Wail

This game just doesn't grab me in any way. The story seemed a little bit interesting for the first day that we played it, but by the second day I felt like we had seen everything the game had to offer. Halo wasn't my favorite game series of all time either, but it at least seemed to break up the gameplay a bit more, story that was more present, characters that seemed more alive, and music that kicked ass.

I don't have any nostalgia for Counterstrike maps (CS:GO is the first CS game I've played) but I personally prefer the community made version of Mirage to Valve's version of the map. It's just a lot more readable. Cobble remake Valve is doing looks like a big visual improvement in the sense of relating the architecture to human scale, but hopefully one of the lessons they learned from Mirage is to ensure the readability of the environment above eye candy.

Pakistan: I liked the aesthetic of this map, but I'm concerned about specifically the middle corridor of the map -- This is a pretty large area in terms of actual size, but was underutilized in our playtesting. Typical flow pushes T's towards A or B along outer paths of the map, while rotating through mid is slower & more convoluted than it should be. Not that this necessarily needs to be changed. Mid design reminds me of Mirage in some ways (but I don't like Mirage's mid either...).

I'm interested in making some weapon finishes, unfortunately I didn't find Valve's guide very helpful at all on the actual execution part. Are there any good resources out there you guys know of to get started with this? (I'm not highly versed in Source, more of an Unreal guy.)

If this really allows me to easily loan games to people like I might a book or CD, then my mind has been blown.

Yeah, I think this is a good base as is. I like what was done with CT spawn actually (changing it from elevated to recessed) since last playtest. I have some concerns on a couple of points, but honestly I don't think it's possible to make any sort of determination on these issues without extensive playtesting: (A.) Seems CT sided a bit as said. CT have like 4 excellent sniping spots that I think might give a little bit too much of an edge: 1. A side elevated room.looking down long 2. Down mid from CT->B mid connector 3. Down mid from mid balcony/TV room 4. Down B approach from the box room I am utterly terrible with the AWP but I was kicking some butt with the AWP on CT side. Three times I got double kills with one shot -- Granted, this could be that we were playing against partially-bot teams, and teams that weren't using flashes and smokes effectively, but still. A good AWPer would clean up in these positions IMO. (B.) I'm not sure if A-short is a good path to take for T's. It just seems like it's really difficult to make that approach due to the doors, and any time/initiative advantage you might get from a quick attempt at a rush on Short-A is cancelled out by the doors. There aren't even any good potential grenade uses here to help clear the room, unless you're just going to blow down the doors and rush them. (C.) Even though the map is I feel somewhat CT sided, the major feeling I get is that A site is too easy to stack for CTs and B site is the preferred option for Ts to attack since (as CT) it just takes you a second or two too long to get there.

This is an awesome book. Pretty approachable too. Myself: Most challenging books I have ever read in my life. I just finished reading them and I feel like I want to reread them again.

Sorry I missed this one, looks really good. Hopefully I'll get a chance to play and give feedback at one of the upcoming playtests.

In my opinion: Far better to learn the technical stuff in a structured environment with knowledgeable teachers. Art History can be studied on your own time, at your own pace, using your local library and museums. If you need some guidance talk to the professors and ask them for their reading lists, then write down all those titles and read them.

https://twitter.com/_wail in case anyone is interested.

This. Although for me the biggest issue was the hash they made of the storyline and setting. I'm totally expecting major gameplay improvements, but I don't know if I can muster up the interest unless the story somehow reverses all the bad elements of D3.

I really enjoyed this map, and I'm hesitant to make too many suggestions for alterations. I do feel like it plays better with teams of more than 5 though. It's just larger than a standard map. Couple of things I think might be worth considering: 1. Mid is pretty wide and particularly dangerous for CTs to cross going to B site (less so for Ts due to the boxes at their entrance to mid). It might be worth thinking about narrowing mid up, or adding some cover for CTs. 2. On B approach, there's a room with boxes that connects to mid. This room is actually fine, but if you follow the approach to B, you end up going from "twisty box room" to "twisty corridor." This area just feels off to me because it's too maze-like. I would probably get rid of that second turn by angling out the walls and buildings so that it just opens out into B site. 3. Between A short and A long there is a door on an elevated area. This part actually confused me a lot while playing because I wanted to know how to get up there (it doesn't look like there is a way, unless you jump on people's heads). I'd like to get another playtest of this before offering any more suggestions.

This was a pretty good read, I just wish there were more to it. I was hoping specifically for some more discussion on building deathmatch levels specifically, as I always tend to overthink layouts for DM as there are no set objectives. Those and large-scale outdoors maps featuring vehicles always push me into analysis paralysis mode, as there are so many competing priorities and concerns that I oftentimes feel that there is no way to judge whether what you have is good without just getting your hands dirty and playtesting. Also very curious about data gathering tools and when & how those are utilized.

Not to be too critical, as I feel like these screens / this new version is a big improvement over the older versions. But I wouldn't mind seeing some (mild) colors back in on the buildings. Palette is pretty monochrome and I think the map lacks some individual character.

I guess these people would rather play in a grey box. I mean, you can't get much cleaner than that, right? Then again there are probably way more people on the other side of the fence, that don't care about gameplay. So I don't know that I'd complain too much about the pro-l33t guys.