Patch: september 25th, editor and server improvements, 20 new maps

[lamster]

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September 25th, 2009

server configurator now allows customization of camera view scale (for those who prefer a larger view) and collision damage/elasticity modifiers (for new-player friendly servers)

kick/ban commands now apply to both accountId and IP address
~Altitude/servers/ban_list.xml is now more readable; to edit the ban list manually you must close your server launcher, manually edit ban_list.xml, then relaunch your server launcher

added a bunch of new official maps (3 ball, 5 ffa, 3 demolition, 9 tbd) adapted from BlooMoon's original creations (thanks to Reeslo of bloo-moon.com)

map editor:
improved arrow key translation in transform dialog (initiated by pressing Ctrl+T while objects are selected) - hold shift to move 10 pixels at a time, ctrl to move 100
mouse rotations (initiated by clicking the diamond next to a selected object group) are now clamped to multiples of 15 degrees when holding shift
improved automatic hull generation for transparent images
you now have "admin" rights when running a map test from the editor

[tyr]

Originally Posted by lamster

added a bunch of new official maps (3 ball, 5 ffa, 3 demolition, 9 tbd) adapted from BlooMoon's original creations (thanks to Reeslo of bloo-moon.com)

Wow
Just wow.
Their maps were indeed very good from a graphic point of view, but I find them not that good for gameplay. I hope the adaptations will be better.
Can't wait to try them out.

[AtomikPi]

Hmm, I'm not sure if bloomoon maps is a good idea, I'll have to try them. However, it would be a very good call to add grotto and locomotion to the official servers as has been pointed out. Maybe if someone could re-art grotto it would get done.

[lamster]

Most of the maps will need some play testing and additional revisions before they work really well -- those that are suitable for more competitive play will appear on the official servers when they're ready. In the meantime, we'll be testing the new maps on the "fun arena" servers, which are aimed at new players and more casual players who prefer reduced wall damage etc. From a few minutes of testing I can already see that several maps will need to be shrunk, the fun arena player counts will probably need to go down a bit, and most of the TBD maps will need to be reworked into ball maps. Even then many of these maps may never be suitable for high-level competitive play -- and that's OK, we're trying to make room for different types of players, and hopefully a fertile ground for new players to learn the game.

And yes -- we plan to put up locomotion and grotto on the competitive servers soon.

[CDRdude]

Originally Posted by lamster

And yes -- we plan to put up locomotion and grotto on the competitive servers soon.

Grotto! Yay! ^_^

[omnicron245]

i can turn da maps into ANY kind of map. just ask me, and ill get them redone ASAP.

[Pieface]

GREAT IMPROVEMENTS! I am especially happy at the new official maps and the admin rights for map_editor (my idea!). Thanks for implementing all of this, I can assure you we as the players of Altitude sure appreciate it.

[Vi*]

MAPS MAPS MAPS MAPS MAPS YAY <3

I'ma go play with the maps

Well, hmm. of FFA maps:
ice_galaxy might be good
not a fan of glass_palace
labyrinth is really cute
Neon is big, need more players to test
Pinball is pretty and works

Ball:
Darkwar I prefer as a TBD.
Football: really?
Maze is loud and doesn't seem to play well
I think ball maps have not been perfected. The only one I like is Io.

TBD:
I think I like bunker.
I think I like Darkwar.
Would have to try ice_galaxy with more people, but it might be better than hills
Lazer is spelled wrong, but I think I might like it.
Neon seems a bit unweildy, but who knows at this point

Gonna stop here, but generally things are looking good, and I'm sure with some play testing we will have excellent maps that are awesome. Thank you for this patch because maps were sorely needed!

[tyr]

Yeah, I played on some of them and either the map is too big or there was too many players at that moment, so most of the maps seemed kinda .. not great.
tbd_bunker definitely needs to be tested in a more competitive environnement (ie. something that has less players than a 12v12).

[Kuja900]

I don't quite understand why the server is 12v12, if your trying to test maps for potential official server use why isn't it 7v7.

[[FN]MONXY FIST]

Really the only map with any potential for competitive play is bunker and lazer and even those maps are to big.

Also for football all i have to say is three people got to 100 kills before two goals that map is like 5X bigger then it should be.

[nesnl]

I played a fair amount on the BlooMoon servers and a lot of time I did it just to get a feel for what other people were putting out in terms of maps (of course BlooMoon was for the most part the only other maps being put out).

I have to say that in terms of game play I liked tbd_neon the best. However, It was always a much bigger game and I don't think it would work in a 7v7 setting.

I liked tbd_darkwar, but I felt like it was just a modification of Core and if anything it was almost impossible to bomb. However, the smaller obstacles did provide a bigger difference to the game play, especially because you could hit people with explosions through the obstacles.

I think that tbd_arena could work for a smaller game style as it was simple and to the point. tbd_orange also seemed like it had some fun aspects but it also had some problems that could be exploited.

I am not sure if you have all the maps or not (refering to karl/lamster). I pretty much have every BlooMoon map so if you need them just let me know.

[wolf'j'max]

I got em too but if someone could do it theb why no new bloomoon server 10 v 10 with all of reeslo's maps? ^^

[Evan20000]

Originally Posted by [FN]MONXY FIST

Really the only map with any potential for competitive play is bunker and lazer and even those maps are to big.

Also for football all i have to say is three people got to 100 kills before two goals that map is like 5X bigger then it should be.

Pretty much.

I like darkwar for the background, but I know it'll never see competative play. Bunker is fun, but should be a little shorter.

[Stormich]

I haven't played most bloomoon maps but in my experience big maps=neverending, for instance games on woods usually last pretty long...

Thanks for the maps though, any map pool change is welcome

[nesnl]

Originally Posted by Stormich

I haven't played most bloomoon maps but in my experience big maps=neverending, for instance games on woods usually last pretty long...

Thanks for the maps though, any map pool change is welcome

Woods is the same size horizontally as Middleground, Core, Locomotion, and Mayhem (56 inches if I remember correctly). I think that the object placement can be deceiving. However, I think it is 2 inches taller (20 inches instead of 18).

[-MH-CaptainVogez]

i noticed above in the Patch list that it said "allows customization of camera view scale (for those who prefer a larger view)"

I'm not smart with all the tech stuff, but do you mean that when the server is put up that the viewing scale is dictated by whoever runs the server? not actually in game?

[lamster]

Yes - the view scale for all players on a given server is dictated by those who run the server. Server admins could always adjust the view scale with the testCameraViewScale console command, but the new patch allows them to set the view in the config file (so they don't have to reset it every time the server restarts).

[-MH-CaptainVogez]

Originally Posted by lamster

Yes - the view scale for all players on a given server is dictated by those who run the server. Server admins could always adjust the view scale with the testCameraViewScale console command, but the new patch allows them to set the view in the config file (so they don't have to reset it every time the server restarts).

oh alright thanks for that lamster

there seems like there's a lot of good suggestions going around but its a shame such a large task for you guys is getting endlessly larger day-by-day...
what size has the bought community reached so far? it would have to be a few thousand wouldn't it?

Is the idea with the scaling for spectators possibly coming into the scope in the next few patches? or are we leaving that on the drawing board where it can't be used by stoopid hackers who have nothing better to do?

[phong]

What does the official map list look like now?