tbd_chess

[silent skies]

Version 1.4 ~ Released 11/17/2010

Download Map File

Version 1.41 released. Some important geography changes, gameplay changes and aesthetical changes.



Change Log v1.41
- Small turret fix (had mixed up angles for some blue turrets in v1.4)

Change Log v1.4
~ Pawn over base rotated 45 degrees and extended over base a little, to (hopefully) hinder lobs from top a bit.
~ The king platform increased in size. King moved upward to compensate new platform.
~ One of the shadows for the king removed. Hopefully less 'trippy' now.
~ Spawns moved down closer to base.
~ Bomb spawn moved up and back a bit (was too close to base ... moved back a bit so as not to interfere with spawn points, i.e. to prevent people accidentally picking up bomb when spawning)
~ A tiny 'lip' added right in front of each base to hinder attacks a bit.

Version 1.31 is out. There have been a few geography changes, turret changes and various other small changes. Please see the mock-up below:

Change log v1.31
~ Red team objects (turrets, etc) were accidentally placed on layer behind map objects. Problem fixed.
Change log v1.30
~ Pawn triangles on the mid-left and mid-right of the map flattened at the tip. Turrets in this area reduced to 1 (from 2)
~ Top bishop on either side of the map moved to the top corners of the map, and turret in spawn area placed on top of it, giving it a better firing angle.
~ Power-ups located on the inside of the tiny semi-circle replaced with another turret.
---- This makes current turret count 5 for each team
---- This makes current neutral power-up count 4 for entire map (down from 6)
~ Top middle of the map widened / opened up a bit to avoid it being a 'randa fortress'


Change log v1.2:
- First and foremost, the colors have been completely redone. The bases are now black and shades of very dark gray and simplified from previous versions. I abandoned the charcoal-style used for the pieces when making the bases.
- The pieces themselves are now red and blue, which at this point matches the team colors. These two changes completely fix the contrast issue. (I hope)
- Background color (when turning off the marble background) is a mid-toned gray, so you can see the platforms. Smoke is still black, name tag color is black.
- The rooks/bases have been moved upwards a bit. Now even an explodet can move under them (and between the rooks for a bomb) with ease.
- The 'pawn octagon' or 'pawn circle' or whatever you want to call it has been effectively cut in half, making the powerup near it far more accessible and opening up the base a lot more. The top half was moved back a little bit to compensate for the base moving up, in an effort to try and keep the lobbing situation more or less the same, though this new layout needs testing.
- Many of the pawns repositioned to accommodate new turret placements.
- The queens have now been moved very close together. This solved an issue where sometimes the bomb or other powerups would fall between the queens after a player died, making them impossible for teammates to reach unless equipped w/ reverse thrust (or randa). The powerup when falling in that area now rests on the queens' crowns.
- Turrets:
a) All turrets are now of equal size
b) Turret on king platform removed.
c) The turret on the bottom half of the pawn octagon removed.
d) Additional turret added to the pawn triangle on the borders (there are now 2). The other turret is not on the pawns' head anymore, but the platform itself (allowing me to keep the turret a normal size without it looking goofy)
- Redoing all the art made me realize that there were tiny little flaws in places with object size and in some cases object placement (affecting the symmetry of the map). All those issues have been fixed.
- Spawns have been repositioned from previous versions, though not significantly moved.


Version 1.1 [old]

I got a lot of positive feedback regarding the map, thanks! I've released a new version, addressing a lot of concerns testers had.

Change log v1.1:
- Added in the 8th pawn for each side. There are now 2 pawns in the little triangles on the mid-left and mid-right. This positioning doesn't affect balance at all, it's more aesthetic than anything else.
- Background slightly lightened some more, and foreground pieces slightly darkened. This hopefully will help any contrast issues.
- Team colors changed to Red and Blue. I am personally not a fan of this change myself, but it was suggested that it would be easier to track your own plane if there was a contrast like this. If people don't like the change I'll just revert it back.
- Damaged planes now give off black smoke, not gray, making it easier to see.
- Added a turret to each side, near the top spawns. See image above.
- Fixed the map border so it's now part of the objects layer. If you turn parallax backgrounds off, only the marble background goes to black, not the board trim (important since the trim is collidable) (Thanks nip for pointing this out!)
- The king platforms got a lot of complaints regarding their positioning, so I have moved them forward and down a bit, opening up the space around the base significantly.
- When exporting, I decreased the JPEG quality from 10 to 8, hopefully helping out with the map file size, which krawz tells me was excessively large when compared to other maps.

Version 1.0 ~ released 7/9/2010

Download Map File

[Mandrad]

Oi,
Map looks short and to vertical but, at least for now, my comments will stick to the graphics.
1st and most important of all, checks paterns are ugly (unless in vespas or racing related iconography) - it will be very hard to reach a pleasent result with them. The fact that you beveled them doesnt help too, keep'em flat, chess board is as flat as it gets.
If u really want to insert them, i would go for bigger, flat, low contrast squares in background. Maybe you could join the cloth and the checks to make a background image. - Anyone who can manage photoshop can help you on that (i would love to help but im hands full now). The objects should follow same logic and have sharp corners.
Making all figures look good will be a pain. So i have to say good luck.
Nice to have more players going for map creation.

[wolf'j'max]

Just my firs thoughts:
-the map is a bit too short. I would stretch it our a bit.
-between the 2 chess pieces i think a bit of extra space is needed.
-the graphics are really awesome. I really like it.
- At the top left and rightfrom the middle there are 2 pieces with a turret on it. The distance between that and the ceiling is a bit too small i think.

In short: i think it needs a few tweaks on the design but overall i like it =] good job!

Edit: i just counted the chess pieces and they're good i like that =]

[mlopes]

Those 2 pawns in the center of the map will cause some lol kills. Keep'em there.

About the checkers pattern, I don't know what to say till I see it in game, because the scale matters in this patterns, cause if it is too small it can cause some strange visual effect.

[hurripilot]

Assuming that every object in the map is solid, it looks a bit tight. There don't seem to be any areas where players can stretch out a bit and have a good ol' fashioned dogfight. Perhaps keep all the objects the same but stretch the corners of the map out a bit?

P.S. - Nice umlaut, skies :P

[Kuja900]

On first glance this map looks really tight.

[A Nipple]

I think mandrad is wrong, I tink the chess effect should be bigger as if u have zoomed in on the board more, but i think 3D look on the check patter would look better kinda like cave when it was made more 3D ish! In terms of tight ness, I think if the scale of the two knight cemi circles was reduced it would allow more flow over the top and maybe creat more dog fightness like hurri suggested. Also maybe connecting the two pwns just aboce the centre rather than keeping that vertical gap would be nicer to OR you could keep the scale of the semi circles, get rid of the two pwn pieces that are on those small bits and have them coming of the bottom of the large semi circle so you have the two pointing up and two coming of the bottom directly on the underside!

just some ideas

[tyr]

Originally Posted by Kuja900

On first glance this map looks really tight.

same for me
looks like explodet is going to be really strong here

[A Nipple]

Originally Posted by tyr

same for me
looks like explodet is going to be really strong here

by tight do u mean not much space OR REALLY SICK?! 8/

[silent skies]

Thanks for the comments!

Assuming that every object in the map is solid

They are.

Okay, general consensus is that it's too crowded + short. I'll try extending the width by ... what, 500 pixels? 1000? (Currently 3000).

Oi,
Map looks short and to vertical but, at least for now, my comments will stick to the graphics.
1st and most important of all, checks paterns are ugly (unless in vespas or racing related iconography) - it will be very hard to reach a pleasent result with them. The fact that you beveled them doesnt help too, keep'em flat, chess board is as flat as it gets.
If u really want to insert them, i would go for bigger, flat, low contrast squares in background. Maybe you could join the cloth and the checks to make a background image. - Anyone who can manage photoshop can help you on that (i would love to help but im hands full now). The objects should follow same logic and have sharp corners.
Making all figures look good will be a pain. So i have to say good luck.
Nice to have more players going for map creation.

Thanks for the good tips!

A chess theme imho would seem weird without a chessboard pattern of some sort, but I'll try and find a pattern with flat, big squares at lower contrast, perhaps w/ a woodwork pattern, and at least see how it looks. A light contrast of 'light brown' and 'slightly darker brown', probably. But perhaps a generic woodwork pattern (i.e. w/o checkerboard pattern) would work better?

I felt the checkerboard pattern, if it will be in there at all, works better as the objects' texture. If it's in the background then it might really screw with people's perceptions while their planes move over it, even worse would be if the background were parralax (I think I'll avoid parralax for this map, though, don't see much point to it for this kind of setting).

The comment about the objects matching the checker pattern in terms of sharpness makes a lot of sense, actually. I'll rework the current theme into straight-line complex polygons, the little circles in the middle can become little squares or maybe little hexagons, etc.

As for the figures, I kind of like their flat appearance, but I'll look around for other clipart that might work better.

I'll rework it tonight.

[mlopes]

Originally Posted by A Nipple

i think 3D look on the check patter would look better kinda like cave when it was made more 3D ish!

Maybe something like this KDE wallpaper by Nuno Pinheiro. At first it seems it will be distracting but when you try it, it works like a charm (in KDE because it integrates nicely with the system, I tried it on Mac OS and it doesn't fit at all). You can probably find something that will work, it's just a matter of investing some time in it.

[A Nipple]

Originally Posted by mlopes

Maybe something like this KDE wallpaper by Nuno Pinheiro. At first it seems it will be distracting but when you try it, it works like a charm (in KDE because it integrates nicely with the system, I tried it on Mac OS and it doesn't fit at all). You can probably find something that will work, it's just a matter of investing some time in it.

looks pretty sweet!!

[wolf'j'max]

3500x2000. Go go! I really want to play this map outside of the map editor ~.~

[Kuja900]

Originally Posted by A Nipple

by tight do u mean not much space OR REALLY SICK?! 8/

The first one -_-

[Stormich]

Looks like a young girl in her prime.

[[Y]]

Just a couple of quick suggestions:
-make the map bigger by expanding the space between the middle area (with the knights) and the bases and adding a couple of obstacles
-lower the king pieces next to the bases to make the lower bombing route more viable (removing the king altogether and putting it on the above mentioned obstacles might be a better idea)

[hurripilot]

Originally Posted by Stormich

Looks like a young girl in her prime.

I love you, Storm

[A Nipple]

Originally Posted by [Y]

Just a couple of quick suggestions:
-make the map bigger by expanding the space between the middle area (with the knights) and the bases and adding a couple of obstacles
-lower the king pieces next to the bases to make the lower bombing route more viable (removing the king altogether and putting it on the above mentioned obstacles might be a better idea)

skies redshift is winnar ;p =]

p.s. incase i didnt make it clear [Y] = mapmaker redshift lawl

[silent skies]

Okay, I've taken most if not all the criticisms and tried to remake the map from scratch.

At any rate, here's a remake of the geometry in the map editor... may as well get that down solid before applying textures again. (and yes, all the pieces are white in this screenshot :P)

- map size 3500x2000
- objects aside from the chesspieces are now more blocky as opposed to curvy
- stuff near ceiling moved down a bit
- the central 'knight panels' sized down a (very tiny) bit and also moved close together, opening up the area around it significantly
- the central pawns shifted away from each other, making the powerup easier to get
- the king moved down a little bit. Maybe not far enough down? Maybe shift him over to the right a bit?
- the pawns originally floating on two squares above the middle have been moved to the underside of the top panel.

Your thoughts?

*note: forgot to flip the central-right pawn. will do later.

[[Y]]

So I played around with it in paint, and made some changes (circled in red) that I didn't want to bother explain in words.

All spawn points were supposed to be horizontal, but I couldn't figure out how to precisely rotate them.

Also the two powerups at the bottom seem kind of useless since they're so isolated from the rest of the map that no one would waste the time to go down there to get them. I'd suggest making them more accessible or getting rid of them altogether.

Also also, this map (or more specifically its center) seems to be built as a neutral bomb map. Might want to test out both a neutral bomb version and a team bomb version.




p.s. <3 carvel ice cream

[A Nipple]

could u half or take some length of a bar at the bottom towards the back might help access the accerory better?! =?

[silent skies]

Would moving the powerup to the top of the horizontal bar be a good fix for this?

[A Nipple]

hmm maybe the under tunnel may work what u think redshift?

[[Y]]

Originally Posted by A Nipple

p.s. incase i didnt make it clear [Y] = mapmaker redshift lawl

can't tell whether you're kidding or not

Either way, I am definitely redshift, and if I log onto my other forum account named "innelyte" and deny this, then just don't listen to me because I am redshift; hear me rawr.

[A Nipple]

Originally Posted by [Y]

can't tell whether you're kidding or not

Either way, I am definitely redshift, and if I log onto my other forum account named "redshift" and deny this, then just don't listen to me because I am redshift; hear me rawr.

lol its cause i said to skies who to ask when he first made the map before he put this up, i said u but people on forums who use diff names is confusing so i felt the need to tell him incase lol

[Kuja900]

Redshift is innerlyte on the forums, [Y}=FU in game.

[silent skies]

ok so so

version, uh, I'm calling this '0.4' atm.



- Moved the king out, spawns down, added two extra turrets on back pawns.
- Bottom powerups moved to above the horizontal knight-block for easier access.
- Added those fancy wood textures. A compromise, I guess: it's not a pure checkerboard pattern, but the alternating colors give it a quasi-checkerboard feel (or at least I hope so).
- that's about it. needs playtesting. Still a teambomb map, I'll try neutral bomb later if more ppl think it's worth it.

I'm working on better textures for the object borders instead of those thick lines, as well as other textures, but it will take many hours of meticulous cut & paste action, so here's the un-beautified version for playtesting if anyone wants a shot at that, and would like to give me extra feedback on gameplay mechanics.

Map:
http://www.quickfilepost.com/downloa...37ac2d15b76b63

[Mandrad]

Originally Posted by A Nipple

I think mandrad is wrong, I tink the chess effect should be bigger as if u have zoomed in on the board more, but i think 3D look on the check patter would look better kinda like cave when it was made more 3D ish!

Where did i said chess effect should be smaller? Or is it the 3D?

Originally Posted by wolf'j'max

3500x2000. Go go!

I think this is a bad size.
Its the height, 2000 is tooooo much. I think this layout would work with something around 1400 to 1500.
The bottom is bringing you problems - the long plataform and powerup issue - i say crop it, forget that plataform and crop that dead pixels zone.

Originally Posted by Stormich

Looks like a young girl in her prime.

Pissed myself

In your last version you brought the spawns to the base and gained top dead corners (noone will ever go ther). IMO top spawns were ok. Now its too crouded at the bottom. It would be a mess with people spawning and people going/leaving the base to refill health.
I definetely would use that wood effect in the background (with the squares/checks) but with softer contrasts.
If the background_vs_objects contrast is good enough, avoid using outlines, cause u dont need them. Kill everything u dont need and ur map will be prettier.

[mlopes]

Originally Posted by Mandrad

I definetely would use that wood effect in the background (with the squares/checks) but with softer contrasts.

That will probably look awesome. But in that case, the light wooden walls should switch to polished white and the dark ones to polished black.

[silent skies]

Okay, v0.5, one screenshot of the map setup, another of the art w/o alty objects (editor screenshot function still not working for me):

Changes:
- The bottom of the map slimmed down significantly, and width reduced a small amount. Current size: 3382x1583. (current size was determined in part by background)
- The objects in the center shifted up a bit.
- Rooks/base shifted back.
- King shifted slightly up/forward, pawn w/ turret attached. Powerup placed beneath the king.
- 2nd knight moved to top corner.
- Spawns put back in top corner.
- Added a background. The trim of the chessboard is collidable.
- Redid colors of the chess pieces to make them appear more black & white instead of gray and... gray.
- Redid colors of the objects. Both the fill and outline have wood textures, just colored differently.




I have an extra graphic or two I'm probably gonna add to the background. I'm also going to try and add shadows to the objects, making them appear to jut out. If I can figure it out in the editor, I'll possibly have the shadows cast on any planes that pass underneath. (A transparent black shape or whatnot).

Thoughts?

I'm hunting around for better-looking chess pieces. Their simplicity worked well enough in the first version of the map, but the more elaborate this gets (esp with the new background) the less they seem to fit in. I'm starting to have the same attitude towards the objects, but I'm not sure how to remake them atm (too tired). The nicer clipart pieces on the web cost upwards of $30, sometimes much more, and I definitely don't have the money at the moment, at least not for clipart.

[Kuja900]

Errrr not really a fan of that background

[A Nipple]

Originally Posted by Kuja900

Redshift is innerlyte on the forums, [Y}=FU in game.

o yea innerlite =s sorry about that!

[Mandrad]

Looks good to me. Glad you shrinked the eight.
Design is now solid! Less is more!
The background; theres always a problem with brown - its one of the most hated colours.
I think u should use only one of the square textures, i would choose the light one, and lower its brightness a bit to make the darker squares. If you dont know how to do it, send me the square texture image and i will get some options u can choose from.
I wouldnt use textures on the objects nor outlines as i told u before - i would go for clean blacks on white vice-versa.
Game pieces; are fine. Of course some master art would be more catchy, but their fine. Only issue to me is that ur using outlines. Pieces are small, so its not a good option because u loose in small details. - U can easily understand this by looking at the white Queen "arms" or collar - theyr thinner than the outline.
I bet ur tired, lots of work here! Nice work mate

[mlopes]

There seems to be a little more open space on the top, which is good, but... it seems there is kind of an semi-circle from one base to another. I think that will concentrate the action to much around that semi-circle, and will lead to bomb drops from far away, cause if no one block it, you probably can get a hit on the base droping a bomb from about the middle of that open area.



The green line is the direct path from base to base and the blue marks are the spots I thing from there on it's probably possible to hit the base (you can also drop it directly from the top, but I think that's not so probable because it's an harder place to reach and it's easier to block).

[ufo]

i liked the whole bottom third of V0.4, it was far more interesting then what you have goin on down there now. otherwise, this map looks mighty fun zwan. be sure to make a map that you think plays well after a few of the logistics are elaborated upon by the community because 'you can't please all the people all the time' (and last night, all those people were at my show)

[silent skies]

There seems to be a little more open space on the top, which is good, but... it seems there is kind of an semi-circle from one base to another. I think that will concentrate the action to much around that semi-circle, and will lead to bomb drops from far away, cause if no one block it, you probably can get a hit on the base droping a bomb from about the middle of that open area.

After a quick playtest, the lobbing sweet spot (for a loopy on full afterburner) is actually the dark square directly above the knight. If lobbed from where you indicated, the bomb arcs down too much and slams into the ground right next to the rook.

Is it too much of an issue? I can easily shift that pawn circle over a bit to block a lob like that.

The background; theres always a problem with brown - its one of the most hated colours.
I think u should use only one of the square textures, i would choose the light one, and lower its brightness a bit to make the darker squares. If you dont know how to do it, send me the square texture image and i will get some options u can choose from.

I think I have the function figured out well enough. I could make them different colors too.

Problem is I don't quite understand your criticism here. Simply lowering the brightness of the light-square texture turns it into a dark brown, almost exactly the same as the square you're saying looks ugly right now, unless... should I try to make it almost black?

[Mandrad]

Originally Posted by silent skies

Problem is I don't quite understand your criticism here. Simply lowering the brightness of the light-square texture turns it into a dark brown, almost exactly the same as the square you're saying looks ugly right now, unless... should I try to make it almost black?

What i meant was that u could use only one of the textures and make it less contrastant by brightening or darkening a copy of it to make the other squares.
I dont consider any of the textures ugly, they are diferent and thats the reason why imo you should pick 1 of them. Not that this botters me.

[wolf'j'max]

Originally Posted by ufo

i liked the whole bottom third of V0.4, it was far more interesting then what you have goin on down there now. otherwise, this map looks mighty fun zwan. be sure to make a map that you think plays well after a few of the logistics are elaborated upon by the community because 'you can't please all the people all the time' (and last night, all those people were at my show)

yeah, should have that bottom. it would also allow you to put the center up a bit. which makes these bomb drops mlopes told us about impossible.

[silent skies]

Okay, I'll try that, while keeping the current proportions.

Found a marble chessboard stock texture that looks really good, thinking it will work a lot better than what I currently have here.

http://fantasystock.deviantart.com/a...ture-138510331

[A Nipple]

it looks really good skies what server is it on atm? i wanna go try it 8D

nip