Hot Potato - Team Mapping Event - Boom Leage WAD out now!

[BluePineapple72]

^{Titleart created by @MAN_WITH_GUN}

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~PO - TAY - TOES. Boil ‘em, mash ‘em, stick ‘em in a stew. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Wow! Has it been this long! Indeed it has.

 

Boom League - Version 1

 

I'll fancy this thread up later, but for now, just know this: the boom team's hot potato maps are compiled and ready for you to play today! Get 'em while they're hot!!

 

OP in spoilers below:

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Salutations and greetings everyone to the newest Pineapple Under the Sea community event!

Unfortunately, this isn’t a potato themed event; the name was just thematically appropriate. This event will test your teamwork, or lack thereof. Via raffle, you will be placed into one of two teams in a league of your choice. Once the mapping phase has begun (more details below) each team member will be given an hour to work on your team’s map, one at a time. Essentially playing hot potato with your map.

 

To prevent arguments over format decisions, I’ve divided this competition up into two leagues:

 

• The two teams in this league will work exclusively in boom format. Maps should be targeted to work in the PRBoom + source port. Likewise, this league will use the cc4 texture pack to make their maps look all nice and pretty.

 

• The two teams in this league will work exclusively in UDMF format. Maps should be targeted to work in GZDoom. This league will take charge with the OTEX resource pack to accentuate the nature of the UDMF format

 

SIGNUPS LIST

 

As the competition will not cross either league, you will be allowed to participate in both leagues.

 

When applying for this event, specify which league, or leagues, you are interested in participating in.

 

Teams will be raffled on January 15th, you will then have that weekend, to the 18th, to reach out to your teammates and formulate a loose plan for your mapping. 

 

Teams will need to decide seven things:

• A map name, and a theme (I recommend this to be as loose as possible to account for the diversity of mapping styles)
• A “tater”. This will be the person in charge of doing the slade work for the wad. They will define the midi and sky that the team has decided to use for the map. They will also be tasked with the bug fixing/balancing phase of mapping once every mapper has gone. The tater will also be required to map, like everyone else.
• Mapping Order. This will have to account for every mapper’s schedule.
• A Team Name. This is only for fun really.

 

You will begin mapping on the 20th of January. Once a competitor completes their hour, they will hand off the map to the next mapper in the order decided by the team. That mapper will therein have 72 hours to complete their hour, else the map falls to the next in line and the disgraced mapper will fall to the end of the line, earning a strike. 

• If you earn a strike, and fail to complete your hour once it reaches you again, you will be dropped from the team.

 

Your mapping time should not be spent overwriting the entirety of another mapper’s works. This will be a collaborative mismash map, have fun with it.

 

Once your map is finished, your tater will have 45 minutes to test the map for bugs and any balancing issues. They should guarantee that the map is beatable via legitimate means as well as making sure that the ammo/monster balance is within reason. The tater should not make any major changes/editions to the map; their concern should be with polishing the map. 

 

Fixing alignment and unpegging counts as bug squashing. Detailing does not.

 

Once your tater has finished, they will post the map to the DW thread where it will then be observed by our judges.

Maps will be due in the amount of days equal to your teammate count multiplied by three after the 20th.

 

I just mentioned your maps will be judged. This is a competition after all. Please welcome these wonderful individuals. They will pick the best of your league once both maps are released.

 

• Our first judge has been running a playtesting thread on this very forum for almost two years no. I speak of none other than @HAK3180. On top of a YouTube channel that has routine uploads of playtesting videos, HAK has been steadily working on his megaWAD Crossbearer.

 

• Up next is @Insane_Gazebo, the madman behind Sunder, with various contributions to other projects. His maps are notable for their breadth and scale. Difficulty too. Needless to say, his maps are rather… insane.

 

• @Jark is no stranger to community projects, with one community project on idgames and another in it’s latter trimester. With a map in MAPWICH 2, Jark will have a special eye for teamwork as he judges the hot potato maps.

 

• The fourth judge is @Pegleg. Co-admin to the two Modest Mapping Challenges, Pegleg has made his mark in multiple projects around the community. With a map in both Mapwiches, both 1k line community projects, the Doomworld Mega Projects for 2017 and 2018, Akeldama, and the 64 kB Mapping Challenge, it isn’t hard to find him around. In addition to being the current organizer of the monthly IronEagle competition, Pegleg is also a moderator on my discord. The last one is the most difficult, I imagine.

 

• Breaking through the crust of hell to bring judgement upon this competition is none other than my arch-nemesis, @Major Arlene. When not in battle with yours truly, Arlene regularly streams doom related content on her twitch channel. The mastermind behind the Technichrist Anticolor Box, Arlene is noted for her writings in the annual Doomworld Cacowards, of which she has been contributing to since 2018. For further reading on the cool stuff she’s been doing, check out her website here.

 

• The final judge is another moderator of my discord: @Steve88. Steve has captained three speedmapping events: Friday Speedmaps, the Pandemonium Speedcontest, and it’s sequel Multiplayer Madness. The latter two inspired the PUSS series, of which he has participated in twice. Some maps of his can be found in Omega 2019, Mapwich 2. He has a seat on the council of the Multiplayer Doom Federation to help organize events on their discord.

If you learned how to count as a child, you’ll notice that we have an even number of judges. That’s right folks, there is a chance of a tie! We’ll have a special tiebreaker condition. ^{Don’t know what it is yet.}

 

If everything you’ve just read is of moderate interest to you, then put your name along with your preferred league below!

Signups will close on the 14th of January at 11:59 PM EST. So you have plenty of time to squabble whether you want to or not.

 

To decide teams, I will raffle names from a hat LIVE on my discord server on the 15th of January. Speaking of...

 

 

My discord server, The Pineapple Under the Sea, is where we will be doing the bulk of the community experience for this event. Here you will be able to watch your teammates map and stream your own mapping to them in a private team call of your own. Joining here will make the experience of being a team like no other. Don’t miss out!

In addition to this event, you will be notified of any upcoming PUTS original or sponsored projects and events in addition to being part of a growing and thriving community of mappers. 

 

Well, that’s it then. Not much more to be said. I’ll have more updates in the coming week once the sign up list begins to fill. See you on the 15th! 

 

PREVIOUS PUTS EVENTS:

Hellevator
Line in the Sand - WAD coming soon!

PINEAPPLE UNDER THE SEA MONTHLY SPEEDMAPPING SERIES:

Clandestine Castle Crashing

12 Days of Doommas

Boss Battle Bonanza
Trick&Tear
September Under the Sea

Edited May 6, 2021 by BluePineapple72
added sign ups

[LateNightPerson]

I'd like to sign up for a Boom team please!

[Mystic 256]

I would like to sign up for this project

Boom League (because of the coin flip)

[waciej]

Sign me please to the Boom league!

 

(this art look cool)

[MattFright]

Missed opportunity... could've named the Boomer League "The Boomers" instead :p

 

Anyways... I can't confirm to join in yet because i'm not sure if i'll have much free time by Jan 20th, but if i do i'll join the UMDF League, i don't have much experience with Boom format at all

[BluePineapple72]

Sometime in the short or distant future, I will open up a google doc to keep track of the sign ups. I'll link it in the OP so that I don't have to constantly edit it.

It is done. Check out who has signed up via this link here.

Edited January 10, 2021 by BluePineapple72

[Walter confetti]

Ah, f**k it. Sign me in for boom team.

 

A pair of questions:

• The hour of mapping is for one or multiple times? (Example: 1 hour me and the other guy 1 hour and it's over or is it more 1 hour me / 1 the other guy / 1 me etc.)
• Are new textures allowed?

Edited January 10, 2021 by Walter confetti

[NoWaves]

Sign me up to both!

 

[BluePineapple72]

  On 1/10/2021 at 1:53 PM, Walter confetti said:

Ah, f**k it. Sign me in for boom team.

 

A pair of questions:

• The hour of mapping is for one or multiple times? (Example: 1 hour me and the other guy 1 hour and it's over or is it more 1 hour me / 1 the other guy / 1 me etc.)
• Are new textures allowed?

Expand  

It will be 1 hour for each person, so the former of your examples. 

I will be providing resource packs for the teams to use. Your league will be using the Community Chest 4 resource pack, so there are multiple new textures for you to use.

[LordEntr0py]

Whack me in the Boom league, please!

[Zero the Red]

Although my name is in the signups list already, I'll just pop in to express my interest in joining the BOOMers League :p

[BluePineapple72]

Ah, why not. I guess I'll throw my hat into the UDMF league. Seems lonely in there.

[obake]

I'll join in the UDMF league. Sounds like fun, though I hopefully won't get flustered by the time restraints. :)

[xvertigox]

I expected this to be a mapwich clone but it's cool to see it's quite different! What time will the mapping actually take place? I'm wary of signup and not being able to map due to the event happening while I'm at work.

[BluePineapple72]

  On 1/13/2021 at 1:56 AM, xvertigox said:

I expected this to be a mapwich clone but it's cool to see it's quite different! What time will the mapping actually take place? I'm wary of signup and not being able to map due to the event happening while I'm at work.

Expand  

The mapping begins sometime in the coming week. Your team will be able to coordinate with you when it’s best for your turn to work on the map. Each person has a 3 day window to do their 1 hour.

So say you go second. If #1 finishes Monday, you have from then to Thursday to do your 1 hour. If that doesn’t work, you can coordinate with your team to move back some spaces. 

[xvertigox]

  On 1/13/2021 at 4:58 AM, BluePineapple72 said:

 Each person has a 3 day window to do their 1 hour.

Expand  

 

Sweet, sign me up for Boom League!

[JustCallMeKaito]

I've got spare time, so UDMF or bust.

[Captain Toenail]

Only one hour? What's the worst that could happen? Sign me up for both.

[BluePineapple72]

Today is your last chance to hop on board! Sign ups will close in 14 hours. Tomorrow, I will livestream myself drawing teams in my discord server, a video will be up after the fact.

[BluePineapple72]

Last chance to sign up! One hour left to hop on board! In the event of an uneven team, I will hop on board. For the UDMF league, I'll hop out since I'm already in there.

[aletheos eberlain]

So... way too late I jump in on the UDMF side.

[BluePineapple72]

Teams have been drafted! They are as follows:

 

 

 

Everyone in here is in my discord. For further updates and information about this project, head there. The final wads will be posted here, alongside the judge verdicts.

Have fun mapping! You have the weekend to discuss your stuffs.

Edited January 15, 2021 by BluePineapple72

[Walter confetti]

EDIT: I though that this project was like mapwich with a duo of mappers... So I'll wait until lordentropy finish his part

Edited January 15, 2021 by Walter confetti

[aletheos eberlain]

Team game, not a duo. In Pineapple's discord server there are team channels where we plan. Then mapping begins on Monday.

[BluePineapple72]

Short little update to any bystanders:

Maps have been finished and the judge phase has begun. Over this next week, the judge panel will share their... judgings into this thread, and we will declare a winner. Sometime after, I will have a compiled wad for everyone to enjoy.

Good luck to every team! You've all done exceptional work ,o/ 

[Jark]

Greetings, here are my thoughts and vote for the Boom league. 

 

Overnight Apocalypse:

 

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Consistency is key, and consistency is something this map could use more of. Visually, the map has a good sense of location, large areas alongside a waterfront with pathways leading deeper inland or underground. I never felt lost and progression was relatively simple, this tied with the relatively easy combat on even UV led me to believe this map was meant for a more 'chill' playstyle - until a particular mancubi fight. This is where consistency is stretched a little thin, up until this point it has been quite large areas with a few imps and zombiemen, there is a huge difficult spike with 10+ mancubi in a small winding path which I should add, is initially inescapable compared to every other fight in this map which you can go back the way you came to safety at any point. This latter point invalidates much of the intended challenge this map has, this of course is fine if the combat was consistent with a steady difficulty increase, which we know is not the case.

 

 

Conclusion:

 

Overnight Apocalypse is able to give the player a sense of location, I believe the combat side of the map falls a bit short due to inconsistency between lack of challenge and a sudden increase in challenge also the fact at times combat felt a bit too simple. There were nice setups like the aforementioned macubi setup (which is still a good challenge) and the chaingunner trap.

 

 

 

Twice Fried:

 

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While making a unbroken up linear map with many people might be tricky to retain visual consistency, having a relatively non-linear city with a building for each mapper is a clever way around that. Whilst it is unusual for a twenty-five minute map to have five keys, it distinguishes progression easier as opposed to having many switches or having to settle for a linear version of the map. Even though visual themes can differ quite a bit between buildings, the combat remains surprisingly consistent. Most fights are well thought out and general encounters aren't unfair (even with that many chaingunners). There was one particular fight which could have been tinkered a bit which was the ice rink, far too slippy that you cannot avoid the lost souls and the pinkies can't move either - it's a nice premise, but could be better executed. Most of the bigger fights you can escape from relatively easily, however the mappers do try to stop that from happening for the first moments of a fight. The non-linearity allows backtracking for extra goodies if you remember their place although I can't say I'm a fan of the old misaligned-wall-secret that leads to a backpack, ssg and lots of ammo in the first building you enter.

 

 

Conclusion:

 

Twice Fried manages to jam lots of different themes into one map via the pretence that each theme is its own building, while balancing combat difficulty consistently. I also never felt lost due to spaced out signposting, although this map is technically non-linear, it has fairly linear buildings sometimes only one room although they need not serve any further purpose so it is a fitting size.

 

 

 

Vote:

 

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I have decided towards giving my vote to Twice Fried, as its well rounded combat consistency and method of tackling visual themes differences between mappers creates a well put together map with not much to nit pick (apart from the ice rink encounter ;) ) or break up the experience.

 

[HAK3180]

Boom Stuff

 

 

Overnight Apocalypse

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This is a map of moments. It had highs and it had lows. It starts with a cool adventurous feel, but then it takes its time to get going. For the most part I like the progression here (brutal backtrack near the end though). Even the sudden move to hellish comes full circle fairly quickly. But the action itself just doesn’t really come alive besides a couple moments, namely an early fight shotgunning revenants, and a seemingly well plotted mancubus, although not the most organically implemented, trap. Visually, it’s inconsistent. Overall it fits together, but the levels of detail clash a little bit. The beginning feels totally vanilla but then there’s all sorts of lighting in the first hallway and the middle section all looks a little nice until the very end, which is rather crude again. This bit of collision stands out to me now. In the end, the gameplay has a good skeleton, but the monster composition seems too basic. It feels like it would not take much to elevate the combat significantly. I'm a big opponent of secrets like the plasma gun secret. In my FDA, I came out of that with almost 300 cells, more than enough to make the rest of the map more of a breeze than it already was.

 

My first run was 15:48 - 100/97/71

 

Twice Fried

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I don’t think this map was long enough to justify five keys being in use. The city approach helps, but it still felt like a bunch of small maps crammed into one. To be sure, I do understand that is the main challenge of this project, but I felt there could have been either more choice in the progression or more semblance of connected space, not just an empty city street. I felt most of the combat was decent in theory but either implemented in too much space or with too simple a way to solve it. The red key fight, for example, I actually just left and carried on with the map. I also thought the weapon progression was too slow. Since I got all the secrets and since the map is linear, I really could not have gotten anything any earlier. In this regard, the ice skating rink was the biggest culprit. The strength of this map is visual cohesion. It’s a cool city with several areas to visit. The whole thing is semi-realistic and pays attention to lighting.

 

My first run was 19:59 - 103/80/100

 

Vote

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This was what I would call a split decision. While one was more ambitious in scope, the other ended up with more organic cohesion that felt more clever after initial kneejerking, even with some awkward backtracks. Neither jumps out as significantly better in terms of combat, but the fact is Twice Fried got a bit tedious with so many separate areas, and I really appreciated the mancubus challenge of Overnight Apocalypse, even with the cell abundance that somewhat ruins the game plan for that fight. 

 

Bottom line: my vote is for Overnight Apocalypse

 

[HAK3180]

UDMF

 

 

Contingent Demolition...

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The beginning and the cave area look pretty nice, with subtle big picture detail items – just pleasant texturing, subtle sloping, and buildings in the background. Most of the rest is pretty bare, more what you would expect with so little time to work. This map’s highlight for me is easily the grey-ish metal basement room, which seems to be the only gameplay-first part of the map. I quite enjoyed the pace in there and the difficulty pitch: not brutally hard but makes you make decisions. The layout, although visually cohesive, is a little choppy in terms of gameplay. You essentially need yellow and red to exit, but you need blue to get yellow, so I like that little frustration of symmetry, but it’s definitely a map of sections: beginning/hub, cave, basement, mastermind. That’s not a major negative, but I prefer when maps of distinct fights find ways to disguise it a little better. The cave section and the mastermind section felt unpolished, the former seeming thoughtless in monster composition and noticeably unbalanced. Even entering with rockets and plasma from the mastermind area had me leave early with enemies alive and no ammo. However, this may be the best looking “room” in the entire project. The mastermind arena just seemed like a spamfest. It’s perfectly winnable by simply holding down fire with the plasma gun with very basic evasion tactics and not much prioritization. I do like that this map has some obvious replay value in being markedly nonlinear at the beginning, but any way I play it, the basement section is by far my favorite.

 

I finished my first run in 12:32 with 95/100/66

 

Temple of the Crystal Spud

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I thought it was well executed in terms of layout. Visuals are refreshing, fairly level throughout and just right for the timeframe. There are not a lot of stylistic choices that call for fine detail, which speaks to wisdom in planning. The weakness in terms of visuals is probably lighting in the bigger areas and some instances of the Hell Keep effect. I don’t know that this map needs two separate somewhat similar cyberdemon fights (beginning definitely > end), but I thought most of the gameplay was at least a little distinct. The hot start was fun and engaging, and I appreciated that both the weapons are viable options for different purposes/situations. The blue key fight is unique. It doesn’t seem all that interesting at first, but the monster setup forces you into the damaging floor and there’s no health, so the name of the game is working quickly. I like the red key room’s quirkiness between the little puzzle and the crushers. This map has identity, and I think players will appreciate that, even if they don’t love everything about it. Lastly, the whole map serves as a little aggression release, as you use mostly plasma and rockets, but it’s by no means an all-out power trip.

 

I finished my first run in 18:10 with 100/96/33

 

Vote

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The Temple is more consistent in quality of visuals and gameplay, giving the impression of better team chemistry. It’s also more varied in what it offers, taking the time to set up some outside the box situations. Contingent Demolition, while less cohesive, is certainly not a mess, and it does get my vote for “best fight” and “best looking room.” But this is a team effort, and although Demolition got better for me after my FDA while the Temple stayed about the same, I don’t think Demolition’s very highs are enough to offset the consistent quality of the Temple.

 

Bottom line: My vote is for Temple of the Crystal Spud

 

[Steve88]

Hello Everyone
Here are my playthroughs of the Boom League Maps

Twice Fried

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Thoughts on Twice Fried:
I want to start out by saying I like city themed open world type maps, and given the time constraints Twice Fried delivered a relatively cohesive map stylized like a city. Detail was somewhat limited but thematically cohesive, and considering time constraints it still managed to build a distinctive charm and a feeling of location.

 

Some criticism I have for this map is that despite being a city map it still felt relatively liner in progression. That may be due in part to the use of 5 different keys. While I find the idea unique especially for a grand city it may have been a bit ambitious and resulted in the loss of openness by sealing off most paths and keeping the buildings & fights compartmentalized as well as increasing the number of door fights. I would have loved to see more options for areas to go from the start, and more inter-conectivity between different areas of the city. The ice rink was a cool idea, but i felt like the friction factor was just too low making it far too hard to move on.

Overall the map was enjoyable, aesthetically coordinated, and generally made you feel like you were in a city. However it suffered in my opinion from the aggressive use of keys making the map areas less connected and linear in progression.

Overnight Apocalypse

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Thoughts on Overnight Apocalypse:

This map to me felt like it had a wider range of skill among its authors. Some areas were well detailed, others were crude.

 

For example, the room with slime floors, Revenents and lost souls was well crafted aesthetically, and in my opinion was a great combat arena. And it connected perfectly with the red key path. Unfortunately it seemed like a missed opportunity, the initial fight to me seemed like it was on the weak side, and by how the monsters were visible to the player before being altered, making it easy to cheese the fight. This area could have supported a bigger fight or perhaps multiple fights when the player passes through the second time.

 

Other areas like the ending room or the mancubs gauntlet were relatively crude in terms of aesthetics, choosing simpler geometries & texture decisions. However I actually found the fights in these areas to be more interesting. The mancubus gauntlet, even though I had to cheese it was a lot of fun to try and beat. The final area was also relatively interesting, the strategy that worked the best for me was to dive straight in, circle-strafing with the plasma gun. Rather than moving in cautiously and getting swarmed by cacos. The chain gun ambush was also quite interesting.

 

All in all Overnight apocalypse is a fun map to play, I played it twice and it was just as much fun running and gunning the second time through. It had some great encounters, and in my opinion its greatest weakness is that it could have more with just a little bit of tweaking.

The Verdict:

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My vote has to go to Overnight Apocalypse, it to me had the better encounters overall. Twice fried suffered from too many door fights in my opinion, perhaps related to the ambitious number of keys used.

 

Edited February 12, 2021 by Steve88

[Jark]

Greetings folks,

 

These are my thoughts and vote for the UDMF League maps.

 

 

Team 1: The Contingent Demolition of the Lackadaisical Potpourri Outpost

 

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Each of these fights could have been done before any other due to the non-linear approach and giving choice to the player. This is something to keep in mind. The little beach outdoor hub area looks quite pleasant and serves its purpose.

 

The first area I journeyed to was a nicely detailed cave with water flowing throughout, with adorning key of course. Green armour would have been quite nice as quite a few of the many enemies teleported into the confines of the cave deal quite a bit of damage - there is a secret green armour that can be found fairly easily in the hub so it's not too much a qualm. There are quite a few torches dotting the cave which while looking pleasant, can very easily congest the player with their deceiving hitboxes. While I'm certain if I picked another area to start with I'd be fine on ammo for this arena, there wasn't enough for this fight alone and so I had to abandon it for another area. While it was a bit tight, quite a lot of the monsters get infighting and bunch up in the middle allowing the player just enough room to skirt around.

 

The next area I went to was the underground techy area. The fight isn't particularly challenging due to the wide geometry allowing the player to circle strafe until most things are dead but I don't think that is necessarily bad - as the fight seemed to pivot around this point with resources in little inlays with stationary turrets for a risk/reward factor while dashing about.

 

Whilst it isn't necessary to drop into the centre pit, and you'd expect the player to do this towards the end of the fight for reduced danger, the super shotgun is fairly visible to where if the player really wants it they'll be able to find it just fine. Circle strafing is bound to cause infighting and you'll save a lot of ammo - not that in this map's layout that is a particular problem. It is especially tricky to balance a map where any route can be picked first or last. Lastly I found the blue armour at the start was quite suitable as I left with no armour due to being chipped away at by chaingunners.

 

The final area I visited was the second cave arena although without any water (not a critique). The secret is incredibly obvious as the button to unlock it is right next to the button to activate the fight, perhaps if the texture covering it was more opaque/further away it would be harder to find. Fairly simple fight with little challenge other than dodging the archvile, there is adequate cover in the form of trusty pillars. Mastermind seems a little irrelevant as it just infights with everything. The fact you have practically infinite cells with a plasma rifle to deal with everything indicates to me with much of the fights of this map - that it focuses on the fun of a fight as opposed to the challenge.

 

 

Conclusion:

 

While the difficulty of some fights is a little off compared to others, which is important as the player can choose any of the three key areas to start with, this map to me focuses more on the fun side of combat compared to the challenging, whilst running in large circles dodging projectiles isn't particularly challenging, it's fun casually. It is pretty much impossible to get lost or not know progression due to the admittedly simple layout, not that it needed to be anything more.

 

 

 

Team 2: Temple of the Crystal Spud

 

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Hot start, takes a moment to establish a strategy (mostly not dying), good stuff.

 

First area looks pretty good and is a fair challenge, you are given two megaspheres to manage your health, you'll need both as most enemies in this fight are high damaging and will chip away at you considerably.

 

Each switch with either cyber to unlock the next area is fool proofed for if the player did not kill the cyber before activating the Hell Knights and Barons, which block either entrance, they're screwed.

 

The next area you next unlock is a lot less frantic, interacting with the very first decorative texture you see you grant you a secret SSG with a box of shells with no contest, pretty powerful secret. You get a SSG just a bit further on so it isn't too egregious. While the next area does look quite a bit more simple visually, progression is still pleasant with navigation around level dependant sprint-jump platforms that you'll use to access the blue key once you reach that height.

 

The fight where you receive the SSG is completely negated by the huge opening to which you entered, remaining open. After grabbing the blue key, you can just leave. It isn't a particularly difficult fight, with the mancs and revenants infighting and large pillars to SSG revenants around. You'll probably lose more health to the damaging floor than the monsters.

 

Next area is a nice little courtyard with a drop down centre to the red key, natural progression. Something tells me the chaingunners on the return crusher path weren't supposed to come out of their closets until you took refuge between crushers? Or perhaps they were. Bit of an odd way to get to the soulsphere, having to teleport elsewhere then back again to enter the room. The next area seems to be trial and error unless I missed a code somewhere, the punishment isn't that bad so after a few attempts you'll get it, nice little gimmick.

 

What might seem as another tricky fight quickly shows you it isn't, as I realised the blood didn't hurt in the moat, even with it having a few pinkies in it was quite safe, and the cyber will infight with all the mancs, then exit.

 

 

Conclusion:

 

The strongest portion of this map was the start to me, afterwards the difficulty kept ramping down which was a little disappointing in terms of natural difficulty progression, but nice ideas were presented along the way for a change of pace like the trial and error pressure plates or crushers. I also really quite like the stone/wood/jungle theme.

 

 

 

Final Verdict

 

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My vote, after some deliberation, will go to Team 2: Temple of the Crystal Spud as I am quite partial to the theme the team went for as well as an excellent hot start fight, also keeping things fresh with diverse gameplay. Team 1's: The Contingent Demolition of the Lackadaisical Potpourri Outpost had its fair share of nicely detailed areas and different fights, but felt more disconnected as each area was distinctly separated. It was a tough choice between two well made maps.