Cutstuff Mapping Jam 2: FALCON JOINS THE FIGHT!

[Dr. Freeman]

And we're in the final six hours! Whoaaaaaaaaaaa!

A quick note, if you're doing and are worrying about not having a super amazing map, I wouldn't worry about it. I say just do what you can to make it pretty good, because once the pack is released, there is absolutely nothing stopping you from making it better on your own outside of this thing.

[Hallan Parva]

my map's really bad but I entered anyway

[Yuri Sakazaki]

Not terribly fond of mine either, but hey, why not.

[Beed28]

I submitted mine a few hours ago. Just hope it's good enough.

[Dr. Freeman]

And we're closed!
I'll be leaving a short grace period for submissions in case things went wrong or there are errors or something, but to my knowledge mostly everyone who wanted to do this have given me something already.

I'll have a pack out hopefully soon. It's been a fun short mapping thing.
Idunno.

[Dr. Freeman]

OK I DID MY SPEEDRUN

PICK UP THIS PACK RIGHT HERE http://www.best-ever.org/download?file=falconmappack.pk3

YOU CAN GET 15 MAPS SPONSORED BY CAPTAIN FALCON HIMSELF!
Except not cause he's a fictional character.

Thanks to everyone who decided to do this in the super limited time frame.

And before everyone gets out their super "wow this map is trash" adventure, the point of this was to see what people could do in 48 hours so there are things that aren't quite perfect BUT THAT'S JUST HOW IT GOES WHEN YOU'RE LIVING ON THE EDGE!

FREEMAN OUT!

[CutmanMike]

Medals awarded, except for Nemu whose forum username I can't quite find.

[*Alice]

Cold Noodles.

[Laggy Blazko]

Nice map names you've got there.

And nice HOMs. =P

[Max]

Okay I'm done

(click to show/hide)

What time is it???? MAXINE'S SUPER SPECIAL MAP REVIEW PACK POST MAP FREEMAN

01 - Busta Nut - Freeman
It's kinda funny how the dude that proposed and made the pack ended up with one of the smallest maps around. Hm. This map doesn't have anything stupid in it, that's good. Duo Fist and Top Spin are a little stupid, but I don't care. It's fun to fight in. Most of the outside (looks outwards) looks pretty good. Aside from minor gripes with actor placement, the fusion of Buster Rod / Napalm / Sword wasn't exactly an overused one, and it came out well. Looking inwards however, the huge walls of unbroken interior Naplam caves (on the outside) look ugly. There are also a few rookie mapping trip-ups like linedefs that don't match the sectors they attach to (like Buster Rod metal instantly turning into grass without a grace sector) and the texture set ends up being limited despite the textures being taken from a variety of sources.
It's average. Playable and small, looks a bit ugly. Party Ball is dumb.

02 - I don't know - Copy
I don't really know either. This map reeks of 'draw a big layout and struggle to fill all the space you drew with things-itis'. The fact that it's so difficult to navigate the map without resorting to the fall-teleporters says a lot about the abundance of quick beams. I -could- climb those ladders and get shot down, or I could just teleport. The amount of teleporting necessary and the ability to do so from every side of the map just makes it feel disjointed and split, especially when the middle is just so... boring. Texture set plays it incredibly safe but uses Quick perfectly. The new railings look good too, so no complaints of aesthetics aside from 'it's boring'.
Also pretty average. It's actually better than core Quickman though, lol.

03 - A lighthearted prank - Rozark
OW MY FUCKING EARS
that music is intolerable, incredibly loud and sounds shitty
*stopmus*
This map is good. The wood and sky areas are easy to navigate because of how the water and the trees break it up and make areas distinct, the wooden 'house' is basic and works more for providing cover than anything else (it'd be nice if you could access it from both sides tbh) and overall the trees and wood with napalm grass looks pretty pretty. Skybox is nice but unnecessary. The real issues I have with this map is when you start moving away from the open wooden area. The caves at the top of the map become incredibly hard (for me, at least) to get through because it all looks samey with the two tones of stone and the incredibly ugly wood cave textures, which would've been much better being either outside wood textures or just a prettier version of the same thing using a different robot's textures. Luckily these areas are in pretty short supply compared to the exterior. I couldn't even see where the hole was to drop down half the time. In addition, the map's openness and flow is sort of... ruined by its weapon selection. Nearly all of the more available weapons are incredibly close range. Tengu Blade jousting and Slash Claw drive-bys were the main methods of death from when I played, and Air Shooter and Wave Burner just serve as a counter-attack to them. This led to a lot of frags from people who could access the less accessible weapons, so Laser Buster multi-kills and Magnet spam were frequent from the more adept players. More balance would be nice. I don't think half the players even found Metal Blade with the one-way house. And Copy Vision is just bad, I hate it.
I wrote more about this map because it's better than the ones before it. If it gets fixed up it would be 'good', right now it's just fine.

04 - Fuck you - A stupid person

05 - Dark Man Remixed V 9000.135 - Jack Corvus
Probably one of my favourite maps, and one of the three I felt the need to praise in the chat as soon as I saw the pack. Nice job! This map is incredibly pretty. Nearly every Dark Man texture is used to perfection, and you know when to break restraints and use other textures, like in the skybox and all the courtyard grass which really aids to the aesthetics and makes it feel even more like Dark Man than Dark Man does, ironically enough. My favourite thing about this map would have to be the vertical flow. It's incredibly fun and natural to patrol outer walls only to drop down for kills, and climbing back up is intuitive with the faster ladders and support items, plus well placed slopes and jumps. It might sound out of character for me to praise it this much but it's really really fun to play in! My main issue basically comes with item placement. There are way too many Energy Balancers and W-tanks in the map, nobody needs that much ammo and the map basically trivialises it. In addition there are, what, two Party Balls in the map? That just makes it less fun. On top of E-Tanks, W-Tanks, Rush Coil and Jet, countless energy balancers... I don't think theoretically infinite assist items is exactly necessary and it often feels cheap to have someone gain an advantage through luck. Bubble Lead wasn't used much on the map and Ice Slasher was too slow for rapid fire tactics to really work, the Noise Crush - Napalm Bomb / Air Shooter / Crash Bomb combination was really the strongest point. Other than that, love it.
Good map, a couple issues barely made a difference to the inherent fun factor.

06 - Dimensional Well - Beed28
Another map I praised, second of three, even though Beed wouldn't have really seen it in a skype chat... Whatever, I like this map too. It's probably the most unique one I've seen for a while, all the areas really feel interesting and unlike other maps with disconnected areas... Waveman... The areas in this actually flow incredibly well together due to height variance and commendable placement in the astro 'rifts'. The main problem I have is that a lot of the map felt quite cramped. This was most prominent in the Bomb and Skull areas, and between rifts. The rifts could be shortened to let players flow through more quickly and reduce the amount of choke points in the map, but the Bomb and Skull tightness would have to be more cleverly adjusted. Also it was hard to get out of the water in the Knight / Mega Water area because the jumping was so precise and the ladders so small. Finally, there are an absolute gargantuan amount of weapons on the map, and if you've been alive for a while it just gets plainly overwhelming to sort through them all. They should be cut down to maybe 2-3 weapons a slot, and there should be a lot less long range weapons in the map. And Leaf Shield and Copy Vision just suck. Why so many Copy Visions in the map pack? Not that anyone knew other people would be using them... A few texture hiccups in lack of matching floor and walls, and a few areas were hard to navigate because of repeated texture use. However every section really looked like it was part of the core, so that's great.
Good, unique maps with a couple issues. Very saveable. I'd love to see it somewhere.

07 - A tree servant - Yuri
To be perfectly honest... I don't have much to say about this map. It's genuinely quite boring. Stuck to a single tileset, used it passably. Layout is fine. I guess the biggest issue is blandness. A lot of areas are very wide open and long, and basically the entire map uses most of the same floor texture, which makes locating differences in height or holes to fall through quite hard. Walls are varied, though. Well, with the exception of a few flat walls where only the black/colour Needle brick walls are used. Weapons are generally very strong, which makes it a pretty chaotic map. Quite a lot of weapons too. Interesting contrast between boring map and chaotic weapons, but it doesn't do much saving. Nothing really stupid with it though, and it's quite well sized compared to a lot of smaller maps in this pack.
We're back to mediocrity. That sounds harsh. It's true.
Also the skybox is broken in software. Ouch.

08 - Fuck you too - An idiot

09 - Easy way out - Caprice
Fitting title. Big, bland, box map. Kinda ugly. I spawned on top of one of the walls on the outside once. Oops.

10 - Sea Base Skirmish - Gumballtoid
I saw a lot of people praising this map in the skype chats. Gonna sound harsh again but I think it was, well, undeserved. This map is okay. No denying that. It's definitely a lot better than Diveman which a lot of people were praising. If you wanted to replace Diveman with this I'd say okay. I'd also ask for a less boring map. But that'd be ignored. This map is just boring to me because... It's a square, for starters. 60% of it is flat. 66% is underwater. It also reeks of 'draw a big layout and struggle to fill all the space you drew with things-itis', but at least it's small and self-contained. It does look incredibly... professional. Worthy of core. Actually uses the underwater-overwater textures properly and it never looks ugly with the pretty skybox and good use of textures, even though a couple are cut off or misaligned.
I just... I don't really know what to say other than it's boring. Water Wave is useless underwater and often cut off on the pipes. Arrow Buster is too strong underwater and it's placed next to Drill Bomb which is even better. Wave Burner makes Charge Kick useless. Dive Missile is placed well but overpowered in the open areas, which is all of it. I guess that's all. I enjoy it. It's just boring.

11 - Futanari Dragonnesses - Me
Not critiquing it because it's mine. Pretty as shit though, right? Sorry about Atomic Fire.

12 - In the court of the Emerald Queen - Mendez
Not giving this one a full critique either since that's unneccessary. Innovative as shit, boring visually, Screw Crusher was overpowering. Quake gimmick cool but interruptive.

13 - Steamy Factory - Nemu
I was dreading critiquing this one... I really hate it, but I've never found the best way to say why. It's incredibly ugly, I suppose. Flame Burner Junk Burst Wave... They don't work well together. You end up with blue grey brown and orange, which is just gross, and the map comes out not looking like an actual factory or anything thematic, just kinda gross. The one thing that did make it look like a steamy factory, the steam, was just... stupid. It's unnecessary. What does it do? I don't like filters as it is but having one for a little while and then draining it away for no reason is just idiotic. Sorry. It doesn't make people in the distance hidden. It just makes the map darker and fuzzier. Combine that with a couple misused sector textures and linedefs and it just looks super unappealing. The weapon set is also incredibly chaotic, with a lot of spam, hugs, COPY VISION ARRGGHHH, and Proto Buster for some reason. Hm. I didn't find it fun to fight in. To be perfectly honest, the layout isn't even worth mentioning for better or for worse. It's just kinda there.

14 - Contaminated Subterrania - Lego
This was the final of the three maps I praised. Wanna know why? It surprised me. A lot. It was really interesting. Like, if you said you were gonna make a Toad / Sword fusion with hints of Wave and Hard, I'd be all like WUT. And then if you said you were going to MAKE ME ENJOY THE USE OF FILTERS, I'd just punch you in the gut. But you did it. On top of that, the layout is really really fun. It's smaller, but it's intricate and the above and below areas flow well, you know how to get to anywhere from anywhere else, the aesthetics are downright beautiful in places (and innovative) and the water jets pushing you down wasn't even obstructive. Curved walls and unplayable areas, green water... Beautiful. One of the only complaints I have is with the weapon selection. Wave Burner was a perfect fit, as was Wild Coil and Rolling Cutter. However, some of the other weapons just end up being underused, like I didn't even notice Search Snake was in the map because nobody used it. Barely used Water Balloon, either. In general the number of weapons in the map is refreshingly slim, but since a few don't get used it makes it seem like it's more restrictive than it is.
Really good. Tiny fixes and I'd love to see it in Legopack or Crocpack or whatever you decided on, I didn't check.

15 - A stupid joke - LlamaHombre
I can't critique this map because it doesn't make any sense. I mean, it's not downright stupid like the other two maps I ignored, but... Why a random MM3DW1 box? Why a pharaoh box? Why tiny water corridors? Why a big Mega Water corridor? It doesn't even flow at all! WHY A RANDOM PIT WITH AN E-TANK IN IT? I'm confused! Aaaaaa

I wonder if anyone actually knew I was a map critic

EDIT: I shortened these a bit because I had a lot to cover. If you're gonna put one of these in a pack or whatever and want me to go into more detail I'd be happy to!

EDIT2 : Korby's skybox is also broken in software but that's a shit map anyway, also GUMBALLTOID AND BEED'S MAPS HAVE BUGGED WATER IF SEEN FROM BELOW in software, and on top of all of that Nemu's steam doesn't even work at all in software

[Korby]

If you were a good map critic, you'd give pointers on how to improve the maps you declared as "shit" and refused to review.
;D

[Max]

Scrap 'em

[Rozark]

Hi I noticed you judged my weapon layouts for a good chunk of said review.
You don't criticize those.
Ever.
I've said it countless times that I'm not good at those, trying to teach me otherwise isn't going to be of any use.
(Although Tengublade is needed in order for the prank to exist)
I like the criticism despite me becoming near immune when I taste a certain flavor in said review.
You know what I'm talking about.

[Emmanuelf06]

My favorites are 2,3 and 5, the 14 one is cool too (well not important).....the remix of darkman stage is the 5th is awesome...it reminds me this remix:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFb4ht5bzII
Not sure....
Some maps can be cool for duel :q

[Caprice]

09 - Easy way out - Caprice
Fitting title. Big, bland, box map. Kinda ugly. I spawned on top of one of the walls on the outside once. Oops.

The title was more so referencing how I couldn't really think of a way to make the other half of the layout, so I went with symmetry because lazy. I wasn't going to make things boxy, but I felt there had to be something on the other side of the buildings; couldn't think of anything good so generic corner piece. I really messed up when it comes to spawning on the walls, though.

It'd be nice if you said why it was kinda ugly, and how to make it not-ugly, though.