So how did things go, guys? I really wanted to be there but I'm staring down a 10-day deadline on needing to get my house on the market, and still have an ungodly amount of work to get done... ended up replacing wood on my porch all evening instead. Man, I miss my XBox.
It went very well! I arrived an hour late as I had a BIOC lobby to host. But during my time there, we played some awesome maps, got some sound advice and had lots of good conversations. I'm so glad Claymore has made the effort to keep the torch burning.
^^^^ RIght on. it was a good time with some good maps. I think we should start a feedback thread, because I didn't feel prepared to really give much feedback during the lobby, as I had a baby crying in the background the whole time I'll go through the films and jot down some notes perhaps tonight. Thanks Clay for keeping it going!
Recap for Tuesday, May 21st Talk about the games last night. I saw some very nice looking maps that were alot of fun to play on. Let us know what you thought! I'll try and leave some comments on each map later...
Games : Slayer on Kamohoalii Slayer on Trinitrotoluene CTF on Desalination KOTH on New Life Regicide on Palisade Extraction on Geniosity Rumble on Shelter ill fill these in later just wanted the names down to refresh memory.
Kamohaoli- by Beemer1972 had a decent layout but it was hard to get used to the sheer amount of differnt LOS you could be hit from. Hard map to learn for sure. That doesn't mean it's bad. If it were me I'd add a little more cover on thoese bridges, just from the sides. Also something to clean up if you haven't noticed it and fixed already, is that the 5x1 flats sitting virtical are set at different heights. This was a nice departure in design from other maps out there. Trinitrotoluene 1.2 by Juanez Sanchez Really nice layout. I didn't really understand the reason for the shields, maybe you could explain? This has great verticality and limitless paths to take. This probably came from some badass sketch. I'd like to see how other types play here, but for slayer it was great. New Life by El Trocity Even better than the last version I played. This had more cover and I think more paths& options. Vehicles didn't seem overpower or too easy to kill. Koth Worked well. New side bases of also a good addition. Palisade by Another Claymore Regicide worked well here, and the main issue was that it got congested, but you said it was meant for more 4v4 or less. Not sure how you change this, but once we all learned that the outer edge was a good spot, it seemed like the middle wasn't used much. I could use like one sizable piece of cover in each of those corner grassy rooms. Hope I play it again. Geniosity by Vertigo I like that tree flowerbed thingy. This map seemed pretty good to me but I would like to play something else on it sometime, as extraction isn't one of my favorite types. have you thought of using a vehicle somewhere? Shelter by Chronmeister my first impression was that the seemed too dark. it would be great itf you could open it up more to more natural light, or unnatural as in using the lighting delay spawn trick. Unfortunately, because you are trying to create some interesting geometry with your floor spaces, it ends up also making lines in every direction and the result is a lot of clutter. I almost think taking the color out of some surfaces will ehlp this, and replacing or flipping/rotating pieces perhaps. Desalination by myself In a previous test I found that the ghost featured too prominently and an attempt to scale it back I think made it not show up enough during this game. I'm pleased to say I have added flag away zones to help flag takers from immediately being inundated with respawning enemies. I have also added a little more cover to the edges of the bases against sniping, and reworked the exploading fusion coil in the tower. All this should help with some balance issues.
I had a great time Tuesday night and look forward to future sessions. I would love to hear everyone's thoughts on Kamohoalii. Trinitrotoluene 1.2 by Juanez Sanchez I liked the layout and the good use of color to help identify the area of the map. I liked the clock tower in the center. I noticed that the blue team spawned at yellow not their base at the beginning of the game. I would like to see how KOH and CTF play on this. Desalination by ExTerrestr1al I love the concept of this map. I try to make all my maps places that once had another functions. The center tower has a distinct advantage over red. You can see much more of the red base than you can of blue. You can also see the flag and likely several spawn points and most of the approach to the turret. You might be able to remedy this by enlarging to towers upper area and connecting it to the bases. This would provide you a way to give red a bit more cover from the center and it would give another path to return the flag. It could also give a bit more cover for infantry in the water. You may want to try to find a way to take the jump out of the rock path from the water up to the blue base. If the ghosts are too dominant you could block them from the upper area of to them all together. New Life by El Trocity KOH was a lot of fun. The map has a good layout and seems pretty well balanced. You may want to place a bit more cover around the lower area to give infantry a bit more cover form the hogs and make driving a little more of a challenge. May be with an elevation change. You may also want to consider a turret or other power weapon to help combat the hogs. Palisade by Another Claymore Regicide was a blast. As you said it was a bit small for 5v5 but it didn't really detract much from the game play except for congestion. I think KOH and Slayer with 4 to 8 players would be a lot of fun. Geniosity by Vertigo I liked the multiple tiers. Extraction was much more fun than any I have played in matchmaking. The extraction points were close enough that it didn't feel as though you had to run quite so far to get to them. It gave several chances to try to convert. I thought 5v5 was a good number for that map. Shelter by Chronmeister I liked the center room and the look of each base. I did find it a bit confusing to navigate at first but that may be better when starting at a team spawn. It did seem a bit visually cluttered at times which may have also lead to a bit of the navigational confusion. I'm not sure of the point of the teleporters and the upper ledges in the center room. Kamohoalii By Me Thanks for the input JK. Do you mean the upper bridges? I will fix the issue with the 5x1 flats, thanks. I have also changed the initial drops with only one saw and one sticky det dropping instead of one per side. I think the flow was good and no major issues surfaced so I am happy. I look forward to more tests in the future.
KAMOHAOLI Nice game for a first test! I certainly spawned well and safely, combat was quick and fun, however i reall felt that the whole match took place on the top level especially the side bridges. I didn't find another area that had anything going on, so perhaps you might find a way to unify the top and bottom areas. TRINITROTOLUENE Mine. I like the way this is playing at the moment. This arena layout is something i have been trying to crack for some time, and comes close to what i have always had in mind. As for the shield doors; they serve as windows where the original glass in that place was too murky to see through. An open space there would be way too long LOS and it makes it a tad moretactical i reckon. Everyone loves a game of shield-door-chicken. DESALINATION This map does work very well indeed. Flag is fun and a co-ordinated team can lock their base down so hard. I have yet to play another gametype on here though, have we ever run slayer? I am sure that would work but not so sure about KOTH as it's such a two-sided, long map. I sometimes wonder if its a little hard to get a flag up that slope on the bottom level
Bloody well done with the lobby, Claymore. It ran like clockwork mi amigo. NEW LIFE No massive changes i don't think but it still runs great. Vehicles are perfect on here, with the correct balance of chaos/order going on at any given time. Koth hills are well placed, as in if the bottom hills were so open on a regular map I would say they were too open and exposed; but with the long range weapons and hogs they are just open enough. No niggles or issues at all really; its a great mid-sized-team map. PALISADE So much fun, absolutely overcrowded and insane but fun. I didn't get the layout for a few minutes there but soon grasped the clever side corridor connections. Obvs too small for the party we had but at the moment H4 custom lobbies are not easy to scrabble together so you can't afford to boot players that take you over capacity. So if anyone was worried about overcrowding, take it with a pinch of salt 'cos we just had a few too many. GENIOSITY Second time on this map for me, and VERT1GO (you'll always be Sever to me), you have a real eye for competitive forging. The paths are varied and interesting- the top mid section is a slightly dangerous and every fun place to be; one minute your ruling up there and then 4 guys turn up via mancannon to wreck yur day. The only thing I am unsure of is that very steep slope towards the back side of the map- not something ppl traditionally include in a map layout as it can be a tad awkward to traverse, but then again you don't always do things in a tradtional manner. That and when I played that game of CTF on here I got a spawn very close to the other team's flag, so you might need to have a look at zones again. SHELTER This was a great FFA map! Ignore that test where everyone quit last week, they were being asses- and they took offence to the filter you had on. This was fun and fluent; sightlines were long but broken up nicely not only by blockers but verticality too. Varied terrain and pieces meant it was also fun to move around on. Good job, I would like to play more FFA on here, it had the requisite jumbled/asymmetrical/slightly random floor plan that is best for that gametype.
Hello everyone looking at the front page new posts. You should come join TCOJ's testing sessions. Despite some senior members departing for various reasons, (hormone therapy, coming out parties, prison etc.) we are still running AWESOME lobbies on tuesday nights and always welcome new players and new forgers. We also have a very respectful and grown up and helpful recap thread for that night, posted the next day. Pick up pointers and criticism from pretty experienced forgers and players. Just look for the signup thread mid-week to grab yourself a slot. See you all there!!!!!!
What about today? Apparently there is no testing this week? I'll be on about 430 PST. I want to test out my new Paranoia Hills map.
I am going to try and get the lead for TCOJ passed to me. Anotherclaymore must have been too busy to post a signup thread, but i will be running a lobby all the same so if anyone who would normally attend the TCOJ lobby wants something testing, look for my lobby round about 10pm gmt.
Lobby for 28/5/13 Hello. I appreciate that this is very short notice as its today, but i assumed that someone else was going to chuck this up. But when you assume, you make an ass out of you and me etc... Due to the short notice i won't be assigning slots or anything so just look for my lobby and join it. I will pass lead around to anyone that has something to test; and we will ty and get a couple games on every map. I will be online 10pm GMT ( I am really not mexican). Next weeks signup will be properly posted on friday morning so we can maybe get back to business as usual. I WILL START THE LOBBY AT 11PM GMT, SO THAT'S ABOUT 7 EST RIGHT? Peace. See you tonight ATTENDEES? Juanez Sanchez AnotherClaymore JK Addict Nakala
I will be sadly unavailable. This is crunch week for getting our house ready - painter AND plumber coming over, and my dad (the amateur carpenter) and I will be replacing the roof of our back porch this afternoon on top of it. So I'll either still be working at 7, or passed out from exhaustion. But you guys have fun! I'm definitely going to be involved in a lobby or two this summer, at some point.
Exciting stuff!! I hope it all goes well. Unfortunately I cannot make it either, in Dundee. I'll see if I can make it to the next one though!
Nobody's coming so you'll both not be missing much. God, its like my 10th birthday all over again. Have fun doing your roof. And doing scottish ****, whatever that might entail.
thanks for the feedback guys! Juanez, Yes I played Slayer as the first test and I'm sure it will work just as well. But because CTF is something I've never focused on and spawining is a little more difficult than slayer, that is where I need my tests... so unless we have time for two tests this week, I'll probably just run CTF again. I've made several improvements, and many many tweaks in minor ways to improve Desalination based on your suggestions and based on what I saw in the films: Flag Away Zones push players away from flag to spawn sniper island is repositioned to give a better view of Blue Base to balance view of Red as best as I could. the geometry of the large anvil island makes it nearly impossible for the bases to be positioned identically, however. added several cover pieces to Red Base, and a few less to Blue to help balance. repositioned large rock near Red Base in the water to block LOS of spawn points. repositioned several spawn points. reworked spawn zones (still WIP) added geometry to Red Dock and Blue Island for LOS blockers against spawn sniping when pushed to spawn there. rebuilt sea-floor (again) and stretched drivable water area positioned large rock as an alternate sniping position for attacking Blue base. Red base is already more visible, so this further helps balance the two bases. However, Red base's once purely decorative rock is now slightly raised and foliage enhanced. GHOSTS now spawn at 45 seconds so that players will usually find a ghost when needing to travel a greater distance. Locked at two ghosts max. Redesigned Yellow Tower Fusion Coil hazard. extended shallow water area to provide more room for infantry battles under boardwalk. added some aesthetic items.
sign me up just in case this does end up coming together. we can always invite randoms or something... oh, and you could live in Mexico but still go by GMT... we would allow that
Just an FYI, I ended up taking an extended weekend, Thurs-Mon. So I wasn't able to make it back to leave feedback this week but after reading what you guys have said already, not sure there is much I can add. Alot of comments I had were mentioned by someone else, but just know that I really enjoyed all the maps and thought that the ones we had played before had good improvements. Excited to see what changes are made to the ones we played, hope to see y'all online more this week...