[WIP] de_slate (withdrawn)

[laerth]

Edit: Released!

 

Original post:

Withdrawn -- won't have time to finish.

 

Steam workshop link: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=476209350

Spoiler

Overview image (updated on 7/12):

Started this as an experiment to see what I could accomplish with minimal base-assets, while also building with as much non-cardinal, off-the-grid geometry as possible. My goal is to facet most of the brush surfaces with models, but we'll see if I have time for that.

The basic theme is a minimalist roof garden atop a tall building, somewhat like Namba Parks.

The A bombsite is fairly traditional, but the B bombsite is pretty open to grenades/snipers from both CTs and Ts. The elements I enjoy the most are the drop-downs from mid-to-A-choke and mid-to-B-choke, but I'm not sure how well they'll work out in practice. Curious what you guys think of the layout.

Anyway, this is essentially just a whitebox, not sure I'll finish it in time for the deadline, but here it is

 

Edited March 29, 2016 by laerth
update, now released

[Vaya]

far too complex in terms of layout- theme is pretty cool but you have so many redundant paths and changes in height.... reminds me of this map from goldeneye:

[MaanMan]

Your map is very complicated and confusing. I recommend trying to simplify the layout or changing the name to de_Picasso.

Edited July 8, 2015 by MaanMan

[jackophant]

Your map is very complicated and confusing. I recommend trying to simplify the layout or changing the name to de_Picasso. de_escher

FTFY

It looks nice in the screenshots, but perhaps in the overlay you can black out any untraversable routes to make it simpler to read. Regardless, I think the layout needs to be simplified:

Too many routes = too many flanking = too many salt

[laminutederire]

I like the concept but you need hints of color to guide the player, clean up the overview and make paths work to shorten rotation time.

Maybe removing a path or too could be better also. But I'm not sure of that however.

But I want to stress the fact that it interesting visually ! It has an halo feel I guess

[laerth]

I'll spend some time simplifying/reducing redundant routes and clarifying the overview. Here's a connectivity map in case it helps (purple lines = one-way or boost):

Maybe making the following cuts might help? Or not enough?

[Vilham]

Better but could proabably use some more near CT spawn and between mid and A

[jackophant]

I can't help myself, sorry ...

You've got a lot of parallel running paths, so you could easily combine most of them.

You've also got a few paths which allow for players to double back on themselves, so you might want to redirect or close those to keep the flow right. If people know the bombsite is a certain direction, to follow a path away from it to come back to it is counter-intuitive to people playing the map for the first time. You have the advantage of knowing where everything is already so it can cloud your judgement.

Before you do cut it down, please share an overview screenshot with bot_show_battlefront 1 active. I'm quite intrigued.

[laerth]

[EonDynamo]

The base layout of this map is awesome but IT could definitely use some tweaking. In its current state, there are a few paths that are either a. redundant or b. reduce the significance of other paths. I would suggest slimming the map around the edges especially by T spawn. 

I very much believe in a design philosophy of having the entire map be viable in regular play, as apposed to having dead starts (maps like Nuke or even Inferno). That being said your map seems to embody this and I would play to that. Perhaps you could remove the outward paths by t spawn and re-angle the above ones to allow for players to rotate through T spawn, but not encourage they stay there too long. 

I would argue that the layout isn't particularly complicated as it is, but rather clustered with a great deal of redundant player splitting areas. Running around in game is rather overwhelming as a result of this. Some areas have far to many corners to check and should be simplified. I'd love to see where this map ends up though, you're off to an amazing start.

[blackdog]

Looks great for an SP mini-sandbox, but every route divides in two more, if you compare to the main CS maps you get an answer for yourself.

I think the problem here is that maybe you have many great ideas for visuals, and you're trying to have players see it all?

[laerth]

Thanks for the critiques, everyone. I think I may have been overthinking some of the bombsite taking/retaking scenarios and in effect tried to solve problems that didn't really exist. I'll make some changes this weekend.

[laerth]

I pushed a new update to workshop: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=476209350

I simplified the layout a bit, removed redundant paths to bombsites (each site has 3 entries now instead of 4), added bombsite decals, reworked the CT->A connector, added a shortcut ramp to the top of the curved staircase, and clarified the overview image.

I still have more improvements to make, such as reducing the number of corners you have to check, but I wanted to get something out before the end of the weekend.

[NihiL]

Hey, quick question that always comes up for me when I see layouts as organic as this one: how do you keep things on-grid in Hammer? Is it through usage of func_details or how do you manage to do that?

New layout looks like a step in the right direction. Still seems extremely mazey though, like a connector hell. If I imagine myself in literally any place on your map overview, I feel I could be killed from 3-4+ angles at all times pretty much. I'd try and reduce that further. Looks very unique and interesting though!

Edited July 12, 2015 by NihiL

[laminutederire]

Hey, quick question that always comes up for me when I see layouts as organic as this one: how do you keep things on-grid in Hammer? Is it through usage of func_details or how do you manage to do that?

New layout looks like a step in the right direction. Still seems extremely mazey though, like a connector hell. If I imagine myself in literally any place on your map overview, I feel I could be killed from 3-4+ angles at all times pretty much. I'd try and reduce that further. Looks very unique and interesting though!

I think he does not keep geometry on the grid, which is probably an obligation as soon as you create something not square-ish. At least that's what I understood when he said he was keeping it off the grid geometry (in his first post).