ball_ufos

[VAN1SH1NG]

Remix of truepain's ball_ufo. Hope he doesn't mind, don't think he ever truly finished it. At first I was just going to try to fix some things with the original such as jagged objects, but ended up making a new version.

It is a bit smaller, has updated graphics, and has some adjustments to the upper routes but my goal is to make it feel close to the original map. I had some early versions up on my servers over the last few days but think it is close to being finished now. Some minor adjustments may be made if needed after it is thoroughly tested.


Version 3.1


Version 3


Version 2


Version 1


Download Newest Version: http://altituderank.com/mapdownloads/ball_ufos.altx

Map is on my ball servers which currently include:
AltitudeRank.com BALL | <Location>
BALL - maxPing=350 - <Location>

Feel free to add to your servers but it is still a work in progress and might receive additional updates.

[Kafka]

I assume the little ufos scattered throughout are non-collideable? The uneven distribution may throw some people for a loop.

Liking the map though, seems to fix all the little flaws of the original and should produce smooth gameplay.

[Tekn0]

Why the non-symmetric look even if the UFOs are non-collideable?

Other than that, looks good at first glance.

[VAN1SH1NG]

Not sure why this would be an issue, but if others think it is I can change it. Plenty of maps have non symmetrical backgrounds, although probably none with objects that stand out quite as much. This never causes any problems for me.

If I were to make them symmetrical it would be more limiting as to where I could place them. If you haven't checked this out / were part of any of the ladder games played on the earlier version, they do move around as you fly by them. Seemed like it would be more natural for them not to be placed symmetrically especially since the background image is not.

[Tekn0]

Will they disappear entirely if /para false is used?

[JWhatever]

Originally Posted by Tekn0

Will they disappear entirely if /para false is used?

They do.

Imo the background looks great and the moving ufos is a fun gimmick but both the stars in background and ufos move so fast that they start to get distracting. I've started to play with para false on this due to that.

Imo you should make the stars more static. Slight movement is fine but now it feels like you're going warp speed non stop.
Same with the ufos. Either move them somewhere where they are less of a distraction and/or move them into one of the corners. Especially the 3 ufos in the middle.

Haven't played enough to comment on layout.

-J

[VAN1SH1NG]

Greatly decreased movement of stars and UFOs. Slight transparency added to the background UFOs to try to make them blend in more.

I'd really prefer not only putting them only in corners of the map if possible. May put some more work into blending them in better into the background later.

[VAN1SH1NG]

Version 2 ready (screenshot in original post)

• Less background UFOs + moved away from primary routes
• Goal slightly higher
• Object above bottom route extended more to the left/ bottom route made a bit tougher
• Top route given better angles to encourage more use
• Middle route slightly more open

[sunshineduck]

the layout is whatever, i disagree with the downward facing spawns but the gameplay effect is probably negligible (especially for mousers)

the art is easily the worst in any map that's ever been in rotation and actually worse than 90% of the joke maps fun makes for his server. ball_maize is literally just a jpg of a cornfield from google images and it's less of an eyesore.

1. why do the walls look like a geocities background of a 3rd grader? it would literally be easier to make it 1 solid color and it would look 100000% better
2. this originally was a comment about the stupid moving ufos in the background but it appears you have at least rectified that. please don't bring them back!
3. the bottom of the map is BRIGHT. it makes it impossible to make out some important effects like miranda shots and emp, not to mention making it physically painful to look at.
4. the rest of the background is fine looking, but the color scheme along with the plane colors you chose for the map are identical - it's green and yellow on a greenish-yellow background.

perhaps it's not an issue for you personally since you have the cursor but the color of the background makes it extremely difficult for me to look around the map and then quickly glance back at my plane to determine if i need to make adjustments to where my plane is pointing. the half second it takes for me to register where my plane is facing or if i have a teammate inside that patch of green space can often make or break a goal, and the onus should not be on me to play with colorblind mode or turn parallax off just to be able to play on your map.

[VAN1SH1NG]

Added Version 3:

Aside from the planet being too bright, I think the art on previous versions was fine. But still I have given the map a visual refresh.

• Moving UFO's have been relocated to outside of the playable area.
• Planet not quite as bright and also pushed down below the playable area.
• Updated look of border and obstacles
• More angle to spawns
• Rectangle behind goal a little smaller.
• Team colors changed to Red and Purple (screenshot shows Red and Blue because of colorblind mode)

It has been so long that I can't really remember if I wanted to adjust the layout at all. I think it played well enough and the main issues were visual. So getting the visual fixes in now and will tweak the layout if necessary.

[JWhatever]

Making borders at bottom, seriously not cool. Please, either remove it or at least reroll the planet thing to middle so we can para false it away.

-J

[VAN1SH1NG]

If kb'ers are that concerned I will redo the background and get rid of the extra space at the bottom. I don't really like this background anyway, only was trying to keep it similar to original ufo. But I'd prefer a simpler bg.

[JWhatever]

^ kb'er

-J

[VAN1SH1NG]

Updated with version 3.1. Ended up not going with a simpler background, but do think this looks a bit better than the old one.

[JWhatever]

tytychars

-J