Posts by Squad

Quote from blackdog

When I saw the sketch-over in the previous pages I thought you were going to cover the exit with the archway, making it play a bit like the bridge in Dust (in the old setup).

That was the plan when I posted it I just thought this would be a better solution (having sort of an extra entrance in the courtyard).

Thanks for your comments.

cincinnati: I'm aware the bombsites are not far from each other, but the map itself is not so big either. So far I don't think it didn't turned out to be a big issue in the last playtest (at least, I think so ). If it does, I could indeed as you mentioned move B outside the current boundaries.

There's a few gameplay changes I did now: removing the crate in the cellar hallway, making the balcony in the courtyard accessible (and lowering it a bit too). T's can run up to it from where they can provide covering fire onto any CT's entering the courtyard or up to the balcony. Plus, it also creates a little bit more room in that area.

I'm gonna do some more clipping in that (and others) area as it's an important chokepoint and there are quite some small edges and stuff to get stuck behind.

[Blocked Image: http://users.telenet.be/gus/csgo_changes04.jpg]

[Blocked Image: http://users.telenet.be/gus/csgo_changes05.jpg]

Quote from Rick_D

One thing I noticed in the test is the tightness of the areas. It gives you very little space to dodge gunfire or grenades. Finding a good, strong, spot to snipe from was quite hard as well. There's a lot of great details in unenterable buildings that add life to the level, but are confusing when you are trying to check for enemies. Generally in CS maps if an area cannot be entered it is very obvious - it helps the general readability whether you've played the map a hundred times or just once.

It's a tough thing to say "widen everything" but I think it needs to happen - perhaps not everywhere but at least in a few places to make different tactics more viable.

Any areas in particular that need widening? Or pretty much the whole map?

I'm aware it's not the most sniperfriendly map, but is that really an issue? Perhaps it's just how I build it, cause I suck at sniping myself

I tried making it obvious enough when buildings, rooms, etc aren't not accessible. Care to clarify which areas I should work on?

Quote from Rick_D

There colours are quite clashing in places as well - it doesn't feel as cohesive as other standard levels. I am sure you already did, but returning to references and just getting a good feel for the colour schemes would help to unify areas. It'd be great to theme areas of the level (the lift and right sides should be drastically different for example - think of cs_italy, the market vs the long stairs).

I'm not that good as many people around here at choosing colours that go together nicely (while still keeping it attractive and not cliché). Any suggestions?

Quote from Puddy

Like Rick I agree that the map is a bit tight overall. I'm unsure about the best way to "open it up" but I do however have some other layout tweaks I think the map needs.

The CT rooftop area has been nerfed in this layout, they can now only look from the middle. If they want to look to the left side of the map (from T's perspective), they will have to stand very close to the edge of the "balcony" (shown here as the blue line of sight) thus making them very vulnerable from the middle (the yellow line of sight). Still, it's a powerful position to have for CT and they can respond quickly to threats from different flanks. Another option is that the roof area also has line of sight to the left (to that small courtyard). But that should be it. They shouldn't be able to look down T's left flank.

Furthermore, I think the path around B should be brought closer in. I also think the crate on the left flank should be removed, it creates a really harsh and narrow choke point for T. I think the flow of battle is better without it.

I like your suggestion about the blue line of sight. I make put that in in the next beta (or one after that).

Good point about the crate in the hallway. I initially put it there to give advancing CT's a little bit of cover, because it's a narrow hallway. Turned out T's have a much harder time in that area of the map, so I'll get rid of it

I'm not sure if I understand what you mean about the path around bombsite B?

For the next beta I'll definately rework the balcony on the left side. What about adding a bit more cover in the little courtyard so T's have better chances of entering the courtyard?

[Blocked Image: http://users.telenet.be/gus/csgo_changes01.jpg]

So what about bombsite A? Nobody really mentioned it (yet).

Here are few ideas that have been playing in my head for it to give T's a little bit more advantage over it:

[Blocked Image: http://users.telenet.be/gus/csgo_changes02.jpg]

[Blocked Image: http://users.telenet.be/gus/csgo_changes_top.jpg]

Thanks everybody for all the feedback so far!

Thanks for your comments! A lot of the visual stuff is still WIP and subject to change. Also still have to do optimizing, decent clipping, adding ambient sounds, ...

3Dnj: nice idea on sculpting some houses corners. I will definately give that a try and see how that turns out!

Sentura: you are talking about the left balcony viewed from the T's starting point, right?

Here's an overview.

[Blocked Image: http://users.telenet.be/gus/csgo_overview.jpg]

Just thought I'd start a seperate topic for my map. First playtest was tonight so if there are some people with suggestions, here's the place to post them

Here are some pics I already posted:

[Blocked Image: http://users.telenet.be/gus/csgo05.jpg]

[Blocked Image: http://users.telenet.be/gus/csgo06.jpg]

[Blocked Image: http://users.telenet.be/gus/csgo07.jpg]

de_ali is just a placeholder name. It's short for alicante, which was its initial name when I started it (even prior to de_toledo). If anyone has a better suggestion for it, shoot!

A lot of people mentioned that the balconies are too much in favourite of the defending team. One idea to counter this is to make the opposite balcony on the T's side accessible (possibly even the little tower too), but I think that may make the map unnecessary large and would slow down things on the T's side a bit). Here are some pictures of what I'm talking about:

(viewed from T's side)

[Blocked Image: http://users.telenet.be/gus/csgo_playtest01.jpg]

(viewed from CT's side)

[Blocked Image: http://users.telenet.be/gus/csgo_playtest02.jpg]

I'm happy to hear everyone's suggestions though!

Here's some pics from the playtest. Thanks everyone who joined It was a lot of fun imho.

[Blocked Image: http://users.telenet.be/gus/csgo_playtest03.jpg]

[Blocked Image: http://users.telenet.be/gus/csgo_playtest04.jpg]

(Puddy succesfully trying to jump away from my grenade after killing me )

[Blocked Image: http://users.telenet.be/gus/csgo_playtest05.jpg]

Server is still down

Quote from Puddy

We'll play again next tuesday! Let me know if you guys have any maps you want to test this time around.

I hope I find some time to make mine ready for playtesting. Still have some optimising to do on it

Spherix, I remember that map from MoH:AA, used to had some good fun with it. Looking forward to seeing more of it

Lemurr: what engine is that for?

First of all, the playtest was really fun (although I suck at CSGO, haha).

Btw, my nick ingame was Gus, didn't know how to change it.

Puddy & Dejavos: here are some thoughts I had about de_placeholder.

Firstly, the map feels a bit too complex. It took me quite a few rounds to get a sense of the layout. Obviously, this is partially because it's WIP: everything still looks the same (dev textures), the lack of landmarks, the different levels of the map (which I don't consider a bad thing at all, but perhaps a bit too overdone and unnecessary in some parts) ... but also because the radar wasn't working and there was no freelook mode available on the server (since I suck and die fast I couldn't just run or fly to where I wanted to get an idea of the layout ).

Try cutting down on the map a bit (parts that are not really needed) and I think it could also benefit from scaling the whole map down a bit (I think it takes too long to get from certain parts of the map to other parts (especially when the bomb is planted and you first check either A or B you should still have the time to get to the other Bombsite in a reasonable amount of time).

I would consider removing parts of the left route to Bombsite B (see picture below). Also, Bombsite B is only attackable from the Eastside, which makes it a bit too easy to defend once the Bomb is planted, imho (the picture below doens't represent that as the entrance is still on the Eastside, but you should get the picture).

As for Bombsite A, there are plenty of routes to attack it as soon the Bomb is planted there, but when you're coming from above you can only go via the stairs and it takes too much time if you're up there and want to try another entry point. I wouldn't add an extra entry from the top floor but an easier way to get to an entry point at a lower level there.

It's also lacking some cover in some areas. I'm aware it's WIP and perhaps you're planning on adding a lot of cover by putting desks, chairs, plants, ... and what not, but for gameplay testing even a few simple crates would do the job Further down the road that could be turned into niches and stuff.

[Blocked Image: http://users.telenet.be/gus/de_placeholder01.jpg]

Anyway, I hope this is somewhat helpful to you. Keep up the good work! I like how it has a few different floors on top of each other, although it's a bit hard to navigate sometimes.

Cool! I'll try to join if work isn't holding me up too long. Is there a download link available already?

Quote from OrnateBaboon

Thrik and Squad - definitely agree! Tried to adjust the palms by alpha tinting, but the whole tree goes the same colour It would be great to have a look like this which has much more colour.

Have you tried Color Correction to get a more colourful look? I don't have a lot of experience with it myself, but it might help you a bit to get the look (colors) you want.

It's always cool to see the process a map goes through, also what the ideas behind a change are

Looks cool as well, but I agree with what was suggested above about the color and textures of the building. It could benefit from some more vibrance colors.

Keep it up!

I like it! Doesn't seem like a flat image to me. I wonder what it looks like from another angle though.

Quote from _gb

Squad: I really like that first shot with the cart on the ramp, looks like a real street scene. The windows on the building to the right of the cart look a little glued on, mostly because all other houses have a different type of window.

Okay, I tried something else with the building on the right. Any better?

[Blocked Image: http://users.telenet.be/gus/csgo08.jpg]

[Blocked Image: http://users.telenet.be/gus/csgo09.jpg]

I've already placed light_spots in transitions from interior to exterior, but that's not really the problem. It's mostly bottom sides of rooftrims, some small trims here and there.

I agree the plaster looks a bit too clean, I'll throw some decals against it and see if that helps.

I'm not sure what you mean about the floor texturing. It's all stone textures at the moment. Or do you mean using a 'stone tile' texture instead of a 'stone brick' one?

Thanks for the feedback!

Awesome textures! Nice touch on the town's name in the last one

Quote from cincinnati

start with upping the ambient light, if you haven't already?

though i've never done it, i believe there are parameters for bounce numbers in vrad.

i'm guessing those are default textures, so this third option might be a small hassle...but you could rewrite and rename the vmt for the textures in those places with $reflectivity (ie. $reflectivity "[.2 .2 .2]" )and get definite results.

I'll try upping the ambient light first. Haven't thought of that

I think it's possible to do bounce numbers in vrad with Nem's Tools perhaps. Been a few years since I've used it, so far I've been compiling with Hammer only

Some good suggestions, thanks!

Quote from _gb

Squad: I really like that first shot with the cart on the ramp, looks like a real street scene. The windows on the building to the right of the cart look a little glued on, mostly because all other houses have a different type of window.

I know what you mean. I'm not too pleased with that building yet, but so far I haven't found a nice way to 'fix' it. Any suggestions on that are more than welcome

Thanks for all the feedback!

That's some incredible looking stuff there!

Quote from Vilham

Just from an art thing, try breaking the floor up a bit. Maybe some lifted flagstones or small bricks, grass growing up through gaps etc.

I haven't really done a lot of work on the ground so far (postponing it, cause it's a little bit of a bitch, hehe), but I'll definately take it into account.

I'm also experiencing some (near) pitchblack faces (mostly the bottom of overhanging roofs etc ..., in the second picture below is a good example in the upper left corner). Is there an option to set a minimum light level throughout the map (if I remember correctly, there used to be in Hammer, or rather WorldCraft back then). Or does anyone have another solution for this?

Here are a few new shots.

[Blocked Image: http://users.telenet.be/gus/csgo05.jpg]

[Blocked Image: http://users.telenet.be/gus/csgo06.jpg]

[Blocked Image: http://users.telenet.be/gus/csgo07.jpg]

Can someone post a link to the concept art everybody is speaking of?