[WIP] de_Monsoon

    Iv'e been wanting to execute on this idea for a while and the contest is some good motivation. Planning to mainly set the map in the fortress, though i may take inspiration from other places around the city.

    Reference photos:

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    Spoiler [Blocked Image: https://media.lonelyplanet.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/shutterstock_776314480-People-moving-in-colorful-streets-in-jaisalmer-fort.-1280x853.jpg]

    gif of the map's base layout changing over time (these layouts are from a while ago but still good to show the early stages of my layout), most likely won't do this with future changes but it's nice to get the general idea across.

    Here are some more recent pictures, mainly of A site, things are obviously prone to change but i'd like to get as much feedback as possible at the current stage.

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    I've gotten plenty of work done on the map recently and finally have a radar that shows the map well in its current state (A is on the left, B is on the right). Since i plan on making many changes to the map in order to make it more viable any feedback you might provide is very useful. The areas that are the least polished at the moment are the CT entrance to mid and the entire B side of the map. I can't wait to get more work done on this project, it's already my favorite map iv'e worked on!

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    I've also come up with a basic story for the map:

    A group of terrorists are attempting to blow up one of two major drainage sites in a historic Indian fortress before a powerful monsoon hits.

    Thank y'all for reading!

    Update: here are some greybox screenshots with more updated visuals

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    Sorry for not really updating the thread yesterday, nothing incredibly interesting has happened. I've been working on some layout changes but they aren't completely established yet. I did some "detailing" in mid using brushes and hope to get more done soon. Greybox is my favorite stage because i get to play around with new layout ideas and make mock up models until i have a good aesthetic.

    @Interfearance thank you, here is a real quick guide on how i made the angled windows, if you have any other questions just ask!

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    create an 8 sided cylinder then you create a window shaped brush like this:

    then you rotate that first window by 22.5 degrees on the Z axis using the transform tool

    After that you duplicate the window object, rotating it 45 degrees each time until you have four of them, one on each side:

    After that you can carve the windows with the cylinder if you want:

    @Interfearance another technique is using func_instances. 1. Create a window and save it as a instance. 2. Add a func_instance entity and open the window instance vmf. 3. Rotate it however you want, its np since in the instance its made on grid.


    But yeah cool looking greybox! Just a litle dark for my taste

    @Roald Thanks, this will be useful. Also I just found a temporary way to change to pivot point. You just have to duplicate the object and essentially mirror it across the point you want to rotate. Then select both and rotate and the rotation point will be the average center and therefore your desired pivot. This is kinda temporary but I feel like it has potential.

    Hey! I tried your map in a competitive 5vs5 game with Bots. The map seems very claustrophobic, particularly in the main path for site A and site B in general, and very T side, because terrorists can take many positions on the map faster than CT.

    Another motivation is the bomb sites are very difficult to retake, particularly on bomb site B, because CT has only one main route against the two of the terrorists.


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    I like the Vent in the path to A, because it's a great point for grenade / flashbangs and for gun fights, but it's suicidal to go through it in crouching: Molotov equals automatically death . Perhaps if you can move normally like Nuke's vents, it can become a more valid way to get around the enemy.

    Then there are some clipping problems in the yard that connects A and B and some invisible walls to remove in my opinion.

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    If the wooden doors in the CT Spawn and in the Courtyard could be shoot trought, it would been very cool!

    I don't like the Ladder in Bomb Site A because i need to jump for climb it.

    I find T spawn really like a place for camping very hard.


    In conclusion I feel that the map has great potential! Even though it was only greybox, I felt a certain feeling with the theme, being very powerful with these high walls and the rain coming down.

    I hope I was helpful, I look forward to seeing future updates! ?


    PS : i don't know why but seems the bots prefer to go always to Bomb Site A. This has limited my test a bit, especially in CT side because i wanted to try defend Site B but but they never show up ?

    @Boccolotto,Thank you so much for this feedback, as of you posting this iv'e already drastically increased T's timings (especially to the yard). I'll try to take into account as many of your suggestions as possible, I only just realized how useful that second path to B would prove! Also yes, bots are very bias towards bombsite A, i'm working on a way to fix that.

    Quote from Maritime

    10 hours ago, Maritime said: bots are very bias towards bombsite A, i'm working on a way to fix that.

    Don't waste too much time and effort redesigning your layout for bots, they behave nothing like humans so you run the risk of imbalancing the map. In my experience terrorist bots always have a preferred bombsite, probably the closest or easiest to navigate to. If you want to test their timings and approach to the other site you could temporarily cordon off the other one.

    Personally I find it quite useful to have competitive twitch streams running on my second monitor whilst I'm designing/building/tweaking layouts as it keeps me in the mindset of a human player. Ultimately the only important test is getting 10 real humans to have a few actual games on your map and collect their feedback.

    Update time!

    After the feedback from the forum and workshop page iv'e made some changes to the layout, mainly to increase CT presence at mid and decrease rotation times from B to A. I've increased the height of the wall that separates upper and lower A and added an alternate path into B for the CTs in order to make retakes easier. A new entrance to the A site-Mid connector has been added and the ladder at A has been re-positioned. Mid is a "one way drop" for approaching Ts (you can cross back but you need to do a few jumps that aren't viable mid-combat). A ledge has been added to the space under B's balcony so that players can boost onto the balcony or jump onto it via the snipers nest area. A truck has been removed in the garage area, the trucks at A have been reworked, and cover has been adjusted.

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    Also here's a potential 3D skybox:

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    And finally, I was considering changing the map's name to monsoon to detach it from the physical location. After playing around in blender for a bit i made a potential map pin for it:

    (The Hindi says monsoon)

    @JackT What areas do you think need the most work? I was already considering remaking the T route to A (seeing as it's the first part of the map I made after setting up the basic layout), but i'm open to changing really any part of the map.

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