[CSGO] De_Urakka

I will play it today.

Heya,

Just played your level I couldn't well ignore someone who has put in the hard work.

This is a first impressions feedback post (I will do a more detailed post when If I get a bit more time this afternoon):

Appearance:

- Your level is not ugly!

-The outdoor areas are the best parts of your level visually, and it does feel like a farm.

- The indoor lighting needs some work and I would make this your priority first.

- Take out some of the indoor screenshots you have on your workshop page until the lighting is right. (The last two you have linked above I would remove).

-The overhead walkways you have in the centre of the map I noticed are very thin, I would add a view more units thickness to these. Imagine if you were walking on those in real life, they would bend and bounce so much at the current thickness.

As some advice in this area for lighting, perhaps look at a game like Red Dead Redemption. I mention this game because it has some similar farm areas with those large barns that you have. The most effective tool a level designer has with Hammer is the power of the outdoor lights. I noticed your barns/buildings have a lot of windows looking in, but they're not really benefiting from the outside lights that you have. Yes they would have some indoor lights for when it gets dark, but not as many as you have placed.

e.g: you have I think is a room for chickens or for feeding?, around 17 lights in that small area. Never-mind the electricity bill!, you would go blind if you turned them all on

Try this on a bright day at home, open your curtains and then turn on a lamp or indoor light, try to match this effect in your indoor areas.

Sadly the industry has created a bit of a monster when it comes to visuals, so it is much harder for level designers to stand out if the visual side is not up to scratch. If players are put off, they will dismiss the rest of your level straight away, even if you had the best game-play ever. I think what you have here is really good, just needs polishing, which takes time but it will be worth it at the end:)

The game-play felt fairly solid, but I need to spend more time on this.

p.s Don't be afraid to be a bit mad with making changes. Save your map beforehand and then go wild. If you have been looking at something for as long as you have, you can get attached and a bit stuck mentally to how things currently look.

Quote from Dosentti

I went to my childhood neighbour's farm and took some photos from their old piggery. It's not in use anymore but those lamps that come very low above the pigs are used for keeping little piggy's warm.

These lamps should have reddish lighting. That's just how they look and it'll make the room a lot more interesting imo.

[Blocked Image: http://i00.i.aliimg.com/photo/v1/60079722300_5/Poultry_Farm_Infrared_Led_Heat_Lamp.jpg]

Please change that brick paving texture in pic 7

Quote from Dosentti

Since I'have gotten no feedback at all I guess the map isn't very good is it?

Just say that it's at leas ugly.. -.-'

worst reaction ever. Seriously.

I'm not sure why people post their stuff they definitely want to improve on (as you said, the playtest is still coming) in the Finished Work section. Haven't seen this for the first time.

The looks are way to sterile, especially in the indoor sections. That wood texture is craving for attention but it has nothing to accompany it's desire. Look at some of the indoors of maps that are official or were in one of the operations. Get a feeling for colors, that work together. You've done it right e.g. in the barn and the brick archways, but the piggery and the office (or house, whatever it's called) just look way off.

I had a quick look on the map and it plays well, there are just some areas that have just too much access and/or cover.

Bombspot A seems more balanced in this manner, the only thing you should rethink is actually having the bomb plantable in that wooden bell tower. You can only access via duck jump from the front of it, making it really easy to defend from one of the windows in the house (and for that purpose I think you should remove the one in the bathroom/sauna/whatever). Either lower the base or make the access into the tower easier. I like the way you can access that spot as a CT (which is jumping over the fence) but still have a good rotation point over the CT/MID/A Connector thingy. It's just very much to watch to see enemies incoming, it is probably a mess to defend since the Ts can also jump on the house just before the fence from T-side with help of the house.

Water texture wasn't working for me in the pool btw, not sure if anyone else can confirm. It was just nodraw.

Bombsite B and the surrounding barn is freaking huge. You can set up the bomb and go hiding somewhere, there are so many possibilities. Too many in my opinion. Try to break down the bombspot into something more easier with less but more thoughtful cover and areas where you can watch and hide.

The piggery as well is just too big, also having connections between all of the halls in there just feels way to redundant, not to say unnecessary. Again, try to break it down into something more memorable and thoughtful (waypoint-wise).

Mid, oh boy! A very heavy mess, a fun one though. And again too many places to shoot from. The entrance leading into the CT Mid is so open and should definitely be refined. I think the upper ways on mid are somewhat useful for rotation between B and A for CTs, but they just offer too many possibilities.

You could go as far as removing the connection between the T-side and the CT-side on the upper level or remove it completely. The mid is definitely not a place to hold, but more of a firefight place, or biased sniper battle of whoever comes first. I liked the little sniper spot from CT side though, you might want to keep that since it gives somewhat of a good position for adjustment when mid gets overrun and you can retreat back into the connector or CT spawn either way.

This could definitely be fun to play with still a lot of adjustments, and perhaps you should also consider deathmatch as a possible mode (if it isn't already).

Have a nice day and keep up the work!

you should ask a mod to move this thread to 3D. this section of the forum is for finished projects.

After playtesting this map last night:

• Way too many routes/too open. you could close off a couple of the buildings to improve gameplay massively. Not every area of a map should be open and playable! I can help with this if you want.
• Design chokes where the CTs and Ts meet to make the gameplay more predicable. I was getting blindsided most rounds by seemingly random encounters.
• The Theme of the map is muddled. why do you have a swimming pool and a belltower on a farm? Why is 'kill them' written in blood decals on a wall?..
• Random areas added to 'slow' rushes. With proper chokes you won't need this.

Just ignore things like that. If you want to improve your designs and map making and are willing to listen to feedback then mapcore is the perfect place for you.

Playtests focus (I would say the voting aswell) on layout first and foremost- you should too. Texturing can come after the layout is more solid

I'll have another run around the level and post what changes I would make. My goal would be defining the routes better which should lead to more predicable gameplay.

Okay here is the current routes through the map. This list map be incomplete but it's all the ones I saw last night on my quick 2nd run through.

[Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/XGf97th.png]

here are the changes I'd make for a first pass. (please note this is only personal opinion and I've not tested timings in regards to chokes- this is just in regards to the sightlines and giving the map a more structured layout)

[Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/R9ZVxYr.png]

here's the new paths from this:

Let me know what you think

One thing I would suggest - use the theme to present the layout. I don't think you should be trying to do it the other way.

The layout is the core of a good csgo map, this is why most people on here playtest their layouts without textures or detailing first

Heya,

Good to see you moving forward and applying the feedback given to you , this in turn is making your level better so yes on any better.

Ok before I comment on your light_environment, are you going to change the skybox to support this change in lighting?

The light you currently have is closer to what we call a 'Sheperds Delight, red sky at night'. Red of this level of saturation is very difficult to manage.

link here

The image below is for a typical early morning sunrise.

Link I found for image that might support this better

The colour of your shadow_control is also closer to a night time/moon out as they're noticeably on the blue side.

I recommend finding images like the one i linked, then if you use a paint program like paint, gimp or photoshop, use the colour picker tool and pick the main colour/shade and take note of the hue/sat/lum and RGB values. You then have a good base to tweak the lights from here.

-Final question I'm guessing you haven't finished the nav mesh for the bots yet? (as my whole ct team were jumping up and down at a wall in the piggery room )

They don't tend to be a readily available resource unless you get permission from the original creator.

My advice would be to go with a stock skybox for now. I say this not to deter you from being ambitious but more so you can focus on the design feedback others have given you so far .

Valve have this handy site all setup with the correct light settings to match the skybox texture.

skyboxes

Design first, art later, especially if level design is the career you want to pursue. You can get bogged down with art until your eyes and brain fall out .