AlteredARMOR says:

If no one suggest I would like to provide some feedback on what I saw. I was not able to play OC for a long time (nor did I have a possibility to contribute anything 🙁 ) so my thoughts will base solely on visual gameplay experience.

Video 1
First I’d like to say that it looked awesome. The way guys act made me want to try playing myself. They implemented so many possibilities of accomplishing their goal – not only the straight way: run forward, get flag, run back – but with usage of spells, javelins, dynamite and even loam that made the whole match different and challenging. Clonk indeed has a HUGE potential which I hope will be disclosed further.
Right. I want to start with things I liked very much switching to the things I didn’t (there are really not very much of them 🙂 ). Will talk not only about the current (CTF) game type but the whole game play (some sort of ‘look from the outside’).

+ Liked the implementation and actual use of ‘bow and shield’ technique. Two cloks from the opposite sides wield bow and shield hurling deadly arrows towards each other while shrinking the distance between each other. Using only ‘dodging’ to avoid taking damage would not be half that fun as when you also use shield (realy, the first minute of the video showed how arrows can be effectively deflected).
+ Ok. When two opposite clonks approach each other even further there is no longer need for ranged weapons. Quickly grab a sword and slash your opponent for good (with no cancelation for blocking and dodging, of course).
+ But that was the ‘straighforward’ way of making melees – the way I mentioned at the beginning of the post stating that it is not THAT fun (but still VERY fun). With the usage of supplementary weapons you can enrich gameplay even further. Why slashing your enemy when you have a possibility to blow him away with one huge explosion? Or throw a magic projectile into his face? Or give him a warm welcome with some lead which can be shot immediately without the need for any preparations (of course, you will most likely have to drop musket after first and only usage but this is what makes gameplay fun).
+ Lots, lots, LOTS of suff is packed into chests throuout the whole map. You will most likely not ever end up with complete lack of ammunition (you will probably be slaughtered a WAY before this – game is fast, the tension is kept mostly all of the time). Items vary heavily from one chest to another. Some realy cool stuff demands a bit of endeavour (the underwater chest is 100% correct desicion of the mapmaker).
+ Haven’t seen that big barrel of explosives before but must admit that it is cool (at least in the current map). The spells totally match the area: wind and snow, no trivial fireballs 🙂
+ The most adequate decision (which is surprisingly seldom in most of the games containing CTF matches) is the player respawn delay. If you broke your way to the enemy base and defeated all of the bad guys (ok, sorry, not bad – they are just the opponents) you must have a guarantee that they will not (at least for a short period of time) wait you at the location of your goal – fresh and overpacked with deadly weapons. You must have time to safely grab the flag and abandon dangerous territory for good.
+ Defeated clonk disappears in the flash of light without tons of dead bodies lying around 🙂
+ Hey, do these snow hills grow after the snowfall?

Alright… Now for the parts I (personaly) – do not take it close to the heart – didn’t like:
– The strength of the bow. It takes 4 or 5 shots to defeat you enemy which in the fast map like this one can be TOO much. Of course the power of bow can not match the power of musket or a flint (or even the sword) but one must have in mind that it is much more difficult to hit target with a bow than any of the abovementioned weapons. Can not say anything about the javelin – there were too few usages of it (and even fewer successful usages).
– To my humble opinion (I may be totally wrong here) the flag should stay STILL in its initial position. I do not meen the cases when it was taken by the enemy and dropped along the road, but there realy was a moment (somewhere in the video, do not want to interrupt myself to look for the exact point) when a newly regenerated flag (after it was delivered to the enemy base, I suppose, – so it is reappered where it should be) could not manage to hold itself on the original platform and fall down to the bottom. I realy do not think this should ever happen.
– Some more words about dropping and retaking the flag. I did not realy undertand how flag is respawning (to do this I surely must play the game) but it seems to me that the scheme has to be the following (you can find exactly the same in many other CTF game): If enemy that took the flag and runs with it towards his base got shot in the process, the flag must drop where the carrier fall (it is in the above video, no objections here). It can be retaken by the member of the opposite team. But if it is taken by the member of its own team, it should automatically reappear at the home base. Again: I’m not sure how it is done currently, but if it is how I described – just skip the current paragraph 🙂
– The most important moment: The carrier of the flag must have a DISADVANTAGE comparing to any other player. The lack of possibility for weapon usage was mentioned somewhere on the forum. Decreasing of the movement speed can be applied too thus making the carrier easy to catch and introducing additional (effective safeguarding) challenge to his teammates. The idea is not new though it came to me after watching some rounds where the gameplay was the following: Players start at their home bases, load selves with wepons and start their epic march towards enemy territory. They meet with their opponents in the middle (somewhere near the pool of water) and start to staff each other with sticks and stones (explosives included). Important moment: they do NOT stop their movement towards the goal. Eventualy (as it mostly all of the time happens that they are still alive and kicking after the short clash) they become out of reach for enemy projectiles leaving two empty bases with two flags and enemy ‘troops’ approaching. Both of the teams grab the flag and start to return home. They meet with the opponent again. Not everyone manages to survive the second clash, but there is a good posiibility that two flags will continue to be carried away by the engry opponets to his home base. 1-1, the score of the round. Not funny…
– Another way of how the events unfold: Player was not able to stop his opponent on the way to the base. Not he anxiously chases him as he grabs the flag and escapes through the top (or the bottom – variety included). The sad point is that he will never be able to catch him and will most likely loose a point if there is no team mate on the way to stop the opponent (he might even get killed for carrier still has the posiibility to fire projectiles back). Of course, some interesting tactics can be introduced: you can always leave one fresh clonk at the base for flag guarding but in the game with only two team members that will not be very fun.
– There should definitely be some shortcuts for phrases like “kill me” or “enemy at our base” 🙂

Ok, now to the Video 2:

AlteredARMOR says:

Concerning item usage restrictions:
I finally managed to understand what seemed odd to me! :-). When enemy takes your flag everyone can see the flag in his hands. But then he puts the flag into his backpack and all visual effects are gone. I think this is a bit wrong. Hence I suggest 2 different solutions:
1. Restrain carrier from using a backpack completely . So he has 1 slot occupied by the flag and another slot occupied with the tool he carried before he got a flag. I see one great CON which mostly makes this a very bad solution: Which item (of the two you carried before taking a flag) will go into the backpack? The left one or the right one? There are too many unnecessary complications that’s why I suggest:
2. Remove the possibility of putting flag into the backpack. Carrier will still be able to use items but only 1 at a time. Another PRO is that flag will remain visible to other players (so they will instantly know whom to hunt or to guard).
If none of those solution apply maybe there is a possibility to somehow indicate the carrier of the flag (for the reasons stated above). Other than that – NO additional restrictions are required.

Thanks again for the interesting map (and video)!