Whalerace

Whalerace a4a

Sep 12, 2008
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1,141
After a few tests I noticed that the combination plr_whalerace_a4a and mp_tournament 1 does not work. The whale races through stage two without anyone pushing. I hope people aren't going to play it competitively.


But on a serious note: many people liked the ending! Any ideas on how to improve it? Or is everything clear to you?
 

PixelSith64

L1: Registered
Oct 15, 2009
1
1
The ending was amazing. It was like TF2 meets Free Willie. What WAS going on though? Even after mp_tournament was turned off, it was all like "No, screw you. You're playing it my way."

The map is amazing, as I already told you. I'm still calling level 3 being inside a beached whale though. The only thing I can think of is that it's easy to spawn camp. Other then that, not much, other then fixing it so it can be played with mp_tournament 1 on. Is that a problem with other plr maps or just this one?

Edit: I thought for SURE I had posted before this... Hm, I guess not. First post!
 

Westerhound

L5: Dapper Member
Feb 5, 2009
248
104
Pipeline works with mp_tournament, alltho the one time I played it (due to tf2lobby fucking up the mapchange :c) the cart got stuck at the end of second stage. The cart was on the point but hadnt capped for some reason, and the HUD turned into 3rd stage hud.

Ill run through this map and witness that awesomeness later
 
Sep 12, 2008
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Yeah I'm going to pick up the work on overlook again tomorrow. I just wanted to have this done.
 

Void

Local Man Unable To Map, Sources Say
aa
Sep 14, 2008
1,868
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Whalerace is a gimmick map in concept only, it plays pretty well, and does water payload right.

Don't forget about the water explosion from the Swamp Expansion! Could come in handy!
 

lana

Currently On: ?????
aa
Sep 28, 2009
3,075
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Excellent work on the second stage. It's pretty open as-is, which makes it a nice change from the closed in first stage.

Whalerace is a gimmick map in concept only, it plays pretty well, and does water payload right.

:crying:
 

grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
aa
Mar 4, 2008
5,441
3,814
Yea, the first stage is tiny. There needs to be more seperation between spawn and combat area.

Also, obviously you wont be able to add the usual visual cue's for a crossover (IE crossing tracks, and hazard strips). You might consider using some plastic bouys though.

buoys-9l2w.jpg
 

lockitup

L2: Junior Member
Nov 15, 2009
71
24
When I want to have fun this has to be among my top 3 favorite maps. With the addition of the 2nd stage, even though I've just seen the ending I have to say you've gained my respect with your mapping skills. Looking forward to more updates on this, its more fun then any ctf map, and I'm a big ctf fan :D
 
Sep 12, 2008
1,272
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Yea, the first stage is tiny. There needs to be more seperation between spawn and combat area.

Also, obviously you wont be able to add the usual visual cue's for a crossover (IE crossing tracks, and hazard strips). You might consider using some plastic bouys though.

buoys-9l2w.jpg

I don't really see a reason to put in a crossover, since all the stages are like pipeline's last stage (minus the rollback), and the tracks join at the 2nd stage. I've seen many losing teams come back and win the game. I see no need to put crossovers in.
 

lockitup

L2: Junior Member
Nov 15, 2009
71
24
Just wanted to let you know we ran ctf_vector w/ icarus and the second stage on that map got bugged up as well because lack of waiting time or something or other. Not sure if the two are related.
 

grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
aa
Mar 4, 2008
5,441
3,814
I don't really see a reason to put in a crossover, since all the stages are like pipeline's last stage (minus the rollback), and the tracks join at the 2nd stage. I've seen many losing teams come back and win the game. I see no need to put crossovers in.

Well the only reason how anyone right now can manage to stop the enemy whale is because 90% of the time people "Melee only" on this map. I realise this is only a semi-serious map, but it would still be nice to have interesting gameplay dynamics.

Right now, particularly what with the increased light in the second stage which allows you to see into the water a lot better and decreases the chances of "sneaking" up on the cart, i can't see any enemy getting onto the whale to "defend the cart" effectively (which is not your maps fualt, it's the dynamic of sitting "ontop" of the cart to push it and that the "high ground" is so important in TF2 when fighting off enemies, which means you can't effectively use the cart for cover like you can in standard PL/PLR), The result of which is getting mown down by the players already on the whale. Especially if there are several alert heavies on it.

When i have played it with people who arn't "melee fighting" it's just soldier's spamming the path of the enemy whale and the losing team is the one with the most players faffing about (because they are either sniper or engineer). So the winning team isn't necasserily the team with the better players, but a case of the losing team having the most innapropriate class selections and not contributing the same team efforts as other classes.

Atleast this is how it plays out right up to the end of Stage 2.

The idea of the crossover is only to allow more oppotunities to ambush the enemy cart and bring the defencive classes more of a significant role and actual gameplay oppotunities that have as much impact on the game as what all the other classes currently manage. Not to mention forcing teams to cross each others paths.

You don't have to put in the cross over if you don't want to, you still have a 3rd stage to put in to mix things up. But i did want to add in my reasoning for that suggestion since i missed adding it before.
 
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Tinker

aa
Oct 30, 2008
672
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At first I thought with "crossover" you meant "bridge over the whales' paths", which is what I would suggest. As it is, the whales themselves are one of the highest points in the area because they're surrounded by water - a bridge or two would make it necessary to control the land, too.
 
Sep 12, 2008
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I don't know guys. This is just a fun and gimmick map. It's not even meant to be played seriously. Just wondering though, have you played the map, grazr, or are you basing your comments on the screenshots in this thread?
 

grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
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Mar 4, 2008
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I've played it Beatz, otherwise how would i have experienced all this melee only malarchy on your map :p

Just because it's a gimmick map, though. Doesn't mean you shouldn't attempt to make it play better, if it can.

It's just that right now, the players arn't exactly engaged because they don't have to cross paths with the enemy (and on the first stage, if they do, it usually results in spawn camping. So that needs to be resolved by widening the map in general). It's generally just scouts and spy's doing a few flanking manouvers, but not really managing anything against the enemy cart because they are too weak as classes, and the cart is also healing everyone on it and the close concentration of players makes it impossible to infultrate (IE scouts and spy's are like predators, stalking the heard and taking out stragglers). Which makes it especially difficult to dislodge heavies and soldier's when they all group together on it.

Snipers can be effective at clearing the cart because generally the players are stuck out in the open when pushing it. Unfortunately that also means you're gonna get less people pushing your own cart. Usually this wouldn't be a significant problem for PL (although it does cause stalemates in goldrush), but for some reason it has more of a negative impact on your map than others.

As i said, just because it's a gimmick map by design doesn't mean you have to submit it to the problems that plague other gimmick maps such as spawn camping, class imbalances and generally gameplay that rewards griefing tactics. The very fact that you've chosen a PLR mode implies the intention for team interactions beyond what idle, orange and mariokart maps currently offer; which is a never ending meat grind.
 
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Void

Local Man Unable To Map, Sources Say
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Sep 14, 2008
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[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BNtAv1jwpY&fmt=22"]YouTube- TF2 - Whalerace Stage 2 Finale[/ame]
 

lana

Currently On: ?????
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Sep 28, 2009
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I don't know guys. This is just a fun and gimmick map. It's not even meant to be played seriously. Just wondering though, have you played the map, grazr, or are you basing your comments on the screenshots in this thread?

Moonballs is a gimmick map too, and it plays nice.