Drop [Wingman]

Hey guys, long time no see. Thought I'd post this one here to hopefully gather some more feedback. Workshop link: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/fi…/?id=2928280689 DE_Drop is a vertical Wingman map, featuring a dynamic bombsite that moves down once the bomb is planted. It's a concept I've had sitting in my harddrive for a pretty long time but never got around creating a layout that actually works for it. I finally decided to take on this as a Level Design self challenge in my free time, and this is the first iteration of it.

From the first tests I've had with my friends, I think they really enjoyed playing it, every round felt fun in some way. It was particularly fun to see people using less common weapons such as shotguns. However I'm looking to making it feel as polished and legit as it can be, to trully have a chance to be taken as a serious CSGO map with an extremely unique gimmick. Therefore I'm looking for feedback and playtesting more often. I'm aware of some utility problems and bots not knowing what do to once the bomb is planted, and I plan to address them. As you can imagine it's not exactly easy to make this idea work. But there were a couple rules that I established early on for how I wanted it to play out:

1. I want the map to play good and fun without the gimmick. This to me is the most important aspect. The ascendor going down is something that in a balanced match shouldn't happen every round, it should feel special when it happens. If it happens 1 in 4 rounds I'm happy.
2. When the Ascendor goes down, it should remain well connected with the map. This means I don't want it to go too fast, and there need to be paths leading onto it, surfing the wall shouldn't be the only option.
3. No redundant areas. All areas should remain as usable and offer as unique oportunities as possible throughout the map. This applies especially to the under passage, which I tried to design in a way that in the begining of the round works as a 3rd - sneak - aproach to the bombsite that takes longer to navigate, and in end round during a post plant, can be an important route that either team can use to rotate around the site.
4. Verticality should be fun, not frustrating. In the begining it was easy to fall into the trap of making it extremely vertical -for the looks-, but this resulted in not only the layout feeling too massive but also created undesirable angles. Right now I think it strikes the right balance of gameplay and aesthethic oportunity.
5. Least overlap as possible, with 2 layers of level overlapping at most in any location. Overview and provisory callouts:

Spoiler

Screenshots time:

Bombsite view from front

More here:

Spoiler Catwalk into site

Balcony (?)

T spawn

Connector

Site from above

Backsite

Thanks for checking this out, and again - any feedback is very very welcome. Workshop link: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/fi…/?id=2928280689

Changes coming with version dev15:

• Added box stack in left pillar of backsite region to block vision of CT for players coming up ladder and vice versa.
• Reworked Underpass area to reduce empty space and create more interesting gameplay.
• Added boost oportunity in drop area.
• Improved clipping in certain areas.
• Fixed "infinite" smoke grenade bounce on elevator while going down.
• Improved ladder interaction.
• Blocked some C4 stuck spots.
• Removed bullet and grenade collision from remaining handrails.

Quote from CuervoSp

1 hour ago, CuervoSp said: In my case I like the concept of the map but I think it is a bit big and complex for wingman, right now the wingman maps are smaller and with a low amount of paths to follow, but in general like map.

Yes I do agree. I'm making an effort to reduce excess space. Thank you for your comment! 😉

Changes coming with version dev17:

• Changed CT layout to reduce rotation time around this area.
• Both teams spawn points have been pushed closer to action.
  
  • Contact points remain the same.
• Elevator now toggles players solidity once it starts moving to prevent players getting accidentaly stuck.
• Players can no longer keep "surfing" up past a certain point to avoid death.
• Improved Kill trigger.
• Made drop way deeper.

This version is now live on the Workshop.