squidhands' Furious Review: My god, this was a slaughter. And by slaughter I mean I had a -15 K/D ratio. But then, I suck and I was playing against people a lot higher ranking that I am. It started out as 3 on 3, and by the end of the game there was a total of 9 people on this relatively tiny map. So beware, when the OP says it's not meant for large parties, he means it. It was a well made map despite our big group, the only problems I came across was the bumpy transitions in the upper central area. As small and quick-paced as this map is, there shouldn't be anything that would impede forward progress. I'd make the transitions from the outer ring to the bridges a lot smoother. And no one was able to even get near the sword. This was such a lightning-fast match, there wasn't a chance for anyone to grenade/buddy jump to it. I would maybe add one portable grav lift in a difficult to reach area, like maybe in place of one of the Maulers (which no one in our group seemed to get a hold of either). I know the sword would totally dominate on such a small map, but if no one can get to it there's no point having it on the map. Again, this is taken from a large group of people and may work differently in a 1v1 or even 2 on 2 scenario. And there was a unanimous decision to call into question the direction of some of the spawn points. Just about everyone at one point respawned staring at a wall. It got irritating real quick. If you do end up making any changes, this should be the first and most important one. But I do really like the map layout; it looks like you put a lot of time and effort into making everything flow properly. I play a lot with a group of 4 and this map will be lots of fun. It especially seems like it would play well in a SWAT scenario with radar on. Otherwise the mid-range rifles on here seem a bit out of place. And oh, the grenade spamming. When I play this again (and I will), I'll be replacing the frags with spikers. Even with our fast shield setting, it didn't take much to get killed after some remotely well-thrown grenades. With a few small tweaks this will probably turn into something in my regular rotation. Well done, sir. Enjoyment: Despite getting totally pwnd, I did have a lot of fun on this. Shock Theta killed me a lot. Durability: No way to break it, from what I could tell. Aesthetics: The transition to the central area needs to be seamless. Originality: Arena-style maps have been done before, but the Aesthetic quality and playability make up for any un-originality. Balance: the spawn points facing the walls are a huge issue. The many mid-range rifles seem out of place on such a small map. Overall:
Or me. Is this an aesthetics issue? I think aesthetics and functionality are actually opposites, eh squidman? =)
I would normally agree with you, but I was using the informal template Furious mentioned. So it seems like the only other logical place to put a comment like that.
this is a solid, well built map, but Ive seen so many maps like this, Im not interested though Ill DL anyway
Map: Urban Simulator Overall Enjoyment Durability Aesthetics Originality Balance 6/10 5/10 5/10 5/10 4/10 7/10 Map Review Haiku: Intense little map Wouldn't play with more than 4 Love that grenade bounce Ok, first off, this map should be played with a MAXIMUM or four players. Any more than that and you can just randomly toss grenades around corners for double kills (I did). I really love the layout of this map, but, in my opinion, it's not finished. There are several surfaces that aren't level with the rest of the map and require unnecessary jumping. And many of the spawn points are facing walls. Surprisingly, I didn't get spowned too often, which is impressive on such a small map. I don't like the jump for the mauler. I do like the fusion coils/barrels and forklift in the bottom corners. If this map was smoothed over a bit, and maybe doubled in size, it would be my favorite intense, small arena so far. Rick's Suggestions: -Fix those bridges. -Turn spawns 90 degrees.. -Double the size. I want more, more, more.
Cheers for the reviews guys. The spawns definitely seems to be the biggest issue by far, so I'm going to address that pretty much immediately. (Does anyone know, if I update the map on my fileshare does the published map get updated automatically?) Point of defense: I do also want to fix those bridges fom the outer rim onto the centre but at the time of making I had no idea how! There was originally a fence wall there, but it slowed the map down and I took them out. If anyone has any ideas on smoothing that out then I'd love to hear them, for serious. On weapon choice: The BRs and carbines are a personal preference of myself and most of the people I play with. I tend to consider the map as something of a canvas; people can change the weapons as they see fit, but for the people I play with the BR is a primary weapon and I don't see myself changing the default armoury. At the moment, at least.
Unfortunately, no. You gotta re-publish it. Your old threads will still let people download the old version for a while, then it will say something like fileshare item no longer available. Oh, trust me, the BR is my right hand also. In most games I play I spend the first few seconds after every respawn looking for one. But the AR beats the BR at close range 9 out of 10 times and this map allows for nothing but.
Urban SimV2 is well on the way to readiness for testing but I have a question for those that played it and noticed the spawns placing you facing a wall. Were these the spawns around the outer ring, or were there also others that caused problems? I think the highlight of V2 is going to be the disappearance of the 'sniper roosts' up top. I've now managed to merge the toppermost boxes into the hanging crane (previously a feature I had to build around), thus negating the need to do something with that area. The merge isn't perfect as far as aesthetics go (the boxes glitched around a lot as I merged them into the map's geometry), but it looks much cleaner than the previous version. Keep an eye out for it
Glad to hear you're revamping it. I think the tweaks will really help out the smoothness of the gameplay. As far as the spawns go, they were mostly on the upper ring. A good tip is to get out of Forge mode and stand right on top of the spawn point in the direction that it's facing. If you're facing in a way that won't allow you to start moving in that immediate direction, turn it. Good luck with that center level. I'll be on the lookout for your next version.
Well, V2 is pretty much ready for release. I'm loathe to release it before it's been adequately tested but the problem is, I've had very limited time to get playtesters together and have a good bash at it. I would also like to prettify some of the interlocking before final release but at the moment I would describe the interlocking as extensive but functional rather than attractive. Some key scenic differences between V1 and V2: - The floors of the outer ring are now upside down boxes instead of on their sides so they are now much smoother to run around on. - The sniper roosts are gone (The circle of boxes is now merged with the annoying crane to make a continuous upper ring). - Another level of walls and fences competely encloses the map up to Foundry's invisible ceiling so you can no longer get out of the playing area, even with crafty grenade jumps (Insane54, that one's for you ). - The complete closing off of the map means I can now safely add a grav-lift to allow easy access to the 'rooftops'. - The fence boxes that formed the 'rooftops' are now moved into a new position, and some crafty interlocking has created an actual sloped rooftop which can offer some cover. - Two whole lengths of wall have been removed and lowered, merged bridges have been used instead to create half-height cover (these bridges also allow a jump up onto the rooftops without the aid of the grav-lift; tricky, but possible). - The open single boxes are now in the corners opposite the ramps. They have been turned upside down and merged with Foundry's foor and set back into the corner to create a small room and also an easy jump into the outer ring. - Above these boxes there are interlocked and angled walls to create more half-height cover. - The central area is much more open to encourage accurate fire and team shooting, but is still very tight in the very centre. - Respawn points have been individually checked and repositioned, several times. I purposefully haven't mentioned weapon placements and spawn times, nor have I included screenshots, because this isn't yet a full release it's an invitation extended to anyone interested in playtesting the new map before it goes live to send me a message here or on XBL (OcR Gimptacular) so that I can see when would be the best time to set up a session. Cheers! -Gimp
Nice. I think this is the first post-Furious-Review update that's coming out. I hope you took the suggestions to heart. I really liked the feel of this map in V. 1. It was definitely worth the re-vamp. Can't wait to see the tested version.
I definitely did. It pointed out a lot of things I kind of knew were there already but was too lazy to change without being prodded to improve it, lol. I have fallen in love with V2, I have to admit. Forging sessions have been really long working on this version because I just ended up running around it and trying to find new jumps or ways to break it. I've probably spent a good two or three hours just running/jumping/shooting across this map on my own, testing lines of sight, angles of grenades and various routes to and from various points on the map. From that point of view it's absolutely rock solid. Outside of 1v1 tests, I've had some smallscale FFA games on a 1.5ish version and they rarely left the ground floor or outer ring so I'll be interested in hearing how my playing with the spawns and cover will effect the flow. Also, because you're all so nice, here's me posing like a rockstar on the new improved rooftop!