[WIP] de_spice (playtest tonight at 9pm CET)

Too hungover to stream today but I've finally set up a 3ds max to source workflow and so now it's official: de_spice will get custom assets (and decals/textures as well)!

Here's the first custom static_prop, a better looking plank for the underpass area of the map (the mid-to-A connector):

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(Some lighting errors because of fast-vis I guess? Still have that issue that some of my props catch too much lighting.)

Nothing too special, bit of noise, chamfered edges and a custom texture. I like how the text came out that I put on the texture. Has the actual size of the plank on it (250x15 inches) and a subtle innuendo (if your mind is as dirty as mine): "durable wood"

Quote from Vorontsov

@NihiL you should be very careful about making small models like that use a big amount of quads or tris, chamfering edges on something like that is waay too unecessary, this could have been done by just making it a basic rectangle or a small func_detail, keep that in mind. I think you should remake that model or atleast be vary of not just chamfering it too much, even one chamfer to make it slanted on the corners edges is unecessary

Well it was a simple func_detail before and I disliked the simple brush-look it had, looked very amateurish I thought. That's why I made it a model. And it's not that small a model, 250 units in length. And gameplay-relevant. Are props THAT polycount-capped that you can't even chamfer an edge?

Anyways, progress update for today:

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I made a custom metal barrel with cgtextures. Right now the texture is REALLY high quality at 2kx2k so I will probably scale it down. Looks nice though I think and gives a bit more of a custom feel to the map. Will probably add arabic text as well for immersion.

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A custom texture another Team Liquid staff member (I'm on the staff as video editor) made for me. It's a wanted poster for a certain American sniper. Hidden away a bit as it's an easter egg haha.

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Edited the bombsite A a bit. Mostly visual changes. Uses the same custom plank model from the underpass.

Any further thoughts, ideas, concerns, questions or anything? I'm planning a stream for tomorrow!!

Quote from P1g3oN

You had me at the adreN wanted poster. This map looks epic. Keep up the good work.

Haha glad you like it, thanks!

Quote from Vorontsov

@NihiL They can be but shouldn't be, it's a plank and it's unecessary calculating for toasters

Ah I see what you mean, I guess this is just subjective then? I disliked the simple brush so I gave it more detail!

Anyways, stream is on: http://www.twitch.tv/NihiLTV Tune in!

Quote from Vorontsov

@NihiL Just because a car can have 4 steering wheels doesn't mean it should

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I think we're just going to have to agree to disagree here Again, I didn't like that brush-y amateurish look that my previous planks gave me. Now they look like cheaper wood, more 'random' and less clear cut like that photo. And in my poor/rundown environment, I prefer that kind of look. Does that make sense?

Anyways, fun ~3 hour stream today. Thanks to the Mapcore users that tuned in! We did a bunch, here's some screenshots:

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New garden area, behind bombsite A. This is the 'nice' area of the map (hence the terrorist target), a half-done Mosque. Note that I replaced that weird quirky crawlspace entry with a proper arch for fairer gameplay!

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Another shot of the new bombsite A. I removed the weapon double crate and created a different angle that I think is fairer and better (model cover = bad in general I think).

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A lot of work went into this connector (underpass). It's much more details now and I widened it as well as I think it was too narrow at ~120 units before. Now it's 160 roughly. And in that garage with the blue light you can actually spray through the ceiling and into the room above: the sniper window. So this can be used very nicely to take out a sniper playing from there!

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New skybox and I changed the light direction as previously suggested in this thread! I also rounded the stairs at the bottom edge of the screen.

We also decided on T/CT models this stream (GIGN vs Elite because of location and visibility) and I made the little loading screen CT/T/A/B icons pop in at the right position.

It's coming together. Next stream maybe Tuesday? I'll probably transition to other parts of the map that need more detail very soon as I'm starting to be pretty happy with bombsite A, marketplace and underpass connector.

As always, any feedback or criticism is very welcome! Let me know what you think!

Thank you so much @jackophant, @Vaya and @P1g3oN, your nice comments are very motivating!

Daily update screens:

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I realized the map needed more color overall to look better, so I added this colored house as a start. Will do the same at more places because I like how it breaks the monotonous and boring desert village environment. Pretty much exactly what Mirage does.

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I reworked the mid hole again. Window got boarded up in order to prevent a crazy unintended long angle from back of apps all the way to the mid-to-B connector. Now you can still spray the window for wallbang potential but you need to play the angle as intended if you actually want to aim 'properly'. Also added more rebar detail to the hole, decals, better textures, trims etc. And I added some more non-solid lights to the apps to brighten them up. You can also see that I changed the whole CT-to-mid ground texture there in the background. This new one is a blend texture that looks way better I think.

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This corner at A changed again. I now decided to open up a window into the 'blue' room. You can't enter the room at all (not enough space) and I purposefully also blocked off a lot of it with another piece of plywood (otherwise it opened up the connector too much) so now it's really just a useful 'hole' in the corner you can flash and nade through. This makes takes/retakes through the connector much easier (also since it's wider now, that's better) since I noticed on stream while playing bots that it was very hard to retake from there. You can also wallbang through there of course and you can still wallbang through the floor of the sniper room above, which I like a lot.

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And here's a shot of some new detail/decal work on the other side of the A bombsite. Pretty happy with this area of the map now!

As always, any feedback/thoughts/criticism is welcome! Stay tuned for more updates and maybe another stream soon, depending on how much energy I have (did I mention my actual project until the end of August is my comp sci bachelor work haha).

I decided to record a quick 10-minute video showcasing some of my Spice updates in detail, I tried to give my thoughts and reasons for the changes and how I think they'll play out:

And another update video, in case anybody is watching these hehe:

In this one I talk about the default CT stance or position that I envision for the map and how that affects the way I come up with layouts.

I'll be back with more screenshots and possibly a stream later this week probably!

Not sure if anybody is still following this because it's getting pretty lonely in here haha. I just pushed out a big update to the workshop. Please do run around in the up-to-date map and let me know what you think, what could still be improved.

STEAM WORKSHOP LINK[/b] http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/fi…s/?id=271742721

ALSO: Spice has now been in development for exactly 1 year! Pretty cool, it came a long, long way!

Thanks @Vorontsov! Anything in particular that stands out to you as far as the visuals are concerned? I'm currently hard at work to make sure the map looks as nice as possible.

Thanks Vaya. The theme is a big issue with this map, I see what you mean. Please do run around the map and give me some more feedback, that'd be greatly appreciated. Maybe if you could point out textures that feel off the most? I've looked at it for a year now and I'm starting to lose my ability to tell hehe.

There are actually a lot of displacements but I don't think they're emphasized enough, gotta paint them more intense I think. Good point on the ground detail though, I'll see where I can introduce more maybe.

Cheers!