Map Assessments

[Faustie]

I'm massively in support of Littletown. Chaos was a very nice map, but it had a few problems and was very similar to 2d and 33x. It makes for a highly viable replacement for 33x, but a third server running the same deal would be rather dull, in my opinion. Rockford had some nice aesthetics, but it was far too spacey and empty, and had many bugs and areas of negative space on it. It's really only suitable for 150+ players, and even then only with a good few weeks of bug-fixing (or a new map version).

Littletown has everything we need for a third server. It's different from 2d and 33x, which will make for some new and unique RP. The overall map quality is very high: the textures are solid, the aesthetics clean, there are no bugs that I've noticed and no areas of negative space. There are some buildings that are just façades, but the same is true of v2d and 33x - people just choose to notice it less - and certainly true of chaos and rockford. Also, I don't consider the façades a problem; in reality, you're not going to inhabit every building in a city, as some will be closed, so not being able to enter every building in littletown is no problem. As it is, the limited space means that people will be brought together to RP more often (yet thanks to the outskirts and the sewers, there are still many places to get away and hide or spread out the RP). The buildings that you can enter are all of a high quality (with the possible exception of the gun shop) and there is a great variety of them. No assets from 2d and 33x are re-used, which is a major problem in chaos. They're all new buildings, and are a lot of fun to explore, especially as the map is loaded with secrets.

The complex sewer system adds a really nice criminal element to the map that you can't find on any other. It's mysterious, it's dark, it's cold, and you just know that the denizens of the criminal underworld are going to hide there, making it a dangerous place, difficult to police. Sort of like the Parisian catacombs, if you believe the stories.

As for the driving, why do people feel the need to be able to street-race on every map? We have two maps, both with 75 slots, on which you can race and zoom about to your hearts content on wide open roads. Littletown adds something a little different. We shouldn't just go for more of the same, especially if the only complaint is an inability to drive fast. If CDM becomes a problem, we can limit what cars people can use on the server, and we can also add railings to the CDM hotspots by the pavement (side-walk for you yanks) as world props, like we do on 2d. The map is so compact that people can walk anyway, yet thanks to the good map design there's still a lot of space to RP.