Posts by zavaro

After shipping Tanith officially back in December, with update 340, I had some requests and a backlog of ideas that I wanted to work on. Prior to Tanith, my plans for Natural Selection 2 were to detail my good friend Malpractice's Nexus map which was popular in the competitive circuit (and somewhat in the public eye for a period). At the time, I didn't feel like I could honestly create anything that would have lived up to what we both wanted to do. Tanith was sort of a fallback for learning under the tutelage of the other members of the mapping community, and the output far exceeded my wildest dreams. It's currently the most played map by far in the recently released matchmaking system, and it's played commonly on public servers as well. I've received a lot of kind words from many people, and now that I've overcome my impostor syndrome, I wanted to do things right by Mal.

Introducing: ns2_nothing

The map is still in its infancy, but I'm slowly working through it to create something moody. I really wanted to capture the feel of the original map from Natural Selection.

Here's the unfortunately named "Pipe Room." I'll probably change that at some point.

And this is "Painted Corridor"

Some updated screenshots for the basically final release follow

Here's a shot of marine start, known as Old Wing. The shadows are rad.

A little hallway from Old Wing to Exterior Paths

Here's a shot of Exterior Paths. I had someone create this neat little fog cinematic that gives some depth to the area.

Exterior leads to Relay, where we have this little setup with a cool sunset skybox view.

I re-did Chemical Transport's lighting to something more neutral and less green. This has been met with a better response, though I was growing fond of the green Half-Life vibes.

Here's a finished shot of the alien starting point, Fusion Core. It's not much different from the previous iteration, but it's all textured and ready to go. A shame these aren't in motion, there's lots of little things in these scenes like a moving "emergency exit" hologram in the back.

Some lighting changes in Sewer with some additional decals along the floorspace to look grimier.

Research Labs (now known as The WAC [short for Western Access Corridor, which is quite a mouthful and not a particularly short call-out point])

Not to be confused with Western Entrance, this room leads into The WAC. This was the first room I worked on. I wanted some clean colors and shapes to differentiate players against the backdrop, so I modified a lot of props to get this grimy but clearly silhouetting look.

Reactor Room, the most iconic room from the original game needed a serious make-over for gameplay, so I made the room a figure-eight. Still has a double resource node, which plays pretty well given the circumstances.

So, whenever the next big update comes out, Tanith will ship with it. Just doing some teensy bits of fixes from here on out. Thanks for checking it out!

Oh, and here's a picture of the skybox!

I have not, though I feel like that would be kept under a very strict non-disclosure agreement. That said, development on NS2 continues. There are still patches coming out, new content and cosmetics and all that fun stuff. Tanith has been selected for a (hopefully soon) future update (WOO!). The map is nearly complete now!!

Hey Mapcore,

Long time lurker here. I'm working on a remake of a Natural Selection map, Tanith, for Natural Selection 2. I've been involved in the development of the game for some time as a playtest lead, environmental artist, and competitive player, I figured I'd add another notch to my belt. Over the past three years I've been slaving away trying to create something that evokes that wonderful nostalgia while aligning itself with NS2's gameplay and design. Many of the rooms look pretty similar to ns_tanith, but with a massive coat of paint. Some have undergone significant restructuring, making it new while retaining those older aspects or themes. While the game has felt like it has been sunsetting for a long, long time, it's still lively enough that there are full servers everyday. The map is currently being played on several of them.

It's currently a work in progress, but I'm hoping to have it done very soon. The version on the workshop is not the most updated, some of these screenshots are from the developer fork for new and increased Workshop file size which is slated to arrive with the next NS2 update.

Steam Workshop

Minimap

Waste Handling, a tech point room

Sewer, a formerly unnamed room

Marine start with a cool hologram that glitches out

Exterior Paths, outside of marine start

Fusion Core, the alien starting location

Chemical Transport, one of the precious resource locations

SatCom with some Suspiria inspired lighting

Relay, another outside location