MOBA: Aurora v1.1

[Venemous]

MOBA: Aurora
venemous-moba-aurora
Multiplayer COOP
Demo

"Aurora, a research station located on a large asteroid in Sorona's asteroid belt, the Keychain Belt. The driving force of conflict on the station is the arcane fuel Unobtanium, prized for it's ability to give half-assed reasons for why the two teams are fighting in video games."

The third map in the MOBA series, this uses a heavily updated and revamped version of the MOBA engine, MOBA2.0. The gameplay revolves around 2 structures: Turrets and the Core Mining Drills. The two main routes on the map each have 2 turrets, for red and blue, which attack and block the opposing team from advancing. Once at least 2/3 of a team's turrets are destroyed, that team's Core Mining Drill becomes vulnerable to attack. The first team to destroy the opponent's Core Mining Drill wins.

Screenshots:

Main part of the map. Team bases are offscreen.

Red base.

Blue base.

[Thundrex]

Overall, a really original and great map, but I noticed a few things I'd change personally, I'll make a pro's and con's list.

Pros:

• In general I like how you placed the lights.
• The idea of turrets is something I have not seen until now, and I really like the idea.
• Most of the backgrounds look nice.
• Well balanced sides (perfectly balanced, as far as I've noticed)

And now...

Cons:

• (http://prntscr.com/96p9g5) The little ports with the white doors can be hard to get in and out of because of the placement of the pushers and they close very quickly. Also, I am not sure if you intended to have those walls look like boxes or not.
• Some places can be hard to reach.

Suggestions:

• I would like to see some sort of "airlock" and anti-gravity thing going on. Say you have those red BGs changed to something else such as doors, and then you had the outside area have lighter gravity, along with having a pusher overhead so people don't escape the map.

I can't add more, as it's really late and I am very tired, but in conclusion you've made an excellent map that, in my opinion, could definitely be approved if it weren't for those awesome little turrets. I can see many more excellent maps being created by you, and hopefully you get recognition for it.

Have a nice day.

[Kiriakos Gr96]

very good map
there are some not overlaped wall if you want overlap them
also give to the *turrets* snipers or buff the pistols to be a bit harder

[xChakra]

Cheers to the originality and design

[Venemous]

snip

Cons:
1. I noticed that while testing, yes. I'll try to think up a way to make it easier to get into them in the next update.
2. I've looked over it and all BGs and walls are in the places I wanted them.
3. Which places?

Suggestions:

1. You're not explaining much. Which BGs (by red BGs, i assume you mean the team doors correct me if im wrong) are you talking about? Would the doors replacing them be able to be opened by both sides? Are they still opened when certain turrets are destroyed like right now?
2. The antigravity idea is cool and not too unbalanced, but i'm not sure exactly why it's needed -- elaborate?

very good map
there are some not overlaped wall if you want overlap them
also give to the *turrets* snipers or buff the pistols to be a bit harder

1. See Con feedback #2
2. I can understand why buffing the turret's attack power comes to mind, but remember this map is based off a game with very different mechanics and combat from PB2's, and I had to adjust the dynamics of the structures accordingly. WIth more offensive power, the PvP combat would be bogged down immensely as turrets being used as retreat stations would be a much more effective tactic, as well as PvT fights dragging on on its own.

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Will be making a thread about the opensourced MOBA2.0 engine soon.

[Thundrex]

snip

Cons:
1. I noticed that while testing, yes. I'll try to think up a way to make it easier to get into them in the next update.
2. I've looked over it and all BGs and walls are in the places I wanted them.
3. Which places?

Suggestions:

1. You're not explaining much. Which BGs (by red BGs, i assume you mean the team doors correct me if im wrong) are you talking about? Would the doors replacing them be able to be opened by both sides? Are they still opened when certain turrets are destroyed like right now?
2. The antigravity idea is cool and not too unbalanced, but i'm not sure exactly why it's needed -- elaborate?

Red = Spaces Hard to Reach
Green = Pushers
Purple = Move Part
Blue = Airlocks

http://prntscr.com/96z4rs
http://prntscr.com/96z6jp

I probably missed some stuff. If you need me to explain any more, I'd be pleased to. c:

[Venemous]

You aren't supposed to be able to jump up from the center platform in the bases to the rock formation.

How is jumping from the upper base level to the rock formation hard? I can do it perfectly.

There's already an invisible door preventing you from going on top of the upper hallways, no need for a pusher there.

Jumping from where you are to upper hallway: That's meant to take more time to jump up to so that retreats from enemies arent super easy and efficient (you can easily get from the upper hallway to the enemy's side while retreating, healing fully in the process)

Jumping from inside to out of the lower hallway: You arent supposed to be able to do that either.

Jumping from upper center left platform to left top of the station: You're supposed to jump onto it from the highest platform for the same reason as jumping up to the upper hallway.

Jumping from top of the station to roof of the station: Invisible walls.

Ill make the pusher on the top jump pad higher so you'll float up through it.

I dont get what you mean with moving part.

Airlocks as a whole: Once again, nice idea, but almost all areas in the map are balanced for the current gravity.

[Kiriakos Gr96]

Cheers to the originality and design

xChakra you had post the same message two times
please dont post the same message more than 1 time

[Venemous]

Update v1.1
-Dropdown platform mechanics changed. They now automatically open when a player is below them and cannot be entered from above
-Some background issues fixed
-Changed lighting a bit
-Now displays a message saying which version of the moba engine the map uses. Reccomended to put this is any moba maps you make with the engine so people will know if they're playing an outdated map

[artichokecat]

It's cool.
But would you consider adding any other weapons besides just the pistol?

[Venemous]

It's cool.
But would you consider adding any other weapons besides just the pistol?

I can if you can convince me itd be balanced. I cant think of any collectable weps scattered around the map that wouldn't fundamentally change the metagame in a bad way.

[xProxyAngelx]

Pleasure to be seeing maps from you again. I sure do miss those great MOBA maps.

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Map is well designed aesthetically. Personal opinion here - I really do love Panel Default as a background, I find it sleek and moulds somewhat well with any concrete or dark panel walls. You've done it here. The aesthetics are a beauty.

Level design is well built on as well. It feels like a modern battlefield. Very horizontal and essentially two floors near the central that eventually narrows down to one as the fight nears the inevitable victory. It fits the MOBA theme perfectly.

A horizontal level design doesn't mean the gameplay is stretched - It enlarges the player's perception of the scale of the battlefield, making it truly feel like a battle against big, mighty bases. Really mighty ones. Like, ones with turrets and mining drills worth fighting for.

I'd like to mention that it's pretty dark near the center, so there are some dark panel walls in the central that could go unnoticed (With the darkish background). At the same time, my laptop does seem to be darker when it comes to most games, so I guess it could just be me only.

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Gameplay feels very MOBA, so kudos for that. Each character's speed feels perfectly moderated - same for projectiles. Effective range also feels very MOBA - restricted well within zoom range. The wide zoom is pretty interesting, I like it a lot.

The turrets feel a little ordinary with the c-o1p, though they still function as turrets all fine with their high health. Still, was there a reason why you swapped the c-o1r rifle out? I felt they made the turrets seem more threatening as my low RoF contrasted against the high RoF of the Turret assault rifles. (They still feel like very tanky and very deadly turrets, don't get me wrong)

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Most of the lag issues from previous versions (which presumably used the first MOBA engine) seem to have dissipated with the disappearance of the lane creeps. I sure miss those fellas, but I think it's a smart change for the better.

I do somewhat agree with artichokecat. A weapon grab would be quite appealing in changing the lane vs lane and turret vs turret gameplay, as a secondary objective to fight over. Would modding an in-game weapon to be balanced with the default pistol work? Making it an alternative weapon that functions differently could work.

Maybe just one of these weapons on the map at the very center? Perhaps put a spawn timer on it? I have no idea how it could work, but it'll be interesting.

Maybe a light rail pistol with less damage could work.

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Overall, map is great looking, plays reasonably smoothly and the gameplay is not only good but very MOBA-like. The unique aspect of this map is unquestionable, so, great job with the map!

Would love to see more from ya soon!

Yours sincerely,
- Serah

[Venemous]

I changed the turret weapon to pistols because with assault rifles they, plain and simple, did too much damage. Standing perfectly still, constantly firing on a turret and absorbing all the bullets it fires, you'll take a total of 3200 damage by the time it's destroyed. WIth an Assault Rifle c-01r, that jumps to 8000 damage, well enough to kill you 11 times over. It just made them too strong with the new engine that makes turrets much less prone to missing.

Forgot about modding weak weapons to do the job, i'll look into it. Remember, though, that players respawn with their weps due to how the respawn system works, so that'll happen, potentially giving the first team that gets it a much bigger advantage than intended.

May readd creeps once PB2.5 comes out and it proves its not laggy, but they're hard to control reliably, so even then it might not make it in.