This is my entry for the 2020 Source Engine Discord Wingman Contest. This started out as an Arms Race map, about half done with the art about 1.5 months before the contest was over, and for the past two weeks I have overhauled the entire map as a wingman experience. I have done a few playtests on the Source Discord, and they've been mostly positive. I'm at a polishing stage right now, so any and all feedback would be appreciated. I'm doing a playtest on the MapCore Discord on Thursday, September 17th at 3PM CDT, if anyone wants to take a gander. There's definitely more things to polish, and maybe a few visuals bugs/exploits that still have to be fixed (like filling gaps between props with `toolsblack` brushes, etc). Otherwise, this map is primarily complete. My goals for this was to make something as pretty as I could, while keeping performance good enough and to improve my art skills. I worked hard to create budget UVs, textures, and models for the map to keep overhead to a minimum. Unfortunately, since a lot of the map is not brush based, the use of occluders were necessary. I would say I could have done a better job with planning, but overall I think the main goals for this project have been accomplished fully. Even if it does not do well as a wingman map, I can always turn it back into an Arms Race map. [Blocked Image: https://gamedata.gota.io/emotes/gifs/WeSmart.gif]
Workshop link:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/fi…/?id=2230085582
This project has around 20 custom models (not a whole lot, admittedly), a custom made skybox, custom soundscapes, and a few custom materials. Special thanks to 9yz, Slimek, Darnias, Yanzl, and Morozov/Untor for help and assets.
Workshop description:
The locals of the island grow upset over the glutenous part-time resident, the CEO of Proxy Research, the company responsible for the disaster at the South Heber Research Base. Seal Team 6 is sent in to protect him- as he's an asset to the U.S. Government.
For more information on the South Heber Research Base disaster, please see Operation Coverup:https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/fi…/?id=2014706191 <---- this is the link to my last wingman map, which I've posted here before... these maps are interconnected through story
I have uploaded the most updated images in a reply to this post, hopefully it should give you a better idea of what the final version.
[Blocked Image: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/750824651046780939/755940343450435604/paradise1.png]
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In this picture, my custom skybox and tiki torch models are featured. I've used this shot for the workshop thumbnail and as the first photo in the workshop album.
[Blocked Image: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/750824651046780939/755940345241534495/paradise2.png]
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In this second picture, you can tell I've struggled with the water edge at the skybox, which unfortunately I've had trouble masking further. Luckily, during the playtest nobody mentioned it, so hopefully it's alright for now until I find a better solution. The trims on the side of the villa, as well as the tarp over the crates (on the left side of the image), the overhang on the front deck, and the thatch roofing (not pictured well here) are all custom assets made for this project. This photo is not a great showcase of those, but hopefully you'll be able to appreciate them further in-game.
[Blocked Image: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/750824651046780939/755940347078508636/paradise3.png]
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Here, the tarp is featured again, but more prominently. I ran cloth sims on a pre-unwrapped subdivided cube. The poly count is a bit high, but I've been told by veteran modelers in the Source Engine Discord that this is fine. I know in the future I will try to streamline my cloth sim assets for Source Engine. Further down below, I made a bed and pillows, which both heavily rely on subdivisions near the edges of the mesh, so that more detail can be put into the folded areas. More on that later. Additionally, here's a closer look at the tiki torches-- maybe not as impressive as some veteran mapper's work, but it was something I could easily accomplish to bring more depth into this envrionment.
[Blocked Image: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/750824651046780939/755940348735389786/paradise4.png]
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This is the inside of the villa, adjacent to the bombsite. The bed, pillows, plushies, hanging ceiling lights, warped copper wall art, and wood wall trims were all modeled by me (the floor texture and the thatch roof in the window are also custom). I tried to make great use of hipoly bakes and masked phong/cubemaps for many of these props. For all these props I used a PBR workflow, converting them into specgloss materials using Yanzl's tools with many manual tweaks. The bed features a phong mask to enhance a sheen on the blue trim there. The bed and pillows are fully tintable, both with alpha masks on the diffuse channel. As stated above, I subdivided the edges of the cloth on the bed and pillows to allow for more definition in the cloth sim. On the warped copper wall art, I took advantage of a hipoly bake, using that to deform the surface with normal maps, which the lowpoly is fully flat. Using the baked mesh maps I was able to texture the asset procedurally, giving it a more natural look using PBR materials and masks. The chicken and potato plushie are assets from my last map, Coverup.
[Blocked Image: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/750824651046780939/755596630996287629/paradise5.png]
(Note: This is a deprecated screenshot, as I have not taken a replacement. Not much has changed in this area, so it is mostly representative of the work there now.)
This photo is just a showcase of some of the instances I used to detail much of the map. I created premade instances to use for the jungle section, which I could mix and match. I made some with lower detail to use in less visible areas- as this could help improve performance. I also made heavy use of Morozov's Swamp grass, which I adore! I also am using tinted flowers from the Inferno remake.
[Blocked Image: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/750824651046780939/755940351218417674/paradise6.png]
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I tried to make use of some of the Shoots assets, which although lower res, are able to add depth to an area that would otherwise be flat. It was a good excuse to keep some Arms Race history in here. The exterior and interior brush textures on the building though are from Danger Zone and Morozov's Swamp.
[Blocked Image: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/750824651046780939/755940350929141840/paradise7.png]
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Although not the best angle, this is the bombsite for the map. I recompiled the safe from Danger Zone to remove the pre-existing explosive models on it. Featured again here, are the wood trims, but also a custom door model- which makes great use of a hipoly bake.
[Blocked Image: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/750824651046780939/755941858026324059/paradise_radar.png]
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Here's the TAR image generated from my map. I'm still working on it, so please suggest any changes that should be made, including color choice.
Hopefully you've enjoyed this post! I might update it more as time goes on, but cheers for now!
- Will "celery" Granda
(formerly "TheOnionChef")
Paradise logo made by my dear friend, Jonmcbane. Thanks, buddy.
One more shoutout to Proxy, the DJ- who let me use his music in my trailer for my last map, Coverup.
EDIT 9/16/20: Updated images from the newest compile with better angles. Made some layout changes to help the flow of the article when viewing the updated images.
