Warbell private playtest #4

[McNite]

Its time for the

4th Playtest of Warbell[/color]

day: Saturday 13th of May
time: 3pm Texas/Winnipeg / 4pm NY / 9pm UK / 10pm Stockholm/Hamburg / 7am (on sunday) Melbourne
server: ]UBC[ |TheRiver| 9maps
IP: 194.105.135.3:27960
pw: ask McNite on saturday
invited: ]UBC[, M8D, B|D and SNA/FBF* and others that are interested

All participants should have teamspeak for easy communication.

The map will STILL NOT be finished by then. Main testing is about gameplay with the improvements from last playtests feedback. Also we ll have some areas finished by then so we r looking for odd things and bugs there.

Major changes from maptest #3:
a) Crypt Gate moved, new exit from crypts for faster access to the roofs, also the defense has to "stretch" more to cover this route too
b) walkable Abbey roof area finalized: only the construction area and the first level of roof of the decagonal building is accessible
c) Portable objective (book) has obvious "place to go to" (red see-through-model)
d) belltower built in, including bell and eye candy; also the construction area is redesigned
e) more space in the Abbey and church room
f) new small side-chapell added (Zardor's suggestion)
g) several areas no longer mineable (other surface now)
h) improved FPS
i) some areas final in looks
j) (Kach, did I forget something?)

[McNite]

And here we go... first pics of the creepy crypts

Coffins and stuff will be added later of course ;D

[McNite]

Somehow Blue managed to sneak into my locally hosted warbell version... u can see him camping with a panzer in the crypts already ;D

[McNite]

Tonights teamspeak server will be M8Ds teamspeak again:

IP: 213.114.114.164

then switch to channel: M8D Gather/Warbell playtest

There is no ts password needed, check my msn name for the server pw.

[pax]

Believe it or not, lol, much easier to find objectives this time. Good fun and great map Thank you for the invite. Be seeing you on the playing field.........

[McNite]

Oooook this was def a nice playtest, thx to all who participated!!!

Compared to last time i d say the topics left are fewer now, but that s only my opinion. If you have suggestions or things to critize, plz do it in this thread. Every feedback is welcome.

These are the 10 topics/areas we split the map up into:

1. Terrain of First stage
This only needs final decoration now. The first stage plays fast and attackers seemed to get the flag or gate within few mins usually.

2. Caves of First stage
Are ok. Not too much structure in the dungeons too.

3. Guard House
What s your impressions here? It seemed to provide good battle, but not too long.

4. Area from Guard House to Command Post and CP
With the 2nd exit from the Guard House and the cover Attackers can do this stage well. Any improvements needed?

5. Caves of 2nd stage and exit from them
With the jump down inside the tower and a lot of players using it now this seemed ok to me, and attackers didn't really get pinned down there imo.

6. Lawn area (will be a cemetary), Crypt Gate and Crypt
Crypt gate in its new position was still defendable, but can be destroyed much easier now. There were a lot of plants and defuses. Do we need to make it easier though? Maybe reduce the mineable area even more?
The new exit from the Crypt seems to make access to the roof a lot easier, and gives Axis an advantage. Defense is more difficult now, but not impossible. What do u suggest for the Crypts/Cemetary to be improved?

7. Main Gate and Garden Gate of the Monastery
With the reduced space on the roof for the defenders, it seemed to me that attackers could reach the gates better. Still the main gate isn't easy to plant. I suggest a larger area in front of it where u can't plant mines, maybe?

8. Allied Monastery Spawn and Defense
The limited roof area is still a strong position, but with well placed arti it can be controlled now, i d say.
Once Axis have the construction platform under control, it can be held well... so my feeling is, that this area is pretty balanced now.

9. Bell Constructible and Ringing the Bell
What s your thoughts on this? Is the location of the bellrope too confusing? After all one game was lost only cuz Axis didn't find the bellrope

10. Book and Altar, and Sacrifices
This looks like the hardest part to me, to deliver the book. What are your impressions?
Are the sacrifices well timed with 7.5 secs in between, or should that time be longer so a defense can be set up again?

Plz post your experiences and suggestions!

[SeNNy]

Hey, thanks for the invite again! I am definately enjoying play-testing this map and getting better every time ;-). It's very much fun. I cant wait to play again w/you guys...

[ser]

yeah, that was a great time, very good map id say!
its fun and hard to play, i like it

suggestion.
10. Book and Altar, and Sacrifices
id like to see only naked woman sacrifices ;D

[Welshboy]

I'm with Ser on the sacrifice bit

Just wanted to drop in and thank you guys for the invite. Your allways welcome at BD and we'll have to sort out another Scrim soon (june i was thinking).

As for the map, i thought it was brilliant. It has to be one of my favourate maps so far if not my no. 1. I cant really say that there was any thing i didnt like about it.

So like i said thx again, will see u soon

[schlauch]

admin said:

9. Bell Constructible and Ringing the Bell
What s your thoughts on this? Is the location of the bellrope too confusing? After all one game was lost only cuz Axis didn't find the bellrope

Well I find it good the way it is. What might be helpful here is one of those "tips", like a hovering question mark that tells u to go down and ring the bell down there (we all know <bashing>the public players out there are too lazy to read the limbo</bashing>). Instead of the hovering question mark (which can, I agree, look stupid up there) you could also put in something else there that shows some short text about where to ring it once the bell is constructed.

Thats also leading me to the only point I noticed there - I was Allied, planting mines out there at the cemetary side-entrance thingy and suddenly i read that "more sacrifices needed" message on the screen. Didnt even notice the bell was rang. So maybe it would be worth to not just play the sound but also post the "bell-ringing" as an event on the server so if youre surrounded by other sounds u can at least read that the bell was rung even if you didn't hear it.

10. Book and Altar, and Sacrifices
This looks like the hardest part to me, to deliver the book. What are your impressions?
Are the sacrifices well timed with 7.5 secs in between, or should that time be longer so a defense can be set up again?

I think 7 secs are just long enough, but thats my personal opinion there. I found the new interiour layout better, less mazy and confusing so thumbs up for that.
Also I really liked the new sky (at least i had the impression the sky was different than last time )

So afterall although I was only there for two rounds, I really enjoyed it once more, good fragging there with UBC and FbF on a great map!

[kach]

First of all I have to apologize for being late, I am so used to playtests being at 4:00 PM my time I did not read that this one started at 3:00 PM. I guess I would make a really average pub map player.

Points of Note:

4. There should definitely be a sound looped and playing anytime a person is carrying the book, and a announcement (voice) when the book is delivered. Anyone know any good VO people that will work for free.

6. I think the changes to the cemetery area are a definite improvement. I like that both teams can plant mines there. I suggest that a small unminable pathway be placed from the the caves exit to the crypt entrance. It can be thin enough that a good eng could get mines near it, just not on top of it. We need some fresh graves and tilted/damaged tombstone (McNite's already suggested that) as well.

7 & 8. The main gate is fine although I think the walls between the command post and the gate need a bit of a rework (which I know is planned). I found that a well placed sniper on the roof (Ike) had a bit of an advantage over anyone exiting at the command post spawn. I think that exit and area needs to have a few extra protected sniping or FO spots to cover the roof to balance play out there. For example a protected place to climb to and shoot from or call in artillery from. I know that Ike is a great sniper, but when you can't raise your gun I think it is just a bit unfair.

9. Regarding the bell ringing I think that unless we adopt a policy similar to what they do in hospitals with painted lines for directions on floors there will always be people that get lost. There should be a voice announcement when the bell is constructed and when it is destroyed. I think that the bell should not ring until the book is delivered, and that once the book is delivered and the bell rung it should keep ringing until the first sacrifice is made (and each sacrifice should be voice announced). With the amount of action in Warbell I notice that the messages on the side lag behind the gameplay quite a bit, and that it is easy to miss something. VO's will definitely change that. I also would suggest that either the bell can be rung right where it is built or on on the second level. And if not so, then once it is built any easier way to the bell ringing area exist (ie. the hole in the floor behind where the bell is built provide access to there).

10. I feel if the caves exit through the cemetery area has a pathway, it will be easier to deliver the book and split the defense up. The time between sacrifices is good as it is now. @ Ser, wouldn't it make more sense to sacrifice the naked men, and keep the naked women for ourselves?

Overall I would say that yesterday gave me hope that the end of Warbell production is in sight. Thanks to everyone who gave their time in play testing and providing feedback regarding the map.

Kach

[McNite]

Here comes a pic with the new changes on the look of the terrain. Thx to Der'Saidin we are going to have blended terrain which makes edges between 2 different surfaces a lot smoother.



As for comments and suggestions: keep them coming... some from this playtest are already incorporated again.

[blue]

Found some things...

site-x.dk/warbell/

[blue]

Some more pics/screen shots..

[McNite]

The mountains, custom stuff, bell and the hole in the roof are on the todo-list. Changed the chimneys right away, did change the towers and the gate, dealt with the shadow, and will think of what to do with the wall-surfaces.

[blue]

About picture 2.

I of couse mean.. IF the surface can be a bit more rough looking.

McNite knows what I mean ;D