This is just a large, square, elevated, sniper map with 4 gravity lift/golf ball cannons. The cannons are functional and will kill anyone on the receiving end of the golf balls. There's one banshee on the ground in the middle with limited access to it. There are a lot of great sniper lookouts but also plenty of opportunity to sneak up on people. I totally ran out of cash on this one but I'm always taking stuff out and editing things. Let me know what you think
Unofficial Review! I've had a look through your map and I think that there are areas that you did well in, however there is a lot of room for improvement. Enjoyment Straight and true, this map is pretty fun. Playing on this map with other people creates loads of light-hearted “Holy ****, wtf?” moments, and everyone loves those! The only problem is that the sniper theme, although fun at first, has low replayability. That also goes for the golf ball launcher (which by the way has an extremely low chance of ever succeeding). Although the golf balls weren’t exactly feasible, they were loads of fun to watch as they flew across the level and shot up, like, 20 feet into the air. I felt that the biggest appeal of Sniper Volley is that it’s a mess-around map. It’s a bit of gimmicky fun, but overall I can’t truly look at it in the same way that I look at the built in game maps. It’s fun, but I think a lot of points are lost from its lack of replayability. Enjoyment Rating: 6/10 Balance In terms of elevation (which is key when it comes to sniper maps) I think that you have done well. The only slight variations in level are exactly that; slight. There is a good distance between each piece of cover, and again a good distance between weapons, respawns and point of interest (such as the golf ball launchers). The respawn areas give roughly a 50% chance of appearing right in front of a sniper rifle, which is actually quite disappointing. Since the map is called, “Sniper Volley” you might as well put regular weapons down and play with the Team Snipers gametype. Also some of the weapons weren’t particularly apt. To be running around wielding a shotgun with 7 snipers staring at your head through telescopic eyes is a very bad thing. People are going to veer towards the invisibility more so than anything, and anyone with that has pretty much won the game. This is a huge imbalance, and can completely ruin a game. Weapon placement is good though when it comes down to it, as sniper rifles are placed regularly throughout the level (despite some area being quite tricky to traverse). Spawn points are a little scarce and easily predictable (not to mention out in the open). The biggest issue with balance that I have is that if anyone obtains the jetpack ability, (or who spawns with it) they can just hover on down to the center of the map and steal a banshee. Why is that there? It isn’t fun when a player’s sense of finesse is punched the face by its brutish older brother, ‘flying, shooting purple thing”. Spawn killing is sure to follow and the game just becomes, “Grab the banshee quick or pray its shot down soon.” The respawn times for the weapons are all the same. You need to change the default of 30 seconds to 100+ for power weapons such as sniper rifles or rocket launchers of you want the game to be a bit more balanced. Balance Rating: 3/10 Durability My first problem concerning escapability is how, as I said earlier, someone can just jetpack down and fly away. Why not just chill out on the beach if when you get bored of the main area? Not good. To the credit of the map, however, it is kind of difficult to get to the jetpack which is required to escape. Durability Rating: 2/10 Aesthetics When it comes to merging, in some areas you’ve set the height of the merged objects at exactly the same value. This makes the flashing, “I can’t decide which piece to show you” effect which looks a little ugly and glitchy. Some pieces are placed pretty sloppily, however as a whole the map looks alright, but not fantastic. It is easy to identify where you are located based on the scenery, and the map’s lack of symmetry adds to it in that way. I think Sniper Volley would benefit greatly from two easily distinguishable areas; two distinguishable buildings instead of the slight monotony of “Room, Triples”. This would add much to the look and playability of the map. Some lights and/or FX would also work well, for identifying where one is and possibly to make it more difficult to see other players. An easy way to make a level look like you’ve put a little more effort into it is to change some of the objects’ colors via their main menu. That can create some nice visual touches. Aesthetics Rating: 3/10 Originality I can’t say that I’ve never seen a sniper map before. Your design doesn’t really do anything different within that category with the exception of the golf-ball-launcher (which is admittedly pretty well done and quite a bit of fun) however, it doesn’t really add much to the map. Originality Rating: 2/10 Average Score: 16/50 (3.2/10) Final Score: 3.5/10 Additional Pointers The man cannons can cause a perpetual motion thing going on for anyone trapped inside them. As soon as someone thinks, “This’ll be a quick way to get to the other side!” they’re stuck in limbo until someone puts a bullet in them. Maybe you could cover those things up so that it’s a little harder for someone to get in there. There are very few initial spawn points and those which are there do not support teams. Try to add more spawn and initial spawn points, preferably labeling them “Team Only” or “FFA Only” in the ‘Slayer’ Forge gametype. Also, to create the team effect you should bunch similarly colored initial spawns together so that people start off next to their allies. In regard to the banshee, you’ve created a huge problem by putting a hard kill zone just on the edge of the map. How can someone with a banshee get out? It isn’t even clear is the kill zone was there to discourage banshee users (if that’s the case, why not just remove the banshee and put a soft kill zone across the ground?) because there isn’t one symmetrically located on the other side! Very confusing. The flow of the map was pretty bad. It’s hard to climb to higher vantage points and you have to go through the risk of exposing yourself to get from one place to another. Why bother moving at all as long as you have a bit of cover and a sniper rifle? And while we’re here I have to point out how you’ve only used power weapons and DMRs. Come on. You can’t say that that makes a lasting, fun map. If you plan on using a balanced set of weapons, have a decent amount of DMRs, Magnums and Assault Rifles as basic weaponry and throw in some other weapons where you deem necessary. The randomly placed armor abilities are a little odd and do little to add to the gameplay. Of course, to make good use of them, the player has to create or download a whole new gametype in order to have no armor abilities to begin with. Going back to what I said earlier, I would suggest adding normal weapons so that the map is playable as both a sniper level and a normal one. I’m sorry if I’m being too harsh, but this is the truth. I understand that this is your first map, but it just doesn’t stand up to all the other maps out there. Don’t get discouraged though. I can’t say for sure if I’m completely right, as I’m not a member of the official review hub. I mean no ill-will and I only want to help you improve. Remember: a diligent forger is a successful forger! Keep at it.
thanks dude don't apologize, you gave an honest critique and I really appreciate that. I totally understand what you're saying too and most of it is stuff that I didn't even think about, like changing the respawn times of the power weapons(as soon as I read that I was smacking myself in the head for not thinking to do that) and not only that but just about everything else you mentioned was spot on. Also, admittedly, this entire map was made because I had the idea for the golfball cannons, so you're right when you say that it's kind of gimmicky, it's basically one big gimmick. I really didn't have any other ideas to throw in so the whole thing relies solely on those cannons, which are really just fun to play with. But I'm not going to defend my reasoning behind the placement of objects and what not because honestly, I was just flying around and placing things randomly(lame, i know, it's my first map, chill out). It's random because it that's how I did it(now I know better). Anyway I appreciate the critique, I took a lot away from it. By the way you ended your reply I get the feeling that some users here are a little defensive toward critiques, and reviewers have to be careful what they say sometimes. I hope this is not true because critiques like yours are constructive and help immensely, especially to new users. Hell, I'm just glad someone actually tried my map out! Anyway, thanks again. I'm going to keep forging on different maps but i'm still not convinced that golf ball cannons are impossible, no sir, with a little more work and experimentation, the world will one day cower before the awesome power of the gravball cannon. This I promise.