[CS:GO] de_scepter (WIP)

Quote from laminutederire

I can tell and I knew.

It wasn't bound to one nation but to one region, because at that time, what matters the most was resources. You wasn't able to get rocks or woods from too far apart in great quantities, so you had to do what you can with what you had, and that led to choices that made part of the style of buildings. In addition, architects weren't the most important people there, the one with real powers in the decision were those who ordered the building and those who built it.

Which castles have you been visiting?

Yes of course, though limestone and granite are common in both Germany and France. We're talking neighbouring countries with comparative geology. Fact of the matter remains that castles in both France and Germany share aesthetic traits and materials, and that build times would sometimes prolong resulting in different styles. The Mansard roof of Scepter is commonplace all across Europe for instance. Just like you suggest, the person who pays for the castle is ultimately the one who decides in which style to build, meaning they could build whatever they like.

I haven't visited any castles outside of my home country. Internet studies are adequate.

Quote from laminutederire

Of course they are common, they were better than other existing things

I've done both countries and they are different. Materials are the same, but they are still different, like carrots are a bit differents between places. Anyway, I was just expressing my opinion, you don't have to agree. There's a good book for castles architecture, but I don't know if it has been translated I'll look that up!

Crit is alwasy welcomed!

Thanks to everyone who ran the playtest last night, your help is much appreciated. I wish I could have been there but my daughter needed me. I've read the logs and watched the demo, bonus points to @fnuggi for finding the ridiculous self boost out the A balcony window, that was instantly clipped :D.

Seems like most people liked the layout for the most part, though a few had issues with entering B as T. The upper pathway on B might be overpowered as you can easily duck behind the solid "railing" next to the wall while reloading. I intended for this spot to be exposed, a risk vs reward kind of balance, making it the less obvious choice to stand around as CT. Making this "railing" (for lack of a better word?) into an actual railing that you can see through might help solve this. While in competitive 5v5 I intend for people to split B more often, using mollies and coordinated flashes/smokes, as well as occasionally smoking B from mid over the rooftop, though I want the first time public players to also enjoy the map without knowing every little trick. There's also a small intrude into the wall below the upper B pathway that's going to get cut. That's a relic from an older version with a slightly different layout. I think it just overcomplicates things as it is now.

Screenshot of what I'm talking about:

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It would be interesting to know how fast you guys felt it was to learn the layout in comparison to other maps you play for the first time. Easier, harder or neutral?

Quote from laminutederire

Well, you already know that your layout is liked by people, and especially since I'm not good at gameplay I won't advise you on that (you're doing great on your own for that), so I'm staying with what I know, which is architecture I have rediscovered another book while searching for the other, it's Viollet-le-duc Raisonné (link ). It only covers until the 16th century but there are some really interesting stuff in that. (I won't advise you to read it all, it's roughly a 450Mo pdf.. and it is approximately 5000 pages long if I'm not mistaken, but it is like a dictionnary, so you can search articles on architectural feats which could help you design some things, for instance buttresses which are present in your map)

Cool! Thanks for the link, checking it out now.

Quote from laminutederire

Well, you already know that your layout is liked by people, and especially since I'm not good at gameplay I won't advise you on that (you're doing great on your own for that), so I'm staying with what I know, which is architecture I have rediscovered another book while searching for the other, it's Viollet-le-duc Raisonné (link ). It only covers until the 16th century but there are some really interesting stuff in that. (I won't advise you to read it all, it's roughly a 450Mo pdf.. and it is approximately 5000 pages long if I'm not mistaken, but it is like a dictionnary, so you can search articles on architectural feats which could help you design some things, for instance buttresses which are present in your map)

I've always liked flying buttresses and think they would look really cool where CT enters mid from spawn. Probably look way too gothic though.

Quote from DooM

I think it's comparable to cobble or mirage in terms of learning the layout, not much verticality but enough routes to add interesting lurk options, but still quite a task to learn to angles and certain strategies you can execute. The one thing that seemed to be bothering the people in the teamspeak was that there are some very powerful head peeks in certain areas.

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Thanks a lot for the input! I think there might be a screenshot missing from that last angle where you compare it to Mirage?

The excessive head peaks might be me subconsiously designing for 1.6 where wallbanging was more of a thing hehe ;). I'm generally fine with head peaks so long as they can be countered in a smooth fashion, see this rush-flash for example:

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Molly also works as it forces the CT to step out.

Though I agree many of those head peaks are OP. I'll be looking into them!

Quote from laminutederire

You could, I think that if you make it like a church with huge tinted glass, it can make sense, especially since castles were sometimes built on existing castles, or around chapels which existed before

Yeah that would work! I have been toying with the idea of making the chapel stand out from the rest as an older building with a different roof and stone texture. We'll see what happens.

Quote from DooM

Sorry here it is:

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I'm talking about the boxes to the right of my crosshair, when I said you could block the angle by making them bigger, that flash is also really nice.

Ah, gotcha! I see what you mean. I'll be crunching angles tonight. Might be that I redesign the main CT spawn entrance to A altogether. The two week deadline is certainly felt right now :).

Quick update on what's happening. I'll be releasing a massive update before the deadline, currently trying to get as many details done as possible before then. I've made some gameplay changes as well, so that part feels solid right now.

Screens:

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The A-site buildings (here seen from mid) are getting some red bricks to better distinguish this part of the map from B:

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Changed the main CT entrance to A so that it allows scanning the site angle by angle. This change also leviated the head peek by the fence gate:

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Changed the T entrance to B so that it's less scary to enter without nades. By removing the dead angle by the fence to the left (from the T perspective), you can now scan the site angle by angle. There's still the odd chance that a CT does a well timed peak from the right side of the screenshot below:

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These are just some of the gameplay and visual changes made though. Lots to be done, but much can happen in 9 days.

Update. Imgur: http://imgur.com/a/aHQVO

I'm overall happy with what I managed to achieve in three months, though I still have a lot of detail planned that I'm going to have to add post deadline. If you see anything blocky or out of place you can be sure that I'm going to replace it. The indoor areas in general are in need of a lot more detail. What I have planned is going to be cool though.

Changelog (things I can recall off the top of my head, there's just too much to remember):

Gameplay:

• Leviated head peeks in a few areas.
• Made entering B as T less stressful. You can now scan the site angle by angle.
• Made entering A through the CT spawn connector less dangerous. You can now scan the site angle by angle.
• Made slight changes to boxes on the A-site.
• Moved a few CT spawn locations slightly farther away from mid.
• Added Name Places.
• Added soundscapes.
• Added chickens Kappa.

Visual:

• Made CT spawn less cramped and more in-line with my theme.
• Made the "alley" seem slightly off grid.
• Added arches in a few places.
• Added balusters.
• Added windows to walls.
• Added windows to roofs.
• Added chimneys.
• Added more towers.
• Added 3D skybox.
• Reworked the lighting to be more pleasing.
• Added a few textures and increased texture variance.
• Finished up the A-site towers.
• Added some grime here and there.

Hey there. I'm back once more after taking a step back from hammer for a couple of weeks. I wanted time to reflect on the layout and gameplay, while at the same time avoiding getting burnt.

I've been staring at the radar occasionally to try and identify what it was that didn't feel quite right, and in the end I found three major flaws, one for each lane, that I've now rectified. Unfortunately, since this new version was uploaded last night at 1 AM, I didn't have time to grab screenshots of the changes, so I'll have to upload them when I get back from work later today. I needed to do this due to the reddit community playtest tonight @ 7:30 PM CET for EU and 9:30 PM Eastern for NA.

In short, version 1.1 is a major gameplay update, with some minor aestethic changes. Details coming tonight after the EU playtest.

Alright then, playtest last night was good! Got a lot of positive feedback, though much of it was generic (keywords included: fun, pretty, balanced, unique, easy to learn). Some feedback was a bit contradictory though, so I'm not sure how to respond to that:

• A few felt that CT had mid on lock-down too easily, but an equal amount felt that T took mid too easily
• A few felt that entering B as T was too awkward, but an equal amount felt entering B as T was fine
• A few felt that there were too many corners to check, but an equal amount felt they wanted more cover to hide behind

So yeah, got a few things to think over going forward.

Let's have a look at the recent changes to each lane then.

Mid:

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I felt that the extra connector from "T-dark" into mid was excessive and awkward, both gameplay-wise and architecturally. The connector did however serve a purpose in that it allowed for some risky pushes for CT and an extra means of taking mid for T. The connector also made the radar look a lot more complex than it is. So with that in mind I had to figure out an alternate solution. I ended up splitting T-mid into two, one of which at a slightly higher elevation, that's still comfortable to aim at for CT. The added wall between these two entrances makes taking mid as T a lot more comfortable, as well as stramlines the sightline for which T's and CT's first meet in mid. Please ignore the weird looking doorway-without-a-door by the stairs, that's getting cut.

Potential changes: I'm probably going to cut the middle buttress to the right on the screenshot, as I feel that it might just add one extra unnecessary corner to check when splitting B as T. The natural thing you want to do here is hug the wall where the buttresses are and aim at CT-spawn. Not possible with three buttresses. I'm also considering changing "quad" (lower left corner of screenshot) just slightly, in removing the entrace closest to T-mid and making the other entrance bigger.

All in all, the new mid was a big improvement.

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B-site/CT-spawn:

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I realized that in the previous setup, one smoke would lock down two entrances into B in an afterplant situation. This is not necessarily a problem, but on this specific location it was, considering you could not flash over the wall and brave the smoke like you can at B on Dust 2. Instead I decided make the path outdoors and separate it from the door. This also allows for some interesting flashes and player movement.

Potential changes: I might just merge the double T-entrance to B and make it outdoors for at least a good 5 or so meters in. Checking the site (especially with an AWP) would probably feel more comfortable,while at the same time allowing more flexible nades.

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A-site/Church:

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Same problem as with B. The choke point into A from the church was way too narrow, without the option of nading out. The solution was to widen the choke and moving it closer to A, while making two entrances from the church and making the space between these three openings outdoors. The church has taken a new direction in that I'm making it look a lot older than the rest of the architecture. Flying buttresses inc.

Potential changes: I need to get to work on the church interior. I have to make it more open and add 1-3 obvious covers where you'd expect to find an enemy. I want the player to be able to check the covers without doing 360 ninja moves. Possibly even widening the choke point further so that it can't be entirely smoked off by one guy holding A, with a secondary smoke coming from the person holding mid from balcony/window.

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That's about it for now. Got a couple of things to think through before continuing making textures and props.

I was recently asked by a few individuals as to what happened to this map, so while I'm not quite ready to push the latest version to the workshop just yet, I figure I might as well share some of the progress. I honestly should've had it ready by now, but due to a series of unfortunate events (Dark Souls 3, DOOM and Overwatch in that particular order) I won't be done until holidays are over. Gameplay, art style and optimization has been ironed out, now I'm doing details on auto pilot.

To summarize the plot of Scepter: The Phoenix has set out to fund their operations by stealing the crown jewels that are up on display in the castle treasury. They succeed in doing so, though choose to leave some men behind for one final explosive message. Counter-Terrorists arrive just before this happens.

I aim to tie this into Scepter 2 and possibly 3 as an overaching story, inspired by the campaign format of Left 4 Dead.

Interior shot:

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This is T-spawn. The floor is a Valve texture, so that has to go. I'll be adding carpets, more paintings, a cabinet to the fireplace, regal ornaments and other misc. details shortly.

Exterior shot 1:

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This is CT spawn. When comparing this to previous screenshots, it's obvious the art direction has changed. We're going full german neo gothic now. I've opened up several parts of the map to make it feel a lot less claustrophobic and more nade friendly. The layout is also simplified in a careful manner, so as to not make it any less dynamic. We see some remnants of Valve props in this shot, namely the bench, lantern, barrel and flower pot. These are temporary as I don't think they mix well with my custom stuff.

Exterior shot 2:

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This is the A site with the two standard T entrances in focus (chapel and balcony). This is, gameplay wise, my favourite part of the map. You can barely see it in this shot, but sniper duels will be had through the chapel window to the left of the balcony, below the flying buttresses. There are also windows, a lion statue and some trim missing here (and the pinnacles need to be fully UV-mapped =P). Ignore the crate from de_train for now as it will be replaced by more natural cover.

That's it for now. Hoping to wrap things up in the coming weeks!

Quick and short updates from now on. I'm back from spending some time in my wife's cabin, time get things done. TIL that $envmapanisotropy messes with $normalmapalphaenvmapmask, so that's an hour of my life I won't be getting back.

T-spawn is shaping up. Replaced the Dust2 tiles with proper wooden floor. Not so happy with the carpets right now, they are way too flat and straight:

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