The Middle Ground

[swamp-cecil]

The Middle Ground

B1
{

The main battlefield

The human base. All bases are the same except for the txtures and different layouts

Building under a door is not very wise. it instantly does 1000 damage to anything under when it closes. it wont kill players, though.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GHY2MADG
}
PM me if you want it on your server

[Aelita]

Protip to get anybody to play your map: Don't use ATCS textures.

[Xedoh]

Let me guess: Your first map?

Are there any special rules or something else you want to include? (I'm asking because of the 'running the map' file)
Well, it has some (very) serious flaws, however, it could be improved without too much trouble.

Gameplay problems:

• The map is too small. Small maps give humans a significant advantage.
• There is just one way connecting the bases. It's too easy to block.
• The way connecting the bases is really small, making it harder for groups of aliens to pass.
• The bases are quite small, maybe make them bigger. Again, bigger aliens can get problems in there.

Design problems:

• Hall of mirror-effect in some of the blue cages inside the base. Did you forget to set some brushes to details, or are there any duplicate brushes? This might be cause of this problem.
• Lack of design. The Walls and the floor are quite plain. I personally don't mid ATCS-textures, but there should really be more details
• Black textures: While they look good in the central room, they really don't look good at the doors.
• The texture at the blue cages inside the bases looks a bit plain. Maybe use the same texture the forcefields in ATCS use.
• The damaging texture in the central room. I think there's an animated version of this one, might look better.

Now some suggestions that would make the map better (IMHO).

Put all the rooms away from the center and connect them with corridors, so there are 3 ways (including the central area) connecting the 2 main bases.
The central area should stay about the same size, however it could be connected to the other rooms by teleporters. These could be set to activate only after stage 3 is reached, so there's a shorter way during endgame. If you use teleporters, you may consider making the central area nobuild, to prevent blocking the teles.

A little ascii-art how I imagine this:

-|+       Corridors
X         Rooms
A         Alien base
H         Human base
a b c d   Teleporters
         XXX
    +--XXX--+
     |   XXX   |
 +-+      c    +-+
 |                  |
 |          c       |
HHH    XXX    AAA
HHHa  aXXXb  bAAA
HHH    XXX    AAA
 |          d       |
 |                  |
 +-+      d    +-+
     |   XXX   |
    +--XXX--+
        XXX

Sorry fot the bad quality, it's quite hard doing that in a forum.

The central area could really get cool. You could enlarge the damaging part of the floor and put black fog there, so it looks like an endless room. (I could build something like that and show you a screenshot if you want)

[amz181]

The best piece of advice ever. Compile with light.

[swamp-cecil]

The best piece of advice ever. Compile with light.

yeah, i suck with light but ill try

Protip to get anybody to play your map: Don't use ATCS textures.

atcs textures suit themap the best.

Let me guess: Your first map?

ive made many others. none other realesed to the public

yeah, i noticed the hall of mirrors, ill fix it.

[Aelita]

They don't suit the map in the way you used them. Look at other maps, you'll see it's much too repetitive. And there's many other textures besides ATCS, you can surely find something that fits better. Honestly, we're all sick of these maps with ATCS textures. Just because it's the #1 played map doesn't mean we want to look at it elsewhere, god dammit.

[commander scrooge]

Honestly, we're all sick of these maps with ATCS textures. Just because it's the #1 played map doesn't mean we want to look at it elsewhere, god dammit.

Maybe I could help you out with some shader codes?

[swamp-cecil]

Honestly, we're all sick of these maps with ATCS textures. Just because it's the #1 played map doesn't mean we want to look at it elsewhere, god dammit.

Maybe I could help you out with some shader codes?

yes plzzzzzz.
i cant seem to comprehend it.
besides, im 12 years old.

They don't suit the map in the way you used them. Look at other maps, you'll see it's much too repetitive. And there's many other textures besides ATCS, you can surely find something that fits better. Honestly, we're all sick of these maps with ATCS textures. Just because it's the #1 played map doesn't mean we want to look at it elsewhere, god dammit.

UH OH!!!

[Aelita]