I've finally gotten far enough along on a map to put up a WIP thread. The map is playable, but I haven't had a chance to run any playtests yet. It's setup to hold 2v2, but 1v1 is recommended. I'm looking for feedback on pretty much anything. I'm curious to see how the new areas of the map will impact gameplay. I'm also really uncertain about the weapon set and weapon layout. Currently have the following: Sniper - 60 seconds (0 Spare Clips) Damage Boost - 90 seconds Plasma Caster - 120 seconds (1 Spare Clip) SMG - 60 seconds (0 Spare Clips) H2 BR - 30 seconds (1 Spare Clip) Splinter Grenade X2 Frag Grenade X2 - 30 seconds Note: If the map says Invalid File or Retrieving Data ignore it. The map will load.
I'm excited to play it. Glad you remade it. However you went super overboard on the aesthetics and it's very visually noisy. I'm your video, I could hardly tell what was a wall, a floor or backdrop and I know the map, so I can't imagine someone who doesn't know it trying to play it. Personally, I think the aesthetic style looked much better and cleaner in h2a.
The chunky geometry returns! It looks like everything I loved about the original is still intact with this version. It will be interesting to see how differently players move around the map when not in combat as opposed to when they are engaging an opponent. When not in combat, players will surely use movement combos a lot and will move around quite differently than they did in the original version. However, when using their weapon, they will move and engage in much the same way they did in H2A. This should create an interesting dichotomy, especially given the pace of play on the map. Glad to see the map visually living up to its namesake this time around. Blaze's concerns about readability appear to be valid, though the vast majority of the map does not concern me in that regard. A few of the darker areas with black walls and black floors could be problematic, though. I'm sure that won't be a problem in the future as you continue to work on the map. this was one of my absolute favorite maps to come out of H2A, so I can't wait to play it in this game.
Thanks for the feedback. That's an issue I hadn't really noticed myself, so I'm glad you guys mentioned it. Are there any areas in particular that you found troublesome?
Love the look! I get a strong Escher vibe from it. Not sure if Blaze's comments on visual noise will be an issue once you have feet planted on the ground instead of floating perspectives....it could go either way for me. I guess i'll have to snag it and see for myself...while playing some Daft Punk Derezzed haha
Not trying to speak for Blaze or Duck, but I think it has to do with the high contrast of colors and the harsh bright lights. It's almost as if all of the aesthetic elements are meant to be high priority on the eyes, when it would be much easier on the eyes if only one of those elements (one color or a particular light) is the focus and the rest are complimentary to it. Hope that makes sense.
Yes. That makes perfect sense. My original plan was to have black be the base color, grey as a secondary color, and the orange being kind of a tertiary color, but also being the one that really stands out. Once I got the skybox to where I wanted it and started building, I realized that the black was simply too dark in many areas. I've been trying to alleviate that issue through the use of numerous lights, and using the grey and orange more than I had originally planned to. I'm still working on the balance, and have changed some areas many, many times already. I'll continue making adjustments. It's possible that I may even need to revisit my skybox settings, but I'm hoping it doesn't have to come to that since the current settings are what really make the orange 'pop'. I'd still like to know if anyone has specific areas that are problematic. Also, as mentioned in the first post, weapon related feedback would be awesome after people get a few games on it.
APK explained it pretty well. And of course I haven't played on it, so I could very easily be wrong but it was noticeable in the video. It might be as easy as adding a filter or changing the skybox. But I would personally just try to simplify it a tiny bit and maybe make the black a little lighter like 50% grey or somethings so it stands out from the background a bit more. For weapons, I've been having fun testing my maps with 2 rails or binary rifle with low ammo and fast respawns. kind of reminds me of quakes pickup style when doing this. Maybe try something weird like that.
I'm less concerned about visual noise and more so with contrast and the role it plays in depth perception and the ability for players to read a space's boundaries. This is only a problem where black floors intersect black walls. You can see two examples below. These are simple problems and it sounds like you have simple fixes in mind for them already. I can't wait to play this and give some gameplay feedback. 1v1 me, bro?
I had an idea regarding aesthetics for this map, just a little brainstorm here. First off, maybe you could fix some of the contrast issues Blaze/Duck mentioned by using breakout blocks; it's a similar-ish theme to tron and could provide an easily identifiable boundary through the different texture. Plus the footsteps look cool. I understand if you don't wanna do this, its kinda out there and probably won't make much sense in practice. Second, I see you have the orange from the game/movie throughout the map. I feel like it would be cool if you could incorporate the light-blue color that can also be found in the game/movie, ya know, because its good guy vs bad guy. Maybe orange on one side and light blue on the other. (There seems to be a separate color in a few thin lights, but not to the same extent as the orange.) Again, this is my late night post-homework while sick brainstorming session that might prove to be nonsense. feedbackplsty
I considered using Breakout pieces before beginning the map. After some experimentation with different aesthetics, I just preferred the way the current color scheme looked. I actually had originally used different colors for different parts of the map. That was my plan all along. Unfortunately, I quickly realized that the lighter color just didn't look very good so I scrapped it and made it orange like the rest of the map. I may play around with this a little bit more and see if I can find something I like.