scdm1 [alpha] by Scorch_

[Scorch_]

scdm1(temporary name) is a smallish duel map for quakelive with the intent of having fast game play similar to maps like aerowalk and toxicity.
This is the map that evolve out of my last map "frostbite" as you can see just from the screen shots there is not much left of that map.









Download

Feedback:
some specific things I'm looking for feedback on are

• item locations
  (The current item locations aside from mega, ra, and possibly ya are just temporary.
  I feel the map could use a few more items like some shards and an orange bubble.
  For ammo I tried to keep them in pairs but I'm thinking now that its a bad idea as some parts of the map feel a tad bare while others feel pretty loaded up with items)
• moving around the map
  (Do you find moving around the map to be smooth and enjoyable or do you find your self getting caught on geometry offten?
  Also I'm aware that this spot is a bit odd to use and the current implementation is just temporary)
• map balance
  (are there any spots in the map that feel to strong and if so do you think these could be fixed by moving the items around?)

some miscellaneous notes:

• I've yet to decide on a theme for the map so all textures and such are temporary.
  A few ideas I had were some sort of sewer type map with all sorts of pipes and such similar to the ql map "corrosion"
  a scfi space theme like the ql map "terminatria" or a map that uses the texture set from the ql map "fluorescent".
• Lighting has not really been worked on at all so for the time being I've just placed lights around the map at random.
  while the map should look fine on most settings I have noticed some problems in spots when using r_lightmap 1 and r_mapoverbrightbits 1.
• The ceiling has also not really been worked on making some rooms feel a bit big and others feel a bit small.

[Fjoggs]

This is slightly off topic, but your name sounds familiar. Did you post here years ago? Those screenshots you/someone else posted were amazing.

I could be wrong though.

[Scorch_]

This is slightly off topic, but your name sounds familiar. Did you post here years ago? Those screenshots you/someone else posted were amazing.

I could be wrong though.

There are a few other scorches out there (though I've not actually seen them) so it might be one of them and the only map I've ever posted here was less than stellar.

[Theftbot]

For some reason map dosent run?

[Scorch_]

For some reason map dosent run?

What sort of problem are you having? The map should work and just to be safe I downloaded it and ran it just fine in both wolfcam and ql.

[Theftbot]

Thought it was for Q3

[Scorch_]

Thought it was for Q3

My mistake I should have made it more clear for what game it was for sorry about that.

On a related note here is the newest version of my map

Download

Change log:
Made some changes the center of the map
Standardized all the doors on the map also added doors to upper mega room
Redid the area next to the RA teleporter turning it into a small room (also removed the small platforms used to jump back up out of ra room)

notes:
Not happy with RA room while I like the idea of not being able to leave RA room from the way you came (assuming you dropped down from the center) I don't think I'm executing it very well since its still pretty easy to escape from unlike other maps that have something similar such as dm13.

I'm also a bit unsure of what to do with the room next to RA room that leads to the teleporter while I do like this room and it helps RA room not feel so open I've yet to find any real use for it other then just a room that leads to the teleporter I've thought about maybe putting a weapon here but I'm pretty happy with current weapon placement other ideas include adding a shotgun, a yellow health bubble, or moving the green bubbles from rail to this room.

lastly I think lg room is a bit plain I'm not sure if this is something some detailing can fix later on or if should try and rework part of the room.

[Pat Howard]

hi, scorch. i just took a look at the map. i like that room in the screenshot.

you may or may not have noticed this, but your MH room is almost exactly the same as the one in cityy's "Silence". it's fine to use ideas in other maps as a base, but see if you can stretch your creativity a bit to add something new to that area.

your RA room is a little bland. remember the RA is going to be the most contested item in the map. therefore, you want to put it somewhere interesting with cool fighting angles. how about where the RL is now?

i don't think the two-way teleporters in the dead-end stairs/halls are really working. there's no need to bury them off in those little corridors. make them more accessible by placing in rooms.

scale is good and you already have some neat geo. keep it up!

pat

[Scorch_]

Hey Pat thanks for looking at my map I took your feedback and incorporated it into the map let me know what you think.

Download

Change log:
Moved RA to RL, RL to rail, and rail to RA
Redesigned what used to be the RA room now the rail room. 1 2
Redesigned the mega room. 1 2
Moved the LG room teleporter up 1

Notes:
Still think LG room is pretty boring and could use some reworking just not yet sure what to do with it.

Pretty happy with the way the rail room turned out (old RA room) as it does a good job of connecting the upper level of the map. The only problem I have with it now is it only works in one direction since the teleporter leading to RL room (old rail room) is a one way teleporter while I have thought of making it a two way like the other one the I feel like doing so might make the room to strong.

For the mega room I definitely did not intend to copy Cityy's design it was inspired by the mega room of my last map... which was inspired by Cityy's "cure" map atleast the diagonal bridge part so I guess it sort of came full circle. In any case the room has been redone and I'm pretty happy with the redesign.

One thing that concerns me though is having the new mega jump pad and the YA jump pad so close to one another it feels a bit redundant. I have considered taking one of them out but that causes some problems. In the mega room mega ends up being some what inaccessible and if I remove the YA one it makes the other side of the map a bit stronger since it has many more options for getting to the second level.

Lastly all of the lighting, textures, and effects (like the rings around the armor / mega) are just temporary since I've still not decided on a theme for the map. I've been considering an industrial theme sort of like on the ql maps toxicity, silence, corrosion, reflux, and a few others I'm forgetting but not 100% sold yet since quite a few maps already use that theme.

[Pat Howard]

definitely an improvement, but your armors/MH are too close together, especially the RA and YA are way too easy to scoop up together.

remember, it should take a little more time to get between armors because they are on the same 25-second timer. the MH can be closer to an armor because it is on a different timer and won't always be synchronized.

if you want to read more about this, check out the armors section of my item placement article here, or wviperw's Competitive Level Design Guide here.

you could try putting an armor near where the RL is now, i noticed there isn't much over there.

the two teles coming out of the RG hall seemed confusing to me, but i might just need more time learning the map.

keep it up! i'm sure it will look fancy when you've finished.

[Scorch_]

Hey Pat thanks for the continued feedback as you suggested I moved the YA to the RL area and made some other changes as well let me know what you think.

Download

Change log:
YA moved to RL area 1
Redesigned the YA area 1

Notes:
While I'm pretty happy with the old YA area redesign I'm not quite sure what to do with the room especially this section it feels like an item should be placed there but I'm sort of out of items to place aside from maybe one of the yellows. I also considered adding a 2nd RL and placing it there but I think that might be to many weapons on the map.

Placing the YA in the RL area was a bit tough since I wanted it to fit in seamlessly and not have to make any major adjustments. The spot I ended up going with worked out quite well the only concern I have with it is that it may be a bit to close to the RL.

As for the teleporters in the rail room I probably should have explained them better. If your looking into the rail room from the door way the teleporter on your left is a two way teleporter with the other end being in the LG room and the teleporter on your right is a one way teleporter with the exit being a ledge above the RL/YA room. If you take the right teleporter this allows you to do a clock wise loop around the upper level of the map as you will start from the ledge above RL/YA and end up at the LG room teleporter. But if you were to try and do a counter clock wise loop you would have to jump down in the RL/YA room and make your way over to the rail room.
Its sort of similar to the loop on aerowalk where if you start at the RA/RL teleporter and make your way up the stairs and around the top level of the map you will end up back at that telelporter. The only differance between that one and mine is you can run that loop both clock wise and counter clock wise.

[Pat Howard]

looks good. you could also put the YA on the fence ledge above the PG. but if you do that, you'd have to get rid of the tele into that room. a lot of battles that will happen there will involve one player trying to hold off the other player who just got RA from encroaching on the YA/MH. if the tele is there, it's too easy for him to fly in from above and scoop everything because there is no choke point. without the tele there, the low entrance from the RA is a major choke point and the defending player can spam rockets to keep his opponent away.

about the area that looks like it needs an item, this is why i try not to add detail to my maps before i have the layout and item placement set. you don't need to disperse items evenly throughout your map. in fact, some of the best maps have extremely lopsided item setups, e.g. Aerowalk.

[lvlshot]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3305662/LVL/Item%20Placement%20Guide/aerowalk_overview.jpg[/lvlshot]

note how that whole area behind the LG doesn't have any armor. i don't know much about aerowalk, i've only played it a handful of times and all my knowledge comes from watching pro games. still, i find the uneven distribution of items across the map very interesting as a case study.

[Scorch_]

I definitely think you are right about the right side teleporter in rail room being to strong the reason I added it in the first place was to give the platform on the pillar in RL a reason to be there after I removed the jump pad from rail room (back when it was RA room still) since I thought it was an interesting use of vertical space. It also created the loop on the upper level of the map I mentioned in my last post. I ultimately decided to nix the teleporter and came to a compromise between your suggestion and keeping the platform on the pillar so let me know what you think.

Download

Change log:
Moved YA on top of the pillar in RL room 1
Moved one of the yellow health bubbles to the previous YA spot in RL room 1
Redesigned the old YA room (under lg room) 1
Moved the green health bubbles to where the right side telelporter used to be in rail room 1

Notes:
I agree that you don't always need items in an area but each area needs a purpose whether its where a major item is or just getting the player from point a to point b each area should have some reason. Which is why I ended up using that space as a decoration rather then something that had a function. I suppose if I really wanted to I could have moved the lg down there and moved around all the other weapons on the map but didn't think it was worth it.

I decided to move the yellow bubble to RL since you had mentioned that there was not a lot over there while I think having that plus YA and RL all in the same area may be to much I like the idea of an out of control player being able to grab an armor/weapon and health if needed and if the room ends up feeling to strong I could always move the yellow bubble else where.

Since I really didn't know what to do with the green bubbles I moved to the where the right side teleporter used to be in rail room and added a 5th bubble making them equal to a yellow bubble. I think the spot is alright its a nice way for the person who picks up RA to grab some extra health or maybe someone who is out of control as the bubbles are kinda out of the way.