MLB Starbase - Early beta release

(Marko) #1

The first public beta version of MLB Starbase has just been released :

Starbase is a map that takes ET into a new dimension. Allies are preparing an ion cannon which aims at annihilating
axis forces and end the war. Axis board the Allied Starbase with a battleship with only one objective: take the
starbase off orbit.

The first section of the map is a fight to establish a forward spawn position. Axis have 2 entrances to breach in
order to reach a central room where they can build the spawn. The fight then becomes indoors, with loads of new
features: teleporters, energy barriers, sci-fi styled ammo racks...



This map is at a BETA testing stage, meaning there is still quite a bit of work to do on the map to improve it. Any ideas, suggestions, bug reporting are more than welcome on the www.gamedesign-online.com forums. The main point we would like to focus on with this public beta release is map balance. Indeed, we didn t add any buildable defenses for allies yet because we don t know how the map will play in public.

A great thanks to all those who helped in testing this map, and to Burniole and Kennie for the hours they spent testing this map over and over to find all the little bugs I missed out. The command map was made by Burniole and Chris has made the space fighter ships brushwork

The map can be downloaded in the downloads section or by clicking the link below :

(nUllSkillZ) #2

:banana:
Marko is back.

Nice idea.
007’ish :smiley: .

Map looks good (as always) from what I can see from screenshots.

(Constra) #3

You got that right !
And yeah cool ! :slight_smile:
Finnaly released it :wink:

(murka) #4

omg those pics are soooo cool, gotta try this one

(ajdude) #5

WOWZA

I think i explained myself lol…

(Donpedro) #6

O M G
very good map, congrat, i like this new style
but OMG this map is 13 MB and 10 MB of this are lightmaps!!!
i never seen something like this before :open_mouth: :open_mouth:

(Erls) #7

Looks great Marko. I know another Axis attack map, especially from you guys, is always greatly appreciated.

Also, I’ve been trying to get ahold of you, as I (and many others) have a question for you. We cannot host two of your maps (Daybreak and Egypt) on Bunker1, as they suffer from the MAX_GAMESTATE_CHARS EXCEEDED error. We are wondering:

  1. If you know how to fix this, would you be willing to fix the maps so they can run
    OR
  2. If you do not care to fix this, is there anyway in which Bunker Gaming could get the map file, and then fix it?

Bunker1 is a 64 man ETPub server, extremely popular, and the forums are at:
http://bunker.aaxxss.com

(DC9) #8

Good Job MLB.

Seriously, you guys were getting bored waiting for ET:QW so you thought you’d build your own right? :smiley:

I’ve gone through it a couple of times and everything looks really good. I have run into some FPS fluxuation in a few spots - mostly where the computer banks are (the ones that look like the Axis forward spawn). I’ll do more testing to pin-point the spots.

(D3C0Y) #9

second screenshot, one of the box-textures isnt correctly aligned on the box

(DerSaidin) #10

You should port that map to Tremulous.

Tremulous is an aliens vs humans FPS set on spaceships and stuff. Your map would fit beautifully.

Its another Q3 engine based game, all you’d have to do is change a few entities, and find/replace some textures… Their mapping forum and mapping wiki (http://tremmapping.pbwiki.com/) would make that pretty easy. Someone on that forum might even do it for you :stuck_out_tongue:

GW.

(Darkfrost) #11

:o Woah, Marko, very nice!

(webio) #12

MLB are back with a vengence LOL Good work i like it alot

(89blitz) #13

:o
Thats for Enemy territory!?!?!!?
Nice job :):):):slight_smile:
Good art work :slight_smile:
looks so futuristic

(Erls) #14

Alright, this map is currently running on Bunker1 (/connect bunker1.aaxxss.com, 2.60). We’ve already played a couple matches on it, and I believe I’ve noticed a couple changes/fixes/concerns that I’ll post later on this week, after I’ve played a couple dozen matches on it.

The main thing I’m looking for is playability and map flow, so I probably won’t be pointing out many small bugs or glitches.

So far, it looks great, plays smooth (with a crappy laptop).

(Igloo) #15

Yeah, nice map Marko. But IMO this should be run by Jedi Knight: Jedi Outcast :twisted: Interesting how this will looks like in-game… I need to check it somewhere if I get IP!

(CTF_Halo was made in space, but it’s completely something else… 8))

Greetings,
Igloo

(Marko) #16

Hi guys and thanks for all the inputs.

I’m having quite a few suggestions to improve the map, mainly on indications to help players and not make Starbase look like a maze.
I’m planning to add all the teleporters on the command map and maybe add indications on sign boards to show where the main objective is located.

I’m really eager to see how the map runs on your server Erls. I think large servers help point out quickly the main flaws in a map layout.

As far as MLB Egypt & Daybreak are concerned, I’ve already had a suggestion about this problem on my forums and don’t really understand what is causing the problem. Some people tend to say it’s too many pk3 files in the server folder, some consider it’s too much spammage on the console. Anyhow, I can always help in making a “light” version of the map for you to test if you wish to have those :slight_smile:

Thanks for all the inputs guys, it’s really appreciated :smiley:

(Erls) #17

Oh, its not my server, I’m just a regular player in the community thats active here. I’ve got a post up in the Bunker forums which is getting some good feedback already, so I should be able to get a nice listing of concerns, questions, issues, compliments, etc… in a couple days. We’ve already had a couple 10v10 on it and it runs pretty good.

ALso, about the other maps. Venice has the same problem, and Chavo gave Bunker permission to modify it. Jecoliah removed close to 200 entities, and found that that has nothing to do with the problem. He’s pretty much going through the map, trying a different ‘fix’ each time, until we can solve the problem. If we find out exactly what it is, we’ll be sure to let you know. Right now we are almost positive it IS NOT about the entity count, instead we think it has something to do with the length of file names involved, ie the bigger they are the more prone a map is to crash.

And yes, if you would care to make a ‘light’ version of those maps, we would love to test them out.

(Erls) #18

Well, here is part 1 of feedback:

So far, we’ve hard 5 or 6 smaller, 20 player max matches. We also jsut finished a larger, 20v20 match. It ran good both times, although we did find a couple choke points, as well as a couple places to perhaps put a barrier.

For the first part:
You can play dead through the two fields as axis, as well as jump through them with speed. Don’t know whether this was intended or not. We also noticed that, with a smart allies defense, they can hold this area for a while (longest hold was 8+ minutes, using rifle nades, flames, and panzers). Although, on the average, it only took 1-2 minutes for axis to break through.

A couple screenshots:
http://www.xfire.com/screenshots/aerler/ss_file-fa7aa206c45d17befe976b4c7d6059528e55fef1.png
The first picture, taken at 16:10:35, is where we think a satchable barrier should be. It would add a bit to the allied defense, which was laking in smaller matches.
The second and third pictures (16:6:31, 16:6:22) are the entrance and exit points were we think a teleporter could be. (6:31 is the exit, 6:22 is the entrance). We noticed that this area, with larger teams (15v15+) is almost impassable to the axis, as allies will camp it and block any airstrike thrown. This teleporter would not change the map a ton, only remove a choke point. The allies still would be able to defend the ares, they would jsut need to be smart about it.
Final part: We had a thought about the final part. Our thoughts are: Only let the axis plant at the second and third level, not at the bottom. Also, the jumps pads that push you to the objective there are turned on by building the control room, and turned off if it is destroyed. This would make the final stage slightly tougher for axis, as they would need to build the control room and defend it.

http://www.badongo.com/file/2728950
The above is a small demo of the two choke points we found. I’m going to try and demo more of the map later on, the next time it is on in the rotation.

Also, the one other thing I’ve heard a lot about: “Where is the damn X-wing!” It seems a lot of people would like to see an X-Wing from Star Wars. If you want to, it might be funny to see one between the tubes at the start? LOL!

All in all, so far everyone has enjoyed it. Playability is good, FPS is good, and it seems to run great with 5v5 and 20v20. Once again the MLB crew has made a great map!

(Sauron|EFG) #19

I suspect the second problem is also etpub related, at least I can’t jump through in etpro (>700 UPS).

It’s fun just strafe jumping around the map thanks to the lower gravity and flat surfaces. :slight_smile:

edit
It’s a bit annoying that you can toss the dynamite through the blast doors. :wink:

(macbeth) #20

yes but too bad :now not anymore axis and allies CP (venice)