07-03-2024, 08:51 AM
(This post was last modified: 07-03-2024, 08:57 AM by chapman. Edited 3 times in total.)
I was thinking due to Damien's spewing on discord and TTT about how much he hates Roy the Ship (so much so he recorded a presentation, uploaded it, and sent it)
What makes something a good map objectively?
I have devised up 5 Categories that are each worth 5 points, making the total 25. Here is my objective review of Roy the Ship:
Category 1: Variety of Gameplay; Score: 4/5
Roy the Ship has quite a bit of variety, despite it being a cramped map like Damien stated in his video. There are specific areas that allow for quick getaways due to it being cramped, particularly the middle portion of the map that Damien argues is the poorest optimized. There have been times where I will kill someone on the railing and quickly escape by getting behind the red box and walking through the middle of the map. The "Party Boat" also allows for different types of gameplay, whether it be doing Russian Roulette, sniping people from the boat, or engaging in all-out wars between Party Boat enthusiasts and people who stay on the ship (for legal reasons, everyone would consent to the RDM that occurred). It does suffer from issues with C4 Spam in the ship, which is why I brought the score down to a 4; most maps on TTT will have a 5 score in my opinion, as it's quite easy to switch up the gameplay. To end on a positive note, the mass amount of water gives you an opportunity to kill someone on the Tower and then quickly hide underneath.
Category 2: Optimization; Score: 2/5
This can be kept short and sweet. There are several optimization issues with the map, but the two that come to my mind immediately that make this score obvious are the stairs that you have to crouch to even use and the Party Boat. As much as I love the Party Boat, I am not an idiot. If that boat is moving, your shots will not register on someone even if it's directly on their head. It was not optimized well. The only thing that keeps this map from having a lower score is the map provides quite a good amount of ammo, but it isn't enough to bring that score up to a 3.
Category 3: Map Layout; Score: 3/5
I would argue that this map has a decent layout. It has multiple levels to it (Water, Basement, Deck, Upper Deck, Tower) which adds to its variety of gameplay score; however, that won't be doing it any service here other than to keep it at an average rating. The biggest issue with the map layout is the entire downstairs area can lead to massive delaying, especially if you have people who have never played on the map before or a T without a radar. The cramped space on the ship also doesn't help. It can be quite difficult to avoid being detected as a T if you kill someone at the wrong place at the wrong time (like any other map), but it is definitely not as easy to get away from a kill like it is on a map like Eclipse or Inno Motel.
Category 4: T Traps; Score: 1/5
Short and sweet; this map doesn't have any T traps (that I'm aware of), as it is NOT a TTT map originally. It is a Zombie Survival Map that has been ported to TTT.
Category 5: Competitiveness of Map; Score: 3/5
This map is not a competitive map, but that doesn't mean it is exclusively casual. It's much more suited for those who are casual TTT players. If you notice, a lot of the people who do not like this map are the more competitive players (not everyone who dislikes this map is a tryhard, but a lot of them are). The cramped areas present a good opportunity to do a lot of jiggle peeking as Damien argued, but I honestly feel that his argument was more of a skill issue argument than a map issue. If people take 2 minutes to engage in a jiggle peek battle, that says more about the 2 players than the map itself.
Total Score: 14/25
Objective Map Grade: D
Subjective Map Grade (My Opinion): C
Final Thoughts: Although this map is not truly a TTT map, I still feel that calling it the "worst map on server" is a stretch.
What makes something a good map objectively?
I have devised up 5 Categories that are each worth 5 points, making the total 25. Here is my objective review of Roy the Ship:
Category 1: Variety of Gameplay; Score: 4/5
Roy the Ship has quite a bit of variety, despite it being a cramped map like Damien stated in his video. There are specific areas that allow for quick getaways due to it being cramped, particularly the middle portion of the map that Damien argues is the poorest optimized. There have been times where I will kill someone on the railing and quickly escape by getting behind the red box and walking through the middle of the map. The "Party Boat" also allows for different types of gameplay, whether it be doing Russian Roulette, sniping people from the boat, or engaging in all-out wars between Party Boat enthusiasts and people who stay on the ship (for legal reasons, everyone would consent to the RDM that occurred). It does suffer from issues with C4 Spam in the ship, which is why I brought the score down to a 4; most maps on TTT will have a 5 score in my opinion, as it's quite easy to switch up the gameplay. To end on a positive note, the mass amount of water gives you an opportunity to kill someone on the Tower and then quickly hide underneath.
Category 2: Optimization; Score: 2/5
This can be kept short and sweet. There are several optimization issues with the map, but the two that come to my mind immediately that make this score obvious are the stairs that you have to crouch to even use and the Party Boat. As much as I love the Party Boat, I am not an idiot. If that boat is moving, your shots will not register on someone even if it's directly on their head. It was not optimized well. The only thing that keeps this map from having a lower score is the map provides quite a good amount of ammo, but it isn't enough to bring that score up to a 3.
Category 3: Map Layout; Score: 3/5
I would argue that this map has a decent layout. It has multiple levels to it (Water, Basement, Deck, Upper Deck, Tower) which adds to its variety of gameplay score; however, that won't be doing it any service here other than to keep it at an average rating. The biggest issue with the map layout is the entire downstairs area can lead to massive delaying, especially if you have people who have never played on the map before or a T without a radar. The cramped space on the ship also doesn't help. It can be quite difficult to avoid being detected as a T if you kill someone at the wrong place at the wrong time (like any other map), but it is definitely not as easy to get away from a kill like it is on a map like Eclipse or Inno Motel.
Category 4: T Traps; Score: 1/5
Short and sweet; this map doesn't have any T traps (that I'm aware of), as it is NOT a TTT map originally. It is a Zombie Survival Map that has been ported to TTT.
Category 5: Competitiveness of Map; Score: 3/5
This map is not a competitive map, but that doesn't mean it is exclusively casual. It's much more suited for those who are casual TTT players. If you notice, a lot of the people who do not like this map are the more competitive players (not everyone who dislikes this map is a tryhard, but a lot of them are). The cramped areas present a good opportunity to do a lot of jiggle peeking as Damien argued, but I honestly feel that his argument was more of a skill issue argument than a map issue. If people take 2 minutes to engage in a jiggle peek battle, that says more about the 2 players than the map itself.
Total Score: 14/25
Objective Map Grade: D
Subjective Map Grade (My Opinion): C
Final Thoughts: Although this map is not truly a TTT map, I still feel that calling it the "worst map on server" is a stretch.
