MapCore CS:GO Playtesting 3.0

Well I just finished playing Contention, and it seemed to be a little favorable to CT IMO, seeing as both bases are SO close to spawn. Then again the long ass line of sight for A is a little too much. I also feel B was a little lack luster, not many fights happened there but maybe a rush or two.

I have been playing around with the idea of moving the left bombsite (seen from T's spawn) forward a bit. I've moved it to the cellar and tested it with bots, but I'm really doubtful if it'd be an improvement or not.

Someone mentioned (forgot who) that some areas were now too open on T's side. Any clarification on that?

Also, what do you guys think of the changes made to the left chokepoint (the one leading to the cellar)?

Thanks for playtesting and the feedback btw, everybody!

Hmm. It sounds like I can try moving the CT spawn back even further and close up that long A sightline.

Not sure what to do to improve B - was it too tight to maneuver in there? I guess it's pretty easy for the CTs to lock up.

When you say tighten up timings - where are Ts and CTs seeing each other?

Any particular areas that stood out as unrealistic, or is it kind of a problem everywhere?

Thanks for taking the time to play!

DE_ALI

Beeeeeautiful map! It's very easy to get lost on it, though. At least on the first 4~10mins. Many different routes, and some small spaces that at first look like they lead to another path, but in reality they are just a "retracted" space that acts as the entrance of a house, for example. Even though they help to make the layout feel confusing, the good thing about these kind of spaces is that they are usually a good spot to hide/ camp. I think the overall layout is kinda refreshing from what we usually see. Those archways with stairs could be a little larger, because at the moment the player has to try more than once to crouch jump through them (maybe a small clipping issue).

DE_CONVENTION

The CT spawn could receive a little work. At the moment the CTs tend to follow the left route (from what I noticed, anyway) and following the right path basically means that you should have a sniper, as by the time you get there, there would be a Terrorist aiming at your forehead. I would suggest to break some walls and create a path that goes from the CT spawn to the bomb site on the right side, making the CTs to get to the bomb site quicker.

It's a fun map, but right now it seems very T-sided

DE_BERMUDA

I found weird the fact that touching the water was harmful. I understand that could be a way from preventing the players to leave the map arena, but it seemed a little forced. I'd suggest creating some kind of physical/ visible barrier to separate the playing zone from the merely cosmetic sea. A few boats? floating panks? barrels?

de_ali

can't speak to gameplay, but i ran around on it and think it's looking great...

the only big thing that stood out were the beams over that curving stair. really out of scale. if you gave them a purpose, it would probably answer itself, but right now they neither provide shade or structure and just look alien.

also, i like the coded orange arch for bombsite B. site A does have the church facade, but coming from B, you don't see it, and what you do see is pretty nondescript. maybe get more strategic with the color and the trim there (and on the church facade) to equalize things.

really nice update.

I only managed to play de_convention before my PC decided to blue screen , but I had a lot of fun on it. It is so easy to learn, but also has enough going on to make things interesting. The map has a really nice flow to it, and not once did I get lost.

Overall, my biggest concern would definitely be art related. Some of the areas have a bit of a "game arena" feel to them, and trying to turn those into plausible spaces might prove a little tricky. I think it could be beneficial even at this early stage to try and define - at least in a very rough sense, exactly what each area is going to be, and what type of buildings or structures the blocked out shapes are eventually going to turn into.

Regarding the sites on de_ali (assuming they are in the same place as before). I think the placement of them is really good! Although the travel time between them is about 8 seconds or so, there are a lot of places the T's can be hiding post-plant. So the short distance does allow the CT team to search around quite a bit before going for a defuse.

Only played a few round on ali, like the visual even if it's now a bit too monotonous. The new bombsite is cleaner (last one was a bit too cramped) but the way on the left from T spawn to the second bombsiteis really hard (but again, I was late at the party)

De_Bermuda, if I like the idea, feels like it's a first map, maybe it is. texture choice is weird (especially aztec ones) maybe it's wip, and gameplay is not solid because of the large number of paths. Size looks okay beside of that. But anyway we made some good round in it.

Sorry for the fast feedback, i'm late D:

Quote from Al Anselmo~Intelect0

DE_ALI

Beeeeeautiful map! It's very easy to get lost on it, though. At least on the first 4~10mins. Many different routes, and some small spaces that at first look like they lead to another path, but in reality they are just a "retracted" space that acts as the entrance of a house, for example. Even though they help to make the layout feel confusing, the good thing about these kind of spaces is that they are usually a good spot to hide/ camp. I think the overall layout is kinda refreshing from what we usually see. Those archways with stairs could be a little larger, because at the moment the player has to try more than once to crouch jump through them (maybe a small clipping issue).

Yeah, I can image the layout may seem a bit confusing at first (with the little doorway halls, etc), but all in all I think the layout is pretty easy to learn after a few rounds (although I'm not in a very good position to judge that anymore ). The main idea behind these kind of spaces was to provide ways of cover (instead of, let's say, a crate) and, additionally, to break up the buildings and architecture.

Which archways specifically are you talking about?

Quote from cincinnati

de_ali

can't speak to gameplay, but i ran around on it and think it's looking great...

the only big thing that stood out were the beams over that curving stair. really out of scale. if you gave them a purpose, it would probably answer itself, but right now they neither provide shade or structure and just look alien.

also, i like the coded orange arch for bombsite B. site A does have the church facade, but coming from B, you don't see it, and what you do see is pretty nondescript. maybe get more strategic with the color and the trim there (and on the church facade) to equalize things.

really nice update.

I agree those beams may seem a bit 'heavy'. Some of them just have a lantern hanging on them. Not sure if I just want to get rid of them alltogether, but I'll definately look into it!

I was actually considering removing that orange arch at bombsite B, since I thought it was starting to look out of place after the visual update of most of the rest of the map

Quote from OrnateBaboon

Regarding the sites on de_ali (assuming they are in the same place as before). I think the placement of them is really good! Although the travel time between them is about 8 seconds or so, there are a lot of places the T's can be hiding post-plant. So the short distance does allow the CT team to search around quite a bit before going for a defuse.

Bombsites are still in the same place! I think it works kinda well this way (even if they are indeed pretty close to each other), it provides the CT team a fair chance to defuse the bomb if they'd happen to look into the wrong bombsite first. That said, it has been brought up in the past a few times though, so if needed I could push the terrace bombsite a bit further back.

Quote from 3Dnj

Only played a few round on ali, like the visual even if it's now a bit too monotonous. The new bombsite is cleaner (last one was a bit too cramped) but the way on the left from T spawn to the second bombsiteis really hard (but again, I was late at the party)

The part about the left route has been mentioned by Puddy as well and I too think it should be improved a bit (in favour of the T team). I guess its problem is more specifically the tunnel leading to the cellar being a bit of a bottleneck (whichever team can hold/take it, has control over the terrace bombsite).

Suggestions for this are very welcome I feel that an extra sideroute (leading to the cellar for example) would flip the advantage to the T team too much.

All in all, I'm glad people generally seemed to like the visual update! Credits to FMPONE for that

Quote from Squad

Yeah, I can image the layout may seem a bit confusing at first (with the little doorway halls, etc), but all in all I think the layout is pretty easy to learn after a few rounds (although I'm not in a very good position to judge that anymore ). The main idea behind these kind of spaces was to provide ways of cover (instead of, let's say, a crate) and, additionally, to break up the buildings and architecture.

Which archways specifically are you talking about?

hmm apparently I was having a hard time on jumping through them because of my enormous ping (200~300) during playtest. I just opened the game to test with bots and I could jump through the archways just fine

Cool, thanks for checking

Quote from Al Anselmo~Intelect0

DE_CONVENTION

The CT spawn could receive a little work. At the moment the CTs tend to follow the left route (from what I noticed, anyway) and following the right path basically means that you should have a sniper, as by the time you get there, there would be a Terrorist aiming at your forehead. I would suggest to break some walls and create a path that goes from the CT spawn to the bomb site on the right side, making the CTs to get to the bomb site quicker.

It's a fun map, but right now it seems very T-sided

There originally was an entrance there, so I opened it back up and I feel like that helped. I also added in more cover so the sight lines are a lot more sane, and added a little more space to the left hand entrance/balcony there. Good suggestions, thanks!

Quote from OrnateBaboon

Overall, my biggest concern would definitely be art related. Some of the areas have a bit of a "game arena" feel to them, and trying to turn those into plausible spaces might prove a little tricky. I think it could be beneficial even at this early stage to try and define - at least in a very rough sense, exactly what each area is going to be, and what type of buildings or structures the blocked out shapes are eventually going to turn into.

That's something I'm trying to work on, but it's been a hard habit to break out of. I just start laying out big blocks for gameplay and end up with (surprise) blocky abstract architecture. I think I need to start pulling more photo reference ahead of time, or something. But I really like the flexibility of keeping it blocky to make easy gameplay changes. I need to find a happy medium there.

It would be perfectly possible to, after you got the layout blocked out quite rough as you did, turn the map into a believable environment. The biggest downside however, will be that it probably limits your options quite a bit. As people mentioned, it's easier if you have a setting in mind before starting to lay out any blocks and once you do, make it a little more detailed (still rough though, only the basic shapes). But in the end, that's also a matter of taste and working method, I guess. Whatever works for you!

It's a pretty fun map, I enjoyed it! But it's a bit too large scaled for my taste (then again, I guess I kinda like smaller scaled maps with quick gameplay). It happened a few times that people wandered around the map searching for the remaining enemies.

I'll try to give some more detailed feedback when I have more spare time on my hands!

I will probably have an initial layout to test.

I will have a non final version of ruins, certainly. With a small new paths I want to test to make my A bombsite more accessible. Need to make a good clipping pass D: This will also be a good play to test visibility.

Pretty sure the new engine removes like 95% of required clipping to make a map final, 3dnj.

EDIT: You probably meant out of bounds clipping.

Yes, I have a couple of place where we can fall.