WIP (Insurgency) Gizab

[oxygencube]

I decided I was finally ready to make a thread. I am working on an Insurgency map, Gizab, named after a town in Afghanistan. This map is designed for Skirmish/Firefight but should work well for Occupy and Push as well. The layout is inspired by dod_kalt, one of my favorite dod:s maps.

 

Here are the latest screens. White lines are main routes, dotted in underground tunnel. 

 

I plan on playtesting it this Sunday 1/25/15 at 8pm EST on 69.13.38.158:27015 if you would like to play and give me feedback. Keep in mind, these visuals are rough. I've done some closed playtesting but I need to do some larger public testing to make sure the layout holds but before I detail it.

 

Theme: small town on a mountain side in Afghanistan

Gamemode: Skirmish/Firefight

Map size: Medium

 

 

 

[Black_Stormy]

That's a good start, the brushwork looks fairly detailed and not too blocky. With the interior ceilings try to find a way to vary the height of the ceiling to introduce more BSP detail there. They look very plain and it's much harder to make a big blank brush look nice, as opposed to more intricate BSP. The map is symmetrical, which is a nice go-to for gameplay balance, but can be boring. You can use the same layout and make very different environments so the map isn't as samey.

[oxygencube]

That's a good start, the brushwork looks fairly detailed and not too blocky. With the interior ceilings try to find a way to vary the height of the ceiling to introduce more BSP detail there. They look very plain and it's much harder to make a big blank brush look nice, as opposed to more intricate BSP. The map is symmetrical, which is a nice go-to for gameplay balance, but can be boring. You can use the same layout and make very different environments so the map isn't as samey.

Thanks man... I haven't done any real detailing or even a decent visual pass cause I still want to have one more strong play test with feedback. No point in adding detail until I'm solid on the gameplay. I do plan on varying it up visually as env art is my specialty. Hoping to add a custom model or textures as well.

[oxygencube]

Here is a little update... 

 

Been roughing out first visual pass... I prefer to rough stuff out first and get themes and feels for areas then go back and add a detail and small prop pass. 

 

Spent the day working on a skybox.. Not sure if I want a full day or sunset.. Feedback?

 

[Karthoum]

Sunset fo sho

[oxygencube]

Continuing to crank away.. Here are some shots of middle routes.. It's become a library. 

 

[oxygencube]

Spent some time on the tunnels/sewer and started working on the security det. point (A). Also, committed to the sunset lighting/skybox. Gonna have to tweak the ambient light to make sure the outdoor shadows and still bright enough for gameplay. Trying the workflow of getting areas to about 75% visually, which helps me bring the whole map up at once vs going room by room to 100%. It theory, this makes sense and seems to be working well for me.  This also helps me see what custom props/textures I might want to implement after I get themes for areas worked out. I have a few in mind already like a fountain for the mosque courtyard, center of the map, and maybe some pieces for the tunnels/sewers. The good thing about mapping for Insurgency is that these textures/props haven't been beat to death like TF2 and CS.

 

Edited March 2, 2015 by oxygencube

[Xanthi]

looks good so far, keep it up!

[oxygencube]

Showing some of the areas I worked on this week. Hoping that by the end of next week I have the whole map roughed out to about 60%. The Security side spawn is a bit ambitions as it will be the mountain side entrance to the back side of the town. Started roughing out the 3d skybox but still can't quite see how it's gonna come together.

Edited March 14, 2015 by oxygencube

[oxygencube]

Spent the last two days on the mosque. I hit the brush face limit though. Guess I gotta make some stuff like the arches and sewer tunnels props. Does anybody know if Propper works with Insurgency SDK? There are somethings like simple arches that I could make into brush props instead of modeling in Maya. It seemingly would save time and help me get under the brush face limit in Hammer. 

[spence]

Ah, good ol' engine limits. Propper doesn't work for Insurgency, only earlier Source games. What you can do is extract all of the Ins materials into a supported game (HL2, Ep2, etc..) and then use Propper from the regular Source SDK; there is a guide here. There is also a little-known program called 'VMFtoSMD' which will convert map files to .smd model files...you just save each 'prop' as a separate VMF and then run them through that app. I used the latter when working on Ins and CSGO maps, and it works a treat (and saves you the hassle of going back and forth between SDKs).

[oxygencube]

Ah, good ol' engine limits. Propper doesn't work for Insurgency, only earlier Source games. What you can do is extract all of the Ins materials into a supported game (HL2, Ep2, etc..) and then use Propper from the regular Source SDK; there is a guide here. There is also a little-known program called 'VMFtoSMD' which will convert map files to .smd model files...you just save each 'prop' as a separate VMF and then run them through that app. I used the latter when working on Ins and CSGO maps, and it works a treat (and saves you the hassle of going back and forth between SDKs).

 

Wow.. That could be a life saver. I'm all for making some props but this VMFtoSMD could really help out!  Thx!

[oxygencube]

Finally got a Maya -> workflow figured out. last week was all trouble shooting trying to get MESA or the Valve Maya plugins working. What a pain..  Here is my first prop, one of the small domes for the mosque... 

 

 

I'm still not sure what proper mapcore etiquette is..  Is it ok to update both in this thread and the 'What are you working on?" thread?

[TheGuma]

Looks very nice! I'd say the tilings don't fit too much on the prop, though. And I'm pretty sure it's fine to update it on both threads. I suggest you update one as people will put more focus on YOUR thread.

[oxygencube]

Thanks man..  Here is my reference, I picked this cause I wanted a gold/bronze dome that will contrast nicely with the dark blue sky of the sunset. Also, the bricks and green of this mosque really stuck out to me.