[CS:GO] de_butterfly

[Squeebo]

It was suggested I make a forum thread for this map even though it's very very early in development.

This is the first iteration of the map, I really want to get the layout right before investing more time into it.

 

I welcome any and all suggestions, feedback and ideas for the improvement of the level.

 

Thanks for the playtest, guys.

Cheers!

 

 

[Frolf]

If this is a butterfly garden I just want to say... that's one of the best settings I have ever seen

 

 

Right now the map looks a bit small, perhaps try moving the bomb sites apart from each other. Maybe give the Ts and CTs a bit more space between each other as well so they aren't thrown into combat as quickly

Edited March 24, 2015 by Frolf

[Vaya]

 

Okay hopefully this makes enough sense.

 

Red - CT spawn move closer to mid

 

Blue - Move the circular mid area closer to the centre of the map. The CTs should have time to set up before the Ts can get to mid.

 

Orange- Bombsites need to be futher apart.

 

If the bombsites are too close together the CTs can rotate really fast. it was like 4-6 seconds between the edge of A and B

 

Try and avoid having foliage at head height too, Can lead to frustrating gameplay.

 

 

 

[onebit]

Does it work if you scale up the whole map?

Edited March 25, 2015 by onebit

[jackophant]

the size of the map isnt the problem, it's the horrific route balance.

 

 

T's get smashed at every angle. They get hit at 3 angles in the little rock room within about 3 seconds of round start, and their only other route into A excluding a CT route from flanking is a million miles away through a very dangerous mid. Again, B has only 1 real entrance which is also on a lower level where CTs can totally unhindered, flank over the top of Ts who then have to run out into the open.

 

CTs on the other hand have all the high ground and when they dont, have multiple additional entrance points. Also, why is there this drop down zone in CT spawn (see pink section)?

 

I get the impression this was never criticaly assessed for playability while being blocked out and followed a purely aesthetic approach.

 

There are also too many curved walls. They're a nice touch to mix up typically blocky maps, but they are harder to peak without showing a lot of your body, or going very wide and leaving yourself in the open.

[Squeebo]

If this is a butterfly garden I just want to say... that's one of the best settings I have ever seen

 

 

Right now the map looks a bit small, perhaps try moving the bomb sites apart from each other. Maybe give the Ts and CTs a bit more space between each other as well so they aren't thrown into combat as quickly

Butterfly garden is the plan! Hope I can get it convincing, it's definitely going to be a challenge.

 

Small was my intention, I think I will probably move the bombsites apart slightly. Ts and CTs being thrown into combat extremely quickly was also intentional, but I think you're right, it could be improved, as it didn't seem to play out particularly as interesting as I had hoped, I will probably make some changes in that regard.

 

Thanks very much for the comments!

 

Okay hopefully this makes enough sense.

 

Red - CT spawn move closer to mid

 

Blue - Move the circular mid area closer to the centre of the map. The CTs should have time to set up before the Ts can get to mid.

 

Orange- Bombsites need to be futher apart.

 

If the bombsites are too close together the CTs can rotate really fast. it was like 4-6 seconds between the edge of A and B

 

Try and avoid having foliage at head height too, Can lead to frustrating gameplay.

Makes sense to me, thanks for illustrating your points, I really appreciate it.

 

I'm considering changing the placement of both CT and T spawns; seems like their could be more variety in starts that way, I will likely move CT spawn thataway.

 

Bombsite A(Left on map) will probably be moved further left, that circular room it's in will probably be rearranged to play a little different.

 

I did want quick rotation times between bombsites for both teams, but I wanted the shortest route to be the most dangerous to take, which is not really the case with the current layout. I will try to make it a little more interesting.

 

I'll try to sort out the foliage for next playtest.

 

Thanks again for the feedback!

 

the size of the map isnt the problem, it's the horrific route balance.

 

T's get smashed at every angle. They get hit at 3 angles in the little rock room within about 3 seconds of round start, and their only other route into A excluding a CT route from flanking is a million miles away through a very dangerous mid. Again, B has only 1 real entrance which is also on a lower level where CTs can totally unhindered, flank over the top of Ts who then have to run out into the open.

 

CTs on the other hand have all the high ground and when they dont, have multiple additional entrance points. Also, why is there this drop down zone in CT spawn (see pink section)?

 

I get the impression this was never criticaly assessed for playability while being blocked out and followed a purely aesthetic approach.

 

There are also too many curved walls. They're a nice touch to mix up typically blocky maps, but they are harder to peak without showing a lot of your body, or going very wide and leaving yourself in the open.

 

The A bombsite rock room was meant to be hectic early in the round, both teams arrive in the room at the same time, but the CTs definitely do have more options, it seems. CTs can get to the bombsite quicker from the middle corridor and the right corridor, while the Ts can move to the left corridor to flank quicker, was the idea, but the odds are definitely stacked in the CTs favour. I'll try to even up the routes in the next version.

 

The drop down zone in CT spawn was meant to help terrorists get a vantage point when flanking CTs, was an idea that really didn't pan out; it's not feasible for the Ts get there in time to gain any advantage from it, generally. It'll probably be walled off in the next version.

 

Middle is meant to be equally dangerous for both teams, with the curved walls on both sides making it hard to peak, the CTs have a clear advantage here as well however, with a few more options.

 

Bombsite B could definitely be more interesting for the rushing terrorists, I'll try to improve the layout in that regard.

 

The curved walls are very intentional for that very reason, but you're right, it might be an improvement to have more variation between sharp corners and curved ones.

 

Thanks very much for the feedback, I do appreciate the criticism.

[Squeebo]

I was wondering if anyone on here had experience creating/importing custom models with animations into Source/CS:GO.

 

I had planned on having the butterflies in my map be a prop_dynamic that played an animation loop of them flying around.

 

Anyone have advice on where to start on something like this?

 

 

 

Also thinking of making a custom butterfly particle effect, if anyone had experience with that, I'd love any advice.

[blackdog]

Yeah while I was reading your last post I thought that probably particles would be much better.

Unfortunately I don't have experience for those things.

Theme and layout look interesting to me, you can easily fix routes with the suggestions you got, so keep working on it

[TheGuma]

Make an animated loop texture with butterflies flying in the air with an transparent background (alpha channel),

then follow this tutorial -

http://www.moddb.com/games/half-life-2/tutorials/how-to-create-an-animated-texture

 

You can also convert an video to a gif, cut down its frames and remove the backdrop (usually white background).

There are lots of looped vids/gifs with butterflies flying in the air around -

http://us.clipdealer.com/video/media/51458

 

 

Then, make a nodraw func_brush with no collision on it, texture one face with butterflies and make several brushes like these.

The flies will be 2D, but it will be cost effective (in terms of performance) and good enough for CS:GO engine.

 

This is a method that Mw3 and Black Ops 2 uses (when you see moths flying in the air).

 

For max effect you can make many brushes like these and have the butterflies tiny, or, use them sparingly.

You can also try using the texture as a sprite, so it rotates towards you every time (like env_sprites normally do)

However, I'm not sure how those work with animated textures. I've seen animated sprites with dust clouds in Hotel Gellert, it might work.

 

Good luck!

Edited April 18, 2015 by TheGuma

[blackdog]

Make an animated loop texture with butterflies flying in the air with an transparent background (alpha channel),

[...]

Then, make a nodraw func_brush with no collision on it, texture one face with butterflies and make several brushes like these.

The flies will be 2D, but it will be cost effective (in terms of performance) and good enough for CS:GO engine.

 

This is a method that Mw3 and Black Ops 2 uses (when you see moths flying in the air).

 

sure they don't use some kind of sprite? This technique can indeed work but only if you can't walk around the area. And sprites (like those used for a fire) should be cheap.

[Squeebo]

Hey, long time no update,
been trying to prepare my map for a playtest just recently.
would be grateful for any feedback beforehand.

 

Edited July 31, 2015 by Squeebo

[Psyrius]

Looks really cool so far  But it looks like the terrorists have 5 ways to take A and B. Maybe abit too much? I'd set it to 3, absolutely max 4

[Logic]

Hey, long time no update,
been trying to prepare my map for a playtest just recently.
would be grateful for any feedback beforehand.

A few things came to mind just from watching the overview.

• CT's definitely has to be closer to the sites. looks like both teams will arrive at the same time, and that's no good.
• You might want to make the sight-line shorter in the hallway above CT spawn.
• Another entrance at T's side might improve long rotation-times from/to A site.

The maps looks goof though and has some interesting architecture 

Edited August 3, 2015 by Logic

[Quotingmc]

Looks really great! I love the unique theme and all the curves. If you need any custom signs or display boards made I would love to help. Just send me a message

[Squeebo]

Another small update; I think I will upload this version for playtest. What do you guys think?

Edited September 18, 2015 by Squeebo
Updated image to show spawn locations