So why office building reskins?
Think about it like this.
They could either bust out ten new maps by just putting in new textures and tossing in a couple different objects, or they could spend all their time creating a brand new map from scratch. But it would only be one, maybe two maps tops.
Honestly, I dig the retextured maps a lot, and hope they keep doing it. Makes the game feel fresh and gives us more variety on where we go.
apparently there's alot of issues with geometry not lining up quite right when creating a completely new tileset, plus spawn points, glowie points, and so forth all have to be created from scratch as well.
Meanwhile, if you do it right, nobody will even realize that the map their on is a retexture, especially if its only going to be a one off map.
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Honestly, I didn't really notice that the Zig and KoA temple were reskins. They clearly were if you looked for it, but I didn't feel like I was just running around an office with some Tibetan rugs, they felt like distinct places.
Why office building reskins? Because that's what they have a lot of, and they're easy to reskin.
Curious, can anyone name the other map-types we have?
Like how many unique cave-types do we have vs how many skins over those maps such as the 'big cave' which is reskinned with the bone/flesh in Dark Astoria to look like the entrails of a large creature.
Are the Oranbega map-types unique? I know they reskin/recolor those.
Off the top of my head, I can't think of much. Council map-type (with Fifth Column reskins), Sewer map-type, 'narrow cave' map-type and such.
Now, I *do* feel the devs could add more unique map-types but they can also reskin more than just office maps as much as they do. Reskin some warehouse maps some more, make vertical map-types to reskin, etc.
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Okay, I get why reskinning, but why office maps specifically, though this has been sort of answered, second opinions or even Dev explanation might be nice.
Also, why can are the Knives of Artemis apparently opposed to stairs? I mean if you go through their temple, anywhere stairs would be in an office map, they instead have platforms that look like over sized, Japanese dinner tables.
Also, I agree with Leo that we need more reskins of more than just office maps.
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this isn't an FPS game where map geometry plays a big part in the gameplay- maps are basically scenery, a backdrop for our activities. As such, I'll take a bunch of re-skins over one all-new map that would suck up vastly more resources...
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As to why office maps specifically - I'd guess because an office is more easily made to look like a prison complex/temple/whatever than a cave, or a sewer, or Oranbega. The office maps are pretty generic buildings once you remove the desks and vending machines and etc.
They're probably the easiest to reskin.
![](http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy70/KojiroJames/neversurrendersig.jpg)
Curious, can anyone name the other map-types we have?
Like how many unique cave-types do we have vs how many skins over those maps such as the 'big cave' which is reskinned with the bone/flesh in Dark Astoria to look like the entrails of a large creature. Are the Oranbega map-types unique? I know they reskin/recolor those. Off the top of my head, I can't think of much. |
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There's also the Tech Labs/Longbow bases/Portal Corp.
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The Eternal Prison bothered me as well. I was kinda geared up to finally see this spooky, legendary prison and then I get in there and... Oh. Office Building.
This was a problem because of how ugly it ended up looking. Removing all of the textures does a lot to highlight how blocky the levels are. While we normally have props to distract us from all of the flatness, the Eternal Prison had nothing except particle effects and it made the whole thing really underwhelming, unsatisfying and unattractive.
I don't know what the resources required are for developing new areas, but it doesn't seem like it should be so intensive as to be nearly impossible. Especially considering they made a brand-new "level" for the last Halloween event, and it looked great. Hell I would have been fine with them just re-texturing Dr. What's-His-Face's mansion.
The office re-textures just look ugly and give me the impression that they just didn't care enough to do anything special with this major plot-thing. Sure we only get to visit it once, but there are a lot of cool, unique things we only see a few times and I feel like they could have spared the effort. But to be honest, most of Night Ward feels pretty copy-and-pasted.
Think about it like this.
They could either bust out ten new maps by just putting in new textures and tossing in a couple different objects, or they could spend all their time creating a brand new map from scratch. But it would only be one, maybe two maps tops. |
The Zig and the Eternal Prison just make me shake my head sadly.
The KoA temple in Tibet...I look at it and it doesn't even make sense. Random ledges and structures that serve no purpose. "What is this even supposed to be?"
The same can be said for the regular office maps. Walkways that lead nowhere. Doors to impossible rooms. Useless alcoves and hallway layouts designed to be as inefficient as possible. Stairs that go up and down for no reason (and woe to any office worker who's in a wheelchair). Huge three level ballroom sized areas with NOTHING in them; no equipment, no place for anyone to work, not that they could even find their way to their cubicle to work on their GIANT SIZED COMPUTER AND DESK. That's when there are cubicles. And not ONE SINGLE WINDOW.
These aren't office buildings. These are what the six year old lovechild of Tim Burton and M. C. Escher imagines the insides of office buildings to be having never seen one.
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Well Johnny, you have to hand it to the Black Knights then because at least the eternal prison is wheelchair accessible.
I quite like the Knives' dojo. The whole point was that it doesn't have stairs because they wouldn't need them, what with their membership hopping around in a ninjaly manner. The maze with ambushes was also creative and fun if somewhat nonsensical.
One could argue that 10 re-textured editions of the same map aren't really "new" at all and thus don't have the same value as even one truly new map.
The Zig and the Eternal Prison just make me shake my head sadly. The KoA temple in Tibet...I look at it and it doesn't even make sense. Random ledges and structures that serve no purpose. "What is this even supposed to be?" |
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The office maps are pretty flexible, so they're useful as the base for a variety of different environments.
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![](http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy70/KojiroJames/neversurrendersig.jpg)
Curious, can anyone name the other map-types we have?
Like how many unique cave-types do we have vs how many skins over those maps such as the 'big cave' which is reskinned with the bone/flesh in Dark Astoria to look like the entrails of a large creature. Are the Oranbega map-types unique? I know they reskin/recolor those. Off the top of my head, I can't think of much. Council map-type (with Fifth Column reskins), Sewer map-type, 'narrow cave' map-type and such. Now, I *do* feel the devs could add more unique map-types but they can also reskin more than just office maps as much as they do. Reskin some warehouse maps some more, make vertical map-types to reskin, etc. |
Interesting fact: Small caves, council/column tunnels and (mostly) Oranbega halls are all based on the same geometry. There are a few maps where you can tell that the same sections have been assembled into identical maps, except with the different skins. Check out the shape of the rooms on the map sometime, and you'll see that they match.
Here are all the map types as I understand it:
Small cave(blue/brown)/council/column/Oranbega
Large cave (hero/villain versions, reskinned for Mot)
Office(hero/villain/praetorian/abandoned versions)/eternal prison/other uniques
Arachnos base
Arachnoid cave (reskinned for Talons of Vengeance)
Primal warehouse (also abandoned)/uniques including garage, tsoo parlor, freakshow base and carnival den
Praetorian warehouse
Praetorian lab
Sewer (parts of sewer maps may also be based on the same geometry as small caves, but it's much harder to see)
Edit: Primal tech/lab
And then there are all the unique maps.
Another interesting fact: The outdoor forest map with the two paths into the trees from the main open area is the same map as the burning forest, except the trees have all been removed and replaced with a few trees on fire.
You forgot the primal lab! Nay, the Technology Danger Lab! Minus Twenty Points!!!
There's also the Praetorian Underground.
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And the Cimeroran caverns which now have been reskinned as catacombs for Manticore's mansion and creepier catacombs for the Halloween trial mansion.
![](http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy70/KojiroJames/neversurrendersig.jpg)
So, in some of the newer unique maps, I can't help but notice they're just office reskins, and... painfully obvious ones at that. For example, there's the Zig high security ward in the DA Arcs, there's the KoA temple in Tibet (which also suggest KoA cannot into stairs) , and then there's the Eternal Prison in the Night Ward arcs. Which feels a bit like the most egregious example since they deliberately did not use some of the more outstanding office rooms, but still ended up using ones with little side rooms where break areas or offices would be put.
So what's up with just reskinning office maps with random textures?
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