October Contest Discussion

[karamazovapy]

The contest server is up! This month, designers were asked to build a level using October's Custom Code. Topics for level discussion may include use of custom code, gameplay, visual design, and general creativity.

This month's entries are:

Level Name - Gametype
C\A/T/A\C|O-M-B|S - Nexus
Hexadecimate - Retrieve
Osteoporosis - Zone Control
Rapidly Thrown - Retrieve
Teleport Madness - Rabbit
TheEnigma - Nexus

Level Designers, remember to keep your identities secret!

[bobdaduck]

Well then. Could have used a bit better of a turn out...
---
TheEnigma: Levels shaped into forms that you play inside of do not work unless an extremely significant amount of effort is expended upon it, and that simply was not the case in this level. Things were placed haphazardly, with little regard to balance or gameplay.

Teleport Madness: Listen. I hate you.

Rapidly Thrown: It looks nice, but gameplay isn't quite up to par. It feels designed for flag trade offs. The teleporting to get into the zone places only accents that.

Osteoporosis: I can't even find the custom code in this level. I think its a tad under average as a zone control, because of the asteroids at the start, and because the zones are so bottlenecked; fight your way in, fight your way out.

Hexadecimate: I like the use of the custom code. I've only played it 1v1, which makes any retrieve level a game of trades.

C\A/T/A\C|O-M-B|S: I love the levelgen, but its also a bit big. I think that it not mattering where you fight, because all fighting is the same (all passages are the same), gears it slightly towards a superior strategy, but I haven't given thought as to what that might be.

[karamazovapy]

Teleport Madness: Listen. I hate you.

I lol'd. It's too bad we wound up with 2 Nexus, 2 Retrieve, 1 Rabbit, and 1 Zone Control. Weird, weird mix of gametypes for a server...oh well! It's only a couple of weeks.

[watusimoto]

Is the game server up?

[karamazovapy]

Is the game server up?

Thanks for the heads-up. It must've crashed between last night and this afternoon. It's back!

[sam686]

Here is what I say about all this maps.

C\A/T/A\C|O-M-B|S - Nexus - This map is a little big, so it is best for lots of players. I do like this auto generate map.

Hexadecimate - Retrieve - i will say this is a very good map, with the asteroids and starting flags being at a good place.

Osteoporosis - Zone Control - Good map, but a small asteroids can squeeze into a spawn point that might cause a player to repeatedly get destroyed with only one spawn point location.

Rapidly Thrown - Retrieve - With teleporters, I find myself playing this map while zoomed out to show the whole map for most of the game play, so I can see where to go next. Now that I got to know this map, I zoom out less often.

Teleport Madness - Rabbit
I found that something is going on with a time limit, this map have a time limit of 2 minute (it shows up as 4 minute), because the time limit goes twice as fast, but only see it skip every 15 seconds. This did confuse me. My guess is this might be caused by a big orange goal covering the entire map.

TheEnigma - Nexus - When one team claims a forcefield and turrets, it can be hard to destroy it. With black and white teams, black turrets is harder to see. Showing the whole map makes everything tiny and hard to see, which is caused by the spawn delay at the top of map.

The Enigma - I'm not a big fan of this one. It seems rather large for a nexus map, and the bases are too strong. With that said, I'd like to see this in a large team game - might be fun.

C\A/T/A\C|O-M-B|S - I love the levelgen aspect, but I feel there aren't enough large open spaces. The tight, long corriders mean you can shoot in one direction and your phasers would keep going, making it hard to survive if chased.

Rapidly Thrown - I like it, but it's quite difficult to score a touchdown. When playing 1v1 I found myself just following the other guy and resetting his flags. This might play out different with more people, but in the end I think the flags would just keep switching around.

Osteoporosis - This might be the point of the level, but it's just too bottlenecked and cramped for me to have fun playing. I guess if you had a ton of people you could get that "insanity" feeling.

Teleport Madness - If there was enough people, you could probably get the "insanity" feeling in this level too. I think that's what the level maker was trying to do, make gameplay crazy and exciting. Unfortunately, that doesn't exactly translate to 1v1. Regardless, I liked certain aspects of the level and I think it has potential.

Hexadecimate - Nice, simple level. There are a couple of things I would have done differently but I don't see any major issues.

[karamazovapy]

C\A/T/A\C|O-M-B|S - Nexus
Can be a bit big, especially for 2-3 players, if 13+ tiles are active. On the up side, it's possible to /restart until a smaller iteration comes up. I'd like to see this with a BBB size crowd.

Hexadecimate - Retrieve
Looks pretty straight-forward, but cleanly designed...wish I could've played it more so far. Might like to see slightly more defensible bases.

Osteoporosis - Zone Control
This author seems to have mis-copied the custom code. I actually have some fun here, but there are a few pretty obvious issues.

Rapidly Thrown - Retrieve
The two-team areas were a bit of a gamble, but I think flag trading would be reduced with more players. Seems a little rapidly thrown together.

Teleport Madness - Rabbit
I actually think this is an interesting level. At least it's something we don't see every day. The forcefields guarding the exits in the top and bottom areas can kill the action, though.

TheEnigma - Nexus
I think shape-levels are a fun change of pace. They usually give me a grin, or at least an amused eye roll. This map fits right in alongside past picture levels.

I'll be curious to see how voting pans out. Thanks for the entries!
(Oh, and I'll put up a voting poll late tonight when I get home from work.)

I'd like to see this with a BBB size crowd.

I could test it at my school. What program do you use to record?