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This is my proposal for the revival of the Shepard Station project. @Design Team (I am not sure who to ping, I'd appreciate some help in making them aware of this). I am interested in developing Shepard Station again and getting it added to the game, but I have read mixed opinions on the matter of adding another map to the game from some people and wish for a clear answer on whether or not the design team thinks itd be good for the game. We had a few days of tests on this map a while back now, and it had its challenges but I think the majority of the playerbase thought it was fun and an interesting map to play on. The map has been updated to the latest version of our codebase, and has already been through a meticulous review process, and as a result is basically in a merge ready state. Of the 4 maps currently in rotation 3 are of extremely similar layout, a central box hallway with spurs off it that house all the different departments. The design of Shepard Station was done in careful consideration of the current game's needs, but also with a unique take on game balance which informed its design. My case study was the Cyberiad, which is about 1/3 maints. Originally, 7 years ago or so, the Cyberiad was less than 1/4 maints and with them all being more isolated. Over the years on the Cyberiad the maints have gotten more bloated and more connected, which I feel like is a worse outcome for the game. So antags need maints, as a place to loose people following you, as well as a place far from too many eyes to get up to mischief. Larger and more interconnected maints only serve to increase foot traffic in these areas due to them being more of a destination and a shortcut. This has eroded the efficacy of the maints as a gameplay element, as well as segregated the antags from the rest of the players due to the uncanny effectiveness of the maints. On Shepard I returned to a 1/4 maints ratio, and along with the rest of the station made them a whole lot more separated. This is probably the most contentious design element of shepard, so I took the time to explain my reasoning above. My intent with the design was to balance the smaller and less connected maints with longer travel times (as well as retractable space bridges, which I never got to implementing but would act as a further aide to antags [Can implement if needed]). I understand its a radical step, but I felt good taking it as I believe there isn't alot of difference in playstyles between the maps. And I think maps supporting a different playstyle would enliven the game greatly. The maints are still connected, and you can make a grand circuit from engineering's lobby through science, and service to cargo. Theres a larger maint surrounding medbay and SouthWest Dorms too on the opposite side of the station as the aforementioned grand circuit. And lastly a diagonal cut from service to engineering's lobby through the center. Also there being many more seperate smaller areas of a similar volume to that of the cyberiad means each has a less chance of being searched or traveled through making each do their job better. Anyone worrying about the travel times; I'd argue they are only an ever-present issue for sec, and I've taken the liberty of increasing the segway count to 4 as well as adding a shortcut for them through the command module. For the long travel times of late arrival scientists I've since added another hallway going directly east from engineering for this explicit purpose (but it lead to EVA, and dead ends in science for all other roles) It's a larger map by a bout another 1/6 of the cyberiad's in turf count alone, but I think with paradise's pop its warranted (we might have to consider limiting it from being played on low pops). It also demands a different playstyle out of antags and sec, assigned patrols of areas probably being encouraged, as well as a more high stake field for antags, and the time to perform them in. Last but I think not a small point is that Shepard has more windows, its too easy to forget you're in space on other maps I feel, and with them you'll encounter it more often :P. 4 tile wide main hallway!! Thanks for reading through all of this for those that did. I am excited about the new maptick-threading that we've gotten from the byond devs, and wouldn't be proposing readding shepard otherwise. I think with the new addition of the maints above the station, and the hallway to science from engi the map might play alot better. LMK what you all think, design team especially. EDIT: I also removed all the lattices and nearby-station-areas from around the station, hopefully to drastically cut down on lighting costs.

There is 0 reason you should be more likely to get the job you want by not readying up, and just late joining 2 seconds after round begins. I shouldn't be fucked out of a security roll cause the extra officer slots are only available to late joins. Late join slots should be composed of what slots are left over, not reserved slots. This feature doesn't help with giving jobs to real late joiners either, as these slots, particularly security officer slots, are taken near instantly after shift start. The exception is lowpop. As it stands this feature only serves to punish those readying up and further reward those who latejoin 1 second after shift start to avoid being an antags target.

This is a fantastic feature that I've seen successfully implemented on two great servers (Goon, TG) and has been implemented on countless others. The only reason SS13 and most older byond games are 15x15 is because monitors 20+ years ago most monitors were big blocky 4:3 CRTs. In that context 15x15 makes perfect sense, but in today's world where I can almost guarantee you no one here is using a 4:3 monitor, a 19x15 viewport is the way to go. Some servers even use a 21x15 viewport like goon, cit and skyrat which is roughly what 19x15 viewport looks like on a 16:10 aspect screen. Also, briefly touching combat advantages. Two extra tiles on the side of the screen in the grand scheme of things isn't that big of a concern. You can compare SS13 with any topdown game released in the past decade to see that they all give an advantage to the sides of the screen far greater than two tiles in most cases. Regardless, we should not be so strung up on the combat advantage of two tiles, our focus should be on the overall gameplay and feel and this does wonders in improving it.

Your art is wonderful, it's really cool to see how much you've improved over this thread!

A commission for da Bumble!

The Nerdy Amira

THE Aggley <3

:( This one made me so sad

Stealing all the berets and replacing them with kitty ears!