Posts by OrnateBaboon

That looks excellent. Height map generated?

https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Light_environment

A good post on this topic from the people that made Gone Home. Loads of other interesting content on the site in general.

http://www.fullbrightdesign.com/2009/01/informative.html

Do you have a light_env entity in the map? If so, have you turned it off in a vis group by mistake? Is this a full compile?

Nah. Decompile a map - de_dust is a good example.

View the underpass, then go to the vis groups, and turn off everything except the world geometry and area portals. From here, it should be easy to see how area portals work - especially if you go in game and use the mat_wireframe commands to see the effect they are having. Same deal with func_detail.

https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Mat_wireframe

edit: That was a reply to Marcem

It would also be hugely beneficial to decompile some official maps, and look at how Valve have done it.

https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Decompiling_Maps

Generally, any brushes that are not blocking vis should be function detail. This often includes whole buildings. However, portals will only work if they are totally surrounded by world geometry.

I think moving it up would definitely be better, since players will no longer have to clear upstairs and downstairs when going for a plant/defuse. At the moment, when you get to the site, if you don't check the whole area, including upstairs, it is common to see someone pop out from the upper bridge section, and shoot you.

A more fundamental issue with the site however, is that it is very hard for the T's to attack using the main T entrances. The CT's have a lot of places to set-up, with multiple sightlines on the doors that require a large aim adjustment from the T's. I think reducing the number of sighlines on the doors, and closing off one of the T entrances - probably the one closest to the T spawn, could make the site a more attractive option. It would also harden the choke point - probably a good thing in this case, since the two doors next to each other make the area feel too loose.

Regarding the A site. I would say it is almost like a wide corridor at the moment, with cover that feels hap hazard, and with limited options for defending. Making it at least twice the width - the site extending more over to the left, and adding some cover better suited for holding a site would dramatically improve the area. This should be pretty easy to do given the door placement, and would create more opportunities for turning the site into something with a bit more mission value when it come to the art pass.

Overgrown

The map is much improved from the earlier version we tested. Mid is much cleaner and inviting, plus a lot of the crates and misc objects you could climb on have been removed, making combat more predictable (a good thing in CS!)

• The site letter decals being yellow makes them blend in with the rest of the environment, so are very easy to miss. Since they impart critical information - where the sites actually are, I think they should stand out a lot more - maybe by following the CS:GO convention of being orange or red. Since they can really aid navigation, and make the layout more intuitive, I feel that changing the colour will add more to the map, than keeping them yellow will take away.
• The map does seem T sided. I think a large part of this is because the sites themselves have a lot of entrances. Site A has 7 entrances, and site B has 8. For medium sized areas, this is definitely a lot! I think it could be a good idea to block off the windows so that the CT's have more of an idea of precisely where the T's are coming from, and provide protection when covering some of the other doors, in that they won't get shot in the back.

[Blocked Image: http://www.skybex.com/home/de_overgrown_01.jpg]
[Blocked Image: http://www.skybex.com/home/de_overgrown_02.jpg]
[Blocked Image: http://www.skybex.com/home/de_overgrown_03.jpg]

• Retaking the sites seems hard. Once the bomb is planted, it usually always goes off, or the T's kill the remaining CT's because there are a lot of places they can be hiding as they try and defuse. At the moment, I would worry that once the bomb is down, an equal number of CT's v T's might not try and defuse, and instead, decide that it is best to just stay alive and save their weapons for the next round.

Mass

Cool map. I have enjoyed it from the second iteration really. I feel it just needs polish, and of course a lot of art!

Compile on full - not fast to remove the lines.

Yeah, agree. Looks much more intuitive. Rotations look interesting as well. The only thing that stands out is that the Terrorist entries to the A site might need a bit more cover.

Maybe we could have the payment details for the bill so that we could pay a month or something if that is possible. I also don't have PayPal, but totally want to contribute.

Looks totally awesome. Good to see it is this polished after the iterating. The last one played really well.

It would be good to test this in any upcoming tests. Perhaps today's one or on Thursday.

BBC in interesting article shocker!

(Spoiler alert: Multiple key plot details revealed below)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24281785

JeanPaul - I feel like you are jumping the gun a bit there by canning it. The map has good potential, and while it had a few issues, nothing that cannot be solved with some solid iterating. It is also quite a memorable map. The outside site is already good. The interior site was really the only big issue, but that could look excellent with the right work. It has opportunities for using light well like these (CS:GO) shots.

[Blocked Image: http://www.skybex.com/home/jp_01][Blocked Image: http://www.skybex.com/home/jp_02]

For what it is worth, I have been playing the Operation Bravo maps, and they play a lot better in the hands of the public, than they ever did in the playtests. So if you are canning the map based on the two tests we had of the map, I would urge you to reconsider!

Yeah, really nice map, and creative too. I can't recall any other maps having a fish market and a sea mine to blow up that's for sure!

The only thing that stands out as odd to me is that it is based in Italy (since there is an Italian flag in there), yet when I first saw the map, I thought it was the Caribbean or somewhere more exotic.

lol! Yeah, all maps were definitely tested. Siege and cache already looked pretty swanky when we tested them.

Dev textured or early versions of Agency, Ali, Chinatown, Gwalior, and Ruins were also played on the Mapcore test server.

Someone did a basic fly-through of all the maps.

Been looking forward to this! Big congratulations to those involved. I am really happy to see Siege and Ali in, since they missed the cut first time around. That extra polish and hard work paying off

Quote from Stranger

Barely anyone showed up to the last playtest.

Yeah, that happens sometimes. Then the week after, it might be a full server. Luck of the draw!

Hopefully there were enough players so you could get some useful information from the test.

Good article on Eurogamer:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digit…nfall-interview