Recap: January 11, 2013

Another crazy night.  It started out slow, but before we knew it, the party chat was full!  We saw lots of maps, some new, some familiar and one with a dramatic mood change.  The room was opened early and the first map, Contained, got played at around 7:08 PM CST.

Party members were ST X EROCK, Broken Piggy, Panyc333, Caidkilla, Hilbillee, Niko Anonamix, Darksteel Titan and Cold Justice.  We also had a rather disturbing guest appearance by Hank Hill and Dave Gribble.

Broken Piggy’s finalization of Contained was very well received, and with the exception of a sticky ramp, is ready for publication.  This map would have been more fun for your humble chronicler if Broken Piggy would learn to keep his machete sheathed.

ST x EROCK’s latest instantiation of Workmans Comp was introduced to the group to rave reviews. This highly decorated urban-industrial map played well on all game modes, but it’s rumored that EROCK will be making a few adjustments to spawn positions in the near future.

Cold Justice’s massive historical re-imagining of Jonestown received approval from the jury and after a bit of a tweak of the after-action camera, it will also be put out into the wild to see how it fares.  It was during the Firestorm matches on Jonestown that the characters from King of The Hill: After Dark made their hilarious, yet twisted appearance.  “Dammit Bobby!”

Septic, Broken Piggy’s latest sewer crawler, was very well received and praised by the panel.  Some sticky stairway and doorway fixes are in its future, as well as the addition of several toilets…

Broken Piggy’s alternate version of Ancient Arena, Ancient Arena Dark, got some good play testing and it was the party consensus that this gloomier version of the map is the one that should get published.  The only thing standing in the way of final publication for this map is a re-working of the after-action camera position.

The group got a peek at the transformation of Cold Justice’s Firestorm play testing demo, Helltown, as it begins its metamorphosis from a structural demo to a disturbingly decorated map.  The appearance of the map is still very rough, but the game modes are playing well.  In particular, the rework of the Domination capture points is a welcome improvement.  This map still needs about 30-40 hours of work before its final form will be realized.

We closed the night off, in a nod to FCF tradition, with Broken Piggy’s Beach Battle, which has been mysteriously renamed to Island of the Dead.  Hushed whispers around the campfire are theorizing that it has been renamed so that a new, smaller Beach Battle can emerge, emulating the gameplay of its Far Cry 2 and Far Cry Instincts: Predator ancestors.

Overall, despite the quirks of the game and an event that locked up most of the room’s consoles in a single go, it was a very fun night.  It could have used a bit less ethyl alcohol “lubrication”, but overall, was a very enjoyable night.

Maps scheduled, but not played in this session: Suspended, Katatonia, and Smugglers Airport.

Have any particular gems to share from this session?  Document them for posterity in the comments!