CS_CALM

[will2k]

Greetings everyone

 

I have published my latest map for CSGO.

 

Calm, a hostage rescue map, is a fully remastered rendition of my Counter-Strike: Source map from 2010, which itself was a quick remake of my Counter-Strike 1.5 map from 2003; talk about history.

The map draws thematic and architectural reference from old French and Scottish villages. It supports 32 players (16 vs 16) and features GSG9 vs Balkans. A manually-tuned nav file with place names is included for bot play.
 
Enjoy the map.
 

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=405675581&searchtext=

 

[Squad]

Congratz on release!

Gonna check it out

[Vaya]

Have you got it running on any servers? I would like to play it with people

 

might be a little too right-angley for current tastes but goddamn if it isn't pretty.

[will2k]

Have you got it running on any servers? I would like to play it with people

 

Give it a couple of days and it will be on several servers

 

Not sure if RZL here can host fun playnights for finished maps since slots/time are limited and usually allocated to testing alpha/beta maps

[FMPONE]

This is definitely your best map yet, visually. Awesome to see you pushing yourself and getting better and better results. That's what it's all about!

 

I like the consistent mood across the map. I think you could push the outside color saturation even further into one definite direction, and contrast that with a different, but similarly uniform interior lighting (think blorange). So, mainly lighting and texturing critique for me on this one, the geometry is generally pretty effective!

 

I'd also say you could work on generally toning down the noise in your scenes. Right now you're leaning on extreme amounts of detail to get an aesthetic result, but if you capture the same color balances and strengthen your architecture, you should be able to dramatically reduce noise and distill your scenes into generally more pleasing and less overwhelming results. You're going to need to highlight what is working in a scene and focus on that, while cutting out some of the visual clutter. I think the fact that you were able to do an aesthetic but cluttered result shows me you're capable of doing that distilling.

 

 

This courtyard is a great example of how you're getting to an aesthetic result but it's only after a ton of clashing and noise. Limit yourself to 5-6 textures, including 2-3 base walls, 1-2 trims, and a ton of decals and overlays, and I think you'll get to a better result. Use lights with a blorange-type effect, with larger radii, to serve as one of the major areas of contrast in your scenes.

 

Let's look at your buildings in this scene as well. Pretty square and rectangular, no? I like the tower you created much better. It shows a lot more imagination. You can always go back and look at DOD:S buildings for inspiration, that game demonstrated how you can create interesting buildings without going in an overly rectangular direction.

[onebit]

I would not use the white line on the ingame radar, I would include it on the spec radar though.

[will2k]

post

 

Thanks for the feedback

 

For nav mesh, i split the long area into 3 to make sure the middle one matches with the small area underneath the arch entrance; it's more optimized this way and bots can have easier time traveling and calculating the passage. For the size, you needn't worry as the increase is only 10-15 kb between the raw mesh (auto-generated) and the manually tuned one with lots of splitting and splicing.

 

The light rays you mentioned are static props and not much can be done to change the color (prop coloring doesn't have much effect here); they are mainly used to simulate light haze emanating from the windows to add dramtic effect to the dustmotes in the air.

 

For the plants/ivy, they are mostly positioned above/below ground level on purpose for a certain desired visual effect (players can't really see them without noclipping)

 

Although i made sure to clip the hell out of the map, that tree top evaded me ; thanks for mentioning it

 

Thanks for taking the time to test the map, appreciate your feedback

[onebit]

The light rays you mentioned are static props and not much can be done to change the color (prop coloring doesn't have much effect here); they are mainly used to simulate light haze emanating from the windows to add dramtic effect to the dustmotes in the air.

I meant that the light prop doesn't fit the shadow cast by the sun.

 

For the plants/ivy, they are mostly positioned above/below ground level on purpose for a certain desired visual effect (players can't really see them without noclipping)

players notice minute errors subconsciously and reminds them it isn't real, counteracting the purpose of video games. Edited March 10, 2015 by onebit

[text_fish]

Grats on the release Will, I'll try it tonight. It's always fun to see a CS_ map in amongst all the DE_'s!

 

 

players notice minute errors subconsciously and reminds them it isn't real, counteracting the purpose of video games.

 

Honestly, I have to disagree with this. Onebit I think the feedback you've been giving lately is really impressive and very helpful, but some of it is stuff that only mappers notice (I spot things like this in Valve maps all the time, but only because my brain has a good understanding of how a map is put together in the first place). Other players are too busy doing shooty-bang-bang's to notice if a flowerpot is floating half a unit off the ground. Ultimately, the more bogged down a mapper gets in tiny details like that the less time he's going to have to sort out bigger issues or move on to another project. I've known so many mappers (myself included) who've gone for years without releasing anything because they spent too long worrying about flaws that maybe 1% of their audience would notice. Again I should stress that I think your recent screenshot splurges have been really helpful (especially clipping and other gameplay related issues), but I am concerned that you may become one of those mappers who's never satisfied enough to declare anything finished, and that would be a shame for everybody!

[will2k]

Grats on the release Will, I'll try it tonight. It's always fun to see a CS_ map in amongst all the DE_'s

 

 

Thanks Joe and spot-on post of yours

[will2k]

Here is a little fun comparison shot between the current map in CSGO (2015) and the original in CS 1.5 (2003). Yes, 1.5 not 1.6 since there was no steam or 1.6 at that time

 

 

the tree in the CS 1.5 shot is made entirely of old-school brushwork , ah, the good old times

[Adam108CZ]

Great map! But in terms of gameplay, are you sure that one small room with hostages is enough? I think you should add another room with a hostage somewhere around the Ts yard.

[will2k]

Great map! But in terms of gameplay, are you sure that one small room with hostages is enough? I think you should add another room with a hostage somewhere around the Ts yard.

Hey Adam

 

Earlier in the development, there was a stair from Tsidelower (lower entrance in 1st pic) to back of hostage room so CTs could have 2 different entryways into the hostage room; however I felt it tipped the balance towards CTs considering the small size of the map and the fast overall gameplay.

 

Back in the CSS days, it was tested on several servers and there were no complaints about this issue; if the CSGO community will further complain about this issue then I'll be sure to keep your suggestion of a 2nd hostage room in mind

 

Thanks again

[Vaya]

the lighting on this statue thing seems a bit weird. or it might be the texture used...Looks a bit 'off' in game

[will2k]

The map is now being played on the reddit CSGO server (community night) if anyone wants to join

 

http://www.reddit.com/r/GlobalOffensive/comments/2zczm4/in_3_hours_eu_cs_calm_playtest_followed_by/

 

I have a good idea of the things to be updated afterwards (some clips here and there, 2nd hostage room, additional connector to curent hostage room, opening some skies for nades/flashes and more)

 

I shall gather the feedback of this playnight along with previous feedbacks to include them in one large map update.

 

Feel free to join the game and post any feedback you have here in this thread, all feedback is welcome.

 

Thanks and enjoy.