Team Fortress 2 CTF level [image heavy]

#61

Geta-Ve:
Each base is going to have two spawn points, one on either side.
Like Kromano said, I did the cliffs with displacements. If you’re interested in getting the same look I did, read through these tutorials and they’ll be a lot of help. I used them both, and they served my purposes well:

Practical Cliffs
[http://interlopers.net/index.php?page=tutorials&id=16891](http://interlopers.net/index.php?page=tutorials&id=16891)

Advanced Displacement
[http://interlopers.net/index.php?page=tutorials&id=2119](http://interlopers.net/index.php?page=tutorials&id=2119)

I've also used a lot of vertex manipulation to get the different chunks that make up the cliffs to align properly and such, so you may also want to try that. Be careful with vertex manipulation on diplacements, though, as non-planar faces can invalidate them and you'll have to destroy the displacements and then undo your vertex edits to get the displacements back.

Mathiu:
So many cool ideas, so very little time! The entire canyon area needs a once-over to get it working a little more smoothly and add some features like you mention, but I simply can't do it right now because I have so many other things that need work. I hope to give the canyon some love by this time next week, though.

Kromano:
Get crackin' on that Escher map; I want to play it!


Sorry about the lack of updates, everybody, but school and family have been heavy on me this week and I didn't get a chance to do much more than work on the bases. I can't guarantee that I'll have even some rudimentary caves working by the next playtest tomorrow, but I [i][b]can[/b][/i] guarantee that you'll be able to play through the new bases and there will be more ramps to the upper levels of the cliffs so things aren't as frustrating for those on the ground.

I’ll have a slew of new screenshots and an updated map download by game time tomorrow.

Final note:
Yesterday while I was testing the map, I opened up the internet server list and found some random server with 30 people playing my map. It told me a hell of a lot about map balance issues being able to see strangers I have no connection with at all playing the first test version.
Soldiers were completely dominating everything…

#62

It also tells you that you have a great map in the making if 30+ people were playing it. Nice!

Thanks Kormano and Swizzle for the awesome info.

#63

I’m workin’ on it, I’m workin’ on it!

Same here, hence my slow progress. Blue Base DOES have some stairs, a door and a window and there is a small area between bases and a series of caves (man do I hate displacements), but I haven’t had time to do more work since last weekend.

I’d find that both strange and flattering that some random server is running your custom map AND that it was populated with 30 people. I think that shows that there’s a cry for CTF maps other than 2Fort.

#64

So I haven’t even gotten a chance to start the caves, but the bases are all spiffy-like now with two spawnrooms each and different layout. The week didn’t give me as much time to work on this as I’d have liked, or I might have gotten some work done on the caves as well as adding some features needed before the next playtest. I was hoping I’d have it ready by tonight’s Friday Night Deathmatch, but that didn’t work out.

The new base entrances:

A side view of the new intel rooms (you can see a future cave entrance on the far wall):

And an overview:

#65

As I said in chat I think the new layout looks pretty good, though I will have to take a run around to really get an idea of its layout. I like the design of the new intel room though (assuming I am looking correctly. :stuck_out_tongue: )

#66

Are there any updates to the map Swizzle`?
will we be playing it today/tonight :twisted: :slight_smile:

#67

Geta-Ve:
Thanks. I’m actually back to working on the bases again, getting the layout a little more refined, making rooms bigger or smaller, adjusting features for (possibly) better flow. The version you see in the next release will look a little different.

bardur:
No more major updates right now, though I actually have been working on it. I put a couple of hours into a test last night to see if I could get a cave system working the way I was hoping I could, and things turned out well. Other than that, I’ve mostly been doing cosmetic updates because orange has started to make me nauseous every time I see it. :wink:

Alas, there are still no caves. That’s probably going to change between today and tomorrow, though.

I’ll have a download link to the next version posted in here tomorrow.

#68

Yoyo! So I downloaded the new version and have a few crits off the bat. (bad news good news type dealio.

  • The spawn room (left hand side of base when looking out) is a bit big, though my guess is it will change in the future so that isn’t a big deal, you could probably just pull in the wall between the doors for interest.

  • The tight halls (especially right outside the spawn room) are a bit disorienting when first navigating the bases, perhaps opening them up a bit? (I’d say a foot or two on the sides)

  • It feels to me like there is not much cover when coming directly out of the spawn rooms, engineers would probably be able to set up turrets and camp the spawns, not to say they shouldn’t be ABLE to do that, but it should take some effort to get to that point.

There are a few other things that I would modify as well, though I will upload some pictures of that later. All in all I would say this is definitely a step in the right direction. My main qualm currently is how tight the bases seem.

The textures add a lot however. Really digging 'em. :slight_smile:

#69

Alright dude, I had a few minutes to do some real quick paint overs, and just a warning these are (most obviously) just my ideas/opinions AT FIRST GLANCE. So take them with a grain of salt :smiley:

Oki doke, so with the first one what I am talking about is the flow of the intel room, I played around with having the upper most pathes not facing INWARD toward the back wall but that seemed to cut out the flow of anyone running in to the room so I left as is, however I was thinking that the part of the path that connects to the back of the wall is pretty unneeded and I think it takes away a lot of the open space in the room. The one thing I found when going in to the intel room (not using windows to look in) was that the pathes seemed to block a lot of what was going on.

Another issue is that (not quite sure how it play tested in this aspect though) engineers could set up turrets right behind the intel (under the path) with no interference at all ( ? ) So perhaps that is an issue? One thing I find with Valves maps is that, as many places as there are to set up turrets and such there is ALWAYS another spot to take them out. As I said I am unsure of how this play tested so perhaps it is a non issue.

As per the rounded ness, I figured it would flow with the other parts of the intel room a bit better. Thinking about it you could in fact have a 3 tier system in the room (will draw something up) to 1) promote traveling toward the intel, and 2) to promote traveling out of the intel room, (directional angles and such)

The second picture here is just to note that I would cut away the computer booths (or whatever they are :stuck_out_tongue: ) as they SEEM to waste a lot of space without doing much. Now I understand that you have the caves coming up from this area, and to be honest I am not quite sure how I would contend with that. I was thinking you could have the caves lead directly behind the intel, (thus eliminating the turret camp, forcing engineers to build in front of the intel rather than behind it, watching both entrances at once) but that may be a bit cheap in regards to stealing the intel. (not sure how your caves are layed out.

So this one is a big iffy, but I definitely would detract some of the waste space…

And the third image is simply to have the front glass match the design of the rest of the glass walls. support beams etc. No biggie here really.

As I said, these are purely personal tastes, so do what you will with them. :smiley: Really love watching your progress however. keep it up bro!

#70

Last post, just an image for now, don’t have time to go in to details but, again this is just an idea. :stuck_out_tongue:

Will explain more later!

EDIT: Okie doke, it’s later and I guess I will explain a bit. So pretty much the main thing I would change is the upper most tier (second floor of base) As it is right now, for my tastes there doesn’t seem to be much continuity/flow to the leveled design, as you are going from angular to curved design and it throws things out of whack.

I was thinking, IF you were to use a design similar to the one drawn up below you could have the cave entrance directly in FRONT of the intel, where the stairs lead up to (if that makes sense) Pretty much where the computers are right now in the intel room is where your cave entrance would go. This would be great for scouts as they could double jump the lowest tier to get the intel.

You will notice that the second tier (blue) is not the same on both sides, and that is simply because the proportions are skewed, but they would still retain the same base design that you have already.

Anyhow, that is that. Good luck with whatever you end up designing, I seriously can’t wait to play your next version!! :buttrock:

#71

Geta-Ve, I swear you’re psychic. While I haven’t done too much since the last playtest, one of the first things I did do was change the layout of the intel room. In the next version, there’s going to be one path going along the top edge of the room like there has been, and there’s also going to be another path mid-way down the wall on the opposite side that you can get to from the lower level of the base. The way things are in the current version, it’s way too easy for an engi to camp on that upper level with a turret and just kill people as they come out of the hall (which actually happened last friday :smiley: ), so I’m doing away with that structure and making things asymmetrical.
I’m also going to put that cave entrance in a different place, though where exactly is still up in the air.

I know what you mean about the corridors being cramped. While pretty good for pyros, they’re still a bit too tight to get around in without getting caught on corners and doorways. I think I’m actually going to merge some rooms and get rid of others so that it’s easier to get around quickly.

Now, next time I post in this thread I should have some screenshots of the caves along with even more of the bases. There really isn’t much I’m going to have to do to get the caves working now since I’ve tested out different designs, so I should be on top of things pretty quickly. I also don’t have much homework or anything of that sort to do this week, so that will help things along.

#72

Nice! I can’t wait! :bounce:

#73

Looking awesome. I still haven’t had a chance to play the map yet, but if you’re testing a new version again this Friday I’ll definitely drop on in. Whats the server IP?

#74

Having tried your map a few times now Swizzle, I really think it would be better if the distance between the 2 bases was shortened. It would help to create much faster paced action as I find it a rather slow map.

#75

Maybe a little shorter, but I don’t like the ADHD-hyperactive-foaming-at-the-mouth-non-stop action of 2fort all the time. Slower pace isn’t necissarily bad… heck, I even enjoyed playing as a pyro, despite the large disadvantage of a big, long, straightaway that really isn’t condusive to safe leaf burning.

Zealotee, the server is hosted by RockinAkin, check the Team Fortress 2 Beta thread on the General Discussion forums for the address and much ballyhooing… I wonder if that’s even a real slang word or if I’m making up stories again.

#76

Sorry about being slow with the updates. There was a, um, family tragedy recently and it kind of threw me for a loop.

Zealotlee:
You should definitely check out the TF2 thread in General Discussion like Kromano said. The CGTalk group on the Steam community always has an event scheduled on the day of the match with all the necessary server info.

Waz:
I actually agree on this one; I started working on the caves a couple of days ago and it really gave me a new perspective on just how huge the damn thing is. As such, I've removed some sections of the canyon and now it doesn't take quite as long to get to different places while still remaining long and narrow.

kromano:
I shortened the distance between the bases by maybe a hundred feet and I think it's going to be more fun for everybody because everyone's going to be able to get places much faster, but it's not so short that it'll be crazy-hectic like 2fort. The new bases will also be good for pyros because they have corners and corridors and such.

Here’s a little work from a couple of days ago on the new intel rooms. Since these screenshots are a few days old, they’re missing a few things that are currently in the map. They’re pretty well representative of what you’ll see in-game, though.




That alcove at the very back is going to have a cave entrance and the actual intel room with the desk is going to have glass walls so you can’t fall down into the computer area. The bottom part with all the computers and stuff is going to be inaccessable.

#77

Wow! Huge change, looks much more appealing to the eyes, very interesting and dynamic. Will definitely have to get my hands on this one to have a look-see at all the new changes!

A few questions if that is alright though? (not entirely about your map though, lol) Firstly, with stairs and such is there a way to stop the jittery motion when moving up them (more noticable when moving slowly up stairs) I am thinking there is some kind of invisible box used as a path.

And secondly, how the heck do you fly in game?? Would be great to have that in my map to look at everything properly.

Thanks, and looking really sweet!

#78

Stairs will be jittery due to the way that the player’s height is calculated in code. I don’t think going from stair to stair counts as “falling” but rather the player is simply moved down to the next step instantly. You could try creating a sloped clip brush, but I don’t think it’ll really help out as much as you’d like.

“Flight” is just noclip. Enable dev mode via the command line, or in the console with “developer 1”

My TF2 shortcut looks as follows for map dev:
E:\Steam\steam.exe -applaunch 440 -console -heapsize 512000 -dev +sv_lan 1 +map relativity_newcave

You don’t actually need -dev and -console, -dev implies -console, but -console does not imply -dev.

There are lists of developer console commands for testing your map, one of which is really important for figuring out portal flow and how to optimize using hint brushes… but I can’t for the life of me remember what it was.

You can also turn off aspects of the HUD for screenshots using “drawhud 0” I think it was, or perhaps “cl_drawhud 0” There are others but I’ve forgotten them, it’s been a while since I did serious mapping in CS: Source.

#79

Yeah, all the stairs should be accompanied by sloping clip brushes to fix the jittery effect when going up, as well as a possible skating effect when going down (if steep enough). You can see where Valve has clipped all of their stairs in TF2 using the command r_drawclipbrushes 1.

#80

Forgive my uselessness, but I am not quite sure how I would implement that? Would it be a simple visible brush? Or invisible brush? And with what settings?

@Kromano

Many thanks man! I will definitely have to look up those dev console commands. Most helpful everyone! :slight_smile:

@Swizzle

Sorry for the family tradgedy :frowning: