Black Gold

[Vincent]

Finally I have something I feel like working on!

Arena Black Gold is as the name implies, an arena map. The central point is based around a train yard going in and out with valuable oil. Set in a musky swamp during the dead of night. A full moon looms over the night time sky.

Tell me what you think, I still have lots to setup but I felt I had enough done that it was worth showing.

To do:
*Add area portals the middle buildings. Overall better optimization
*Do the skybox better (The 'right' way)
*Displacements
*Fix the rivers (Displacements) to look more natural
*Detailing
*Better lighting

Special Thanks:
A Boojum Snark - You're so useful it's not even funny. I'm using his ABS Resource pack for one, and his gametype library is very useful.

The Swamp Theme Pack - Some pretty sexy stuff in this pack, thank you.

 

[Aki]

Put an oil derrick over the control point. Otherwise the oil reference will be lost.

 

[A Boojum Snark]

You need to pack the content, really. Few people outside of mappers will have it. You should never require loose content to exist.

 

[Vincent]

You need to pack the content, really. Few people outside of mappers will have it. You should never require loose content to exist.

Oh of course, this wasn't really meant to be played yet to be honest. Thank you though.

Put an oil derrick over the control point. Otherwise the oil reference will be lost.

Indeed. I plan on adding all that kinda stuff once I actually start detailing.

 

[Mr.Blob]

looking good so far. I'm sure it'll look even better with propper lighting .

 

[Mr.Late]

I think water level is too high. Put it lower a unit or two.

 

[Okrag]

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF. Also you can't use A1.

 

[Penguin]

MuffinMan already has this name taken.

 

[HeaH]

MuffinMan already has this name taken.

MuffinMan changed the name

 

[Sel]

MuffinMan already has this name taken.

Why don't you look again.

 

[Penguin]

Goddamn.

He just changed it yesterday.

 

[Ida]

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF. Also you can't use A1.

Actually I wasn't thinking right. As long as it's not a CP map then using those suffixes won't cause any trouble.

Goddamn.

He just changed it yesterday.

More like a week ago. :v

 

[Vincent]

I think water level is too high. Put it lower a unit or two.

Yea I knew someone would say something, I kinda do too. Any lower and classes that can't double jump won't be able to get out of the river. I'll make it look a lot better when I start making displacements.

Goddamn.

He just changed it yesterday.

Then I'm in luck?
I'm fine with changing it, it's no big deal.

 

[Penguin]

More like a week ago. :v

21.04 - Alpha 5
Renamed the map to Backflow.

That was YESTERDAY.

 

[Omnomnick]

Some areas around the control point appear as if they may be slightly tight for gameplay, especially considering you want most of the fighting to take place around that area. I would suggest testing this map first - if you notice the area is too tight, simply make it slightly bigger (It's an easy fix which would make alot of difference!) Other than that the layout looks solid.

I'm curious as to if there is any kind of varied height going on inside those buildings, because outside it looks as if there are limited areas for any vertical gameplay at all, apart from those trains close to the centre alongside those balconies.

And are there many ammo packs around the map? Sure it's arena so there doesnt have to be any Health Kits, but there still has to be ammo for engineers to use!

 

[Vincent]

Some areas around the control point appear as if they may be slightly tight for gameplay, especially considering you want most of the fighting to take place around that area. I would suggest testing this map first - if you notice the area is too tight, simply make it slightly bigger (It's an easy fix which would make alot of difference!) Other than that the layout looks solid.

I'm curious as to if there is any kind of varied height going on inside those buildings, because outside it looks as if there are limited areas for any vertical gameplay at all, apart from those trains close to the centre alongside those balconies.

And are there many ammo packs around the map? Sure it's arena so there doesnt have to be any Health Kits, but there still has to be ammo for engineers to use!

I do periodically run around my map ever hour or two while mapping. Yea I can see what you mean about it getting crowded but I'll see, it feels pretty decent for arena, the length from the trains to the doors in the center is about 3 players wide which isn't too bad.

There's a lot of stairs and stuff inside the buildings which lead to bridges outside, and the sniper deck in the middle of course. Plenty of room for vertical gameplay.

As for ammo and health, I just threw that small health on top of the point for fun. I'll do actual health and ammo placement soon once I get ready to playtest in public.

 

[Vincent]

Version update bump!

Alpha 2
---------
-Fixed a few brushes around the map
-Optimized the map slightly
-Disabled shadows on a few props
-Added a few minor details throughout the map
-Made the skybox lighting a bit darker
-Added a building ontop of both buildings right out of each teams spawn
-Added barriers through out the map so you can't walk out of bounds
-Added signs around the map to help guide new players to the middle
-Added 1 medium ammo pack around the spawns and 2 minor ammo packs around the point area
-Added 1 minor health packs around the spawns

EDIT:
Alpha 2b
-----------
-Pak ratted the map