Posts by OrnateBaboon

Thank for comments guys!

Sewers - yeah they are a bit out of place! Too Italian I think and not grungy enough. Main thing was to get the shape in, and basic idea. Will fix them later on once map has been given a first pass.

RA7 - nah not breakable trailers, but I think some will have to look a bit broken so that there is some variety. Otherwise, they will look too similar. Also, thanks for reference image and Lanmaniax pimp (great to see it back!).

blackdog - yeah the flatness and the fact that trailers are low has limited what can be done. I did find some raised trailer references, but they looked kind of ridiculous in the map (see below). In the end, I have to go with things like steps - (purple trailer and the swimming pool). In the end, the map has similar heights to maps like de_st_marc and dod_flash for example.

Initially I was put off by the lack of height, so blocked out another map - de_hydro or something similar based in a dam, but made sure it had loads of height variation. However, I returned to the trailer map because I prefer the theme.

Posted a few of these in the WIP section, but did a bit more since. Managed to first pass the 3d skybox, a trailer interior, and another path. The map is still flat, and has a lot of "lines", but I will get to those later. The mesh trees are also pretty dark, so I will have to modify those at some point. I also posted another reference of things I will try and add. The hot air balloons will definitely be in since there area lot of air balloon shows in Lake Tahoe, plus they will make some good navigational markers.

Come on maxgiddens, don't be so obtuse. Evert's question was rhetorical. Pimping your work in someone else's thread is not cool.

If you must inform NihiL of your similarly themed map, then why not send him a PM or start your own thread?

Tried to play the map, but some stuff is missing for me. Maybe it never packed properly.

The 2D sky texture is missing, and when you spawn as CT, there are lots of black brushes that stop vision. Maybe portal related?

Yeah looks superb. My initial impression is that it is the perfect balance between visuals and game-play. Detailed but not cluttered.

I also like how spacious the map feels, especially the spawn areas. Very airy.

Did a first pass of a couple of callouts. "Swimming pool" and "shed". Lighting is still pretty work in progress, will get to improving it nearer completion.

Seems like a really good map - just played it with bots. A heads up - I think the CT buyzone is missing since I could not buy anything as a CT.

Going round trying to first pass the trailers, or at least get the basic shape in. About 13 more to go! Not totally sure about the purple, but it was colour picked from a real trailer. The back one in the reference image. Trying to have every trailer a different colour for easy callouts.

Thanks for reply guys. Colarado is close! I was going to go with that at one stage, but went with Lake Tahoe. Map will be a trailer park, maybe de_trailerpark or something similar. Some reference images below.

Been working on a CSGO map. Trying to establish the theme. One of the things I was wondering about is whether the location (it is well-known) and maybe the most obvious map name can be determined from these images. Hopefully it is possible, since that will mean I am on the right track!

Map looks great! I really like de_arcade as well.

It seems that your art skills have leveled up a lot since then. Looking forward to a release!

Congrats guys, and again thanks to the people for organising the contest!

And my heart goes out to de_bourg - thought for sure it would be in. Seems like the kind of map Valve would like, and a lot of peoples favourite from the contest

Nuke though. Looks so polished and so epic. Never thought it could look so good.

Thanks for the replies! Since the spawns are prioritised by lowest number first, I just set them from 1 to 16 on each team - gave it a test with bots, and the same 5 are used every time, making the meeting times much more predictable with fewer players. 1 to 16 seems to make the most sense to me, since you can prioritise all of them in order.

PrvokingPerch - None that I am aware of - will try and get a build ready for a Mapcore test sometime soon, so maybe look out for that.

Dis a lot of bug fixes and optimisation, plus some more polish - adding a few more meshes in places to make areas look less "brushy", and improving the sites/route to A. Always seems a bit tricky, since adding a few bits of foliage seems to make some areas a little noisy.

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Couple of people asked me about the night version - I did a decent amount of work trying to get it looking good - but visibility always seems to be an issue, plus the map always has to be compiled and tested to see if areas and visibility is an issue. So for now, I will focus on polishing day one, then when I have more time, see if I can get a night one working well. Some test images of the night setting - one saturated, one less so.

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One thing I was wondering about is the spawn priority. I have the 5 spawns on each team set to priority 1 - yet they don't seem to be always be prioritised in 5 v 5. Still seems random. Anyone know if it is possible to lock the spawns so it is always the same 5 every time so that matches are more predictable?

Really like the map!

Took some images for feedback.

Agree with kinggambit - the route to B from here is a little easy to miss. The decal and light definitely helps make players more aware that the route exists, but the door itself is somewhat tucked away. Maybe make the door taller and wider so it can be seen as soon as you enter from here?

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Also possible for new players to miss the vent on the right when coming from this door.

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Even when looking to the right.

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Maybe move the vent portion off the wall, like in de_nuke.

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When entering A site from here, the route on the right is a little hidden by the crate.

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Means that new players might also miss the vent that leads to B.

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Maybe make these breakable for smokes?

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Smoking through the broken windows I find quite difficult because the gaps are really narrow. Maybe make the broken bits a little wider?

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Some of the corridors might be difficult to describe in callouts. These ones could benefit from having something that uniquely defines the areas so that when the bomb drops it is really easy for new players to describe the location.

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Thanks for comments, encouragement and feedback!

Been fixing some of the bugs people have mentioned, as well as addressing some of the crits that Andre posted. The 2004 grate texture was too much! Also added some more mountains to fill the emptier areas of the skybox so that the route to B has a bit more going on in the distance.

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Again, big thanks for the feedback!

RaVaGe - great you posted that, since it became clear much more colour and contrast was needed. I went for the third one though, since the sky and light matched more - so tweaked it to try and look more like moonlight. Added more colour and contrast. The map is really dark in the areas with shadow, so will have to find a way to get lights on the surfaces, especially higher up.

I was wondering if I should light up some of the castle windows, but then thought maybe it would look a bit out of place in areas where it is not possible to do so. Will do some tests.

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Did some skybox testing in one of the more open areas - all the settings are the same - just changed the sky with the sv_skyname command.

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Anyone have any preferences for the best type to go for? I think these are the maximum ranges that can be had while keeping the dark theme. Will tweak things depending on what one is best.

Really appreciate the feedback guys, been working on a lot of stuff based on this and the reddit posts. Heat maps etc from the tests for those that like that kind of thing.

http://demo.ehvag.de/#55eb11916e8df…e8dfd4a22ede580

Also got some other issues reported from a really helpful guy - images here:

http://imgur.com/a/XbK9B

Got really burnt out fixing/improving stuff based on feedback yesterday. Still wanted to do work on the map, so did some first pass stuff of the night setting. Bit dark/flat in some places, but I need to get the point lights in to sell each area first, then start to tweak them along with the fog. I will be doing more over weekend, so will post more images.

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Took a walk around to find possible issues.

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Walking on top of this will probably look really odd from another players perspective since the platform is really thin.

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There are 3 blocked doors that read as a route/entrance when approached from some angles. Might be disorienting for new players since they will briefly try and check to see if someone is there. It is not until you are up close you know they are dead ends.

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Maybe add an overhang here to get the players attention so that when approaching from the side, they can see entrance well in advance.

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I feel that maybe some more "honest" cover here could be good, since there are 2 long, and 2 medium ranged angles on this spot with just a spool to use for cover.

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This wall can be vaulted from the other side, but there is no indication of this. To new players, it will just read as a normal wall from here. If you don't know the wall can be vaulted, and someone jumps over and kills you, it would be one of those WTF! moments.