Don't get me wrong, I love the new lobbies. The update drastically increased the usability of lobbies by adding more interesting areas, parkour, and hidden selfie spots. Not to mention that the builds of the lobbies themselves are incredible.
From a design perspective, the survival games lobby is very well made, however I feel like it lacks the depth and ability for exploration that the other lobbies have.
For one, the terrain is not the most friendly for traversing. There is a giant chasm as part of the moat of the castle, many steep hills, and a lot of water around the map. All of these make travelling on the ground far more of a chore than in the rest of the lobbies, which have flatter hills and more infrastructure for players getting around. That's not the biggest issue, as the lobby features a large castle complete with several towers, bridges and a Colosseum.
So, if the main part of the lobby is a castle, then players should have the opportunity to explore it, right? Well, kinda. The parkour in the lobby is just beyond the castle's entrance, and takes players up onto the second level of the castle and directs them onto the tree on the tower at the far left of the castle as seen in the above image. The problem is, that's it. You only get to go to that portion of the castle. The rest of the castle is blocked off from player access. (Unless I'm missing something. If I am, please tell me.)
Other lobbies give players the potential to get to prominent places by design. The skywars lobby allows players to get to the top of the network of sky beams, the minerware lobby allows players to get on top of one of the several towers, which are the prominent features of the map, the eggwars lobby allows players to get on top of the giant egg, and the main lobby allows players to get to the top of the helix. (pictures below)
Note that all of these locations are higher and more prominent than the selfie spots in these respective lobbies.
Also worth pointing out is the fact that not only is the survival games selfie spot in the highest reachable place, but its is also situated at the end of the parkour meaning there is pretty much only one destination of interest in the lobby besides the portal to enter games.
The argument could be made that the survival games lobby has several secret areas. But while the areas may be secret, they don't have the intention of being secret areas in the same way areas in other lobbies do. There are secret rooms in the main and beta game lobbies, and they are far more rewarding for players to find them than the ones in the survival games lobby.
Main and beta game secret rooms
These are rooms. And they are secret. But they are not really meant to be accessed by players.
Now how do I think this should be fixed?
Make a route that takes players to the Colosseum or the top of the castle.
There could be some more parkour after the main one that leads players deeper and higher into the castle.
There could be a secret entrance in the "sewers" or a siege tunnel that brings players into the castle and eventually to the top.
There could be another parkour course as the "event" inside the Colosseum.
None of these solutions call for a massive overhaul of the lobby, but instead for the addition of small structures/features that could be added without the need for ridiculous amounts of work by the build team.
Even if these changes are not taken up, I still think the survival games lobby has places which fundamentally need to be fixed, such as the scuffed coastlines of the landmass.
From a design perspective, the survival games lobby is very well made, however I feel like it lacks the depth and ability for exploration that the other lobbies have.
For one, the terrain is not the most friendly for traversing. There is a giant chasm as part of the moat of the castle, many steep hills, and a lot of water around the map. All of these make travelling on the ground far more of a chore than in the rest of the lobbies, which have flatter hills and more infrastructure for players getting around. That's not the biggest issue, as the lobby features a large castle complete with several towers, bridges and a Colosseum.
So, if the main part of the lobby is a castle, then players should have the opportunity to explore it, right? Well, kinda. The parkour in the lobby is just beyond the castle's entrance, and takes players up onto the second level of the castle and directs them onto the tree on the tower at the far left of the castle as seen in the above image. The problem is, that's it. You only get to go to that portion of the castle. The rest of the castle is blocked off from player access. (Unless I'm missing something. If I am, please tell me.)
Other lobbies give players the potential to get to prominent places by design. The skywars lobby allows players to get to the top of the network of sky beams, the minerware lobby allows players to get on top of one of the several towers, which are the prominent features of the map, the eggwars lobby allows players to get on top of the giant egg, and the main lobby allows players to get to the top of the helix. (pictures below)
Note that all of these locations are higher and more prominent than the selfie spots in these respective lobbies.
Also worth pointing out is the fact that not only is the survival games selfie spot in the highest reachable place, but its is also situated at the end of the parkour meaning there is pretty much only one destination of interest in the lobby besides the portal to enter games.
The argument could be made that the survival games lobby has several secret areas. But while the areas may be secret, they don't have the intention of being secret areas in the same way areas in other lobbies do. There are secret rooms in the main and beta game lobbies, and they are far more rewarding for players to find them than the ones in the survival games lobby.
Main and beta game secret rooms
These are rooms. And they are secret. But they are not really meant to be accessed by players.
Now how do I think this should be fixed?
Make a route that takes players to the Colosseum or the top of the castle.
There could be some more parkour after the main one that leads players deeper and higher into the castle.
There could be a secret entrance in the "sewers" or a siege tunnel that brings players into the castle and eventually to the top.
There could be another parkour course as the "event" inside the Colosseum.
None of these solutions call for a massive overhaul of the lobby, but instead for the addition of small structures/features that could be added without the need for ridiculous amounts of work by the build team.
Even if these changes are not taken up, I still think the survival games lobby has places which fundamentally need to be fixed, such as the scuffed coastlines of the landmass.
