[CS:GO] de_section (WIP)

[Pivac]

Map: de_section - Bomb Plant/Defuse (Work in Progress) 

 

Hi, this is my first bomb plant/defuse map for CS:GO. I will post my progress here, comments and critiques are welcome.

Currently this is in planning stage, not a single part of the map has been made yet in Hammer (except for custom model testing). The name may be changed, just couldn't think of anything good that isn't already on Steam Workshop.

 

Some basic info about the map:
- Setting: Biohazard materials transport and disposal company warehouse/storage area
- Terrorist mission: destroy biohazard crates/transport trucks
- Counter-terrorist mission: protect biohazard crates/transport trucks

Main design principles:
- Relatively simple layout
- Equal win chance for both sides (obviously)
- Balance between visuals and performance (focus on optimisation)
- Avoid too much useless detail/visual clutter, but still has to be nice looking
- Avoid extremly dark/bright areas, player models should be easy to spot
- Make smart use of standard brushes, clip brushes and models to avoid player getting stuck unexpectedly
- Use custom models, but make sure hitboxes correspond to visual models and make them relatively "wallbangable"
- Each area of the map will be visually/structurally specific to help players orientate and memorize (dirty sewers, modern warehouse interior...)

Other notes:
- Open skybox as much as possible to allow for some creative smokes
- Rush encounter points, rotation times, etc. should roughly meet CS:GO standards
- Choke points should be a little wider than they mostly are in CS:GO (but smokes still need to be effective)
- Some walls will be effectively wallbangable (those which are thin in my layout preview, for example the wall between CT spawn and mid)

Everything will be adjusted, changed or even removed/added based on feedback.

 

Layout sketches:

Some concept art I did to help me when I get to work on brushes, textures, etc. (not going to look exactly like this): 

Some custom models test (biohazard crates and metal pallets):

[Quotingmc]

Good presentation. Nice looking layout as well.

[tchick]

I like how you plan your work and how clean it is! Please, could you tell us what soft did you use to sketch your level design? Thank you, good luck !

[Pivac]

Thanks for comments guys

tchick, for these sketches I used Blender http://www.blender.org/ 

It's a bit tricky to learn and takes some time, but it's really useful for a lot of things. I also created custom props using it.

Edited September 1, 2015 by Pivac
Broken link

[laminutederire]

Have you started on source engine yet? If so, have you checked timings? It looks very stretched out. I say that because my level looked basically the same on paper, but after testing it appeared that rotation times were very long, so I'd suggest to keep that in mind for your level

[Pivac]

I haven't started to work on the actual map yet in Source/Hammer, but I expect there will be some problems and things that need to be changed. It definitely is a bit stretched. I have tried to avoid spawn areas being too far away from gameplay area (like terrorist spawn on Inferno for example), that's one of the reasons it looks stretched as well. 

I will adjust all timings to be reasonable, based on similar structured maps which this map was mainly inspired by: dust2, mirage and cache.

Thanks for your feedback!

[tchick]

Hey I was thinking about your cool level design sketch, if you use blender you should be able to more or less quickly learn 3DsMax and with it save your design as an .obj file and open in with 3dsMax. Then you could use the Wallworm model tool to export your 3D directly to Hammer.

All information here : 
http://dev.wallworm.com/topic/2/wall_worm_model_tools.html
Shawn Olson the guy who is working on this tool is active on this forum.

Good luck Have fun

[laminutederire]

3ds max isn't free which is probably why he isn't using that, but there are the same tools for blender developed by valve

[Pivac]

Yup, I'm using Blender since it's free, there are many noob-friendly tutorials around which helped me learn and I can do everything I currently need with it. But it's true what you said tchick, once you learn any of these programs such as 3ds max, Maya, Blender, etc. and the general principles in 3D modeling, switching between them shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Anyway, I'm using Blender Source Tools to export models from Blender to Source and it's been working well so far (and they seem to update regularly):

https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Blender_Source_Tools

[jackophant]

3ds max isn't free which is probably why he isn't using that, but there are the same tools for blender developed by valve

What are these valve developed tools?

[laminutederire]

What are these valve developed tools?

those are import tools which were developed by valve for sketchup or blender or 3d software to export into vmf or smd

[jackophant]

those are import tools which were developed by valve for sketchup or blender or 3d software to export into vmf or smd

what are their names? I'm not aware of any valve developed tools

[laminutederire]

what are their names? I'm not aware of any valve developed tools

they are plug-ins

here

[hgn]

they are plug-ins

here

Yeah these are developed by independant orginisations, users just write the docs as it is source related. As far as im concerned valve only really support 3dsmax.

[Pivac]

That addon is not developed by Valve, but whoever is developing it is doing a great job.

Btw I'm still working on this map, been busy creating and testing some custom content (textures, models). I will post some screenshots and small layout changes soon.