csWaldo

Just uploaded the playtest ready version to the workshop. Here is a before /after of the layout. We made small changes to the cover and paths, mostly around A and B site. I think the bombsite's layouts are mostly finished. Hopefully the coming 5v5 test will confirm that. There's also a bunch more concept art in the level now, so here are some impressions from it. Hope to see some of you at the playtest

Lol yeah, we need a custom texture for that. We want to test next week, probably on thursday, unless something gets in our way.

Making some progress. Next playtest soon. Hope we can lock down the layout soon so we can focus on art. Props to @Vaya for this scene

Inferno uses models for arches. Afaik the texture for them are like 3 very generic brick colors and 1 grout color. The UVs for the bricks and the grout is then just stacked over these colors. Looks alright as long as you don't look too close at it. In general, to get nice arches, models are your best bet. You can use the ones from inferno, canals and cobble, or make your own

Will be clipped before the next playtest for sure. And yeah, that peek could be very powerful. I'm already debating wether to block it off, but I'll guess we'll see how it does in the next test first. Thanks I liked it too but the amount of entrances and playable space around the site made it very uncomfortable to take, plant and defend for Ts. Something had to go and the second door from CT got the short end. Some things just aren't meant to work out Thanks for the feedback guys, appreciate it!

B site needed some love after the last playtest, so here's another progress gif:

Released a new version just now. Here's a slider that shows our progress: https://imgsli.com/MTk1Mw

Well, time to scrap this map.

Gotta keep the thread alive, so here's a concept for B connector

Don't feel afraid to completely redo / drop a map when you're just starting out. You improve quickly and fixing a map takes much more time and effort than just making a new one. If you feel like a level is much worse than what you can do, just start over. I would just try to practice the entire process of making a map rather than just lets say grey boxing. Coming up with a theme, designing the rough structure and architecture of your level and doing actual detailing all go hand in hand with the layout and just doing one over and over won't help you improve as much. Im speaking from experience here If I were you, I'd work on this level for as long as I still enjoyed it, then move on to something new. Personally I'd recommend doing smaller projects that you actually finish. Making an entire defuse level is hard and takes a long time. Its easy to get stuck on the layout or not finish detailing especially for a beginner. I'd start by making small, detailed scenes and maps like say a well detailed, themed aim map, or just a particular scene youre interested in. Look at reference images from real life, other maps and games and study the way official maps build layouts, use cover and how they construct an environment with their assets.

The screenshot looks dope, but just judging from the radar, it might be a bit too complex and large? 3 chokes lead to 4 entrances onto site. I imagine that would be super hard to hold with 2 CTs. I wouldn't wanna say what to cut without playtesting the map, but I feel like something needs to go here. Great world building though. Would love to play that.

Here's a way to change flow to reflect that then:

It very much has that first level look so I'll give you some first level advice. Use much brighter textures and a bit more light. It's super dark and hard to spot enemies in a lot of places. Modern CS levels often throw white paint on their walls for that reason. But just not using almost black textures for the floor would greatly help. Your level has unpacked models. They show as massive error boxes for anyone but you. I recommend Yanzls version of Compile Pal: https://github.com/gortnarj/CompilePal/releases/tag/v025 Your areas are often simple shapes with props stuffed inside them to create cover. Try to use the geometry and architecture of your level as the main source of cover and as the main way to create the angles you want. Additional cover should be used sparingly. I think you should try to make your level look simpler, cleaner and more visible for starters. You can look at some grey boxes from more experienced level designers to see how a dev level could look like and be layed out. Kinda hard to judge a layout when it says "ERROR" on a third of it

A few things: Your bomb sites look very close together. Looks like you could see one plant zone from the other. Even if you block that line of sight, it's going to mean the won't really be a take / retake kind of gameplay. It'll more turn into large 5v5 death matches every round. I think you'd do good to seperate those more. Most paths look very straight empty corridor - ish. You want to work more with actual areas that are connected through choke points. Corridors are fine, but they shouldn't make up the main playing areas of your level. The sites look very underdeveloped. I know this is a very early concept, but "room with 2 crates" just isn't much of a concept. I think again you should work out some more distinctive choke points for them, then work out plant zones and cover from there. I think your "long" path is kinda awkward. It leads around the site more than it leads towards it. I think having a path that goes around your map rather than towards a bomb site is rather awkward. Maybe thats just me though. Maybe this layout is more conceptual than literal and I just said some redundant stuff, but I see a lot of beginners work too much with corridors and overly simple "room with box" kind of sites, so I thought I'd mention it anyways. Just on a side note, I'd recommend brushing your layout out in hammer before asking for feedback on it. You'll find that you have to develop and flesh out a lot of things just by looking at it in the editor and sketches and drawing never work out like they do in your head or on paper. Makes it easier for you to improve your level and easier for us to give feedback. Either way, space is a cool theme, so go for it!

Havent really worked out the CT entrances yet. Mid needed to be redone and this is the rough concept I worked up with Vaya. Closing up and refining those angles will be our next priority for sure!