MetalBeast's first WZ-mapping attempts ;)

[MetalBeast]

Hi,

after many days of deep frustration and World-Editor crashes, I get my mapping entvironment quite stable
Thx to all guys helping me, especially big thx to "Rman Virgil"!

After two test-maps I have started the first serious mapping project for WZ.
It is desert style 8 player map, the one, which I ever wanted to have
With many playce, but not boring and for good strategic wars .

In the middle of the big map (250x250), there is some kind of oasis,
which contains 8 neutral Oil-Ressources, but it is enclosed in ring of water.
Whoever has the first hoover truck, has some energy advantage.
So it forces the players to fight for it.

It is still work in progress, texturing und terrain modelling are still not finished.
But you can have first impression.

[Rman Virgil]

------------------------->

* I like what your goal is and the screen caps look fabulous. Using water as an embedded strategy for influencing
game play is very insightful. Most mappers overlook this entirely because of the skirmish a.i. shortfall in dealing with water but to me it is more important to cater to MP with all humans... that's my personal bias. Just tell peeps that the map is mainly for peeps.... not the present skirmish a.i. I cannot see any downside to going that route.

* Also - your map design exemplifies the ideal of "form serving function" which separates the wannabees from those who have a firm grasp of the craft at hand.

* That said...

* It is gonna be critical that you determine the optimal number and placement of oil resources - especially within
your base platforms - because that is the single most important determinant of whether the game will play-out as your designing it to..... a race to hover to fight over the oil on the center island.

* As I see it now with 4 oil resources in each base most MP games will be a RUSH to capture your neighbors oil because 4 wells is just not enough to an drive an economy for anything else if you wanna win the way WZ is balanced at present. So what I'm saying is that most of the action will take place outside the island, all over the map periphery - never reaching the resource island oil treasure trove if you start as a T1 game...

* To find the optimal balance of oil resources to encourage your desired design game play intention is best discovered by MP play-testing with other peeps....

* But I will guess that for the game to play out the way of your goal you are gonna have to double the number of oil-wells in each base platform to 8, and then place no other resources but the ones on the island...

* Like I said I'm only guessing. Your goal is worth the effort your making, IMHO, and the aesthetics of your landscape look very appealing - all making me look forward to playing on your map.

- Rman.

[kipman725]

all very natural looking quite a hard effect to achive. I look forward to playing it.

[MetalBeast]

Thx for your comments guys
Sure, the count of oil-ressources is very important for the gameplay.
It is the cause, why i do not implement too many of them.
We have to test, how many are the best count for this map.

At the moment I'm working on the texturing and terrain-shaping.
I did set some gates now, picture attached, so if you have any hints or suggestion, let me know.
I have no experience with that gates-sytem, so i used it with my understanding of the things

If I have finished all player bases, I will post a beta version for testing

Yesterday, I played 2 player test-game with AI and it was quite fun
I was amazed, that AI was attacking my second base on the island with well organised attack-waves,
while still attacking my main-base.

What I noticed over the years of playing WZ, the most maps, even well designed,
have not enough place for building a base, what leads the AI to enclose itself and kills the gameplay.

[Rman Virgil]

What I noticed over the years of playing WZ, the most maps, even well designed,
have not enough place for building a base, what leads the AI to enclose itself and kills the gameplay.

* Yes indeed. A very, very, important thing to keep in mind when creating a map.

* There are some A.I.s that are much better at handling this: Prometheus's "H2O", Troman's very 1st iteration of "Aivolution" with Unit Transport Drops, and Niker's brand new iteration of "Become Prey".... unfortunately none of these skirmish a.i.s run under any of the current WRP game binaries.

* From what I can tell in your screen cap - your GWs look good.

- RV

[whippersnapper]

those screens look very inviting. will you be releasing to play sometime soon ?

[whippersnapper]

i was very curious how your map would play out in lan mp. since i have no intention of publishing, i re-created and finished it based on your screens and overhead gw mini-map - tnt, as we say in the hood, for v.1.10. so, there yu have it.... just for my lan gathering of good blokes this weekend. l8r.

[MetalBeast]

Hehe , nice

Sorry, but my work-notebook is in repair (once again) so I can not finish the map at the moment.
I will post every progress I made, if my notebook is back again.

Mabe I will try to get the edit working on my wife's notebook.

[whippersnapper]

oh lord metalbeast, you got me to thinking if my LT went kaput i'd be totally fracked 'cause none
of my antiquated boxes could take it's place. i am now committed to building a new state of the
art box in november.

btw, you can readily make this a coop-map which is yet another kwel aspect i really like about your
design.