Spring RTS Engine

I'm working on a map. Here are some screenshots:


First 2 players start at the ends of the semicircle. The next 2, start somewhere in the middle (easy to figure out looking at the metal map). It is suposed to be a 1v1 or 2v2 map.

The metal map:


Although it is a «long» drive through the island, players start close. They can almost say hello to each other at the closest point.



The water height and shore inclination:


General overview of map and sky:


Now i'm interested in some feedback.

- The textures. At the moment, the texture is a plain sand yellow. I haven't yet applied none although i will. (I haven't yet decided to make it look like sand, red rock, shiny green/blue rock, etc) Does it look too bad without any texture, like it is now?

- The size is 4096x4096. It is suposed to be small but i sometimes wonder if it isn't too small... The size of the map is made somewhat larger by it's configuration and it has limited, although confortable, build space. Although no one here ever actually played it, do you think it is too small?

- The metal. There isn't plenty (although 4 geos). Most metal patches give around 1,1~1,5 metal. Is that too low?

looks good.

It seems to be oriented to fast-mid duration games, bc lvl2 defenses may dominate all the map.

a bit more of water at the sides, would give the naval battles more space.

... everybody forgets to put metal in water.. :/

mongus wrote: ... everybody forgets to put metal in water.. :/

YES, and speaking of which, why haven't there been many/any water maps for Spring? Water maps were sooooo much fun imho.

... everybody forgets to put metal in water.. :/

Oh no they dont... (i put it in there... just currently theres only 1 map with actull water on it)

aGorm

The sand beaches look very unnatural, sloping like an A where it should slope inwards like an L if anything. Sand is also highly unlikely to keep such height above water surface unless being held up by rocks or wrecks in the middle. The sand texture is also a bit monotone, IMO, should be pretty much like the broken water textures in the same pic.

And no, I'm not trying to sound harsh, I just want to help you make a better map :)

How many nukes does it take to sink the entire land mass?

Some one had to say that didnt they. my bet is twenty.

The texture is a bit monotone but at the end it looks ok. Maybe real sand beaches have gentler slopes, but for a TA Spring map, I much prefer having clear slope and deep water near the shore, than large unbuildeable shoals. Games are more interestings when cruisers can go near the coast, and when land cons can build shipyards from the land.

Shit, who needs nukes, crawling bombs are much better and cheaper.

Storm wrote:The sand beaches look very unnatural, sloping like an A where it should slope inwards like an L if anything.
...

I din't understood that first part...

As for metal in water, i actually did it on purpose because i want it to be a land/water map but more to the land side, having a struggle for land conquest, pushing forward and loosing backwards, and artilery wars in those near ends. I am affraid that having metal in the water may make the game too much water oriented. (anyone remembers Gods Of War that has no metal in water and still is mostly water oriented?)

As for the textures, i don't think (like it has been said) that without any texture looks really bad and one gets acostumed but, i am going to give it some rocky texture. Since the ground is near the water height, it must be hard so it doesn't sink too much and hard ground asks for a rocky/metal texture.

Thanks for the feedback.

I think you should put a bit of metal in the water. Or else people won't build sea units at all.

Why wouldn't they ? Sea units beat the everloving shit outta land units, and with the landmass being so thin, the boats'll be able to reach out and touch anyone.

Actually sea units suck compared to land units... (talking about XTA btw)

I think that the map is intrinsicaly rather dull. From a gameplay standpoint however its a great idea. Not so much visualy, but who care's about visuals when your blowing the everloving snot out of your enemys!

Ships seriously need to be pumped up 30-40% in XTA! They are so crap lol! Although their range is good. I think that along the far side of the ring, on the side closest to both players, it would be cool if their was a mounatin. It would be a good excuse to vary the color scheme a bit, and could make it look far nicer. Currently its looks very plain, although it looks like a great map from a gameplay perspective.

Map is finished:
http://taspring.clan-sy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2039
Omega Island download!

I haven't shown it to you guys textured because i wasn't yet still sure what textures i would use and they also detract from the map architecture.

I wanted the map to look good (wasted alot of time on the textures) but my main focus was, indeed, on the gameplay. Looking forward to see how it plays...