PL millstone

ics

http://ics-base.net
aa
Jun 17, 2010
841
541
This is a winter themed payload map. Basic payload with longer track and more points to cap than any single stage Valve maps do.

It's now finally done. Thank you all for feedback and thanks to Pelipurkki.fi community for testing it's multiple releases during all this time.

Current, final version: pl_millstone (1st of January 2015)
 
Last edited:

ics

http://ics-base.net
aa
Jun 17, 2010
841
541
Released beta 2

- Respawn time changes
- Updated couple of ammoboxes to bigger ones
- Added more signs to guide players
- Slight changes here and there
 

RaVaGe

aa
Jun 23, 2010
733
1,210
Seeing only the screenshots, your map looks really prop spammy and noisy about the detail, there is too much things, too much panels, too much overlays, too much informations for the player.

mill_6.jpg


Looks at this, the main objective isn't clearly indicated, the eye of the player will focus on these buildings behind because there is a lot of models, there is also too much overlays, wich give the environment really noisy, the textures choice isn't clearly defined too, you are working with too much colors in the same area.

My advice would be to change drasticly your texture choice and make it less random, work with colors wich fit together, and keep the detail only at the area where the player need to look, oh and avoid the models on the playable floor, it's always a bucket of stickies, as I guess you put them in non-solid.
 
Last edited:

ics

http://ics-base.net
aa
Jun 17, 2010
841
541
Turns out beta 2 was a dud overall. I'll consider making those changes while i update the map. That house was a nice idea that you draw with green. Also the props are indeed non-solid so players wont bump into them at the ground.
 

ics

http://ics-base.net
aa
Jun 17, 2010
841
541
Released beta 3 that fixes some things and introduces new stuff too.

- Added door to the area between A and B
- Sealed doorway under the added door so RED cannot get to BLU's back so easily.
- Improved the left side route to E, now more wider and accessible from another way
- Improved last point area visually a bit and removed some junk, added some details
- General improvements
 

goosmurf

L1: Registered
Sep 22, 2012
23
18
This map is pretty cool overall.

Some feedback:

The final Blu spawn is quite confusing for players as some spawn points still point them towards the bottom door when there is no reason to go that way.

The final CP - the roof of Red spawn might need to be nobuild. We played a round where 2 Wrangler Engies pretty much locked down the whole final CP. Blu could barely get out of any of the entry points, and even if you bring Uber in you would get knocked into the hole. :)

Edited to add: I was riding the cart and got stuck in the roof here http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=133326422

Another angle: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=133331778
 
Last edited:

ics

http://ics-base.net
aa
Jun 17, 2010
841
541
That stuck on a ceiling is on my fix list. People noticed that during the first test on b3. I have not yet seen a situation where 2 wrangler engies could prevent the other team from winning. I have to dig in to that some more and see how it goes. Blocking the roof from building is an option but i would assume the RED would have too hard time to defend. I guess making a path to the roof from that door there could be an option. Thanks for pointing this out for me.

I actually tried with another artstyle. Basically the map was looking like this as a 3CP version earlier:
http://forums.tf2maps.net/geek/gars/images/7/9/5/6/outside.jpg

If you compare that to the current, it's way different http://forums.tf2maps.net/geek/gars/images/7/9/5/6/mill_2.jpg

So my main goal was to differentiate it from the old one so people do not get confused. I was trying swapmy theme on it earlier but it ended up with the "curve" style as it looked much nicer. However, i did only do that test within hammer, i didn't look at it in-game at all and i didn't finish it. Got an artstyle suggestion to try?
 
Last edited:

GPuzzle

L9: Fashionable Member
Feb 27, 2012
638
414
Coldfront-ish. It's my favorite map in terms of detailing for a reason. And there won't be THAT much to change, after all.
 

ics

http://ics-base.net
aa
Jun 17, 2010
841
541
I released beta 4 of the map. I fiddled around with different styles and how the map should look. Since the dark one looked way too cool compared to swamp/snow/egyptian/mining/etc, i decided to go with it for now. There aren't much dark maps out there but nobody likes too dark anyway.

Lots of different changes and some route tuneups are in it too.
 

sitebender

L3: Member
Aug 15, 2012
102
33
Well I found one immediate and glaring problem for the red spawnpoint when it comes to bots. You need to drop down in the spawn point. The bots refuse to drop down. While LOL no one uses bots it is very helpful for testing purposes :)

You also may want to put out some sniper and sentry hints so I don't see engis trying to shotgun instead of build :)
 
Last edited:

ics

http://ics-base.net
aa
Jun 17, 2010
841
541
Well I found one immediate and glaring problem for the red spawnpoint when it comes to bots. You need to drop down in the spawn point. The bots refuse to drop down. While LOL no one uses bots it is very helpful for testing purposes :)

You also may want to put out some sniper and sentry hints so I don't see engis trying to shotgun instead of build :)

I did not provide .nav file for bots because the map is still in development. I plan to do that with the final release. Dropdown is easy to fix with the nav editing, as the autocreating always fails to deliver.

If you have a nav, then someone else did that.
 

ics

http://ics-base.net
aa
Jun 17, 2010
841
541
Thanks. I released a new version of the map, making balance adjustments and tiny changes. Still testing though and considering some changes to some parts of the map. We'll see how it goes.
 

ics

http://ics-base.net
aa
Jun 17, 2010
841
541
Released new version, rc2. Fixes bugs and exploit. Made the map more simple to navigate and changed some routes. Still open to changes.
 

KN1F3

L1: Registered
Jan 3, 2013
1
0
Have enjoyed playing on this map. Great job :)

My only complain is on the rc4 release, I thought that the 2nd point was fine where it was at. Where it's at now...too easy for blue imo.
 

ics

http://ics-base.net
aa
Jun 17, 2010
841
541
Thanks. The problem with it was that it was too hard to cap for BLU. First it was fine but when players learned the map out, it came apparent that it will need to be easier. A lot of stalemates in that part, way too many. The map is still under developent so i might change a thing here and there still. I'm just gathering feedback on this version on my servers so i know how the change affects now.
 

ics

http://ics-base.net
aa
Jun 17, 2010
841
541
Released RC6, fixes and improvements. Possible exploit fix and some other things. Now should be really close to final. Slight balancing still to be made. Also added missing soudscapes, oops.

I've been running all of the versions of this on 2 servers of mine daily to see what i need to improve. However, more input couldn't harm so if anyone has ideas, please share. Thanks.
 

ics

http://ics-base.net
aa
Jun 17, 2010
841
541
New release, RC7. Some enhancements but mostly tuning it up for final release. If nothing major comes up, i will soon call this done and move on to new projects.