Sandbox Blood Driven

The forging here is perfect and the structures built into the sides of the crypt give it a unique feel so good job on the aesthetics. My only problem with this map is the lack of paths from one place on high ground to another. Despite what it feels like when forging, the crypt is quite large and you have to be careful not to leave people vulnerable as they move from one place to another. Anything that requires a player to jump or switch direction entirely can slow down game play because all this takes time. I suggest placing gravlifts to allow players to reach or assault the high ground quickly, and placing mancannons on some of the high structures to provide a quick move across the map. The primary threat to players in the open areas on the floor of the crypt is not so much other players on the ground with those high up, so placing some cover above players on the ground would be nice. Overall good map.

It helps people if you add an overview screenshot and a weapons list to get an idea of the general layout.

 

Enjoyment:

From the second the map loads to the post game lobby it is quite obvious the multiple, varied flaws this map has. Whether it be dry gameplay, getting spawn camped, or having your head ripped in half by the overpowered sniper rifle. One weapon that can almost always create interesting and satisfying gameplay experiences on any given map is the sniper rifle. In order to balance such a weapon it needs to be placed correctly. Typically this involves placing it away from it's dominate position. However, the forger for Blood Driven has made the mistake of placing both sniper rifles in opposite corners, at the highest possible points in on the entire map. The result of this is that the player can completely control the entire map. While the sniper laughs as they pick poor defenseless enemies off, the rest of the players are suffering and on the verge of rage quit.

To worsen things, The map brings nothing unique to the table and houses very dry, bland gameplay. Matches tend to play out with everybody trying to Assault Rifle/Melee combo each other, only to be dominated by the select few carrying bruteshots and rockets, or that pesky sniper. Also, equipment is almost non-existent on Blood Driven. A gravity lift has been placed, but provides few possible uses. The bubble shields placed rarely get deployed in gameplay since the area they are placed in is so underused. A regeneration or power drain can go a long way in improving gameplay.

2/10


Balance:

In all honesty there weren't any good representations of proper balance in Blood Driven. To start out with, placing a rocket launcher in a small tunnel leads to dreadful risk vs reward, and players getting smeared across the walls as the desperately try to jump over the rocket. Since there are not any lines of sight conflicting the rocket launcher tunnel, players can grab the rockets with ease. Opening up the tunnel to outside fire and easy grenading could create a risk factor for grabbing the rocket launcher. In addition the wall slit placed inside the rocket tunnel only makes players even more safe when trying to grab the rockets.

Another weak point for Blood Driven is the spawn placement. Spawn points have been placed in clusters, in the deep corners of the map with not nearly enough spawns in other places. What this results in is very predictable spawning. A smart enemy can and will take advantage of this fact and by easily spawn camping their opposition. Furthermore the sniper has been placed in it's prime position and leads to a lone sniper annihilating all areas of the map. The location they have been placed in makes them unbelievably powerful. Power weapons need to be placed in a position which makes them powerful, but where players have a good chance of taking them out. Anything else will lead to a single good player dominating the opposition.

Blood Driven also did not have a fluid flow at all. Jumbled up geometry, dead ends, and improper weapon placement result in very confused and hectic gameplay. The first thing messing up the flow is the winding ramps leading up to the sniper spawn. By forcing the player to do a 180 degree turn constantly, they will now have to take their eyes off the action just to walk up some ramps. An equally frustrating issue is that both of the sniper rifles and the rockets are placed at dead ends. Players will have to take themselves away from the action to grab these weapons. To top it off, many grenades have been placed in corners. Much like the previous issue about dead ends, players have to take themselves out of the combat just to nab some grenades. In order for a map to flow correctly it is imperative that players can stay fully immersed one-hundred percent of the time, and don't have to take themselves out of the action to grab something as trivial as grenades. Furthermore it breaks the flow of combat as you have to turn around before you can continue playing.

2/10


Durability:

Blood Driven, a map plagued by poor map design decisions, repetitive gameplay, and a chaotic flow, has one shining ball of light. This map is one-hundred percent impossible to break. While this may be due to the fact that this map uses every square inch of the crypt and nothing else, an unbreakable map is unbreakable none the less. Unfortunately the spawns were very poorly thought out and the system can be broken very easily. They do not live up to intense combat well. They are laid down, clustered up, in all four corners of the map. The result of this improper spawn point placement is that varying upon what is happening around the map, players may repeatedly spawn in one area too many times. Intelligent players can and will play this to their advantage by spawn camping their enemies repeatedly. While I love the fact that the whole crypt is used to make a truly unbreakable map, it needs to be more consistent throughout to receive a higher score.

4/10


Aesthetics:

Blood Driven is nothing out of the ordinary when it comes to aesthetics. The only bright spot is the color coding of all four corners designating which areas belong to red, and which areas belong to blue. The fascinating presentation of the needler also deserves a mention. If it were a bit more noticeable it would be great. Unexplainably, this map still has 400$ of the budget left to build some more visual flair but failed to pull all stops and deliver a better product. There is plenty of room to get creative above those two columns in the middle of the map. Instead they have been left alone. The consequences of this are that the map as a whole looks very rushed. Like not very much effort was put into it.

Disappointingly, the blocks of the sniper tower have not been merged at all into the side of the crypt. As result there is a large gaping gap asking for grenades to slip down. In some places along the gap it is large enough for a player to get caught in between. Two hours of geomerging would solve this major gameplay issue. Furthermore, small visual details like this gap can really detract from a map aesthetically. It give players the impression that the creator did not put forth much effort into creating the best product possible.

As a good rule of thumb, NEVER do something if it can be done with better gameplay at the expense of aesthetics. In other words. Always put gameplay before visual flair. After a maps gameplay has been perfected, then it is okay to try and improve aesthetics. So long as you don't sacrifice good gameplay to do so. Blood Driven has broken that rule via the two bridges above the brute shots. The result of using half walls is that there is a significant bump when a player walks on them.

3/10


Originality:

Blood Driven has not broken any barriers with its geometry, gameplay mechanics, and item placement. However, inverted symmetrical layouts are not nearly as common as other layouts, and it is nice to see a map that uses it. Most maps prefer a mirrored symmetrical or asymmetrical layout. Furthermore while this map tried to be original by incorporating gravity lifts into gameplay, it didn't work out at all.

In addition this weapon set is fairly standard among competitive maps housing two snipers, a rocket launcher, and brute shots. Almost all competitive maps have two snipers and rockets. This map is no different. In addition, it would have been nice to see more unique structures. The structures located in Blood Driven look as though they have been winged with no initial plan. With so many intricate objects one would expect something a little more special. Something that would really upped the wow factor of this map.

4/10


Overall Rating: 3.0

 

yes yes good forging and everything, but it just seems like another slayer map. its a good map layout but its just an average good map. nothing really special.

 

I actually agree. Im spending my day downloading and playing maps. I hated this one D:

im sure he could be a good forger just this map...ick!