[CS:GO] De_Japan (WIP)

[Beck]

HI all,

 

It's about time I jumped on the CS:GO bandwagon and got a map out into the wild. 

 

Always been a fan of Japan since I played Shenmue years ago so decided to set it in an area of Japan similar to that. It'll be set in a rural town rather than in a city full of neon lights. 

 

I've collected a load of reference images and drawn up an initial plan:

Please excuse my poor drawing skills

 

Anyway, anything that's red is outside of the play area. Blue lines are routes CT can take to get to the bomb sites, whilst orange shows the routes T can take.

 

I know it's only a 2D plan, but I'd like any initial feelings/feedback you guys might have looking at it. I'll begin grey boxing Saturday so I can get a better feeling of how it will play and from there arrange some playtests.

 

I've stuck a few reference images in an imgur album here: http://imgur.com/SPaytWq,qYByRhV,HwpYxfR,aAQiTzQ,csPfkO6,NqkcMrI,KO0Nkzd,JanpACp,8QVcpRB,8BnHYId,stSfsMI#0

 

Cheers guys, shall update soon with a grey box version

 

[mr.P]

love those reference images!

 

perhaps adjust ct spawn slightly, looks like they could rush mid and lock all roads to b, i.e snipe t in the back 

[Puddy]

It's always a bit tricky to judge a 2D sketch and ultimately I think that most maps evolve away from their initial planning but it's definitely good to have a starting point!

 

What I can say by looking at your sketch is that CT's need to cover 5 main approaches, which is too many in my book. If CT's lose one guy, they are incredibly vulnerable. The sweet spot in official maps seem to be 3 or 4 (2 paths to first site, 1 path to second site and 1 mid path is usually the case).

 

Looking forward to seeing your progress!

[Mazy]

Hah! The last few weeks I've actually been thinking of doing a CS:GO map with this exact same theme (since most people must be sick and tired of european villages at this point, and what'll feel fresh?  ), still to this day it feels like a really underused location in games in general. I think the layout looks pretty good as a starting point, gonna be interesting to see this develop (now that you've totally dissuaded me from doing one ) 

[FMPONE]

There does seem to be a general "zeitgeist" you can track as people scramble for new themes. I was dreaming up an Asian map myself, there goes that idea. Maybe it's time to pull a Gwalior and make a map based in a ridiculously random place. 

 

De_Zimbabwe

 

edit: on a more relevant note, that floorplan looks pretty cool.

[Sprony]

HI all,

 

It's about time I jumped on the CS:GO bandwagon and got a map out into the wild. 

 

Always been a fan of Japan since I played Shenmue years ago so decided to set it in an area of Japan similar to that. It'll be set in a rural town rather than in a city full of neon lights. 

 

I've collected a load of reference images and drawn up an initial plan:

Please excuse my poor drawing skills

 

Anyway, anything that's red is outside of the play area. Blue lines are routes CT can take to get to the bomb sites, whilst orange shows the routes T can take.

 

I know it's only a 2D plan, but I'd like any initial feelings/feedback you guys might have looking at it. I'll begin grey boxing Saturday so I can get a better feeling of how it will play and from there arrange some playtests.

 

I've stuck a few reference images in an imgur album here: http://imgur.com/SPaytWq,qYByRhV,HwpYxfR,aAQiTzQ,csPfkO6,NqkcMrI,KO0Nkzd,JanpACp,8QVcpRB,8BnHYId,stSfsMI#0

 

Cheers guys, shall update soon with a grey box version

 

I've been reading up on CSGO level design myself and I'm with Puddy on this. Too many routes and paths. I suggest you watch these. I've found them very helpful.

 

 

[Beck]

love those reference images!

 

perhaps adjust ct spawn slightly, looks like they could rush mid and lock all roads to b, i.e snipe t in the back 

 

Good point. I'll probably move their spawn point so it's down the road towards B and make some changes to mid so there is more cover for T's on the way to B.

 

It's always a bit tricky to judge a 2D sketch and ultimately I think that most maps evolve away from their initial planning but it's definitely good to have a starting point!

 

What I can say by looking at your sketch is that CT's need to cover 5 main approaches, which is too many in my book. If CT's lose one guy, they are incredibly vulnerable. The sweet spot in official maps seem to be 3 or 4 (2 paths to first site, 1 path to second site and 1 mid path is usually the case).

 

Looking forward to seeing your progress!

 

Yeah I totally expect this map to change from the plan, I just wanted to get a base idea for the layout of the level down so I have a starting point.

 

I shall look into removing one of the approaches for T to give CT's more of a chance to defend whilst they are spread out. Thanks!

 

Hah! The last few weeks I've actually been thinking of doing a CS:GO map with this exact same theme (since most people must be sick and tired of european villages at this point, and what'll feel fresh?  ), still to this day it feels like a really underused location in games in general. I think the layout looks pretty good as a starting point, gonna be interesting to see this develop (now that you've totally dissuaded me from doing one ) 

 

Oh man, I'm sorry! It is hard to think of a theme for a new map these days. I was going to go with abandoned factory/refinery but I really lost interest in it early on so decided to change the theme. I'm much happier with this one.

 

I'm happy to share any assets I create for this map with the community though once I'm done! Would like to see more maps with a similar theme!

 

There does seem to be a general "zeitgeist" you can track as people scramble for new themes. I was dreaming up an Asian map myself, there goes that idea. Maybe it's time to pull a Gwalior and make a map based in a ridiculously random place. 

 

De_Zimbabwe

 

edit: on a more relevant note, that floorplan looks pretty cool.

 

Now I feel bad for stealing everyone's theme

 

I played DE_Reef yesterday and that has a completely different theme to any other CS:GO map. Was really nice and fresh to see something different.

 

Cheers!

 

 

 

I've been reading up on CSGO level design myself and I'm with Puddy on this. Too many routes and paths. I suggest you watch these. I've found them very helpful.

 

 

 

Cheers. I'll give these a watch

 

Appreciate the comments guys. Great as always! Looking forward to getting stuck into this now

Edited March 7, 2014 by Beck

[ESToomere]

Colour me intrigued. I can share a few pics from my visit to Japan if you want.

I was working on two maps before I realised my PC is too shit to continue working on them.

[Beck]

Colour me intrigued. I can share a few pics from my visit to Japan if you want.

I was working on two maps before I realised my PC is too shit to continue working on them.

 

Would love any pics you're willing to share. Will come in handy no doubt!

[ESToomere]

PM'd.

[AlexM]

Nice subject choice, I love the look of Shenmue, the game still looks gorgeous today.

 

Here's some shots from when I was living there (okinawa and kyoto) mixed in with some other reblogs I thought were nice. Parts of Kyoto look like Shenmue. I'm not sure I have too many photos of those areas though. 

 

http://leveldesigninspirationmachine.tumblr.com/tagged/Kyoto

 

http://leveldesigninspirationmachine.tumblr.com/tagged/Japan

[Beck]

Nice subject choice, I love the look of Shenmue, the game still looks gorgeous today.

 

Here's some shots from when I was living there (okinawa and kyoto) mixed in with some other reblogs I thought were nice. Parts of Kyoto look like Shenmue. I'm not sure I have too many photos of those areas though. 

 

http://leveldesigninspirationmachine.tumblr.com/tagged/Kyoto

 

http://leveldesigninspirationmachine.tumblr.com/tagged/Japan

 

I looked at your site when I was doing a bit of research on this. Was very helpful!

 

The tags page still doesn't work for me so those links are perfect

 

Thank you!

[Thurnip]

Nice subject choice, I love the look of Shenmue, the game still looks gorgeous today.

 

Here's some shots from when I was living there (okinawa and kyoto) mixed in with some other reblogs I thought were nice. Parts of Kyoto look like Shenmue. I'm not sure I have too many photos of those areas though. 

 

http://leveldesigninspirationmachine.tumblr.com/tagged/Kyoto

 

http://leveldesigninspirationmachine.tumblr.com/tagged/Japan

jizzed.

[Squad]

Nice subject choice, I love the look of Shenmue, the game still looks gorgeous today.

 

Here's some shots from when I was living there (okinawa and kyoto) mixed in with some other reblogs I thought were nice. Parts of Kyoto look like Shenmue. I'm not sure I have too many photos of those areas though. 

 

http://leveldesigninspirationmachine.tumblr.com/tagged/Kyoto

 

http://leveldesigninspirationmachine.tumblr.com/tagged/Japan

 

That's a great site you got there, AlexM. Sure will come in handy sooner or later

[AlexM]

 

Nice subject choice, I love the look of Shenmue, the game still looks gorgeous today.

 

Here's some shots from when I was living there (okinawa and kyoto) mixed in with some other reblogs I thought were nice. Parts of Kyoto look like Shenmue. I'm not sure I have too many photos of those areas though. 

 

http://leveldesigninspirationmachine.tumblr.com/tagged/Kyoto

 

http://leveldesigninspirationmachine.tumblr.com/tagged/Japan

 

I looked at your site when I was doing a bit of research on this. Was very helpful!

 

The tags page still doesn't work for me so those links are perfect

 

Thank you!

 

 

Ah crap, yeah that tagging mechanism is not really built for tumblr. I've been considering re-writing the site from scratch as a custom web application but haven't had the time.