Map-Survival grindhouse, small adventure project, looking for testers

[Loreweaver]

updated 29/03/2021

introduction:
hi there, this is my first adventure map project, I ve been fiddling around with builds on my solo playthroughs or with a friend but now with journey mode I really felt like making something and uploading it. also I never really got into wiring and with this map I ve been forcing myself to get some wiring basics into my thick skull

premise:
the idea started simple, kill monsters and make it to the next safehouse where better gear is stashed. the name is inspired by the goofy movie trailers for the fictional grindhouse trailers and army of the dead.
I will add a little lore to the map once it s done, nothing fancy tho, just to sorta tie it all together.

how to play:
-create a new journey character, delete starting gear
-freeze time at midnight
-set monster spawn to zero
-the chainsaw is for killing, if you wanna chop wood I d recommend doing that after testing the map once without killing trees
-I mostly test on normal difficulty, if you find expert works too, let me know

download link:

Grindhouse

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changelog:

v0.2​

-added next area old temple​

v0.11​

-revisited wiring in cemetery and longhouse, waves should finish now as planned no matter how often you trip the sensor​

-added cobalt shield to starting gear​

v0.1​

changed world in Tedit from welcoming you with a blood moon ​

next up:
adding more gear options to safehouses, fiddling around with area transition and what next area is gonna be

optional reading:
with this map I m mainly trying out different concepts like spawning in mobs exclusively with statues or other methods and some very light platforming. and of course wiring, been going around the forums gathering info on circuits, I m using a very handy world loader for the initial instructions on playing, I will credit the author when I find the original post.
I wanted to start out with small maps since I tend to get caught up in grand ideas and then I never finish them and to learn what works for me when using journey mode.
feedback of any kind is appreciated, some headers might be progression, difficulty, gear, general fun

playable areas:
-cemetery
-longhouse & pit
-old mines & scar
-old temple

spoilers of what each area is supposed to be like (spoilerheavy)

Spoiler: general wiring

all areas are on a fixed timer during which mobs spawn, timers mostly start by walking over a sensor right before the area

Spoiler: cemetary

first crypt a couple of skeletons spawn, rather short
second and third crypt skeletons spawn in alternating; ghosts spawn rather unpredictably

Spoiler: longhouse & pit

longhouse has 4 spawnpoints plus 2 roof spawns for eyes
starts out with vikings spawning under the bridge and right door and the spawns moving to the left, eyes spawn first left then right

the pit has 2 spawnpoints for eyes and one wraith will spawn after you make it to the chain for climbing up

Spoiler: old mines & scar

first part: spiders spawn as you turn on the lights in each section, optional way of doing it is taking the glow sticks and not turning on the lights at all, that way no spiders spawn;
at the bottom there s a pool, if you fall into it and take too long to get out dripplers will spawn from underwater caves

second part: mimics spawn at mine shafts when you leave the spider den
activating the ladder back to the safehouse on top closes the spiderden

scar: some harpies spawn but I didnt want to swarm the player with em

Spoiler: old temple

closing the gate over the pit requires you to flip the lever and stay at it for the closing to continue;
pigrons spawn from the pit and bats will sometimes spawn in from behind

 

[RealSaucer]

Alright, I gave the map a try, here's my review!

Great things:

• The visuals are top notch! You're a good builder.
• Great block usage, I like your use of echo blocks and the environments look great.
• I like how you hid the statues, especially how you shaped and built around the shadow painted areas so they fit in with the rest of the build.
• Love blasting things to death with a shotgun.
• I like your usage of new 1.4 features like Journey mode, all the new blocks and vanity items, echo blocks and so on.

Things to improve:

• Give the player a Cobalt Shield, or at least an option to use one. Many people find it frustrating to do parkour while enemies are knocking you around, even if it's part of the challenge.
• Map rules and the like should also be written in signs at the start of the map. This way we can do the journey mode settings and read the rules without having to go back to the forum thread.
• I'm not entirely sure how the enemy spawning works, it felt inconsistent. Sometimes lots of enemies spawned and sometimes very few and it confused me. Continually spawning enemies are difficult to balance since they can easily get out of control, which happened a couple of times. A system that spawns a set amount of enemies every time might be better.
• Balance wise, I played on Master mode at first and gave up pretty quickly. Finished the rest on Expert mode which felt reasonable. But I'd suggest you keep testing and try different armor + weapon combinations and reforges to find something that works. Balance it around Expert mode so players can both lower and raise the difficulty!
• Grammar! It's fine for the most part, but just giving the signs proper capital letters and periods really goes a long way when it comes to map quality.

Other:

• You were planning to add a bit of lore - that's a great idea! It helps to motivate the player to keep playing the map when you give them a purpose and some story behind the world you're exploring.
• Some hidden secrets to find would be fun, perhaps some secret weapons or vanity pieces hidden across the map.
• It's a good thing that you're starting off with a shorter map. Better to start a small project and actually finish it, than to start something huge that noone is ever going to see.
• I'd like to see some more weapons so you could mix it up a bit! Perhaps offer a few weapons in each safe house but make it so that you can only take one from each? Makes the map more interesting and replayable.

Technical Issues:

• There are some gravestones from test characters around, which can be a bit immersion breaking. Either remove them, or give them some cool names so it looks like actual people died there!
• Enemy spawning was a bit inconsistent, especially in the longhouse. The first time I walked through, nothing spawned. Sometimes lots of enemies spawned, and sometimes not as many. Is it intentional?
• When you spawn at first in the world it is a blood moon and enemies spawn quickly. You can fix this in journey mode obviously, but it's annoying and the monsters can kill you quickly. When you release the map, make sure there's no dangerous event going on. A good idea is to mark things like the Goblin Army as finished in TEdit just in case, so it has a lower spawn rate and won't ruin the map for anyone.

 

[Loreweaver]

thanks for the feedback dude, lemme jump right in:

-cobalt shield sounds like an idea, think I ll add that to the start, sorta goes in line with the player being a badass.
-I put the base rules in chat with the world loader, hope that worked. maybe I ll change it to signs, I had the idea for the final version to make different sign colors depending on if it s advice or lore.
-about the spawning, I ll look into it. I revisit old areas everytime I learn something new about wiring so that s still very much work in progress, buuut now that I think about it I ll put in spoilers in the first post what each area is supposed to be like, that way testers can compare what happened with them.
-damn dude, I just did my testing with normal difficulty setting but master? daaamn. I ll do some testing with expert see how that is ^_^
-lore and secrets I was gonna add in after the main outline of the map is done, I tend to get lost in details so I ll be saving that for last, also that s the time I ll be cleaning up grammar

-I ll definitely look into adding more weapons, I kinda like the idea of keeping the safehouses small but maybe I can fit in a circuit for choosing weapons
-thanks for the headsup on technical stuff, I downloaded Tedit but never really got around to using it, but I ll look into it!
-I ll clean up all the rest of the gravemarkers from test dude (I already got rid of ALOT of them but I sorta knew I also missed alot)

aaanyway, thanks again and I ll go edit the first post with spoilers and update it as soon as I have another version and add a changelog