de_vara (ex de_iarna)

    I made a wingman map, inspired by 3DMike's maps de_survivor and de_recon . For now it doesn't have too much details given my layziness and given the fact that in the future i would like to extend it to a fully fledged defuse map.?

    It can be downloaded from good old Gamebanana: HERE

    WORKSHOP

    Credits to @Yanzl for the awsome spruce models

    some pics

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    From being on the frontpage of the workshop to oblivion in just a couple of hours. Wow! this just reinforces my decision of deleting all my submissions from that workshop. Long live Gamebanana !


    Why delete though? Is the most accessible way to get the maps and if you are working on a portfolio seems better to have it there than not. I think people in the biz know reviews don't really count as the workshop is infested, and they can read and think if they are actually relevant.

    The workshop is very competitive, man. Not only do you need to advertise more in order to combat downvote bots, but the quality of your map needs to be higher. I also agree with blackdog. The workshop is very accessible. I almost never visit gamebanana anymore.

    I like the overall layout of the map, seems easy to learn and organic at the same time. But visually, it's lacking a lot of details. If it's not a final release, I wouldn't be upset about the ratings that much.

    @blackdog indeed they are more accesible on the workshop, but being burryed under a ton of aim maps doesn't help too much with the accesibility either. Besides i'm not trying to build a portofolio, what i do it's just a hobby. I'm here, on this forum to observe and learn things from people more talented and more skilled than me, în order to improve a little bit my own skillz.

    @Raduits not the final version(what's on the workshop it took me two Sunday afternoons) , currently i am expanding the map to a full defuse map. The wingman form gives me a sensation of unfinished business ?

    I don't know, maybe you are not accepting that the map won't be found organically (search, suggestions) but if you are going to end up linking Gamebanana whenever you distribute your map, there's no difference between linking that or Steam. The difference is that if you link Gamebanana for a critique here on the forum (or wherever) people are going to be put off downloading and manually installing, instead of just subscribing.

    You can just have both, and hopefully people on Gamebanana will find it organically, and since they are browsing, they are going to be fine installing the map themselves, but you also catch all the others... when @FMPONE was doing his critique streams I'm pretty sure he was subscribing to maps that were sent his way.

    I'm no expert having not released maps and is not a subject much discussed, but once you are off the front page I don't expect you to be targeted by bots? so the only way is up and you can focus on just getting feedback from the communities that actually care.

    Just my two cents ✌️

    You are right. It is not some extraordinary map, nor do i expect a smashing succes but when i saw that it got a little bit of momentum on the workshop and then suddenly being downvoted into oblivion made me upset.

    I had extended the map to a full defuse map. However i made some changes because the pahways to site A are too direct for the tero team. The teams meat where i had estimated, however i would like to move a little bit back the T's spawn. With bots seems more like a tero map because as you know the CTs are going without any logic like sheep.

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    Quote from Serialmapper

    On 2/2/2021 at 3:19 PM, Serialmapper said: You are right. It is not some extraordinary map, nor do i expect a smashing succes but when i saw that it got a little bit of momentum on the workshop and then suddenly being downvoted into oblivion made me upset.

    Learn to ignore stuff like this or it will infringe upon your enjoyment of this as a hobby. Don't be upset about being downvoted, instead use it as fuel to improve your abilities. Water off a ducks back.

    I finally got around to walking through this. First impression is pretty good. I like the layout shape and how organic it is. Feels pretty fresh, maybe leaning towards Insertion. I think an important aspect to consider is to differentiate it enough from Insertion, especially since the second one is releasing soon.

    Some things you could improve right off the bat are:

    [Blocked Image: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/316572533677752320/811661689572556820/ct_spawn.jpg]

    Both ends of the train track are visually identical. It would help a lot to differentiate between them by adding some road towards the A site building. Which in turn would help it seem more like an actual place where people get to it by driving. You could maybe add a small guard post and continue with the road between the building and rock wall into a parking lot (part of the background of course). Right now it's just odd how isolated that building is and also how it continues into the rock.

    [Blocked Image: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/316572533677752320/811661691762114610/a_site.jpg]

    There's also the question of what this building is actually? And what's the purpose of this space here, why is walled like that?

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    This area is pretty cool and you could spice it up a bit with a waterfall and small vista nearby. Or maybe several smaller waterfalls, whatever is easier. But there's definitely potential to make this stand out if you add something extra to that area.

    [Blocked Image: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/316572533677752320/811661695641452554/t_Spawn.jpg]

    T spawn is a similar case to CT spawn. There's nothing to differentiate it from the rest of the map. One idea right off the top of my head is to construct some small wooden lodges, like a resort or camping grounds, to give the area some identity. Generally, you want the important areas to stand out from everything else.

    But overall, I like it. Just what you have so far is enough to reveal some potential of creating a fun map. It reminds me a bit of something from 1.6 for some reason.

    Thank you Radu for giving a bit of your time to provide me with constructive feedback.

    Initially i wanted to make a modern villa at the bomb site near the water but I had chosed a more industrial unspecific building instead in order to have more freedom with the cover props, industrial looking fences, even that train. In the end i am thinking to make it some wood/timber related factory.

    Given the fact that i had to test the map with real players, on a public server, unfamiliarized with dev textures i had to give it a temporary friendly look albeit without too much logic to a trained eye.

    Later edit: you sparked my curiosity with that insertion map but if you are refering to this insertion, well... that is on another level, as if it didn't use source engine at all, i had forgot about it.

    I'd strived to make them as low poly as possible and in the same time not to look too artificial. Each cliff model is around 300 polygons. I still need to retouch them, or make others that can help break the repetition in the map, because right now they seem to look lumpy and repetitive. For now i don't know how to use the high poly to low poly texture baking to make them more realistic, and i am using substance painter just to paint them with normals and different texture layers layers. They look good in substance painter but in source engine...kinda disappointing.

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