Tidepool 2025-05-20

Forgot to add the water back into the map

Fixed some broken logic and added occluders and viewportals. Didn't seem worth making a full update for.

Extended Point B and shrank Point C, since those are the most and least well received parts of the map, respectively.

Also, the shark can now bite you and is no longer driving a car

• Shrank the size of the cart so players no longer get pushed into walls when the cart turns.
• Decreased the brightness of Spawn 1
• The railing props around Point A no longer eat projectiles
• Moved Point A away from the walls to prevent players from capping with total cover
• The seals no longer bleed
• Made the battlements exit more visible in Spawn 2
• Fixed some props being too close to the cart near Point B
• Added collision to the giant pipes above Point B
• Red team now properly spawns in Spawn 3 instead of defaulting to Spawn 4
• Completely remade Point C, since no one enjoyed it before
• Shrank the rollback zone on Point D
• Added a func_respawnroomvisualizer to the sewers exit in Spawn 4, to stop Blue team from entering Red spawn
• Replaced the chain-link fence with buoys to denote the edge of the map

A small update; I just added catwalks in the cavern.

Revamped Point D after playtest feedback:

• Fixed Spawn 1's lights being too bright
• Fixed gaps in the the doors of Spawn Room 1
• Adjusted the vent passage so players don't drop directly into the water
• Added a turn around Point A to block a particularly nasty sniper sightline
• Fixed Spawn 2's lights being too bright
• Added additional spawn locations to Spawns 2 and 3, so both teams spawn facing the right way
• The cavern entrance is no longer one giant chokepoint
• Fixed the cart shoving players into the walls of the cavern
• Fixed Spawn 3's visualizer being visible to Blue when Blue uses that spawn
• Removed the amount of health packs available around Point D
• Elevated Spawn 4 and added a water-level exit
• Added balconies and overhangs to Point D, to add verticality to
• Removed a particularly nasty sniper sightline
• Fixed the fishing boat eating player projectiles
• (Temporary solution) Adjusted the fishing boat's collision mesh so it aligns better with the model. The next version will feature a proper collision mesh, instead of one hacked together from two dozen clip brushes
• Added a rollback zone to Point D so Blue can't pinky-poke their way to victory
• Added more debris on the docks to break up sniper sightlines

For the most part, I just textured everything. The basic map geometry is unchanged.

• Added occluders in the walls so the entire map isn't rendering at once
• Learned what func_detail was and decided to start using it
• Replaced the balcony in the seal room with a vent
• Locked a door in Spawn 3 to prevent Red from leaving in the wrong direction
• Spy is now piloting a boat
• Added textures around the entire map
  • The flank around the Point 1 courtyard is more obviously a loading bay
  • Point B is more obviously a beach
  • Point C is more obviously a cave
  • Point D now looks like a dock

Lots of feedback from the latest playtest, so I think I'm approaching the final map geometry here.

• Pushed Spawn 3 back slightly and added more exits
• Added a new flank route over Point C
• Added clip brushes around the wall displacements around Point C
• Fixed various displacement errors on the floor around Point C
• Reduced the size of the fishing boat at Point D, since it was massively over-scaled
• Added a broken section of the dock near Point D, to block a problematic sniper sightline
• Added significantly more signs around Points B and C
• Removed rocks around Point B to open up the area
• Added a small flank route to the left of Point B
• Removed the high ground in the corner of Point B and put a full medkit there. It's now easier to get to that medkit, but harder to get out
• Removed two seals and added an ammo pack instead
• Closed a gap in the crates around Point A, to prevent players from sniping through it
• Removed some crates in the flank out of Spawn 1
• Added a proper beach out-of-bounds behind Point B
• Added a proper ocean out-of-bounds behind Point D
• Added an entrance to underneath the docks outside of Spawn 4

• Fixed a bug where players in Spawn 2 wouldn't get teleported to Spawn 3 when Point 1 is captured
• Added a proper entrance to the cavern
• Cleaned up displacements in the cavern
• Added clip brushes behind the displacements in the cavern
• Added another boat at the docks
• Lit the underside of the docks slightly more
• Added several ramps into and out of the water at the docks
• Moved some pillars on the underside of the docks, to open up more routes
• Added more ammo packs in the docks

• Made the cavern look more like a cavern
• Added more signs
• Added more detail to the cart's path
• Added rails to show the cart's path
• Shrank the aquarium slightly

I've changed so much here that this might as well be a different map.

• Significantly shortened the map. This is now a standard 4-point payload map.
• Completely reworked the Point 2 tidepool area from the ground up.
• Removed the beach area and its associated capture point entirely.
• Shortened the cavern section.
• Moved the docks to the opposite side of the cavern.
• Added cover to the docks.
• Raised the seafloor at the docks and added an area underneath the docks.
• Added a fence blocking the sightline of Point 1's exit door.
• Added a flank route to the left of Point 1's exit door.
• Reworked Spawn 3 entirely - it is now much smaller and only has two exits.
• Fixed Spawn 2 teleporting Red players who brushed up against the door without entering
• Added many health packs and ammo packs to the map.
• Added many, many more signs.

And if you're wondering what happened to alpha releases 5 and 6, they were also drastically reworked, but I wasn't really happy with either of them. So I didn't bother polishing them up and just left them as glitchy messes before moving on to the next version.