[CS:GO] de_sake worklog by MrSkellyBones

    de_sake Worklog


    Going to use this thread as a progress log (prepare for WIP copypasta) until the final release of de_sake (thats saké as in the japanese rice beer). The basic layout is done and I've moved on to texturing and detail work already. Here's what the layout looks like.


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    [Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/U5WS4Sb.png?1]


    They style of the map is going to be similar to an abandoned mill/nuke so lots of rust/brick textures. Gameplay wise I want there to be lots of wallbangs/weak cover so sheet metal brushes and hollow boxes are strewn about. I'm slowly eliminating as much prop based cover as I can so i have better control of this. B is a little more seculded and has a harder rotation then A, but a more difficult uphill rout to assault. Here's a layout with rout and first encounter areas highlighted. Right now the entrance into A yard sort of mirrors the entrance to B site. Something I'm currently not proud of. I Plan on reworking it a bit.


    A is placed farther back in the map with more entrances I'm currently learning how to make my own blend textures to give a little more life to the map (mostly dirt/grass on cement). So far I've detailed most of B. Here's what it looks like so far.



    And that's about where I am so far. I'm going to start detailing mid and the opposite wall on T-road. Im still learning how to work with props and overlays. I've done layouts for a few maps in the past (in TF2 mainly), but this is the first time I've moved on to texturing and detail so it's been quite the learning experience. I'm having a lot of fun and it's a very rewarding process. If you have any tips or suggestions I'd love to hear them. =)


    EDIT: Here's a flat overview to give a better idea of the routs and negative space. I feel like there should be a little more negative A side but I'll probably work that in with brushs/props later.


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    EDITEDIT: Some more bits. T Rush timers to either a or b are about the same at 16 seconds. CT's have an easier rotation to the back of sites at about 10 seconds. However these spots are easier to counter so moving behind the t-side of the site is required which comes out to 16 seconds for at least one CT. I expect the map to slightly CT sided atm. I'm somewhat OK with that but it will take a lot more testing before I really know.


    You can download the layout version here (no textures). Please feel free to test it out if you'd like. I could use the gameplay input. Note that a lot of the prop based cover has been replaced with brush based. There are also some brush errors, that are no corrected in my current working version.

    Layout looks okay, but those indoor corridors/ramps seem very narrow. That might be okay for one exotic route, but not really if you want several people rushing through there at once. Also, make sure you use playerclip brushes to make sure that players dont het stuck in your support beams and such.

    Quote from sven

    Layout looks okay, but those indoor corridors/ramps seem very narrow. That might be okay for one exotic route, but not really if you want several people rushing through there at once. Also, make sure you use playerclip brushes to make sure that players dont het stuck in your support beams and such.

    Thank you for the feedback! I wasn't really sure at what point to do playerclips so I'm waiting on them a bit while I figure out where all the func_details will be. As for the hallways, there's only two primary ones. Mid to B and T-Street to B. Mid to B is more of a delayed route. It's not meant for a full on team rush. T-Street to B does allow 2 people to run side by side down the first half but up the ramp you can only go one at a time. It's probably a better tactic to 2-3 split apartments and T-stairs. Like I said though I have really limited playtest time with this layout. I'd like to organize some 10mans on it as soon as I'm done detailing/optimizing. Widening up the appartment ramps might be a good change for gameplay.


    Something I've been having issues with is justifying some of the routes ascetically. For instance when going into spooky from mid you break a vent and crawl into what essentially is a hallway that visually appears to be the inside of a wall. It feels... hokey. It's the same where spooky connects to office. I'm trying to work in more believable geometry and textures as I design the overall look of each route but it's been a much more difficult task then I anticipated.

    You can add the playerclips as late as you want, just make sure you do the basics before you begin testing with other human players.


    As for tactics/layout: you might know where everything is, and that route X will become very narrow after three turns, but when a public server runs your map for the first time, people are not going to put that much thought in it. You can easily have 5 man go that route, just because they are following each other. If they run into one of the many chokepoints, that might be problematic, especially since the server may have player collision turned on. Try to make your map play well in several scenario's. On the one side of the spectrum there is 5v5 competitive with people who know your map and made strategies for it (if you are interested in making a competitive map), and on the other hand you might have 16vs16 noobs who have never seen your map before.

    Update! Up to sake_52A. I paused on detailing in order to get the rest of the map textured and presentable. I also added some player clips to make stairs and pathing a little smoother. I added some hint brushes to box in some buildings for optimization and found and fixed some func details. Finally I brought in the sky box so it's no longer just surrounding the map in one big brick so you aren't drawing nearly as many visleaves in game.


    http://imgur.com/a/hJv0c



    EDIT: Download link! https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/41027277/de_sake_052A.bsp


    To do before beta list:


    Detail work

    Soundscape

    3D Skybox

    Out of play detail areas

    Optimization

    ???? Am I missing anything?

    de_sake_053A



    That's where I am atm. Going to do a little more work tonight. Over the next couple of days I'll be trying to work out proper brush detailing of A site. I also have to start working on areas outside of the map for detail.

    Hello. Up to version 64. More Detail work done and lots of little tweaks for gameplay. My friends got to play a couple 10 mans on the map so I got to make a lot of changes to help out with the competitive flow. Here are a few before and afters!



    Still got a long way to go but I'm really happy with the way things are shaping up! More work today and I have to optimize Mid a bit as it's drawing to many visleafs.

    Did a little bit of work last night detailing outside of B. I have to fix the windows but I like the over all effect. The grass is casting a rather odd shadow on the displacement map there. I need to find a way to fix that.


    Quote from MrSkellyBones

    Did a little bit of work last night detailing outside of B. I have to fix the windows but I like the over all effect. The grass is casting a rather odd shadow on the displacement map there. I need to find a way to fix that.

    Just disabling shadows will do the job

    Played today for the first time. Timing to get to the bombsites feels right and there are interesting choke points with nice covers.

    The problem for me is that the map feels too convoluted, too many turns, too many windows and line of sights to check.

    Also there's a bit too much platforming going on.


    The inside of site A feels particularly nailed as far as entrances and camping spots go

    It's been some time since I've uploaded something on this map. Mostly because it's been a while since I worked on it. A couple weeks back I fired hammer back up and started... er... hammering away again. I've made some progress in terms of how I build things and it was surprisingly easy to get back in to it and spot the issues and iron things out. Though I'm far from done, I decided to release the map as a beta so I can test the layout in 10 mans. Early reports were more or less how I expected. It was too cramped and to dark in many areas. A couple weeks have passed since then and I've been working quite a bit to make a map with a much better flow. Ascetically, it's still pretty awful but right now it plays better than I could have hoped so I got that going for me. Below is a screenshot dump of the latest build I'll be uploading tomorrow.


    http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/fi…s/?id=222213032



    All and all these past couple of weeks have been humbling. For everything I learned in the past there is still much much more to discover. I hope one day my map will be an accomplished and enjoyable map to play on. Until then I'll keep on hammering. =)

    Documenting some changes to the A Yard and Catwalk sections. The yellow shed was one of the oldest buildings on my map, probably the second or third one I ever made in hammer so it's kind of sad to see it go. That said, I feel like the area looks a lot better with it gone, and I get to bring back a few ideas from much older versions of the map.



    I don't quite like the look of the new building. The grey supports look really odd imbedded in with the bricks and I haven't worked out quite what the upper half will look like. Right now it's to uniform with the windows and all right angles. I'm going to add another vertical element I think and begin detailing it with props and decals.

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