@kutuzovrusss can you show which areas should be expanded and explain why? It would be helpful for blander to know.
[imgur is being a bitch right now so I'll try and upload pics later]
I couldn't make the test today, but I'd like to try to make the next one. Maybe a week or 2 heads up beforehand so there's a possibility of a full server.
I had a look around locally and it seems like there's a good base to work with. The sector push makes sense and it seems open enough to not get too bottle-necked. You said the test with 30ish people seemed to go well, so that's promising, but I'd
really like to see it with a full server. It seems less like Brest and more like Ramelle (in terms of openness) or a mix of the two which isn't bad.
In terms of aesthetic it still has a long way to go, but I think that once some solid gameplay is laid out, it could be put through the paces to make it look more polished. My advice would be to treat this version as a 'white box' similar to
this where the textures and details will come later, and it's more about the statics and terrain being placed and tweaked for gameplay.
I would suggest taking people's gameplay suggestions into account and adjusting the map into a new iteration to be play tested again (and again, and again if necessary) until the gameplay is where you want it. THEN, things like details, textures, effects, floaters, etc... can be commented on and improved.
Other than gameplay (which I won't comment much on since I didn't playtest) there are some things I noticed that I think you could look at improving for your next iteration;
Performance:I got the flag bug the first time I played and there were also some FPS drops in areas with lots of smoke etc... A few suggestions;
Textures:I forget how many unique statics you're at, but you should look at trimming the number down. I saw some vehicle wrecks that aren't also Player Controlled vehicles (ie an LRDG Chevy). As a rule of thumb you should try to only place vehicle wrecks that are also vehicles on your map. Otherwise the map is loading a texture that's only being used on a wreck. Also, the T-34 uses 2 textures when it could use one. And the German tanks can all use the '45 Seelow textures for now (custom stuff can come later).
Types of Statics:You should also try to avoid using 'map-specific' statics (I saw the Pegasus Cafe a few times) as they're very distinct and made for that one map. I would stick to using only building types from 'France' and 'East Front' and swap out statics that aren't from those folders. In general, it would be good to comb through the map static folder in the Editor and look at statics that are used only 1 or 2 times and think about replacing them with others. (this is what I'm doing on my map now). For example you use two types of light posts, when you really only need 1 type. (the player doesn't notice the 2 types in the heat of battle).
Open Buildings:There are some areas where you use open buildings but they're not really useful (I'm thinking of one on the road to the ruins flag) where it's a large open building that loads many textures and gets many lightmaps, but it doesn't allow you to overlook a flag, it isn't a building that is located in a flag and it doesn't lead the player to a new route or path. So imo it's just a performance waste. In general, I would keep open buildings (especially with an urban map this big, with some many ruins) in the flag zones. The rest of the areas can use closed buildings. I would go through and trim your open buildings.
SmokeSmoke is a big performance hog so I would use it more sparingly. I like the effect of a ruined city that it gives, but it can definitely be trimmed. Sometimes I'll turn a corner and see 4-5 smoke plumes at one time. If you think about where to place them, you can place them so that the player only ever sees 1-2 at a time but almost always sees one wherever he goes. So he's constantly seeing smoke plumes but never too many at once.
Player MovementThere are lots of places where it's tough to get into doors, you have to jump over obstacles, or can get stuck etc.... I would look for those areas and run around yourself to make sure the player can move freely and easily through the map.
There is also an area on the road to Ruins where you can access an area that I don't think you want the player accessing. It's just a matter of building up the terrain around it more.
I think there's a lot of work to be done, but I
do see potential in the map. Especially if people enjoyed the way it played. If you're willing to put in the work and time, I think it could be something really cool. If you feel like scrapping it and taking what you've learned and moving on, that's fine too.
I hope it can be made into something polished and fun to play tho. Not every day we get a Berlin map in the works
EDIT: Here's the images I wanted to add before;
https://imgur.com/a/NbGUmBH
