Grotto

Well despite what Bows thinks, I like this map a lot. I love the windows on the outside and of course the cave atrium. The only part I don't like is the receiver platforms. I just don't like that it's the only way up there. But I love the layout and the CPU spawn. Weapons are solid. One of my favorites in the tourney.

 

I had hoped this map would appear later on in the the tourney.
But nonetheless I love it.

It's very original in concept and layout.
Plus it looks pretty cool.

 

This looks incredible. My only complaint is the teleporter exit, it just looks ill placed. Other than that this map seems to have it all. Well done Bows/Shadow.

 

I can see why Bows advocated for Smackdown now. But regardless, I don't have any raging criticism on this map. It is very nicely forged and I like the Tri-atrium idea on a symmetrical map.

If there's anything I don't like, it's the teleporter system. I'm not fond of the receiver nodes being above the lift-landing (unless you implemented that as a counter to someone using the lift). There are more than enough entrances to that area (2 doors, 2 nodes, the lift).

Assuming you haven't tested it yet, I would simply turn the 2 sender nodes into a 2-way node set. It would give players a way to the other side without being exposed in the middle atrium.

I figured I would leave feedback here, since it wasn't released publicly.

Overall, it looks like a nice, fast-paced map if the spawning holds up.

 

The design is simple and yet so elegant and fresh. I love movement and acrobatics during play and this supports some tasteful death pits in the central atrium to jump over. After round 2, I'm going to be really excited to start practicing on this map. Two thumbs up guys!

 

Definitely prefer this map over Updraft. It's a very safe layout and reminds me of Anchor 9; it has two intricate multi-level bases/rooms and a very narrow corridor down the middle. The teles are a little funky, like others had stated, but it is different which is a good thing.

I don't like the little death pit behind the man cannon, seems unnecessary. Also, the red and blue sides are much safer than the middle of the map, which I imagine would slow gameplay down a little since the middle room has very little dance floor and splits the map in two.

And finally, what's with the magnums on a default timer and spare clips? 2 magnums both at 30 seconds and 2 spare clips is total overkill. It kills the rest of the sandbox in my opinion.

 

If there's anything I don't like, it's the fact that you essentially never have any incentive to leave the snipe platform. And other things. Lots of them.

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Edited by merge:

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Who cares? That's just one more exploit in the tournament. People will have to adapt. Right, stevo?

 

That was not intentional, I have updated all the links with a fixed version.

 

Dodged a bullet there...

 

"I'm almost done the map!" (gets overly excited) "just gotta add these magnums and save the map..." oops

 

Interesting. This map reminds me of DM12 from Quake, with the jumppad to custom. I saw it somewhere in the favorite map thread...

I think the theme here is iffy. From the video and pictures, the map seems thematically disjointed between the central rock atrium and the outer areas...

 

Two things:

1. Raise the middle platform to be the highest position on the map. Little to no incentive to move from spawns.

2. Connect the two platforms on each side with a catwalk. At this point, both entrances are from the same direction.

 

I actually wasn't fond of the teleporters myself, but you can try taking them out; the map essentially dies. I agree that there is, at the very least, the makings of an issue there because very few teleporters work well as anything but a bandage, but there really is no alternative without massively redesigning the map.

1) Originally, thats the way the map was designed. It worked very poorly, and an intelligent player could exploit that position to control every entrance to the middle atrium as well as CP, which was shitty. Lowering it was the best solution, even if it did have an odd side-effect on movement (more outward than inward).

2) You can make that jump with tremendous ease, and its currently split because of the lift/CS, to add a small bit of danger to it. If two people go at the same time, both die. Also, as far as I have experienced (which is admittedly less than the other staff), both entrance/exits being in the same direction isn't much of an issue, because it gives you the option to get into the middle from top OR bottom as well as the option of going up (GL, stickies, etc) or down (sniper, needler...).

Its possible that there is some way to get the best of both, obviously, but I don't believe it could be realistically accomplished without major overhauls to the map proper, especially within the current budget.


Now, I'm not Shad0w and I've only played this map six or so times, so this is just my uninformed opinion. If I'm horribly wrong, just call me a 'tard and we can both forget about it.

 

Was the jump from center nades to the balconies intentional?

I can see that being a pretty good flanking method.

I discovered some other nice tactical jumps that I will not share, but if anyone wants to do a practice run on it I would be glad to play them on it.

 

get on right now

 

Controlling every entrance from the center is more skillful than holding down a platform, and seeing both connections to it from one direction.

You misunderstand. I'm talking about the platforms on each side atrium. There is one platform in each side atrium that only has two connections, both being in the same direction. Very abusable.