Official maps - aka the ultimate necro post

[Karl]

Without Maimer instant messaging us every day it seems as though we have lagged behind on making maps official...

So I have gone all the way back to the beginning of time searching for maps that should be made official. You guys have played these maps way more than I have so I need your opinions on whether or not they should be made official.

If I have missed a map that you think should be official please reply to this thread with a link to the map. Keep in mind the following guidelines:

Our loose guidelines for what makes a map official:

• Can't be offensive, aka no porn, swear words, political, religious etc etc
• Can't violate copyright laws. So no bowser castle
  • Legal speak for above: Terms and Rules
• Map should be fun and balanced.
• Map graphics should be better than a quick MS paint hack job

Please note the opinions below are mine. I do not mean to offend anyone and I am willing to discuss everything.

TBD maps:

• tbd_assembly http://nimblygames.com/wiki/index.ph...Community_Maps
• tbd_justice http://nimblygames.com/wiki/index.ph...Community_Maps
• tbd_origami_park http://nimblygames.com/wiki/index.ph...Community_Maps
• tbd_poseidon http://nimblygames.com/wiki/index.ph...Community_Maps
• tbd_scrapyard http://nimblygames.com/wiki/index.ph...Community_Maps
• tbd_volcano http://nimblygames.com/wiki/index.ph...Community_Maps

TBD maps with potential

• tbd_colosseum http://altitudegame.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1321
  • Problems
    • Graphics are pixelized, needs a blur filter applied
    • map is too big
• tbd_skull_island http://altitudegame.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3906
  • problems
    • grfx are pixelized, needs blur filter.
    • parallax is broken.
• tbd_steel http://nimblygames.com/wiki/index.ph...Community_Maps
  • Concerns
    • Is this a good map? Looks cluttered to me
• tbd_chess http://altitudegame.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3798
  • Concern: Are the chess pieces copyright free? I.E. are they original artwork or in the public domain?

Ball maps

• ball_atmosphere http://nimblygames.com/wiki/index.ph...Community_Maps
  • Clapon: This map is still under developement
    • Nikon please comment on whether or not this map is finished.
• ball_cross http://nimblygames.com/wiki/index.ph...Community_Maps
  • gemigemi : "cross was and still is horrible. It basically simplifies the game into a chaotic fest in the large open bottom area. Very uninteresting play and leads into long games."
• ball_funnelpark http://nimblygames.com/wiki/index.ph...Community_Maps
  • gemigemi: Middle area should be made transparent when you fly through it
  • gemigemi "funnelpark is super tight which makes it easy to defend, leading into long games."
    • I noticed this map is played on the ball ladder. anyone else care to discuss gameplay?
• ball_hardcourt http://nimblygames.com/wiki/index.ph...Community_Maps
  
• ball_ice http://nimblygames.com/wiki/index.ph...Community_Maps
  
• ball_laserquest http://nimblygames.com/wiki/index.ph...Community_Maps
  • Graphics dont make the cut
• ball_ufo http://nimblygames.com/wiki/index.ph...Community_Maps

Ball maps with potential

• ball_arcade http://nimblygames.com/wiki/index.ph...Community_Maps
  • Concern: Still under development?
• ball_colosseum http://altitudegame.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1321
  • Problems
    • Graphics are pixelized, needs a blur filter applied.
    • Map is too big?
• ball_factory http://nimblygames.com/wiki/index.ph...Community_Maps
  • Concern: still under development?
• ball_metal http://altitudegame.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5240
  • Concern: Graphics are boring
• ball_pulse http://nimblygames.com/wiki/index.ph...Community_Maps
  • Problems
    • Graphics are really busy making it difficult to see.
    • Spawn gate is super pixelized.
• ball_sewer http://nimblygames.com/wiki/index.ph...Community_Maps
  • Concern: Still under development?
• ball_thorns http://altitudegame.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3984
  • Problems
    • Graphics need to be cleaned up. all the little nodule (thorns) shouldn't be collidable. Make the stem a strong outlined foreground element and the thorns in the background with no outline.
    • Parallax is broken.
    • Ground should be smooth so ball doesn't get stuck

Other maps that should be added:
1de_mayhem (wiki http://nimblygames.com/wiki/index.ph...Community_Maps)
1de_asteroids (wiki http://nimblygames.com/wiki/index.ph...Community_Maps)

Suggestions after this post was made:
tbd_tron - graphics aren't good enough

[elxir]

I never knew there was a compiled list of maps on the site. That sure makes life easier.

I'll bug Nikon to update the graphics of Hardcourt. Nobody has ever offered any substantive gameplay issues with it, so if it gets spruced up I think it'd be good to go.

[Pieface]

As far as TBD goes:

• Justice and scrapyard are ready.
• Assembly + poseidon haven't gotten enough testing IMO (assembly less so - I'd be open to adding it based on graphics alone). Haven't ever played origamipark so I can't speak to that.
• Volcano + tron (shameless plug) both feature original art + have potential if the layout is optimized - certainly not ready for official status yet.

1DM:

• asteroids, cave, fallout, grotto, mayhem, old clocktower are all ready
• new clocktower looks nice but the gameplay's a lot worse

I've also played on 1BD_Fallout and for an under-appreciated game mode it looks great.

[elxir]

Tron is very good. +1'd.

[Tekn0]

ball_ice plays pretty damn well.

[classicallad]

+1 for Origamipark, this map plays really well.

[Karl]

Originally Posted by Tekn0

ball_ice plays pretty damn well.

Originally Posted by elxir

Tron is very good. +1'd.

While Altitude has it's share of less than attractive Official maps we are trying to maintain a certain level of graphical quality to the Official maps and I find ball_ice and tron to fall below this standard.

[Rainmaker]

Karl:
I've seen no one wants to play anymore Lostcity (whenever it's on the cycle, ppl just make a vote to any other map); my guess is that its a really boring map because of its choke points at middle, tha map is really black or white (there isn't any grey control area, where one of the teams can take advantage).
But, I've seen that the 1DM version of fallout works pretty well. (things are wider and more spread).

M suggestion: edit the original tbd_lostcity to something more friendly to TBD.

[XX1]

i think Silent Skies worked on chess for quite some time now. i really think that chess is ready. Even Kuja was endorsing it.

Assembly seems like new strategies are still being formed on that map because it features to close bombs that are not far from the enemy base as well. I was talking with Donk about it a few days ago, and i still think we should play it couple more times to get a better feel.

For ball: bang bang park seemed to work nicely i'd say for the first couple of rounds played without people saying anything bad about it.

Krawz's Slideshow map has gone through so much work and testing in dojo by ball players. I don't remember how many different versions there were of it. I think it may be ready...but thats just me

Hive is very good it just needs to be a bit bigger and more open.

PS:the older players will know what i am talking about --> ADD TBD_BM_TEAM_ARENA by Bloomoon its ready, especially that background O_O.

-XX2

[Ribilla]

Originally Posted by Karl

While Altitude has it's share of less than attractive Official maps we are trying to maintain a certain level of graphical quality to the Official maps and I find ball_ice and tron to fall below this standard.

Are we talking about the new tron, or the old tron, because the old one had a great layout, but made my eyes bleed.

[gemigemi]

Originally Posted by Karl

Ball maps

• ball_atmosphere http://nimblygames.com/wiki/index.ph...Community_Maps
• ball_cross http://nimblygames.com/wiki/index.ph...Community_Maps
  
• ball_funnelpark http://nimblygames.com/wiki/index.ph...Community_Maps
  
• ball_laserquest http://nimblygames.com/wiki/index.ph...Community_Maps
  
• ball_ufo http://nimblygames.com/wiki/index.ph...Community_Maps

atmosphere is ok.

cross was and still is horrible. It basically simplifies the game into a chaotic fest in the large open bottom area. Very uninteresting play and leads into long games.

funnelpark is super tight which makes it easy to defend, leading into long games. I've grown to like it however as I've seen a bunch of epic games on it. The tunnel in the middle could be changed so that you can actually see the planes in there, but that's a minor thing.

laserquest... how does this map maintain any level of graphic quality? it's one of the most horrible maps out there graphics wise, and that's why no one really bothered to play it back when I was still around.

ufo looks great graphically and also playable gameplay wise. I have never played this map, but it seems like it'd make for good games. The spawns might need some tweaking, but I'm not sure without testing it.

[Karl]

Originally Posted by XX1

i think Silent Skies worked on chess for quite some time now. i really think that chess is ready. Even Kuja was endorsing it.

My concern w/ chess was it looked like the chess pieces were taken from somewhere... aka they are not copyright free.

Originally Posted by XX1

PS:the older players will know what i am talking about --> ADD TBD_BM_TEAM_ARENA by Bloomoon its ready, especially that background O_O.

Hehe

Originally Posted by Ribilla

Are we talking about the new tron, or the old tron, because the old one had a great layout, but made my eyes bleed.

tbd_tron http://nimblygames.com/wiki/index.ph...nity_Maps#Tron

Originally Posted by gemigemi

cross was and still is horrible. It basically simplifies the game into a chaotic fest in the large open bottom area. Very uninteresting play and leads into long games.

noted

Originally Posted by gemigemi

funnelpark is super tight which makes it easy to defend, leading into long games. I've grown to like it however as I've seen a bunch of epic games on it. The tunnel in the middle could be changed so that you can actually see the planes in there, but that's a minor thing.

Originally Posted by gemigemi

laserquest... how does this map maintain any level of graphic quality? it's one of the most horrible maps out there graphics wise, and that's why no one really bothered to play it back when I was still around.

I'm not a huge fan of the graphics either

[Clapon]

cross and funnlepark on the ball section are ready as they are both very good maps game play wise and graphic are fine too.

ufo is close if not ready. Atmo should be ready sooner or later as i know nikon is updating it with new stuff to fix its sub par game play.

[innerlyte]

I would suggest tbd_volcano, but of course, people don't seem to want to play it or give feedback.. >_>

[Karl]

Originally Posted by innerlyte

I would suggest tbd_volcano, but of course, people don't seem to want to play it or give feedback.. >_>

I'm confused as to why there is tbd_volcano and tbd_volcano_v2.

As for the graphics I think the foreground looks great. The shading and details on the rocks is amazing, they look real. If I had a 3D TV I could touch them. The smoke in the middle of the map (coming out of the volcano) looks weird to me. It looks flattened and like a low res image was stretched too much. The background feels flat. I think maybe if you put the background smoke in one parallax layer and the sun in another it would give it more depth. Maybe even multiply parallax smoke layers. I'm not sure it's possible but I wonder if you could put the sun shafts, background smoke, and sun all in separate parallax layers and make it work. I don't mean to sound super critical but I've seen your other maps so I'm holding you to higher standards.

As for how it plays, the bots seemed to really enjoy it :)... no one is playing on my TBD Favorites server or else I could have played it with a real person :(.

[Tekn0]

Originally Posted by gemigemi

atmosphere is ok.

cross was and still is horrible. It basically simplifies the game into a chaotic fest in the large open bottom area. Very uninteresting play and leads into long games.

funnelpark is super tight which makes it easy to defend, leading into long games. I've grown to like it however as I've seen a bunch of epic games on it. The tunnel in the middle could be changed so that you can actually see the planes in there, but that's a minor thing.

laserquest... how does this map maintain any level of graphic quality? it's one of the most horrible maps out there graphics wise, and that's why no one really bothered to play it back when I was still around.

ufo looks great graphically and also playable gameplay wise. I have never played this map, but it seems like it'd make for good games. The spawns might need some tweaking, but I'm not sure without testing it.

People complain more about atmosphere (the old one, new one not yet played on much) a lot lot more than cross ever gets on ladder. I think cross is okay, nobody complains much about cross compared to lostcity and atmosphere.

Funnelpark is a so-so. Some love it, some absolutely hate it. I'm a little bit on the fence on this one. I agree about making the funnel semi-transparent. Definitely good idea.

ball_ufo is just way too big. Amazing graphics, but the map needs to be downsized for more exciting plays, IMO. We played it once on ladder.

How does laserquest get selected but not ball_ice? Yes sure ball_ice could do with much better graphics but did you have a look at the latest/updated ball_ice? http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/4981/ballice.png

I'm not pushing for ball_ice, just wanted to know if we're talking about the same graphics because you seem to have picked ball_laserquest which completely baffles me on graphic quality. The thing with ball_ice is the layout actually makes for some pretty good plays, I remember playing this with Goose, Andy and a few others and they all seemed to like it.

IMO, ball_ice should be given more testing with a lot more players and spruce up the graphics first so people tend to choose it.

[Ribilla]

In my opinion funnel park is an excellent map and has decent ladder play. It's actually a reasonably fast map as long as you can run lanes and I think the lack of people doing this and just clustering is probably why some don't like it.

I've only played UFO 2 or 3 times, but they were great games and the graphics are definitely up to standard. If it gets vote spammed on ladder a bit more then that would be excellent.

I like Cross, but I understand the grievances people have with it, so maybe wait until it is modded a little before it gets made official. All the other maps I either haven't played enough or I don't think have good enough gameplay.

[Nikon]

Originally Posted by Tekn0

People complain more about atmosphere (the old one, new one not yet played on much)

IMO, ball_ice should be given more testing with a lot more players and spruce up the graphics first so people tend to choose it.

yes I hope people play V.4 of atmo more because I think it is a lot better.

And about ice, I just worked on some new graphics but it's dyno's map too so he has to see them before I can release the new version.

[Nikon]

And about atmosphere, no I don't think it is quite done. I'm going to make a few last changes I think.

But I think it mostly just needs a lot of testing.

[innerlyte]

Originally Posted by Karl

I'm confused as to why there is tbd_volcano and tbd_volcano_v2.

As for the graphics I think the foreground looks great. The shading and details on the rocks is amazing, they look real. If I had a 3D TV I could touch them. The smoke in the middle of the map (coming out of the volcano) looks weird to me. It looks flattened and like a low res image was stretched too much. The background feels flat. I think maybe if you put the background smoke in one parallax layer and the sun in another it would give it more depth. Maybe even multiply parallax smoke layers. I'm not sure it's possible but I wonder if you could put the sun shafts, background smoke, and sun all in separate parallax layers and make it work. I don't mean to sound super critical but I've seen your other maps so I'm holding you to higher standards.

As for how it plays, the bots seemed to really enjoy it ... no one is playing on my TBD Favorites server or else I could have played it with a real person .

Originally, the map was just a reskinning of Jayfourke's tbd_shard. Since I went with a volcano theme, I renamed it to tbd_volcano. Version 2 uses the same graphics but my own layout. From the little feedback I've received, people seem to prefer V2, so maybe we can just go with that.

EDIT: I just saw Hartz's post on the volcano map thread, so I'll leave graphical feedback there.

[Duck Duck Pwn]

funnelpark is good enough to be official imo; making the middle semi-transparent would help lazy people who don't want to para false, but besides that, i haven't had major problems with the map.

For tbd, i love chess and assembly, but no one else seemed to share my love of chess and assembly was losing in a vote to middleground, so what do i know.

[Polio]

With regard to the layouts of these maps and potential changes:

ball_arcade - I don't think I'll make any more changes on the layout of this map unless I'm made aware of something game-breaking. With regard to graphics I think they're fine, and I don't think Nikon is going to make any updates in that regard (Correct me if I'm wrong Nikon).

ball_factory - The one change I'll potentially make to the layout of this map is opening up the center gear, at first it was a design feature but I think that it can make for boring and predictable movement from one side of the map to the other. Again I think the graphics are just fine if not great on this one, and I don't think Nikon will make any changes, unless of course I update the layout.

ball_sewer - I like this layout, but I don't think I've gotten enough real games on this map to make a judgement call as to if it's ready or not. The one thing that may change is the position of the goals, as it is now it's pretty easy to make a shot from right under the opposing spawn area into the goal, and it's pretty much a straight shot, so I may move the goals just a touch to make this slightly more difficult. Again with the graphics I think they're great and don't think they need to be updated unless there's a layout change.

I'd really love to see some more feedback on these maps, as they're pretty young compared to some of the other community maps out there.

Also I think that ball_cloudcity and ball_swarm have some potential, but I'm concerned about the mass appeal of these maps.

**Please don't hesitate to leave feedback here or in the appropriate threads in the Map Making subsection of the forums, or through the official map test server.**

[Nikon]

yes polio, I don't think I'm going to make any graphic changes to any of our maps unless someone has a problem with it or you make a update.

[Zombi]

Ball - I enjoy Funnelpark very much and I don't liek ball, sexy graphics (IMO) and very fun gameplay.

TBD - Justice is awesome but Assembly makes me feel a bit claustrophobic.

Originally Posted by innerlyte

I would suggest tbd_volcano, but of course, people don't seem to want to play it or give feedback.. >_>

Everybody is thinking about your map right now (u can be sure) but we're waiting for a few minor changes here and there. Volcano is awesome, looks like the next gen of Alti maps, kudos

[Nikon]

Originally Posted by Karl

While Altitude has it's share of less than attractive Official maps we are trying to maintain a certain level of graphical quality to the Official maps and I find ball_ice and tron to fall below this standard.

Updated ball_Ice's graphics, please take a look and tell me what you think.

[Ribilla]

Originally Posted by Nikon

Updated ball_Ice's graphics, please take a look and tell me what you think.

Graphically, it now looks super-excellent.

[Nikon]

Originally Posted by Ribilla

Graphically, it now looks super-excellent.

Awesome, glad you like it.

[wolf'j'max]

Originally Posted by Pieface

As far as TBD goes:

• Justice and scrapyard are ready.
• Assembly + poseidon haven't gotten enough testing IMO (assembly less so - I'd be open to adding it based on graphics alone). Haven't ever played origamipark so I can't speak to that.
• Volcano + tron (shameless plug) both feature original art + have potential if the layout is optimized - certainly not ready for official status yet.

1DM:

• asteroids, cave, fallout, grotto, mayhem, old clocktower are all ready
• new clocktower looks nice but the gameplay's a lot worse

I've also played on 1BD_Fallout and for an under-appreciated game mode it looks great.

i'm just going to quote this and i'm not going to say anything else as this is pretty much my opinion aswel.

[Karl]

Originally Posted by Nikon

Updated ball_Ice's graphics, please take a look and tell me what you think.

Graphics look good now. Parallax is broken though - take a look at lostcity for good ratio examples for parallax.

[Nikon]

Originally Posted by Karl

Graphics look good now. Parallax is broken though - take a look at lostcity for good ratio examples for parallax.

????

in what way is my parallax broken?

[Karl]

Ill have to open it in the editor to make sure but I think it's cause your furthest back layer doesnt parallax so you get this sickening feeling like the mid ground mountains are moving.

[Nikon]

I have the 2 bottom mountains moving faster than the top 3 because the top 3 are farther back, and yes they are moving, just slowly.

[innerlyte]

Originally Posted by Nikon

I have the 2 bottom mountains moving faster than the top 3 because the top 3 are farther back, and yes they are moving, just slowly.

They are switched right now though.

[Nikon]

Originally Posted by innerlyte

They are switched right now though.

Nope, I just checked.

[innerlyte]

Originally Posted by Nikon

Nope, I just checked.

Looks like you fixed since the last time I DLed it. Everything's ok now.

[Nikon]

Originally Posted by innerlyte

Looks like you fixed since the last time I DLed it. Everything's ok now.

Yeah karl made it better.

[Karl]

Pieface pointed out that I got lazy towards the end of making my list and didn't cross check the real official map list. All the 1dm maps I listed are already official. Updated the original post.

This means the wiki needs updating

[Karl]

Damn you guys have been busy. looks like ball_hardcourt, ball_ice, and tbd_volcano all got awesome graphics overhauls. I'm happy with the way they all look.

Hardcourt and ice graphics are clean and simple but they work and I like it.

Volcano is friggin amazing. I love how the sun shafts peak over the clouds now as you fly along... If I were a betting man though I would guess someone is going to say they detract too much from game play so I tried removing them all together or fixing them to the smoke and I'm ok with either of those if you guys feel it's required for gameplay.

[elxir]

Originally Posted by Karl

Damn you guys have been busy. looks like ball_hardcourt, ball_ice, and tbd_volcano all got awesome graphics overhauls. I'm happy with the way they all look.

Hardcourt and ice graphics are clean and simple but they work and I like it.

Volcano is friggin amazing. I love how the sun shafts peak over the clouds now as you fly along... If I were a betting man though I would guess someone is going to say the detract too much from game play so I tried removing them all together or fixing them to the smoke and I'm ok with either of those if you guys feel it's required for gameplay.

/para false

[Nikon]

Amen to volcano's graphics are sick, if I were a betting man, I would say that they were to distracting in a good way. The graphics are way to good, so I just look at them instead of paying attention to the gameplay.