Stack Man

Spectacularly Lethal Soldier
Mapper
Game Banana Link

Mediafire Download Link

A VSH map born to combat two trends I've noticed in many VSH maps:
  • They're ugly and empty boxes.
  • Ammo is not properly distributed around the map.

Dirtmound features one large hill with various levels to it and a number of prop jumps that facilitate movement around the map for any class.

Ammo boxes do exist. No longer will you need to cross the map three times and back only to find a single small ammo pack.

gBCqAfY.png
cVaImhb.png
nBJOO4D.png
cAzR2c8.png
Yrp9zm2.png
SBBBSXR.png
sgo4wrT.png
 

Xerʘ

Notably Dangerous Demo-Knight
Contributor
Is it instant death if you fall off the sides or is there a way back up?

Regardless +1 looks good.
 

mub

Positively Inhumane Poster
Contributor
First off, I want to say this looks really good. What follows is mostly critique and advice, but I would like
to say that this map looks like it's off to a great start.


That being said, I took some time meandering around and found some items you might want to consider;
dirtmound_HDR.jpg

Don't forget to build your HDR lighting. This is what the map looks like with it at Full.
unknown.png

I think this map could benefit a lot from polishing and balancing the design/aesthetic a bit.
This room has a ton of props, compared to, for example, BLU spawn, which is a bit bland.
unknown.png

Speaking of polish, some props such as these are floating a bit off the ground.
unknown.png

You might want to redo your capture point area. Having a high ground available inside a
capture zone can lead to possible abuse by crafty players.
I'd also recommend increasing the capture time to be a bit longer than 12 seconds.
This isn't very long considering RED Team has scouts, and Hale has a default 3x cap speed.

I noticed that Hale doesn't take any damage at all and gets a free teleport back above his
spawn for going off the side of the map. This can lead to two possible unintended side effects;

1. Hale can easily jump off whenever he feels like it to elude a crowd or get away from, say,
an uber pair. Maybe make it cost a small amount of damage to him, like 600-1000?
2. There's no nobuild/nogrenade funcs or any sort of protections near the teleport destination,
players could build telefrags, nests, traps, etc. to harass him and even, considering the
location of the teleport near the pit, perpetually keep him in a teleporting loop.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Despite that, this is extremely well designed, especially for what seems like your first map?
A lot of maps these days favor boxy design simply because working with
varied terrain and displacements takes a lot of effort, so the design principle
pays off, and really makes this look like something refreshing I'd like to play on.

I highly encourage continuing work on this map, it looks very solid to start and
can only get better with careful attention.

I'd definitely recommend this map for play once the HDR is fixed and it gets a bit more polish,
and give it a +1 to add to the Skial rotation.


P.S. Nice skelly boi.
P.P.S. Sorry that was an essay's worth of stuff.
 
Last edited:

Stack Man

Spectacularly Lethal Soldier
Mapper
First off, I want to say this looks really good. What follows is mostly critique and advice, but I would like
to say that this map looks like it's off to a great start.

I'd definitely recommend this map for play once the HDR is fixed and it gets a bit more polish,
and give it a +1 to add to the Skial rotation.


P.S. Nice skelly boi.
P.P.S. Sorry that was an essay's worth of stuff.

Thanks for the feedback. I'll start work on changes quickly.

Are there any areas, other than blue spawn, that look like they need a bit of sprucing up?
 

mub

Positively Inhumane Poster
Contributor
Thanks for the feedback. I'll start work on changes quickly.

Are there any areas, other than blue spawn, that look like they need a bit of sprucing up?

Honestly, unless you've grown attached to that part of the map and/or have plans for it, I think you could delete the entire BLU spawn building. It sticks out a bit, literally and figuratively, in the design, and I'd recommend trying it just to see how it feels. I think the rest is headed in a good direction as it is, and it's ultimately up to how you want to stylize your map as it progresses.

Possible edit:
unknown.png
 
Last edited:

Stack Man

Spectacularly Lethal Soldier
Mapper
Version B4

Game Banana Link

Various details and modified cap time and fall damage.

I've squeezed out every detail I possibly can without over detailing the map. It'll stay this way until the layout needs changing
5f0c9a16f0a23.jpg
 
Last edited:

uppe-r

Rage-Inducing Forum Troll
Contributor
+1
inbe4 bot comes in here like
"IF IT GETS POPULAR ON z>>OTHER SERVERS<< THEN WE ADD IT"

AMIRITE
 

Stove™

Positively Inhumane Poster
+1

Despite not playing FF2 too much these days, I think this would be a pretty nice map to add into our rotation. Simple, yes, but I see no need for too much complexity.
certainly better than some other maps in our rotation