de_neighbors

[Kokopelli]

Neighbors 

Bomb Defusal 

Domestic terrorists storm a northern Virginia community to locate the home of a notorious hacker and destroy his trove of stolen data.

• Objective A - Destroy the hacker’s PC
• Objective B - Destroy the backup drives in the hacker’s car

This project began as an exercise in capturing a real life location and re-imagining it in a way that's conducive to CSGO gameplay. You might call this the "Canals approach." Creating was a great learning experience and I'm pretty happy with where I landed given the inherent constraints of the location I was trying to capture--particularly the fact that it was a fairly open environment. The biggest challenge was figuring out ways to reduce sight lines in ways that made sense thematically. The result is a map that strongly resembles the source inspiration but with plenty of necessary departures for improved gameplay. It's also my first completed map and entry to the CSGO workshop.

Looking for feedback on layout, gameplay and visuals. And please let me know if you find any bugs. Hope you enjoy!

Special thanks to Yanzl for various assets.

Workshop Link

[Kokopelli]

I just got a new PC and noticed for the first time the bloom intensity on this map was out of wack. That's what happens when you build a map on integrated graphics! So much better now.

I redesigned the layout of kid's room and removed some furniture for better mobility and additional after-plant positions.

CTs will now have a much easier time rushing through the window to get into A Site at the start of a round. And the extra space gives Ts in a post-plant scenario more options to defend from this location. -bed -cupboard -sidetable

A Site / Living Room also went through the same process of removing furniture and making space for better mobility and additional post-plant positions. -couch -sidetable -boxes

Edited September 6, 2019 by Kokopelli

[Kokopelli]

I decided CTs could use another way into B site to improve retakes and rotations, so I added a drainage pit.

Standing up here will give you a view of the connecting tunnel to pit. The planks on top of the grating are there to restrict some angles, keeping it tight and focused (have to be mindful of the surrounding height variations).

The planks also give players a way to cross over pit and play the corner by the hedge without being seen from below.

CTs can drop down quickly at the start of the round and make it to B site a bit faster now. Also added pipes to let players boost up for rotations.

Both teams can leverage pit to defend pushes from farside and backhill.

Pit connects to the redesigned utility room.

Utility room now feels more a part of B site, whereas before it functioned more as a connector.

Hopefully the addition of pit and the expansion of utility room will make B site approaches and defenses more dynamic.

[Interfearance]

    The idea of using form (refrence) to create function (layout) is intriguing. This resulted in a more believable theme that feels natural rather then forced. 

Here are a few thematic things I noticed:

-The transition from wood flooring to A site seems to abrupt and is not believable. I think a transitional strip of wood with a darker color between the areas would help. It is also worth mentioning that the colors don't completely work together. Maybe a lighter tone wood or darker carpeting would fix this.

-The hole in the wall at B is not very believable. The cinder blocks seem too large to fit in the wall, and all parts of the broken wall are perfect except for one corner. I don't think adding more sticking out, rotated, and broken blocks would be bad as long as they are out of sight lines when you are standing or crouching.

-The orange tarp on the scaffolding looks out of place and fits better in a large construction site. 

-The checkered carpet in your earlier screenshots isn't tiling right, or is unaligned. 

-I would experiment with replacing the planks leaning on the tree with a tree gaurd or something else natural and believable like the bags you see around trees to protect them: 

-The road (noticably) lacks central lane lines. 

-The garden overlooking drainage should have a larger variety of species and slightly denser. It looks really dead right now.

Csgo maps are really lenient with this stuff, but I feel like maintaining the realisticity in the details will help set the map even further apart.

As for actual gameplay, everything looks well thought out. Only playtesting can tell (assuming you haven't had it already or recently).

Edit: Your radar looks like it can use a custom gradient. The height variations are hard to make out.

Edited September 8, 2019 by Interfearance
Addition

[Kokopelli]

@Interfearance Hey man, thanks so much for your thoughtful feedback. You make great points. I'll definitely address them in the next update.

I've done a ton of testing with bots and some games with a few friends, but have yet to put it through a real competitive pressure test. I'd like to get a proper playtest going soon.

[mtchromatic]

Checked out the map, and I love the detailing.
I don't much to say, but i lost the bomb up here
 

[That50'sGuy]

This map is giving me major GTA 4 vibes, and I like it!

Keep it up!

[Kokopelli]

@mtchromatic lol, this one never occurred to me. Thanks for pointing that out!

[Kokopelli]

Big thanks to the playtesters from the Raidboss community for running Neighbors during their Sunday 10-mans! Also thanks to @Interfearance for a lot of very solid feedback. After taking all that into consideration and reviewing demos, several issues became clear.

The map has long suffered from openness and long sight lines. I'm slowly but surely going through the process of creating better separation between areas to alleviate that. Here is the first of many changes in that direction.

Added a fence above T garage to cut off long sight lines towards road. It also makes this side of backyard more room-like so players can push for control and hold it. The cool boost from the hedge below is no longer possible, but I feel like blocking visibility here does way more good. There are also more ways to use smokes and molotovs with this setup.

Replaced my janky func_detail ventilation domes here with some models i didn't know existed and added a platform below.

One of the main issues of the A Site approach was how many entrances it had. Even though three of them were non-standard (windows), it still proved to be too overwhelming for players and made it virtually impossible to hold the site solo. So I've closed the windows to living room and bedroom, leaving only the window to kids room open. This changes a lot. For one thing, CTs can peak backyard and then retreat behind the building much more safely. I've even added a protruding wall to give CTs additional cover when defending a push towards backhill.

I also moved part of this fence forward and added a porta potty for more cover at the top of the hill.

And I replaced the planks of wood against the tree with bags. The net result of these changes is an area that's a bit tighter with more deliberate angles and a better progression for cover.

Now this one is huge. I completely blocked off farside (the eastern outdoor side of the map) to effectively reduce the map to 4 lanes instead of 5. It was too easy for Ts to abuse that route and flank the hell out of CTs. It also drew focus away from the driveway and basement hallway approaches to B Site. I've known all along one of these routes needed to go, I just needed to see the map meta develop a bit to make the right call.

With farside gone, I didn't see much reason to keep the grating and planks at the top of pit so I removed them completely. Now players can drop in smoother and feel less claustrophobic while playing this position.

I'll get into the changes on A Site in my next post. I gotta get the hell to bed! To be continued...

Edited September 19, 2019 by Kokopelli

[zoomba]

On 9/8/2019 at 11:23 AM, That50'sGuy said:

This map is giving me major GTA 4 vibes, and I like it!

Keep it up!

Lol its giving me Siege vibes.

Seems like an awesome map

[Kokopelli]

Major Update

Sliding Door is now functional and begins open each round. CTs can now hold angles that don't require shooting through the glass.

A Site has been cleaned up quite a bit. I removed a lot of the furniture for better mobility and additional playable positions. Also expanded the bomb plant zone.

Expanded the hallways so things feel less claustrophobic. 

Added a door between Bedroom and Kids Room to provide another route for retakes. Also allows you to clear angles in Bathroom and Front Door.

CTs defending from Backhill can more safely fall back and re-enter the site through the window because of the new protruding wall. During retakes, they can clear several angles of Bedroom through the window.

Widened Lobby and parts of Mainhall for better holds and approaches.

The extra space in Lobby makes it more contentious.

Redesigned Frontstairs to be wider and have more cover.

Replaced Fronthill with a walled-off pool area to block off a ton of sight lines and create more separation between areas. 

With Farside gone, there is a heavier focus on Mid so that called for a little more complexity. I also clipped off all the hedges to put an end to silly boosts.

Added stacks of plywood onto Pickup Truck to block even more sight lines and provide more substantial cover for Ts defending a push from Frontstairs or Driveway.

Ts can hold T Garage more safely with all the additional fencing.

Widened the entry to Utility Room from Pit and made it angled so you can clear a common spot on B Site.

Expanded B Site and added more cover to create more playable positions. +Dumpster + Concrete Pallet +Luggages

 

Added a Ladder that leads from Driveway to the top of B Hill. 

This gives CTs a way to fight for control of B Hill but makes it risky for them to play aggressive.

If Ts gain control of Mid/Frontstairs, they gain this vantage point into B site and can also watch a push up Ladder.

Closed off Construction to reduce the number of angles Ts could be playing, bringing the focus more towards Driveway. Also to prevent unfair angles towards A Long/Yard.

Moved T Spawns back to slow down timings towards B Site.

Hoping all the changes improve the flow of the map. 

Let's see how it goes!

Thanks again to @Interfearance and the playtesters at Raidboss.org for all the feedback.

Edited September 29, 2019 by Kokopelli

[Kokopelli]

B Site has been expanded and reworked a bit to improve gameplay, specifically making it less T-sided. The connector door has been moved closer to garage entrance and has been reoriented towards the entrance, as it was in previous iterations of the map. Only now there is a lot more space to move around, and more cover. The door is now permanently open which allows CTs to more easily contest for control of connector.

The curved design also helps slow down the approach for the Ts.

Added an open storage by van to give players more options for cover if they get attacked from utility room or connector door.

Mid stairs and driveway are now separated by a roadwork fence with tarp, greatly reducing mobility for terrorists on the road. They can no longer quickly swerve between driveway and mid stairs, but instead will have to commit to lanes and hold angles carefully.

Players can't self-boost over any of the cover here, but can get over if they are boosted by another player.

And finally on A Site, expanded the space at the back of dining room and added the dining room table back to have another height option when holding from this position.

 

[Kokopelli]

"We don't go to Arlington." 

Spooky Neighbors is now up on the steam workshop! Check it out and let me know what you think. Here's a preview.