CONSPIRACY THEORIES CONTEST DISCUSSION

[Quartz]

Well the Conspiracy Theories party came and went, with a decent amount of participation! Thanks everyone for making the time on a relatively short notice.

Now is the time to discuss what you liked and disliked about the contest, especially the individual maps. This one was highly experimental, with half of the maps having some sort of script running in the background. Or, well, foreground in many cases. That does mean some of the maps weren't perfectly playable, so there may be some edits on the way. I will be sure to announce new versions of maps as authors submit new versions.

Authors are also free to use the suggestions that will likely arise in this thread.

This discussion thread will remain open for the foreseeable future, and VOTING will start promptly on Monday, March 26th. Stay tuned!

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For your play testing convenience, the password for level changing in the contest server is:

1804

Please be reasonable while using it. If there is more than one person on the server (i.e. more than just you), don't swap levels out from under people.

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For your convenience: The list of maps. My computer's screenshots are all coming out black, so I guess I won't include pictures!

2 Minutes to Midnight -- 2-Team Retrieve
Three flags, bottlenecks, and apocalyptic/nuclear imagery.

Homosexual Anura Speed Dating -- FFA Rabbit
Frog graphic in the middle, with big six-sided Star of David and Alex Jones references.

D.B.Cooper -- FFA Nexus
The level is the shape of a plane. Hostile turrets, Nexus covered by a Core.

Deepwater Horizon -- 2-Team Nexus
Close quarters Nexus brawl atop an oil rig graphic.

Jaws But With Penguins -- 1-Team Core
Asymmetrical survival/holdout against a legion of bots (penguins).

Jeff the Penguin -- FFA Bitmatch
1 minute, intermission-style map with penguins and a "Pengu? Pengu!" script.

RUSSIA -- 2-Team Retrieve
Large 4-flag retrieve map with a plethora of script-heavy goodness.

Pleiades is Skynet -- 9-Team Core
Massive core map with pieces from several prominent mapmakers.

Timecube -- FFA Rabbit
Rabbit map with map-clearing scripts and harsh words from the levelcontroller.

Bitfighter 020 -- 2-Team CTF
Seekers. Nothing but seekers.

Copy and paste for your own reviewing purposes:

  Code:

[color=#FFA500][b]2 Minutes to Midnight[/b][/color] -- [i]2-Team Retrieve[/i]

[color=#FFA500][b]Homosexual Anura Speed Dating[/b][/color] -- [i]FFA Rabbit[/i]

[color=#FFA500][b]D.B.Cooper[/b][/color] -- [i]FFA Nexus[/i]

[color=#FFA500][b]Deepwater Horizon[/b][/color] -- [i]2-Team Nexus[/i]

[color=#FFA500][b]Jaws But With Penguins[/b][/color] -- [i]1-Team Core[/i]

[color=#FFA500][b]Jeff the Penguin[/b][/color] -- [i]FFA Bitmatch[/i]

[color=#FFA500][b]RUSSIA[/b][/color] -- [i]2-Team Retrieve[/i]

[color=#FFA500][b]Pleiades is Skynet[/b][/color] -- [i]9-Team Core[/i]

[color=#FFA500][b]Timecube[/b][/color] -- [i]FFA Rabbit[/i]

[color=#FFA500][b]Bitfighter 020[/b][/color] -- [i]2-Team CTF[/i]

[bobdaduck]

2 Minutes to Midnight -- 2-Team Retrieve
Cons: This map is everything wrong with retrieve maps. All the worst mechanics: too many flags, too little space, too little innovation, and far too hard to get to the actual flags with all those bottle necks. Not really sure what conspiracy theory this is. A generic doomsday device I guess? I miss the reference.
Pros: The teleporters with the test items are positively genius. Incredibly useful for getting ahead of the bottleneck (not useful enough on this particular map, since the bottleneck is so large that you will run out of shield just flying out it) but still. Little_apple kept replacing the testitem though, and the time to get back was far too long for it to be useful. I would kill him, open it, and then be out of energy for the teleporter- And since he spawns literally right there, I either go in and die, or sit there and die.
Recommends: A long third back passageway into the bases. Shorter bottlenecks. One less flag.

Homosexual Anura Speed Dating -- FFA Rabbit
Cons: Why would you do this. How is this a conspiracy.
Pros: The health bars are a different color, so that's neat.
Recommendations: Kind of cramped, would be fun with like less than four players maybe. So I'd recommend setting a maxplayers. The walls aren't innovative for more than that to be anything more than a kill box but with a rabbit flag.

CIA False Flag Operation -- FFA Nexus
I can't find this in the level directory.

Deepwater Horizon -- 2-Team Nexus
cons: Unfortunately small.A ctually references something intelligible, but I am not sure how the oil spill was a conspiracy. Maybe I am just ignorant of conspiracies?
pros: Well designed, I like the way the oil slick flashes when anyone scores (even though that was probably unintentional), good art, good level "flow".
recommend: I would like just one more passageway on both sides, so that there was more of a feel of "options".

Jaws But With Penguins -- 1-Team Core
cons: Too many bots, a bit too difficult.
pros: Noisy! It feels crazy and hysterical, just like real life penguin conspiracy attacks are. I love the name, I love the concept, I love the flow of the walls.
recommend: It would be easy to spawn bots proportional to how many players are actually in the match; as it stands its kind of hard to stand a chance.

Jeff the Penguin -- FFA Bitmatch
cons: Levelcontroller spam makes it kind of hard to hear anyone talk
pros: Pengu? Pengu.
recommend: Another team for more fleshed out penguin colors maybe? Idk

RUSSIA -- 2-Team Retrieve
cons: Too many resource items! The script is a bit loud. Kinda drowns out the level. Also I think the levelgen is a bit confusing.
pros: Well designed, good theme, probably the best gameplay of the maps this round. If the death effect was removed.
recommend: Tone down the script, Maybe fewer repairables.

Pleiades is Skynet -- 9-Team Core
cons: Kind of hard to know what's going on since its so big. Nine teams is a bit much.
pros: I'm honored to be a team. Kind of fun cores design and stuff.
Recommend: Fewer teams? Idk its a gimmick map gimmicks gonna gimmick

Timecube -- FFA Rabbit
Cons: Literally none.
Pros: We have not seen a level of this calibur since airlock. Everything about this map is flawless. It has my vote, and probably my vote for the next few contests, too. The levelgen spam is perfect, the random effects are perfect, the clock shifting is perfect, it fits the conspiracy perfectly. Its a blast to play, because the craziness is part of the gameplay. It also integrates well; If someone is hiding with the carrot, just kill the core and EVERYONE DIES and that will flush that rabbit out!
Recommends: I am not worthy to make a recommendation for this level at this time.

Bitfighter 020 -- 2-Team CTF
cons: I don't think there is anything wrong with this map.
pros: Minimalist but still fun. I don't want to say "well designed" (I mean its just spybug bricks) but it is certainly very elegant, and pretty fun too. Hope I'm not missing anything about the levelgen. The sides of the map warp you and the hexagons make a hexagon which is cool.
recommend: Don't ever let bobdaduck figure out how you did this script. Bury it in your backyard and forget about it.

[raptor]

I updated the original post with the missing level; it was 'D.B.Cooper'.

[raptor]

2 Minutes to Midnight -- 2-Team Retrieve
Nice looking map. Hard to score and easy to defend. I DO NOT APPROVE of the spinning speed zones. Doomsday is near!

Homosexual Anura Speed Dating -- FFA Rabbit
Simple, small, tight rabbit level. I'm not sure I get the conspiracy: maybe something about Jurassic park and frog DNA? The pink stripe on the ship seems to fit.

D.B.Cooper -- FFA Nexus
A plane looking map (pun intended). Hostile turrets keep you moving. The core protecting the nexus has too much health and makes it likely a flag hoarder will win right as it's destroyed.

Deepwater Horizon -- 2-Team Nexus
Good looking map and funny conspiracy. I like the fast based strategy required. A little cramped but cozy.

Jaws But With Penguins -- 1-Team Core
These penguins are killer. Tough map to win, I suspect the strategy is to preemptively strike the penguins somehow? I like the layout of the map.

Jeff the Penguin -- FFA Bitmatch
Simple map with a monosyllabic levelgen. Seems like a good intermission or waiting room map.

RUSSIA -- 2-Team Retrieve
This is an interesting map with lots of ins and outs. I'm not sure I found all the things the levelgen is supposed to do, but the energy bonus on death is a nice touch. 4 flags for a retrieve is really hard (impossible?), but I guess engineer could tip the balance!

Pleiades is Skynet -- 9-Team Core
I like the look of this map. Pretty impressive sticking so many maps together. I think it's a little on the big side and it's tough to tell what the levelgen is supposed to do. The teams names are hilarious.

Timecube -- FFA Rabbit
This map made me rethink everything I know about the nature of the universe.

Bitfighter 020 -- 2-Team CTF
Very simple looking map. Seeker-and-Boost-only seems like an evil thing to do, but makes for some frenetic play.

[Quartz]

Just as an aside, how the flying knrl do neither of you understand how Homosexual Anura Speed Dating is conspiracy-related when I even put "Alex Jones references" in the short description? A quick Google search is not difficult. The dude is notorious for being a propagator of various conspiracy theories; he's even mentioned six times on the Wikipedia list of conspiracy theories.

That aside...

2 Minutes to Midnight -- 2-Team Retrieve
I adore the graphics but the gameplay is pretty bad. I think three flags are OK, especially given the short time limit––so if it does end up dragging, it's over with zero touchdowns sooner rather than later––but it's bottleneck-y and campy as knrl. Needs less turrets probably, too.

Homosexual Anura Speed Dating -- FFA Rabbit
I can't not love this because it's apparently the next thing in the series of speed dating maps. It's standard FFA Rabbit, plays OK. I would actually suggest something of a random or silly element if you really want it to be like the speed dating maps, but it still fits alongside them nicely enough!

D.B.Cooper -- FFA Nexus
It's Gelato Pt. II. It plays pretty decently but I think it needs less teleporters. If someone is going to be able to hide and play it safe, they need to be threatened with the possibility of being cornered. With those teleporters on the wings, there is no threat of that. Or else you could make the teleporter delay virtually nonexistent so people can give chase faster, maybe.

Deepwater Horizon -- 2-Team Nexus
This map plays shockingly well for how bottle-necky it is. Good job.

Jaws But With Penguins -- 1-Team Core
An awesome survival map. I love it, good work. The way the penguins actually venture slowly into the facility from the outside is especially neat and thematically appropriate. It may not be a "conspiracy theory" in the modern sense, but it is in the classical sense––a simple plot to murder someone(s), a la Julius Caesar.

Jeff the Penguin -- FFA Bitmatch
"Pengu? Pengu!" Congrats on creating a new meme. Bonus points if you go back and forth at the top of the heart and spam the chat mercilessly.

RUSSIA -- 2-Team Retrieve
This is my least favorite map of the competition. It's too vast, too random, too impossible to memorize. I just couldn't get a good grasp of what was going on. Thematically it's awesome, I love the "rigged" votes of either side, i.e. the team flags that are automatic points toward a touchdown.

Pleiades is Skynet -- 9-Team Core
This would be real neat if multiple-team core maps actually worked––you know, like people get cycled off of teams that have been eliminated. (That's a hint, developers) It'd also be neat if this map weren't plagiaristic as all hell and required next to zero skill, so that's a thing. I did appreciate that the cores had differing amounts of health based on fortifications and number of cores, so thanks for not screwing that up.

Timecube -- FFA Rabbit
This one takes the cake on scripting ability, I think. I actually really love the concept––you can either engage in the main battle like your usual Rabbit game, or if you find yourself unable to compete, mess with the ongoing battle by destroying the core in the center and triggering massive death and destruction. This is a great solution to the usual dilemma of Rabbit wherein you become disengaged in the fight and can't find a way to re-enter it effectively.

Bitfighter 020 -- 2-Team CTF
This is a zany bit of randomized CTF fun. I dig it. The script is also *magical,* and I can only imagine the possibilities it creates. Forcing a loadout is absolutely awesome and I'm stealing this script, OK?

2 Minutes to Midnight -- 2-Team Retrieve
In an era of memes and novelties, it's nice to play a somewhat classic competitive retrieve. Don't take the campiness here as a downside -- it's perfect for our 3v3 and 4v4 games as it forces the players to fight each other.

Homosexual Anura Speed Dating -- FFA Rabbit
Solid all-around rabbit map. Played pretty well when we gave it a few goes. Wish there was a tad more things to do, but all in all a solid rabbit.

D.B.Cooper -- FFA Nexus
Ahh now I get it! Nice idea. Flags harvesting is an interesting idea but in practice there's not really a sense of urgency, so not much to do for five minutes. Maybe if the core would disappear for ten seconds at the end of every minute or something.

Deepwater Horizon -- 2-Team Nexus
I like this one a lot, very creative design and team nexus are always fun to play. Plenty of strategy involved in this real tight, small map.

Jaws But With Penguins -- 1-Team Core
Dope name! Kind of a chaotic, crazy map. Needs to be a bit easier to win for the humans but I could also see this being fun if it were like 2 minutes long.

Jeff the Penguin -- FFA Bitmatch
Cute design! Solid intermission map, but needs a couple resource items or something to play with!

RUSSIA -- 2-Team Retrieve
This is really interesting. Flags confused me for a bit at first but I figured it out. Lots of ways to interpret the name I think. My only suggestion is to downsize it a bit as it's pretty large.

Pleiades is Skynet -- 9-Team Core
Speaking of downsizing things... we're not exactly having 10v10 games anymore! I do like the idea of asymmetrical bases, as well as getting to choose whether to defend or attack.

Timecube -- FFA Rabbit
What a creative map! A bit too chaotic for my tastes, but clearly a lot of time spent making this, so bravo.

Bitfighter 020 -- 2-Team CTF
This is pretty awesome, love the pacman-style design and limited-wall approach. Props for a lot of creativity here.

Kanye West vs. the Illuminati -- 2-Team Core
Why wasn't this in the rotation!? I want to play it

[Skybax]

The Pleiades is Skynet script is my favorite script

[watusimoto]

The two things that stood out to me in this crop were I love the "borrowed levels" in Pleiades Is Skynet, and I kind of liked the way the level that inserted Energy Items after killing a player worked. I'm wondering if this should be added to the base game?

I also add I liked the linework in Jeff The Penguin. Cute!

[Quartz]

The two things that stood out to me in this crop were I love the "borrowed levels" in Pleides Is Skynet,

Even watusimoto can't spell "Pleiades." NERF IMMEDIATELY PLEASE.

What level inserted energy items after a player's death? I didn't see that level. Maybe a broken script?

[bobdaduck]

What level inserted energy items after a player's death? I didn't see that level. Maybe a broken script?

That was Russia.

I actually recycled a script that I made for an "arena" server I used to run; All maps on the server were free for all gametypes, and the server featured a global script which caused players to drop health packs on death. I thought Russia might be more interesting with an energy item and a resource item that disappeared quickly; So that you can engineer immediately after battle, but to engineer on the map you have to fight with engineer. Didn't work out, the time we ran it the script had a bug where it wasn't deleting the resource items... Ever. So that made the level cramped and chaotic, when it was supposed to be subtle and strategic.