Good Afternoon!
Today I bring you news from the world of pvk_temple. Though it's still an ongoing work in progress, I've never been as happy with the map before as I am with the current beta. A few of the major changes and additions to the map are:
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Wider hallways with more cover
Bigger play area
Additional paths and rooms
More traps!
Detail and lighting variety
Let's get started, I'm excited to show you these changes!
Wider Hallways with More Cover
Possibly the most annoying thing about pvk_temple in beta 2.2 is the hallway width. There's almost no room to maneuver and players are constantly blocking each other. Overall the map felt way too cramped and I was wary about trying to open it up, knowing it would take quite a bit of work!
Well, it wasn't easy getting the map to the size it is now, as all the hallways are interconnected so changing one means changing them all! It was totally worth it though, the players will finally be able to breath while fighting each other. To give you an idea of the width change, version 2.2 of the map's hallways were 4 tiles wide. You'll see in the following shots that the new Temple's hallways span 6 tiles across. This change, along with soft player clipping, gives the players an enormously better maneuvering space to fight in and has really improved the gameplay of the map!
Bigger Play Area
The hallways aren't the only parts of the map that I've expanded on. In the new Temple, all areas have been expanded to allow for more fighting room. This has also made the whole map bigger, allowing for a full server of players, without the ungodly amount of chaos of the original. To some, the reduction in chaos may sound like a bummer, but I can assure you that it's improved gameplay ten fold!
Additional Paths and Rooms
As part of the expansion process, I've also added a few new rooms and paths throughout the map that give the grail carrier more options, especially when alone and trying to regroup with teammates. This benefits the Pirates a bit more, as their fighting style relies on movability and they used to get completely annihilated in 2.2 on this map. Overall, the map is much more balanced to all three teams!
More Traps!
One of the unique things about Temple is the traps in the map. Some could be a bit of an annoyance, but have gotten better due to overall map size. I've also taken the liberty of changing a few of the existing traps to make them player controlled, letting you wait for your opponents to show up, then with the flip of a lever, they're toast! It's a lot more fun being able to control the traps to surprise your opponents.
In addition to the changes made to the existing traps, there are a few new traps in the map. A few examples include an Indiana Jones style rolling boulder, a secret spinning door you can trigger to trap your opponent in a room of deadly crows and a spider web that will eat you alive!
Detail and Lighting Variety
In 2.2, Temple has a very bland lighting arrangement. Most of the map is lit by torches and is basically uniform. To change this, I've added some variety to the sources of light. Now you'll find fewer torches and more areas lit by lava and sky, giving the map a much needed ambiance.
In addition to the lighting changes, I've also gone around the map to add more detail to places. There's still more to come, but for now you can get an idea of what I'm going for!
Well now, that about sums up today's post! Join us next week for a short video demonstration of some of these traps in action, as well as a look at pvk_island and pvk_frostbite for 2.3!
Be sure to Keep an eye out on our forums and our Mapping Competition sponsored by Noesis Interactive! There have been some great posts and even a beta version of one of the maps available for testing!
OH GOD NOT SPIDERS T-T
Looks great by the way
Were doomed...
Nice work! I think 2.3 would be great!
Great work. The map looks great.
Sweet update!
Cannot wait for 2.3
On a side note, I would really love to see an option for servers to be able to block certain characters or weapons from being selected. My main reason for this is because I feel like the melee system is so well designed that the projectile weapons can really hamper the fun sometimes.
I know that some characters have shields that block that stuff but for the others it can ruin the up close kick *** melee system. I still enjoy the normal game but would love to have the option to join/create a server with no projectile weapons. Just a dream of mine but I'll love PVK no matter how it goes :)
I agree. We need a melee only option.
Also weapon damage\speed could be equal for all classes on those servers.
i think this idea would only work on a player vote kind of thing because there could be too many servers using melee only
Looks great! Cant wait.
Excellent.. the textures and lighting look so much better than before. Very realistic. A nice improvement on the older work.. great job...
I really like these changes. Temple was probably my least favorite map, this could change that! The textures are great too.
Nice stuff, especially the spider thing :D
Looks killer!
WHY SPIDERS?! WHY?! I FRICKEN HATE SPIDER?!
Cool though...
Awesome Transformation, I know how hard it is to look at a map and say all this needs to be redone. Congrats for getting it done!
Looks sweet! you guys seem to like to continually update this map, which is cool, but I would also like to see some more new maps.