Posts by text_fish

Quote from MinorThreat

Could you elaborate on what you mean about the complex interior? Which area are you referring to? Am I right in thinking that directional decals are ones which signpost the bombsites?

I mean pretty much the whole interior, to be honest. See red highlight below:

[Blocked Image: http://www.text-fish.co.uk/mappingstuff/minorthread_de_docks_anotated.png]

As a T you can't push any of the bottlenecks without constantly worrying that you're about to be flanked, because there are so many passages and corners to check all the time. It's fine to have some element of fear if there's sufficient reward at the end, but the player at least has to feel like they can anticipate likely maneuvers, strats, rotates etc. so that they can form a coherent plan of attack. If I were you I would turn most of these corridors in to one large atrium with plenty of cover, so at least players can push in one direction and use nades to close off certain threats from a distance.

Oh and I forgot to say, I hope the name de_docks is temporary because it's second only to de_warehouse in boringosity.

Love it. Especially the sexy new hip-sway.

The old ragdoll system gave me many years of slightly weird joy though:

Quote

[Blocked Image: http://www.text-fish.co.uk/nonsense/RIPRagDolls.png]

Just had a run around with some bots. I like the exterior areas (with the exception of behind the trains, which you could stand to lose completely IMHO) but the interior feels overly complex, with far too many winding routes through which you can catch a glimpse of the enemy but may never see them again. I think think you need to get some directional decals up and clean up sightlines in the area Vaya just posted, then it will definitely benefit from a playtest.

Thanks Will!
Your optimization guides are proving invaluable.

Love the lighting.

MAD MACS

Thanks, that's a nice idea.

I was also considering connecting the CT end to the upper part of the stairwell on the T-side. It might somewhat dilute the window-window action, but could help to unify the area as a whole, as I get the impression that as it is right now it all feels a bit too disconnected.

It would be interesting to see side-by-side comparison screenshots from exactly the same angle. At the moment I actually prefer the earlier version, because I think the cascade shadows improve the sense of scale, and greater contrast is always pleasing to the eye.

I'd stick with the Aztec theme and lose the shipping if I were you. Why would anybody (even an evil person) build a "shipping place" on a mountain, let alone right next to Aztec ruins? You'll never make that theme seem plausible.

I don't know about anybody else, but whenever I see this mound of snow I'm filled with an insatiable desire to climb up it and sit on the blue hut, and my hopes are cruelly dashed by the clipping every time. Maybe you could add some spiky railings poking up through the snow?

You could turn the Mid -> B route in to a one-way drop like this:

By the looks of it B is already the easier site to take, so it would make sense to have it the easiest to retake as well.

You'd also probably want to take the jumpyjumpcrates by CT spawn away so as not to be too punishing on CT's rotating from B to A. That narrow path could just be a slope instead.

I uploaded the new version this afternoon:

-Temporary hotfix for the borked skybox
-Big optimisation issue resolved. FPS doubled in a previously troublesome area
-Disabled Fog
-Added placenames to the Nav mesh
-Probably a whole load of tiny tweaks and fixes that I don't remember doing
-Added a KV file

Could an admin please move this thread to the 3D sub-forum if they have a minute? Cheers. (Edit: Thanks!)

I like the panels!

Quote from Vaya

Need to think of a way to naturally lighten up my new 'ivy' path though as the sun is coming from behind a large building. Don't want to flip the angle as it's used in a particular way on the other side of the map.

What about some glass pavement panels (see below) underneath the ivy with light coming through? Would be a good opportunity for some ambient steam or machinery sounds coming from some sort of basement boiler room or something, too.

[Blocked Image: http://www.newageglass.co.uk/blocks/images/uploads/_430_400/DSCF0523_(3).jpg]

The sheer hubris of that FOUR DAYS EARLY bit is nauseating.

The workshop is definitely flawed. The problem is, if you have an automated system you have to accept the bad with the good, because believe it or not, those mappers who push out endless aim maps don't think of their own work as silly, or less worthy of front page ranking so when they upload they're not going to tick a box that says "tick here if your map is stupid".

The alternative is a moderated system, but then Valve would either have to pay somebody to keep it clean or at least identify some trustworthy volunteers from the community who are able to put their time and energy in free of charge.

Quote from LizardPL

I will disagree on this. As you can see on workshop, shitty aim_ maps are often more popular than super polished maps. Players that don't know how much you can squeeze from source engine will think differently.

Yeah but you can't really compare an aim_ map to a proper map. The people playing these maps are essentially looking for a different experience, so they will judge them accordingly.

I get that, but I don't think Cotton failed to meet that criteria. There's got to be a shortlisting process when you have hundreds of submissions to go through and some of them will have to get short shrift.

Ultimately I think Cotton's mistake was in being the only judge to make his process transparent. This lead to people assuming that (a) he was the only/main judge and (b) that the streamed part was the only stage of the process. He got an unfair rap if you ask me.

Quote from leplubodeslapin

thinks that, because he's good at the game, knows lots in game and level design.

But you don't have to be an expert on game design to know when it works and when it doesn't.

Just the same way you don't have to know how to play wind instruments to know that this is bad flute:

Thanks Vaya and RZL for the confirmation.

UPDATE
I won't upload the new build to workshop until judging is over, but just wanted to say I've managed to increase FPS by more than double in one particularly problematic area, which was the sightline from CT Hall to the T crate boost. Yay me. :>

@FMPONE I'm going to have a new build with a few small tweaks (skybox fix, some technical optimisations) ready this afternoon. Do I need to hold off updating the workshop version until judging is over, or can I go ahead with uploading the new build?