Alley

Alley is a map featured in SFD, added in Pre-alpha 1.5.0.

## Visual Characteristics

Alley contains two buildings on either side of the map, joined together in the centre by an ascending tower of thin platforms. The left building contains three levels, which are accessible using the controllable elevator on the left. There is a fragile bamboo structure between the first and second floors, which can be used to traverse the floors but is often destroyed early into the match. An automated lift on the right of the building connects the second and third floors of the building. The building is quite open, with only glass separating it from the central section.

The building to the right has a similar complexion to its counterpart. Stairs and a thin metal platform make up the lower portion of the building, with an open rooftop completing the top part of it. The parts of the building are connected by a portal. This building is also quite open, with only glass protecting you in most cases.

The central section is the most open section, a tower of thin metal platforms, a flat ground underneath and a hanging piano to the right. This part of the map often spawns with a lot of barrels for cover. You can ascend or descend the tower using its ladders.

## Gameplay

Alley is one of the more open official maps, and as such players are continuously at risk of power weapons being shot from across the map (especially the Sniper Rifle and Magnum). Players must always be aware of their surroundings in this maps; more so than in other maps. This risk increases largely while in the middle section of the map, as all of the platforms can be shot through with often little cover protecting players on the tower. Securing some sort of cover early on is important to ensure that shots from across the map will not affect you as much.

Automatic weapons (especially powerful automatic weapons, such as the Tommy Gun and M60) are extremely useful on this map, as they can be sprayed across the map - or used to hit targets on the tower of platforms.

The middle section of the map is useful in the early game - if you can access it. The ladders at the bottom are unreachable from the ground at the start, but using a piece of cover, you can bypass the locked ladder and get up to the tower. Many supply crates spawn here; and as there are not many guns that spawn early-game, there is a lot less risk in traversing the tower to get these supply crates. Once the majority of the server is in possession of a gun, traversing the tower of platforms becomes a large risk. Getting sniped off of the tower can easily deal around 60 to 70 damage to you from higher-up places, due to the immense fall damage.

The piano can be useful if you have secured the area where the piano is held up (the top floor of the right building), as the piano instantly gibs anyone it lands on. The piano can be made to fall by either shooting the metal joint holding its wire to the wall, or by putting a sufficient amount of weight onto it (often the easiest way to do this is to kick a corpse onto the piano).

The left side of the building is likely to be where the most intense close-quarters combat takes place, as around 3 to 5 players spawn there at the beginning of the game. If someone gets the better of you in combat, the elevator on the left or the lift on the right can provide as handy escape routes for you to retreat towards. You can also propel yourself up by climbing on the top of the elevator as jumping up just as it reaches a floor.

## Tips

* On the stairs to the left, in the right position, you can shoot across the ground of the map while remaining mostly concealed in cover.
* You can climb on top of the portal on the right, giving you a decent line of sight to open fire.
* Sometimes, given the right circumstances, the heavy crate supported by a weak wooden platform on the left can fall and land vertically; giving you an extremely good vantage point.
* The elevator on the left, when arriving to the ground floor and the top floor, can gib players between itself and the concrete if they are standing there - try to avoid these areas, or try to get players into these areas.

## Lore & Trivia

* This map also features a lot of pipes and bamboo scaffolding, which could suggest it is also still under construction, similarly to Rooftops.
* The map's far background features a clocktower and large buildings which are in close proximity, which could suggest it is quite close to the centre of Sunny City.