sweet map! the difficulty curve feels right and the jumps generally feel well-spaced.
You might wanna learn real quick about
func_detail and
func_illusionary. They're quick to learn and improve your map's performance. the various detailing geometry on the walls should be func_detail and the exclamation point indicating the powerbounce should be func_illusionary. most jump elements like wallshots and skips should also be made func_detail, and the fancy detailing on the end cap as well. (you can "load portal file" in hammer to see your visleafs and find parts where the leafs are unnecessarily complicated to figure out what could use some func_detailing/illusionarying. if none of this makes sense a short tutorial on func_detail / optimization should make it clear)
I'm someone who naturally does wall starts (e.g. the one on 8 or 14) as late as possible, but the nonade keeps eating my rockets as i end up shooting them barely at the start of the nonade. idk if anyone shoots them so late like i do but just in case you could push the nonade forward. I really like the concept of "
coyote frames" which applies to lots of games
the watershots in the connectors are a little shallow and maybe a bit thin, seems like it'd be tough to land them consistently on speedruns
3: the connector to 4 being this tiny doorway might not be fun for speedrunners to try to slot through
3 and 8 and maybe some other jumps i missed: the start being flush with the wall while the wallshot is sticking out makes it a little awkward, maybe have the start also be sticking out
5: i see that you playerclipped the beam up top to prevent the skip kozen mentioned. i was trying to come up with speedrun strats and initially was sad you can't go up there but then found an alternate strat that's still reasonably fast (speedshot at the start and two rockets on the far wall make it and are reasonably fast). your choice: you could remove the playerclip and instead have a nonade so that the skip isn't easy but speedrunners can fly above that beam if they have some cool strat, or you can keep the playerclip but make it more visually clear that you can't go above the beam cus i was misled into thinking you can fly above it.
also make sure you use the
autoedgebug prefab for the edgebug on the 5-6 connector, it reduces the chance that the edgebug just fails.
7: i overshoot the second skip if i hit the first skip well, maybe move the second one forwards a bit?
10: playerclip the wall you go up - i texturebugged it by accident on first try haha.
11: i don't know if the start is at some kind of bounce height but if it were it could reward skill for a faster strat! don't need to exclamation mark it or anything
12: i go too high on the 2nd wall with a good ctap double (by like 128hu)
14: the second half of the black ramp being nonade trolled me very hard; i thought the ramp was nonade and you were just supposed to get a crazy enough speedshot to make it just by sliding on the ramp. turns out i just should have shot the first part of the ramp? either remove that nonade or make it visually clear (with textures e.g.) or make the ramp shorter. (p.s. if you go with option 2 make sure to playerclip the ramp to prevent rampbugs)
15: i died first try from the sync - add some overheal here pls! also i bonked my head on my first good quint, maybe make the vertical shaft wider so that someone who flies off a little forward doesn't smash their head. lastly, more of a window would be helpful for getting a better view of where the rockets are. I feel where the window is right now it actually kinda helps with timing because walking off the moment the rockets are visible in the window kind of works, but you can achieve that with having a stripe or some sort of detailing indicating that when the rockets pass this line you should walk off (see
this jump) without limiting the player's view of the rockets. if instead you make the area more open and you just get a massive view of the jump, then that could also be a chance for some more epic Last Jump detailing, while also making the rockets more visible AND dealing with the bonking problem!!
bonus: the white walls around the pole look shootable at first. you could turn them into grates or something that doesn't look shootable.
detailing-wise, the map has a nice aesthethic. i think if you find some props that fit the aesthethic and throw them in (with caution to them not interfering with playability -- making them non-solid is the way) it'll make it look extra nice. and as i mentioned earlier making the detailing func_detail or func_illusionary will be good optimization practice.
hope you see it finished one day =)
