Posts by Freaky_Banana

  • de_loreley [wingman]

    Quote from Kokopelli

    15 hours ago, Kokopelli said: The crawl space under the bus is really cool. Love the whole vibe of the map. It has a lot of character. Nice job!

    Thanks, great to hear you like it! This it the first time I am really moving past simple greyboxing.

    I am also really interested in finding out how that crawlspace plays. Bots are just way too stupid for that sort of thing ^^. They barely even use the beach / house routes... So there is a lot to be learned from a playtest!

  • Torch

    I was already wondering what you were working on all that time in the SDK :D . Looks great, I will definitely check it out with bots!

  • de_loreley [wingman]

    Long time no see everyone. I finally started up Hammer again and worked on this a bit.

    I created a new path inside the house, reproportioned the map and gave it a new dark aesthetic, just because.

    What do you all think?

    More pictures on Imgur: https://imgur.com/gallery/kLiYONZ

    Layout picture to follow. I am working with MANY instances and that's a pain for Terri's Autoradar.

    Please feel free to message me, if you've figured out a smart workaround / fix for that.

    Workshop link after Overview is done.

  • de_kathmandu [WIP]

    Additionally, using cover to your advantage is a core part of playing CSGO. As the map maker you have the opportunity to guide your player through your layout as well as show them the best positions from where to play it by means of placing cover in the right spots. The best maps use the level architecture to generate much of this cover and the according "flow" of the level.

    All that is just to say, your layout and your cover placement have to work in tandem. You can't really finalize a layout without knowing your cover.

  • de_oakwood

    Thanks! The software is called PureRef, it's free if you want it to be (meaning they only take money on donation basis), but honestly I've found myself so happy with it, it is definitely worth a few dollars!

  • de_oakwood

    Ok people, there has been a development, but not of the in-game type.

    Despite all the corona-caused financial troubles, I have just clinched a full-time job. This means I am more unsure than ever how much time I will be able to spend on Oakwood as well as when. I will probably keep spending some of my evenings with it, but there is a lot to prepare and then a lot to adapt to, so it might take a while. I'm certain this isn't goodbye, but certainly not the devlog I had been hoping to put out today. On the other hand, though ... - HEY, I'VE GOT A JOB, HECK YES! -

    So I will see you people tomorrow, or next week or month or whenever :)

  • de_oakwood

    The post has only the best pics, find the rest on imgur: https://imgur.com/gallery/CQKlVkK

    Ok people, I haven't finished A side, outsides or middle yet, but I'll be unable to work on this for the next two weeks and wanted to deliver some on my promise before then. So here is a look at the map's new and (hopefully) improved B side. As always, everything is fast compile and temp textures, because full compiles LITERALLY KILL MY LAPTOP in this heat.

    - B Site -

    - B Caves -

    (this hallway is not part of the playable area).

    - Skywalk -

    Credit for the glass textures to Skybex and Yanzl from cs_cruise and Puddy and Yanzl from de_breach! Thank you for being able to use these now, long-term plan is 100% custom content.

    These shots are only meant to summarize the general style of the B area, you can find more detail and some descriptions I whipped up for the rest of the pics on imgur! https://imgur.com/gallery/CQKlVkK

    Cheers, see you all soon

  • de_oakwood

    Ok people, I've been working a bit on this again lately, and I finally got around to making a proper canvas of reference images. Here it is!

    This goes along with my attempt at nailing down the first art pass. I've also finished a large amount of mostly small layout changes - the bigger ones I implemented are roughly the ones shown in the post above (finished those as well). So hopefully I will soon have some finished first pass pictures to show you, stay tuned for that.

  • WIP in WIP, post your level screenshots!

    Quote from wazeecha

    1 hour ago, wazeecha said: Since finishing Dozen I started blocking out a new project, for now called 'Sapper'. I originally drew this as a 5v5 defuse but as I blocked out the first two versions I started to gravitate towards a hostage map. cs_ doesn't get much love anyway, so why not.

    I like the theme! Definitely something to work with. From the overview it does seem VERY fastpaced, almost more like a wingman map in timings. Also lots of straight sight lines between buildings. Maybe if you expand the playable area that can give you the space to add some more nooks and lean into the theme of weird paths through some of the ramshackle housing, which would really help bring the map alive. The main paths could probably remain as wider streets lined by colonial houses.

  • WIP in WIP, post your level screenshots!

    Quote from Soldat Du Christ

    37 minutes ago, Soldat Du Christ said: I imagine the result of this would free up the players budgets to use towards more experiemental/ dynamic plays. What do you guys think?

    I'm fairly certain CS players would hate it.

    They like what they're used to, and you can't exactly expect them to change their behavior either. Counter Strike is an incredibly established concept and at some point as a designer one really has to ask oneself, if the experience one intends to design is at the core of the game that one is working for. Maybe it just makes sense to realize some ideas in a different game, because the gameplay you want to enable is simply not what an engine or concept was built around.

    As I have expressed before, try your best, I would love to see something great come from a new approach like this, just don't set your expectations too high.

    PS: Also, if you would like to keep asking questions, maybe make a thread for it or add it to your current one? Posting here without any WIP to show kind of defeats this thread's purpose. At least that's my opinion on the matter.

  • Freya [Wingman]

    I like the colder lighting a lot better. There are already fairly many maps with warm lighting, and I personally associate it with a warmer climate, which obviously you aren't going for. I also really like the contrast between warm lighting in houses and cold lighting once you step outside. Makes everything feel crisper to me and helps the player distinguish areas and feel the theme every time they walk outside.

    My only concern would be how good it actually feels while playing. Cold lighting isn't particularly inviting, so make sure to spread enough warm spots (like the little lamps showcased in your screenshots) around the outsides of the map as well.

  • CSGO Community commentary from an outsider perspective

    Quote from Soldat Du Christ

    5 hours ago, Soldat Du Christ said: It's not a tutorial, but it will be an outsiders suggestions based off of my interpretation of the game and what I believe it could benefit from. Again, not what the CSGO scene NEEDS, but what my outside perspective could ADD on to the experience. For example, I believe creating more movement by rounded off some lanes and encounters could benefit the game, which is otherwise filled with holding and optimizing choke points. Also, one way exits to add more high stakes decision making. Finally, separating the player footprint from player lines of sight a bit more to reward players who think more 3 dimensionaly. Those are some examples of iterations i have my mind on right now.

    At best my outside perspective will help the community think out of the very small box i see level designers here being stuck in. But at the very least it will be an interesting and different look into the perspective of someone (me) who doesn't play, watch, or even like CSGO Esports.

    Alright. I think I see what the others here are commenting on. If you don't like CSGO, it's fair to question why you are making a map for it to begin with. It calls into question your motives, because it doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to sink countless hours of work into something you don't like. If I were you, I would ask myself, EXACTLY why you want to make this map.

    Further elaborating on this, it seems that you have a very clear idea of what you think will happen when you make a map for CSGO. For my part, I thought I knew this, too, when I came in, but there are many things that CSGO is quite specific about. For example, you can barely distinguish (if at all) on which level of a building a sound is being produced. So making 3D sound part of a map is unfortunately really hard, because the engine just doesn't support it propely.

    As I said, if you want to make this map as a portfolio piece and a personal learning experience or skill diversification, go for it! I would just be very careful about my intents and expectations going into a big project like this.

  • CSGO Community commentary from an outsider perspective

    Sounds like a solid plan to me. If I understand correctly, you are suggesting a video just like the ones you showcased, but for CSGO?

    Something like that I would be interested in, because it seems like you have a diverging viewpoint from the common consensus on what makes a CSGO map good. However, if, in fact, I misunderstand your post and you intend to make a comprehensive beginners' guide to CSGO map design, we already have a fair amount of those, and most of what you need to know as a CSGO map maker you learn by playing and watching the game. In this case I would consider it as a portfolio piece for yourself first and foremost. There might still things to be learned from a document like that, but my guess is Mapcore won't be the right crowd for it.

    Anyways, I hope you go ahead with this. I remember liking your initial map proposal and was actually fairly sad to see it get put on ice.