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From is his site: COUNTERSTRIKE FOREVER Every year I aim to do at least one project for personal development and this year getting to know my way around Unreal was on the menu. I started out with a nice snowy landscape but it somehow? turned into a reminiscent movie about the good old Counterstrike level-design days. Gogogo! PROJECT DETAILS 100% made by 3D-Mike https://player.vimeo.com/video/496983929

@esspho has been working on changes from our first Mapcore playtest including a new design for outside A (thanks @Roald for the suggestions!) while I've been working on and off on bombsite B's main attraction. Should be ready for another playtest soon!

first of all happy christmas everyone!, So after making pithead which got 9th in the wingman competition, i wanted to have a bigger challenge. so i decided to make a 5v5 with @Ynel we started 4 days ago and we have made some good progress already! de_maar is set in norway close to a maar, where you can see auroras etc, our goal is to have a nice warm/cozy looking village. while having great gameplay some wip shots (some models are still placeholders) I hope you will enjoy them!!!

I know I am no longer active here, but I just wanted to report in that I have accepted my first full time position with Lost Boys Interactive as a VFX Artist. So even if you're struggling and its been years, know that it can still happen when you least expect it.

Hello, haven't posted in a while so here's a quick review of the latest update for Kaizen. Along with some layout and visual adjustments I worked on prototyping a small mod to the Wingman mode in Kaizen. It's currently set as the default Wingman mode (not custom) when playing the map from the workshop. Players begin the match attacking and defending A, the following round each team attacks and defends B and this loops until one duo is victorious. Here's an overview of where each team spawns and how much of the original map is utilized. Additionally here are the patch notes and a screenshot album. Kaizen RC1 Oct 31st 2020 Screenshots With Kaizen getting some playtime on the hub and players finding and reporting bugs there's another update looming, but before you go, and thanks for reading by the way. What do you think of this Wingman mod?

Hi all, Level editors for Quake era games such as Worldcraft and QERadiant originally got me interested in game development and even to this day, as a programmer I find Blender and others a little less fun to use than those original tools were. ProBuilder and UE4 brushes got close but I don't find it generic enough to be able to use the same tool for a number of different game engines I typically use for many of my projects. So I decided to dive in and start considerably hacking at the GtkRadiant level editor source code. As just one example, rather than read Quake 3 data files, instead it reads from a standard filesystem (as you would expect a normal 3D modeller to do). I have also added a "standard" .obj (wavefront) exporter making it easy to read directly into other modelling tools as part of your build pipeline. That format is fairly minimal but widely supported. Finally I have replaced the older Q3 lightmap baking stuff (the q3map2 compiler) with my own called "Raptor Bakery" (Or you can use Blender's, Maya's, etc anyway because they can all import .obj). I have optionally extended the .obj format to provide lightmap coordinates. A bit hacky; my next step is to just provide an fbx exporter Familiarizing myself with the original GtkRadiant codebase has been difficult but I really enjoy using the tool. Being able to knock up test scenes in a matter of minutes is really great. Perhaps this tool could help you migrate any cool levels you created for Quake or Half-Life (perhaps back in the day or even now!) to other engines. I have been a long time lurker on these forums and have seen some great stuff. Yes, some of it is probably a bit too much for this tool to handle but nonetheless So if you are interested, please check it out. It is free and I thought others might enjoy it. http://thamessoftware.co.uk/openradiant/ Karsten

It is not possible to achieve herd immunity without vaccination. It certainly has never been done. The vaccine has now been given to millions of people (one of my friends in Germany got his 1st shot of the Pfizer vaccine today). The number of severe adverse reactions can be counted on one (max 2 hands) I believe. That is definitely in line with other vaccines and other medications available on the market. Honestly, the side effects of covid are already known and are much much worse. As for long-term side effects. I read a very interesting article about this by a virologist (I can't find it as I am posting this)... but the way it was explained (and I am badly paraphrasing) was basically that based on how this type of vaccine works, the ingredients in the vaccine dissipate in your body very early on so it's not even possible for the vaccine to cause problems years down the line. The jab's main job is to trigger an antibody/immune response and provide instructions on how to fight the virus if it enters the body. When that is achieved, the actual vaccine itself basically dissolves in your body. Again, I am really badly paraphrasing what the original quote was, but that is essentially how it works. Also, I repeat again that the vaccine was not "rushed" out the door as some are claiming. The safety trials were completed satisfactorily. The reason it feels like it was rushed is because in normal vaccine development the stages take much longer to pass as they aren't being pumped full of money by literally every country on the planet. I will be taking the shot as soon as I can. For those of you who choose not to, that's certainly your choice. Just know you are contributing to the global community not achieving herd immunity. I also imagine you will be restricted from getting certain services, or entering certain public places, and rightly so.

Thanks guys, Dark Matter came SECOND in the Upcoming Mods vote! https://www.moddb.com/groups/2020-mod-of-the-year-awards/features/players-choice-best-upcoming-mod-2020 https://www.moddb.com/mods/half-life-dark-matter/images/mod-of-the-year-2020-second-place Big thanks to everyone here who voted! Here's a couple of WIPs from the Xen chapter called Hostile Takeover (it was a working title for DM, now a homage to the cancelled expansion by 2015). Check the moddb links below for a synopsis! https://www.moddb.com/mods/half-life-dark-matter/images/chapter-hostile-takeover https://www.moddb.com/mods/half-life-dark-matter/images/chapter-hostile-takeover1

Duuh, my 2 years old is singing the Emperor March from Star Wars, I win !

Hello everyone! I wanted to share my latest work here! I wanted to journey to Romania for this map, but I have never been so I decided to make a map based on the Peles Castle in Romania. The design, beauty, and epic scale of the map challenged me to really try for the moon here. I want to make a map that is really fun to play and offers something nice to look at. I hope that I can play this with my friends in the future! But in the meantime this map is being worked on, hopefully going to get a render of it before the year is out! -razorblade421 Feel free to check out some of my other fun maps I made for CS:GO! https://steamcommunity.com/id/razorblade421/myworkshopfiles/ Don't hesitate to reach out for any inquiries. I used a lot of assets and textures from HL:EP2 and L4D2. Shout out to TopHattWaffle for his texture packs available on his website! https://www.tophattwaffle.com/

... de_predator, de_recon, ... Whenever he'd release a new CS map that got me crazy excited. And then there was this one too

There is a new playtest version of Furnace on the workshop. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2326921664 We've mostly been working in feedback from our last test match. Thanks to everybody involved! Also thanks to @Roald for taking the time and giving some indepth advice. Here are some screens from the current map version: The Tspawn has slightly been altered - the garage on the right provides a faster and simpler path to the canal area. This shifts timings towards Bombsite A somewhat. The canal itself has been detailed a little more and got some cover in the process. The "Long B" has been fleshed out a little more - it now revolves around a derelict shack that should provide better cover for Ts. Bombsite B got some touches of color and the aforementioned half-open silo (not accessible). A sloped wall has been added beneath the heaven to hopefully limit weird vertical sightlines. CTspawn / Bombsite A has gotten the same sloped wall treatment. Also the lower part of the furnace has been detailed a little more. Top-Level Radar Bottom-Level Radar Radar comparison old / new

I'm still workin' on porting HLA content to Source 1. It's not much, but it's coming along! It's not really challenging, it's just time consuming to do since it's quite a long process for even just 1 model. Though textures can be rather quick. Car models have proven to be most challenging since they have different textures for both the inside and outside. And they aren't separate like the car models in CS:GOs Dust 2. So I have to manually select every polygon that makes up the interior, and temporarily make the interior it's own model to add the texture. Then I can combine the two together again. It can take hours to do this, but I'd say it's worth it. Foliage hasn't proven challenging. The only thing I have to do is try to re-create how the S2 wind effects look with the S1 $treesway technology. Having a high scrumble setting usually recreates the look well. Dynamic props are the only thing I'm not sure I'll be up for. I have no idea how to port over the animations for the model. But if by some miracle I figure it out, I'll be one happy fella! I'll update y'all soon! I hope your new year has been great so far!

Acres (Wingman) Gonna try and learn some more about custom assets and materials with this project

First attempt in Prodeus map editor:

Nice I always wanted to see a nice remake of this map (or doing it myself when I was still motivated by creating levels ^^). This was one of my favorite in old good time of cs1.6 (and remember this map had just ONE crate, a real challenge aha ^^ ). He made cool and original levels and was one of my best inspiration at this time (cs_bikini, cs_greenhouse, de_deadlock, de_747,...). Aaaah memories

Starting to detail the interiors of the scene

So I might as well post about my current project here finally, since I've been doing so on the Discord for awhile now. Half-Life: Dark Matter is designed as if there was a fourth and final expansion to the original Half-Life from the perspective of a Black Operator named Kovac. I got the idea when I was replaying Half-Life for the 20th anniversary in 2018, I realised that although the Black Ops had appeared in a couple of mods, they certainly weren't done real justice, so I decided I would be the one to deliver it... Since then it's evolved a fair bit, and I have seven others in a team working with me now, including brand new code! There will lots of new areas and also crossovers with existing areas as well, and the story will not only be in keeping with Half-Life 1, but also Half-Life 2 and even Alyx where appropriate! This is my last ever Goldsource project*, upon completion I will be moving onto a newer and more modern game project, what that will be exactly is not known right now. Most of you guys know I've been working with Half-Life 1 for almost 22 years now, so I've got the experience and knowledge to pull this off, and the others have extensive skills in the field as well! Main page: https://www.moddb.com/mods/half-life-dark-matter An extensive FAQ which answers most questions: https://www.moddb.com/mods/half-life-dark-matter/features/frequently-asked-questions-20 Twitter: https://twitter.com/HLDarkMatter and we also have a Discord server! https://discord.gg/yX4CfrH Right now as we speak, Dark Matter has been nominated for the ModDB Mod Of The Year awards Top 100, in the Upcoming category! So if you guys want to vote for me, that would be awesome Just follow this link: https://www.moddb.com/groups/2020-mod-of-the-year-awards/top100#vote41984 and select Dark Matter on the bottom! If we win, there will be a new chapter reveal in advance of the media update next year! Anyway, it wouldn't be the WIP thread without some WIPs, so here's a bunch of screenshots, more on the page above obviously! I'll post more enviroments here as I make them! Enjoy. *I might still work on something smaller for fun, if an idea arrises

Update time! https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2326921664 We've had another playtest and changed some things around acordingly. Thanks again for all the feedback we got in the past weeks! The big change this time is the area leading from the canal to the A site. We needed to separate the paths and do some trimming. We also thought a freight yard might fit this part of the map. The canal also saw some changes. There is a bit more cover now and there will propably be more of it in future versions. For the connector we are trying a non self-boostable solution. We've enlarged the CT-heaven and added a ladder. This should cut down on rotationtimes between sites. The radar We're excited for the next playtests. Have a nice day!

That short film by 3DMike in UE4 with de_survivor made me nostalgic, so, inspired by his maps de_survivor and de_recon, and being sick and tired of the urban landscapes that look like a warehouse full of crates, i had started a small project of mine, a defuse map. For the start i am going to make it for the wingman mode with just one bomb site to see how it behaves and then i am really thinking of extending it to a fully fledged classical defuse map.

My 1.5 years old was pointing at my tshirt last night, so she can now say Doom almost perfectly #goals #gamerdad

Don't plan 2021.

de_recon, a map ahead of its time (no goddamn crates)

We've had a first playtest and got some valuable feedback from that. With that in mind we are fleshing out the individual areas some more. Hopefully we'll have a map update soon.

Where I am in OC is a little better if you compare it to SF, sure. The bay area specifically is the most expensive city in the US, even more than Manhattan now. Just before the pandemic hit, a 1 bedroom studio was averaging $3500 a month there, I think it went down a bit since then because everyone's leaving these expensive cities, the "California exodus" is a very real thing, most of my neighbors that are not 60+ are either leaving or considering leaving, there's moving trucks every week around here. Renting a 20ft uhaul truck used to cost you 700 bucks for 5 days, now it went up to more than 4000 if you're leaving CA, and you're probably looking at a few weeks wait. These are crazy times... And yeah, you're right we're not tied to a location, which is definitely good, you can go look for a better life somewhere else now more than ever, deffo one of the silver linings of WFH. Dude tell me about it, it's unbelievable, the older you get the weirder the concept of time gets. People love saying "time flies" but that term doesn't really cut it, I think the notion of time changes as you age. I remember back in school times, 3 months used to fucking streeeetch forever, now it's literally a flash.

I went on vacation to Montreal a couple years ago in August and absolutely loved it. Way more interesting city that Vancouver when it comes to nightlife and stuff to do. I was seriously considering moving there. I mentioned my thoughts to the security guard at the hotel we were staying and he said "maybe take another vacation here in December before you decide to move here

I'm betting on a turnaround, they will fix the kinks and keep releasing content for years to come!

I've been working on a spinoff of my aim_six_arenas map that will use a couple of skydomes to create the illusion of multiple skyboxes on a single map, and I thought I could share my workflow on how I was able to create a multi-skin skydome without using programs such as Blender or 3DS Max. Specifically, I was able to port a couple of Valve skybox cubemaps onto a skydome model. To do this, Decompile a skydome model using Crowbar. For me, I recommend decompiling nuke_skydome_001.mdl, located in CS:GO's vpk files. Open the .smd file with notepad, which, for nuke_skydome_001.mdl is nuke_skydome_001.smd Inside nuke_skydome_001.smd, replace all instances of nuke_skydome_001 with the name of your primary skydome material. Open the QC file with Notepad and edit the $modelname and $cdmaterials to whatever folder you want. Add a $texturegroup skinfamilies section and add entries for the materials you'll be adding to the skyname (which, in my case, were skydome_cs_tibet and skydome_jungle). As a precaution, I renamed the QC file itself. In turn, my QC file ended up looking like this: Afterwards, use Crowbar to compile the QC file. Now that you have the model compiled, it's time to modify the texture so that it'll fit on the skydome. The only textures that'll fit the nuke_skydome_001.mdl mesh are those in the equirectangular panorama format with a 4:1 aspect ratio, an obvious problem given that Valve's skybox textures are in cubemap format. To do this conversion, Export the skybox cubemap VTFs as PNGs or TGA files Go to this Cubemap to Panorama tool, created by danilw Upload each cubemap to the respective face (BK to Back, LF to left etc.). Under rotation, make sure Up's rotation is set to 90 degrees and that "apply Mipmap" is checked. Set the panorama image resolution to a 3:1 aspect ratio. This is because the down face takes up a quarter of the image vertically. For my skydome, I set my resolution to 4096 x 1366, because I wanted to use a 4096x1024 texture for the skydome. Overall, this is how I filled out the Cubemap to panorama tool: And this is how the PNG I downloaded looked like (image has been resized): After downloading the PNG, crop out the bottom quarter of the image. Your panorama should now look something like this (image has been resized): Using VTFedit, import the cropped panorama in the DXT1 format. In the corresponding VMT, add the following lines of codes: Do the same cubemap to panorama conversion process for any other skybox skins you want to add to the skydome. Now that you've compiled the model and added textures, add you custom skydome as a prop_static. In the properties, make sure Disable Shadowdepth, Disable Vertex lighting and Disable Self-Shadowing are set to No, while Disable Shadows is set to Yes. Note that the default dimensions of the skydome is 4096x4096, which will cover the whole map if you place it in the 3D skybox. I've found setting a scale override of 0.25 still produced a decent looking skydome. For cs_tibet and jungle, you'll notice that the sun is baked into the skybox. Therefore, if you want your map to be realistic, you'll have to rotate the skydome to match the light_environment sun angle (also make sure your pitch isn't too different from the original map and the current map). To do that, use the following formula: Skydome Yaw Rotation = Sun Angle of the Map Where the Skydome Texture Originated From + 90 - Current Map Sun Angle Let's say you added a cs_tibet skydome to de_vertigo and want to have the sun in the cs_tibet skydome match Vertigo's sun angle. Vertigo's sun angle is 0 54 0, while the sun angle for ar_monastary, the map that uses the cs_tibet sky texture, has a sun angle of 0 153 0. Therefore, the cs_tibet skydome will need to a yaw of 153 + 90 - 54 = 171 for the cs_tibet skydome to match Vertigo's sun angle. For jungle, the skydome will need a yaw of 315 + 90 - 54 = 351, as de_aztec has a sun angle of 0 315 0. And now some screenshots. Remember, both of these screenshots were taken on the same map: Hopefully, others can use this method to quickly convert other cubemap skyboxes into skydomes. I would also appreciate any feedback you have for this tutorial.

So, yesterday I had my first playday for this map and this was the feedback I got: Tight!!! I heard this word several times during the playtest. It seems that a lot of players found several corridors to narrow. As the map was supposed to feel tight and claustrophobic, I guess I could have expected this. Though there is a difference in “feeling” tight and actually being tight, where it is not comfortable to play. In the feedback round afterwards, I got some more feedback around this topic, as the sharp corners and the possibility to maneuver enforces the tight feeling. So in the end, I suppose the map has indeed too much narrow corridors. One point to work on, widen the corridors, but keep the feeling of it being tight. Give a player the possibility to dodge incoming bullets. Play around smokes/Molotov’s. CT mid equals death Whenever CT’s rush mid in the beginning of the round, they ended up dead. The positions where they end up is too easy to be blocked by sniping terrorists from the opposing side of mid. Suggestions were, adding cover, changing the entrance and removing the extra path (right side on overview). Additionally, the position on T side in pit seems very overpowered as it only shows the enemy’s head. T-junction alert Terrorists attacking B were suffering from indecision as if they had to turn left or right. When they push a CT could be on either side and in worse case on both. This makes it hard to successfully push through this chokepoint. In order to make this more balanced the T junction has to be changed. Opening up opportunities for nades, maybe change the cover when checking left/right etc. Next to these points there were a lot of other things/flaws/ideas pointed out, that I’ll briefly write down here: Path from Mid to A site (upstream) could be removed There are awkward head angles from upstream into Short A There is a ledge in Upstream that providers very strange angles when someone gets up there The plank between pillars on A site should not show feet beneath it Diversify the bomb sites. Maybe open up A site Add more height variation on the bomb sites/entrances itself (not only over the complete map) On CT spawn, when walking to B, CT’s have to turn around first Try to add different encounter distances (not only far and close) Less 90-degree corners (river and alleys) Open up for utility Simplify I'll add the overview here again for reference. Thanks everyone for being in the playtest and providing feedback. Time to get to the drawing board.

de_samba This is a map I'm working on from time to time. I lost it once, retrieved it and builded version upon version until now. It is supposed to be a bomb defusal map set in a favela-like environment. At least that is the plan. For know it is still a grey boxed version where I'm trying to perfect the layout. Layout: As you can see, I went for a traditional layout. But I tried to mix CQC and long range fights in several locations. I started with the idea of verticality, as the complete left side of the map is on higher ground than the right side. Screenshots: Some visuals of the current state of the map: Workshop link: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=659931332 Feedback: I'm currently looking for feedback on the layout, as I would like to find a final version, before try detailing. Showing the map and getting feedback would also be a way to give me the necessary motivation to at least finish what I started Post your thoughts here or hit me up on the Mapcore discord.

Anyone counting down? By listening to a couple other videos, I finally understood the deal with the old missions: if you own the previous games, those missions are playable in the third.

Sure, it's been less than a week since I've released aim_six_arenas, but that doesn't mean I can't start working on the spinoff map. The conceit of this spinoff map is still the same as the original: each round starts as a series of 1v1 matches before allowing all the surviving players to fight each other. The difference here is that, instead fighting it out in movie sets and hallways, the players now fight in separate arenas, with the surviving players teleporting to a seventh arena. From a gameplay perspective, this means no more searching up and down a corridor looking for enemies, something players generally dislike. From the design perspective, this means I can add a lot more details to the arenas, which can be seen below: Aztec/Ancient arena (original arena for comparison) Subzero/Monastery arena (original arena for comparison) Swamp/Sugar Mill arena (original arena for comparison) You'll notice that the skies in the screenshots are different, thanks to my use of skydomes. I wrote a tutorial on how I made these skydomes here.

Our current layout, still heavily wip, but don't wanna be super quite about it here

@That50'sGuy this is from the area just inland of Venice Sardinia, caused by mining and refining that being said, at least you can see it. Much worse, in a way, when the problem is invisible... ever seen Erin Brockovich? There's also Dark Waters that came out last year on the subject.

this is not science fiction, this is real life

Why should others have to pay the (sometimes ultimate) price for people who choose to ignore the advice of every health agency on the planet? Fuck yes, I would want to be kept separate from people who pose a risk to me and my family. The two main vaccines currently have an efficacy of 90+ %, there will be others rolling out shortly where this protection is only in the realm of 70% I think many of these things will largely depend on whether it can be determined that the vaccines prevent transmission, which as of right now I think we still need more data to say for sure. If the vaccines don't stop transmission, then herd immunity through vaccine becomes far-fetched and at that point it really doesn't make a difference to me if you get vaccinated or not. However, the unvaccinated portion of the population would still be an unjust burden on the medical system by continuing to fill up ICUs and hospitals. Here in Ontario they are now pausing cancer surgeries because our ICUs are packed full of covid patients. I'm sorry but if you don't vaccinate because you just don't want to but then need to be hospitalized and meanwhile my mom gets her cancer surgery delayed and risks death because of your choice...you see why I would have a problem with this? If you actually had a legit reason not to get vaccinated, like a medical condition, that's a totally different thing and anyone would understand. But if you don't get vaccinated because of some unfounded rumour about vaccine safety, something that is not based on legitimate data or scientific fact, then yes, it should be you who pays the price for that choice and not my mom, or somebody else's mom. The vaccine has now been given to millions of people across the world and there have been, to my knowledge, reports of less than 10 severe reactions, most of which were treated within an hour and the patient released home. There is no scientific evidence the vaccine poses a risk in the long-term and no reason to think that it would.

Holy Shit! The nostalgia. Used to watch the original episodes back in the early 90s, and each episode was a half hour of tear-inducing laughs for the whole gathered family. Good times I used to have the VHS set; I think I'll get the DVD set and watch it again soon. I hope you are also fan of Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, charlie Chaplin, and...Tom & Jerry

I knew Mr. Bean was supposed to be pretty funny but goddamn. no one told me it is perhaps the funniest thing you can ever watch in your life

"Gameplay"

Steam Workshop Link Derrick Find the map in the "other" section of Garry's Mod Please play with HDR ON in your video settings Derrick was just a test that I started in Feburary, then after leaving it to rot for 10 months I came back to it and started working on it starting about 2 months ago. Derrick is largely a learning project and does not play well. It is more a demonstration of some features of the Source™ engine that Garry's Mod map makers do not utilize in their maps. It is shorter than I would like but found that making a code heavy map like this is time consuming. The map was not designed with the use of the spawn menu in mind which defeats the purpose of Garry's Mod which is weird now that I think about it. Credits sobecblobec - Main Creator | Environment artist ✪ bow - Bug Test Special thanks to: CSGO - Assets RP_UnionCity - Misc Please support me and consider rating/favoriting Derrick Sponsored by BuffDuckStore

Its all in the pitch of the roof. This is how I might do a 2/1 pitch with 16u walls and a 8u ceiling (if doing interior and exterior). Generally the math works out that you can line up your verts provided that the quotient of the thickness of the wall and the run of the slope is a whole number. So a 1/1 pitch, a 2/1 pitch, 4/1, and a 2/3 pitch will all work on a 4u or thicker wall. I recommend you stick with slopes whose run is a multiple of 2 as most geometry in hammer is built on a base 2 system, but you could do a 3/1 or a 3/2 pitch on a 6u or 12u wall... I do 3/2 sometimes as its a common stair pitch. Also note this is for the case where you need to do the interior and exterior of a building. If it's only the exterior you need to build then you can mostly forget the math.

Reading this feels odd to me since it's the exact same reaction I had going from blender to 3ds max :D. Imo blender is the most intuitive software to use as far as navigating the viewport goes, especially if you use the (Shift + F) mode to fly around the 3d space. It may just be because I've used it for much longer than any other 3d software. Anyways, it's a matter of personal preference. I find myself switching from one software to another if I don't like how they do a certain thing. Here's the first fully textured car I've made (at least one that's good enough for me to remember)

Hey all. Sorry I've not been around very much recently! Had a lot going on IRL and with work. Hope you are all doing well! Been working on this scene for a while now but finally finished it up. You can check it out on Artstation. This has been a really fun project and I've learned a lot about UE4 and environment art in general. Really wanted to push myself to learn some new software. Speedtree is amazing! https://www.artstation.com/artwork/bK8EPn

As I mentioned above, I thought it would be fun to post some early blockout shots, and then post some final shots and talk about some of the design choices behind them. If people enjoy this, I can post a few more. Bomb A Changes After multiple playtests I identified a few problems with how bombsite A was playing, and how players perceived the spaces they were flowing through. In the old version, players would come down around this bend here, and be presented with option of ducking into this building to take a more protected, but tightly choked route, or they could try and work their way through the street choke and into the bombsite. The street opening here didn't have large cover, so this required a smoke or you would be destroyed by snipers. The less obvious thing that was occurring here was that players felt they were not aware they were transitioning into a bombsite/contested zone. Because you were walking down streets to get here without any changes in spaces, players did not perceive the immediate threat that was waiting around this corner. After some thought, I realized I could create a better choke point , add better cover from snipers, and create a clear delineation of spaces by adding a tunnel with vehicle cover. This also fit well with the aesthetic of Edinburgh. This would however end up impacting the secondary route that players always took into the bombsite. More on that below. As I mentioned above, players would go through the structure's interior, and be spit out at the back of the bomb site. This had its pros and cons. However, the one thing it did allow was for Terrorists to rush this point at a much faster rate than the CT's had time to deal with. In an effort to allow CT's better timing to both bomb sites, some work went in to slowing down the terrorist by just a second or 2. This also allowed me to build a courtyard that would be a bit more memorable than just an interior hallway. This also made the approach into A more interesting, especially when I did an overhaul on the bombsite in later iterations. When I started this level, I had a few core ideas I wanted to execute on. One of these ideas was how I wanted to go about differentiating the bomb sites. I knew I wanted one bomb site to be an interior or more close quarters fight, and the other to be a bit more open and long range. Possibly open enough that it might even be a bit uncomfortable for Counter Strike. Originally Bomb A was down in this recessed patio space. While I thought it may be interesting to fight down into this space, or hunker down to cover this area, it only took a few playtests to show me I was wrong. First, this spot became a grenade pit. You could almost guarantee that you were going to get 1 or more nades thrown at you here. Second, the recess made a lot of the fights kinda gross. You were trying to fire over the railings, and the players who were on the street above, you could only see their heads. The space really wasn't playing out the way I wanted. I had the idea to raise it up instead of the recess, and this turned out to be a much better choice. This got rid of the strange angles, cleaned up the fire fights, and made the space a bit easier to navigate through.

A new look at the liquid shader

ar_Dome Soon to be released