Combat Arms Dev Blog (6/19/13)

Hello. It's been a while. My name's Silverwolf. I oversee Combat Arms levels. Today I will be talking about the new Quantum Labs map.



Development Story
While we were planning on developing a new map with a new play-style, we came across kids playing on trampolines in playgrounds. We asked ourselves, "How fun would it be to create a map where you can fight while you're high jumping?"

That's how we came to start developing the movement of this map. So we created a background where high jumping was important, which was a gravitation lab in the near future.

Since the map concept was high jumps, jumping in other levels will feel heavier after you play this map. (Similar to how you feel heavier when you jump after playing on the trampoline)

We initially set the difficulty level low, with the jumping being the focus (and no teleporting). The result was that, while the difficulty was low, the gameplay was a bit too boring. That's how we ended up adding a teleport system. The image below is from early testing. The second image is after the teleport system was added.





Strategy
Center battle positions will be divided into 3 major sections. 1. Sniper point (SR) 2. Submachine Gun Trenches (SMG) 3. Assault-Rifle-friendly Teleport location (AR)



The Sniper Point (SR) is ideal for access to the Teleporters or those that teleport the pillars (AR), but makes you vulnerable to SMG foes from the Trenches since they're out of sight of the snipers. SMG users who use the Trenches are safe from snipers, but they're likely to catch fire from someone using the AR Teleporters.

As you can see, there's a triangular relationship for positions. SR < Trenches and SMG < AR Teleporter position < SR < ...

In the Quantum Labs, it's more advantageous to have a team with various guns rather than just one.

Teleport Points
There are two major teleport points. Teleporters are in front of the starting locations, and at the center point. I want to talk about the directional teleporters at the center.



The purple squares above are the teleporter locations. Teleporter 1 will take you past the wall to point A (across the triangular path). (The teleporter will turn from blue to red and be unavailable for few seconds)

You can use teleporters 1 & 2 to get to point B quickly, which is a block away from the enemy camp. Teleporters may initially look like simple contraptions, but you can utilize them to quickly hit-n-run. For example, you could take teleporter 3, then take path 4 to attack the enemy, then take teleporters 5 or 6 to retreat to point C, which is a block away from the ally base.

There are few things you should keep in mind when you use teleporters though. Points B & C are where both your allies and enemies can teleport to. You and your enemies may just teleport to the same location at the same time. Conversely, you can anticipate enemies teleporting, and easily finish them off.

You can find other interesting things to do in the Quantum Labs (Quarantine, knife match, etc). I hope you explore the map yourself and find these out.

This is it for now. I will see you all with the next exciting map.

Thank you.

Keep an eye out for the second part of the June 2013 Developer's Blog, coming soon!