Ns2_Stratos

Fivz · September 2013

I've started working on this map last week and I want to try to get a play test in by next week if possible.

First test:

Lighting
Clipping error
Line of sight issues
Major choke points
Distance between Resource A to B
Distance between X room to Middle
Possible Vent locations

Second test:

Commander Cameras
Commander Alpha
Navmesh

Third test and onwards:

Regular games for further refinement

There's no overview of the map as of right now. I will try to get that up by next week. If I missed anything please let me know. I really want to get this map to be playable within 1 month so I still got a lot of work cut out for me.

Here's my progress so far.

[=Alex=] · September 2013

Very good!

Very good job, maybe some textures are a little stretched but I like what I see...

Keep up the good work!

Dr_Random · September 2013

1: Looks very nice! 2: Did you build a robot out of the dropship and exo models in the second to last image? And does it have ARCs for feet? Because I approve.

SamusDroid · September 2013

@Dr_Random I'm pretty sure that is a GIANT sentry

Fivz · September 2013

Most of the layout here are temporary. It took me roughly 1 day to make each room and it's pretty much my greybox. I only have a couple of rooms and some hallways left to do. Hope i can have a playtest of the map soon. I'll most likely remodel the mech and import it into the map later on.

Fivz · October 2013

Now that the editor is finally fix I can start making updates on my map again.
The SS are taken from the editor because I didn't setup for the map to play in-game yet.

This is the current layout I'm aiming for. Pretty much like Tram.

Changed generator room so it looks more spacious.

Currently working on my research room. Need to change the textures on some of the objects.

Vetinari · October 2013

Awesome stuff.

CarNagE1 · October 2013

It looks realy awsome. Cant wait for some in game screens.

Fivz · October 2013

still need to work with the lighting.
7sP3Lhj.jpg?1

Fivz · October 2013

Going to need some help here.

Yellow = Tech Point
orange = RT
Purple = Choke Point

Keep in mind that this is a very rough layout. The highlights just generalize the pathing of the map
I'm wondering if anyone has any idea to make the layout more consistent or if anyone see a major flaw in a specific location. Any feedback will help me greatly.

EDIT: Latest Revision

Fivz · October 2013

Current Timing on map

Soul_Rider · October 2013

I would reduce the timing of the two 23sec runs, as they unbalance the map, other than that, I have to say it looks a lot like summit from the layout, although the screens are very beautfiul.

Fivz · November 2013

I should be able to get the map playtest ready pretty soon

SW corner ( reworking texture + need lighting)
xfSpDYm.jpg?1

SE corner. Tried messing around with wallmods and walltrim. way too limited in what I can do. (need to re-texture and add lighting)
aXeirJY.jpg?1

xtcmen · November 2013

You may want to limit how many accessory props you use. They increase the draw calls quite a bit.

Fivz · December 2013

Finally coming out of greybox stage and starting to work on more detailing. Really wish I could have my map tested beforehand but This will have to do for now until February.

Currently remaking cargo ( a lot less brown).
SorSetM.jpg?1

Completely remade 1 of me tech points (2nd picture from my previous post)
yA3UTEd.jpg?1

Hallway Leading to the new tech point
5mR2cPm.jpg?1

Fivz · January 2014

The map is finally up and running on the workshop!
steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=217032470
I know some locations are really big and open and the travel time in some locations are too long. I'm currently fixing these problems at the moment but I would really like to get some testing done before I do anything else.

Some screenshots of my current progress.

2cough · January 2014

Looks fantastic! Hope I'll be lucky enough to get some rounds on it sometime!

Soul_Rider · January 2014

Looks great, can't wait to play it!

You should get hold of the guys who organise the SCC, they have weekly map testing sessions for in progress maps. There is a thread here in the forums, although I am sure one of them will see this soon enough, a map release does not escape their attention long

ObliviousSight · January 2014

Our eyes are everywhere and our minions number beyond a mortal's ken. There is little that escapes our terrible gaze...

And on a more serious note, the map is looking good from those screenshots, look forward to giving it a shake down on Sunday.

Vert^ · January 2014

*SCC pose it's terrible gaze on NS2_Stratos, a chant can be heard in the dark corners of steam*

"On sunday night, the mappers unite.
Stratos is up, fill some rum in my cup!

Troop will rant, all mortals are ants.
In kodiaks dome, loki is working on his throne.
Flat is on caged, an evening is staged.

Come and have fun, but if you're not on my team, I'll kick your bum."

P.s: Love the progress, can't wait for sunday!

Vetinari · January 2014

Well, yeah: As you already noticed, it's too open and too big - while it's surely an awesomely looking map, you could probably scale down everything by half. There's some pretty long LoS, and a general... vastness, which feels epic but play bad.

Particular offenders would be cryo and Lobby, where it's hard for aliens too find any cover at all (can't really say for the rest; it's where I fought the most).

Flaterectomy · January 2014

We played it last night, and the size is an issue. Each room kinda feels like it could be a tech point room. Long lines of sight, dead-endy bits here and there. It looks really good, but the scaling needs work. Have you tested your traveltimes?

doeseph · January 2014

Just going to reiterate what @Flaterectomy said about the map having a size issue. The rooms are enormous with unobstructed fields of view which gives the Marines a huge advantage, and the same can be said for most of the connecting hallways. The map has absolutely fantastic style and each room seems extremely unique, however it ends up detracting from the game-play. I think a serious down-sizing of the rooms with no TP and removing some of the long and wide hallways might improve the map balance considerably.

CyberKun · January 2014

This is basically a clear example of a problem mappers tend to make. One can do amazing on the design of how a map looks, but it needed a lot more graybox testing. This map needs to be shrunk to like 66% of the size, and it should be rather okay. It needs a few things. Mostly line of sight issues everywhere, as even if this map was smaller, Marines have such an advantage in how open the map is. In the playtest I was in however, Aliens did win. That was because the silly size ended up helping as Aliens got to Gorge Tunnel so quick, Marines where just too slow.

There was some issues with cysts not connecting. It was impossible to cyst the north techpoint, cysts did not properly go though the center of the map. Drifters are also included in that as well.

Vetinari · January 2014

CyberKun wrote: »

This is basically a clear example of a problem mappers tend to make. One can do amazing on the design of how a map looks, but it needed a lot more graybox testing. This map needs to be shrunk to like 66% of the size, and it should be rather okay. It needs a few things. Mostly line of sight issues everywhere, as even if this map was smaller, Marines have such an advantage in how open the map is. In the playtest I was in however, Aliens did win. That was because the silly size ended up helping as Aliens got to Gorge Tunnel so quick, Marines where just too slow.

There was some issues with cysts not connecting. It was impossible to cyst the north techpoint, cysts did not properly go though the center of the map. Drifters are also included in that as well.

If marines got pgs, it would've looked different, though. (@Howser! y no pg!

)

Soul_Rider · January 2014

In the one on one battles, it was impossible for Aliens, especially skulks, by the time you are half-way across the room towards the marines, you were dead. Although the benefits of such big rooms? If the marines wanted to siege, they needed to be in the middle of the room, the arcs wouldn't be able to hit from outside (talking a Biolab spawn as we had last night).

Vert^ · January 2014

I enjoyed finally playing this map, there is no reason to repeat what the others said on the size subject, I share the same view.. I liked the map, and I think with some more work, it could be really good, I found some stuff that I think you should consider.

The vent in the upper right room, that has its entry point near the TP, if a marine drops in there, there is no way out. You should provide marines a way out, if you make a vent, that they can get stuck in before JP.

I also think some of the best looking sections of the map, was in dead ends route wise. You would have all these cool cinematics for atmosphere going on, just to the left of where the game was actually being played out.

Maybe consider cutting down on the accesory prop amount in the lockers and cases, and emphasize your awesome looking detail for the main play areas, if you want your map to perform its best, on most players pc's, there's no reason to have so many bottles, guns, etc. Remove some and you make players happy, and you get extra space to make other awesome stuff!

Example, you should change the smog to be over the door and the pipes to be in the background, that would look really cool going out and in.

Can't wait to see the coming builds, really good ground stone!

Fivz · February 2014

Want to get a quick feedback before I start finalizing for testing again. This is a very rough layout of what the new map layout is going to be.

EDIT: Forgot to add in a rt point at the bottom right. woops

RED = Tech point
BLUE = RT
Green = Fixed spawn point
Highlighted Yellow = underpass (going to fix that)

Average travel time 15s ( from Tech/RT to RT)

Flaterectomy · February 2014

What might be awkward is the lack of connectivity on the northern half of the map. Sometimes custom maps suffer from over-connectivity, with multiple routes between two locations, but here it's TP->RT->TP->RT, similar to - for example - the old build of Docking where there was a single route with no junctions going from Terminal through East Wing, and to Departures.

I had a similar issue in Caged where there was a route with no junctions from Marine Start through Monitoring, Stability, Generator, Auxiliary Generator, and finally to Upper Shipping Access. I have since added a junction in Monitoring and one to Auxiliary Generator, as traversing that route was very linear, and having to change your destination midway meant just having to complete the loop anyway.

Fivz · February 2014

That what I though at first But Since I'm doing fixed spawns the map will flow better without a route leading north. If this was random cross spawns then I would completely agree with you

Flaterectomy · February 2014

Fixed spawns does help the situation, but you'll still have a long linear route without options. It can work balance-wise, but from what I learned there's a good number of players who can get frustrated by this. It's perhaps not so much a balance issue, but a player psychology issue.

Ns2_Stratos

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