TIMV Map Submission: Plateau

[Mewnxx]

Map created by Lunxx and Mewnxx (DoubleX)

There is a flythrough (no shaders): Plateau Flythrough and some screenshots (has shaders):Plateau Photos

The map is based off of the badlands biome from minecraft, put into a larger scale. The builds around represent a, despite the harsh climate, thriving town who have adapted to the terrain.

Depth x Width: ROUGHLY 120x220
Contains: 110 Chests and 3 Enderchests
Traitor Trap: Yes.
Enchanting Table: No.

It would be amazing if we could have the water on this map deal damage (Instant or atleast quickly) and we would like a traitor trap that drops the players in the tester into water (seen in video).

PLEASE! Let us know if you have any feedback or ideas on how we can improve this map. It would mean a ton! Thanks!

[Auskerr]

Nice work! It’s really great to see members of the TIMV community starting to build maps again. Overall I think the map looks cool and I would really like to see how it plays. In particular, I like the cave at the beginning of the video and the upstairs section of the tester building where traitors would be able to shoot arrows/creeper arrows down onto innocents hanging around the tester. A few suggestions/concerns regarding the map include: having only one entrance/exit for the tester building, the current placement of the traitor trap button, cave at 0:25 seemingly being a dead-end, the plain plateau on the other side of the bridge to the tester, and lack of options to quickly move between the upper and lower sections of the map.

The tester building really reminds me of the tester building in Kazamuzo Temple and as we know that building can be extremely campy. There being only one entrance/exit makes it difficult for a traitor to cook without the use of creeper arrows. Traitors will also often place a claymore at the entrance and this creates situations where the game can be really slow if either the innocents or traitors decide to camp the tester building and bowspam the entrance. In situations where a traitor suddenly starts critting innocents out who are camping around the tester then needs to make a run for it, it’d be nice for there to be a way to dip from the tester building without having to run through the only exit being the front entrance. I think for Plateau if there is another entrance/exit on the bridge side of the tester building that would be great. As for the traitor trap button, I think it would benefit being moved to the second floor of the tester building. With its current spot, it’s basically over every time for any traitor that presses the button. If it were moved upstairs, it creates more options where the traitor can either kill innocents going up the stairs, drop down from the balcony and book it out the front entrance, or if a side entrance added on the bridge side then that also comes an escape option.

The cave dead-end at 0:25 may not be a huge deal, but I think it’d be nice if it connected to another path, maybe to the path that goes to the tester.

Regarding the plain plateau, maybe adding some trees would be nice so then it’s not so open. If someone’s on the run and people are trying to bow them down, it’d be nice to be able to hide behind something. I think maybe adding a well that connects to the cave system below it shown at the beginning of the video would be nice.

So currently there are only 2 paths for getting up to the upper level and they seem quite far away from the tester, especially the El Dorado route via the ladder. I think adding either a ladder, staircase, or cave system on the tester side of the map that connects the upper and lower levels would help resolve that.

One last thing that I’m kind of concerned about is how players will run around the map. The tester building being in the corner of the map makes me concerned that people will only camp there and the rest of the map (especially the village diagonal to the tester) won’t be used because it seems so far away from the tester. We won’t know for sure until there’s actual gameplay on the map but hopefully players will run freely around the map instead of the camping the tester building.

These are just my thoughts for now, I hope more people will also drop their opinions and suggestions here too. The staff team will let you know of any changes that need to be made for real so I wouldn’t make changes until they contact you. Really nice work and I hope this map gets added to the map pool!

[Mewnxx]

Thank you for the concerns on our map Auskerr! We are taking what you said very carefully to ensure that it is a fun map to play on! Depending on staff opinions, these will be adjusted accordingly!

[Commodore]

I’ll start off by saying that I really like the overall look and feel of the map. I think there’s several elements that are quite interesting for gameplay, such as the tunnels/caves, as well as the tester building.

My first concern is the size of the map, which I know you mentioned in game you were unsure of as well. It does appear big from the video, which means that if you want to run from one side of the map to another (for example if you are asked to test), it’ll take a considerable amount of time. I think it would be best to shrink in the entire map, i.e. bring the whole outer ring closer together. This would make the enormous open area in the middle smaller, and hopefully allow players to spread out around the map a bit more evenly. As it is right now, I imagine a lot of people would just sit at the tester building.

As for the tester building, I agree with Auskerr’s suggestion of adding another entrance/exit. One of the most frustrating things in TIMV is when the traitors can’t successfully attack anyone because they’re all just grouped up in one area, and I see that being a bit of a problem with the current design. I also agree about the placement of the traitor button; it’s just way too close to the tester itself right now. You could move it upstairs, although you’d probably then want to add an escape route from the second floor so that a traitor who presses it can make an exit safely after pressing the button. The hallway behind the tester could work too, assuming you’d add another escape route for that scenario.

From a gameplay perspective, the most important thing for me is having things close enough together that attentive players can see what’s going on in the game without making everything overly visible. Having multiple routes throughout and having obstacles and choke points for traitors to utilize in tricky situations are very important as well. I think it would make a huge difference if you shrink the perimeter of the map just a little, add some more pathways for easy access to the tester and the upper levels, and add more detail to the more open areas. Along those lines, you also need to provide incentives for people to be in other places than the tester area. A good way to do this is spread out the ender chests in more remote areas of the map, as well as adding easter eggs and/or unique building features. Some of this you have already done quite nicely but these are good things to consider as you make changes.

Hopefully others will weigh in with their opinions, and the game council and build team can help you figure out the best ways to make these changes. I really like the progress you’ve made though, and I appreciate the time and effort you have put into creating something for the TIMV community. Thanks for sharing!

(Edit: After re-reading, I realize I unintentionally copied some of what Auskerr said. My apologies for any repetition but hopefully my points are still useful.)

[Mewnxx]

Thank you for all your in-depth feedback so far, we really appreciate it! After looking through some of these concerns and tips, we have made some changes to hopefully improve the map. We are hoping some others will put in their opinions so we can improve it more, but for now here are…

THE UPDATES
You can see all things that have been changed from these images (Updated Pictures and more in-depth from this video (Update Video)

Written:

• Surrounding Plateaus have been moved towards the center, making the map smaller.

• All Buildings have been made sure to contain 2 or more exits/entrances.

• The Marketplace Mine now connects to other cave systems.

• 5 More chests have been added.

• Traitor Trap button has been moved to behind the stairs in the tester building.

• The El Dorado Route’s tallest plateau has been re-decorated to remove empty space.

• There is a new exit route outside the tester building, you can now easily drop to the bottom level.

• It is now impossible to escape the map, barriers are in place, but only in locations that are already, otherwise unreachable.

Thank you, DoubleX

[Commodore]

It’s great to see that you took our feedback and were able to make some changes so quickly. I really like the updates you’ve made. Here’s a few more quick thoughts:

I feel like the traitor trap situation could still be a bit tricky, because as soon as a traitor presses the button people in front of the tester are going to run right around to try to kill them. With the way it’s set up right now, I feel like the innocents would be able to surround the traitor much quicker than they could make an escape. You might consider moving the button much closer to the second exit.

It might be worth considering moving the ender chest at tester to a more remote location on the map. As said before, I feel like this will be a common grouping up location for innocents, and I think it would be best to spread people out away from this spot early on in the game. I’m not sure how you feel about this but I think it’s worth considering as well.

Finally, I feel like there needs to be a more direct route to the tester from the lower level. Imagine there’s a new player who is on the lower level and doesn’t know where the tester is, and they’re told to follow their compass. This will lead them to the base of the plateau that the tester building is on, and I think it’s quite unintuitive for them to then have to run all the way across the map to find the path up to the top. This could create some confusion. I’m not sure how hard it would be to implement, but I think a more direct path would be a helpful change. Perhaps a spiral staircase in the plateau leading to the front of the building?

On another note, I really like the slime block escape route from the tester area, I think that’s very unique and creative.

Those are just my personal thoughts, as usual others may weigh in and they may have even better ideas. Great work though!

[Mewnxx]

Thanks for more feedback! Some changes have been made!

THE UPDATES
All updates can be seen in this video (Plateau Updates)

Written:

• Enderchest has been moved from the Library to the crater.

• Tester Trap button has been moved into the Library, which creates better escape options for traitors.

• 2 New paths have been added to the Lagoon’s cave system, allowing for easier travel around the map.

• You can now enter the Lagoon’s cave system from the middle of the map.

• 5 more chests have been added.

• Small areas have been decorated more, like paths outside of the tester buidling.

Our Thoughts.
We have seen players and mods concerns about being able to access the tester side from the bottom layer quicker, we have evaluated and tested this change, but we believe the map would be fine without the change. If any mod or builder still feels unsure, we would love for you to join the map yourself to get a feel. No changes have been made to the Tester side paths.

Thank you, DoubleX

[Mewnxx]

SMALL FIX!
You can find the changes here: (Video)

Written:
2 More Bridges and stairwells have been added connecting the plateaus, allowing easy access from the base layer to the tester layer.

Thank you, DoubleX

[Auskerr]

Great work guys! Much respect for being really quick to making suggested edits and cool changes to the map.