YEAR 3 - BA3a - SpaceNinja - Some New content

It's not a lot but I've added a new themed area to the game, The Molten Core. This is still placeholder art for the most part but it gives an idea of what I'd like the feel to be. The goo down the walls is functionally the same as the green goo showed in the other gifs but recolored so as to fit the theme.

The lava is a bit more forgiving than spikes in that it deals damage incrementally rather than killing the player outright. This suits the style of level because it allows me to place it all over the map without it being a frustrating way to die. I use it a lot in this design and the player is constantly at risk of being damaged by it. This map has safer areas but only for short periods of time so the players must always be on their toes.

I like the design of this map because the shape of it, and positions the players might want to exploit move around a lot during a single round. The players both have areas behind the goo (which reflects bullets) that they can use to hide, but only for very short periods of time as their hover meter is only half a second and they risk damaging themselves in the lava. The cracked blocks in the middle fall down when stood on which opens up the X-wing shaped section to be shot through (but not moved through), which in turn, causes the lowest platform level to come under pressure because bullets can now reach it from the opponents side. This makes the personal 'hiding place' much less safe as a result.

The platforms that fall down also serve a second purpose. Whilst making the top section more dangerous, the bottom section becomes less dangerous as there's now more area to stand on. but due to the lower resting point (inside the lava), the platforms also serve as a way to get to the same level as and destroy the 2 rubble blocks on either side which from here can be shot and destroyed to trap players down there. Due to the arrangement though, it's only possible to trap yourself, not your opponent, which allows for some interesting mind games between players.

Also, the fallen platforms make the map much more vertically oriented, which increases the viability of jumping on players heads over shooting them. Overall, the map has a lot of dynamics which I think make it a relatively high skill map to play on.

I made this map to test out a new block design; the brown one in the middle. The gif actually doesn't capture it particularly well but the blocks are ones which, require both the skill to hover and shoot at the same time since a bullet is required to flip the spikes from one side to the other. I think they're particularly interesting regarding player vs player because they allow players to shoot eachother from different heights (which cannot normally be done). They also allow for some sneaky tactics, which will result in a wider degree of playstyles. This is a good thing if I want a healthy player base as it let's players express themselves through their play styles. I also have an alternate version of this block with a timer that causes it to reset automatically but I think that works better in PvE rather than PvP to be honest.