Posts by OrnateBaboon

Nice map! Easy to learn, with enough options to remain interesting. Great theme as well. I found some issues.

This is really nice, but maybe you could have some boats here or something to make it look like the Ts arrived by them.

This wall texture is really old. I think it is a HL2 floorboard texture. For those who recognise the asset - it was also used in CSS and DOD, it looks strange.

Shadow issue.

Tree on the right pops in and out of view.

Gret map overall, and it will be interesting to see what players think of the slime feature. I found some issues.

This mesh gets in the way of seeing players. It is in a lot of places, and whilst it looks great and adds to the theme, I think it will annoy a lot of players.

It can be quite hard to clearly see players here, especially up against blood stained walls.

This path here I think could be better defined. I only found it after 20 rounds or so, and that was by accidentally pushing up against the ladder.

Map is nice! Found some issues.

The "window" on the bridge is unintuitive in that when you approach from under here, you have no idea it is there. Easy for new players to get shot in the back.

This set of stairs effects movement when trying to rush middle. Maybe they can be moved back a bit so that players are entering on flat ground.

There is a door to the left - but you can't really see it until you are right up next to it.

This bench makes holding and peeking from here difficult.

Edit - another thing I found is that with the sites, there are no safe plant spots - unless I missed them. Very easy to get caught planting in the open, even with bots.

I have resumed working on this. No new art has went in yet, just been fixing and improving things. for now I have only got the essential stuff in since the eventual 3d sky will be doing a lot of the work, so it might get a bit messy in here.

The 3d sky will be closer to the main map - more like rocks and trees as seen in Life Is Strange. I used untors de_waterfall 3d sky that he released a while back, and scaled it up. Is not precisely what we want, but is a good example of the kind of thing we will be going for.

Could not fit all the stuff in one post - exceeded the limit. Tried to add more images. For those who played the map before, this is what has been updated.

General

Reduced the footprint of the map overall, which previously made the map feel "too big".

The sites were flipped on the radar. They are now represented correctly.

A full clipping pass has been added to improve player movement, and stop any exploits.

Trimmed a lot of the roof detail.

=================================================================================== Navigation

The playable area has been better defined. Previously, new players felt overwhealmed by not knowing what parts of the map were accessible. This is now better communicated by the addition of solid fences to make this clearer.

All interiors are now visually simpler. This has been achieved by blocking off eye candy windows with glass, and closing any doors that were previously ajar.

All interiors have had a layout rework to improve movement.

A redundant path has been removed (the yellow double trailers with two windows overlooking the site).

Illuminated lamps on the outside of trailers have been removed - some players thought they suggested that doors could be entered.

=================================================================================== Middle Area

The gate entrance to the compound has been closed to better "section" the map, and to make the middle area a more attractive option for both teams.

The CT entrance to mid has been reworked.

The porches on the trailers have been simplified in main combat area for better player readability/pathing - they are now solid "walls".

The warehouse has been extended for better player navigation, and cleaner angles.

Walls have been added around the water tower to make sightlines cleaner.

Better cover for the approach to the B site.

=================================================================================== A Site

Fully opened the blue door near the vent to make access to the site easier.

Widened and simplified the path in the blue trailer to the site.

Altered sitelines from the vent to the site (can no longer cover the site from the vent)

Closed the small room at the back of the site - it was deemed too powerful a post-plant spot.

Blocked-off the underside of the trailer leading to heaven, and removed the ladder.

Blocked-off the small hut on the pink trailer.

Raised the roof on "heaven" so that players no longer bang their heads on the ceiling when jumping off the platform.

Reduced site radius to make defusing the bomb more likely.

Reworked cover.

=================================================================================== B site

Cover is cleaner, and there is now a safe plant spot.

Site radius reduced and made simpler.

Both T entrances from mid to the site have been reworked.

=================================================================================== Long

Replaced windmill with a trailer.

Adjusted the placement of the RV near the swimming pool for better cover.

Removed wooden roofover near pool, and replaced it with two trailers.

Reworked the path into the vent and breakable window area.

General visual improvements.

Added a van for improved cover.

=================================================================================== Vent

It is now easier to jump from the bin, into the vent.

Lengthened the room before the vent.

Made vent "tunnel" narrower, so it is quicker to enter and exit.

Reworked the interior of the trailer path to the vent.

=================================================================================== Storm drain/sewers

Changed textures, and basic clean up.

Widened entrance from T spawn to make the path feel more like a "main" route.

Made the eit to the site a banana shape for better timing.

=================================================================================== Terrorist Spawn

Added geometry behind and to the side of the spawn points to improve the visuals and readability.

Replaced the compound walls with wooden fences.

Made the immediate entrance to "middle" wider, and visually more appropriate.

===================================================================================

Beach

Improved rock placement in eye candy area.

=================================================================================== Cliff Edge

Reworked the entrance to the sewer so that it is more of a "banana" shape

=================================================================================== Window Area

Clean up of geometry so it is less busy generally.

===================================================================================

Warehouse platform

Added trailers behind plyer for improved visibility and cleaner detail.

=================================================================================== Deathmatch

Fixed broken spawns.

New spawns added to areas devoid of them.

=================================================================================== Misc

Removed a lot of the drains on the floor

Fixed lots of shadow bugs.

Improvements in the eye candy interiors.

Lighting improvements.

Map is nice, though I found that there are a lot of dark spots like this. There is an enemy over the crosshairs.

I also assume this is a valve problem and not a map problem - player models not holding weapons.

Thanks for all the feedback and bugs everyone. Will come in most useful!

Not quite design related, but more a "pimp your workshop experience".

If I were to give feedback, I would suggest working on the "Luxury" map, with a view to completing it. Definitely the most interesting to me, and also the most complete.

Map has been released.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1668367393&searchtext=

There will be bugs etc, but we wanted to get it out for feedback. Expect a lot of polish, and thank for all the feedback so far. If you have any issues, especially gameplay related, let us know!

Few more pics - included hammer shot to show stuff behind trailers since it was a cordon compile.

RaVaGe - mountains will receive more work - right now, focusing on the main map, then the 3d sky. Thanks for feedback all!

More WIP images. A beach area and another vehicle. The beach is the CT spawn, and the new vehicle area is the T spawn. Much of the detail from these parts will be coming from the 3dsky, which is still under construction.

Blackdog - yeah, using cs_concert assets for the instruments.

Some more vehicles, and a bit of a top down of the area. I included some WIP pics of the 3d sky, and the door that RZL mentioned.

Skybex is currently optimising the trees, and working on more vehicles.

I think all major contests needs to satisfy two not always compatible demands. First they need to be fair, and second they need to be organized so as to produce high quality entries. Any attempt to advance fairness will impact quality, and vice versa.

If the contest aimed to produce the best content, then the rules would allow for everyone to get involved - including Mapcore staff, and that every map be eligible for submission. Even those submitted to previous contests, as well as remakes. The only exception to this would be maps that made the top 4 in earlier contests, and maps already featured in an operation. Team sizes would be unrestricted, and the time frame would be at least six months.This kind of "catch all" approach would likely mean a top 10 of the best community made maps in any CSGO contest to date, and possibly even a top 20 of maps deemed "operation potential".

The main issue here however, relates to fairness.

These are the things that I personally regard as being both fair and conducive to quality.

• Mapcore staff. All staff should be allowed to participate. The mapping community is small, so barring even one staff member from entering seems counter-productive. We just need to have faith in the judging process. As an aside, I felt sorry for those barred from participation in the last contest because they were helpful enough to be staff.
• Time frame. It takes so long to make a quality CSGO map, that I am in favor of long deadlines. It is the only way for solo-participants working on a brand new layout to compete.
• Maps already under construction. Unless I am mistaken, the last contest drew the line at maps that were anything more than a dev textured block out. In other words, if you added any models or textures to the map, you could not enter. The inherent problem here is that by including this kind of rule as a staple of any and all future contests, it can encourage a culture of secrecy. Mappers will hold back their arted work from the forum, through fear of violating the rules. Knowing if all maps have begun from when the contest is announced is also impossible.
• Maps that have previously appeared in a contest. There is a lot to be said about encouraging people to continue working on their maps. So if a map appeared in a previous contest, but failed to win a prize, it could still be eligible for entry. To stop people from constantly submitting the same map over and over, perhaps a limit could be placed on the number of contests that a map can appear in.

These are the things that I personally regard as being unfair.

• Remakes. The biggest issue with any contest is that of time. The advantages afforded in remaking a proven existing design are so numerous, it is possible to race months ahead of those creating original work. If someone was solely focused on winning, then opting to do a remake would be by far the smartest choice. For contest purposes, a remake could be defined as a map that has appeared in a previous version of any game, other than CSGO.
• Team sizes. Team work should be encouraged, but there has to be a limit on the number of people allowed per team. Since there will likely be a lot of solo-participants, I think no more than two people per team is the fairest. Two people on a team already have a massive advantage over a solo-mapper, that when teams of three or more compete, fairness can always get called into question.

Pretty sure a lot of people will disagree with these. It is why I imagine just outlining the rules is a bit of a nightmare!

Updated pics of areas previously pimped, and some more interior work. Trying to make each interior unique without using too many different assets. Skybex has the unenviable task of making lots of interior meshes to try and tell a story. No 3d sky, trees or cubemaps yet, but that should be happening soon.

Some parts have gone backwards - I have hidden all the "old" assets until they can get replaced with HR ones. The blends are also under construction.

The double doors RZL mentioned have not been updated yet, since there have been bigger things to deal with. The interiors now have the base direction - trims will also be added, and a lot of unique things to better identify each interior.

Regarding the story, for now, we will be going for the same kind of thing as inferno, with the hiding of missiles in the sites. Hazard stripes will be added to the crates, and some tarp on top of all the barrels to break them up a bit.

As always, feedback is appreciated!

fewseb - nothing is final, just not got any other ideas at to what can be added to the sites. A better story would be good - just can't think of any!

RZL - Thanks for the detailed feedback, much appreciated. I will deal with those issues when I next do a pass on that area. Hopefully can get some replacement textures for the storm drain areas. Regarding sending a map - working on trying to get it playable - at the moment, the map currently has every source mappers favourite issue - max_tex_infos, and max_brushes limit. Should be fixed pretty soon though - will let you know!

Got a replacement mesh for the old blockout van. A before and after shot. Other stock vehicles also being replaced with rv's and a VW Van.

Some more updates. The map is at a stage where a few weeks represents a lot of progress, so all feedback on what you see is very welcome! Managed to get Skybex on board to deal with the custom art assets, so you won't be seeing any of my nooby art anymore

Walkthroughs of the map.

Does this mean that some of the official maps will be removed from the game forever? From a development standpoint, I suppose this would help Valve, since they won't need to maintain and update a lot of the maps that receive such little playtime.

Anyone have the playtime's of the official maps?

Thanks for comments guys.

VIOLATION - making things diverse is a challenge. Different colours will come in soon and more variety on the trailers, especially in areas that look too samey.

Moved onto a new area, and thought I would show the development shots. Some horrid looking stuff in there! Last screen shows the entrances to the site which comes off the swimming pool screenshot.

I looked through the old de_highlands thread just to punish myself. I'm like that. The image above shows that more work has been done to it! Below is the most recent image in the original thread.

I refuse to believe this map will not see the light of day!

[Blocked Image: https://i.imgur.com/JKN9OiV.jpg]