Rejected Chronofield (v3.0!) - A map that changes pathways depending on the in-game time

[Mythless]

Map Name: Chronofield
Map Author: Mythless
Map Description: "The battlefield churns an ever-changing sight... as the passage of time decides where thou fight..."

A General Explanation About the Map (Please read before viewing screenshots):

As you've read in the title, this map is unique in that depending on the time of day, certain areas and pathways will become available/unavailable or changed. This map was made in mind of the fact that the time of day does not change mid-game, and assumed that rain is not possible (because it would break the map a little bit).

For the sake of organization, I've broken up all the screenshots into four different categories. It's better to view the last 3 categories on the host website instead of on this thread, as I gave little descriptors on each and every one of them.

One more little note: I will only show screenshots of this map from the red team's side, everything shown is also mirrored on the blue team's side.

Spoiler: IMAGES: Birds-Eye View & Pathway Charts

A general look over the map.
There is also a pathway chart for both the day and night variants of the map. This gives you a side-by-side look on how the layouts differ from each other.

http://imgur.com/a/rPOsUF0

Spoiler: IMAGES: Team Bases & Core Map Features

Self-explanatory.

http://imgur.com/a/bdvBDpE

Spoiler: IMAGES: Solar Side & Daytime-Only Areas

Images on the "Solar Side" of the map. Do note: It is more recommended to fight on this half of the map during daytime games because of the daytime-only pathway that becomes available, which serves as an alternate way into the team base.

http://imgur.com/a/jyCkcsE

Spoiler: IMAGES: Lunar Side & Nighttime-Only Areas

Images on the "Lunar Side" of the map. Do note: It is more recommended to fight on this half of the map during nighttime games because of the nighttime-only pathway that becomes available, which serves as an alternate way into the team base.

http://imgur.com/a/TlxKk2f

Map Download: (v3.0) - 6/10/2020
https://www.dropbox.com/s/d7fit17pp9y9l1v/Chronofield - v3.0.zip?dl=0

* About the Nuke: It should spawn in the center of the map, right above the light gray carpet on the big clock.

Spoiler: MAP UPDATE NOTES

VERSION 3.0 (6/10/2020)

This was a MASSIVE aesthetic update. It's practically unrecognizable from any of the previous versions of this map! Here's a rundown of what I did to make this look super cool:

- Palette change: Stone Bricks and its variants are now Smooth Quartz and its variants. Dark Oak wood has also become more prominent than it was before to create an interesting contrast.

- Redone various pattern designs (most notably the walls).

- The outside natural area around the map are even greener and lusher.

- Magical clockwork cogs and quartz clock hands now float in the sky! They even glow at night!

- The Hallways have finally gotten some love. (Made it look even spicier than before.)

- Made the Solar Bridge and Lunar Bridge areas more color-defined.

- Better Solar/Lunar representation! Granite-related blocks and Diorite-related blocks are now more visible in their respective areas.

- All torches on the map are now Lanterns (They're just so lovely to have).

- The big clock and the clock towers in the Center Battlefield have had an aesthetic change (again).

- The floor in The Underground is a lot cleaner to look at.

- Minor detail fixes.

- Added 2 secret areas that are currently unaccessible/blocked off (because I'm sad that books can't be read from lecterns).

VERSION 2.2 (6/6/2020)

- Increased the barrier border's height up to the block limit.

- That's literally it.

VERSION 2.1 (6/4/2020)

Just some super minor changes. Nothing really too noteworthy to say, but I guess I'll give the list:

- Renovated the team bases a tiny bit (but not too much)

- Replaced all torches in the team bases with lanterns

- Super minor detail fixes

VERSION 2 (6/1/2020)

Alright, I've went ahead and updated the map. Most of these changes are aesthetic-based, but it really helps I guess. Here's a little list of what I've done:

- Made mid less cluttered (removed some clock towers & overhead glass). Also changed the aesthetic a little bit.

- Improved the perch area.

- Added a lot more red/blue team indicators.

- All of the red/blue terracotta blocks in the team bases are now concrete blocks.

- The Coral blocks on the fields near the team base are now smooth sandstone/red sandstone respectively.

- Removed some of sandstone/red sandstone details near mid to make distinguishing red/blue side less confusing.

- Replaced all orange carpets with yellow ones, and cyan carpets with light gray.

- Minor fixes to some detail inconsistencies that I missed.

- Made the map less laggy (I think)

- Other stuff I probably didn't mention.

Feel free to give feedback on anything I could improve with this map. Thanks :P

Spoiler: A little note from me (You don't have to read this)

This map was actually made a long time ago. I really just touched it up a lot.

Fortunately, this map was kind of "playtested" recently, so I got especially useful and practical feedback for it. Mainly noting the fact that it was too confusing to navigate. I changed a lot of things because of it, and I feel the paths are at least considerably simpler now. The pathways into the underground especially saw major improvement--as I took advantage of the bubble column mechanic and added water elevators for a near-seamless entrance/exit (So glad I can use 1.13 mechanics now lol). I've also added some general indicators (direction arrows and team side markers mainly) to help make the navigation even easier while also making those on-the-fly decisions you typically make in these PvP games.

To those who've played the map, the most radical change you might notice are the new "Solar" and "Lunar" battlefields near the team bases. I've decided to scrap the idea of having a lot of vertical depth here, as that contributed a lot to the confusing navigation. I made these areas mostly flat to also give more room to battle. Hopefully you guys find this change to be much better!

 

[Woaxa]

The concept is amazing, you're doing things that dont exist, way ahead of our time. Going through the map it is definitely easier to understand than the previous version but I cant help but feel some of the alternate routes dont really serve a purpose, the side routes at mid stand out specifically. They're too far out of the way and just connect mid to mid. I'd maybe see more use for them if they went base to base or their removal all together. The other big thing for me personally idk how this would affect other people but the solar orange and the lunar cyan kinda mix me up on the red/blue bases, get this weird feeling of the map being oriented left to right instead of base to base. Last thing FPS, boy this map gives me some stutters at points and my pc is definitely not subpar couldnt imagine weaker machines on the map. Besides those I think its great, super super cool concept just maybe overboard in some areas. I hope to see the map on the server eventually, goodluck myth :)

 

[Mythless]

The concept is amazing, you're doing things that dont exist, way ahead of our time. Going through the map it is definitely easier to understand than the previous version but I cant help but feel some of the alternate routes dont really serve a purpose, the side routes at mid stand out specifically. They're too far out of the way and just connect mid to mid. I'd maybe see more use for them if they went base to base or their removal all together. The other big thing for me personally idk how this would affect other people but the solar orange and the lunar cyan kinda mix me up on the red/blue bases, get this weird feeling of the map being oriented left to right instead of base to base. Last thing FPS, boy this map gives me some stutters at points and my pc is definitely not subpar couldnt imagine weaker machines on the map. Besides those I think its great, super super cool concept just maybe overboard in some areas. I hope to see the map on the server eventually, goodluck myth :)

Thanks, glad you like it!

I kinda had a feeling the color schemes might mess with the red-blue team bases, even with all the indicators I placed. I think I’ll try experiment with different colors and block themes for each one and see if any of them could work. Orange and Cyan are colors that do have some red/blue in there respectively, so I understand how you’d get mixed up.

Oof, FPS. I tried to refrain from using things that might cause lag, but since I use a moderately decent computer I can’t really tell if certain things cause more lag than others. I’ll try to see what I can do with that.

As for the some of the alternate paths—some of those paths are meant to simply give that option so the player doesn’t feel constrained. The underground area especially; since the battlefield is fairly small, I want entering/exiting to be very accessible. Those paths to mid you mention—I imagine people would still use it as either the closest escape or to ambush, for example. I also don’t want to make these pathways too windy or complex now, as that adds to more confusion towards navigation. It’s a delicate balance—guess you could say I’m still tryna find that equilibrium.

 

[Onett]

I’m glad you went back and improved on some things in this map. The underground lunar path was a pretty cool addition :)

I think you should clear up mid, as of now it feels pretty cramped. Maybe remove the little towers around the clock or some of the green glass in the air.

also the lunar guardian signs are really bright and hard to read so I’d suggest you change the color of those

 

[Mythless]

I’m glad you went back and improved on some things in this map. The underground lunar path was a pretty cool addition :)

I think you should clear up mid, as of now it feels pretty cramped. Maybe remove the little towers around the clock or some of the green glass in the air.

I see, I’ll go ahead and fix that then!

also the lunar guardian signs are really bright and hard to read so I’d suggest you change the color of those

I should say that those signs aren’t really meant to be read—they’re supposed to just add more detail to the doors when you glance by them. Think of those signs like ancient hieroglyph characters engraved onto the doors, except they’re in a readable language (because I don’t know another language lol). The signs themselves are really just flavor text, so they’re not that important to read.

 

[Mythless]

Okey guys, just wanna let y’all know that I’ve updated the map a bit. You check what I’ve changed on the original post.

(This post will probably be deleted by me in about a day)

 

[Woaxa]

I took another look at the updated version, The team indicators were huge. I do believe FPS is better, no huge stutters for me and what looks like +25-30fps around the maps from V2-V3. Something I think I forgot to say in my previous msg is the ice on the underground, not a huge fan of blocks that affect gameplay even if they're meant to make the distance quicker to travel. Spending more time on the map has definitely made them easier to traverse but I'm still worried from the standpoint of a new player. Really nice improvements though.
Keep it up :)

Oh and the redstone blocks in the underground to light up the chandelier, is there not a way to light them up without them? Or is it a design choice?

 

[Mythless]

I took another look at the updated version, The team indicators were huge. I do believe FPS is better, no huge stutters for me and what looks like +25-30fps around the maps from V2-V3.

yay! I’m glad you like the improvements!

Something I think I forgot to say in my previous msg is the ice on the underground, not a huge fan of blocks that affect gameplay even if they're meant to make the distance quicker to travel.

Understandable, but I’ll probably have to see what other people think of it before I decide whether to change or keep it.

Spending more time on the map has definitely made them easier to travel but I'm still worried from the standpoint of a new player.

That kind of applies to most of the bigger/more sophisticated maps, just imo. I guess maybe because of the day/night gimmick it could be a little harder to wrap their head around, but I don’t think it should be too hard to get used to it! And with Martoph swapping the lobby/map times, exploring the map beforehand will be a lot easier to do.

Oh and the redstone blocks in the underground to light up the chandelier, is there not a way to light them up without them? Or is it a design choice?

The redstone blocks were intentional :) Speaking from an imaginative standpoint, I see them as the source that powers the huge clock you see in mid up on the surface. Having a bit of its mechanism exposed flavors up the underground a little bit

 

[Dave_X]

Thanks for the submission, Mythless! This is a really unique map, and it’s great how you adapted it to community feedback!

Compared to the original version of the map, the map has had massive improvements in ease of navigation. There are still routes that feel roundabout and likely to be underused, which in turn can contribute to players feeling lost. We’d suggest continuing to see where you can simplify and streamline player routes.

In terms of aesthetics, the map feels very noisy with its current palette. The heavy use of stone brick and its variants take away attention from the day/night imagery and colors. There are also places that use too many detailing techniques at once, causing the overall look to be messier.

All-in we’d love to see how this unique mechanic plays out. We’ll be moving this map onto the testing phase to test its overall gameplay and community reception. In the meantime, feel free to continue adjusting the map!

 

[Mythless]

Hey y'all! I just wanted you to know that I've updated the map to VERSION 3.0!

This one is a SUPER HUGE aesthetic update--you'd be surprised at how much has changed. Please go check out the updated images and map download when you can! Thanks!