ellicott.zip

After playing to much and many aim maps, I realized that my flick shots were only accurate horizontally; so I tried making a map that made your opponent spawn on a different vertical level than you. This not only to increase vertical aim and muscle memory, but also to increase complexity with having to visually keep track of more potential angles from above/below as well has horizontally. However I think I made a shocking discover, most of which is anecdotal since I don't have enough time yet to make a numerical statistical comparative study. However after practicing on my map for comparatively similar amounts of time to another similarly sized standard aim map, I feel my aim is much more accurate. I will be starting to collect data on this, Ill publish it here soo. Anyways for mapping I then made it even a little more complex by having it spawn you on the same level as you opponent 25% of the time, to increase constant "looking up and down". Which should hypothetically increase even more vertical movements. I even added: ladders, stairs, cars, trains, colorful lighting and much more. In it's current development it's only good for 2v2, 3v3, 4v4...

I believe for this increase in uniform range of comfortability in all axes of shooting could influence more of a demand for vertically emphasized maps in the base game! Please let me know what you think and any improvements I should make!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2094697085

Introduction
Have you ever looked at Valve's map loading screens and can't figure out how they added those damn icons, backgrounds, and more? This article will provide some information about it.

A repository on Github that will allow you to better understand the location of the files.

Note: Text surrounded by arrows indicates what needs to be entered here. Arrows should not be written, it is only necessary for a more convenient understanding of important elements. For example, instead of <mapname>.png I will write de_dust2.png
Note: Spoiler blocks replaces code blocks

Background
The loading screen uses PNG images as background. You need to create two images, where the first image will be have resolution 640x360 and the second will be have 1920x1080. After creation, you need to put the images in these paths:

Radar
Loading screen uses default radar file. If you want to use some image instead of the radar that the player should not see on the map (for example, a screenshot of the map with heroes, as is done in some of Valve's cooperative maps), then you should use heights that will hide the unnecessary image somewhere in 32 thousand units from the zero point of the map.

In the already created TXT file of the radar, we prescribe this code that adjusts the high-altitude images:

The final version of the files needed for the radar:

The problem with vertical sections of the radar
If the sections contain the same values in AltitudeMax and AltitudeMin, then the game just crashes without any messages. The same values can only be in one of the parameters!

Problem code example:

Correct code example:

Title
I tried to find a file that regulates the names of official maps, but nothing came of it. For now, the name depends on the Steam Workshop and some sort of Valve magic file.

Map icon
The loading screen uses SVG for the map icon. Valve uses Adobe illustrator to create and export the svg.

Export your svg
You need to create a document with the resolution you want (Valve use 35x35 or 80x80), create your nice gamemode/map icon, and then save it (File > Save As) to this path:
"../Counter-Strike Global Offensive/csgo/materials/panorama/images/map_icons/map_icon_<mapname>.svg"

Settings for the Save As panel
SVG Profiles: SVG 1.1
Fonts:
• Type: SVG
• Subsetting: None (Use System Fonts)
Advanced Option:
• CSS Properties: SVG
• Decimal Places: 3
• Encoding: Unicode (UTF-8)
• Addaptive SVG / Responsive: Disabled

Description
Go to the map folder and create a blank TXT there and name it with the BSP name, for example: de_dust2.txt

Adding an official command with a list of authors
Open an TXT file and write code like this:

Using HTML syntax
You can use the html syntax without COMMUNITYMAPCREDITS, but I am giving an example with this command.

Open an TXT file and write code like this (Use HEX or RGB for colors):

Final result

Tags for search engines: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, csgo, cs, mini-map.

de_Coralline is a map I've been making since the release of the not very desired map de_veteran_10, from the beginning I started to develop it in silence without talking much about well... a lot of time passed and my map was already in beta, version that I wanted to launch it but the computer had some problems causing me to lose all the files including all the maps I was making at the beginning until 4 months before the year ended and then I started to redo it with an entirely new layout;

Welcome to de_coralline, de_coralline is a map that takes place in a village / castle of the queen coralline well... the map has a history and since the beginning of the creation of the map concept I always thought of placing statues de_piranesi style that would tell the map history in general this is the basic understanding of the map concept

Currently it is in BETA version 1.5 and the final version of the beta is 3.0, my concept of the beta is as follows

Beta Phase:

• Version 1: work on the constructions, make sense of them
• Version 2: Detail the ground and buildings from the inside
• Version 3: Put Developer Props on the entire map, and make the map make more sense, ending the beta

Well... the concept is very simple but I ended up changing the layout a little making the map stay in the middle of the 3 phases so the number 1.5, and any english mistakes.. just sorry i'm not usa american.

Downloads

• STEAM WORKSHOP
• GAME BANANA (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)

THE RADAR / LAYOUT

Static Prop Combine in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

A step by step guide
thanks to @untor

What is Static Prop Combine?

Static prop combine, or informally speaking "autocombine", is a new feature in CS:GO's VBSP.
It allows VBSP to merge together multiple static props into a single static prop, either automatically or with user-defined rules.

What is static prop combine good for?
Static prop combine is another feature to optimize your maps. Most people might think that "the less geometry rendered the better". So if you use small props, it's easier to hide what is not visible.
That's not wrong. But there is a problem:
In Source, there is one draw call per model per material. And these draw calls are very performance-hungry.
That's where static prop combine comes into play:
By combining models sharing the same materials, less draw calls are performed, which greatly helps optimization.
Valve has stated that Nuke runs 40% faster after they implemented static prop combine.

How do I use static prop combine?
The static prop combine feature was added in 2016 with the release of the reworked de_nuke. But since then it was not (?) used by community mappers, there are no (?) guides on the Internet except this documentation.
@untor helped me to make static prop combine feature do its job. So we decided that it's time to publish a step by step guide how to use static prop combine.

• We presuppose that you are already familiar with the creation of props

0. Backup your CS:GO folder (optional)
We do not take responsibility for any damage done to your files. So it's time to backup your game files now if you have not already. In general we recommend to duplicate your "Counter-Strike Global Offensive" folder, so you can use a separate installation of CS:GO for mapping while keeping the other one clean for playing.

1. Source files
You must have the source files of the models you want to be combined. Usually 3 files for each prop:

• *.qc
• reference mesh (supported formats are *.smd, *.dmx and *.fbx)
• physics mesh

So if you want to combine props made by you, you should already have these files.
If you want to combine props made by Valve, you will need to decompile them first. And then change the names - otherwise, the version of the prop that is packed in the VPK would overwrite your version.
    
In this guide we will use two different pipe props:

You can download the example files here (contains the *.qc and *.smd files) :

example.zip

Browse to "...\Steam\steamapps\common\content\csgo\"
Create a folder "models". In our example we have another subfolder "example". Save the model source files there:
 

These are our QCs:

pipe_straight.qc

Quote

$modelname         "props\example\pipe_straight.mdl"
$staticprop
$body "pipe_straight"    "pipe_straight_reference.smd"
$surfaceprop         "metal"
$cdmaterials         "models\props\de_nuke\hr_nuke\metal_pipe_001"
$collisionmodel     "pipe_straight_physics.smd" { $concave }
$sequence "idle"    "pipe_straight_reference.smd"

pipe_curved.qc

Quote

$modelname         "props\example\pipe_curved.mdl"
$staticprop
$body "pipe_curved"    "pipe_curved_reference.smd"
$surfaceprop         "metal"
$cdmaterials         "models\props\de_nuke\hr_nuke\metal_pipe_001"
$collisionmodel     "pipe_curved_physics.smd" { $concave }    
$sequence "idle"    "pipe_curved_reference.smd"

Notes:
Restrictions for the *.qc:

• Only the first $body is recognized.
• $model is not recognized.
• $appendsource and $addconvexsrc are not recognized.
• You can only use $upaxis Z or Y.

2. Compile your props
Your models have to be compiled from this directory now:
Open your model compile tool (I use Crowbar)
Then browse to "...\Steam\steamapps\common\content\csgo\models\example\" and compile the QCs.
The compiled model files should be in "...\Steam\steamapps\common\Counter-Strike Global Offensive\csgo\models\props\example\" now.

3. spcombinerules.txt
Browse to "...\Steam\steamapps\common\Counter-Strike Global Offensive\csgo\scripts\hammer\spcombinerules\"

There you will find "spcombinerules.txt". In this file the combine rules for Valves props are defined. It is a standard KeyValues-formatted text file. Each entry follows the format below.
Rename it to "spcombinerules_valve.txt" (or whatever you want) and create a new text file "spcombinerules.txt".

Then copy and paste the following into "spcombinerules.txt" and save it.

Quote

"combine rules"
{
    "pipe_combine"
    {
        // this is a stub qc that will be used to generate combined models
        "qc_template_path"    "scripts/hammer/spcombinerules/qc_templates/example/pipe_combine.qc"
        
        // max models per cluster using these peers
        "cluster_limit" 24
        
        // don't cluster models greater than this far apart
        "distance_limit" 500

        // these are models that can combine with each other
        "peers"
        {
            "models/props/example/pipe_straight.mdl" ""
            "models/props/example/pipe_curved.mdl" ""
        }
    }
}

4. Stub QCs
Stub QCs are QCs which contain a base template for the QCs which static prop combine generates. Generally, they should only include:

• $staticprop
• $surfaceprop
• $cdmaterials
• Any $texturegroups used by the models.

Browse to "...\Steam\steamapps\common\Counter-Strike Global Offensive\csgo\scripts\hammer\spcombinerules\qc_templates\".
In our example we create a new subfolder "example", open it and then create a text file and rename it to "pipe_combine.qc":

Copy and paste the following into "pipe_combine.qc" and save it:

Quote

$staticprop
$surfaceprop     "metal"

$cdmaterials    "models\props\de_nuke\hr_nuke\metal_pipe_001\"
$texturegroup     metal_pipe
{
        { "metal_pipe_001" }
}

5. Compile your map
Add some of our example props to your map in Hammer and compile the map.
In our example we use the following compile parameters for VBSP

Quote

-staticpropcombine -staticpropcombine_mininstances 3 -keepsources -game $gamedir $path\$file

Compile parameters (full list here) :

-StaticPropCombine: Merges static props together according to the rules defined in scripts/hammer/spcombinerules/spcombinerules.txt. This lowers the number of draw calls, increasing performance. It can also be used to lower the number of static props present in a map.
-StaticPropCombine_AutoCombine: Automatically generate static prop combine rules for props that VBSP deems should be combined. Note: This does not write to spcombinerules.txt.
-StaticPropCombine_ConsiderVis: Instead of using the distance limit, combine all props in the group that share visclusters.
-StaticPropCombine_SuggestRules: Lists models sharing the same material that should be added to spcombinerules.txt.
-StaticPropCombine_MinInstances <int>: Set the minimum number of props in a combine group required to create a combined prop. Tip:Valve had this set to 3 for the new Dust 2.
-StaticPropCombine_PrintCombineRules: Confirm: Prints the combine rules?
-StaticPropCombine_ColorInstances: Instances of combined props get colored.
-KeepSources: Don't delete the autogenerated QCs and unpacked model files after finishing.
-CombineIgnore_FastReflection: Combine props, even if they have differing Render in Fast Reflections settings.
-CombineIgnore_Normals: Combine props, even if they have differing Ignore Normals settings.
-CombineIgnore_NoShadow: Combine props, even if they have differing Disable Shadows settings.
-CombineIgnore_NoVertexLighting: Combine props, even if they have differing Disable Vertex lighting settings.
-CombineIgnore_NoFlashlight: Combine props, even if they have differing Disable flashlight settings.
-CombineIgnore_NoSelfShadowing: Combine props, even if they have differing Disable Self-Shadowing settings.
-CombineIgnore_DisableShadowDepth: Combine props, even if they have differing Disable ShadowDepth settings.

6. Success?
The combined props look exactly like the single props. So how can you be sure that the static prop combine process was successful?
- Once the map is compiled, the combined props will be packed into your *.bsp automatically.
- If you add -keepsources to the compile parameters, you can also find the combined props in "...\Steam\steamapps\common\Counter-Strike Global Offensive\csgo\models\props\autocombine\*name of your map*\"
and their QCs in "...\Steam\steamapps\common\content\csgo\models\props\autocombine\*name of your map*\".
- If you add -StaticPropCombine_ColorInstances to the compile parameters, instances of combined props are colored in CS:GO.

7. Additional notes

Hammer:

- You can manually disable static prop combine for individual props with the "Disable Prop Combine" keyvalue.
- Prop scaling (Uniform Scale Override) is not supported yet (?)
- If the original props don't have a collision model, you will have to set collisions to "Not Solid" in the properties. Otherwise the combined prop will be solid (automatically generated collision mesh; causes problems).
- If the props differ in specific keyvalues, in most cases the default (e.g. Alpha) or the higher value will be used (e.g. fade distances)
- Props that differ in the below keyvalues will NOT be combined, unless manually overridden with the appropriate VBSP option:

• Render in Fast Reflections (-combineignore_fastreflection)
• Ignore Normals (-combineignore_normals)
• Disable Shadows (-combineignore_noshadows)
• Disable Vertex lighting (-combineignore_novertexlighting)
• Disable Flashlight (-combineignore_noflashlight)
• Disable Self-Shadowing (-combineignore_noselfshadowing)
• Disable ShadowDepth (-combineignore_disableshadowdepth)

- Props that differ in the below keyvalues will NOT be combined:

• Skin
• Color
• Disable Flashlight

TO DO

• some fps tests with an actual map!
• which gives better results: " -StaticPropCombine_ConsiderVis" or prop combining based on distances?
• Is there a console command to display the number of performed draw calls/props?
• ...

______________________________________________________________________
Sources:
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Static_Prop_Combine
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/QC
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/VBSP

Creating a custom grass variant for the Danger Zone

1. Open your GCFScape and after open pak01_dir.vpk in "Counter-Strike Global Offensive/csgo" go to "materials/hr_massive" and found there broken_road_1_4wayblend_1.vmt. Extract that file into your materials folder, for example: "../csgo/materials/my_project_folder", and rename it, example: my_custom_4wayblend_material.vmt.
    
2. Go back to pak01_dir.vpk and find the detailsprites_survival.vmt file in "materials/detail", then extract it to "../csgo/materials/detail"
   Note: Rename "detailsprites_survival.vmt", for example: "detailsprites_test.vmt".
    
3. Open the extracted file and delete the lines below to remove the texture that controls the density of the grass.

   Quote

   $worldspacetint "detail/test_massive9_grass_tint"
   $worldspacetype "detail/test_massive9_grass_type"

   
    
4. Go to "../Counter-Strike Global Offensive/csgo" and find there detail.vbsp. Open it (You can use Notepad++) and find there the cluster "survival_grass_2". Copy that and paste after that cluster, but with new name, for example: survival_grass_theowl.
   Find line (inside the cluster) "associated_material" "detail\detailsprites_survival" and replace "detail\detailsprites_survival" to your custom texture which you created recently. Example: "associated_material" "detail\detailsprites_mycustommap")
   
    
5. Inside your custom vmt file ("my_custom_4wayblend_material.vmt") you should replace %detailtype survival_grass_2 to %detailtype <your name of cluster inside detail.vbsp>", for example: %detailtype survival_grass_theowl
   

Links
• GCFScape
• VMT Editor
• Notepad++

First connection with Mapcore
Hello! On Mapcore for the first time, so I don’t know if you write something like that here. In general, I recently encountered a problem I had been thinking about for a long time, and the solution was the simplest...

4wayblend textures stumped me and I didn't understand how to work with them. Since I could not find any articles about this issue, I decided to write about them.

Connecting and using grass sprites on your map
In order for 4wayblend textures to use grass, you must write the path to these details in the Map Properties (The path you must follow is shown below).

Find the Map menu on the top panel in Hammer World Editor > Further Map Properties > Property Name Detail material file > Set the value of Detail material file to detail/detailsprites_survival.

List of Danger Zone values for Detail material file:
• detail/detailsprites_survival [dz_blacksite]
• detail/dust_massive_detail_sprites [dz_sirocco]



To set the grass to the material, use "Paint Alpha" in the Displacement settings, but be aware that the official materials are governed by a mask that will not allow you to set the grass manually, more on that in another thread.
If you are using a mask and are experiencing performance troubles due to grass, click "Invert Alpha" to remove the already placed grass.

Let's start blending
Go to the settings "Displacement" and select there "Sculpt", then find the button "Blend" and there select the desired texture.

Blending control:
• [Left mouse button] – Apply selected texture.
• [Ctrl] + [Left mouse button] – Remove selected texture.
• [Right mouse button] + Mouse movement left or right – Resize blending area.

Bug: If the camera mode in 3D view is set to "3D Shaded Textured Polygons", then you will not see the drawn part of the texture. Camera mode should be set to "3D Textured" when drawing (fixed in Hammer++).

Creating your own 4wayblend material with Danger Zone style grass →

Keeping with tradition, I'd say it's about time we took a look at what our community has achieved throughout the year. If last time I was saying how 2017 was a year of immense growth, then 2018 was surely one of significant change. And it hasn't been without its troubles and anxious moments. No change ever is, but I believe it to be for the best. We've seen some of our friends become parents, change work fields or get their first job in the industry. We've even seen a few pursue their dream projects. And for that, we have to applaud them. It takes courage to keep moving forward and to realise when it's time for something new. In the meantime, I hope this article inspires you and I wish everyone 

good luck!

2018: Mapcore's Year in Review

SteamVR - Gulping Goat Space Farm

by @Steve, @marnamai, @The Horse Strangler, @Sersch and others at Scraggy Rascal Studios

produced in collaboration with Valve

"Scraggy Rascal has been working with Valve to create all new SteamVR content, we've been given a lot of liberty to create these locations. Our goal was to create interesting and fun locations for the player to explore. These projects, over the last couple months, have been a crash course in Source 2,VR, project management, delivering within deadlines, working together as a team and personal growth. It has been an invaluable experience and great opportunity ... and we're just getting started!" - marnamai

Darksiders III - Art

by @The Horse Strangler and others at Gunfire Games

"Probably one of the biggest challenges the artists and designers faced on Darksiders 3 was working with both a platforming and fully connected streamed world. This meant that everything exists all the time. While we streamed levels in and out, areas couldn't intersect and we couldn't do the classic "Small exterior, big interior" swap. This was especially challenging because of how much verticality our design must support. We had a few "vistas", but for the most part every aspect of the level was accessible. If you can see it, you will likely be able to get there, jump on it, fight around it, etc. Fury, the main playable character can double jump, swing, float, glide and even rocket jump over 10 meters high. Personally for me it completely changed how I looked at art filling up a space. Every single mesh we placed impacted design. Art was design, and design was art." - The Horse Strangler

Europa

by @[HP]

"Europa is a relaxing narrative experience. The goal with this game is to offer just enough challenge that its rewarding to get from one area to the other for more than just the visuals by using environmental hazards, platforming sequences and light puzzles that you can beat by exploring.The game is split into linear sections and wider areas, that's at the core of the game and as you play, you keep improving your characters moving ability, which will further exploration and give you the ability to solve newer light puzzles. There's none of the typical character upgrading systems, rather, the levels will offer the incremental challenges and the sense of progression. Europa's main focus lies in environmental storytelling and immersing the player in it's universe with passive storytelling, evoking awe and bliss with colorful watercolor-like art and music." - Helder Pinto

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive - Turnpike

by @Squad

"For a while the "Highway Restaurant" theme has been sitting in my little Concepts.txt file. When the Wingman Contest was announced, it felt like the perfect opportunity to turn this idea into a map, as its relatively small size would be fitting for the Wingman gamemode. The casual nature of Wingman made me add some elements that I would not normally add to, let's say, a Defusal map, like the TF2-esque team color coding (albeit subtle), the moving vehicles and the silly bomb target. Additionally, since the playable space is (almost) completely indoors, making it nighttime felt right, as it both emphasizes the interiors and makes for an atmospheric blorange background." - Squad

Dying Light - A New Hope

by @will2k

"A full-fledged custom single player campaign that ties in to the original story of the main game. It will see the main protagonist, Kyle Crane,leaving the City for the countryside to search for a specific elusive medicinal herb and bring it back to Dr. Camden who believes it could be the cure to the Harran Virus. This campaign is a one man show as I’m doing everything myself: level design, environment art/detailing, story creation, scripting/quest creation, custom dialog, custom audio, custom materials/textures, custom foliage systems, custom brushes for terrain painting/sculpting, lighting, manual nav mesh tuning, scripted NPCs…" - will2k

Prodeus

by @General Vivi and Michael Voeller

"Prodeus is the first person shooter of old, re-imagined using modern rendering techniques. Oh, and tons of blood, gore, and secrets. Creating Prodeus has meant a lot to us over the last year. It feels great to finally be doing something for ourselves. It can be pretty ambitious at times since there are just two of us, but I’m confident we can pull it off. Keep an eye out for the end of February for a big announcement." - General Vivi

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive - Ruby

by @catfood

"When I was on vacation in Portugal years ago I was so impressed by the city Lisbon that I really wanted to build a map that has the same vibe. At the time I was already working on different projects so I decided whenever I got enough time to work on a map this size I would go back. So early 2017 the moment was finally there, I went back to Lisbon to shoot (~2000) reference photos then made a list of things that are iconic for Lisbon and started working on Ruby. Adding a lot of height differation, warm colors, tile patterns and ofcourse trams was essentiental to get the Lisbon vibe." - catfood

Subnautica

by @dux, @PogoP and others at Unknown Worlds Entertainment

"A mix of Survival, story, mystery, resource gathering, base building with some accidental horror and plenty of deep, deep water. We had not long finished up with Natural Selection 2 and were hungry to develop a different kind of game. During development we were (and still are) a small team but the game kept getting bigger and grew into something far larger in scope than originally planned. So we soon realised that what we had could be turned into something really unique if we put our heads down and just cranked on it." - dux

Unreal Tournament 4 - Chamber

by @Ubuska

"I used Halo and Warframe artstyle as a reference. The goal of this project was to make fun and cool looking map with 100% custom art that is 100 mb in file size. To achieve that I used several advanced techniques such as custom vertex normals, deferred mesh decals, no bake, tiling base materials and masks. There are basically 5 or so texture maps used in the entire map,  most of the filesize space was taken by lightmaps. I learned a lot doing this project in terms of composition, art direction and optimization. Hope you enjoy this map as much as I do!" - Ubuska

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive - Pitstop

by @Quotingmc and Quadratic

"It is not often that CS: GO receives a new game-mode, especially one as competitively focused as Wingman. I was understandably pleased at the announcement of the 2018 CSMapMakers contest for the mode. Pitstop was my entry where I set out to create a thematically bold centre piece for my portfolio. With the help of my teammate Quadratic and support from multiple Mapcore members, I learnt a lot about taking a level from a simple blockout to completion; I can say for certain I’m thrilled with the end result!" - Quoting

Black Mesa - Xen

by @JeanPaul, Adam Engels and others at Crowbar Collective

"While building Xen we had to design, iterate, and iterate (then iterate some more). We took what we thought we knew, and put it to the test. We learned how design and scope work together, and how to build momentum as a team. We are extremely proud of what we have accomplished over the year(s)! Despite the long and occasionally frustrating timeline, it has been a real testament to the commitment that this team and this community have for Half-Life." - Adam Engels

Unreal Engine 4 scene

by @Vorontsov

"So I decided I would step out of my comfort zone and create a small environment in an engine I've never used before, UE4. Although I think I did a fairly decent job at the time there were ultimately many nuances I could have done better, but that is the artist dilemma. This project taught me the value of properly blocking out your environment, gathering as many references as you can and to have patience and not rush through assets, when breaking any of these rules I was punished for it. Stay tuned for my next project which will be a giant mech, coming soon Valve time TM." - Vorontsov

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive - Opal

by @MikeGon

"My goal with this project was to make a fun and compact defuse map, with a simple level flow, ample verticality, and an overlapped layout! I wanted to have interior and exterior, and break the grid a lot, to avoid having that "90 degrees grid" feel in the layout. I needed to have a vista on one side of the map to help with orientation, so I decided to make it a coastal town, inspired by those found on the island of Skopelos, Greece. Expect more updates in the near future, as I'm not yet satisfied with it. Since this is my only CSGO map, I want to put all my time and effort into it, and focus on quality instead of quantity. Thank you everybody for your support and feedback! <3" - MikeGon

Insurgency: Sandstorm - Precinct

by @Xanthi, @Squad, @Jonny Phive, @LATTEH, @Steppenwolf and others at New World Interactive

"Precinct, was a fun and challenging map to work on. We decided early on to melt District and Contact two of our very nostalgic maps together into a single large-scale urban environment. The goal was to preserve the nostalgic feeling and at the same time create something unique and fresh not just a 1:1 copy. In the block-out stage we started playing with different terrain heights, which eventually was the key to accomplish our goal. Terrain height was a bit of a trial and error process; I remember driving up a hill and not having enough torque, oops!!" -Xanthi

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive - Killhouse

by @FMPONE

"Killhouse showcases brutal duels, player reaction times, and close-quarters combat. A highly vertical layout ensures the sort of unpredictability and replayability ideal for CS:GO’s 2vs.2 "Wingman" game-mode." - FMPONE

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive - Station

by @Roald and @untor

"All experiences contribute to where I am at this point. I am just a hobbiest but I think I learned alot about level design just by doing it and enjoying it. Overal my goal is to improve myself on level design, but also enviorment art. I think I archieved a goal on level design and it's now time to continue on enviorment art. This is where untor morozov comes in. I have met untor a while ago. He made this map 'Waterfall' which was pretty populair. I liked his designs and added him as a friend. When I had this wingman map going on with positive feedback I just contacted him again to work on it with me and since this moment we have had a incredible teamwork. I am gameplay orientated and he is art orientated so we were a great couple. We just enjoyed work on this project and respected eachother and had alot of fun." - Roald

The Gap

by @Yanzl and Sara Lukanc

"The Gap is a sci-fi thriller first person narrative exploration video game. You play as Joshua Hayes, a neuroscientist trying to figure out what happened, barely remembering anything about his past. It started as a project for our BA thesis and has now grown into a standalone game. It's also my first "real" indie game project, helping me learn a lot about Unreal Engine 4 and game development in general." - Yanzl

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive - Alexandra remake

by @Serialmapper

"My first successful map was born 10 years ago for CS1.6. It was done in just 4 days. Since then it has been ported/improved several times on CS:S then finally on CS:GO. It always had a "dust" theme. Initially i wanted to remake it with an "inferno" style but when the new dust2 came i switched the plan to use the new assets. The map was and is frequently played on public servers especially in Eastern Europe so i had plenty of feedback to improve it. For some it's just another "dust" map, but for me it's my dust2." - Serialmapper

Far Cry 5 - Wetland Turmoil

by @grapen

"I wanted to try working with location design in an (imaginary) open world game for the first time, so I made this backwater cabin neighborhood. At the time I also wanted to see what the limits were in Farcry Arcade and how far I could push it. The level has fixed spawns (a limitation of the editor), but I toyed with the idea of making it work regardless from which direction the player would have approached it. The pathing and player guidance is more or less shaped like the number eight, with the church acting as an outlook. Your task is to eliminate all the bad guys. In the end I wanted to do so much more, but couldn't due to technical limitations. All in all it was a fun experience to make it." - grapen

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive - Trailerpark

by @OrnateBaboon and @Skybex

"We wanted to make a map for CSGO, using a theme that had not been seen in any previous version of Counter-Strike.The map had to incorporate everyday plausibility, provide for enough variety so that things remained visually interesting,  but also be flexible enough to allow for the use of low geometry for easy grenade strategies. Being able to immediately recognize a theme in a map is always important, so with all this criteria in mind, A trailer park fitted the bill perfectly. There is still some way to go before a full release, but 2018 was a great year for progress on this project." - OrnateBaboon

Unreal Engine 4 scene

by @Corvus

"I was inspired by games like stalker and the last of us. The goal was to make something photoreal with a lot of foliage. It took a couple of iterations but I think I achieved the goal in the end. While making this project I've had to learn a lot about Speedtree to make all the foliage, it was a really cool experience. Right now I'm in the army so unfortunately I can't make any more scenes right now, but after I'll come back I'll try to make more scenes like that." - Corvus

Overwatch - Busan

by @Minos, @[HP], @PhilipK, @IxenonI, Phil Wang, Lucas Annunziata and others at Blizzard Entertainment

"Busan was a challenging map to make. Due to the game having 12 different heroes on screen we have a somewhat limited memory budget for maps, that includes all models, textures, effects, collision data, lighting information, etc... Fitting three radically different areas (Downtown, Sanctuary and MEKA Base) into one single map budget required us to find new ways to optimize our work. In the end, we were even squeezing kilobytes out of collision data to make it all fit, no kidding! But the result speaks for itself, the map was fun to work on and we are very proud of what we accomplished!" - Minos

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive - Highlands

by @ElectroSheep, @El Moroes and @'RZL

"We wanted to make a map in Scotland because, thanks to dishonored 2, we were browsing a lot of references froms this area and we really loved it. I also went myself here in holliday after that. We asked one of our close friends to make some special props, like the police van, the taxi, the phonebox and some others. Unfortunatly the hard development of Dishonored 2 put us in a difficult state where we weren't able to work on the map. So we lost motivation. Then RZL contacted us because he didn't want the project to die so we gave him the keys. And RZL became busy too ^^. Life sometime say NO I guess, hehe. Now Highlands Is my only advanced project I still didn't finished and I'm ready to give it a try, I hope." - ElectroSheep

"Highlands...is this map is a joke? Certainly no but we can say that the development is quite longer than what we expected. Perhaps we learn well how the famous "Valve time" works? :p No seriously I think we can explain that with the motivation. Of course we were motivated to create something cool with this map but with the time and, I think, with what we live in our life we never took the time to do it correctly...I mean we never had a constant rythm on the map. This (and other personal things) led to the current statut of the map; a still "work in progress" map started in 2014. But ElectroSheep came back and his goal is to finish it, and because he's right, I'll come back too to help him. Just, be patient (again) ;)" - El Moroes

Battlefield V - Fjell

by @Puddy, @Pampers and others at DICE

"Fjell was an explosive experiment which paired a new Battlefield dynamic, planes and infantry only, with an epic gosh darn mountain top. Tackling this design combination was like dealing with a bear after you've kicked it in the balls. It was a fun challenge and even though its extreme gameplay is quite polarizing when compared to more middle-of-the-road maps, I am happy that we went there!" - Puddy

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive - Iris

by @BubkeZ and @Oliver

"Iris was born out of a shared interest in the TV-show "Seinfeld", funnily enough. One day BubkeZ noticed I had changed my Steam profile picture to a photo of "George Costanza" and just like that the wheels were in motion! In the beginning, BubkeZ had the vision of an old city environment with lots of dirty alleyways and brick architecture. We didn't want to fall in the trap of making the map look too bleak, so we came up with the idea of making a mid-century town set in autumn. While the map certainly have visual elements from the 50's, I would say the overall theme of Iris is american auto-industry. Making the old cars was definitely my favorite part of making this map!" - Oliver

Unreal Engine 4 scene

by @Brightness

"I have always been a fan of retro and vintage, so this was like a dream to me. After watching the first season of True Detective, I immediately fell in love with the office set and the way the series was shot. I have definitely learned a lot from this project, mostly lighting techniques that can fill your scene with a story. The goal was to recreate their environment in my own style, and I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out. I definitely wasn't expecting this much of positive feedback and I'm really thankful for this community. I want to do something with the environments, not just as a portfolio piece, but make a short film or make a small adventure game out of them." - Brightness

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive - Insertion 2

by @Oskmos

"Being the follow up to the first Insertion it will have the same overall concept with the spawning and open-world like layout. However this time it will be a more urban setting and overall higher quality art assets. I always love to make environments that feels real. And that are familiar. Its all made up. But the details and various elements in Insertion 2 is from my childhood basically. Friends that grew up in the same place I have recognizes it aswell." - Oskmos

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The Door Challenge

Submission thread

Articles

Designing Highly Replayable Stealth Levels for Payday 2

Level Design in Max Payne: Roscoe Street Station

Effect and Cause - Titanfall 2 Level Breakdown

2017: Mapcore's Year in Review

Hurg smiles upon you all!

THE DOOR CHALLENGE!

I want to start out by welcoming you to the 2ND Door Challenge! It’s been a little over 7 Years since we held the first one! A lot has changed in our industry and new engines have made level design more accessible than ever before. With all the fresh talent coming into our industry, I think it’s important that we challenge ourselves and each other to push our creative thinking.

This challenge is meant to be for everyone to join in, from your first time level designer to your Senior and Lead Designers! Everyone is in a different place throughout their careers and it’s always fun to hone your skills on one of the most old school puzzles of our time “Get the Door Open!”. The last time we did this we had a fantastic turn out of completed and submitted puzzles! Especially since we are focusing on JUST design and scripting and NOT on art!

As this is a scripting challenge, you are encouraged to use Dev textures or simple greyscale materials and only what art assets are absolutely necessary to communicate key ideas. The point is to focus on your Scripting / Presentation / Storytelling / Puzzle Making skills.

Most entries generally took a few days to build from start to finish, so don't sweat worrying about the deadline. If you would like to get a better idea, check out some of the entries from the first door challenge.

Remembering our Past

SOLEVAL - First Place

  Magnar Jenssen - Participation

  Robert Yang - Participation

Jason Mojica - Participation

Rules and QA

Build a puzzle and craft a story to creatively open “The Door”! It doesn't matter whether you're entering, exiting, or just moving from one room to another - just get that DOOR OPEN!

• Acceptable Engines : UE4 / Unity / Source SDK

  • For UE4 or Unity, you will be REQUIRED to provide an EXE of your game

  • For Source SDK, a simple bsp will do with info on the game you built it in. (Eg. Half-life 2, Portal 2, CS:GO, TF2)

• We encourage you DON’T use Art unless needed to sell your idea. Simple meshes / Dev textures / grey textures should do fine.

• You are ALLOWED to use Templates to start yourself off. Example: UE4 has a FPS , Third Person , and VR template.

• You are ALLOWED to use existing scripting/ blueprints or Code to help you make your puzzle.

• You CAN choose - First person, Third Person , Virtual Reality (VR)

• DON’T submit anything larger than 250 mbs , we want simple entries that everyone can download.

The challenge will begin Friday, August 10th, and end Sunday, September 16th at 11:59PM US CENTRAL time (GMT -6)

Must Haves :

• A zip file including your EXE or map file

• 2 screenshots of your scene (ATTACHED! This will help us archive our entries for posterity)

• A video showing the puzzle's intended solution (hosted on youtube would be fine)

Optional :

• Full Name (optional)

• Website or Portfolio (optional)

• The original level source (and any other relevant files) for inquiring minds to examine your scripting

Judging : We will start judging the day after closing, Everyone will get 3 votes and then we will vote on the top 3 one week later. Things to think about when judging or making an entry.

• Innovation - More than just a simple Door!

• Theme - How close did you stay to the idea of the challenge

• Readability - Was your idea clear and easy to understand?

• Humor - Did you make someone laugh or enjoy your entry?

• Overall - Wrap everything together! Was it awesome?

• Door - Q: How much Door you got? A: Hell yes

Prizes

As with the previous challenge, there will be no prize other than the pride of knowing people thought you were awesome. Woo!