feedback map

[CR35]

Hi, I just picked up mapping again. Now I am busy with a map what should become some sort of officecomplex. It should become a skyscraper and the gamescene is about 3 to 4 floors. Now I don't have any ideas about how i should do the exterior. So any tips or comments there are very helpfull. Also everything is wip. Also any suggestures on texturing the staircase are welcome.

Here are 2 wip. Remember it's all very basic, mostly just doing the brushwork and still working at one base floor which will stand model for the others floor. I also still need to unsharpen everything but this is just more for the layout.

 

[UK_Karlos]

Well one idea is that u could have the playable floors in the middle of the skyscraper..
And have the CTs start in the lobby and have two elevators and two stairwells that lead to the floors. And so it wont bottleneck into a killing spree there should be vents and shafts in the stairs that lead to different areas in the playable levels...:cheese:
Theres some usefull ideas for you:cheers:

 

[CR35]

Haha that first idea was already a certain.
The ct starting in the lobby is a pretty cool idea to. but i put that aside until later. I was also thinking of the shafts. Already made the floorst thick enough to be able to put some in. and maybe make some destroyable airintakes.

 

[CR35]

any other ideas on the exterior?

 

[Unarmed]

Make skybox all and put the exterior in the 3d skybox. Make it all nice and shiny with cubemaps so that your actual skyscraper reflects all of the surronoundings. As for the sourroudings, you have a lot of brushwork to do there. But make it like a big city so that you only see like the nearest 8 buildings or so. Makeing the surronding buildings small = more work for you but more scenic stuff to look at.

 

[CR35]

gonna need some texture to be able to do that. I was planning on doing a 3d skybox with the surroundings( a couple of building poking out of the clouds). But making a nice skyscraper, need some custom texturing i guess. Or are there any textures in there that i haven't thought of yet.

 

[Unarmed]

Just make some greyish hella reflective ones.

 

[CR35]

i have been toying with some textures for the exterior. Please comment. Also made an empty example room with a single door i worked out. Also been doing some more brushwork on the basic floor and redoing the lightning. Also made some advancements in the basic staircase. I did it this morning but i didn't had time to compile it yet. Also been trying out to get some clouds under using a 3d skybox but that really hasn't worked yet.

please comment

edit: do need to attach the screens

 

[CR35]

another update

I redid some of the exterior. please comment

I also wanted some comment on how i should do the corners of the walls. I got 2 examples attached, if you see them you'll understand, one is rounded, the other is cut.

Also as you can see I am really in need of some nice repetive plaster texture for the staircase.

Also I need to get somehow a clean, reflective glass texture.

Anyway feel free to comment.

 

[CR35]

another small update(omg this is going to be a one man thread :upstare: )

The vending machines should become operational. Also worked on a bit of exterior and tested something with some custom moving clouds. Also did some more work on the base floor. The brush work for the first floor is almos done.

and again any comments are welcome

 

[Unarmed]

MORE reflectiveness more shinyness... Close to being mirror shiny if you know what I mean.

Your interiors are coming along OK but you need to fill em up with loads of more stuff... And making the vending machines functional is a hella quick but niec addon.

 

[CR35]

than i guess I need to create some custom textures for exterior. I will do the interior (stuff and such) after I know the routes. I am planning for this weekend some major stuff to do. and i just made the vendingmachine functional, just used a shooter which get triggered by a button. but still need to test it .

 

[CR35]

update, exterior, conference room

update about the exterior and conference room. I am also thinking of changing the lightning to let it be a bit "warmer". I know got a lightning with some toned down brightness and a little little bit blueish.

 

[Unarmed]

I vote for cold lights indoor and a nice toxic sunset on the outside, if you know what I mean.

 

[CR35]

Yeah I should keep the light inside cold. But also made some changes to the exterior... should indeed be more toxic, but what should be the undertone? red or orange now I was thinking of a more yellow orangeish light.

 

[-Psy-]

...

Same plaster texture in every room and the lights are really dull...

Yawn.

 

[CR35]

also the base floor is nearing completion. Than i can work out the other floors and decide the routes. I hope to be able to do a gameplay test in 2 weeks with my friend so i can make the final decisions on the routes. After that I will work out the props etc. Also took a look at the mat wireframe but that is looking quite nice. I used func_detail on windows and doors etc. Also the rooms and floors are getting blocked out of the render nicely, so the optimizing won't be so hard I think.

edit: texturing and lightning are not finished yet. The whole map is still in brush development. But I am not making this map for anybody, it's just for me, it's just fun.

 

[Unarmed]

I dont think I can emphasize this enough.

MORE SHINYNESS!

More!

 

[CR35]

I don't seem to get the cubemaps to work correctly. In the console I also read: bounce sample 1/9 in red. And that for every cubemap in map. I think get the default cubemap made from the sky everywhere.

 

[CR35]

shiny enough for ya

 

[Unarmed]

Getting close.

 

[CR35]

been working on some floors. I do want to differiate in brushwork. These are some early screens again. Remember it's just texturing/ brushwork. But brushwork should be nearing completion after which i can decide on the routes in the level, then i can finally work on the performance(which is in building reasonable to good but outside(but alot of rooms will be deleted). Also still doubting wheter to make the elevator shaft accessible. Also I will make some rooms with different textures, like a storage room or perhaps a cafeteria.

anyway enjoy and feedback is more then welcome.

edit: I know the lightning looks a mess right now. I have been experimenting with it

 

[Unarmed]

it really is very very bland. You need do have many more alternate textures and more color!

 

[CR35]

could you explain that a little bit more. I am guessing you mean the exterior should be more colorfull. Could you give an example of what you would do. Cause i actually wanted the have this static and monotoned exterior.

 

[Unarmed]

Exterior is fine.

Interior is dull.

All your walls are one texture. Tere are no doors, no paintings no light styles (interesting shadows etc etc.). Every room that you walk into looks pretty much like the one you just left.

Put some stuff in there, some brushwork to make the walls a bit more exciting, some props and decals to splash some color onto those walls. Have your sky throw long shadows on the walls, and if you are going to use the toxic sunset then make sure that some of your rooms get some of that color.

Make some areas darker, some brighter. Some areas open and some tight. Tweak your indoor lights so that they emit slightly different light, and maybe a tad warmer lights too.

Your map is white with the occational hint of grey and brown. God gave you more colors than that.

 

[CR35]

thanks those are some really useful tips, the coming time I am trying to make some routes in the map and change some spaces. For now I am also working on a lobby kinda thing with marble floors(making two floors one.

I also found someone who is willing to create some textures for me. But I really have to decide on which routes they should be able to take.

edit: I made a floorplan. The T start with the hostages, Basically i have to decide a couple of routes and know which rooms will be enabled to walk in/through and where I should block the path. I also think I should make an external path to the fifth floor from example the second floor and a external path from the first to the second. maybe you can take a look at it and help me out.
Also I had an idea to make some rooms different. I am going to make a room which is being redecorated(like torn wallpaper of the walls etc.)

 

[CR35]

Small update, been doing some other stuff also, but I am beginning to decorate some rooms, this is just to give you an idea. This room is the room which is under construction

 

[Unarmed]

New screens are real good as far as adding variety. That room has completeley different lighting compared to the rest and it also includes a new kind of room that is under construction and not in use. Thats real good. More "unique" areas like that one.

When it comes to your layout I am a bit more concerned.

A CSS map is basically a set of routes between the routes A, B and C, where A is spawn of CT and B and C are hossie points in a CS map. In a De Map A is T spawn and B and C are the two bomb targets.

There are usually three paths taking you from spawn to objective points. These parts are usually separated from each other but can also be connected. This is usually called a "figure 8" design. (Imagine a lying figure 8 when looking at the paths of a map like de_dust2. See the "resemblence")

This is not because of some unwritten law, but because that simply generates a nice gameplay balance, fewer paths make your map crowded, and more make it impossible to keep them all guarded and you can get from A to C without seeing the enemy.

In your layout there are a million paths, most of them dead ends. Dead ends are never liked in CS unless they hold an objective or some other point of interest. So start off by closing of all rooms that are dead ends and you should be on a good way. Also concider making some new kind of paths. For instance that room that is under construction, how about having the room above that under construction too and then break up the floor a little, allowing one way acces? Or if you have hossies in that room then break the floor to the room below so that CT can see the hossies but not touch them, but also to make it harder for the T's to camp there.

There you have some new ideas and thoughts.

 

[CR35]

Thanks!

Thanks for all the advice. You really gave me some insight on map layout. I did some thinking and I see you are right. But in my map there won't be a million routes. I am blocking routes by closing doors and putting obstructions in the way.( like turn over desks etc.) This midday I already worked on the paths at home but i can't get to it cause I am not at home at the moment. Basicly there should be 2 normal routes and a route to the fifth floor from which you easy can get to the fourth. I realize that the vertical dimension makes it a whole lot harder to come up with logical routes.

 

[lefty]

Hi, I just picked up mapping again. Now I am busy with a map what should become some sort of officecomplex. It should become a skyscraper and the gamescene is about 3 to 4 floors. Now I don't have any ideas about how i should do the exterior. So any tips or comments there are very helpfull. Also everything is wip. Also any suggestures on texturing the staircase are welcome.

Here are 2 wip. Remember it's all very basic, mostly just doing the brushwork and still working at one base floor which will stand model for the others floor. I also still need to unsharpen everything but this is just more for the layout.

cool

 

[Steel.Inferno]

Nice improvement.

The exterior is (now) great, just some more interior work. As many have said, vary the wall textures a little, and mess the place up a bit. For walls, add picture frames, plants, boxes of junk, message/white boards, etc.

For the sake of gameplay, PLEASE very few or no cubicles, or lots of rooms, I'm sure you can imagine the camp-fest.

Have as few dead-ends as possible. For example, in your layout, alot of the rooms would be pretty pointless. Some of those could be open, but have a second exit (like a conference room), or perhaps have a way outside on one of those window-cleaning things. (Though you would have to construct more outside stuff, so doubtful).

At the moment your map seems too constricted, but obviously from limited screenshots that might be totally wrong.

 

[CR35]

haha. Already was working on those window cleaning things. cause you would be able to go up from the floor which the thing is parked. In that way I wanted te make a passage to the fifth floor from which you would be able to reach the fourth(hossies). Those are just some possible routes. I already have drawn a couple in the floorplan. But there won't be much rooms open. And I only wanted to make cubicles at ct start.

But monday I am free from college... so I probably work alot on the map. I also intend to do some work today and tomorrow but I also have to work.

 

[Unarmed]

You will probably need to optimize this baby quite a lot since when you go outside the building, I imagine that VIS will allow rendering of a LOT of things.

 

[Unarmed]

I relaized that I needed catch up on my lighting skills as I started to mention them here.. here is what I mean with that toxic sunset coming thru windows... Could add a lot to your map IMO.

 

[CR35]

yes indeed when you get out the building it's like omg. But i need to close the area's which you don't reach. And I need to make sure it doesn't render the unnescesary sides of the building when outside. Inside it divides the rooms in vis groups already quite nice but there is also some optimizing needed.

that sunlight looks awesome, it gives so much more atmosphere. And you made that glass fence(i don't know how to call it ) in hammer or is it a model?

 

[Unarmed]

The problem I see when getting out of the building is that VIS would think that you can reacha lot of places, and therefore renders a lot. So a good basic architecture is needed I think. Get things right from the start and keep this in mind through the whole leaout.

That window is done in hammer and I made it in a few steps, sort of. The window is just a plain window with a nowmal window texture and the sky texture behind it. That lets the light through niceley. then I used the blocklight texture and made brushes that matched the "grid" on the window, and this gave the nice "fence-like" shadows. Finally I lowered the lightmap scale on that desk and the floor to 4 to get some really nice and sharp shadows. I did that on the floor below too and it really shows on the floor of that room that I have used a different lightmap because the shadows are so precise compared to the rest of the map.

If you want I can post the vmf for you. It's not like its a big secret map project I'm working on.

 

[CR35]

but i also mean the on the second floor, the things that prevents you from falling down

edit: also this is what i mean with the routes. This is just a basic idea. Sorry for the paint sh*t . This is just for brainstorming. I'll work it out in gimp or so later on.

 

[CR35]

I am pausing the work on the map for now. Cause my PC is pretty instable all te sudden. I think\hope it's the powersupply which was just on old temperary one. I am hoping it's NOT my 7800 gt or my DFI SLI Nforce 4. That would really suck because I am saving money for a new screen...

 

[Unarmed]

You're dutch right?

I think that you might have to have been the man who drew that paint picture because I just cant grasp it... Everyone runs in circles IMO.

 

[CR35]

Lol, I am dutch, how do you know and what has that to do with my paint skills . The picture isn't very clear. Cause I just wanted to make some routes, didn't put in all the obstacles and didn't close down all te rooms I wanted to.
But now I have a week of and I'll be working on my map more. But I am thinking of changing some things. I have done a lot of thinking on the map layout and I want to change some things. And I want to change the map layout. I want to make less accessible floors, but longer.Also want to cancel the exterior acces or even way more limited. Maybe make a kind of 8 layout but on it's side, a kind of vertical 8. But I am not sure.
From monday on you'll be seeing new stuff.

also my pc is fixed, it was just powersupply