Released, Manaan: Murky Depths

Astute · Post by **Astute** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 3:37 pm

Decided to start a formal topic, since my map seems to be doing well(lack of errors). For reference, here is the original WIP thread.

http://www.gametoast.com/index.php?name ... sc&start=0

Will post the pic's on the map.

Here is the download link: http://starwarsbattlefront.filefront.co ... pths;66664

To those of you who have tried my map, I would like to know if you've experienced any serious errors, and if you've been able to get a server going.

Post by **Epena** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 3:57 pm

Swell...downloading now. I'll get back to you on the bugs I find after I've given it "the old one-two with my bug net".

What I really really love about your maps is your desire to really break ground with what you do. The availiblity of actual strategy that I've read about is astounding.

The_Emperor · Post by **The_Emperor** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 4:21 pm

Love this map! Though I was able to get outside the map with vader... Dont know where anymore though.
The havoc trooper is sweet! (and so is the commando)

Chamboozer · Post by **Chamboozer** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 5:13 pm

This will be sweet! downloading now!

This map looks amazing, because of the INCREDIBLE job you did on the actual design and scripting, but because of two serious problems, it isn't. for the first 3/4ths of the battle, the republic and droid forces were fighting at the door to the atrium, not moving at all, even after i sealed the door shut. I was dissapointed with the doors, i mean you can hardly even mess with them unless you're an engineer class! I suggest making it so theres 2 panels per door, if one is destroyes the door closes and the other one is healed to full health. if the other one is destroyed, then the door opens and the first panel is healed. if thats not posstble, then just give everyone a fusion cutter.

Astute · Post by **Astute** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 7:10 pm

Well Chamboozer,
>The doors not functioning is an odd glitch. Curious? are you maxing out the units(32 for each side), i've noticed through testing that if you max out the units, you'll get a lot of them that just stand around. As for the doors themselves, it seems that there are the most problems when you close the door(only around hot spots such as the atrium and security door). Apparently, the engineer bots will only repair panels when there are no enemies in range. I've noticed that when they repair doors, there are few/no problems with the bot pathing. Very odd huh?

>The doors took a while to figure out, not as much technical but designing them so that they aren't annoying. The idea is, these doors are only lockable from one side, making it easy to cut off enemy forces. The panels were designed so that all classes can open the doors because every class has a weapon, but only engineers are allowed to close the doors(to cut down on the constant locking/opening of doors)

Post by **Epena** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 8:36 pm

Okay, I've played it for a while.

Let's say that I was immensly impressed to start out with. Yay Astute, you rock! The design of the map itself with all the side routes is amazing. The ability to close and open dorrs is spiffirific.

Anyways, problems...

Why can you only play as one class per era?

CTF--no hero. Come to think of it, no hero for conquest either, unless you need more than 150 points to unlock.

On one end (can't recall which) the little 'invisible' barrier thing isn't placed quite right and there's a hole in the wall.

Know that one 'three way corridor' thing, not the long one, but the one by the CP with the closing door? In CTF the AI stand around there.
Considered outside sub battles? It would greatly enhance the problem with the fighitng focusing in one spot for the entirety of the mission.

Oh, one more that I can think of as of right now...Watch where you place those crates. My little wallhacking siren is blaring.

Chamboozer · Post by **Chamboozer** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 8:57 pm

What do the security console and turbine generators do?

also, a suggestion i have is to make the doors destroyable, so if a team gets trapped on one side they can just blast their way through. This would be a fun way to finish a battle, for example the rebels lock the door leading to their last command post, and tensions rise as they see the door being damaged.

Astute · Post by **Astute** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 9:07 pm

Well, if all goes well(few serious errors reported), then in the next map i'll consider adding vehicles, airlocks, and more dynamic lockable doors.

Post by **Epena** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 9:09 pm

Maybe have it so only the time bomb works? That way stray fire doesn't lead to more accidental destruction. Or time bombs and rockets.

Astute · Post by **Astute** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 9:55 pm

I think i've figured out how to do the hacking thing. It lays out similar to Chamboozers idea. Basically, I embed another panel within the door itself, and use ZE animation to move the panel into the center of the door when the outside panel is repaired. The panel on the inside of the door is repairable as well, but takes 30 secs to do so(also allows mutliple repairers). When the panel inside the door is repaired, the door opens and the panel is slid off with the door in the same instance, making it seem like you hacked the door instead of just repairing the panel. I'll save this for a later map, a bit to late to implement this(considering how much time it would take)

Post by **-_-** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 10:09 pm

hm.. that brings up a question. If one side is hacking, can the other side try to stop them by repairing the panel on their side? (Counter-hacking?)

Chamboozer · Post by **Chamboozer** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 10:24 pm

30 seconds! thats SO long!

Post by **Epena** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 10:26 pm

Seems like a very unlikely situation. IRL it might be more important, but even if it did happen online you's most likely go 'screw it, it's just a door' and move on and kill some more people.

Thire · Post by **Thire** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 10:57 pm

Epena, I don't know about the hero problem, they work fine for me, I don't have to set it higher or anything.

Chamboozer · Post by **Chamboozer** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 10:58 pm

Seems like a very unlikely situation. IRL it might be more important, but even if it did happen online you's most likely go 'screw it, it's just a door' and move on and kill some more people.

unless he makes it the only doorway to an area

Astute · Post by **Astute** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 11:20 pm

Ok, i've drawn a little example to explain the idea and how it works.

the blue square is the outside panel
the green squares are the doors
red square is the hidden panel

In this drawing, the blue panel is destroyed, so the doors are open and the red panel is hidden within the door.

When the blue door panel is repaired, the doors close, but the hidden panel moves with the doors. Now the broken red panel can be repaired by both sides. It takes 30 sec(to make it fair) to hack the door. When the red panel is repaired, the blue panel is destroyed, thus bringing it back the original drawing.

Chamboozer · Post by **Chamboozer** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 11:37 pm

30 secs hardly seems fair! 30 seconds is about 1/20ths of the battle!

Post by **-_-** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 11:38 pm

stop whining ._.

Post by **Teancum** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 11:40 pm

Even so, I'd say 15-20 seconds would be plenty. Or however long it takes to build a turret + 2-5 seconds.

Astute · Post by **Astute** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 12:06 am

The hacking time limit is only an estimate, I was going to change it accordingly once I got it working.

Well, I guess I should try to get some of these errors fixed. I'm going to focus most on the AI and hero problem. Note that nothing will be added. If anyone has any other errors with a serious effect on gameplay, pls post and i'll see what I can do.

>CIS Hero fixed, problem due to odd scripting error.
>Due to the extremely unfair advantage that greivious has in such a tight space, he's been changed to jango.
>Bot pathing has vastly improved. Apparently the path was too linear for the bots, so they mistook some of the doors for being open when they really weren't. The bots still have to "consider" whether or not the door is closed, however at least now they will reroute to the correct path.

Apparently my bot pathing was a little too complicated for the ai to follow. I've cleaned it up so that now they really one have a couple paths to choose from. This will in no way hinder gameplay, in fact, it will make it a lot harder. CIS/Rebel ai has improved vastly, and now they utilize almost every route. During my tests i noticed the CIS took alternate routes that they rarely took before. I found myself outnumbered at the middle spawn, with droids coming in almost every door.

I'm going to release an updated MMD.lvl(easier to manage). I'm going to use yousendit so that you guys can test to see if there is an improvement. If you guys find it to be satisfactory, then i'll release the fix to swbffiles and lucasfiles.

Released, Manaan: Murky Depths

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