the center. The map just needs more connectivity and hard routes; relying mainly on teleporters and the central man cannon yields poor gameplay. Also, it wasn't a good idea for the sniper and shotgun to spawn so close together, it was even possible to get camo, shotgun and sniper in the same instance. Jet pack and sprint can and were abused throughout the game. Sprint allowed for players to easily escape their deaths and Jetpack was too overpowered due to the map's disjointedness. Mach Snell Like with your other map, Mach Snell is lacking in cohesion as well an overall theme. Many of the areas on the map aren't appealing due to your piece choice. The 3x3 blocks didn't look very good, and they didn't match well with anything. Though like I said with Vapor Lock, I like the fact that it is open. I honestly didn't have too much fun playing on Mach Snell. Encounters happen at the sniper tower 90% of the time, and when they do it is just a cluster**** of explosions. You really need to get rid of the explosives placed throughout the map as they really aren't a good way to keep positions less dominant. Also, the rockets and shotgun were way too powerful. Rockets just don't generally belong in a 1v1, and the shotgun, combined with sprint, was hard to stop. The map is also lacking in connectivity, and feels linear. Good luck in the contest. Pit Fall Pit Fall has an awesome theme to it. The magma surprisingly didn't look cheap and the whole map feels unified. I also though that the bank flooring looked nice and it tied in nicely with the theme. Another thing that really stuck out to me was the bridge that the plasma repeater spawned on. However, I want to point out that many people hate FX, and while it really adds to your theme, you might fair better in the contest without it. While I enjoyed myself on Pit Fall, I believe the map is too small to support solid gameplay due to the gametype. If the gametype lacked radar, then it would be a whole different story. Another problem caused by the size of the map were a couple of poor spawns. I don't think there could be anyway you could resolve this issue unless you just make the map a tad larger. I also felt like their were one too many power weapons on the map. While the numerous weapons caused encounters to be varied, it seemed a little over the top at times. In my opinion, the deletion of the concussion rifle would be a wise choice, especially because of the death pit. Whiteout I really enjoyed the look of Whiteout. The darkness of it made it an interesting battleground, and the piece usage aided to this uniqueness as well. And even if I have seen the light bridge trick before, I thought it fit in perfectly for this map. It was also neat how you made it seem like it was being powered by the pool of blue at the bottom of the pit. Another interesting feature was the inclusion of the crenellation covers for the doorways. I couldn't find any aesthetic complaints. Playing on Whiteout was generally a fun experience. Weapons worked well; somehow the shotgun didn't cause any problems. One problem I had with the map though was that it was difficult to travel across the two railings, especially mid-battle. This led to the game lasting awhile because of the numerous suicides. I suggest that you just make the bridge filled in until the middle, and have the drop down there. There was also one spawn that caused for some terrible spawning. It's in the corner of the map, where the spire ramps lead to. That's pretty much the only two problems with the map.
Zen Aside from the lift area, Zen is essentially composed of two objects: the large brace and banks. Because of this, the map felt unified and clean. I also commend you for using so many banks because they're a ***** to forge large areas with. I just can't imagine the time it took you to build much of this. Another thing that was awesome was the dual lifts. I loved how you signified the power of the lifts by using the small antenna pieces. The lifts can however be a little confusing to use at first. Other than that, I couldn't find any issues with aesthetics. Zen fit very well with the gametype. It was open enough so it was essentially impossible to run away from battles. And the map actually played much larger than it is. Honestly I couldn't find many serious issues, but there are some things that I think you should address. First of all, my opponent, who was on red team, had an immediate height advantage over me. He out gunned me, which easily earned him the first kill. We also felt that the custom powerup spawned way too fast, especially since the gametype makes it such a powerful asset to acquire. Overall though, I thoroughly enjoyed my time on Zen and I think it is a serious contender for the contest. Luca I honestly didn't find Luca to look as good as your other creations, but it overall still looks fairly impressive. The central atrium is the best looking part of this map in my opinion. I love the stepping stones you pit at the bottom, and I thought it was neat that one looked broken due to the gravity lift. And while I have seem the tiered center like that many times, it looks very nice and works well. Overall, I just didn't think Luca looked as unified as your other maps, but it still looks nice. The whole match of Luca felt a little slow. I think this is mainly due to the size of the map, as well as the map containing numerous teleporters that gave players a quick escape mid-battle. Also I noticed that sniper, grenade launcher and custom powerup spawn in a close vicinity. If a skillful player were to obtain all three of these items, they could easily net numerous kills. Lastly, there is a wraparound pillar, more specifically it is the large walkway that the grenade launcher spawns on. The Gauntlet Like I said with Luca, I don't think this map looks as cool as your other ones. Nothing stood out to me as being awesome, but I could tell that care was put into forging The Gauntlet. I liked the numerous struts you used, although I would've liked them with a nicer looking color than what they all currently posses. I did however like the windows looking out as it helped alleviate the greyness problem that forgeworld has. Playing on The Gauntlet was a generally fun experience. The two parallel beams constructed of 1x4 blocks caused for interesting engagements, especially with the jump pad. I did manage to find some minor problems. Evade was just too powerful, mainly due to the gametype's movement settings. Using it caused players to launch over ramps at rather high speeds, and it was too easy to win fights with. Like with your map Zen, the custom powerup had too fast of a respawn rate for its strength. The last issue that was present was with the man cannon at the far end of the map; we weren't sure if it was intended for us to reach grenade launcher platform on every launch, or if it was just supposed to send us beneath it. Good luck to you with the contest.
Today is the last day for submissions! I will be finishing up everything soon, so expect the rest of the feedbacks tomorrow night.
@cluckinho10 I think I speak for everone when I say thanks for doing this. You have been a huge help to everyone! I give you these diamonds as a symbol of our graditude! ����������������������������������������������������������������������
Got three done, hopefully the rest tomorrow. Liar's Retreat It is honestly fairly hard to muster up aesthetic things to say about this map that I haven't said in the last feedback that I gave you. I do like the lights in the cave that you added as it gives the cave an interesting atmosphere. I do however think that you still have enough budget to add some more flair to your map. I like the addition of the spire rock to the middle of the map as it blocked a very long sight line. However, the hammer that you added I didn't find to be very fitting, especially for a 1v1 map. It just felt like it caused way to much waiting around corners for your opponent, and it significantly slowed down gameplay. The map also felt to large; we kept circling each other on numerous occasions. Power Hedron Again, it is hard to think of much to say about Powerhedron's aesthetics. Everything positive that I mentioned in the last feedback still holds true. I do like the center's look much more than its last iteration. Even though the center looks better than the last, It caused for some annoying battles. For instance, if a player was low on shields, they could easily run around the whole thing avoiding their enemy. There was also some bad spawning. For some reason most of the spawning happened on the structure behind active camo's spawn. Graphette Graphette, in my opinion, is the most appealing map you have made thus far. The whole natural vibe that this map gave off really appealed to me. The grass, rocks and windows that looked out onto the landscape were awesome. A small qualm that I have though is the two trees that stick through portions of the map; they looked out of place since they merged with some of the geometry. There really isn't much you could do to fix this besides rebuilding this, but it really isn't that big of an issue so I wouldn't worry about it. Out of all of your maps, I think Graphette is the best for the Smackdown contest. However, I wasn't a fan of how every single fight that took place was in the center portion of the map, while each team's base was pretty much just a spawn hive. The plasma launcher was an interesting choice, and it surprisingly didn't cause any issues. The snipers were fun, and overall the spawns were good.
Extrinsic The covenant theme is a interesting choice of aesthetic, and you pulled it of well in some areas. It is definitely the hardest theme to accomplish due to how round covenant architecture tends to be, so props on that. The inclusion of rocks was an interesting choice, but I don't think that they did enough to make the map feel less grey. I believe it'd be beneficial for you to add some windows looking out of the map so the map doesn't seem as dull. Much of the time playing on Extrinsic my opponent and I circled around looking for each other for long periods of time. The map is just to large for a 1v1. You need to straight up just make it smaller, and preferably asymmetric. Due to it being symmetrical, gameplay was fairly uninteresting throughout. Lastly, evade can be abused and is way over powered, so I suggest that you remove it. Torch Torch is a massive improvement from your two previous entries, in terms of aesthetics. The two drop downs in the top middle portion of the map were neat looking, and the water below did a great job of making the map not look dull and grey. I do however believe that you have plenty of budget left that should be put towards adding some original aesthetic flair that makes the map your own. Another thing I would like to see is more definition as to what areas of the map are playable, more specifically in the water areas. I fell off a couple of times because the lack of railing and uncertainty as to where I could go. There were two fairly big problems with the map. The first is that it is escapable by going to the teleporter balcony, jumping on the teleporter frame, jumping on the struts and finally jumping out of the map. A player could easily gain the lead and leave the map so the the other player doesn't find them. Some kill barrier should easily due the trick. The other problem was that their was only one way atop the teleporter balcony, and this caused some camping. Adding a health pack up there also made camping much easier. Add more hard routes up there and delete the health pack. Finally, unfortunately you need to delete the hologram, as it has faulty mechanics in a 1v1. It is unfair for the host as it is displayed on their radar with a red dot, while on the non-host sees it as gray. Overall though, this map is a giant step above your previous creations, so great job on the improvements. Truth Truth was a very nice looking, natural feeling map. I loved the inclusion of the sand as well as the windows, but I do feel like they should be modified to let the player know that you die instantly when you jump out of them. I had no idea that the cave area wasn't playable, so I committed suicide right off spawn. I also enjoyed the floor patterns that you used, mainly the combination of banks and 2x2 inclines. I definitely enjoyed my time on Truth, it felt like a nice size for the gametype. The weapons also worked well for the map, and I had the most fun sniping in some of the longer lines of sight on the map. I was also somewhat surprised that the covenant fusion core didn't cause for some annoying battles, and it also looks cool. The only problem that wasn't a terrible issue was that some of the areas seemed to be underutilized compared to other spots. The main location that felt like it was rarely traversed was the corner with the covenant crate and health pack. I just didn't seem to belong with the rest of the map. Other than that, I think you've got a strong contender for the contest. Zymotic Obviously the biggest aesthetic that this map contains are the multiple mushrooms constructed of rocks and tin cups. They add a neat style to the map that I haven't seen before. I do however believe that some of the pieces that you chose could have been picked better, such as the platforms that jut out into the mushroom area. I also wasn't too sure what the camo armor abilities were supposed to signify. Other than that, I couldn't find anymore aesthetic complaints. It seemed like the entire time I was playing on Zymotic, the goal was to gain control of the top ring. It has plenty of cover and line of site over most of the map. I could just drop down, grab the grenade launcher and head back up to the top area. I guess one easy fix for this would be to simply remove all of the cover surrounding the ring. I would also say that while the mushrooms are cool, they can be wraparounds for players to avoid deaths. Honestly though we never ventured to that area of the map, so I'm not sure Rey will cause a problem. Feral Feral is a well-built map, and while there isn't much originality to it, you could tell that care was put into the build process. I really didn't enjoy all of the coliseum walls that were present on the map, mainly the one that splits the map in two. Other than that, there weren't any other problems per se, just not enough creativity was present on the map. There were many movement issues preset on Feral. For instance, in one corner of the map you could only access it by a man cannon, that was only reachable through a teleporter. A player could easily camp in that top corner. You need to add more routes to that space so it won't be so defensible. There also seemed to be only two routes in some areas, so it was fairly hard to takeover certain locations. I also got a terrible respawn, maybe it was a fluke though since there was only one. Anyways, good luck with your map in the contest. And that's all of them. Thanks for letting me test all of these awesome 1v1's, I look forward to seeing the contest results in the coming weeks. And make sure to thank CAPNxCANT for helping me test all of these.
Thanks for the feedback! In regards to the windows- I've gotten that complaint alot, and I have no idea how to make it clear that you can't jump out- do you have any ideas?
Maybe you could raise them higher up so they look less door-ish? Can't really think of anything else.
Thanks so much cluckinho. I think since then I've fixed them problems (hopefully lol) and aestheticly I've much improved the map. Thanks!