The failures of Rust - Developers notes: part 2

Through the numerous play testing that Rust has gone through since the contest began, certain parts of the map always seemed off. I was able to get these parts to a reasonably well playing state during alpha, but these were “small” tests. Even with the reassurance that it was “a memorable layout”, I wasn't too happy with how Rust was playing. I decided that I needed to take what I had, and move on to detailing, since time was becoming short, hoping that I would have enough time to test and fix it, but due to an overwhelming semester at school, I was cramming at the last minute. I had to enter what I had, and hope for the best. The testing for the contest became more focused (at least, so far) and the short-comings of the map became much more clear and evident. I feel like it takes a semi-decent person to admit that something they did is bad, so here is post about what I think is wrong with Rust, and what I think I need to do to fix it.

Issue 1 - Control Point 2 (CP2):

This is probably the weakest point/yard of the whole map (third most complained about part of the map too). It was originally designed to be indoors, but detailing such an area proved to be difficult, so I set it to be an outdoor yard. Gameplay wise, this did not change too much except that Demomen and Soldiers could have more mobility. For this area, lack of sentry spots and “hard to hold” (these two go hand in hand technically) is the most numerous negative feedback I receive for this area. But one of the largest issues that I see for this area is not necessarily something in the area, it's something that isn't. A majority of the major battles for CP2 take place just outside the area, at the main gate, rather than inside, on the yard. First, lets take a look at the area around CP2:

Fig 1: Red dots are sentry spots, yellow lines are common sniper sightlines.

Looking at the above image, we can see that there are more sentry spots at the entrance of CP2, rather than covering the yard of CP2. Through watching demo's and simply playing the map during testing, I can attest to this. The most common sentry spots are four spots around the shack. But why is this? Why is Red building so far forward?

Analyzing some replays of the map, I noticed that Red has a slight respawn time advantage (this was confirmed when I looked at the source file). I don't know the exact value, but it is probably close to 1.5-2 seconds. This is BIG. This means that Red can position themselves farther up inbetween Blu's respawn waves; thus we see the more forward line (and, when the line is broken, we see Red building past CP2, into the next yard. But this is something different, and acceptable).

Solution:

Before writing up this post, sitting down and REALLY looking at the problem, breaking down what was going on and why certain things were happening, I was afraid I was going to have to rebuild the whole area. But I realize now I won't need to. The first part will be to increase reds respawn time by about 1 second (to start). This will give Blu a better chance to push INTO the yard. The second part of the solution is to make the current sentry spots more attractive and a bit stronger. This will be a little bit more tougher, but some tweaking to the paths, and some selective cover to narrow down the side routes should solve the problem.

Issue 2: The Final Hill

The final area of Rust received the second most negative feedback from testers. In my previous blog post I explained my design theory behind it, using “tiers” as a way to describe the paths and increasing difficulty Blu would have pushing up the hill. While it worked out in theory, it didn't work out too well in practice. Playtests showed that while Red could defend, the final area, there was no real coordination behind it, no dedicated sentry nests and that any long-term defense could be easily countered by Blu. This has lead Blu to having a relatively high winning percentage. Lets take a look at the final area again, where I outline (in their respective colors) the routes Red and Blu can take.

fig 2: The routes between the tiers; note the accessibility of blu into red's final tier. 

You can see motions between tiers, and the decreasing amount of routes each team has. But this isn't good enough for Red's defense. There is just too much motion for Blu around final. This problem is analogous to trying to hold back a large wave with a wall of sand, you need a LOT of sand to be effective.

Another issue regarding final that is commented on a fair bit, is the sightline that blue has through a window at the lower part of the final yard (in tier 1). This sightline was added as a way to counter any obvious defense that was set up on the cart, but this window has proven to be too powerful.

Solution:

In short, Red needs a stronger defensive advantage, and Blu needs to be limited further in the possible routes they can take. The first thing I will do is remove the stairs in the upper part of the previous image and add a one-way gate for the lower route. This will reduce the routes Blu has to one, main route. But, I also want to create a stronger position for Blu in the lower building at the start of the yard. For this I will move the capture point back farther, closer to the building. This will mean that Blu will capture the zone sooner and receive the forward-spawn quicker. In turn, they will (should) be able to set up a stronger presence in the structure, and hopefully be harder to move out. I will not adjust Reds respawn time right off, I'll be interested to see how rust plays without doing so. If it looks like the route changes are working, but Red just needs a little bit more of an oomph, I will lower it by no more than 1 second.

fig 3: What I will modify routes to. The brown line denote cover. The lower line will be a one-way route down for red.

Issue 3 – The MOST complained about issue.

Okay guys, I get it. Clipping sucks. I ran out of time to do a better job. Avoid getting stuck on things.

Conclusion:

Whilst these changes might not be the best fixes, they are the strongest changes I could make that isn't a complete area overhaul (which no one likes to do). I will be holding off making these changes until the judging for the contest has concluded (out of courtesy to the other applicants. Updating maps during judging can lead to confusion as to what version is the contest version, which can skew grades). Though, you can expect a new version out very soon after the contest winners are announced.

You can see Rusts Development Thread (along with a map download and more screenshots) here

And you can see all the feedback given for Rust here