Classified

Hello Everybody! This is my entry to the contest... Classified!

A map based on a Soviet/American (still deciding) military installation from the Cold War on the peak of an extremely freezing mountain. The outpost still holds many classified secrets to this day even being largely disabled.

The main inspiration for the theme is "Summit", a great map from Call of Duty: Black Ops and my idea here is to replicate the extremely cold environment with a balanced layout that prioritizes support moves before each advance! (like an "Awper" holding "bunker" in Dust 2 so it teammates can proceed to the A BombSite)

At this point, I'm working on finishing the bombsites and then Classified will be ready for definitive tests! Maybe it's a little late to enter the contest, but I will do my best on this map! ?

More posts coming soon!

Thanks for the suggestion! I will put some reflections on these textures for sure soon! ?

It's an Exotic Maps Contest, right? ? hahaha I'll change it in the next update!

CLASSIFIED UPDATED After a few days of testing and experimentation, important adjustments were made in certain areas, especially at A bombsite and in the middle region of the map. They seemed too closed for rifle combat in the initial version and with these adjustments, a new radar was made.

NEW RADAR/LAYOUT:

Bombsite A has been widened and rethought. The middle region of the map has also received special attention in this release (this will probably be the definitive version of the layout).

I also improved bot navigation and even added some "place names" to assist in the upcoming tests with friends.

Those new tests may take a while to start, so I took the wait to work on some textures that I may use.

TEXTURE TEST SCREENSHOTS:

As my idea is to present an extremely cold and snowy environment I need to focus on interesting and creative snow textures. To make this process easier I created a makeshift "texture test map".

With this map I can check which textures need to have their values changed or their maps redone.

More posts to come! ?

CLASSIFIED UPDATED

More days in development and concerns about the deadline began. Because of that, I decided to improve the look of most of the buildings while adjusting a few last things to the layout. With this approach, I can get a better idea about areas in general and I won't waste much time thinking about their visuals when detailing.

I took the opportunity to make the map "public" on Steam Workshop: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/fi…/?id=1868518259

I will do my best to finish this project on time! ?UPDATED VERSION SCREENSHOTS

IMPROVED LAYOUT AND TESTINGFrom the first version of the map to the most recent, significant changes have been made especially in Bombsites. So I'm requesting a test date on "Source Engine Discord Group" (provided by Top Hat Waffle and other big names from the community) to playtest them. Many use this Discord group to schedule these tests, it's for sure the best place for it!

More posts to come! ?

My last playtest was very productive! It opened my mind about so many areas of the map and I would love to work on them right now, but I feel that time is running out really fast...

Here in Brazil, we often use a motto that says: "The great is enemy of the good" and after thinking a lot about it, I decided to head my way detailing the map fixing these areas in one go.

It's been a while since I last posted on this topic and I'm really enjoying how the map looks right now but realizing the number of assets that still needs to be done brought me some concern and discouragement. I like to think of problems like these as obstacles designers must face in order to make really good levels, but in this case, I still have to do a lot to get to the minimum.

Classified may not be completed on time for the competition, however, I will continue with the project and with more updates on the topic in case I manage to release an acceptable version on the final day! The screenshot below puts in a good perspective what still needs to be done to have at least an interesting version at the end, that would probably still need a lot of polishment...

I will see how the next days go and leave more updates soon! ?

There is still so much work to do, but things are starting to take shape. This first art pass will still take a long time to finish but I'm enjoying the results so far! I will focus on detailing the entire map as quickly as I can to have something concrete for the deadline. If I manage to finish everything (detailing, optimization, general polishing) I start a second art pass with more refinement.

NEW SCREENSHOTS!

Detailing the map is always the best part and as I go through this process I see how many things still need to be done. I'm busy this month and because of that, I won't be able to finish Classified before the deadline. I believe it will be ready between March and April for a Steam Workshop release! Good luck to all mappers who are still working on their projects. I will continue to post updates on this topic as the map gets ready!

See ya! ?

Quote from Wintrius

13 hours ago, Wintrius said: This is definitely one of my favorite entries; I love the theme and style. When will you update the workshop version?

Thank you so much for your support Wintrius! ?

It may take a while for a next update. I'm avoiding updating for now while many areas of the map are still "placeholders". But I'll post here when I release newer versions!

Quote from Nication

12 hours ago, Nication said: It's nice to see a fellow Brazilian making a snow-themed map, I always wanted to, but the amount of custom snowy props and textures that are needed, discourage me.

The map looks really good, I can feel the cold just by looking at the images.

I'm looking forward to the release.

Nice to see another Brazilian in this post! Thank you for your support Nication! ? It really is a lot of work! The number of assets never ends and because of that, I am late for the deadline. However, I may release Classified after the contest between March and April if everything goes as planned!!