Layout

Black_Wolf

<div class="IPBDescription">Gameplay issues?</div>Im going to try to put my humble mapping skills into a NS map, and i did a general layout (no vents or the like yet, just floorplan) and i was wondering if anyone can see any gameplay issues before i begin building over the top . . .

-EDIT- oh yeah, the marine spawn in the red area in the middle, alien hives are the three infested rooms roun the outside

InZaneFleaArmy

ugh....Just a few things... Way too semetrical(Or whatever).

ChromeAngel

The long straight corridors either side of the lower hive look like they will put the marines at an advantage when they are attacking the less shooty aliens.  Put some corners or doors in those hallways to prevent the marines nuking that hive room from way off.

HanzGruber

This map needs an enema....wait...what was I thinking of a second ago....oh yeah....

from what I can see, you seem to have a lot of large areas or corridors that look into other large areas or corridors...I'd be interested to see if you don't in fact break the all-time highest r_speed... highest I've seen is 2340.... with the way these rooms/corridors are connected you could well beat that...

little hint on how to fix is to add the occassional "detour"

by that I mean something like this:

----------+     +----------
-------+  |     |  +-------
      |  +-----+  |
      +-----------+
(pardon my poor ascii art)

the other thing to remember is to make those corridors in a few chunks...not just one big long brush but a few smaller ones - that way the engine doesn't see so much at one time..

HanzGruber

bah...the ascii didn't work....I'll attach a pic..

chalupamonk

Actually, that ASCII art was pretty good.  That's a good idea, too, and I'll use it if I ever start mapping.

nrby

Max patches waiting to happen :x

UnCritical

Could also do with being condensed a bit, the commander will see more empty areas than actual rooms at the moment.

Remember, you can also work vertically for breaking up long corridors.

ChromeAngel

UnCritical, maps should no-longer be compressed, they need to be spread out like this to keep the commander's r_speeds reasonable.

UnCritical

Ahh yeah, didnt think of that, good point.

Greedo

One problem here is that the marines will have to go back practically all the way to their starting location in order to get onto the next branch way towards the hive.  I think this might be a bit of a problem.

realityisdead

<!--QuoteBegin--Greedo386+Mar. 13 2002,15:18--></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td><b>Quote</b> (Greedo386 @ Mar. 13 2002,15:18)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"><!--QuoteEBegin-->One problem here is that the marines will have to go back practically all the way to their starting location in order to get onto the next branch way towards the hive.  I think this might be a bit of a problem.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Right, I ran into this problem in my latest layout too.

The marines should have to fall back about half way to the marine start before being able to progress onto the next hive route. Too close to the hives and it will be too easy for the marines... to close to the marine start, and it will be too hard for the marines.

Black_Wolf

hmmm, i have a lot of wriggles in the corridors . . . or so i thought (one down the bottome was just a lack of imagination at the time) I can always modify stuff to reduce r_speeds, i can connect the bottom hive more, or move it off to the side to stop symmetry (people here dont seem to like it) and allow more easier progression between one hive to another.

Black_Wolf

oh yeah, and about max_patches and all that (and symmetry too really) this is before i get to work destroying various sections of the map, some of these rooms/hallways wont even exist in the map . . .

Shuvit_Viper

i also dont see any routes between the two upper hives and the lower. There are way to less alien-only vents..

Black_Wolf

<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td><b>Quote</b> </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"><!--QuoteEBegin-->There are way to less alien-only vents.. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->

sorry, i dont understand what you are trying to say . . .

HanzGruber

Black wolf,

come on, Shuvit speak english very best! Sound like yoda he does. <!--emo&:D--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':D'><!--endemo-->

erm, he was saying that there aren't enough alien-only tunnels/vent/corridors....at least thats what my sandscript translation makes of "There are way to less alien-only vents"...

Shuvit_Viper

Beer leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.

doh

is my english that bad?

Black_Wolf

<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td><b>Quote</b> </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"><!--QuoteEBegin-->and i did a general layout (no vents or the like yet, just floorplan) <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->

I did say i hadnt put alien-only vents and #### in :/

HanzGruber

hmm.,....I'm interested to see what the #### looks like....

Black_Wolf

hehe, sorry, forgot about filter, i personally dont see whats wrong with a swear word here and there, but i respect the board's operator's opinions.