Frostbite
Frostbite is a popular Trinket Wars map set in a freezing fortification on the side of a mountain. It features wide open areas, spacious hallways, and perilous drops.
Stats
- Map file: tw_frostbite (formerly hg_frostbite)
- Mode: Trinket Wars
- Author: Jahhur
- Release Date: Beta 2.1 (July 2008)
- Theme: Ruins (medieval)
- Pick-ups: Food (x5), Armor (x7), and Ammo (x5)
- Stage Hazards: cliff, bottomless pit, braziers (minor)
Overview
Frostbite has three major areas and five minor areas: the fortress's garrison, the throne room/dining hall and the destroyed balcony; the statue, the courtyard, the front door, the walkway and the junction of three staircases .
The garrison is the map's most well known location, and the only location in open air. The garrison has two floors and two minor areas: the statue leads to the upper floor which in turn leads to the dining hall, while the lower floor features a crenelated courtyard that grants access to the upper floor, the statue, and the walkway. If kicked or pushed about too much, players may fall beyond the battlements to their doom here.
The statue (the only piece of decor in its area) serves as the initial spawn point for the Pirates, and hosts easily accessible armor and ammunition pick-ups.
On the other side of the garrison, the infamously narrow walkway tempts players with a refreshing food pick-up, only for them to (probably) plummet to their deaths soon after. If one should survive the crossing, one will enter a small cave leading to the dining hall.
The throne room/dining hall is the only area in the map with no stage hazards (although the braziers can drain health) and acts as the Vikings' initial spawn point. Most of the props serve as platforms for gaining height and evading attacks, and are sorely needed as the area is wide with little cover.
The front door hallway serves as a welcome respite from the wide open dining hall, by instead being a narrow open hallway. The holes in the walls leading to the balcony and walkway offer alternative routes with which to flank opponents on the high ground, while the ammo and armor pick-ups help to fight back directly.
The balcony, while not the most populated area, is notable for its inauspicious hole in the floor, very convenient pick-ups, and as the Knights' initial spawn point. The wreckage is often used as cover for preparing special attacks (often with the intent of pushing a player into the hole) and as obstacles for keeping unwary opponents stuck in the path of them.
The junction of three staircases connects to all three major areas, and as such is often where grand battles begin and end. It is the most likely location for the teams to meet at the start of a round.
Presentation
The icy look of the map matches the mountainous location, and the dense fog at the bottom offers a glimpse of how abnormally huge the structure is. Winter's snow and ice are harmless, and there are no strong winds to push inexperienced players over the edge, but the constant action inside the fortress can lead to several falls. The indoor lightning is minimal but enough for players to see what's going on.
History
Frostbite started out as Snowstuff; although the map's level design is the same throughout its development, the layout, graphics and game mode had a very different plan. With the introduction of Holy Grail the map was redesigned and a large room was removed from the level for it being too wide for the game mode. The room leftover was eventually turned into Cathedral and it was released on the same update as Frostbite.
The earliest release of the map had no global lighting, so the darker areas weren't dark at all, and because of that the textures were shown in their raw appearance.
The cave path between the dining room and the garrison had different materials and sounds were made when a player stepped into it, despite having the same texture that is used today.
The garrison was narrower than the current version. During the time the map supported the Holy Grail mode the item in question spawned on the dining room's table.
The map's latest update included a handful of optimizations and the inclusion of new props, like lion statues, for the sake of decorating the garrison, although it can be extremely useful for sniping, in another point of view. The map's loading screen was also updated in the same patch.
A Frostbite Christmas
A Christmas-themed reskin of Frostbite with file name tw_frostbite_xmas was released on December 21st 2016, in the wake of the holiday season. Several props were added to the level, including gifts, christmas trees, teddy bears, among other things, for an added silliness to the level. Some level props and brushes were replaced by giant presents but none of those changes affect the map's layout and gameplay.
The development team warns that the map is up for a limited time and it will be removed from the official maps list on the following update, but as of January 2017 the map is still playable.
Trivia
- A bug in Frostbite made keg kills invalid in Holy Grail mode. As a Pirate carrying the grail with two or three kills in the counter remaining, if a keg killed more than four people with its explosion, the counter wouldn't approve the kills, although the achievements “Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch” and “Keg Whore” would. With the introduction of Trinket Wars it's very likely that the bug was fixed.
- Although Frostbite Christmas is to date the only official holiday-themed map, it wasn't the first attempt at making one. Years prior, a Halloween-themed reskin of Gravedanger was in the works but it got scrapped.
Original Wiki Description
Frostbitten and hungry, the players must navigate their way around this beautiful fortress in search of powerful trinkets. Once the trinket is acquired by a team, it is their duty to seek out and kill as many enemies as possible. When enough enemies have been sacrificed to the gods, that team will be victorious!
| Official Maps |
|---|
| Booty | Forgotten - Island - Pinegrove - Townsquare |
|---|---|
| Trinket Wars | Desertruin - Fort - Frostbite - Temple - Tortuga |
| Last Team Standing | Arena - Cathedral - Gravedanger - Town |
| Territory | Cara - Sandstorm - Tortuga |
| Deathmatch | Fort |