FS Swampflower (2-8) Options

[Rampastring]

Ok, here's my 2nd map.

This map was originally a Megawealth RA2 map, which I made at April 2007. The detail wasn't the best and the lighting was boring.
About a week ago, I learned how to convert RA2 maps to TS maps. It was better than WW maps in RA2, so I decided to do a TS version.

Note that the map was designed for RA2's straight gameplay, and it might seem a bit weird. Players start close to eachother etc.
I didn't know how to do cliffs correctly when I made the RA2 version, so there are some cliff errors.

I still had fun with having some close-combat with the AI. (And of course, watching other players fight was also fun)

After the conversion I made the map much more detailed and remade the lighting. And, reduced the tiberium amount a lot.

UPDATED VERSION 1.31, DOWNLOAD HERE: Swampflower 1.31















Note that this map's lighting is VERY buggy if you have Visual Details on low and I heavily recommend to play this map with Visual Details on Medium/High. (High looks the best ofc.)

I don't have any program capable of making ZIPs atm (Windows fails and the evualation period of Winzip is over), so would anyone here be interested of putting a zip here if I E-mail or PM the map to someone?

This post has been edited by Rampastring: Nov 19 2011, 03:25 PM

Attached File(s)

 Swampflower_1.31.zip ( 93.72K ) Number of downloads: 278

 

[Aro]

Despite the, unrealistic layout, I think this actualy looks quite good. I'll download it and give you a proper review later on, mate.

[Team Black]

Maps like these are excellent for online games, we need more of this kind of stuff.

"Realistic" maps like what ARO means are nice eye candy and all, but often they lack a good straightforward gameplay, and don't have easily definable teams (like "north versus south" "east versus west", or "river divides").

I will add this to the Massive Map pack, after I'm confident that any possible bugs/errors have been found and fixed.

[Rampastring]

Hm, pretty positive comments this far

I got the zip by downloading Siege City, deleting the files from it and adding Suokukka.mpr in it. (Suokukka is Finnish and means Swampflower.)

latest version updated into the first post

This post has been edited by Team Black: Dec 9 2007, 04:39 PM

[Team Black]

get the winrar trial

[Rampastring]

Well, I got the ZIP now.

[Aro]

"Realistic" maps like what ARO means are nice eye candy and all, but often they lack a good straightforward gameplay, and don't have easily definable teams (like "north versus south" "east versus west", or "river divides").

...*Cough* Arden River? *Cough*

@Team Black's below comment - I was refering to the "Straightforward gameplay".

This post has been edited by Aro: Dec 8 2007, 08:26 PM

[Team Black]

Yeah, 2p maps are pretty hard to decide teams on

[Rampastring]

Well, please stop discussing about other maps and give me some comments about this one =P
I'd like to know some thoughts about this map.

[Aro]

Time for your review, I'd think.

Detail - 6 / 10 - Hmm, 'twas alright. In some places, a certain LAT was used too much, and it didn't look all that good. But overall, there is a nice variation of eye-candy, including nice cliffwork... Nice to be fair anyway. (There where alot of cliff errors too; Be sure to look over your map in marble madness).

Layout - 8 / 10 - I Liked the layout actualy, It'd be perfect for some online games (Just another way for me to prove I could kick Team Black's ass). It's highly unrealistic, but it doesn't matter to be honest, cause as Team Black said, Straight forward game-play is always fun, and that overlooks the unrealistic style.

Game-Play - 7 / 10 - Was alright. I played this map as a skirmish, so yeah, it more than likely wasn't going to be as good, being as on tournament maps, the human players have alot more common sense on what to do. Was Fun.

Lighting - 7 / 10 - Lighting was very unique if anything, which is something that I like about your maps. It's not too unique to look stupid, and it's unique enough to be likeable. Nice work here. (Some parts of the map where to bright, tone down the lighting in these parts, and you'll have a near perfect result with lighting)

Overall - 28 / 40 (Screw the averages, this is easier to understand ) - Overall, a nice map. Good for tournaments, and it was fun game play in general, you may want to add some more triggers, surprised etc.


~Aro

[Rampastring]

Detail - 6 / 10 - Hmm, 'twas alright. In some places, a certain LAT was used too much, and it didn't look all that good. But overall, there is a nice variation of eye-candy, including nice cliffwork... Nice to be fair anyway. (There where alot of cliff errors too; Be sure to look over your map in marble madness).

Well, IMO it looks better if there are a few open areas there; at least for my eye it becomes a bit too messy if most of the cells are occupied with different LAT. But, I know there would've been some places to improve.

I didn't know how to do cliffs correctly when I made the RA2 version, so there are some cliff errors.

..And fixing those now would be very hard without remaking the terrain near those cliffs. Meh, I'll fix those for the next update ^^

Layout - 8 / 10 - I Liked the layout actualy, It'd be perfect for some online games (Just another way for me to prove I could kick Team Black's ass). It's highly unrealistic, but it doesn't matter to be honest, cause as Team Black said, Straight forward game-play is always fun, and that overlooks the unrealistic style.

It was actually designed like that; I drew my plan of the map to a paper before I started to make the map. I did the same for Hiding in the Trees. I have always liked starting locations which are close to eachother. (If you play RA1, choose a small map and put 7 AI players )

Game-Play - 7 / 10 - Was alright. I played this map as a skirmish, so yeah, it more than likely wasn't going to be as good, being as on tournament maps, the human players have alot more common sense on what to do. Was Fun.

Not much to say here; I agree with you. Also, if you noticed, there is a capturable Stealth Generator in the center of the map for online matches.
I also had fun since my modified AI started building huge amounts of infantry in the start and tried to start rush me. It actually almost worked; I had to build some light infantry, so they drained my money to 0 and after the battle I had about 10 units left.

Lighting - 7 / 10 - Lighting was very unique if anything, which is something that I like about your maps. It's not too unique to look stupid, and it's unique enough to be likeable. Nice work here. (Some parts of the map where to bright, tone down the lighting in these parts, and you'll have a near perfect result with lighting)

I've also thought about the lighting being too bright. The thing is, I use the same lightposts in many places and it looks ok in most places. Homever, if I get it correctly I'll release an update

Overall - 28 / 40 (Screw the averages, this is easier to understand ) - Overall, a nice map. Good for tournaments, and it was fun game play in general, you may want to add some more triggers, surprised etc.

~Aro

Damn, didn't get any improvement from the score Hiding in the Trees got =P

Spoilers inside the black text!
Hm, there is a surprise there if you go near the abandoned Nod Base in the map. Remember to read the text in the billboard! ^^

I've thought about triggers myself, and I might add some to future versions.

Thanks for the rewiew.

This post has been edited by ^Rampastein: Dec 9 2007, 11:21 AM

[Aro]

With the light posts, something you could do, is give an invisable light post the same properties as the colour you're using somewhere else, only tone it down, and then place the other light post in seperate places. This works well, I'd like to think, I done it in Hazardous Crevice; Check it out for an example, if you're not sure what I mean.

[Rampastring]

With the light posts, something you could do, is give an invisable light post the same properties as the colour you're using somewhere else, only tone it down, and then place the other light post in seperate places. This works well, I'd like to think, I done it in Hazardous Crevice; Check it out for an example, if you're not sure what I mean.

Hmm, good idea. I already have 2 different yellow light posts there though.. But, you brought this to my mind; why not make a third one?

This post has been edited by ^Rampastein: Dec 9 2007, 12:01 PM

[Aro]

Exactly my point. This helps bring an even better feel to the map.

[Rampastring]

***UPDATE***

Swampflower Version 1.2 has been released!

This update includes:

- Better lighting at the southern & eastern coasts of the map (doesn't hurt eyes as badly anymore)
- Fixed all the cliff errors (Tell me if you find any, I checked the cliffs carefully)
- Some small terrain changes; some places look better.

download is updated up top ^^^

This post has been edited by Team Black: Dec 9 2007, 04:40 PM

[Carnotaurus]

AI's retarded and does not do anything on this map. Which is a shame considering how good it looks. Fix the AI please.

[Rampastring]

Really? In my tests (I played two short matches) it did.. I'll test it more and report the results.

Argh, time limit for editing posts FTL.

Well, I noticed why: The few tiberium trees just weren't enough for 8 players, added a 2nd one in the big tiberium fields.

I'll release a new version if that seems enough.

This time limit for editing posts is REALLY anoying, please remove it >_<'

Well, with the 2 tiberium trees, I got rushed with massive amounts of infantry & vehicles after about 15 mins of gameplay, and the tiberium amount seems fine. 16 tiberium trees = 2 per player, and the players must still harvest from multiple tiberium fields to get enough money.

This post has been edited by Team Black: Dec 10 2007, 05:26 PM

[Carnotaurus]

Well, nevermind mu post than. It must be TS 3.0's AI.


or therefore lack of an AI.

[Rampastring]

Thanks to Team Black for merging the posts.

So.. I haven't found any bugs since the latest version (1.3).

Will you add this to the Massive Map Pack like you said about a week ago, or do I have to change something?

Btw, if you do add it, add the file below; the attachment on top of the page seems to got a reveal all map trigger with it for some reason oO (I deleted it before the 1.0 release... seems that I uploaded the wrong version of the map somehow -.-')

Also, more comments would be nice; what's the idea of posting maps here if only 1 guy plays them and gives a few comments of them?

 Swampflower_1.31.zip ( 189.55K ) Number of downloads: 296


This post has been edited by ^Rampastein: Dec 14 2007, 12:21 PM

[Team Black]

Yea, the unfair world of mapping.. maps require a great deal of thought and effort, and usually get little recognition as an individual release.
You really have to make a map something special, and a lot of promotion, to get a lot of feedback on the release.
Most maps get their recognition when they're put into a mod, or a project I think

Added to the massive map pack

This post has been edited by Team Black: Dec 14 2007, 02:27 PM

[Rampastring]

Heh. I quess that maps would get more comments on PPM, since it's more popular than TiberiumWeb, but I just somehow like this place more. PPM just looks too chaotic when there are much ppl with big signatures etc, which I just cant stand for some reason.

Thanks for adding this to the massive map pack, and now I can finally start making my third map without thinking about this map's fate at the same time.