biell
commented
4 years ago spawnMode health means that all health powerups are checkpoints. This was added mostly for Coop, as there are a number of maps where you would want any health to be a spawn point, and this is one simple convenient way to do that on existing maps.
spawnMode powerup means that specifically defined (by their x,y coordinates) powerups are checkpoints regardless of what type of powerup (health or otherwise) they are. Does that make sense? They really are two different methods. This might be used on Coop, or any other game type where you are making a map and want to control in a special way where spawn points are. For example, I use this in tbd_coop_basic to specify just the one checkpoint because the shields at the begining spawn too infrequently, and it is a pain to get back to that one section where it is pretty easy to die. Another place, is on ball_coop_undersea_adventure which is long, and it just gets annoying to fly through the whole thing everytime you die.
Does that make sense?
Is there a reason why spawnMode "powerup" and "health" are separately existing options, other than convenience? Wouldn't it've been better to create a "checkpoint" spawnMode and each checkpoint is defined by itself? That way you can have powerup/health packages on the map that don't necessarily have to set your checkpoint, giving players and map makers more freedom.
The way I understand it, the only way to achieve something similar right now is by setting the spawnMode to powerup, and then defining each of the powerups I'd like to be checkpoints as zones; but even then I think the player isn't required to actually collect the powerup and just fly close to it, right?
What do you think of an approach like this?
Also, do you think dedicated start_red, start_blue, start_green, etc zones in addition to the default generic start could be useful? Seems like an easy way to set spawn points for whole teams on the fly.