Patch: october 15th, new game mode (tdm) + improved and renamed obj mode to 1**

lamster · #1 10-15-2009, 07:42 AM

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October 15th, 2009

Map editor export now enforces the correct prefix on exported maps (e.g. ffa maps will export to file ffa_*.altx, etc)

Added "Team Deathmatch (tdm)" game mode

Renamed "Objective" game modes:
obj -> 1de = 1-Life Demolition
dm -> 1dm = 1-Life Deathmatch
? -> 1bd = 1-Life Base Destruction

Demolition Charge - now ejects and bounces like a ball, bots will now pass it

All 1-Life Modes: added "gamesPerSwitchSides" and "gameWinMargin" options to help balance asymmetric maps

Added some game mode instructions under (Map -> Configure Game Mode):
1de - 1-Life Demolition - add at least one powerup spawner with "Demolition Charge" selected inside the active bounds of the "Game" view, and include one or more "Bases" for one or both of the teams
1dm - 1-Life Deathmatch - add one "Powerup Spawner" with "Demolition Charge" selected to the darkened region outside the "Game" view, and do not include any "Bases"
1bd - 1-Life Base Destruction - add one "Powerup Spawner" with "Demolition Charge" selected to the darkened region outside the "Game" view, and include one or more "Bases" for one or both of the teams
ball- Plane Ball - add three "Powerup Spawners" with "Ball" selected (one neutral, and one for each team) and two "Goals" (one for each team)
tbd - Team Base Destruction - add two "Bases" (one for each team)
tdm - Team Deathmatch - add initial "Spawn Points" for two teams and then add neutral "Spawn Points" (preferably in clusters of 3 to avoid spawn stacking) elsewhere to allow spawning across the map as the game progresses. Note: during the first 10 seconds only the team "Spawn Points" are used, but after that all "Spawn Points" (even those marked for the other team) are used depending on ally/enemy proximity.
ffa - Free For All - add neutral spawn points

fixed a few bugs

argonide · #2 10-15-2009, 08:23 AM

Hooray for team death match with re spawn, its been a long time coming. I would try it but I need to sleep.

nesnl · #3 10-15-2009, 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by argonide

Hooray for team death match with re spawn, its been a long time coming. I would try it but I need to sleep.

You would try it.... but there are no maps currently.

But that will be changed shortly.

Triped · #4 10-15-2009, 03:28 PM

This is great.

Vi* · #5 10-15-2009, 05:53 PM

YAAAAAAAAY
I love you guys

Curious · #6 10-15-2009, 06:24 PM

OMg MAIMEr ARe THERe MAPs YEt CAn I PLAy NOw Is It TIMe

nesnl · #7 10-15-2009, 06:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Curious

OMg MAIMEr ARe THERe MAPs YEt CAn I PLAy NOw Is It TIMe

I didn't know the update was coming so soon. I have been working on some maps, but only a couple are ready to test. And now that I know there is a TDM game mode, I definitely want a make some maps for that as well. Look for somewhere around 5 1de maps and maybe 2 tdm maps within a week or so.

Curious · #8 10-15-2009, 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nesnl

I didn't know the update was coming so soon. I have been working on some maps, but only a couple are ready to test. And now that I know there is a TDM game mode, I definitely want a make some maps for that as well. Look for somewhere around 5 1de maps and maybe 2 tdm maps within a week or so.

aw okay. i got infraction for my last post and i probably will for this. sorry guys!

lamster · #9 10-15-2009, 07:19 PM

Alternating caps + grumpy programmer = infraction.

Back on topic: I'd love to see some new TDM and 1** maps. I'm especially interested in TDM maps so that we can identify the basic gameplay issues and possible changes needed for that mode.

Notes for TDM map makers:
1) The team-colored spawns are only used for the initial spawn; all spawns (including initial spawns) will be used for all players as the game progresses, depending on ally/enemy proximity.
2) The server will always try to respawn you into "allied territory" -- near allies but away from enemies -- this is intended to help teams stick together and unite but avoid craziness where players spawn into the middle of active combat regions. It worked well in my quick tests but may need some tweaking.
3) Scatter spawn points across the map to allow the "battle front" to dynamically evolve as each group works its way across the map.
4) It's best to place clusters of spawn points (I'd aim for 3 in each group) to avoid spawn stacking when several players simultaneously spawn into the current "best" zone for their team.

nesnl · #10 10-16-2009, 07:06 AM

First, in the TDM award screen it still has "Demolition Expert" listed. Also, I forgot to check if this is already true or not, but when people crash it should count as a point for the other team.

Second, there needs to be something done about the miranda in the ball mode. The self pass warp is too powerful (just like when you introduced afterburner with the bomb the miranda's warp needed to be reduced when it had the bomb). I see two fixes for this: either make it so a player (on any plane) can't pick up the ball again for a certain time like 1-2 seconds after a pass or make it so the miranda has reduced warp distance for 1-2 seconds after passing the ball. I would actually prefer the first option because then it would affect all planes and at the same time it would get rid of the miranda self pass.

pig_bomb · #11 10-16-2009, 04:03 PM

when you import a map into the editor it won't allow you to play test it because the name _import_map doesn't have the proper suffix

DiogenesDog · #12 10-16-2009, 04:58 PM

I'm just looking forward to the first batch of double-prefixed maps.

nesnl · #13 10-16-2009, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiogenesDog

I'm just looking forward to the first batch of double-prefixed maps.

As far as I know the map editor doesn't add the prefix for you, it requires you to name your map with the prefix. So I don't think someone is going to be naming something tbd_mymap and then have it renamed 1de_tbd_mymap. However, there is probably some issue that will arise that I am not thinking of.

Stormich · #14 10-16-2009, 06:09 PM

The TDM mode is great from what I've played, well except the ending splash screen

Evan20000 · #15 10-16-2009, 06:54 PM

TDM takes some getting used to, but it's really fun once you get the hang of it. Of course the map was really good, so I have to give Maimer credit there. A minor suggestion, would it be possible to ignore the ally proximity spawns if there are too many enemies nearby?

lamster · #16 10-16-2009, 07:06 PM

Enemies are already weighted heavier than allies in the spawn equation: a zone with only allies is a great zone, a zone where allies greatly outnumber enemies is a good zone (e.g. 4v1), and a zone where allies and enemies are roughly matched (e.g. 1v1, 2v1, 4v2, 4v3) is a bad zone.

I'm definitely open to tweaking the spawn algorithm but it felt pretty good to me on mayhem: I always spawned next to allies, and never into the middle of a fight with enemies (unless it was just finishing up in our favor, e.g. 3 allies against 1 enemy).

nesnl · #17 10-16-2009, 07:09 PM

The spawning seemed fairly good from the games i have played (probably 5 full TDM games). However, sometimes it seems like the battle gets centered in one area and as a result the players keep spawning near that area. So it seemed sometimes the battle stayed in one area for sometimes too long of a time. However, I might be looking for a pattern where there isn't one.

Evan20000 · #18 10-16-2009, 07:19 PM

The problem I kept having was that I spawned relatively alone, which would be fine, but then a huge wave of enemies pop out of just offscreen and maul me, with there being nothing I can do.

phong · #19 10-16-2009, 09:07 PM

Hmmm... now I might have a reason to play again

nesnl · #20 10-17-2009, 09:22 PM

For TDM, can there be some type of indicator as to when the game is getting close to ending? Like a count down of the final 5 kills or some message saying it's getting close. Also, it might be worthwhile to make the scores at the top of the screen slightly larger so you can see them easier.

For the editor: Is there anyway to make it so when you do "Mirror left/right" or "Mirror top bottom" so that the turrets also reverse their angles? Current if you have a turret with an area facing downward and you mirror it so that it will be the same for the other base it will make the turret facing upward (shooting direction, not sprite orientation). So like the "turn left" and "turn right" numbers are reversed.

Also, it would be nice to have some type of aligning tool or some type of system where I could put in "guides" at different locations horizontally and vertically across the map. Like if i had a 1000 pixel wide map, I could have a setting to put in guide lines at pixel 500 (center line) or like every 100 pixels.

Also, another thing in the editor. When you do "Mirror left/right" or "Mirror top/bottom" it does so based on the "visual bounds" instead of the actual layers height and width. That means if I have a smaller layer for parallax and then I mirror something, it mirrors it to the wrong area instead of to the actual layer area. Would be nice if it mirrored based on actual size.

Final thing about the editor. When I edit a lot of my maps I end up overlapping images sometimes to make different looking areas/etc. However, sometimes it looks bad even if one is on top of the other layer. Maybe a system to correct this is to have another "collision outline" but instead of it being a collision outline, it is the images "visual outline" that way I could cut out the part of the image i don't want seen using tool. I would say just use the collision outline for that purpose, but sometimes you want parts of images to be non-collidable but still visible, so there would have to be another system set up.

wolf'j'max · #21 10-23-2009, 02:31 PM

Kinda Late post but we played TDM matches (i think it was maimers server)
It was realy fun and when you know the maps and your enemies do too the games can be really hard. When the teams are balanced the score is almost alway like a 3 points difference. Anyway, this post means i want to thank nimbly for the game mode and maimer for the maps.