[CS2] Tartarus (release + blog)

Pictures

Background

Back in the good ol' CS:GO days, I imagined a map set in a hellscape filled with more ladders than any other CS map. It is a place of torture, after all. The idea never really went anywhere because of some limitations I ran into in CS:GO, along with me semi-quitting map making after releasing Firenze. With CS2, I decided to give the concept another shot. Even though I absolutely stink at art (as you'll probably notice), I wanted to revisit the theme and see how far I could take it. I revived the map, brought back some gameplay elements from the unreleased CS:GO version like the lava section, and simplified the layout to fit Wingman mode. That way, I could release it more quickly without putting too much pressure on myself. This was never meant to be an art showcase, and my main goal was to experiment with things I hadn’t tried before, like particles, custom soundscapes, and logic events. It’s been a fun way to experiment with level designing without going too overboard.

Custom Particles

In this level, I experimented with a few particle effects to help set the mood, including a portal, a storm vortex, and falling ash. If you're interested in using any of them (they're completely free) or want details on how I created the effects, feel free to DM me. The portal (shown above) was probably the most challenging particle effect to create, and honestly, I'm still not sure I pulled it off. It mainly uses features like particle emission along a ring, particle axis rotation, and pulling particles toward the origin. I used two sprite trails, one orange and one a slightly darker orange, to try and create a swirling, multicolored effect that feels like a portal to another dimension. Originally, lighting was used in the particle, but this created a visually distracting effect that hurt to look at, so I used a couple of rectangular lights in the level to cast more consistent lighting near the portal. The vortex was a bit simpler. It used oversized cloud sprites tinted orange, combined with upward force and some random motion around the Z axis to create a tornado-like effect. This added some life to the skybox tower (which was inspired by Minas Morgul). I think the effect turned out fine, but it felt like it needed something extra to stand out, especially from a distance. To address that, I added some omni2 lights into the spiral. This might come with a noticeable performance hit, so I wouldn't recommend it unless you're okay with the tradeoff. That said, the lights followed the clouds and reflected nicely off the main tower, which helped the whole structure stand out more in game. The falling ash is the simplest of the custom particles. It's essentially a reskin and tweak of a falling snow effect I originally created for an unfinished map called Snowhaven. It uses the same snow particles from the game, but they’re tinted a grayish, semi-transparent tone. It’s very subtle and hard to spot during gameplay, but it emits throughout the entire map. If you look closely, you might catch a glimpse of it, which I think adds a lot to the atmosphere. The particles collide with surfaces like props and meshes, and they drift around slightly as they fall to the ground.

Custom Soundscapes One of the more interesting (and painful) things I tried with the CS2 tools was adding custom soundscapes to the level. Since CS2 maps are usually set in realistic locations, there aren’t any built-in sounds that really fit lava or the tortured atmosphere of a hellish environment. To get around this, I used programs like Audacity and free sound libraries from Sonniss (https://sonniss.com/gameaudiogdc/) to splice together various effects. The result is a set of haunting ambient sounds that help bring the map to life. You can listen to one of the custom outdoor soundscapes here:

Logic Events The only logic events in the level are used to control the lightning and thunder effects coming from the tower. There are five lightning beams in total, created using the path tool with a generic red emissive material. These start disabled by default. Each beam is controlled by its own logic timer (seen below), which randomly triggers every 25 to 45 seconds. When one timer activates, the others go to sleep to prevent overlapping effects and avoid constant thunder from bad RNG. That said, I think the thunder still plays a bit too often, and the current 4-second delay could probably be increased. Artwork As you can probably tell from all of my maps, I've never been much of an artist. I tend to focus more on the level design side of CS mapping. Since most of the artists I know are either retired or busy, I’ve had to handle most of the visuals myself recently (especially on smaller projects like this one). For this map, I used Quixel Megascan rocks, which I color-matched in Paint.net and scattered throughout the level. I also used some assets from https://3dassets.one/, and for the ornamental trims, I exported the map to Blender and used a paid plugin called Ornament Generator (https://superhivemarket.com/products/ornament-generator). Overall, I think the map turned out okay... not quite up to the standards of modern CS2 levels, but serviceable. I believe it could be completely overhauled into something much better (especially in terms of lighting, color scheme, and textures), but for now, I see it as a fun and experimental project that’s not meant to be taken too seriously. Level Design [Blocked Image: https://images.steamusercontent.com/ugc/18379028805016400390/5626C9DA54DCC2BC110AC1B707AAD585DF65DD12/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false] In terms of level design, I followed the 2.5-lane principle that I usually use when creating Wingman maps. The idea is simple: you have one main entrance to the site (visible as the leftmost J-shaped path on the radar), one alternative entrance that’s typically perpendicular to the site (the dashed J-shape in the center), and a third partial lane that connects to CT from a different angle (hence the ".5"). I find this setup often results in a semi-playable layout for Wingman that doesn't need a ton of testing or refinement to be fun. One general rule of thumb for anyone designing defuse maps: always consider how CTs can position themselves (where is each CT holding, and what are they holding) and what angles Ts will be peeking into (can they clear each angle out effectively, are they peeking into multiple angles at once?). This mindset helps a lot, not just with Wingman, but also with full 5v5 layouts. The End If you're ever interested in more tips, tricks, or a deeper dive into my design approach for CS maps, feel free to DM me, either on here, discord, twitter, bluesky, wherever! Thanks for listening to me rant, let me know what you think of the map or if you want me to explain more stuff in this short blog. Have a nice day! 😁