Full size ground map!

[Abbysynth]

SPOILERED CUZ IT'S HUGE

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If anyone has any ideas for scene pieces, building stuff, whatever, just lemme know. There's lots of empty space in the jungles and around the mountains that can be used for stuff, and a good 60 or so space tiles bordering the whole shebang that can be used for additional stuff.

The last bits left to do are the main jungle areas and some stuff around the water, maybe a footbridge to get to the dig site.

[Rahlzel]

This is bloody brilliant. You've used the space so well that coming up with anything to add is tough.

At some point in the future, I might like to see a bigger temple. Either taking up a huge chunk of the northeastern corner or perhaps on another Z-level? The temples I envision for the Predators are like the one in Alien vs Predator - the huge one deep below the surface:



One other nitpicky thing that caught my eye: the small pond on the left side of the map:



It looks a bit out of place with all the man-made buildings being round and the natural lake being square. Those perfectly straight edges make it seem like it was dug out... unless it was?

EDIT: One other thing - also nitpicky, but something to consider: Assuming the green tiles are grass, I picture the vegetation near the river to be thicker and healthier due to the immediate access of water. Perhaps a gradual loss of vegetation/trees/the color green as you go further away from the river? That is, unless the area is meant to be a rainforest. Plus, my idea would hinder Predators being able to travel between trees if that's the eventual goal. Food for thought.

[Abbysynth]

Nitpicking is good! It's just another word for feedback.

Yeah, the temple's really just kind of a placeholder right now. I wasn't sure at all what I wanted to put it in or how big to make it. It can easily be expanded without messing up the flow of the map.

For the design plan my main goal was for experienced players to be able to look on just their screen and be able to instantly know their location coordinate-wise on the map. That's why small details are so important; you see a certain outcropping of rock, or locate the crashed shuttle, or wander around near the pond, and you know the right direction to go if you want to go somewhere specific.

As for the pond itself, yeah - I I might curve it up a little bit, I sort of slapped that in at the last minute. The surrounding area there is also really boring.

The plant life SHOULD be thicker around the water, you're right - I will probably add a lot of smaller shrubs and plants around those areas and in the water itself, to give it more of a swampland kind of feel. Most of the jungle stuff isn't in yet. The dark green you see everywhere is the jungle "floor" and it'll be broken up with areas of dense impassable trees that'll give xenos, survivors, and Preds alike some good hiding places. But I do need some stuff to add in the jungle proper to make it look better.

[Abbysynth]

Also, Apophis brought up a good point in the meeting yesterday -- what about the second shuttle? Does it even need one? I feel it'll break up the flow of the map a lot of we drop it anywhere north of the river -- the whole point is that the marines should have to explore the base before getting anywhere near the xeno hive, hence why there's a bottom right vs. top left setup for all the entry/start points (the shuttle lands to the right of the main complex, xenos mostly spawn top left/top middle). I was even thinking of an orbital drop pod that only fits like, 4 marines, but can be dropped anywhere on the map south of the mountains that has the space for it, but with a huge cooldown (like 15 minutes). Thoughts?

[Rahlzel]

I see more balance with having two shuttles. One shuttle would be a severe bottleneck for troop advancement on both the Alien and Marine sides. One group could simply camp the entrance/exit and trap the other group.

For this reason, not only do I think it's good to have more than one shuttle, I think it's also advantageous to have them in different areas a reasonable distance apart.

[Caryl]

The new sulaco could have the hangars in the aft and fore so that they will have some kind of mini-hangar bays.