Ns_tofase layout
Jacius
Join Date: 2002-01-25 Member: 43Members
Join Date: 2002-01-25 Member: 43Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Feedback, suggestions?</div>[EDIT:
Most up-to-date layout of tofase, the highlighted parts are what I have mapped into WC.
<img src="http://www.thelag.net/cgi-bin/hosting/web_pages/Jacius/NS/ns_tofase/tofase.gif" border="0">
And now for something completely different: my original post...]
Alright, I sat down for a couple hours and after some inspirational searching and some MSPAINT fun, I've come up with [a layout which has since been blasted. See above for latest.]
The key should explain most of it, but I've got a few notes to add:
-M.S. stands for Marine Spawn, Res. stands for Resource Node
-The lines are, as you may have guessed, hallways/passages between rooms
-The gray hallways [the key says 'Shut'] are technically there, but are meant to look like they are there to make more sense for a realistic layout. They will be closed off with non-working doors (marked with sparks or something to be clear they arent working) or collapsed roofs/walls, or some other means.
-The Purple hallways are 'random' hallways: they are randomly open or closed off [broken doors, collapsed roofs, etc] each game. For the ones marked 'A,' one of them is open and one of them is closed, which is which is random for each game.
-'Can Weld Open' means you can use a welder to open the passage, 'Can Weld Shut' means you can use a welder to close it off.
-On the center-left room [with the res. node and the gray floor and the curved arrow], the blue means there is a window in that wall, the grey means it is higher than the white, and the arrow shows that you can jump down from higher to lower. There will likely be a ladder to get back up too. The high ground sticking out into the part is some sort of catwalk.
<b>[edit]</b>-Yes, there are a lot of extra rooms. Do you think its better to have too many rooms or too much hallway?<b>[/edit]</b>
If you could take the time to look over it, and give me some feedback/suggestions on it to make it better, I'd really appreciate it <!--emo&:)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'><!--endemo-->
Thanks
-Jacius
[PS. If you're curious, its pronounced "two-face," and is called such because the layout was originally based on some features of my face. I've since twisted and contorted it because I don't think my face would have very good gameplay! <!--emo&;)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=';)'><!--endemo-->]
<!--EDIT|Jacius|June 19 2002,21:05-->
Most up-to-date layout of tofase, the highlighted parts are what I have mapped into WC.
<img src="http://www.thelag.net/cgi-bin/hosting/web_pages/Jacius/NS/ns_tofase/tofase.gif" border="0">
And now for something completely different: my original post...]
Alright, I sat down for a couple hours and after some inspirational searching and some MSPAINT fun, I've come up with [a layout which has since been blasted. See above for latest.]
The key should explain most of it, but I've got a few notes to add:
-M.S. stands for Marine Spawn, Res. stands for Resource Node
-The lines are, as you may have guessed, hallways/passages between rooms
-The gray hallways [the key says 'Shut'] are technically there, but are meant to look like they are there to make more sense for a realistic layout. They will be closed off with non-working doors (marked with sparks or something to be clear they arent working) or collapsed roofs/walls, or some other means.
-The Purple hallways are 'random' hallways: they are randomly open or closed off [broken doors, collapsed roofs, etc] each game. For the ones marked 'A,' one of them is open and one of them is closed, which is which is random for each game.
-'Can Weld Open' means you can use a welder to open the passage, 'Can Weld Shut' means you can use a welder to close it off.
-On the center-left room [with the res. node and the gray floor and the curved arrow], the blue means there is a window in that wall, the grey means it is higher than the white, and the arrow shows that you can jump down from higher to lower. There will likely be a ladder to get back up too. The high ground sticking out into the part is some sort of catwalk.
<b>[edit]</b>-Yes, there are a lot of extra rooms. Do you think its better to have too many rooms or too much hallway?<b>[/edit]</b>
If you could take the time to look over it, and give me some feedback/suggestions on it to make it better, I'd really appreciate it <!--emo&:)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'><!--endemo-->
Thanks
-Jacius
[PS. If you're curious, its pronounced "two-face," and is called such because the layout was originally based on some features of my face. I've since twisted and contorted it because I don't think my face would have very good gameplay! <!--emo&;)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=';)'><!--endemo-->]
<!--EDIT|Jacius|June 19 2002,21:05-->
Comments
i'd suggest a ew more resource nodes, maybe 2 or 3. also some of the rooms seem like they don't need to be there, maily the top left room (the one that's liek the top - of a = ) and the bottem left square of that group of 4 squares in the bottem right.
other than that, i like how you got distance between the marine spawn and the other hives, that's a really nice thing to have :) I hope the rooms themselves aren't just all square though when you get to making it :)
<!--EDIT|DOOManiac|June 14 2002,13:27-->
I'd suggest cutting a few rooms out, tightening it up, and making it a bit simpler to follow.
I'm doubting that huge spawling bases with interconnecting rooms would be as fun as where the map influences the gameflow in some respect, either by forcing both teams into a certain area, or having clear paths to hives and preventing marines from taking extremely erratic paths through the map.
Adding some vents to allow the aliens to out-flank the marines would be good.
I like the idea of having random hallways. It does seem a bit too complicated though, you might have difficulty coming up with reason to have all those rooms and corridors.
Genrally it looks good and seems to fit the guidelines.
Yes, I agree with Merk -- all those rooms of nothing is a little much. It would be a whole lot better if you took some away <!--emo&:)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'><!--endemo-->
<img src="http://www.thelag.net/cgi-bin/hosting/web_pages/Jacius/NS/ns_tofase/tofase2.GIF" border="0">
Feedback still appreciated! Especially if you can fit 2 smiley-faces into your post <!--emo&:)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'><!--endemo-->
n@rb, I have no knowledge of any website with a similar URL, but I could try to think up a new name if too many people point it out.
-Jacius
<img src="http://www.thelag.net/cgi-bin/hosting/web_pages/Jacius/NS/ns_tofase/tofase2v.gif" border="0">
-Jacius
Here is what I tried to do, I forsee the round room being the center of action. I didnt like how there was only one main route for each team so I broke it up and make it two. That would let more people filter into that room, cuasing more action! I also added a res point at that room, more or a reason to go there now.
I got rid of most of the alien vents near the marine side becuase I have always wanted the team that respawns near an area to have the advantage. I also connected all three hives with one direct easy passage way. This will help them if one hive is under attack. Changed around the B hallway. You can see what other stuff I changed, gtg eat dinner now.
(Oh, and your two similes -- <!--emo&:p--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':p'><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:D--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':D'><!--endemo--> )
<img src="http://www.thelag.net/cgi-bin/hosting/web_pages/Jacius/NS/ns_tofase/tofase3.gif" border="0">
The vents were a little crazy, so now I've tried to limit it a bit:
-Hive rooms should have 2 vents.
-The Marine Spawn should not have any vents leading directly to it. (but can get close)
-Every other room should not have more than 1 vent. (the big room at the bottom is an exception, cuz its so big!<!--emo&;)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=';)'><!--endemo-->
-Vents should be a convenience, not an advantage. A vent will take you someplace quicker/more undetected than a regular hallway, but it will not take you halfway across to map, or to a room that cannot be reached via normal hallways.
I think it looks a lot better. If you don't have any suggestions, I'm going to start mapping this afternoon (Saturday)!
I'm not putting in a resource node in the hub because, 'a hub should have a lot of action because there are naturally a lot of people going through it, not because it has a reward.' The fastest way from point A to point B will probably go through the HUB, so it will be a hot zone, not because everyone rushes to grab the node there. I might add one later if I think it needs it, tho.
-Jacius
<span style='color:black'>How many of you are accualty noticing these?</span>
<!--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-->Ventilation shafts, electrical tunnels and power conduits allow aliens to ambush and flank vulnerable marines. These alien-only paths should connect the alien hive rooms and with each other and allow the aliens to travel between adjacent web branches.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The vents do not need to be (or should not be) connected directly from one hive to the other, just from one general hive area to another, which I think I've accomplished.
<!--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-->The aliens should be encouraged to use the areas accessible to the marines about half the time. Making tunnels harder to get to or a farther distance than the regular hallways could help encourage this.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
My current design also plays a little better to this bit: if the aliens could get from each hive to each other hive via entirely vents, then you'd never see any aliens unless they were attacking! The aliens will have to drop out of the vents, or at least crall across a hallway, in order to get from one hive to another. This way, the aliens will have to risk contact with marines to go places.
<b>[edit]</b>And, the mapping guidelines are somewhat outdated. I've been playtesting for a couple weekends in order to get the general feel of what a map needs, so I think this should work better than one based entirely off the mapping guidelines<b>[/edit]</b>
And no, there are no "Can weld shut" places in the current layout. There were before, and I didn't remove the key yet because I might add some in later.
-Jacius
<!--EDIT|Jacius|June 15 2002,08:22-->
Just wanted to say that I am coming along nicely, and you can see the most up-to-date layout on the first page, or <a href="http://www.thelag.net/cgi-bin/hosting/web_pages/Jacius/NS/ns_tofase/tofase.gif" target="_blank">here</a>.
Screenies to come sometime. <!--emo&:asrifle:--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/asrifle.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':asrifle:'><!--endemo-->
-Jacius