Shepherd

[Praelium]

Thanks for detailed the feedback, Uncuepa! Interestingly, the Mid => B path you mentioned was one that we planned on potentially implementing early on:

I'll give some brief context for one of our ideologies when designing the map. We wanted to see what would happen if Mid was rotated. So instead of having a standard 3-lane approach, how would it play if Mid was like this:

Ultimately, I think it resulted in some fun engagements but we, as well as you, noticed this huge problem area:

With these lines of engagement so close, not to mention narrow, there were a lot of games where both teams would spam grenades, then rush in to finish anyone off. It made for a really chaotic first 20 seconds of the round and the winner honestly was more based on luck than anything else.

To solve this, we're introducing a more classic 3 lane approach, which includes removing Catwalk entirely - a point that you had brought up:

Since I'm on the topics of ideologies and things we learned, A-site is also being adjusted. Originally, the silo was meant to block different angles depending on where the player was holding:

In addition, the "corners" could also be smoked:

The idea was to give the site more of a "dynamic" playstyle. Unfortunately, what ended up happening was there were too many corners for Ts to hide behind after planting the bomb, which made it very difficult for CTs to clear the site. As a result, we're simplifying this as well. This includes another good point you brought up - removing one of the Mid => A entrances.

I'm optimistic about these changes, and it's funny to me that we both came up with many of the same conclusions. Mendaxyz and I will update the Workshop in a few weeks and I really hope you give it another try and let us know what works/doesn't work.

Thanks again!

[Praelium]

Hey all, we updated Shepherd today. Our focus was fixing the gameplay and layout issues that we saw during playtesting, most of which were discussed above. Next, we'll work on an art pass to bring everything up to CS2 graphical standards.

Before:

 

After:

 

Feel free to download it from our Steam Workshop. Feedback is welcome.

[Praelium]

We pushed a pretty big update to Shepherd, which improves both gameplay and the visuals.

The silo was reintroduced to A (back by popular demand). However, we also felt that the far end of long was under utilized by players, since it was just a dead-end without much cover. To fix this, we opened it up and added a shed:

I'm really excited for this because it makes much better use of the space, while also creating interesting paths for players to attack from. In addition, it does these while limiting many of the harder corners that made the first iteration frustrating to play.

 

B was also updated. While it had already played decently in playtests, the theme didn't match the rest of the map. Developing this also provided some opportunities to make the layout a bit more engaging:

 

During playtests, Mid gave Ts a huge advantage and it was too easy for them to take control. We reproportioned it, removed some corners, and added cover for CTs. It's hard to screenshot this but here's what it currently looks like:

 

Lastly, a lot of attention was given to replacing dev textures, and improving the atmosphere:

 

There's too much for me to share every change, so here's the link for anyone who wants to check it out: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3287246469 Enjoy!

Edited February 9, 2025 by Praelium

[TulioBRr]

great changes. the map improved a lot =D