Forest Megathread (Feedback & Discussion)

General
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Well, a new-ish map has been released again! With today’s update comes the mini-golf map Forest, created by Johanna!

Like the previous feedback thread, this is made to assist Johanna make improvements on the map and get your feedback. Feel free to post any ideas for improvements, bug reports (major bugs should go to the dedicated Bug Reports section), or just your review/opinion on the map.

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On hole 14 after dropping down, there’s a ramp. Although you’re supposed to go up and to the left of the ramp, the flag of the next hole is visible in front of the ramp. This can be very confusing for players and got me an OOB.

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The map is very very dark. Really hard to see sometimes, and I was wearing the Gem Crown.

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On the hole where the flag slides back and forth over a river, @Caboose700 literally became Jesus as he became stuck floating in between the main platform and the flag platform (kinda on the rail bit).

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I was in that game!

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Hey! That was a good game. Next time I’ll try not to build up a huge score by trickshotting and stuff :stuck_out_tongue:

But to keep this post from being off topic:
The map overall is a lot of fun and it’s very pretty to look at. My one complaint would probably be that the trees and foliage blocked my camera quite a lot so I ended up having to aim from a weird angle at times. Aside from that, all seemed fair and it was pretty much bug free aside from Jesus Caboose.

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I posted this in the subreddit, but I thought I would post it here too just to make sure I’m submitted feedback in the right place.

tl;dr: I did not like this course, so I tried to put my thoughts of each hole down in a detailed and constructive matter.

Was looking forward to this new map but I’m extremely disappointed in it. (Which is a shame, because I like all the other levels!) Apparently these levels were in the original GMod Tower, but I hadn’t played this course when I played that.

I know this post looks hyper-negative, but I’m just hoping to give my feedback in a constructive way; let me know if I can be more helpful.

General Feedback:

  • The graphics are beautiful and I loved looking at the map itself. Probably some of the best graphics and art done yet.

  • A lot of ball watching in this map – I feel like half of the time spent on this map was watching staircases, elevators, or long ramps carry my ball instead of actually playing. These downtimes really sap any feeling of momentum I have with the game and frankly bored me.

  • A lot of the holes on this map are solved by really easy shots, making parts feel like filler rather than fun obstacles. Playing with my buddy on voice chat, we frequently uttered, “What’s the point of that if we just end up in the same place? You could have just started us here.” (I get that some spectacles are great map features but this course has too many of them.)

Hole Specific Feedback:

  • Hole 3, “Peaks and Valleys”, ends in a plinko style wall. This is fine, but the entrance is very hard to see and my buddy and I ended up trying to hit this horizontally from the upper level because we didn’t see the top drop entrance. This could be better called out.
  • Hole 7, “Creek Jump”, was one of my least favorite holes. The premise is awesome, but I hate that if after the jump you land on the moving platform you don’t get another putt before it kicks you off into a Out of Bounds penalty. Ouch. Also my buddy got stuck onto the metal bar nearest to the creek against the non-moving part of the course, resulting in us having to wait for a timeout.
  • Hole 9, “Zipline”, has some real visibility issues when you get to the lowest part of the level. You have to really look at strange angles to be able to see your ball, the ramp and the flag.
  • Hole 10, “Helter Skelter” seemed pointless. It’s a 1 stroke if you’re lucky, otherwise almost guaranteed 2 strokes. All that after waiting 30 seconds for your ball to travel down the spiral. Very boring hole.
  • Hole 11, “Sorting Line”, really made me angry. I made what seemed to be a classic mini-golf skill shot and got the far hole (after I circled it for what seemed to be 15-30 seconds), but instead of being rewarded like most holes would do, I was actually in the worst position. Would have been better off being careless and hitting the ball almost anywhere else. Maybe this is an intentional subversion of expectations, but it made me very sad.
  • Hole 12, “Roundabout”, was a bit short. Liked the premise, but if you miss the trickshot you can get it in 2. Wish the reward for making the correct shot was better than a 1 stroke lead on your friends and make that perfect shot feel better. Maybe if the flag hole didn’t have a funnel and instead had flat ground around it.
  • Hole 13, “Mills N Gutters”, was one hole where the beginning seemed pointless. I actually got above the rotating ball holder scoop and thought that was the point, but learned it was kind of just a pointless obstacle – no way to fail on this one. Makes the whole thing a bit boring.
  • Hole 14, “Reverse Staircase Shenanigans”, takes forever when you mess up a shot. It is a full 10-15 seconds of waiting to retry the first shot if you miss. Incredibly boring! Then the end is just watching your ball go down a slow series of ramps into a giant funnel to the hole. It basically plays itself for almost a minute. It just isn’t fun if you’re not actually playing.
  • Hole 15, “Rollin’ in the Deep”, is my least favorite level. It starts with a trick shot that is extremely easy to bounce of the edge of the hole even if you line it up correctly. This leads to spending a measly putt to get through the hole just to continue on. Then it is a series of holes that stop all ball speed when you fall through them, which ends up making this entire hole a series of uninteresting putts until you get to the finish. (This finish is actually pretty good.)
  • Hole 16, “A Helping Hand”, begins with 2 max power shots. Looks dangerous but is extremely simple. Once you get on the elevator the hole finishes itself. All in all, an uninteresting hole.
  • Hole 17 began with a pole directly in front of the camera for me. Not a big issue, but seemed like sloppy design.
  • Hole 18, “Funnels to Glory”, has a lot of spots near the end that has objects (or the ground itself) moving your ball so you can’t even putt even if you want to. Frustrating.

Wow, I didn’t mean to detail nearly every hole going into this, but yeah. I found this course very frustrating and unfulfilling. Not complaining about the update out of spite, just my early access feedback for this update.

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my main request to the devs are to change hole 16. i remember back in GMT times you had to aim to stop on the banks but in TU you can easily full power it and go all the way to the top. so i recommend the devs make the hill taller or steeper.

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Thanks. I will make this more clear in the patch.

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There seems to be an issue with players on low graphics settings having very dark shadows. I’ll see what I can do.

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Thanks for the report. This has been happening to a lot of people and I will be addressing this in the upcoming patch.

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Hello everyone, I have been working on a patch for Forest, and here is the changelog thusfar. I will continue to make changes as bug reports come in.

Thanks,
-Johanna

Changelog:
-The out-of-bounds barriers between holes now function correctly. You will no longer be able to put out off a course (and possibly onto another course) without being counted as out-of-bounds.
-Players will no longer get stuck on the lip at the entrance to the spinning log in hole 17.
-Players can no longer get stuck on the tracks for the moving component in hole 7. Landing on the tracks now counts the player as out-of-bounds.
-Players should properly roll into the hole after going up the lift in hole 16.
-Added a new barrier wall at the bottom of the lift in hole 16, re-enabling an old trick shot that was possible in the classic GMT version of the map.
-Fixed a small hole in the wall in hole 16.
-Reduced the odds of not being able to put when too close to the spinning circular obstacle in hole 18.
-Fixed a graphical issue where the map would appear too dark on lower settings.

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Cabesus.

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I’ll be honest @Johanna, you did very well on reviving this classic of a course! When I first saw the map in Gmt I thought “that looks hard.” and it was. Even with the Medium Rating, it is still a bit hard.

Good job on reviving it!