tmorrow
Warming Up
Posts: 11
Registered: 01-11 |
I played the version of ahatred you posted at the top of this thread.
I watched your replay and you did it in half the time it took me! I keep getting shafted when I try to play too agressively so I have to progress inch by inch to stay relatively safe.
I think the traps were mostly fair after you knew what to expect but some were an outright killer the first play through. I don't have a problem with this at all. I know people will disagree but I believe a well designed map should kill the player a few times, forcing the player to dig deep for a good strategy that suits their play style an ability to progress.
Equally important, a good map won't be trivialised even after working out a good strategy for it. A map is spoiled if you can cheese the most difficult parts of it with little risk.
Finally a good map will generally build in intensity as you further progress into it. If the most difficult part of the map is in the first room, then enjoyment for the rest of the map suffers due to the diminished challenge.
Ahatred does a great job in all of these aspects with a possible exception that there may be too much health at the end, allowing some players to relax when the intensity should be at its highest. Part of the problem at the end is that after completing the first wave of enemies coming through the blue doors, few enemies are able to follow the player back to the previous rooms because they are locked in cages or restricted to a sector. I know some of this depends on how the player plays the map, cautiously step by step or fast UV Max style where you trigger almost all enemies and then cleanup the mess later.
You balanced the ammo very well, there's enough that you don't have to worry about using your best gear when required but not so much that you can mindlessly spam Plasma and Rockets all over even at easy enemies. Essentially you need to use all provided ammo/weapons wisely.
I'm most impressed with the difficulty balance, it just about right so it is at the limits of my ability (I regard my ability as average). It is a relentless map where you are punished for mistakes which is as it should be.
I've also been impressed with the replay value of this map, I've played it several times without getting tired of it like I have with some other maps. In my case I believe this is because the challenge is pitched just right for me. A friend and I have been competing for a while to be the first one to get through this map, he's still stuck at the chain gunner section, the poor bugger :-)
I'll be happy to playtest anything else you've got coming down the pipeline :-)
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01-09-11 09:59 
