Arena Lighthouse

[-Psy-]

Soooooo, some of you may remember a little map called 'cp_lighthouse' made by some guy who calls himself 'Pi Mu Rho'. I asked this gentlemen if I could use his lighthouse in my own arena map. He agreed and now I can show you how I put it to use.

Basically it's a small remote island with a lighthouse in the center which serves as the control point. There's a mixture of small enclosed spaces and open areas so I think it will play well with every class.

As you can probably tell it's very much a WIP visually but the gameplay is there which is why I've uploaded an alpha version. I'd appreciate it if anybody can put this up for a playtest and give me some feedback for the next version.

Download
Mirror #1 - TF2maps.net
Mirrior #2 - FPSBanana

Danke.

 

[Sheepo]

/me signs up

 

[mocho loco]

Is there a server for this map?

 

[-Psy-]

Is there a server for this map?

I've submitted it for testing on 15th of November. I'll post the IP and testing time if it gets accepted.

 

[Omnomnick]

Seems pretty complicated, I'll give it ago and see what its like.

 

[Druckles]

It's looking nice, particularly for a WIP.

 

[Reginald]

I've never even played Arena mode.

 

[-Psy-]

Wireplay Playtest - 194.154.191.6:27027 - 8pm GMT!

 

[Escaep]

Judging from the screens i would recommend smoothing or rounding the rocks in the background so they are not so square looking.

Nice map!

 

[Azner]

The original light house map sucks and so does it creator

Kidding. Also your arena map looks pretty great.

 

[Shamrock]

Looks bloody awesome.

 

[Omnomnick]

Checked it out by myself the other day, had a quick noclip around etc. Looked pretty neat, havn't played it yet cause no servers are hosting it D:

 

[-Psy-]

There's another playtest planned for this Saturday at 9:30pm GMT. You can view times in your area and other maps in the rotation here.

Here's the model lighthouse that I've been working on to replace the brush-based one.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

Ah I see you've got it up on <11>, did you go through Stevep? I'll try be around for the playtest Saturday, Aiken will probably try get the entire team on.

 

[-Psy-]

Yes, it was SteveP who offered to do the playtest on Tuesday. I quite like the way it played out especially for a first release.

 

[-Psy-]

Thanks for all the comments guys! Still lots to be done but here's the latest build.

The lighting has changed to something that is a lot cooler which I believe fits the theme a lot better then the harsh sunlight and long-shadows of the old setup, plus it creates a nice, calm, relaxing atmosphere which is what I'd imagine to be my perfect island.

I've also created a new soundscape. I'll upload a short audio clip of it when I get onto my main PC. It's basically the two high and low desert wind noises combined with random seagull squawks and distant waves crashing in the distance. Hardly groundbreaking but it works very well especially with the calmer lighting and definitely reminds me of the seaside.

You may have noticed a few minor changes to the layout where I've gone around adding cover and generally moving and adding bits and pieces to help improve the flow in some areas. There's not really much to say about the changes as I think playtesting will decide whether the changes are good or bad.

Anyhoo, I hope you like the new changes. I've still got to add a 3D skybox, finish detailing some of the buildings, add blocklights behind those damn displacements, and model a staircase for the lighthouse!

 

[Omnomnick]

Looking pretty cool

 

[-Psy-]

Changes

Visuals

• 
  - Displaced surrounding cliffs
  - Added architectural details
  - Increased lightmap quality
  - Replace brush-based lighthouse with a model
  - Added a 3D Skybox
  - Fixed cubemap issues with the windows at the lighthouse
  - Fixed rock textures

Gameplay

• 
  - Added a variety of small and medium cover around the level
  - Generally moved things around to add more tactical depth
  - Added a curved staircase on either side of the control point to make it easier to disrupt a capture in progress
  - Increased capture point enable delay to 60 seconds from the previous value of 30
  - Added paint patches under ammo packs
  - Added several railings

Misc

• - Added soundscape containing a variety of seagull cries and distant waves lapping in the distance

Download

• 
  TF2maps.net
  FPSBanana

 

[-Psy-]

Playtesting today!

IP: 72.233.93.233:27015

GMT - 8:30pm
Eastern - 3:30pm
Central - 2:30pm
Mountain - 1:30pm
Western - 12:30pm

Check this thread out for any updates to the times.

 

[-Psy-]

Changelog

Visuals

There are a lot of small changes but here are the most important ones!

• Changed environment lighting to bring the overall brightness up

• Changed 3D skybox slightly

• Replaced staircase with a smooth ramp

Gameplay

Again, there are a lot of changes!

• Moved cover around to help improve gameplay for slower classes

• Replaced healthkits with a pool of water to improve the pace of the map

• Added large ammopacks outside each spawn and two medium ammopacks on either side of the lighthouse

• Generally re-worked the right-side route

• Added a building at the center of either side to provide hard-cover when moving from one side of the map to the other

• Added clip brushes to the platforms at the ground level of the lighthouse to make it easier to walk onto

Misc

• Volume changes in the soundscape

• Reduced filesize from 34.2Mb to 24.6Mb

Download

• From TF2maps

• From FPSBanana

 

[Sheepo]

I'll play this as soon as L4D gives me my soul back, promise. It's looking great.