Timber

[poLemin]

Heyo!

[ Workshop link: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3275538574 ]

Time to throw my hat in the ring with Timber, a bomb defusal map set in a bavarian town, with loads of timber-framed houses, surrounded by an old town wall. It's a theme that has had its grip on my for a long time now. It's due to be done with. Since I started fairly late and still needed to learn the ropes of S2, I'm just doing this on my own, potentially picking up one or two artists who'd be interested in working with me in case I make it to the 2nd stage.

The gameplay/layout is based on a few ingredients that I wanted to put emphasis on:

• Underground route
  The idea was to have gameplay in the middle section of the map happen on two levels. One is a "north/south" fight, while the other one a "east/west" fight. This was realized by having a sewer section which players can quickly access by jumping into the well shaft. The undergroun section also allows for quick rotations, albeit dangerous due to the limited space.
• Elevation everywhere
  While elevation differences are not as high as on maps like Nuke, I wanted to have gunfights happen at slightly elevating ground, forcing the player to react, rather than prefire. I wanted to avoid flatness as much as possible.
• Landmarks/Subthemes
  Arguably one of the topics Timber still has a lot to improve on, but I wanted to make sure that players know where they are at all times, which proves difficult in a city map. I tried to eliviate this by having the middle of the map VERY town heavy with lots of houses, while the eastern side is covered by the city wall, and the western side shows more presence of foliage. The southern side of the map is facing a valley, while elevation goes up towards the northern side. A plethora of different towers and spires furthermore help finding one's bearings.
• Simplicity
  With this project I'm not trying to re-invent the wheel, but use concepts familiar to players, in order to enhance the ease of getting into a map and enjoy it. I'm aiming for a map that's quick to pick up, while giving players tools to use their own creativity and shine.

With that, I'm just going to leave you with a couple of screenshots:

Feel free to check out the workshop and let me know what you think https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3275538574

Cheers

Edited August 2 by poLemin
Added workshop link on top of page for quick reference

[TheMulciber]

Fachwerk houses, are u kiddi.....

 

[poLemin]

5 hours ago, TheMulciber said:

Fachwerk houses, are u kiddi.....

 

hell yeah

[MrTrane18]

Spoiler

The showcase video is of the map in state at 11.07.2024

Hey @poLemin
I love what you have done here with the map. However, since I see a lot of medieval maps as entries for the contest. I start to wonder will it be enough for Valve to bring back the cobblestone map to the MM map pool. As it seems, the setting of it is loved by a lot of people! Not saying this map is in any way like Cobblestone in layout. Just reminds me of it. There is a lot of originality. And seems like you are going to make one hell of a map! Best of luck with that!

I've made a showcase video for the map. Hope it is useful!

Spoiler

Stay safe and stay mapping!
#MRTRN

[poLemin]

Time for a small update. Since last time my focus laid mostly on B site. It felt really overwhelming for CTs, not being able to handle the main entrances with just one person, given that the rest of the map required so much CT man power.
A site changed since I changed the cover configuration on site and reduced the arch ways under the bridge. It got a little bit to messy coming into this area, so this should result in a bit of a cleaner experience.
Other areas got more subtle adjustments with slightly changes of angles, cover placement or detailing. As always, I'll leave you with a couple of screenshots:

[Kardio]

To map naturally grown villages is always a challenge, because the layout never follows a typical square (boring dust 2) pattern. Round shapes, houses squeezed in, huts added in weird angles. So I have a lot of respect for this kind of work.
And I can see, that the ground contains many stairs instead of being entirely flat. Fascinating! Don't forget some church bell sounds.

[poLemin]

Time for a short update here:
Since the last update for Stage 1, I've been resting and keeping busy with life stuff. But that does not mean that Timber hasn't received some love. @fewseb recently joined me as a Level Artist and is on it to make the map look as best as possible in.

Here is a first glimpse at what @fewseb has been working on (CT Spawn):


Moving forward, there will be some more gameplay tweaks put in, in order to make the map shine for the FACEIT hub rotation. We will also start working on some custom materials, since for now we've only worked with stock assets. Time to get fancy

Edited September 5 by poLemin
Fixed image