Barrage a6

a6 Changelog:

Pretty hefty update;

- Shrunk the map overall, making it more in line with other maps.
- closed the sewer route leading from one spawn to the other
- added a high route leading to near the point
- added ramps to the central point structure
- modified pickups, amount and placement
- modified the cover on point
- closed one of the side rooms in the central area
- Raised the water level, It used to be that if you crouched it would extinguish, but nobody got it, so I just raised it a bunch, and we'll go from there.
- clipped a whole bunch, focusing on the ramps, making them easier to use
- completely retextured the map, first with nodraw and then as intended. should help performance some and is best practice

Things I'm aware of;

- the secondary door leading out of spawn + massive adjoining area are both pretty useless. they are vestigial, with the initial intent on having a second exit in case of spawn camping. They'll probably be modified later, I'm just not sure what to do with them.
- the spawn times after a team caps will probably need to be changed
- forgot to change the spectator camera's angle to account for the modified map layout

thanks for playing!

Minor tweak to get it working for IMPs. A mistake on my part.

minor texture tweak

Changelog

After careful consideration, I’ve completely redone the map layout. Previous feedback has indicated that, while the point was alright, the routes were confusing, redundant, and not particularly interesting. Snipers were quite powerful, and engis had trouble setting up.


I’m calling this a4, but it’s more or less a near reboot.

- Routes lead more directly to the point

- Large central area is still the focus, with a shallow canal in the middle, the layout is different though.

- Side building is a straight pull from a previous version, with a few modifications

- The point is now located in an elevated central building, suspended over the canal. Should be an interesting point to fight over

- Central canal branches off into sewers, accessible from both spawns (This might be a problem, tbd)

- The map in general is more cohesive.

- The canal no longer has a push force, I heard it might be a really annoying issue for anyone playing with lag. (something to think about and potentially tweak)

- Very high skybox (still a diaper, but that’s temporary), so Jump classes should have plenty of mobility options.

- Can more or less circumvent the central area by using the side buildings

- Pickups are still pretty up in the air, so let’s see how they play


Let me know what you all think!

Changelog:


- Map renamed to Barrage

- Completely redid the area outside of the central cap zone. I’ve done this to:

o Lengthen time to engagement

o Diversify play area

o Offer additional routes

o Just make it more fun dammit

- Added interest to the outside walkway

- Basement tunnel now exists which provides an alternate route from the mid to the spawn areas

- Redid the jump to the Sniper perches

- Lengthened the sniper perches, they can now be accessed from the rear central platform

- Tweaked pickup placement and quality

- Added and changed central cover

- Fixed ui bug which did not display blue when blue capped the point

- Tweaked the lighting on the map

- Added immense skylights to the central area

- The Water is now REAL, very big issue, as this was kind of the whole point of the map

- Changed some geometry to accommodate all of these massive changes

- Opened some windows overlooking the point, which can now be spammed from the walkway


Things I'm considering:

- Increasing the push-force on the water, making it a real hazard.

- Removing the barriers preventing players from falling off the edge of the waterfall.

- Removing the clipping blocking off the skylights, so as to give jump classes more options, they are currently barred off



Known Issues:

- The spawns are massive and ridiculous

- The architecture is all sorts of wonky, and feels very ‘gamey’. I don’t even know what I’m going for. I was originally picturing what I ended up discovering Spillway already was. So any ideas on theme and aesthetics would be appreciated

- Really trying not to go off of Spillway too much. I started this map with an idea to split the point down the middle with the canal before I had ever seen or heard of Spillway, but now I can definitely see some resemblances. I don’t want to be accused of blatant copying, but I must still accept that I now know of Spillway as a map, and that will affect my future mapping decisions in regards to Barrage.

- The Map is an optimization nightmare, partly because I haven’t yet done a good optimization pass, but also the geometry is wack

Changelog:

- Got flowing texture to pack and display correctly. necessary to indicate water trigger_push


To do:
- Ensure it's fun
- soundscapes
- tweak the skill jump for the rear sniper perch (only accessible by jumping classes and scout)
- move on to art passes when applicable


Things I'm worried about:
- Overpowered Soldier and Demo play
- Snipers
- Pyro afterburn being nerfed by the canal
- pickup placement and relevance

Changelog:

- Reverted buggy texture (will try again later)
- Correctly clipped the stairs and railings
- Added patches beneath pickups

To do:
- Ensure it's fun
- soundscapes
- tweak the skill jump for the rear sniper perch (only accessible by jumping classes and scout)
- move on to art passes when applicable
- make the water texture flow, to indicate push force

Things I'm worried about:
- Overpowered Soldier and Demo play
- Snipers
- Pyro afterburn being nerfed by the canal
- pickup placement and relevance

Changelog:

- fixed water texture to make it flow
- added trigger_push to the water to affect players and NPCs (if/when applicable)
- Added some marginal cover near the central canal, lined up with the center doors
- added sniper cover on rear balconies
- initial clipping pass
- added a nobuild zone on top of the central computers.

To do:
- Ensure it's fun
- soundscapes
- tweak the skill jump for the rear sniper perch (only accessible by jumping classes and scout)
- move on to art passes when applicable

Things I'm worried about:
- Overpowered Soldier and Demo play
- Snipers
- Pyro afterburn being nerfed by the canal
- pickup placement and relevance

Custom Assets:
TopHATTwaffle - Custom Water textures. https://www.tophattwaffle.com/downloads/water-source-textures/

Thank you!