I'll be making sure I play some more on this one. It was amazing. Um, wow. Just wow. Where do I begin? I honestly don't know where to start... Yesterday, I played a few games of FFA and I was thoroughly impressed by both gameplay and aesthetics. IMO, its Gameplay>Aesthetics on Heat Sink; as good as the aesthetics are, the gameplay is better. The aesthetics are so unique, so one of a kind, it just... um, wow. To sum up the map in one word, well um, Cosmic. Sorry but this map is breathtaking; it leaves me at a loss for words. So much so that it is making me babble on about it. On some maps the objects blend together and you forget you're on Foundry and that you're walking on a double box or a fence box and on some others it’s so blatantly obvious what every single object is and very vague of what purpose it serves. But in this it’s a mix between the two. Some objects are at the perfect height on one level but then there's the bottom of that object jutting out on another level. Like with the sink hole spot, most forgers would do what they could to mask the lower level of it, but you made it almost the focus point of the ground floor. Bold work. Also a lot of the objects take on split personalities and serve multiple purposes. As they retain their appearance yet serve as an innovative structural item. The map, to me, is the Terminator. That's right; Heat Sink is the Terminator of Forge maps. The reason behind me saying so is in Arnie (Heat Sink) comes across as such a work of art and fools you into believing he's a real person (real map) but then after further investigation and some gunfire it's revealed that its indeed just an amazing Robot (Foundry map). The only thing is the small bump from the fence box to the bridge on the top level but that is such trivial information that it didn't even need to be mentioned. The ground floor, oh the ground floor is so amazing. Although the spawning in there isn’t perfect. Quite a few times I found either myself or the others in the party spawing near each other when on the ground floor. When you get down there, the map takes on an entirely new theme and feel. As if you're in the cargo hold of a ship or plane. It has such a perfect basement feel to it that I just loved. The shotgun, in FFA was quite dominant. But so fitting. It was overpowered, but not so overpowered that it ruins gameplay and has an epitaph effect where it dominates no matter where. It has its strong spots and it has its weak points. It was dominatingly balanced, I highly doubt that'd be proper grammar but you understand what I'm saying. I'd say this is probably one of the best, if not the best use of the symmetrical and asymmetric options. The subtle differences make a big difference. And in asymmetric games it really complements the sink hole and has such a cozy yet open feel. Weapons were very fitting, the two maulers were a great addition to combat the shotgun. The crouching needed for symmetric games was brilliant, it really livens up the gameplay in that area. The jumping possibilities, the escape routes were an amazing addition to the flow of gameplay. The weapons suited perfectly, very balanced and had their advantages in certain areas. The contrast in layout using the symmetry options. The top notch forging and layout. The sink hole and set up of man cannons. All of the above coupled with the fact that this is cosmic, are what make me want to play this over and over again. Great job on another amazing map Rick.
uuuuuh cosmic i have seen all your maps and the only forging detail that exceeds this is the "on" switch in pallet parade. it just inclines me to ask... are you seriously human? cuz when you said "over the last couple of months" just makes my jaw drop so much that I had to close it just cuz i almost hyperextended it. the most i think ive ever heard taking a map is buddhacrane's corrutpion which was one month, and frankly not as much testing as this definetly had. so ya seriously... do you have human patience?!?
Thanks, guys. @Hydro: Yes. I have human patience. The work on this map wasn't really densely packed over the time I was building it. Since there were a lot of initial ideas I couldn't incorporate (you'll see some of those in an upcoming release), I had to stew on how to make everything work. Kentucky Tango and Pallet Parade took much more time than this map in the forge. @linubidix: Thanks so much for the rave review. I don't think I even like it that much, lol. But I'm glad you appreciated the work I put in. Pred&DtL: Just what are these fingerprints you speak of?
Well, the first thing that comes to mind is your use of objects (duh!). A lot of new forgers are afraid of using walls as floors or keep their maps relatively single leveled with a few ramps here or there. Almost all of your maps have layered, complex levels to them, and they always seem to have some amazing aesthetics to them. Furious may have started the teleporter node craze, but you're the one that has been able to incorporate it into several of your maps. Like I said before, you have a great, unique forging style unlike anyone else...which is probably why you're so damn popular here!
This looks like an awesome map. Well done! I especially like the sink hole. Very original +rep good job
Holy. Crapping. Crap. This is one of the best maps I've ever seen. I almost shat myself just from looking at those pictures. Very nice floor geometry. It looks pretty large! I will download and play immediately. Thanks for sharing this with us!
this is a good idea, really like the changing map concept, defenitly a DL 4.75/5 ( i detail my ratings)