[CS:GO] AS_Evac & VIP mode (WIP)

Update time! Sorry for taking so long.

Last 2 weeks I've been mostly taking care of programing, especially focused on fixing bugs related to the new feature we're bringing to this mode (which by the way has been fully implemented), testing went smoothly and players seemed to really like it which is great! I'll probably be revealing what it is someday this week. Also managed to get some more players feedback on the map, so I've tweaked a few things, but I feel good about where the layout is at.

It wasn't until 2 days ago that I finally decided it was time to work on the level itself. I'm pretty happy with the direction I took.

Some shots:

Spoiler Mid area. I decided to tackle this weird shape right away because I knew I'd probably keep delaying it if I didn't do it now. Custom tarp.

Mid from long windows

Angle from above

Mid from CT side

The underpass area Before/After. Sorry it just feels so good to me switching from one to the other. ?

Same area different angle

CT Mid access Before/After

Another angle

This will be the CT Spawn area

Opened this ceiling bit to allow for flashbang plays in the last push to the helipad.

I missed the Source Engine...

Thanks for checking this out!

Aight guys, so as promissed here's the feature we had been working on until recently. With that the gamemode logic is pretty much done and bug free for the most part. We had about 50 bugs and ways to break the game but I believe we did a good job at catching all of them.

So, basicly I thought since we're making this gamemode our own thing, why not try and improve on the concept. I always thought the main issue of VIP mode was team play. You need an extremely communicative team to really have a chance and enjoy the gamemode. I initially thought about giving VIP sort of 2 lives, where if he goes down once, he could be picked up by a team mate and continue playing with no more extra lives. But that seemed a bit too imba.

The next best thing I could think of was making the VIP carriable to the Helicopter if he falls down, while having a bleed out timer. Between our friends, everyone seemed to welcome this change. Resulted in rounds not ending in such an anti-climatic manner, and surprisingly(!) made everything feel more CS-. Basicly the VIP kind of acts as a bomb/hostage carrier. Where its not the end of the world if he dies, but it heavily compromises the round.

I'd like to hear Mapcores thoughts on this, and also, I'll probably be running some playtests this weekend privately. But I welcome anyone here to join. Add me on Steam if you're interested.

Quote from fewseb

33 minutes ago, fewseb said: What happens to the VIP player in this situation, do they die and go to spectate or are they stuck not being able to move while they sit and get picked up?

They're effectively "dead". Spectating the game as a dead player.

Quote from blackdog

3 hours ago, blackdog said: Considering the availability of medikits thanks to Danger Zone, have you played with the idea of a classic revive mechanic (a-la L4D).

The “fallen teammate” mechanic you descrive I do like, but seems a bit boring for the player that could be spectating almost the whole round.

My suggestion above comes from the fact that if all CT are killed the VIP could still escape [after being revived]. They are a dead man anyway I believe.

I have considered this yes, it was my first thought having the VIP laying on the ground when he's "killed", and team mates could help him get up again. But that felt very imbalanced (atleast in my opinion) because it kind of makes CTs have one more man over the Ts. You could literally send the VIP front line just to get info even if he dies, you get the trade and pick the VIP back up. I feel this solution made more sense, and since its already part of CS (kinda with the hostage mechanic) it could be more intuitive. And it doesn't mess with player numbers, VIP dies, now CTs have minus one player and that's the punishment for them being trash. I really just wanted to give a bit of hope even if the VIP is killed that the round isn't over yet, that said it's still pretty hard to get him on your back because he'll usually die exposed.

Quote from blackdog

5 hours ago, blackdog said: Yeah that makes sense, I just thought might be boring for the VIP player as they might spend lots of time in spectator.

 Cant really talk without trying. You clearly have given lots of thought to this so best of luck in debugging it and getting it out

Not sure if I understand exactly what you mean, because if anything I think the VIP might be the person who gets to spectate less in a round in most situations. You see, if the VIP gets downed (loses all his 150HP) other CTs will have 30 sec to pick him up or VIP will bleed out and the round will end. Whereas another random CT when he dies he'll have to spectate however long the round lasts because him dieing doesn't change anything.

Apreciate your comments @blackdog, thanks!

Quote from fewseb

5 hours ago, fewseb said: One would assume the VIP is randomly selected every round, would suck to be the gimped player every round.

Yes, the VIP is selected at random at the begining of each round.

We also included a little extra QoL thing, that allows a CT to claim VIP from a bot if one happens to be select to be VIP, similar to how you can take a bomb from a bot in Bomb Defusal maps. Thought about doing this because we can't possibly teach bots how to play the mode, and even tho there's things that can be done optimize their play, ultimately bots are random, and if there's no bombsites or hostages they just do w/e the F they want. So instead of wasting time trying to pretend bots know how to play, we just accepted this is a mode, and somethings just can't be done without propper tools so we just focused on making the player experience better. Both of these features (being able to pickup the VIPs body and being able to claim VIP from bots) work towards making playing with bots still an enjoyable experience, even if they don't really know what to do.

Thanks!

Quote from ZooL

12 minutes ago, ZooL said: Hey, here's a old VIP model I've made a year ago, hopefully it can help making your gamemode fresher VIP_fbi_based.zip

Hey that looks pretty sweet tbh, think we wouldn't mind using it at all! Thanks @ZooL.

Aight, life took an unexpected turn again but I'm back at it.

Here's the workshop link for the map: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/fi…/?id=1856409981

In the meantime I've made some significant changes that we thought were needed but I'm pretty confortable with where the layout is atm, so I just put it on the Workshop. We're looking to arrange a community playtest next weekend (probably saturday), if you'd like to join HMU.

I've also started investing more time into the art department but that is going stay hidden for a little longer.

Hello again. Thought it would be a good idea to report that the playtest happened on friday 13th. It went pretty well I would say, a lot of people joined to play/watch the 8v8 Assassination match. Teams weren't exactly balanced from the start but it became very clear we still have a few balancing problems we need to tackle and some layout issues to solve. We have collected a lot of valuable feedback, mostly related to the level and some related to the gamemode. We have compiled a MASSIVE list of changes that we'll be including in the next update, and we hope to submit it for another playtest some time soon. Won't give ETA as I am an incompetent lazy monkey. Some of the changes might be:

• 200HP VIP
• VIP gets riot shield
• Helicopter has 3 entrances instead of just one in the back
• Better UI

...along with all the possible level improvements that were suggested.

I didn't record this video to post it here, but I figured I might as well show what I've been doing since the playtest. Already edited the helicopter, now has 3 entrances, and we've even made some fancy graphics for entrances (team specific too!) and a pseudo HUD for the VIP (still WIP so if you have any ideas please do share, I'm not a UI designer(yet!!)).

And might as well take this oportunity to thank every Mapcore member that joined the playtest, it was great and we loved doing it! We hope to have you again next time for an even better, solid experience! ❤️

Quote from Pawlu

On 12/6/2020 at 5:49 PM, Pawlu said: Are you still working on this map?

Every now and then yeah. Right now it's pretty unrecognizable from this version, I ended up scrapping a lot of the layout and starting fresh after the playtests we held. I wanted to move helipad closer to the middle area of the map, but that basicly implied destroying a big chunk of the map. But it was required to make sure helipad isn't completely cornered and T sided. I wanted CTs to be able to aproach the escape zone from more than 2 different angles, and with the previous version I was struggling to force that change. Progress definetely slowed down after I started focusing on actual work that pays bills, but I make sure to open this up every now and then and make sure it still runs. I'm glad to know some people still care about this project, and I do plan to hold a playtest at some point in the future. Thank you! ❤️