Jump_Flatzone Development Thread

[mike_ers]

Note that this map does not currently have a public playable build, this thread is for early development feedback and idea-sharing.

This is more or less what I've come up with as my second map after a while of trying out other styles and approaches and not being satisfied with their quality. The purpose of this thread is to try and gather feedback on the general design as well as to take some suggestions from the community on what kinds of jumps to include and what the community would like to see come out of this map. Note that I do not need help with hammer editor or mapping, just with deciding what kinds of jumps to add as I expand the current map, and deciding on whether or not the general design is fairly pleasant to look at. (I plan to make the gray walls a little less boring, at the very least.) I wanted to do a flat and simplistic style, hence the name "Flatzone" (a name borrowed from a couple of my own bhop maps.)

There isn't any set tier target yet for the map, but I want it to be at least a low T4 (for soldier) with as smooth of a difficulty curve as possible and plenty of interesting little implementations to make speedrunning fast-paced and fun. I want the map to have at least 25 total stages/jumps. (As you'll see in the alpha dev screenshots, the first few stages I've made are pretty simple/easy.)

Development won't be particularly fast due to time constraints in my current schedule, so a playable version of the map likely won't come for a couple weeks or more unless I get on a roll.

Alpha screenshots: (Please note that the lighting isn't final, by time the map is released there will be significantly less "light circles" shining on walls/platforms.)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Also of note, the different colored surfaces indicate different things. I know it's not needed for a T4+ map, but I personally enjoy the feel and presentation given from things like this:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Green: Platforms that are safe to stand on without jumping, such as start/end platforms.
Blue: Any surface that is intended to be used for the jump.
Orange: Any surface intended for pogos.
Red: Fail-zone / teleport zones.
Pink: Platforms intended for syncs.
Gray: Current coloring for filler walls / walls not intended for use in jumps. Will be better made/decorated in the future.

Please leave any feedback or ideas, I'd really appreciate it!
---This thread will be updated over time as updates are made to the map.---

[Klowwd]

Map looks really cool! I love seeing flat textures used in a way that they look great! Wish I could play that

[donuttt]

while i like the colours you picked and the general jump design, i don't like flat textures. they really screw with your depth and speed perception. i see that you're mixing it up nicely there, and maybe it's not as big of an issue on most jumps in the map, but i just wanna put this out there, kind of as a counter-argument to klowwd

[Superchuck]

while i like the colours you picked and the general jump design, i don't like flat textures. they really screw with your depth and speed perception. i see that you're mixing it up nicely there, and maybe it's not as big of an issue on most jumps in the map, but i just wanna put this out there, kind of as a counter-argument to klowwd

I second the fact that flat textures are really bad for depth perception. You really need to add extra details that break up the monotonous colors.

Kinda like this
https://imgur.com/a/uzbaBpF
where it's sole purpose is to give a sense of speed to the player

[Lopez]

Its an interesting idea, and I think the concept could lead to a unique and artistic looking map.

(Please note that the lighting isn't final, by time the map is released there will be significantly less "light circles" shining on walls/platforms.)

But be careful with this. You'll need some form of contrast in lighting throughout the map, otherwise it'll just look like its fullbright. I can't say how it should look based on 1 screenshot, but I look forward to seeing a playable version.

[mike_ers]

I appreciate the feedback thus far, I'm a little too lazy to make proper quotes so I'll respond to the two main points made:

-Flat textures aren't amazing for depth perception/etc
It's a style that I really want to make work if I can without altering the textures, and the plan I have is to add a lot of various details to the geometry of each jump such that there's more than enough things that indicate your speed and direction, if I can't find a way to make it work whilst keeping the general theme, then I'll likely try doing either a grid-design or some kind of design which will be better suited for this. I want to make the lighting in such a way that it combats at least a little bit of the depth issue as well.

-Be careful with the lighting so it doesn't come fullbright
I'm more than aware of an issue just like that occuring, in later versions I want the lighting to be consistent in terms of its brightness, whilst making it such that shadows and shading do occur to better help with the problem of flat textures. However I want there to be a small variation in the color of the lighting depending on the course layout and the colors represented in a course, but I'm not yet sure on how I want to go about doing this.

I also appreciate the positive notes from everyone. I'm gonna try to "pretty up" a couple of the jumps with more geometry and detail, and improved lighting, to give an idea of how the map will eventually come to look. Although for right now, I'm moreso trying to focus on developing the actual levels themselves before giving them detail and proper lighting, so again if anyone has any suggestions on what forms of jumps they'd like to see then let me know. (Kinda vague, and I can come up with decent jumps on my own for the tier, but if say, you wanna see more jurf-syncs or etc, then let me know.)

[Zike]

while i like the colours you picked and the general jump design, i don't like flat textures. they really screw with your depth and speed perception. i see that you're mixing it up nicely there, and maybe it's not as big of an issue on most jumps in the map, but i just wanna put this out there, kind of as a counter-argument to klowwd

+1 on flat textures pretty much always being awful for depth perception. Hard to say without actually having something playable, but in my experience they're not that much better than literally staring at just skybox. If it's enough of a problem people will just do some combination of mat_luxels 1 mat_wireframe 2 and maybe mat_fullbright 2 so yeah.

[mike_ers]

I've created a design test map for anyone to hop in to and check out design ideas/elements I thought of. I'd much appreciate feedback, specifically if anything I've tried with these designs has managed to counter the depth problems presented by flat textures.

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/file/y9kncjl9ct00qu2/jump_flatzone_designtest.bsp

Here are images of the designs incase you cannot actually go into the map or are otherwise not interested in trying the design test map.
https://imgur.com/a/CbDh5Sj

[donuttt]

i'd prefer the vertical stripes 

[Klowwd]

I'd say the last one or the first one.