My personal guidelines for gameplay

1. Not achievable for most mappers (since you're probably going to be mapping for your style and not 3 different styles - unless you're doing a collab) and I don't think it's necessary since once the fastest route has been found the rest of the map is wasted time.

4. Disagree. I don't like maps where I need to slow down a lot like mazes, but having 1-3 slowdowns in a map where I have to figure out the right speed to make it through is fine. It offers a different challenge.

5. Not sure I understand the point about "cheap way of prolonging the run". Do you mean like what I did in stealth-purple? Two checkpoints on the same platform next to eachother forcing you to double back? If that's the case then again I disagree: The goal in my eyes is get from A to B with the route being defined by the checkpoints. Not get from A to B as fast as you can and the checkpoints need to be in the right positions to allow me to do so. If that were the case why make them mandatory?

8. Fuck this rule :D I know it's an unpopular opinion, but I don't think everybody should be able to complete every map.

The other ones are good tips.

4. made me laugh ... hupo-shiney something tube springs to mind ;).

I agreed with most of the tips.

@stealth I think the point is, dont have 2 routes with one obviously being 2 seconds faster at your pace. If at your pace its 0.5 seconds slower its probably going to be about 0.5 seconds slower for everyone no matter how fast they are going (they might be 1 seconds a head of you but the slower route will still add 0.5 seconds).

With point 5 i think theres obviously some artistic flair that could be added here. I think mostly i agree though.

If the second route is always 0.5 seconds slower then what's the point of adding it? Unless it's the noob route in which case it ties in with point 8.

Point 8 IMO is a great rule of thumb. It can be seriously frustrating for a new player not being able to complete a map. Even if they complete it slowly then theres some sense of achievement.

Plus it's often so simple to add an easier route that is slower that I consider it bad map design not to do so. Sure not every map should be completable by every player. However, i think taking an "elitist" view on it is bad.

We need to encourage players from other games (cs, cod etc) into RIK. If maps are so hard they cant complete them they'll soon won't bother with it. If we want to make this game as successful as it ought to be, point 8 is a great rule of thumb.

And the stats show this, the popular maps seem to the easy numbers ones currently.

I don't agree with 4 either. I generally prefer maps that don't go above ±1.3k ups. Sharp turns are interesting as you need to know how to turn well and use corners to your advantage (skim) to maintain as much speed as possible.

As for 8, I don't see why mappers would only have to make popular/easy maps. There's a sense of achievement finishing a map that (almost) nobody else can. Also some people (like me) enjoy torture maps. These maps usually have a small amount of times set because most people don't like them. But I don't see that as a reason to only have the same strafe style maps that everyone can complete.

If new players want a map they can complete they can either try to vote a different map or go to a different server where an easy map is being played.

I agree with 5. I've only seen this done twice in this game tho. Stealth-purple and medium-something (not yet played all the maps tho hehe).

Personally, I very much enjoyed your map, stealth, except for the part whre you need to cross 2 checkpoints at the same platform.

I dont have anything to say against "drop downs", at least on stealth-purple its done alright, as for me. On the other hand I agree with HuPo, that's hell annoying when you need to slow down on purpose. The only case I find it acceptable, is when you need to hit a ramp or use a slope to get some height to reach the next level of the map. This way seems kinda natural.

To make it clear, by point 4 slowing down I mean actually slowing down instead of not strafing/strafing less good.

By point 5 I don't mean your map stealth, but the maps where you need to do a loop and come back from somewhere you already once came from. Those are lame.

On the point 8, you can create hard routes and build slower routes for noobs. That way everyone can finish the map, but still hard route is awarding. Making a map that is only hard is just pure elitism, nothing else. There's absolutely no reason to split community to different servers, when you can just map better.

Well I guess 4 is just a matter of opinion.

Point 8 depends on the type of map. Yes, most strafe maps could work that way but not if you want to make a map like say Distillery (ET) or hangtime2-df (q3).