I decided to record a quick 10-minute video showcasing some of my Spice updates in detail, I tried to give my thoughts and reasons for the changes and how I think they'll play out:
Thank you so much @jackophant, @Vaya and @P1g3oN, your nice comments are very motivating! 
Daily update screens:
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I realized the map needed more color overall to look better, so I added this colored house as a start. Will do the same at more places because I like how it breaks the monotonous and boring desert village environment. Pretty much exactly what Mirage does.
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I reworked the mid hole again. Window got boarded up in order to prevent a crazy unintended long angle from back of apps all the way to the mid-to-B connector. Now you can still spray the window for wallbang potential but you need to play the angle as intended if you actually want to aim 'properly'. Also added more rebar detail to the hole, decals, better textures, trims etc. And I added some more non-solid lights to the apps to brighten them up. You can also see that I changed the whole CT-to-mid ground texture there in the background. This new one is a blend texture that looks way better I think.
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This corner at A changed again. I now decided to open up a window into the 'blue' room. You can't enter the room at all (not enough space) and I purposefully also blocked off a lot of it with another piece of plywood (otherwise it opened up the connector too much) so now it's really just a useful 'hole' in the corner you can flash and nade through. This makes takes/retakes through the connector much easier (also since it's wider now, that's better) since I noticed on stream while playing bots that it was very hard to retake from there. You can also wallbang through there of course and you can still wallbang through the floor of the sniper room above, which I like a lot.
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And here's a shot of some new detail/decal work on the other side of the A bombsite. Pretty happy with this area of the map now!
As always, any feedback/thoughts/criticism is welcome! Stay tuned for more updates and maybe another stream soon, depending on how much energy I have (did I mention my actual project until the end of August is my comp sci bachelor work haha).
Quote from Vorontsov@NihiL Just because a car can have 4 steering wheels doesn't mean it should
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I think we're just going to have to agree to disagree here 
Again, I didn't like that brush-y amateurish look that my previous planks gave me. Now they look like cheaper wood, more 'random' and less clear cut like that photo. And in my poor/rundown environment, I prefer that kind of look. Does that make sense?
Anyways, fun ~3 hour stream today. Thanks to the Mapcore users that tuned in! We did a bunch, here's some screenshots:
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New garden area, behind bombsite A. This is the 'nice' area of the map (hence the terrorist target), a half-done Mosque. Note that I replaced that weird quirky crawlspace entry with a proper arch for fairer gameplay!
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Another shot of the new bombsite A. I removed the weapon double crate and created a different angle that I think is fairer and better (model cover = bad in general I think).
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A lot of work went into this connector (underpass). It's much more details now and I widened it as well as I think it was too narrow at ~120 units before. Now it's 160 roughly. And in that garage with the blue light you can actually spray through the ceiling and into the room above: the sniper window. So this can be used very nicely to take out a sniper playing from there!
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New skybox and I changed the light direction as previously suggested in this thread! I also rounded the stairs at the bottom edge of the screen.
We also decided on T/CT models this stream (GIGN vs Elite because of location and visibility) and I made the little loading screen CT/T/A/B icons pop in at the right position.
It's coming together. Next stream maybe Tuesday? I'll probably transition to other parts of the map that need more detail very soon as I'm starting to be pretty happy with bombsite A, marketplace and underpass connector.
As always, any feedback or criticism is very welcome! Let me know what you think!
Quote from P1g3oNYou had me at the adreN wanted poster. This map looks epic. Keep up the good work.
Haha glad you like it, thanks!
Quote from Vorontsov@NihiL They can be but shouldn't be, it's a plank and it's unecessary calculating for toasters
Ah I see what you mean, I guess this is just subjective then? I disliked the simple brush so I gave it more detail!
Anyways, stream is on: http://www.twitch.tv/NihiLTV Tune in!
Quote from Vorontsov@NihiL you should be very careful about making small models like that use a big amount of quads or tris, chamfering edges on something like that is waay too unecessary, this could have been done by just making it a basic rectangle or a small func_detail, keep that in mind. I think you should remake that model or atleast be vary of not just chamfering it too much, even one chamfer to make it slanted on the
cornersedges is unecessary
Well it was a simple func_detail before and I disliked the simple brush-look it had, looked very amateurish I thought. That's why I made it a model. And it's not that small a model, 250 units in length. And gameplay-relevant. Are props THAT polycount-capped that you can't even chamfer an edge? 
Anyways, progress update for today:
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I made a custom metal barrel with cgtextures. Right now the texture is REALLY high quality at 2kx2k so I will probably scale it down. Looks nice though I think and gives a bit more of a custom feel to the map. Will probably add arabic text as well for immersion.
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A custom texture another Team Liquid staff member (I'm on the staff as video editor) made for me. It's a wanted poster for a certain American sniper. Hidden away a bit as it's an easter egg haha.
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Edited the bombsite A a bit. Mostly visual changes. Uses the same custom plank model from the underpass.
Any further thoughts, ideas, concerns, questions or anything? I'm planning a stream for tomorrow!!
Too hungover to stream today but I've finally set up a 3ds max to source workflow and so now it's official: de_spice will get custom assets (and decals/textures as well)!
Here's the first custom static_prop, a better looking plank for the underpass area of the map (the mid-to-A connector):
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(Some lighting errors because of fast-vis I guess? Still have that issue that some of my props catch too much lighting.)
Nothing too special, bit of noise, chamfered edges and a custom texture. I like how the text came out that I put on the texture. Has the actual size of the plank on it (250x15 inches) and a subtle innuendo (if your mind is as dirty as mine): "durable wood"
@jackophant Haha thanks for tuning in!
@Tensei & @Dennispls: I can appreciate input by anybody, really!
Okay so after ~4 1/2 hours of streaming today, these are the updates: slight changes to market (from yesterday) and garage got fleshed out a LOT:
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Feedback on these is very appreciated, see anything that looks 'wrong'? Any suggestions? Let me know!
I will be streaming every other day or so, just straight up mapping in Hammer and looking at all the other map threads here for the competition as well during compile time or breaks. Thanks for tuning in so far, was a lot of fun (even though I was alone for 2 hours in the beginning haha).
Hey I'm streaming my mapmaking process right now. Tune in, I have been streaming for almost 2 hours now with 0 viewers haha
TWITCH: http://www.twitch.tv/NihiLTV
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Okay I've decided I want to try and enter de_spice into the Mapcore & r/GlobalOffensive contest so now I'm beautifying it as much as possible with the extremely little time I have per day (so I do one area a day or something). Here's some new shots:
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That part of the map is called Market and it's the tunnel that leads to A from the Bunker. I decided to finally do it's name justice! This is similar to an area seen in de_sparity. Sue me! I'm having an issue where some props get a very bright lighting effect, anybody know the issue? Do I need to bother creating light origin's for these assets?
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And this one shows some new decals for the thin Mid to A connector under the Plank, some updated lighting and the new sun light as well (thanks for the tip)!
Any opinions? Further feedback on more basic stuff like the layout are still very welcome too. I want to improve this map AS MUCH AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE hehe.
Quote from jackophant@NihiL It's not coming across as defensive, but I would understand if it was, lol.
I understand what you are going for with how CTs play on the bombsite, but I'm talking about later situations. CTs don't have much room to play with if they want to push through. CTs pushing is a perfectly valid late round tactic if Ts are taking too long and you want to shut the map down around them giving them less space to coordinate.
Radar changes sound good! May I also suggest changing the angle of your sun? Right now you have 1 bombsite inside, and the other outside, but permanently cast in shadow. Perhaps playing around with the light_environment to have the light shining into the bombsite instead and maybe have a slightly different pitch, perhaps -70ish to have shorter shadows.
Anyway, this is your project, I'm going to shut up now
Ah okay. To be perfectly honest, I never thought about CTs pushing when I designed the map. I just evaluated how CTs would cover the map initially and how Ts can break in to the bombsites. So that's a very interesting new perspective for me. I can't come up with any concrete changes that I could make to the layout to change that situation however so far, any ideas? Please don't 'shut up' haha! Good call on the sun angle, I will play around with that and see if I can't get the bombsite to be more in the sun. I really like the current sun angle in other spots right now so it's going to be a tough decision! I'll definitely try increasing the pitch though as you said. There's something to be said, aesthetically, for long dramatic shadows but gameplay has priority and it would improve visibility!
Quote from essphoI guess so. But I'm still wondering how that thing will get out of there again :v
Good luck to you!
Well it's mobile! It's got wheels haha! You wheel it in and out of the container is how I picture it to work.
Thanks for checking the map out guys and please do keep feedback coming! Cheers.
Quote from essphoLooks good so far. Is that a forklift in that container?
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It' looks a little weird. How did it get in there? Maybe add some wooden boards or something like that as a little ramp.
I like the toppled-over dome in the background.
Thanks @esspho! So, bombsite A is a construction site. There's an unfinished mosque being build there and the Terrorists are trying to blow that up. That thing in the container isn't really a forklift, more like a moving elevated 'stage' for construction workers, kind of like window cleaners have on skyscrapers, except it's on a vehicle. It's under that metal barring with the blue sign as that is kind of the metal skeleton for the next wall of the building. And the thing was packed into the container for over-night storage. Does that make sense?
Quote from jackophantThe wall out side A, outline it so it looks solid on the radar. The way I outline my radar is block out everything in black with white outline even stuff you can jump over, unlessunless toyouy can step down off it, and then you just have a single white line on the edge of the lowest area of ground.
The problem with those sight lines is that maps require CT rotation, and if Ts haven't been sighted it's not uncommon for the CTs to uniformly push forward to trap hesitant/slow Ts in a corner somewhere manageable, restricting their rotation. You've almost given Ts the entire map to run around freely in, coupled with lots of entrances to A, I think CTs are going to have a hard time covering it all.
You really need to get it on a play test, asap as slots will fly off the shelves now the mapping competition is under way
jackophant: Done! I added in the white outline to the wall on the radar dds and improved the white stroke effect on other parts of the map as well. It doesn't completely solve the issue of overlapping vertical elements but it does make it clearer in these key areas. Thanks for the tip!
Let's talk more about the sight lines. First I thought they were just too long in general, ie. too many AWP ranges and not enough close combat areas, but it seems you're talking about a different kind of problem now? Sorry if I'm a bit slow to understand On my map, the idea for CTs is that you defend both bombsites from within the site, exactly like Cache and Mirage for example. If CTs have mid and apps under control, there is only one entrance to the A bombsite. Note that mid and apps are connected in this map, so this position can be played by only one CT! There's a maximum of 3 routes into A if and only if both mid and apps control is lost by CTs. I'd compare this to A site Inferno where Ts can get 3 routes into A if they get apps and mid control as well.
Just so we are on the same wavelength for the discussion/theory, the standard CT stance would be 2 in B (which has 2 entrances so that should be enough), 2 in mid (1 mid itself, the other covering Apps) and then that leaves A with just one single route (the Market area to the south) which would be held by the last CT and can be smoked/flashed very well. Very similar to holding B on Dust 2 which is also mostly done by a single player:
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About the playtesting: I already did that spice was playtested on reddit 2 weeks ago! Back then, the map was different and I already changed the layout according to the feedback haha.
I really hope this doesn't come across as super defensive from me, I greatly appreciate your and everybody else's feedback. I'm just trying to really understand the issues that people have with the map so I can make the changes and learn from it for future projects as well. Please do follow up and let me know what you're thinking jackophant!
Yeah radar maps just can't do vertical elements justice, not sure what I could do to improve my radar map. I tried semi-transparent overlays for upper sections but that honestly just made it more confusing 
About the sightlines: Gotcha. My philosophy is that, if Ts camp at the beach, CTs just don't need to push out. If they do, it's a newbie mistake similar to rushing Banana on Inferno when there's no need etc. But yeah, it's a long shot range there. Can be nullified with a simple smoke though!
Okay so more screenshots are needed for the workshop page, that's very useful info, I don't really have too much experience with 'marketing' haha. I have now removed the two older videos so there's only one left and added a bunch more, better screenshots to the Steam workshop page. Here they are:
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Thanks again for taking the time to take a look.
I hate you.
♥
Dennispls: Thank you very much, I got the idea from FMpone/Vulcano who did this for crown back in the day!
Thank you very much for taking a look!
So, the issue is that the map has a degree of verticality to it that you're not getting from just looking at the radar map obviously. So you've misunderstood a number of routes unfortunately. The orange 'labyrinth' is lessened because in that red circle, that's actually a very high wall you can't see through (except for a very small window). So it's much more straight-forward. And mid has a connector to A that isn't shown because of the apps above. So it's definitely got more value than what it looks like. Same goes for the bombsite entrances, A has 3 and B 2 which I'd consider standard (2 of the three A entrances can be covered by one position: mid).
The long sightlines is probably true, you didn't quite get the points of confrontation right on your radar map since T spawn is actually in a second-story apartment so at B the fights don't occur on the long beach in the north but rather closer to the warehouse itself, but that's (intended) to be very long-range. At A, you've got mid or the market shop (south route) which are also fairly long range so I agree that these could be less AWP-ey haha. And then there's apps which are pretty normal range I guess.
Good point on the narrow-ness, 160 units sounds like a good starting point!
Thanks again for taking the time, that's very appreciated. I initially didn't provide all that many screenshots because I - ironically - wanted to avoid getting too much feedback based on images and not actually running the map, because I consider that more valuable feedback for obvious reasons. But your point is valid, I should take a couple extra screenshots (they're also on the steam workshop page as I said in my original post) haha.
GIB ANNOUNCEMENT OR RIOT!!
Oh wait, this isn't twitch chat. Right. Well then. I'm definitely excited, not quite sure what to expect but some kind of contest seems likely. New Hammer would be really cool but very unlikely. If it were a contest I probably couldn't take part because I'm too busy to make a map right thanks to my bachelor thesis
Any hour now..!
Hey Bastion, thanks for running around de_spice! I've already fixed countless boosts and exploits after the previous playtesting but it's always nice to get more people to try and break the map haha.
Thanks for the report, that should be easy enough to fix, cheers.
Any more feedback anybody?
Hello there everybody! First-time poster here but long-time CS mapper (mostly ~1.5 era, skipped Source, just recently got into CS:GO mapping). I just finished my very first CS:GO map called de_spice and I'd love to get more feedback.
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CT spawn west, T spawn east, A bombsite south, B bombsite north.
Here's me walking around on it and talking about the newest updates if you want to get a better picture:
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More screenshots:
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And if you want to walk around on it (please do if you want to leave feedback, it makes it much more valuable!): STEAM WORKSHOP LINK http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/fi…s/?id=271742721
This map has already undergone three big updates and a full Reddit playtesting session.
Here's things I already am aware of:
- The setting is boring. This is something I learned from making this map. Just going for Dust 2/Mirage Middle-Eastern village crap isn't enough. Unfortunately it's too late to change that for de_spice obviously.
- Same goes for the visuals. It looks Source-y because I haven't figured out a good Maya or 3DS Max workflow for importing custom models quite yet and didn't do custom textures either. A complete revamp is also out of the question at this point.
- You are spread thin as CTs on the map in the beginning. There's 4 as opposed to 3 areas to cover (A, Middle, Apps and B where in for example Dust 2 it's just A, Middle and B because you can watch Short from Middle). This is something I'm thinking of changing but it would need more feedback and testing.
Apart from that, I'd love to find out what you think of it, what should be improved and so on. Maybe there are any tricks or tips for a newcomer like me?
Cheers!
