VCTF-HangingGardens[Pics][PC][PS3]

[_N_]

Name:VCTF-HangingGardens
Release Version:1.1

Compatibility: Made with Patch 2.1. PS3 version is available.

Make Something Unreal Contest Top Ten Finalist for "Best VCTF or Warfare Map", "Best Graphics in a Map", and "Best Use of Physics" (Phase 3)

Description:

Hey everyone,

_N_ here first. As you can see, this map is a collaboration between myself and Andrew Czarnietzki. Whereas I had experience with UT3 and its gameplay but limited modelling skill, Andrew, on the other hand, is tremendously experienced in modelling, but had limited experience with UT3’s gameplay. It seemed like a perfect match, so we teamed up to create a new and interesting map for you guys:

VCTF-HangingGardens



In terms of Gameplay (my focus on this map) as with previous maps, I wanted the map to be based on a solid VCTF foundation, but with a few new gameplay innovations for players to experience as well. The map has a tight, VCTF-Kargo kind of feel to it where there is a balance of areas for both vehicular combat and foot combat. While the map description says it's ideal for 12-24 players, it's still quite scalable to 32 players due to the many areas to explore and possible flag routes to take.



In terms of new dynamics, we first came up with the idea of force-fields throughout the map to change flag routes, which eventually turned into the energy bridges that could be turned on and off as a way to dynamically spoil a flag-carrier's route and forcing him to re-plan on the spot. Locking flag carriers out of the bridge controls was developed later as a great way to force flag carriers to be a little more clever with their escape plans. However, it also had the added advantage of promoting teamwork because the lock-out can be overcome if a friendly teammate were to activate the bridge for you instead. In general, the goal was to reward planning, creativity, and teamwork to help make a flag capture (though you can still go all Rambo-style if you want : ).



Originally, we had the idea that destructible environmental objects (breakable glass in particular) might make for some cool visuals and player interaction. After playing with it in the BSP prototype version of the map, though, it quickly became clear that this had enormous potential as a fun and interesting gameplay mechanic too! After much gameplay testing it eventually ended up as a key feature of the map. Sure, gibbing the flag carrier is fun, but shooting out the glass floor or deactivating the energy bridge under his feet sending him to fall to his doom (or perhaps into the waiting claws of a teammate's scorpion claws) is somehow just as satisfying, if not more so. While getting out-dueled by an opponent is annoying, getting outsmarted by an opponent truly gets one's blood boiling! : D

Some important points to note:

Control panels near the bridges activate by getting close to them. To disable a bridge, simply shoot it's control panel display, or press the "USE" key from a short distance, and it will shut down (great way to stop a flag carrier escape, or clear a bridge of enemies before reactivating it and safely crossing yourself : ). When an enemy takes your flag, your security bridges will shut down automatically to try to keep him from escaping, and he will be locked out of the bridge controls as long as he holds the flag.

While it may seem like the underside has only a single exit, look carefully. With a gun and some jump boots, you can "make" yourself an exit to the centre of the map. It also serves as a stealthy way to sneak into the enemy base, just watch your step!.

The upper support structures that keep this facility Hanging from the cliff are not just to look at. With some exploration, and skillful jumping/impact hammer jumps (or a manta, if you like) you can use it as a daring flag route. Be careful not to get shot off though, there' isn't exactly a lot of cover up there, and it's a long way down ; ).

The middle fountain, isn't just for looks either, there's few pickups on it too accessible via jump boots, scorpion self-destruct, mantas and hammer-jumps. Explore the level thoroughly to try to find all the tucked-away powerups that will help you on your way.



While the upper walkways are mostly safe from vehicles, watch out for mantas but also for scorpions from below that may shoot out the glass at your feet to drop you to their level. Also, scorpions can get to the second floor via the station in the middle. Try to catch them on the glass or energy bridges if this happens ; ).

The back of the fountain may seem like a quick flag carrier route, but be careful, strong currents can make it dangerously slow to get across, and you'll be a sitting duck while you navigate the current. The hoverboard might be a bit faster across the water as it's not affected by the current, but that naturally carries its own large set of risks.

Be sure to try out the map with both Greed and Titan!

Anyways, I'll turn it over to Andrew now to touch on the visuals of the map.

Andrew Czarnietzki:

Greetings, everyone! I have to say I've been a long time fan of the Unreal Game Engine. What seems like an age ago, I started making hacky little mods for something now called "Unreal1", and have since built a professional career and company around what is really more of the same work (if only on a much different scale!). While I love my company, we're in the Serious Games sector - which is great fun in its own right, but there is a notable lack of rocket launchers in this field. The chance to combine my graphics and Unreal experience with _N_'s gameplay / design experience was far too good an opportunity to pass up. While I am looking forward to having evenings again, building this map has been a lot of fun - may you enjoy playing it as much as we did making it.

Regarding the graphics, I hope that when you open this map you notice that there is something unusual about the lighting. The lighting in this map is provided by a lightmapping toolset called pureLIGHT, which I helped design and produce over the last few years of my professional life. We have recently spun pureLIGHT off for use in the games industry - for more information about pureLIGHT, please visit the pureLIGHT website:www.purelighttech.com



Besides the lighting, I also hope you enjoy the various visuals details in this map. The visuals here draw from many inspirations (Sid Mead's style of design, 70s science fiction in general, my own background in abstract sculpture). A goal of mine at the start of this project was to create something unique; something that would out against the other UT3 maps as well as most games in general.



I wanted to go with architecture that is both open and light, while still providing interesting cover and forms for gameplay. (I have had some great skate-park moments in this map with hover-board and vehicle alike!). I also tried to balance curves and organic shapes against hard edges, hopefully making the environment feel more like a real structure than random organic shapes.



An important part of this map is the background, and how it interacts with the player's perspective and sense of scale. I also wanted to consider what "day" would look like for a planet with an unconventional sun. I'm not sure if this is really a "black hole sun", but it's definitely something out of the ordinary. (Whatever it is, you probably wouldn't want to be sunburnt by it though...)



The materials used in this map were an interesting choice. I went with a very minimalist white stucco (it has a subtle texture if you get close) to highlight the lighting, and really drive home the light ethereal feel of the map. While this white does show characters, vehicles, explosions and decals very well, I still wanted to contrast it with some strong color; hence the thick foliage, rich blue sky and raw stone. Feeding back into the idea of making the map feel like a real environment, I hope the exposed stone communicates that the structure is partially carved directly out of the cliff itself.


Overall, I had a lot of fun building this map. The gameplay is fantastic (thanks completely to _N_ on this) but if you get the chance between frags, stop and take a look around!

Enjoy!

Any feedback, positive or negative (but hopefully informative) is appreciated!

Download:
PC:
http://files.filefront.com/13762733

PS3: (Updated)
http://files.filefront.com/13768202

PS3 version not yet tested so we need PS3 testers and feedback! Stealth Bender was replaced with a Scavenger and custom audio replaced with in-game audio for the PS3 version (was necessary in order to cook it). Also glass particle effect was scaled back to hopefully reduce PS3 performance issues.

[_N_]

PS3 link updated, enjoy!

[Lord_PorkSword]

WOW!
Veeery stylish! Downloading now!

[VoodooMaster]

Sh1t! Now thas a refreshing map.

[Costa-Campos]

abslolutely stunning, there should definitely be more downloadable eye candy like this for ut3!!!

[Cr4zy]

Oooh N

Shiny.

That is all.

[morphlex]

Pretty! I like the styling!! Very modern design. Can't wait to try it out! Downloading now.

[JAT]

Man, your maps are completely astonishing This is just stunning

[Brits__Hit]

Question: do maps get much cooler than this?

Answer: no.

[coolcat22]

woow this map look sick wow
download right now

[VClouds]

Beautiful map! tons of eye candy. the clean look, lighting and the breakable glass floors are very 'Mirror's Edge' like.

[morphlex]

Just played it online and in instant action. Amazing job! I like where you put the deemer and spider mines. I found the under section where you can walk on the supports of the structure. I was hoping for other pickups down there but all I found were some health vials. I really like the architecture. Reminds me of a mixture of actual modern design museums. BRILLIANT!

[_N_]

Oooh N

Shiny.

That is all.

Man, your maps are completely astonishing This is just stunning

Beautiful map! tons of eye candy. the clean look, lighting and the breakable glass floors are very 'Mirror's Edge' like.

Thanks for the feedback everyone! It means a lot to us after the many late nights . The credit goes completely to Andrew for the shiny curvy architecture! After I completed a playable prototype of the map (mostly in BSP) and got the shattering glass and energy bridges all working, I passed it off to Andrew who just totally brought it to a brand new level of awesome with his insane modeling skills and use of pureLIGHT (http://www.purelighttech.com for those interested in using this tool) (my jaw hit the floor when he sent back his first untextured version of the organic architecture ).

Working as a team on a single map file definitely has its challenges (tough to make sure one doesn't undo the other's changes). But overall, it has enormous advantages too like always having a readily available source of ideas and feedback whenever you get stuck or need some inspiration .

[Morgfyre]

_N_!

Have my babies!

Loading it up asap!

[coolcat22]

you and Andrew shut work together at some more maps
you guys are a good team

[Kantham]

I kinda figured someone else might have been working on the whole structure as I've never seen _N_ make custom meshes so far. It does looks really awesome though. I suppose that makes 50% MSUC reward to you and that Andrew guy.

I'm going to download this and try it later today.

[stevelois]

Beautiful, stylish, unique, really a gorgeous level, true art

The map as been added to my "Huge list of ONS / VCTF / WAR custom maps".

THX for your work

[rek]

excellent. gonna be playing this one for a while!

thank you and keep up the goodness!

[Morgfyre]

Looks great so far, couldnt find any bugs off the bat.

I think the stealthbenders are overkill, though. Especially in such cramped quarters.

[Kantham]

Oh and BTW that purelighttech project sounds really interesting. Combine that with Ambient occlusion = total win.
If it wasn't of it I suppose vertex lighting would ruin it entirely as the surfaces are nearly solid colors.

[4TX4]

The future is now!

[=assassin=]

I really like the look of it - one thing I noticed though (and I don't know whether it's just because I'm running only with details at 2/5) is that the sea only goes so far out and then stops, and then a flat colour extends further away, showing up the edge of the closer sea part. I have a feeling it's probably just the result of being on lower detail settings, but thought I'd mention it anyway. Besides that, it looks absolutely stunning, even on the lower detail settings I have!

I have a screenshot here for reference anyway:

[1337_Sniper]

This map looks absolutely amazing. Nice work.

[Terror_Force]

i think this map need a video ... and here is it!

--------------
http://www.ut-x.net/View-document-de...ngGardens.html
or
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkJtVNiG_38&fmt=22
--------------

[Kantham]

What are those things (Hologram board) ? I seen one float somewhere, just look out of place, IMO

Man, I haven't played it, but I'm going to right now. Really impressive work on the fly by. Even though there doesn't seem to be much space for ground vehicles and look more like a CTF level.

Really nice detail nearly everywhere, there's some things that doesn't quite match the rest for me, namely the floor here, the hologram thing I mentioned, and the black rings in the structure here, but overall everything fits well together, like that waterfall with the blue glasses, really nice touch.

[ZzyzX]

This is a bleeping amazing map. Wow!

[Kantham]

Ok I just finished playing it.

Feedback:

I found out what the little hologram thingies are for, they seem to break the bridge for a short period of time, not sure what re-activates it then.

Most of the ambient sounds are too loud, I was at the middle, with some action my audio went uber loud "DBDBDBDBBBBBBBBBDDDDDDDDDDDDDD". I'd suggest adjusting the ambient audio for next version to something smoother (if there's ever going to be one).

Regarding the scale, You said this could be good for 32 P, I have to disagree here, it definitively look like a good 8-18P MAX level. It's probably one of the smallest VCTF map I have played so far. I thought the level would have been much larger than this, but it's pretty much linear so you see about 50% of the map itself in most shots.

About the breakable glasses, those are nice. I just have some concerns with the floor ones, they're mostly going to be avoidable by the players (gone or not) as they are totally risked. I just can't imagine the ones especially near the sea, death trap! But nice touch, again, the audio on the breaking glass CUE is a bit too high. If you plan on keeping the floor ones breakable, can I suggest making them a little stronger?

Other than that, the gameplay can be really fun I guess, specifically online, BUT TBH that stealth bender could go buhbye - no tears. And get replaced by the scavenger or something. Scavenger would be A1 or this map.

I also found there was a lot of scorpions around, I guess 2 per team? It's probably the scale of the level that is kind of small for vehicle routes, Especially at the middle, kinda hard to avoid vehicles from that level. You should seriously cut down the ground vehicles and consider non-wheeled vehicles, would be great!

And finally some picky things, like the rock texture that looks a bit dull compared to the other materials around. Can I suggest making them a whole lot more shinny? And after you get out of the rock tunnel, you get to a spot on the ground where it just cuts right to rock from shinny white floor. Can I suggest adding a trimming on there?

[Morgfyre]

Yeah you wouldnt put the stealthbender in arenaofdeath, would you?

Its way out of place here imo.

[plugh]

Excellent map, really nice work!

[Mandinga]

This is offically my favorite VCTFmap of all time. A superb job.

[Blake1011]

PS3 Cook plays great, only thing is maybe make the breakable glass so it can't break, because when it does break, it slows the game down a bit

[_N_]

Hey, thanks for the continued feedback everyone!

I really like the look of it - one thing I noticed though (and I don't know whether it's just because I'm running only with details at 2/5) is that the sea only goes so far out and then stops, and then a flat colour extends further away, showing up the edge of the closer sea part.

Yeah, just tried to replicate this myself by turning my details to the lowest they would go, but nope, it still rendered fine for me! Maybe it's because we have different video cards. Do you have an ATI or nVidia?

I'm glad to hear you're getting good performance on it, though. One of the original goals we had was to avoid becoming one of those maps that looks nice, but plays terribly or has terrible performance. We wanted to have our graphics cake and eat it to! Our pre-baked lightmaps helped a great deal with this in addition to some other optimization tricks. Online gameplay was definitely a consideration with this map so we thoroughly beta-tested with people online to make sure it played well (the breakable glass in particular was extremely difficult to get working correctly online, I went through about 5 different techniques before _finally_ finding one that worked consistently ).

The future is now!

ROFL, that would make a good quote for the map .

i think this map need a video ... and here is it!

--------------
http://www.ut-x.net/View-document-de...ngGardens.html
or
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkJtVNiG_38&fmt=22
--------------

Hey! Thanks a ton! I'm glad the video also nabs a little quick-peak at the secret underside passage at the end there and how that glass there is the entrance point .

Ok I just finished playing it.

Hey great to hear from you man! I just recently tried out Silver Point, I'll be sure to post comments soon, but lemme just say, as we were working on this map we were checking out some of the many entries, and then BAM! Silver Point's unique style stood out above the rest. It inspired us to work even harder .

I found out what the little hologram thingies are for, they seem to break the bridge for a short period of time, not sure what re-activates it then.

As I wrote in the initial original post, the readme file, and the map description, the little computer consoles activate and deactivate the energy bridges. To activate the bridges, just walk up to the console and the bridge will activate automatically (bots can turn on energy bridges too this way) and to deactivate them, either press the "USE" key if you're close enough, or shoot the console. I'm glad they're attention-grabbing, they're meant to draw players towards them to try to figure out what they do!

About the breakable glass[...] they're mostly going to be avoidable by the players (gone or not) as they are totally risk[y]

Aha! This is exactly why we placed the horizontal glass in places where it's either difficult or incredibly inconvenient to avoid going over it. The glass near the ocean for example, if you're going from that glassy arboretum to the back of stairs of the middle station, you can't help but walk all over that glass. You could go out to the main road if you want, but it's full of scorpion and other dangers and is quite a detour (particularly suicidal if you're holding the flag because you'll be out in the open). Seeing as 85% of the time nothing will happen, it's fastest and safest to travel across the glass... but there will be those rare times when you'll mistep during a fire fight, or perhaps lure some guy chasing you onto the glass then BAM! down he goes! It's particularly awesome to kill a Titan this way (particularly difficult too .

Another fun thing to try is to grab the enemy flag, go for one of the upper walkways, and shoot out all the glass as you cross it! Your pursuers will have a nearly impossible time trying to keep up with you as they almost always slip and fall to the floor below, and the ones that don't have to at least slow down as they carefully try to avoid the holes! This can really help give you a healthy and early headstart on a flag run!

Regarding the sounds, we did a lot of testing to make sure they were balanced just right, I'm surprised you had issues, but it might just be a result of sound card issues, I'll have to see if anyone else has major issues... One thing I did notice from your screenshot though, is: do you have glass windows in the middle computer station (shockrifle area) just above the computer consoles? If so, you're on version 1.0 which we never actually fully released O.o. I would recommend upgrading to version 1.1 if that's the case (we also turned down many of the sound volumes a bit in 1.1).

Haha, you're right that the map is kind of Hectic with 32 players, but in a fun way I think. In particular, if you stick to the alternative routes (like the underside or going through the arboretum) you can still get into the enemy bases quite easily, and it's absolutely insane with Titan.

But yeah, like VCTF-Kargo (it's actually just slightly larger than Kargo) it's best with around 24 players as an upper bound (most online VCTF servers set this as the cap anyways, so it all works out). Also like Kargo, we wanted to have both a combination of player-only areas, and areas where vehicles can go (but naturally avoided putting a Goliath in the middle to spoil everybody's fun . Scorpions are mainly set to the lower levels, but can actually get onto the upper floors too through the middle station. Mantas, of course, have almost free reign over the entire map except for the bar, but should probably keep clear of the lower levels as the scorpions rule that land! (And would make short work of them!).

Regarding the StealthBender, believe me, it was no easy choice. There were actually 3 different vehicles there and plenty of play testing and feedback before we settled on the Stealthbender. Initially, it was actually a Paladin, but this really turned out to be too much as it completely dominated scorpions, but got wasted by mantas, there was really no strategy to it, just spam until you die... : P. Scavengers were a really close pick (even though they would break the Axon-feel of the map) but while they were good at bringing some interesting gameplay to the upper levels, we quickly noticed they also had a tremendous potential for abuse. Players were able to get massacres by maneuvering them through the tight doorways and passages and into spawn points. They also were extremely powerful as flag camping vehicles, because unlike mantas, they're fast and maneuverable enough to quickly duck behind cover during an avril shot, and then jump out and squish any attackers.

Finally, we tried out the StealthBender. Because it's a support vehicle, not a combat vehicle, it can stay out of combat with the scorpions (and in fact, probably should) and adds a new strategic dimension to the map. A well placed EMP can go a long way to twarting enemy flag carriers, and the spider mines are great for protecting your jump boots from enemy theives. Although it took some getting used to, our beta-testers eventually came to love the Stealth bender as a pick and had quite a bit of fun with it. Note however, the silly bots aren't exactly good role models for proper Stealth Bender use ; ).

Another point I should note, is that the centre area by the manta isn't the only way to get into the enemy base with a vehicle. The back of the fountain pool has ramps for vehicles to get in and out and makes for a stealthy entrance. The back of the centre building staircase is not only a drivable route, but also allows you to go up to upper levels where you can really wreak some havoc! Don't be afraid to go exploring and try new things with the vehicles, it might surprise you where they can go!

Thanks again for the continued Feedback everyone! Does anyone know of a good VCTF or Greed server that would host a map like this?

[_N_]

PS3 Cook plays great, only thing is maybe make the breakable glass so it can't break, because when it does break, it slows the game down a bit

Thanks a lot! Great hear my PS3 cook worked (took several attempts ).

Hmm, I suspect the slowdown might be a result of the high particle count for the glass shard emitters which is fine on the PC, but yeah, might cause issues on the PS3. I could try maybe turning down the particle count on the offending glass sheets for the PS3 version, which ones in particular seem to cause trouble?

Thanks again for testing it out!

[Blake1011]

Thanks again for testing it out!

No prob

Hmm, I suspect the slowdown might be a result of the high particle count for the glass shard emitters which is fine on the PC, but yeah, might cause issues on the PS3. I could try maybe turning down the particle count on the offending glass sheets for the PS3 version, which ones in particular seem to cause trouble?

just anywhere in the map, whenever the glass is broken, theres a slowdown

[Kantham]

Hey great to hear from you man! I just recently tried out Silver Point, I'll be sure to post comments soon, but lemme just say, as we were working on this map we were checking out some of the many entries, and then BAM! Silver Point's unique style stood out above the rest. It inspired us to work even harder .

Oh lol. I like your honesty here. But damn you guys!!
There's so many good VCTF's for MSUC I feel totally grounded.

To be freaking honest, I'm entirely confident you guys will win a much higher price. I'm not being pessimist, just realistic here. But that's just what I think, it may not be true, only the judges will tell.

The comments and positive reactions this map has generated is really good. At any level, much higher than what SilverPoint has generated from one of the last VCTF online communities. At least, my beta thread. At any rate this thread has gotten a very high reply rate, the shininess of the level itself is bound to make it happen.

I kinda tried to figure out what went wrong when I had a 3 star thread ratting.

BTW did I said I loved that lighting project?

*Very long quote here*

I have to admit I never read the readme to figure out about the bridge, lol. But you can take that as a player who just jumped in your map online for the first time, It's going to be a little puzzle finding out what does what and how for the bridge. While there's no obvious hint here to let the player figure out at first glance, it's no biggies anyway.

Thanks for the mountain of clarifications. I ran the map you uploaded in the first post, 1.1. I doubt it's a sound card issue, there was just a lot of sounds played at once, I suppose I should just down my ambient volume individually from the settings, now that I think about it. Nevermind all this. With all these "not really necessary" settings Epic gave us, it can be tricky to adjust the map so it's balanced on every user's end.. like the Post Processing settings for example, sigh.

Thanks again for the continued Feedback everyone! Does anyone know of a good VCTF or Greed server that would host a map like this?

Hedsteem I suppose. But then they don't play vanilla, every single thing is modified and you have to download something like more or less 1 GB of content to play on their server(s). Correct me (anyone) if I am wrong here, but that's what happened the last and first time I tried to connect on there.

/Not a troll

There's hardly any vanilla servers around with a decent amount of players keeping it active for custom maps. If there is one, I'd like to know as well.

[Morgfyre]

Regarding the StealthBender, believe me, it was no easy choice. There were actually 3 different vehicles there and plenty of play testing and feedback before we settled on the Stealthbender. Initially, it was actually a Paladin, but this really turned out to be too much as it completely dominated scorpions, but got wasted by mantas, there was really no strategy to it, just spam until you die... : P. Scavengers were a really close pick (even though they would break the Axon-feel of the map) but while they were good at bringing some interesting gameplay to the upper levels, we quickly noticed they also had a tremendous potential for abuse. Players were able to get massacres by maneuvering them through the tight doorways and passages and into spawn points. They also were extremely powerful as flag camping vehicles, because unlike mantas, they're fast and maneuverable enough to quickly duck behind cover during an avril shot, and then jump out and squish any attackers.

Finally, we tried out the StealthBender. Because it's a support vehicle, not a combat vehicle, it can stay out of combat with the scorpions (and in fact, probably should) and adds a new strategic dimension to the map. A well placed EMP can go a long way to twarting enemy flag carriers, and the spider mines are great for protecting your jump boots from enemy theives. Although it took some getting used to, our beta-testers eventually came to love the Stealth bender as a pick and had quite a bit of fun with it. Note however, the silly bots aren't exactly good role models for proper Stealth Bender use ; ).

I have to argue that just because it was a difficult choice doesnt make it the correct choice. Did you really play this map with 20 real people? Several, if not multiple times? Were you beta-testing with bots?

You seem to think that because the SB is a "support" vehicle, that somehow absolves it from being a spambot. Like it adds some magical strategic element that gives the map just oodles of depth. I dont think you realize what "strategy" the SB actually adds. I dont think you know what its like trying to get a flag with several campers, spider mines, 12-15 enemy players, an invisible bender guarding flag, and a x-ray field all in the same area. The most logical choice for support vehicles like the shade' and SB will always be to put deployables on flags. The best players and the best teams will always do this. And for such a close-quarters map, its spammy as hell. Spammy does not equal fun, your map isnt AnarchyHalls or ArenaOfDeath, no, it deserves a much better fate.

I feel like you are going with the bender because you made the area and feel obligated to put a larger vehicle in the spawn space. Paladin wont work, too powerful. Scavenger wont work, too abusable. That leaves the tank (yeah right), another manta (yeah right), nemesis (no thanks), hellbender (too powerful close quarters). My personal suggestion is to take one of the scorpions that is in the pair and just move it over to where the bender was. This would help with "trafic jams" and would cut down on the overall spamminess of the map.

Not trying to negative! <3 _N_! Just my two cents!

[_N_]

It can be tricky to adjust the map so it's balanced on every user's end.. like the Post Processing settings for example, sigh.

Yeah! I know exactly what you mean! I totally had to struggle with this in both phase 1 and 2! I thought everything look just right on my PC, then I see people taking screenshots of my map and the colour are all totally washed-out! Seems like the only thing you can do is to try to use as little post processing as possible so that different user settings can only make a small difference at best : P.

...only the judges will tell.

Oh man, yeah, now comes the hard part, the long wait for the results (roughly 3 and a half months, I think). It might even take them longer than usual because of the larger number of submissions this time. The wait is gonna be killer!

I dont think you know what its like trying to get a flag with several campers, spider mines, 12-15 enemy players, an invisible bender guarding flag, and a x-ray field all in the same area. The most logical choice for support vehicles like the shade' and SB will always be to put deployables on flags. The best players and the best teams will always do this.

Muhahaha! Our twisted evil minds think alike! Believe me, I'm always the first one to find a killer deployable, drop it on our flag and just let the kills roll in (and then go titan in an enemy spawn point and keep doing the Titan Slam). Oh I'm all to familiar with the twisted ways us VCTF players abuse the vehicles. That's precisely why I made it impossible to get onto the flag with either the bender or the scorpions. Go ahead and try, you will find it mysteriously nigh impossible . I've sneakily embedded a forced direction volume in the flag base ramp that makes it impossible to get a ground vehicle up the ramp onto the flag base. To players, it just seems like the ramp is too steep for vehicles or something, but myself (and I guess anyone else reading this) now knows it's actually a sneaky little forced direction volume preventing their exploitative ways . The best the stealth bender can do is drop a spider mine trap about halfway up the ramp, and that does help protect the lower entrances, but leaves the approaches from the top still very much open as the spiders can't manage to navigate those curvy ramps where player come from. Try it in-game you'll see what I mean! The flag is quite protected from dirty vehicle camping tricks like that .

Not trying to negative! <3 _N_! Just my two cents!

Haha no worries! I'll take in-depth well thought-out comments and discussion like yours over cryptic and misinformed one-line complaints any day! Hopefully I can find a server to host this soon, and we'll be able to test the robustness of my many exploit-prevention techniques (online is the only true test afterall .

[_N_]

Okay, PS3 version has been updated: http://files.filefront.com/13768202

I've scaled back the glass shatter effect on the PS3 version to hopefully reduce PS3 performance issues. Can anyone test this out and let me know if it works? Thanks!

[=assassin=]

Yeah, just tried to replicate this myself by turning my details to the lowest they would go, but nope, it still rendered fine for me! Maybe it's because we have different video cards. Do you have an ATI or nVidia?

I've got an NVidia 7900GS 256MB; I'm wondering whether it's just because of lack of video memory on my card. It's probably just me being unlucky :P

[Blake1011]

Thanks N for the ps3 recook, the map plays flawlessly now