[NS2] [WIP] ns2_caged

    Hai folks!

    Introduction
    I'm Flaterectomy, though I also answer to Flat if the name in its entirety is too much hassle. I believe I was once registered here as G0b when I came from the CS mapping forums back in 2004, and I was very briefly and fruitlessly involved with Nuclear Dawn and Insurgency as a texture artist. The only 'complete' map projects I can claim were two small Half-Life deathmatch maps that I made in 2000 and 2001, so it's about time to add a third.

    Caged

    As for my map, I've been working on Caged since october of 2012. About time to present it here on MapCore, right? It is a remake/reimagining of ns_caged, which came with the original Natural Selection, and was made by Nelson "manah" Ferryman. I've been maintaining a thread for it on the NS2 forums, see the links below. There are various reasons why it's been taking me such a long time, but in recent months I've been able to get regular updates out and I'm confident that I'll be able to complete the project later this year.

    The map has been out on the workshop ever since I completed its earliest greybox in october 2012. It has seen a lot of testing in our weekly Spark Crafter Collective custom map playtests, and is being played competitively in the Natural Selection League. The marines always start in Marine Start, and the alien hive spawns in either Sewer, Ventilation, or Generator. As things stand right now there are 10 res nodes on the map in total.

    Links
    Caged on the Steam Workshop
    Thread on the NS2 forums
    Thread on the NSL forums
    YouTube playlist

    Jesus, the level of mapping skills some people posses... I gotta say that I love everything about it, lightning, atmosphere and brush work. I'm not a NS2 player myself but I had to congratulate you on a job well done!

    Tell me do you make CSGO maps too? The competitive CSGO scene welcomes experienced leveldesigners when it comes to either balance or create new maps for competition. Valve tries to make this happen but more that often it is the community that set the standards in regards to what does and does not work. FMpone is regarded as "the" leveldesigner for CSGO atm, he is working on couple of projects but if I can add my 5cents worth, I really think that we need more like him, there are a couple out there but so far only his creations are being used competitively/professionally rest are maps created before CSGO was released.

    The map pool for CSGO looks currently like this.

    de_dust2
    de_inferno
    de_nuke

    de_train
    de_mirage
    de_cobblestone
    de_cache
    de_season
    de_overpass


    That's it, 9 maps that have been beaten to death over the years, except cache, season and overpass cause they haven't been around for that long during Counter strike's lifetime.

    Again, your map looks very good and I hope it plays as good it looks, cheers.

    Thanks for the kind words.


    8bit, I don't map for CS:GO, no. I logged about 4 hours in that game. Felt a lot like 1.6, but I just haven't dedicated much time to it.


    Taylor Swift, I definitely filled in the blanks with my own ideas. It began as just a straight remake, but turned into a reimagining. I haven't actually worked on it constantly since october 2012, there were some sizable gaps due to feeling burnt out, health issues, etc.

    I like all the areas, they look cool and very sci-fi. I guess it's hard for me to criticize because on the one hand I like everything you made, but on the other they are a bit generic and the lighting is a bit similar to the other NS2 maps. So it's mixed for me. I guess some custom props and different lighting would solve all of my complaints. The average players would probably really appreciate everything either way though, they would probably be happy regardless

    My aim has been to make ns2_caged look like an official NS2 map, so I've not gone out of my way to find a way to innovate. (I'm not saying I could easily churn out something spectacularly different, though.)


    I also spent quite some time studying ns2_veil, so perhaps that's why certain elements feel too recognizable to you somehow.

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