FreeGameDev

Abuse r4
by Joseph "ballist1c" Calabria

About
My second full release, Abuse is a large, open, parkour-friendly Quake-style duel map made smaller by two sets of teleporters.
The map's texturing + lighting is intentionally retro; the greenish tint and repetitive brick textures are reminiscent of old DOOM/Quake 1 days. The layout is also a throwback; i took cues from the Quake 1 map DM4 and CPM3A, the latter of which i also borrowed the name from (Use and Abuse)

Changelog in r4
- changed readme.txt to abuse.txt
- moved mines farther back from teleporters
- Increased radii of teleporters & moved them farther back so projectiles shot at the far edges of the teleporter will still go through, without making you teleport when you are miles away from the actual teleporter because of a huge radius
(this is proving difficult because of cube 2's spherical entity radii)
- changed flamer to grenade on the lava pillars
- messed with mapmodels a bit
- moar clip on the outside


screenies:








Download r4 (Latest)

Download r3
Download r2
Download r1


Thanks to:

- quin for mentioning how much he loved quake 1 maps on #redeclipse, which turned into an inspiration
- Dratz-_-C for influencing the original map's layout
- Evropi for his fair critique and dry Anglo-Greek humour
- all the playtesters

Nice. I can definitely feel the Quake theme when looking around the map.

http://i.imgur.com/DQda5yK.jpg

I know that you are going for retro styling, but this concrete bridge feels a bit too bare IMO. Perhaps you can add some additional textures?

http://i.imgur.com/Cta9GoH.jpg

I think a texture other than the wall texture would make a better backing for the teleporter.

http://i.imgur.com/Aa7CJpp.jpg

The section I outlined in blue feels a bit sparse aesthetically and layout-wise, perhaps you'd consider adding some additional platform/structure in that area? Even some sort of cutout pathway into the wall could make that piece more interesting.

Ballist1c, John_III,
I have an idea for the blue section. What if there were a couple of lavafalls from over the top of the corner platform that blocked a significant part of the front of it from the bridge. It could be alpha or it could be opaque; nuanced shape would be optional. Here are some pictures.Let me know if you want the map edit itself.
Cheers

Looking good Ballistic, nice to see you finish your stuff The theme you are going for is very clear.

I think both John and Dratz made good points, but would like to suggest just a couple of small things as well:
- The brick textures are in place, but don't make them too big. Try to scale them down a bit to make them sharper.
- Some more colourful atmospherical lightiung would give the map a nicer feel. There is plenty of lava, which could emit more light than you used for now.

John_III {l Wrote}:I know that you are going for retro styling, but this concrete bridge feels a bit too bare IMO. Perhaps you can add some additional textures?

We talked about this ingame; i chose a plain texture to show the lava reflection. It also is a distraction when there is a complex texture on an unimportant surface like the floor, and can look ugly.

John_III {l Wrote}:I think a texture other than the wall texture would make a better backing for the teleporter.

Since the teleporter itself is constantly changing colour, it's hard to find a good one, so i went simple again and stuck with the wall.

Dratz-_C {l Wrote}:Ballist1c, John_III,
I have an idea for the blue section. What if there were a couple of lavafalls from over the top of the corner platform that blocked a significant part of the front of it from the bridge. It could be alpha or it could be opaque; nuanced shape would be optional. Here are some pictures. Let me know if you want the map edit itself.
Cheers

Hey dratz, i think your idea is awesome, but the falling lava's texture clashes with the default lava's look. Also, i am afraid that people might camp on the edges of the lava falls, which they can certainly get to.

I will keep thinking about the blue area and how to fix it; for now it is staying simple.

Updated; see first post.

This will probably be the final version unless someone has a good enough idea for the blue area; otherwise, i will be submitting it soon.

ballist1c {l Wrote}:...[T]he falling lava's texture clashes with the default lava's look.

Use textures/lava.jpg as in the screencapture below.

ballist1c {l Wrote}:...[P]eople might camp on the edges of the lava falls ... .

Alpha allows people to see through them--reduces hiding. Noclip allows weapons through--reduces shelter.
Here is an example screenshot of how to proceed with smaller lavafalls and proof that weapons can continue through them.
If you would like any help, please let me know.
Cheers

Hi ballist1c, I played a few rounds of duel and deathmatch and I must say I'm really impressed with the map. I take back everything I said about the room with the pillars, it's brilliant as it is! Definitely your best map yet. My wish for a new, truly great duel map (the other one is Panic) has been fulfilled!

However, there are some minor texturing issues with the map as of r2. I will go through these below. I also believe there is a burning issue of there being far too many weapons on this map, but I will get to that in another post.

With that out of the way, let us begin our tour of horror (jk, I love you really)!

Evropi's whines about Abuse



See the comment.



I think the texture of those two platforms doesn't fit too well. Could you try some other ones?



I tried a few and I found that the texture luckystrike/wallplain1, for instance, fits better. Try a few more though, see which one you like most.



A lot of mappers go to some effort to make their maps look better from above for the benefit of spectators. Since your map relies on teleporters quite a bit, I think you need to sex up the top bit somewhat.

Continued from above (as I hit the limit of 5 attachments per post)


Replace it with a darker texture, perhaps?


It would be brilliant if you could morph this a little so the edges could look more weathered and stuff, like the other pillar. It look a bit too much like a solid block right now. Shouldn't take more than a couple of seconds.

Okay, there is one huge gameplay complaint before I get to weapons.

Depending on the angle you are approaching from, you may not see this at all. Worse yet, it will blow you up even if you're the one putting it down when you walk over it.

Curiously, this does not happen in the other section of the map where these gaps are smaller. The mines simply aren't triggered. From my playtesting anyway.

But I will never make a criticism if I don't have a resolution.


Not only will this add to the DOOM or Painkiller-like appearance of this map, it will also making it appear that you are walking on thin air. Of course, it will have to be tested to make sure that mines dropped there (if at all possible) won't explode, but it will look cool nevertheless.I just hope the Cube engine support making a cross in this manner.

If you can't make something like this or find another solution, honestly, I'd remove the gap outright, however more boring the bridge will look.

And finally:

No-one will ever notice this, but what is going on here? Might want to remove that, every little helps in reducing the wastage of computer resources (and it really does matter on ancient rigs like my old one)!

That last one means there is a cube in that area that is missing lava material like those adjacent to it.

Updated; see first post - sorry i really didn't like any of the suggestions people made for the "blue area", as they either impaired mobility, visibility, or something else. I think it is always good to keep it simple sometimes.

ballist1c {l Wrote}:Updated; see first post - sorry i really didn't like any of the suggestions people made for the "blue area", as they either impaired mobility, visibility, or something else. I think it is always good to keep it simple sometimes.

For what it's worth, I think the blue area is just fine.

Thanks Evropi. I was the one who originally made a general suggestion about how to layout the "empty" area in question. I like the diagonals and that there is some negative space separating one route from a corner. It was out of respect for John_III that I worked to find a compromise.
Cheers

When I get home from school today, I will update to r4 with:

- changed readme.txt to abuse.txt
- moved mines farther back from teleporters
- Increased radii of teleporters & moved them farther back so projectiles shot at the far edges of the teleporter will still go through, without making you teleport when you are miles away from the actual teleporter because of a huge radius
(this is proving difficult because of cube 2's spherical entity radii)
- changed flamer to grenade on the lava pillars
- messed with mapmodels a bit
- moar clip on the outside

quin, sorry for leaving so abruptly during your review, if you have anything else valuable to say, then please post it here ^^

Updated; see first post

ballist1c,
It is always a pleasure to see you make progress in your endeavors.
Cheers

Map seems to play well online with others. Demo of the play-test session attached.

I like it, plays well. But the sky is too simple -.-