JB-Furia

[ZedMaestro]

'Furia', the Latin word for 'rage', 'frenzy', or 'madness'.
Sounds about right...

Classic number 8 returns for JB2004, in the form of a semi-gothic wooden, stoney, and snowy castle.

While being incredibly quick, and relatively simple, to construct, the choice of music track for the map was probably the hardest I've ever had to make, as none of the UT2004 tracks properly fit the theme. Nothing sounds similar to UT's Colossus track. Currently, I've extracted the Colossus track into Ogg format and implemented that, but if anyone knows of a Colossus remix or any other suitably-sounding track, I'd like to hear it

Anyway, throughout this map we have some darker indoor areas, and some brighter outdoor areas. Through open rooves indoors and from the sky outdoors, snow gently falls, and temporarily settles, on the ground. I made the emitter myself, rather than trying to get the xWeatherEffect to not snow in indoor areas.
Also, projectors from the stained glass windows create smooth patterns of light on the floor, adding a nice contrast of the dark interiors and maintaining realism by projecting the texture on passing players too. Other areas are lit by tall candles.
Terrain has been placed on the ground sections to make use of texture-blending. A mossy-cobbley path weaves through the snow to the relevant areas. Due to zoning of the map there are 6 separate "pieces" of terrain, one for each zone which has terrain in it.

As far as I can tell, bots get along very well in this map. I've made sure that they have the option of all possible routes to attack via, and they're particularly good at splitting up at the right point to ambush defenders from two directions.
Small sniper-fights occur primarily around the start of a new round as bots rush to grab the powerful weapons, but you may be caught in the middle when both teams are released at similar times.
The bots primarily use the rocket launcher, because of its very easy accessibility... and its powerful.

The jail and execution is the same as before, since the "spikey poles come out of the walls" execution hasn't been done yet. And yes, while it may seem easy to avoid by jumping at the right moment or by leaving against the door, you'll still die at the same time as everyone else
The arena is now a modification of the middle area of the main map, since I didnt like the original arena, and there's no ripper around anymore either

There should be a public beta available very soon. The map is fully functional and everything has been implemented. I've done my thorough searching for problems, but so far nothing has come up. It'll probably just be little niggles that need fixing, if any, and also a chance for you to make suggestions

And, what everyone likes: screenshots!

The Blue Base:

The Center:

The Red Side Section:

The Rocket Hall:

[G.Lecter]

Wow, looking great...
Isn't there any link yet???

[Kantham]

i remember this map?

[ZedMaestro]

Originally Posted by ZedMaestro

There should be a public beta available very soon.

Seven minutes is a bit too soon for a link to be available

[ZedMaestro]

Something I forgot to explain in the third screenshot... note the stairs that go up to the ledge around that area of the map. This has been put there because of the absence of the translocator.

This was a key area of translocating in UTJB, going from the ground to the ledge, and without it attackers only have one attack route... the rocket hall. So I've put in some stairs so that you can sneak in from the side, just like in UTJB, but without having to use the translocator.

Bots go this way too sometimes

[ZedMaestro]

And the download link is ready

http://www.ut-jailbreak.de/ZedMaestr...uria-Beta1.rar

[Sexmachine]

Sweet stuff Zed .... arena skybox is b00rked ... back to some more botmatches.

[RevBillyG]

Dammit Zed are you reading my mind?! I've also added that projector effect to the new Crusher

Great work m8. Looks ace!

[Boost]

Just played Furia and it looks great Zed, as always. Different arena with more weapons, WOW, can't use translocator anymore.

My opinion:

[ZedMaestro]

Fixed the arena skybox... but the map is perfectly playable for testing, so get out there and try to find things for me to fix

Edit
Added some static meshes that didnt quite duplicate properly when making the arena, and aligned the arena floor textures.

[Angie]

Wow, great map Zed! I like the snow outside, looks very romantic on the pictures!

[G.Lecter]

I saw some vials floating a bit too much. The rest of the level is great. Fix the skybox & it is ready...
I would have liked to get the sniping position with a lift instead that teleporters, but it is a port, so you can't change the layout...

[ZedMaestro]

When I placed the health vials I did not move them, so they have been given the default floating height of a health vial which I think is suitable.

Any other suggestions or comments about anything?

[CoolDude]

Nice Zed.

I would block the top of the outside area if I were you :P

Damn, I'm missing my translocator here.
What about some (custom) Transloc/Non-transloc zones?

[ZedMaestro]

No, I dont want the translocator here. Isnt it disabled server-side anyway, so you'd have to write code that can overrule a server?

The main area that needed the translocator has been designed to avoid needing the translocator, so theres no real need for it now. Also, rather than translocating up to the switch, you may just shield-jump

[Trueblood]

Appart from the arena ceiling, everything looks okay

[G.Lecter]

Originally Posted by ZedMaestro

When I placed the health vials I did not move them, so they have been given the default floating height of a health vial which I think is suitable.

I think those vials on the ramps (especially in the red base) are floating a little more than the rest. I believe you have not moved them, maybe this is just an optical effect...

Originally Posted by CoolDude

Damn, I'm missing my translocator here.
What about some (custom) Transloc/Non-transloc zones?

Yes, I also miss a translocator in the middle (and I never played the original JB-Furia in UT) I think it would be a good idea placing jumpads in some points where most of players do translocatorjumps.

[citrusmirakel]

I'm unfamiliar with the original icarnation of this, but I love a lot of it. Weapon placement is perfect, and the jails couldn't be better.

My one complaint is that of defense, and of the bots not really being able to do it. Eventually, I had everyone on my team set up to defend while I kept charging forward releasing everyone that was captured. This not only didn't work (with 5 on 1, a jailbreak was still inevidable) but I could see why it didn't work, bots would often place themselves on the switch's platform in defense mode, and this map simply has too much in the way of health & shields for that to be effective. With 100 health + 50 shield, you can make a beeline straight for the switch, ignoring everyone whose shooting at you, and if you've got teleport on (which I did), make it back to your base and build back up your protection so you could do it again.

Without changing the layout (that being, removing the lift next to the switch) I think this map could benefit by taking away some of the shields and health that are so readily available. When I was playing, pretty much everyone I was shooting at was making the sheild sound when I hit them. Either that, or have the bots more eager to defend choke points rather than the switch itself.

I did another round with Instagib, and it worked splendidly.

Far less important, the lighting effect around the blue side link gun is a bit drastic. Makes everything look made of glass - but then, my display settings are on the weaker side of things, so that could be just me.

Is a nice map, though. The stained glass especially, I just think I'll be playing this version solely in instagib

[Kantham]

Originally Posted by CoolDude

I would block the top of the outside area if I were you :P

[Trueblood]

Originally Posted by gunhero

Textures: the snowy textures for the wall are really blury at 1200 x 1024 with a radeon9800pro

Go on....show me the proper shape of a snow flak
As for the defence..i found the computer defending alright (red team - i was blue) They were doing all the wall jumps and spaming many rockets
but bots being bots...they do sometimes ignore my flak