This topic is for discussion of map #1662: FPS: Blown away
(https://knucklecracker.com/creeperworld4/queryMaps.php?query=thumbnailid&id=1662)
Author: Kaiden
Size: 300x200
The mob that explodes is cool. Makes it a tactical choice on when to snipe it.
I liked this map, though I'm not sure why I felt my progress was off (issue was with me, not map).
Thanks yet again, Kaiden, for another excellent map.
Definitely on the right track now, That felt appropriately challenging, the flying mobs were infrequent enough that they would catch me off guard. I always love the part when the tide shifts suddenly and the rest of the map almost clears itself.
Challenging but fun map. The beginning was a little hectic, but as long as you stay on top of things it's not impossible.
Gameplay continues to improve. The initial delay on the spawners seems to work well in practice as well as theory. The exploders... well, it's not clear whether they're an enemy or an ally? They're not even aggressive. I like the idea - would be especially interested if there were a way to deliberately weaponize them.
Level design is a little bland here. The vast, rolling terrain with units uniformly interspersed works, but it's not memorable. More complex terrain features - like the forts from a couple maps ago, or the cracks into the void that Auri often uses - could help, especially if they're laid out in such a way that the player has choices of direction. The mobile units' ability to cross such gaps would open up interesting threats, too.
Overall I definitely enjoy where this is going, Kaiden, and I admire your persistence.
So I was clearly wrong. I apologize about my out burst on the other map. Your last 2 maps were amazing
DIAL BACK THE FLYERS... howmany time does it need to be said. does not mean ADD MOAR!!!! we need a down vote to hit crap like this.
Quote from: favour6 on May 29, 2021, 12:15:44 PM
DIAL BACK THE FLYERS... howmany time does it need to be said. does not mean ADD MOAR!!!! we need a down vote to hit crap like this.
I disagree with this statement. The difficulty on this map was just about perfect. Many of us don't want a walk in the park. We want challenging maps that aren't a slog. This one hit that mark darn near perfectly. I'm not about to down vote this map and instead will be up voting it.
Fun map. Starts out slow and slowly builds to the end. Lots of options available to the player to let them play however they want.
I feel like I cheesed part of the map though - once I got to the first group of units in the back, I made fairly short work of all three groups, which pretty much ended the mission even though I hadn't finished clearing out the middle. I don't know if that was by design or not.
Without context this map is unplayable. The strategy is extremely difficult to follow in the beginning and frankly this isn't fun unless you have experience with the other mechanics in the game.
Quote from: MrWizard on May 29, 2021, 10:29:31 PM
Without context this map is unplayable. The strategy is extremely difficult to follow in the beginning and frankly this isn't fun unless you have experience with the other mechanics in the game.
Kaiden's been introducing a lot of new FPS units lately. You need to immediately buy autodefense as your first upgrade (it's listed last in the upgrade dropdown and costs 3 of your 5 starting upgrade points). Without autodefense, you'll get overwhelmed pretty quickly.
Can you next map be like this one, but increase the creep spawners at the back of the map and remove the ones at the front. Then add pockets of yellow breeder and partially fill the map at the start with creep.
This'll give those that are moaning about how quickly the creep expands (it did give 500k within 3-minutes when I played) the time to take some hot spots but give you a super challenging end game. Which in most FPS maps is the easy part, when you've maxed out on Weapon Effect and can blast through 100k creep in seconds.
Maps are much better now with the introduction of the AI.
This one was really fun. Overall creep was kept below slog levels with the occasional bit of -terrain. Those explody dudes were fun too :3
Quick suggestion, maybe put the auto-defence as a stand alone upgrade in a cache at the start and reduce the starting points to match. That'll help with first timers.
Only thing that these maps really need is a way to keep the difficulty up later on, that doesn't also make the start harder. Some kind of unit only found near the back perhaps? Or something land bound that can only reach the rest of the map once you open a door/bridge e.t.c.?
I loved it!
Thanks for this one!
This is a fun map. From the "tedious tag" and some of the comments here, it looks like you need some kind of short explanation about sniping that people will actually read at the beginning of the level. Either that or just force the auto-defense upgrade at the start.
It'd be cool if the number of flyers had a way to increase as you cleared more of the map, instead of decreasing. Then it'd be a strategic decision when you choose to take the auto-defense and double snipe upgrades.
Looking forward to the next map ;D