Team Fortress 2 - Dynamic Levels

[CSN NewsBot]

Team Fortress 2 features dynamic levels and CVG has the scoop. There is a brief article and a video (that doesn't seem to be working right now) detailing the system.

What we did notice is that this is not just a Battlefield type system with some control points 'locked'. When a point is not in play, routes to that section of the map are physically blocked off, so the physical shape of the map is different for every combination of points. That forces you to revise your mental picture of the map, and see it as fresh again.

Unless this is something completely different, didn't we already see this in Havana in CS: Source years ago?



Update: Apparently there was a new image released as well.

[peagle]

so the physical shape of the map is different

If the routes are just walled off like Havana, the physical shape of the map is the same, some routes are just pointless. If routes actually took different paths, the map dynamically changing structure that would be something else. Hard to tell from their description, but sounds like the tremendously popular Havana to me too.

[kerosine99]

Changing routes just confuses the hell out of people.

[StealthMonkey]

I tried to pay attention to the story but I was distracted like I always am... Why in the world is TF2 so cartoony?

[{-=(BrO)=-}]

StealthMonkey wrote..

... Why in the world is TF2 so cartoony?

I think it fits perfectly.

[Diamond Dust]

It's cartoony mostly because they want you to know right when you see someone what class they are, what better way then a cartoony looking character to accomplish that. Of course with the really arcadey style of play it fits for that reason also

[Thortok2000]

I don't understand the reference to havana...

[peagle]

Thortok2000 wrote..

I don't understand the reference to havana...

Each round the routes are different, because some of them are blocked off by wire fences etc. Therefore rushes are harder to execute, and choke points more random. Sounds like a good idea in theory, but in execution it's more frustrating than anything, to have a game with burned in tactics/strats to be cast irrelevant based on dynamic (read: random) changes in the map. There are definately pro/con arguments about this, but I think the larger community has shown their distaste for it in the lack of popularity for cs_havana (which is, otherwise, quite a well done, nicely executed hostie map).

[meowmeow]

He's talking about Source dude.

[DaRk-AnGeL]

I'm so excited about TF2 :)



I've been waiting literally 7 years for it :P

[Thortok2000]

The larger community has shown their distaste for plain CS on plain maps in the first place. All source servers are off playing gungame or some nonsense.



I wish I could find a server with havana on it so I could see what you're talking about. I've had Source for half a year at least now, and I've only played that map for like 3 minutes before the admin switched it back to fy_imstupid, oh wait I mean fy_iceworld.

[-:Nighthawk:-]

I've played Havana plenty, and came away with the impression that it was beautiful to look at but only mediocre to play within. I hate to say it, but I felt immensely stupid the first time I figured out that it wasn't my memory going bad, but the routes were, in fact, changing from round to round.



Really though, while I'm sure it would screw with competitive play, rushes go about the same in a pub. If (as a CT) you are rushing left, you just go in the first opening you find -- you're basically running the same highway, with one of your three exits available for you to take. Beyond that simple decision everything else plays the same, so you're more or less just memorizing a separate timing sequence for each of the 3 possibilities and playing it accordingly.



Hopefully the "dynamic maps" will be at least a much more sophisticated version of this simple idea, if not a completely different take on things.



As far as "the look" goes... I'm a fan. XIII took the idea to even more cartoonish heights, and I loved every cell-shaded moment of that game. Overall it's a somewhat risky move, but one I'm a fan of.

[Thortok2000]

Edited by [user="152360"] @ [time="1178800035"]

When it comes to cartoony looks, I don't mind them, but given a choice, I prefer the opposite.



While 'Wind Waker' wasn't a horrible game, I simply prefer 'Twilight Princess'.



Cartoons lack a certain immersion quality. They can make up for it by having great gameplay, but it doesn't compare to a non-cartoon game that also has great gameplay.



And now that Nighthawk mentions it, I do seem to recall a "I thought there was a path here" sensation during those 3 minutes I played havana.



I don't like that idea. If a map's going to be 'dynamic', I'd rather it be player-controlled, or at least player-controllable, instead of just random.