Chaos Battle Version 3.1.3

[CyanKnight]

These are match maps lifted from the grave of Demo 1.08's Chaos mode with intent to be used for the new battle mode by CobaltBW. However they should work fine with Regular match too.

"Why?"
Well the chaos mode maps have went unused since around 1.09 possibly for the better however Battle mode lends it self to smaller maps as there is always something going on in them due to the more up close nature of melee combat. Because of that I had the crazy idea to see if maybe the Chaos mode maps would work well with this new mode. They aren't being used for anything else after all.

"Whats in it?"
As of right now there are only 3 maps but I plan to add more and I even intend to rework some of the maps already featured down the line!

Air haven - Knock each other off the map for Supremacy in this small Nimbus ruins styled map. Panels are placed on pillars around the map to insight knock down drag out brawls where only one can be supreme on this map!

Block Factory - A closed in factory map with 4 panels on each corner and one in the center, its a simple map possibly good for those who are just learning the new mode or those who don't like too much chaos!

Chaos Space - A slightly bigger map with a little more to do in comparison to Block Factory this special stage themed map will have you fighting for the panel in 4 small rooms and knocking each other off the the pillar in the center of the map!

 

[D00D64]

Welcome to releases!

 

[CyanKnight]

Chaos Battle maps have been updated! This update comes with some changes to every map currently in and an additional new map! Slime Canyon!
I'll list the changes below

-Air Haven
Air Haven is Now Prisma Haven!! Theme slightly inspired by Mystic realm's Mystic realm Zone this map went largely unchanged aside for some aesthetic changes. The only major change to this map is that the capture points are lowered.

-Block Factory
With Block Factory I made an attempt to give it more of a city vibe using Dark City's textures. The only major thing added here besides the texture changes are the Conveyor belts along the perimeter of the map.

-Chaos Space
Due to being unable to find an appealing middle ground to "Special stage map that encompasses all special stages" I binned that Theme and gave it a theme more akin to Deep Sea Zone. On top of that I changed the name. It is now Cyan Ruin Zone! This map is largely the same. Any change made here was mainly Aesthetic. There is a lot more water this time around though!

-Slime Canyon
Between then and now SCZ didn't change too much It's a little darker and it's raining now. There are some texture changes here and there but it remains the exact same for the most part. I'm an amateur at this map making stuff so I couldn't quite get the rising/falling slime how I wanted it but I'm still happy with the results. The slime can't hurt you as to not interfere with combat more than there really needs to be. In Capture point there is only one CP in the center of the map where an item box also lays. That's all I really have to say this update. Happy Fighting!

 

[clairebun]

Of the four maps, I would say that Block Factory definitely plays the best in Battle and CP. There's a lot of layered platforming here, and the CPs are placed in an interesting position where there is some risk of falling off if players are not careful about how they engage. Chaos Space has a similar dynamic with its CPs, but the flatness of the map means that there's not as much going on.

Slime Canyon feels problematic because of how rapidly the slime moves in and out. I think it disrupts gameplay too frequently and would work a lot better if the slime rose at slower intervals.

Generally speaking, all of the maps have too many rings and most of them have no weak/strong monitors. Action costs don't mean anything in these maps, and the lack of shields means there's less power dynamics at play when it comes to player combat. I think some liberties could be taken to balance the ring count and add a few more monitors to rectify this.

I'm assuming having the colormap inside the ruin sectors without water is intentional? If so, then it might be worth toning down the colormap just a bit.



The only other thing I noticed is that, since rail and infinity spawn locations are disabled by default, some of the map's CPs do not show up unless the server enables everything. If you want full control over CPs, then I'm releasing an update that allows you to place the CPs directly into maps irrespective of the weapon panels. I can send you an indev copy if you're interested.

 

[CyanKnight]

Of the four maps, I would say that Block Factory definitely plays the best in Battle and CP. There's a lot of layered platforming here, and the CPs are placed in an interesting position where there is some risk of falling off if players are not careful about how they engage. Chaos Space has a similar dynamic with its CPs, but the flatness of the map means that there's not as much going on.

Slime Canyon feels problematic because of how rapidly the slime moves in and out. I think it disrupts gameplay too frequently and would work a lot better if the slime rose at slower intervals.

Generally speaking, all of the maps have too many rings and most of them have no weak/strong monitors. Action costs don't mean anything in these maps, and the lack of shields means there's less power dynamics at play when it comes to player combat. I think some liberties could be taken to balance the ring count and add a few more monitors to rectify this.

I'm assuming having the colormap inside the ruin sectors without water is intentional? If so, then it might be worth toning down the colormap just a bit.



The only other thing I noticed is that, since rail and infinity spawn locations are disabled by default, some of the map's CPs do not show up unless the server enables everything. If you want full control over CPs, then I'm releasing an update that allows you to place the CPs directly into maps irrespective of the weapon panels. I can send you an indev copy if you're interested.

I'd love to get an indev copy.

Block factory does seem to be the fan favorite among people who play the map in my Server, That and Chaos Space. I'll keep those sorts of layouts in mind when I start doing custom stuff.

About Slime canyon's slime: I was really trying to get it to rise at slower intervals but I couldn't really figure it out. I believe on the wiki it said that the speed is based on how many fracunits long the lindef is? I tried to figure it out but ultimately couldn't I'll chip at it today and figure something out though.
-
As far as the rings are concerned I couldn't figure out what was too many rings and what was too little. Though I'll reduce them across the board as best as I can and think of where to place some of those monitors as well placing "Things" in general is my weakest strength in the map making(or in this case porting) process I believe, so the critique helps a ton.

Thanks for trying it out and I'll try to address all the issues tonight!

 

[clairebun]

Sorry, I meant to get back to you, but I got sidetracked. Anyway, I just released the new version, so all of the info on updating your maps with CP thing types can be found on the first page of the Battle thread.

About Slime canyon's slime: I was really trying to get it to rise at slower intervals but I couldn't really figure it out. I believe on the wiki it said that the speed is based on how many fracunits long the lindef is? I tried to figure it out but ultimately couldn't I'll chip at it today and figure something out though.

Yeah IIRC you need to change the length of the control linedef that's set to run the scrolling movement.

As far as the rings are concerned I couldn't figure out what was too many rings and what was too little. Though I'll reduce them across the board as best as I can and think of where to place some of those monitors as well placing "Things" in general is my weakest strength in the map making(or in this case porting) process I believe, so the critique helps a ton.

In my experience you really don't need that many rings in order for Battle maps to function. Every character has base attacks even if they have no rings, so there's not as much risk involved in undershooting the ring count compared to ringslinger modes. That's not to say that the mode suffers terribly from an over-abundance of rings either. It just makes things slightly less interesting, since players are encouraged to spam attacks recklessly instead of carefully managing their ammo.

The good news is that Battle in general is much less complicated than Match in terms of thing placement. The only things you really need to worry about are rings, monitors, player spawns, and control points. I actually haven't 100% decided on what the optimal monitor and ring distribution is yet, but I'm thinking you want at least one strong monitor and at least one or two weak monitors distributed around the maps, preferably in locations the player might not visit otherwise. Also, control points appear to work best when powerups and rings are placed farther away from the control points.

Overall though, I don't think there's really any strict rules when it comes to placement. You want to find balance, but it's also good to experiment with a variety of different designs. Basically just think about all the things you can do to make the player feel like they should play more aggressively, then to play more cautiously, and how to get all of those highs and lows into a single match. I find that if you imagine yourself in the shoes of the player coming into the stage for the first time and imagining what emotion you want them to feel as they're playing, design-wise everything tends to fall into place a little easier. Of course, it also helps if you know what your full toolkit is.

 

[CyanKnight]

Chaos Maps have been updated once again! This time with some improvements/additions to some stage layouts and minor fixes to others.
The changes are as follows:

Slime Canyon -
The slime now rises much slower and has longer intervals between when it rises and falls. There is also a new structure to add a little more depth in the map allowing for 2 Capture points.

Prisma haven - There are 5 more Capture points on this map utilizing the tops of temples, the middle point that was on the bottom previously is now on the top on top of that I've changed the background(2.1.1) to make the rainbow platforms much easier to see, however if you really did like the previous one you can simply go back to the original 2.1. The rings have also been drastically decreased.

Block Factory - This map didn't change too much. There are now 5 monitors located on the stage 4 weak, 1 strong and a new structure located in the center of the map. The rings here have also been decreased.

Cyan Ruin - This map got the most minor changes of them all I believe. The Color map intensity in the hallways has been decreased, There are now 4 more points located on the map. Rings have been reduced, and there are now springs in the center area of the map allowing easier access to the center's capture point.

That's really all I have to say this update! Be on the look out next update for a new map and a possible renaming of the map pack. It won't be a chaos map, however it will be a 1.08 map!

 

[CyanKnight]

Chaos battle version 3 is now out Featuring 2 new maps. Doomed Station and Occult Shrine!

Doomed station is a bit of a repurposing of Green upheaval from 1.08 this map is the same as in the past for the most part with a few things added one namely being that it's Doom themed now and the other is that it features slime that drains rings!

Occult Shrine is Flying shrine for the most part but i attempted to make it seem more like a shrine thematically the only big changes to this map are the trap rooms where you can find item boxes and they are also where I've placed 4 of the control points on top of that there is now a shrine in the middle of the map!

These map feature custom music as well-
Doomed Station: Phobos Anomaly remix by Micheal Markie
Occult Shrine: Guardian from Unreal

---------- Post added at 11:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:37 PM ----------

Version 3.1.1 - This idiot forgot to add spawns to Doomed Station. That problem has been resolved

---------- Post added 03-23-2020 at 12:04 AM ---------- Previous post was 03-22-2020 at 11:36 PM ----------

Version 3.1.2 - SCZ seemed to be home to a weird segment violation I went in and fixed that and also decided to move the lower CP up a bit more to stop fights down there from being so long

 

[CyanKnight]

Version 3.1.3 - Slight change to Doomed Station and File conversion to PK3

---------- Post added at 02:29 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:59 AM ----------

Slight update the music for Doomed station seemed to have problems to the point where i had to change the music entirely, enjoy srb2's rendition of I sawed the demons