SilentRaine, on 05 January 2013 - 02:53 AM, said:
Was there any part of the map that you felt was weak in your mind or hard to design while you were attempting to stay pretty close to the original?
The most difficult decision in making Landslide was, oddly enough, the placement of the red and blue bases. The natural structure on blue's side and the low elevation of red's side made it seem like it might simply not work, but after moving red forward a little and building off a mirrored structure on that base, it's balanced and seems relatively in the spirit of the original.
The weakest part of the map, on the other hand, feels like the satellite bases (Rockets). I just can't get the aesthetics for them to make me a happy man. Budget, lighting and piece-count limitations have largely shaped Landslide, and that's a little frustrating. I'd prefer not to use coliseum windows as ramps or upside down landing pads as platforms (at Snipe, actually) given neither is smooth, but they're the only appropriately-sized flat things that I can afford for these locations.
SilentRaine, on 05 January 2013 - 02:58 AM, said:
My opinion is I would use the Terrain of the middle of Ravine more to your advantage to compress the Map somewhat, and lower the Height variation so you can add Tunnels or more solid appearing Ramps there close to the bases Sniper towers I believe they are in the original.
I don't believe there is any terrain in the middle of Ravine to use to my advantage, honestly. There's like, one large rock near the blue base, but outside of that everything needs to be built from the ground up. I also don't intend to add any tunnels or anything too far reaching from the original design of Avalanche. I like its simplicity.
As for lowering the height variation, I think there are a few problems with it:
1) The outer ring would then be at the same height or higher than the central structure, not only in contrast with Avalanche, but at a detriment to how the map plays. I already had to lower the central structure to align more with the bases, and I think I've hit the sweetest spot possible within the limitations of Ravine's static geometry. I want to avoid Laser looking across or down at Shotgun.
2) Lowering the central structure weakens it relative to the bases, and I'm already worried the bases are too strong. The red base can't be lowered any further and the blue base, although it could be lowered, I believe it would be at a sacrifice to its design—the red base is already making this concession, and that's partially to balance its forward placement.
3) Assuming I squish blue base and the central structure down, and restructure the middle to cut the now flat sightline, I'm not really being afforded the budget then to fudge around with trying to make a natural structure. I would probably be able to solidify the ramps, but I don't believe that necessarily benefits the gameplay immensely, or even enough to counter-balance how much a low central structure redefines the map.
All of that said, it's certainly something I'll consider and play around with.
At this juncture, I'm less concerned about large restructuring and themes, and more concerned about gameplay. Available cover, sightlines, and power positions. How encounters play out in given areas. Weapon and vehicle placement and resupply times. Spawn locations, especially in CTF. Things like that.
Thanks for all of the feedback, though! It gives me a lot to think about.
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, I think the Meltdown map has the perfect styling, and Grav Lifts, I would love to see them give us a larger scale map with that Texture style, with a terrain similar to snow, that is my dream to be honest lol.
