MAP: Saberpeak beta Download!!

(Chr()nos) #21

Wonderfull job!!

(MuffinMan) #22

pretty cool map, love the houses!
just had a quick run through it, some textures seem a bit over-stretched and the little wall besides the dynamitable wall is very low - not just enough for me to jump over it alone but certainly with help, could be intended though… the big defense wall of the village seems a bit repetetive, maybe some decoration along the upper edge might look good - personal view of course.

btw congrats on the both boats (sub and normal boat) and the cranes … and quite a lot other stuff! :clap: :drink:

oh and not to forget - keep us informed when the final is out, will put the map on our server as soon as I got a fast www-download for it!

(Mr_Tickles) #23

Plant the dynamite on it :wink:

(zevuh) #24

Hi NOP,

your map is really visually stunning, imho same class as venice … :clap:

but playability is poor! :banghead: I have played on some pubs and on our own non-pub
server. Biggest prob is that there is no cover once the boot is inside the
bay. Axis snipe from spawn, from the fort and from the truck where allies
got the ammo.

I would suggest a second path from allied spawn point, the removal of
the axis spawn mg and perhaps more cover inside the bay, maybe a rift
and more cover on the beach.

I hope my comment doesn’t sound to bad, but you wanted feedback, so you get
feedback. :smiley:

zevuh

(Mr_Tickles) #25

Yes, more cover on beach would be nice… although for the axis snipers as zevuh said, you would surely need Allied snipers to take a care of them as well as fops etc… Axis spawn MG’s don’t seem to be much of a problem, all the other original maps have them and these seem to not have much cover for the axis so it balances out well.
Another path from the primary Allied spawn would be good though, maybe two more. An underwater passage way from a rock pool on the Allied beach maybe? Also, you could put something like that in the village aswell if you wanted to have another route into there, maybe a hidden passage way in one of the houses?

(NOP) #26

You’re right about the map not being very well balanced…but than again that’s why it’s a beta. I didn’t expect it to be so difficult to escort the boat…I guess I had underestimated the axis.
The next release should be much better…at least for the boat part. You can check all the changes I’ve planned so far for the next release here. I will update the site frequently, so check often.

Are you talking about terrain textures? Could be just bad UV mapping which can be fixed easily. Where are they?
You’re right about the main wall being a bit plain. I had planned a different texture for it originally with all kinds of decorations and other crap in it, but then it seemed a bit unrealistic that anyone would actually construct that kind of wall. I was hoping the columns and the gate would break it up a little…guess not as much I thought.

(The Wanderer) #27

Amazing looking map. Your terrain and water blending is absolutely flawless. I couldn’t find one seam in this whole map.
I didn’t even know some of the stuff you’ve done was even possible to do, like the blending from the horizontal terrain to the vertical clifs.
I’m off to dissect your shaders now.

P.S. Kudos on your planning to release the source files. More people should be doing that. Here’s a little reward :banana:

(jag) #28

Nice map mate, i would say the best looking map i’ve seen in RTCW and ET, here are some of my thoughts after playing your map…

The houses in the town look realy nice, i was a bit disappointed to find the doors on the houses would not open. Do you plan on having the houses assessable.

what about maikng the ships bridge assessable, so the boat will only start to move when someone goes to the streering wheel.

That water looks beautiful, i think a shark :eek: would be fun to have in the water, if a player gets hit you loose health points.

(RUDE_TLD) #29

I like it!

My comments, if you care:

Allies meet a pretty tight choke point right away. Maybe a cave as a second route to ammo/cabin area from the initial spawn point?

Keep the fall damage normal. If you fall off the roof…you die!

I would like to see the buildings inside a little more accessible, but this might make it really hard for the Allies to get shots on the axis defenders.

The battleship can be damaged pretty easily already, water mines might make it impossible to move.

Is it possble to make the boat tougher? ya know, so it takes more to damage it. Seems like you need at least 3 engies to keep it going…if yer lucky.

I can’t wait for the final! :drink:

EDIT: Shoot… It’s been a while since I’ve posted here. How do I get my name changed from RUDE_TLD to just Rude? (Any admins reading this?)

(Svarvsven) #30

Hi!

I think the map looks great, if you go under the “cover” for the icecream-store in the town, you will see that more textures are needed…

BUT for gameplay in 6vs6 clanwars it needs a lot of changes. The map is way too large and have too many objectives. The last part is the most interesting, the little town area. For axis to keep and allies to storm…

  • the boat is not needed, park it at the end stop (remove the capture-the-ammo)
  • whats the story with all the mgs? not needed, remove 3 from boat, 3 from bunker, 2 in towers…
  • too much ammo/medics, remove them all and put 1 ammo/medics in the town, near the dynamitable wall
  • remove the rock that the boat shoots
  • make the main door dynamitable (instead of having the boat blow it up)
  • command post moved to inside town, would guess that it also have to be somewhere near that blownable wall
  • allice 1st spawn, on the beach under the bunker
  • axis 1st spawn, mansion
  • spawntimes: 20 for allies, 30 for axis
  • last objective is to plant dyna to the sub, make the area that u can plant the dyna smaller…like around the middle section of the sub…(I planted it on top of that smokey gas tank in the corner…probably not that easy to defuse then)

And then approriate changes already mentioned on the webpage and in other comments, like getting past the side wall without planting dynamite. I’m unsure about if axis need an alternate spawn (and where to put it, probably near the dynamitable wall - closer to the objective would ruin gameplay). Or allies. Maybe allies alternate spawn could be where you steal that boat ammo (or inside the cabin?). Could be interesting to try out with two even clans in pracc.

Regarding gameplay on hubs, I have no idea. Maybe the suggestions already made. Its gonna be snipers heaven for both teams (and allies will loose like always when half of the team is snipers and not enough people can do the “push” - like in battery, temple and so on).

Best regards…

(Starks) #31

Hello NOP, we spoke on the SG server…I was the one who said nice map…but crap shot :stuck_out_tongue:

Again, just like to say m8, the Allied spawn is “bait” campage! might want to include a choice of routes.

(jag) #32

Sorry to have a dig, :banghead: but that submarine does not look like a German u-boat. Having the Type XXI u-boat would look good in a secret german base.

How about having the German U-boat accessible, so the allies have to plant inside the u-boat, or do you think that would be just to hard on the allied team.[/img]

(Kendle) #33

Thoughts based on too few rounds for my liking at the weeked :wink:

The Boat is redundant. All Allies need to do is blow the side wall to gain entry to the Base (to gain entry to the Sub). “All” is a bit of an understatement, depending on how good / bad the Axis team is, but it’s far easier (and far quicker) than using the Boat. To make the Boat even remotely viable it needs to move a lot, lot faster (can it be controlled with b_moverscale on ETPro servers?)

Assuming therefore that no (decent) team is going to bother with the Boat, the issue then becomes lack of cover for Allies running around the Bay (Medic heavy should take care of that, or another route from spawn), and the choke points presented by the tunnel that goes behind the Bunker towards the side wall. Capturing the Bunker (by building the Command post) is entirely do-able, if not that easy against a good Axis defense, but once taken it’s unlikely Axis would make any attempt to get it back.

The side wall entry point then becomes the focus of attention, and makes for another easily defended choke point. To counter this you could make the main doors dynamitable, but that would only serve to make the Boat even more redundant than it already is.

Essentially it’s a “break into easily defended fortress” scenario, making it extremely tough for the attacking team against an organised defense (ala Fueldump), with a pointless, though rather nice, Boat thrown in.

(Svarvsven) #34

Kendle: thats exactly what I suggested a little earlier…esp. for clan wars; take the boat out. Make the front dynamitable and so on. Besides, the last part (town area) is the most interesting part in this map for fighting about control of the sub-room. I suggested that allies spawn would be on the beach (cause I love those waves) but maybe the bunker would be a better idea. With the rock taken out, some allies still needs to pass the beach when trying to plant the front. If allies spawn on the beach instead, the boat could be static in the water, blocking sniper views from the walls of the town area…

(NOP) #35

You guys are talking about a different map. This is a very large map meant to be played by a lot of people. No fewer than 16 in my opinion. I understand that if you play with very small teams, many of its aspects may seem redundant, but the case if quite different on large servers. There it is almost impossible to sneak through the side path, and escorting the boat is the only chance for moving forward. However even that becomes quite difficult once the server starts to swell with people. That is what I had in mind for this map. A large map for lots of people with total mayhem gameplay.

I am NOT going to add additional paths. They do nothing for gameplay except scatter the teams and make it 10 times harder to learn the map. I don’t like labyrinth maps. Another one of my goals when making this map was to make it so that it was easy to learn. The quicker people learn a map the quicker they start to like it. There are custom maps out there that I’ve played 5-6 times and I still have no idea what I’m supposed to do. Simple is good.

But I understand that the nature of the game has changed and it’s now more focused towards clan matches. When I’m finished with this map I’ll make all the source files available for anyone to use however they want. People then could cut out portions of the map and just use those. Just the town as a map for example. I think that would please everyone, though of course the name Saberpeak is mine.

P.S.
That is not a WWII sub. It’s much more modern in its design. Mainly because this way it was easier and quicker to model and texture. I spent most of my modeling effort on the boat since that one is much more visible and it’s important that it looks good. The U-boat is rarely seen since not much gameplay take place inside the hangar. So it has no more detail than necessary.

(Fenris) #36

Good to hear :slight_smile:

Also, please do not listen to those who don’t like the boat, I think it’s the best thing so far, having a change for the usual tank/truck, and it also complements the water theme very well. As for movement speed, don’t bother changing the map, it’s easily controllable by adding custom mapscripts with the b_moverscale setting set to whatever the server admin likes.

My personal belief is that ET needs a good big map to get some public playing back, otherwise I think the game will slowly decline the same way as RtCW, which however much I hate to admit it is not what it was in the beginning. ET will not “survive” as a clanmatch-only game, but what map will make people dedicated I don’t know. :slight_smile:

(Kendle) #37

@NOP, fair enough, I won’t comment further. It’s not suitable for 6v6, but then you didn’t intend it to be, in which case it’s a great map.

@Fenris, ET will decline if Clans stop playing it. A good, large, public is all well and good (see MarketGarden, for example), but they only support tiny communities. Ultimately games live or die according to how they play as Clan games.

(G0-Gerbil) #38

Kendle I think ET won’t follow the same route as RTCW in that respect. RTCW was a paid-for game, whereas ET is free.
The public side will always be stronger than the clan side (who basically chop and change as the new games come out - RTCW had a lot of clan staying power but nowadays there are plenty of WW2 / team-based alternatives).

I love the look of the map, it’s very fresh - although I think the layout might have a few issues, especially on larger servers, but I’ve yet to play it extensively in those circumstances so can’t say more yet on that yet.

(Mr_Tickles) #39

I disagree, you need a balance as with all things. You need public play otherwise there will be no new blood (pardon the pun). This is generally what makes the game a game. Sure you need clans aswell as then there is something new for unclanned people to work towards, if they want to. However, clan play is more like work and I can perfectly understand people who don’t take games as seriously as that.
You can’t just expect people to try out a game if they are expected to work at it, it’s just too much hassle. It should be for fun. Alright, I don’t suppose clan playing is that bad that it’s like work and i’m sure it has many advantages, mainly because people know how to play as a team. But don’t forget, a game is for playing.
And on that profound note, I’ve just remembered that I have to do some revision :bored:

(Svarvsven) #40

NOP: my suggestions was imho…but nevertheless…it could be a good 6vs6 clan war map with those changes… Handing out the source is nice, of course, but unfortunately I don’t know how to make maps. :frowning:

(there is no chance that you would do those changes in a seperate release…? like saberpeak_war or so?)

Anyway, to solve the boat problem for public-server-big-map-release u need to do two things: 1) make the boat faster 2) find some cover for people in the boat (how to do that on an open water…?)

Mr_Tickles: I agree, both are needed.