BIOC Feedback Hub

[REMkings]

BIOC Lobby - "Return of the REM"
Saturday, July 13, 2014
Host: REMkings

Seeing how it's already been a while since I held this lobby, I'll go ahead and leave my own feedback right away.

The Cold White Chorus - by REMkings
Linear map in a hospital, with a working elevator.
(my own map, please provide feedback)

Percy - by REMkings and Elliot
Linear map in a dark and misty forest, with invisible zombies.
(my own map, please provide feedback)

Cédricville Unleashed - by REMkings
World War 2 themed Free Roam map, that utilizes the gametype The Beast Within and allows for roof access and vehicle gameplay.
(my own map, please provide feedback)

The Long Way Around - by Auburn
Linear map with a tank.

Like Paints already mentioned over here, I agree that the first phase was a bit harsh on the zombies. Maybe make it easier on them to attack from the left (human's point of view) by adding some crates or something. But, when we tested the map again yesterday (July 19th) in Zandrils lobby, I felt that the other issue I had with the map - being the early teleportation of zombies - had been improved upon greatly. You're getting there with this map, it's almost in perfect shape now.


Boarding Pass - by Zandril
Hivemind map in a train station hall.

This map was thoroughly enjoyed by the players in the lobby. Each round the humans found a new spot to hold out in and as a zombie I didn't feel too uncomfortable trying to infect the humans. I do wish the train would've been more of a solid holdout on its own but there's not much you could do about that anyway since it's located in the middle of the map.
I really liked the aesthetics on this map as well. Especially the phone booth.

Cornerstone Manor - by Zandril
Last Stand map around a mansion, with an outside area.

Again the aesthetics on this map were pretty amazing (clothing line ) and I liked the theme a lot. Having an outside area felt fresh and having to go out there to get the majority of the weapons made for a good Risk vs Reward mechanic. Plus, the shotgun in the back of the truck was a really nice touch. However, there wasn't really any reason for the players to stay outside. It would've made for more varied and more interesting gameplay if the humans wouldn't stick to the manor each time. A way to accomplish this would be to add some sort of hill outside which could function as a good vantage point. I think that would increase the replayability of the map. Overall, definitely a fun map though.

 

[REMkings]

If you joined the lobby above and you are able to provide any feedback, please do so! It helps out the creators of the maps a lot.

 

[Auburn]

Percy: I know the movement speed was something players were complaining about, but I didn't have much of a problem with it personally. Impractical? Yes. It was honestly a little tantalizing as both a survivor and flood moving that slow, but hey, if that's needed than I say roll with it. There was one problem I observed that I don't believe was mentioned during the lobby; there's a small hole in the bridge between the first and second holdout. I'm not sure if that was on purpose or not, but it should be patched up either way imo. The last thing players expect is a hole; At least, the last thing Auburn expects is a hole. It was a little irritating when, after surviving the initial holdout for the first time ever, I fell through before even making it half across lol. Again, not sure whether somebody had broken the pallet beforehand or if its just like that, but I think its something to look into. I wish I could give you more, but like I said, I've never made it passed the first holdout. Percy is definitely a tough map.

Boarding Pass: There's some framerate looking across from one balcony to the other, but its not game-breaking. Pretty solid map imo.

 

[AbandonedCashew]

I like your maps the best Rem.

 

[REMkings]

Percy: (...) There was one problem I observed that I don't believe was mentioned during the lobby; there's a small hole in the bridge between the first and second holdout. I'm not sure if that was on purpose or not, but it should be patched up either way imo. The last thing players expect is a hole; At least, the last thing Auburn expects is a hole. It was a little irritating when, after surviving the initial holdout for the first time ever, I fell through before even making it half across lol. Again, not sure whether somebody had broken the pallet beforehand or if its just like that, but I think its something to look into. I wish I could give you more, but like I said, I've never made it passed the first holdout. Percy is definitely a tough map.

It was not on purpose... and I actually finished it in the final version of the map that is now in my fileshare.

 

[REMkings]

BIOC Lobby - "Guts"
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Host: REMkings

Because of the fact that there were only few people with a HaloCustoms account present during the testing of the maps below, I'll again go ahead and immediately leave my own feedback. Feel free to reply if you have any feedback of your own for any of the maps below.

The Cold White Chorus - by REMkings
Linear map in a hospital, with a working elevator.
(my own map, please provide feedback)

Percy - by REMkings and El Trocity
Linear map in a dark and misty forest, with invisible zombies.
(my own map, please provide feedback)

Cédricville Unleashed - by REMkings
World War 2 themed Free Roam map, that utilizes the gametype The Beast Within and allows for roof access and vehicle gameplay.
(my own map, please provide feedback)

The Blemished Parish - by REMkings
Linear map based on the campaign mission "The Parish" from the Left 4 Dead 2 Demo. Starts out by a motel and ends up at the rooftop of a building.
(my own map, please provide feedback)

Last Stand: Nuketown - by Zandril S312
A reimagination of the Call of Duty Black Ops map "Nuketown" turned Last Stand in Halo 4.

I liked the way you implemented a Call of Duty map design in a Last Stand Flood map, so that's a huge plus already. The weapons on the map were fairly balanced, although I'd nerf down the amount of shotguns a bit in the random ordnance, or just not provide any shotguns as initial ordnance. (I think either way would help balance it out.) There were a few complaints in the lobby by people that helped me test it. First off, someone said that the gardens were a bit cramped and that this made the map feel less open for both humans and zombies alike. To add to this, I had him tell me that in Black Ops the garden actually functioned as a pretty important playspace of the map. That's why I'd like to see you try and make it a bit more than just a rocky platform with a wall behind it. From a more gameplay related perspective, I also felt that it was too hard to defend the balcony right next to the garden because the zombies could basically attack you from anywhere. Being at the balcony was pretty much a death trap, but I think I'd enjoy a good moment of gunning down lots of zombies as they run up against the stairs. By making this area a bit easier for the humans, there would also be more movement amongst the humans as a result because currently they're just sitting inside, waiting for zombies to get in. Last Stand may be a holdout map, but movement should never be restricted because of gameplay reasons.


Allarcus - by b0b is here
Linear map on Impact with a ton of gates to open.

I really enjoyed the fact that the humans were forced to open the doors manually in order to get more and better weapons or better holdout spots, because it forces teamwork upon them. However, after the first hallway, at the point where they smack their way through a bunch of crates and access a Warthog and some other vehicles, it really started to suck being a zombie because there was no way you could infect another player without getting slaughtered a dozen times. Especially the last area was way too easy for the humans and zombies were just throwing their bodies at them. I'd like to have a more enjoyable method for the zombies to get the jump on the humans by giving their more options and better teleporters. At the same time, it will probably also increase the joy of being a human because it will be more challenging and thrilling to be one, and surviving to the very end would be more of a reward too.

A Long Ways Home. - by b0b is here
Linear map on Forge Island, with long streets and some red flash beams as aesthetical features.

What I really liked about this map, was the allowance for zombies to 'parkour' their way around. The fact that the humans couldn't jump, but the zombies could jump really high and far, made for some great attack possibilities. However, it took me a while before I realized these secret routes, and until that moment I was basically just throwing my body at the humans. I can imagine that for less gifted zombies who don't know how to look for opportunities or can't really jump too well things would get pretty frustrating at some point. Therefore, my advice would be to make the jumps a bit more obvious and easy to find. If the zombies have too hard of a time, there's a lack of balance on the map and this is ultimately going to result in poor gameplay overall, which will leave players hating the map. Basically my same feedback as with the other map that you made.

Construction - by HAL0 M4N
Hivemind map on a construction site by the water.

I liked the way this map played because it offered a lot of interesting sightlines and height variation, but the theme is extremely unoriginal and therefore requires more original touches in order to stand out. Like I said, I liked it... but there's nothing that really made me feel like "wow, this is something truly unique and special". I'd recommend thinking about cool aesthetical elements that add up to gameplay such as maybe a little truck to jump onto to access a weapon or a holdout spot, or maybe a hole in the floor that connects the room to a rocky flooded tunnel. Things like that would increase the replayability of the map.
Gameplay wise I felt things went okay but I was mostly playing as a zombie so I couldn't really tell you if it was too unbalanced at this point.


High Distinction - by Orzium
Last Stand map by Orzium.

The aesthetics were fairly clean, but I noticed a lot of rushed and unoriginal ones too. I'd prefer if you create more unique aesthetics instead of the plain old ones. For instance, having the first part of your other map Alkaline City take place in a shack with a curved ceiling was a nice touch and an original way to pull people into the feel of the map. But on High Distinction, there were no such aesthetics that made me really believe that I was at yet another unique location, because all of them were pretty much the exact same thing as what we've already seen on many many other maps.
Another issue was that the teleporter wasn't big enough, plus some of the spawns were facing the wrong way which also resulted in ending up looking at the wrong direction once you walked through the teleporter. One of the receiver nodes was also very unclear because it made me think that I had to jump on a crate but once I did, I hit a hard kill barrier. I suggest rotating that one in particular a bit to make it more obvious where to go.
Finally, I felt that the spot where all the humans went camping during the last couple of rounds was extremely overpowered. It sucked really hard to even try and infect a single person. Please add another window to that location.

 

[HAL0 M4N]

The Cold White Chorus - by REMkings
Linear map in a hospital, with a working elevator.

The only issues I'm finding every time I play this map is how close quarters it is. The Flood are almost always within lunge range by the time they see a Survivor. The second phase sees the majority of this problem. I'd say the crates closest to the first phase drop hole should be moved farther away from the elevator. Thereby the Survivors have a longer time to put bullets into the Flood before they can get close enough to lunge.
The damage boost also seems to be a problem in the second phase. Sometimes it can go well for the Survivors, then the damage boost Flood comes in, and kill 2-3 people, and then the fall begins rapidly. I'd say, unless it is necessary due to earlier testing, get rid of it.
Outside of that, I don't see that much of an issue with the map. I really do like it a lot, but it definitely needs some adjusting.
By the way, been meaning to ask, did you about the most recently updated Plauge? It now has Dom_Downgrade (compared to only Dom_Upgrade previously). I'd say, if you could/wanted to, make it where the second elevator doors slowly opens up (Dom_Downgrade). This would make the part even more scarier/intense.

Cédricville Unleashed - by REMkings
World War 2 themed Free Roam map, that utilizes the gametype The Beast Within and allows for roof access and vehicle gameplay.

The only issue I have with the map is the height advantages for the Survivors. It takes the Flood too long to get to the roofs of the various buildings, and it's too easy for the Survivors to camp the roofs, especially with all the Shotgun ammo laying around (I've seen at least 4 Shotguns, some close to each other, and with quite a few shells it seems).
Without adjusting the buildings by too much, I'd say add some man cannons so the Flood can get to the roofs much quicker. I'd say even make them spawn in later in the round. This makes it where the Survivors have more things to worry about than a Flood slowly getting up to them just to meet an easy Shotgun shell to the face.
Outside of that, I really do like the map.

Construction - by HAL0 M4N
Hivemind map on a construction site by the water.

I liked the way this map played because it offered a lot of interesting sightlines and height variation, but the theme is extremely unoriginal and therefore requires more original touches in order to stand out. Like I said, I liked it... but there's nothing that really made me feel like "wow, this is something truly unique and special". I'd recommend thinking about cool aesthetical elements that add up to gameplay such as maybe a little truck to jump onto to access a weapon or a holdout spot, or maybe a hole in the floor that connects the room to a rocky flooded tunnel. Things like that would increase the replayability of the map.
Gameplay wise I felt things went okay but I was mostly playing as a zombie so I couldn't really tell you if it was too unbalanced at this point.

Thanks for the feedback!
I know the theme is unoriginal (trust me, lol).
Plot twist, there is a truck on the map, lol. It's actually right behind the Survivors' spawn, which is probably why it isn't noticed much. It's wrecked, and players can actually stand on it and use it as a height advantage to an extent. A random drop of a 3/4 chance of Shotgun spawns inside the container it holds.
As for adding more areas, I really can't since I only have $700 in budget, and no blocks/walls. Though I could use some rocks, I can't think of a good place to put a rock tunnel or something along those lines sadly.
As for gameplay, I've seen some issues that I needed to address that are now addressed. So hopefully it'll play better next time.
Again, thanks for the feedback man!

 

[REMkings]

Thank you for the meaningful feedback, this helps me out a lot! I'll go ahead and respond a bit.

(The Cold White Chorus)
The only issues I'm finding every time I play this map is how close quarters it is. The Flood are almost always within lunge range by the time they see a Survivor. The second phase sees the majority of this problem. I'd say the crates closest to the first phase drop hole should be moved farther away from the elevator. Thereby the Survivors have a longer time to put bullets into the Flood before they can get close enough to lunge.
The damage boost also seems to be a problem in the second phase. Sometimes it can go well for the Survivors, then the damage boost Flood comes in, and kill 2-3 people, and then the fall begins rapidly. I'd say, unless it is necessary due to earlier testing, get rid of it.
Outside of that, I don't see that much of an issue with the map. I really do like it a lot, but it definitely needs some adjusting.
By the way, been meaning to ask, did you about the most recently updated Plauge? It now has Dom_Downgrade (compared to only Dom_Upgrade previously). I'd say, if you could/wanted to, make it where the second elevator doors slowly opens up (Dom_Downgrade). This would make the part even more scarier/intense.

Whilst I know that it can be a bit difficult for the humans, this was actually done on purpose. They need to organize and teamshoot the zombies that can be coming from the left (the crates), the right (the dropdown with the propane tank and the hidden turret) and the middle (the pallet in the ceiling). The tank zombie only adds to this necessarity for teamwork: when he appears, every human should try and take him down.
If you've played some of my other Linear maps, such as Favela Vengeance, you'll probably see I always like to make them a bit difficult and competitive. That's why I want to encourage humans to use teamwork and make them realize that the only way to survive is by working together instead of going lone wolf mode. This is what I believe to be an essential part of Linear Progression maps.
I didn't know about the new update, do you happen to have a download link? It might be difficult to implement if you take a look at the current setup, but I could definitely give it a try.

(Cédricville)
The only issue I have with the map is the height advantages for the Survivors. It takes the Flood too long to get to the roofs of the various buildings, and it's too easy for the Survivors to camp the roofs, especially with all the Shotgun ammo laying around (I've seen at least 4 Shotguns, some close to each other, and with quite a few shells it seems).
Without adjusting the buildings by too much, I'd say add some man cannons so the Flood can get to the roofs much quicker. I'd say even make them spawn in later in the round. This makes it where the Survivors have more things to worry about than a Flood slowly getting up to them just to meet an easy Shotgun shell to the face.
Outside of that, I really do like the map.

I've heard this issue before and even though I myself don't find it too troublesome to infect a human or two, I can understand that people who are less familiar with the quick routes to traverse the map might have this problem. I'll probably go ahead and add a man cannon or two that spawns in later in the game. Thanks!

 

[Zandril]

The Cold White Chorus

Very difficult map. I wouldn't go so far to say that it's too difficult seeing as in all the times I've played it, the humans weren't really working very well. It's understandable though seeing as very few people are really interested in careering a linear Flood map. Maybe adding just some extra weapons to give the humans a little more firepower would help. I'll try to provide more feedback as I play the map more since I've never even made it past the second phase.

Cedricville Unleashed

I enjoyed this map very much (mostly because of the aesthetics) but I do agree with HAL0 M4N. As a Flood, I found it rather difficult and annoying to get to higher parts of the map. The humans can camp those areas pretty easily and it gets tiring swallowing shotgun shells over and over again. Perhaps if you made the jumps outside the map easier to make and more obvious, it'd be better.

Construction

I'm in the same boat as REMkings. The map is ok. Just ok. There's nothing really that sets it apart from other existing Flood maps. However, the gameplay and aesthetics are rather decent. I do like how you were able to make the map very open and still provide the Flood other options to move about the map and attack the humans. Also, if you could replace the inclined 4x4 blocks with something else, that'd be great. They just look very weird IMO.

High Distinction

This map has some spawning problems. Firstly, I think the Flood should spawn within the teleporter radius so that they don't have to walk to it to get in the map. This completely removes teleporter lag. Secondly, the areas themselves where the Flood spawn are problematic. Some of these places give only one route for the Flood to get in the map and if there are humans watching the hole, the Flood have no other option than to greet death with open arms. The Flood should be given options after spawning. They can either go out after the humans or take an alternate and safer route to flank them.

Through playing the map, I also found that the humans were only holding out in one area which is the little lecture room. It would be nice if there were other viable places in the map to hold out. I think the areas looking into the courtyard would work well as holdout locations.