Hey Forgehub, This is my recreation of the ancient Athenian acropolis and the BTB map I'm making out of it. My process was to first recreate this sketchup file as precisely as possible. All the credit for my exact design apparently goes to Vasilis I. Also those Athenian dudes. This is my forged version. Forge Flythrough You can find this map in the files of my gamertag PSYGASM under the name "Acropolis (Aesthetic)". This is the exact recreation version. It's only good in forge because the lightbudget is extremely high on it. I plan to update it to be a real aesthetic map. It was a long, grueling task of taking all necessary measurements in the sketchup... and then creating the proper dimensions in forge by combining smaller objects. But it's been fun trying to make a BTB map out of the completed version. Updated Screenshots Here's a flythrough clip taken during a recent playtest. The heights of the slit windows of back red have been slightly changed from what you see in the video, it's now what you see in the screenshots. You can get on top of every structure except for the top of Red and the top of the mancannon structure off the side of the Parthenon (Lotsa pr0 jumps to be made on this map). Also here's a clip of the first 5 minutes of the first Shotty Snipes I ran on this, it was super fun You can find this map in my files as "The Akropolis" with a "k(appa)". Thanks for checking this out, I'll update with any changes. Thanks to my man INFINUT for hosting custom lobbies on the reg and letting me run this map Again, my gamertag is PSYGASM
This map was pretty fun to play on. My first and biggest criticism would be the aesthetic. The red roofs are nice and there are some accents, but it kind of comes off as generally flat and grey. Maybe at this stage you haven't focused on that yet, but I thought I'd mention it. Moving around the map was easy enough, but I felt very exposed a lot of the time, with little chance to escape. I also got sniped a lot because of the exposure, I think. I also think (as I think someone mentioned during testing) that there are too many weapon pads. Overall the map is unique and played well.
^To address that critique and propose a solution. I recently made a Greek-themed 2v2 map and I found that on top of the white and blue, metallic gold reallly stuck out and looks excellent as an accent color. If I were you I would change trim pieces to that color because it greatly helps immerse players into the atmosphere.
Play tested 3/25/16 on Max Extra's Forge Friday Pros: This map was a treat to play on. One could easily tell all the attention and planning that went into exemplifying the Greek architecture. I really enjoyed the aesthetic and your original approach to a BTB map. In my opinion, this map has profound potential. Cons: I believe this map needs to have more space for vehicles, or at least a more cohesive "road" for them to drive on. This is especially noticed when the warthogs tried to drive in the gravity volume. Though I know it's fun to clamber on top of the buildings and everywhere else, I think some of the places where players can access should be taken out or blocked. Buildings should also incorporate more cover and have more obvious ways of reaching different floors.
Hey Pygasm, this was fun to see for Max's Forge Friday. It goes without saying this is a great looking map, and instantly conveys that ancient Greek feel you are going for. Hell, it's a few steps beyond a feel but rather a recreation of a real place, props for that. Allow me to bullet point things to save some time since I'm trying to get back to as many people as possible. 1. Being this is an asymmetrical BTB style map, gameplay balance by way of sheer map design is trickier. I noticed you added a structure for red team to spawn in, at the edge of the cliff. It's much simpler, smaller and more open than the blue base. Blue base has more walled rooms and a basement. Not sure how to balance such things but just wanted to point it out. Probably best to just roll with it and create a new map with that in mind, rather than tear this one apart too much. 2. Blue team spawn should be moved closer to their base structure as they currently have a longer travel time to the power weapons, which should be used to measure fairness on any kind of map, especially asymmetrical ones. Also bring in the timed kill volume so there isn't so much open space down there. I recommend putting in some rocks or trees to mark out the map bounds as well. 3. I don't believe spawn volume are necessary, they don't work by themselves, they just "influence" individual respawn within them. Personally I think they're pointless. Maybe someone else would care to weigh in on the subject. 4. Invisible blockers on tallest building in the middle seems uneeded. 5. There's a single long building on the right from blue spawn that's angled a little different from the perimeter wall. I would rotate it slightly to make them parallel and clean up the flow between it and the surrounding structures. 6. Really important, I don't think this map needs vehicles. The Warthog and Mongoose are hard to drive because your routes are pretty narrow and don't create any kind of loop. If anything the ghost or mantis would be a much better fit. 7. I think I would use a regular grav lift as opposed to grav volume at red base. Or just have a jump up/ clambering spot instead. 8. General optimization and clean up is always a good idea. Periodically I'll do a clean up pass to see where I can replace 2 objects with 1 larger one or simplify things for better readability. You have some geometry that's phased, for lack of a better word, sloppily but it's not a huge deal since I didn't see any z-fighting. But anywhere you can get objects back to use of more detail is always a win in my book. Well that's pretty much it, I wanted to try be as thorough as I could because this is a really cool map. I always like seeing non Sci- Fi stuff in forge and especially historical architecture. If you have questions or need more clarification I'm on nearly every day so hit me up. Catch you soon dude!
I Really liked this map's look and feel. You nailed the theme and from the post it shows you put a lot of work it. That's a lot more than I can say for my maps. Some things I thought: too many weapon pads. They clutter the screen and distract from a very pleasant map. if the pads are their for people to find the weapons I would suggest a different approach and find ways to attract people to different locations map feels to large. I believe I mentioned this during testing. The map has great features but I feel it's too spread out. I would recommend pulling in the bases and making the streets more narrow. Maybe even consider making 3ish maps from the content in the themes and buildings of this one cameras need a bit of work but that's an easy fix, but needed to say it spawns need a bit of work. We touched on this in the playtest as well so you may want to revisit that. colors. I know it's a Greek theme but colors and accents would go a long way with this map and help tie in some of the previous suggestions I made. awesome map. Just needs a bit more work to pull it together. I love the theme and the effort that went in to this. I'd love to test a future version o. Forced Friday to get it moving in the right direction.
Thank you guys so much for the feedback, I greatly appreciate you taking your time to help me out. I think I have already made some improvements based on your input: breaking up sightlines through the length of the Parthenon, removed weapon pads (yeah i put too many to just be totally overt about weapon location, but like you said Max I'll just have to find a less intrusive way) raising da roof of the middlemost building so you can no longer get on top, increasing the size of the flaming piggy altar so it is more of a playspace and takes up more ground area. I am thinking of ways to optimize the pathing for both vehicles and infantry (maybe I'll end up not having vehicles Lazy), also thinking of a redesign of the whole red base. Once I get a new version that I feel is structurally better, I will definitely address aesthetics in deeper detail with your guys' suggestions in mind ( I like the gold+blue+white color idea). Since obj. limit is an issue I'll just have to make an Objective version and Slayer version of the map for spawning concerns. I'll also try removing the Spawn areas to see if it even makes a difference. I won't have another version ready for Forge Friday this week, but hopefully by next week I will. I am also workting on a cathedral map while I let some ideas bake for the Akropolis, so I'll have two maps to test next time I'm ready. Thanks again guys