[SLENDER] Unknown Ridge V3

[Miki]

You Must Be Forgotten​

RED team has been stranded on a roadtrip and have no choice but to brave the harsh wilderness to find rescue. Unknown Ridge is a Slender Fortress “Adventure” map trekking over 4 major areas collecting all pages on the way needed to escape at the end with.

Features:

• Intense and dynamic stormy weatherーdon’t be afraid and you can sneak behind bosses.
• Dense woods and rolling hills to climb.
• Adventure map: traverse the entire map and reach the end to escape!
• 4 major areas to explore (Mountains, Village, Ruins, Town).
• Lobby Minigames: enjoy 6 minigames in between rounds (PvP, PvE, Bumper Car Racing, Parkour Climbing, Dodgeball, and Rocket Jump)

Server IP​

Play Unknown Ridge now on DISC-FF's map rotation!
DISC-FF Slender Fortress (US) IP: 74.91.113.50:27019

slender_unknownridge_v3
Requires a 3rd party Slender Fortress server plugin to host.
Special thanks to DISC-FF for commissioning Unknown Ridge.
Linktree (my links)
Gamebanana Mirror
Steam Workshop Mirror

Spoiler: Credits

Fir trees, Pine trees, and office pack by @Stiffy360

Fixed alpine rocks and fixed construct light prop by @fubarFX

Bulletcrops team's textures/props (boat, road, fences) released by @3Dnj

Antiquity assets (wooden pole, wood end piece texture) by @EArkham
Snowycoast assets (metal conduit prop) by @EArkham

Tropic Crisis team's lighthouse, chair, & painting props/textures

Furniture props by @Skyyy

Office desks, doors, kitchen cabinets, paint cans, radiator, radiotower, shelves, and tables by @Dr.Face

The Swamp Theme - TF2Maps.net

swamp.tf2maps.net

Frontline!

Frontline! Is a TF2 community project with the theme of “20th Century Warfare” such as WW1 / WW2

frontline.tf

The London Pack

TF2Maps Construction team (barricades, rubble, ladder, sawhorse)

Road railings by @AsG_Alligator

Tasty camp food by @Coolchou Zhao

RV camper van and stepvan @KrazyZark
Microphone by @KrazyZark with help from @Mattie

Stone and Wood texture edits of Valve textures released by @Berry and the Autumnal team

"Logue" textures, Midnight sky texture, and metal table + cardboard boxes by @Void

Modular weather particles by @Yrr

Rainscapes from Left 4 Dead 2 by Valve

More Vehicles, round tables by @FGD5
Wooden coast fences by @FGD5 and @Blaholtzen

Alphabet overlays by @ZungryWare

Police cruiser by @D.C.V.

Mailbox and fire hydrant by @MacRipley

Lilly pads and reeds and Lumberyard Event's white wooden walls by @Diva Dan

Colored wallpapers by @AlexCookie

Jail cell model from pl_corruption pack (link is broken), by @Panckakebro

Portable toilets and caravan props by @Rexy

Valve window derivations by @Gadget

Metal chair props by @Custard1

Arrow overlay by Nassimo, released under the Watergate pack by @Egan

Airport chairs by @MaccyF

Treesway props of Valve models by @ISPuddy

Coast wall textures by @Bakscratch

Life preserver, turned off light props, and bathroom signs by @Zeus

Eclectic bricks by @Gothic Organist

Precipice windows by Timberghost (@timberghost_paintball)

Objective audio by Lever Games / Torn Banner Studios

Extra surfaceprop blockbullets by @Jacov

Firetruck by @Asdf1308

Urban brick walls by @fuzzymellow

Nightstand by @Gruppy

Mann Manor clamshell lights off edit by @Stack Man

Stripeless metal texture Valve edits by @Crowbar

Spoiler: Concept art (for fun)

Sketch of zone A. Notably the underground prison section was cut.

Sketch of final area, building layout was changed as random spawn point groups are always in play unlike the original Slenderman game.

 

[Miki]

This post will go in detail about Unknown Ridge’s development, I want to explain my thoughts concisely while making it. Unknown Ridge began as a commission from DISC-FF looking for new Slender Fortress maps that the community can enjoy. Having mapped for Slender Fortress before, I had an idea of what to expect and accepted this as an invitation for my ideas to come out, particularly a map using the storm tech developed for Super Zombie Fortress Sugarmill.

The primary goals for Unknown Ridge were:

1. Create for the Adventure game type
2. Use the dynamic storm on an original map
3. Make heavy use of the Sprinkle tool
4. Improve the waiting room

1) “Adventure” is a sub-genre of standard Slender maps that isn’t focused on collecting 8 pages in one area. Instead, you travel through a linear map collecting pages as a means of progressing to new areas, like an adventure as the name implies. There are few examples of this map type, but the concept reminded me of No More Room in Hell, a free Steam game that I perceived as similar gameplay in mind. As such, I started by using NMRIH as a reference designing some objectives and puzzles.

In the end however, puzzles were kept very simple as a puzzle once solved loses its challenge and replayability. Therefore, puzzles compliment the Slender boss, but do not supersede them as the primary challenge. I also tried to avoid singular paths to the next area, but this sometimes has been unintuitive to not implement. Playtesting as always can help refine these areas.

2) While the storm itself doesn’t require any additional work, level design techniques are helpful to understand about the storm’s gameplay changes. For one, the storm creates a tempo where players seek shelter from the rain because it’s much harder to hear and see threats during a storm. Slender NPCs respect fog and it is possible to sneak around them during a storm, but evading them if you’re caught will likely not end well.

And because the storm is randomly created and thus unpredictable, you can place interiors across the map such as sheds so that players can make a choice: stay safe and undetected inside shelter, or push forward at the risk of bumping into the Slenderman.

3) The sprinkle tool is a not new, but spotlighted addition with Hammer++, and I wanted to design a map heavily using it. Sprinkling uses a premade list of props to decorate an area, and by sprinkling a variety of trees, rocks, and shrubs, I could swiftly paint a forest across any landscape. As such, the majority of Unknown Ridge’s forest areas are first painted over displacements using the sprinkle tool and then manually adjusted using the random prop placements as a base.

If you would like the same sprinkle list I used as a base, you can copy and paste from this spoiler:

Spoiler: Sprinkle list

"Fir Trees" //This is what shows up in Type
{
base //The base values of what you want to sprinkle. Every entity will have these values, but you do not need to put anything here
{
"classname" "prop_static"
grid "256 256" // The default grid size of this type, this can be overridden in Hammer
}

10
{
"model" "models/props_forest/tree_douglasfir01a_opt.mdl"
}

10
{
"model" "models/props_forest/tree_douglasfir01b_opt.mdl"
}

10
{
"model" "models/props_forest/tree_douglasfir01c_opt.mdl"
}
10
{
"model" "models/props_forest/tree_douglasfir01d_opt.mdl"
}
5
{
"model" "models/props_forest/tree_douglasfir01e_opt.mdl"
}

10
{
"model" "models/props_forest/tree_douglasfir01f_opt.mdl"
}
10
{
"model" "models/props_rocks/cliff_wall_06.mdl"
"skin" "1"
}
5
{
"model" "models/props_treesway/tree_pine_extrasmall_reference.mdl"
}
10
{
"model" "models/props_swamp/shrub_03c.mdl"
}
10
{
"model" "models/props_rocks/cliff_wall_09a.mdl"
"skin" "1"
}
2
{
"model" "models/props_forest/tree_tallpine01f.mdl"
}
}

4) On large servers, Slender Fortress typically requires most players to sit out in between rounds as BLU team. Although unnecessary to the experience, a waiting room sets the tone for the level, and for some players will be where the majority of their time is spent.

So, I made the waiting room as part of the map’s story. Unlike RED, BLU team safely reached their destination where they go camping in the woods. Some players simply enjoy hanging out and taunting with each other, so spawn is a cozy campfire pizza party. For those full on pizza, there is a bumper car race track with PVP and PVE arenas accessible offshore. This achieves the narrative, social, and entertainment goals of mine for players to enjoy.

Let’s love instances

One trick I found useful was separating the BLU lobby from the Slender section as an instance. With large levels, instances speed up editing and opening files while allowing ease of repositioning. Instances can make your life easier in general, so don’t hesitate to use them where you see fit.

A particular problem I had would be both stages fighting for the same sky camera. I got around this by simply placing the two sections as close as I could (which is where instancing came in handy). The main stage takes precedence in presentation, and while the lobby doesn’t look perfect because of this, it works. If necessary however, I could simply have extended the skysphere horizon texture.


Adjusting the cabin instance inside the BLU lobby

The nav mesh was a little tricky at first due to the types of areas I wanted to create. To cut to the end, I treated the NPC boss like an MvM robot (but on its own separate NPC team identification). In my testing, the nav generation ignored all types of clip brushes and I found it more convenient to use the same methods I’ve used for my SZF maps to clip RED team.

Also, I learned that func_nav_blocker’s “everyone” parameter doesn’t work and you need to edit its -1 value to -2.

Final words

Lethal Company, Alan Wake, Deep Rock Galactic, Slender: The Arrival, and Touhou Mystia’s Izakaya were some of the many inspirations during this project. I believe your inspirations in life are vital towards creating anything meaningful, because what we surround ourselves with are reflected in our creations.

For example, Mystia’s Izakaya is a restaurant sim I’ve picked up from the Spring sale, and in that game Mystia listens to a quote that I’m paraphrasing: “To make a great dish requires soul, not strictly following the recipe.” which resonated with me. Mystia sings when she cooks, which is represented as a minigame as you prepare most dishes. Her voice and passion brings soul in her cooking, and I find it a beautiful metaphor about putting your heart into everything you do.

Momiji's game developer insight

Is this just cheesy surface level advice? Maybe. But I’m fairly convinced that as we grow older we lose sight of who we are and who we’re trying to beーit’s a common pitfall. Maps are the stage which players express themselves onto, and fulfilling this comes with years of experience and learning about yourself and others around you. Ultimately, Unknown Ridge’s reception lies in the Slender Fortress player base, and I hope I’ve delivered a fun and unique map for them to enjoy.

Spoiler

Helped me through development, maybe it will help you too?

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehbAM9JgXK0

 

[DaVinchi]

is this a vscript gamemode?

 

[Miki]

is this a vscript gamemode?

No, it's a Sourcemod plugin. Looks like this on servers running it:

 

[Miki]

V1A

• Fixed escape sequence not working
• Fixed page model orientation
• Increased time gained per page from 60 to 90 seconds
• Increased max round timer from 5 to 6 minutes
• Reduced escape time limit to 180 seconds (3 minutes) from 190
• Swapped text channels for objective messages (from channel 2 to 4)
• Swapped most clip brushes with player clip brushes to not interfere with NPC line of sight tests
• Fixed a potential sheriff page spawning inside walls
• Added death cameras for RED on round loss showing the farthest zone they reached
• Added env_wind
• Added game start sound for RED
• Reenabled PVE teleporter after a brief cooldown time
• Added another light to zone a's switch to show it is disabled
• Adjusted nav blocker entities & nav mesh
• Adjusted zone b lake page spawn points
• Fixed missing Town Storm soundscape

Please report any issues/bugs/feedback that you experience with the map, I will be grateful for any reports.

 

[Miki]

An update from today's playtest graciously provided by Demon Hamster's server: everything went exceedingly well and everyone seemed to greatly enjoy themselves. Players voted to extend the map 3 times and had plenty of positive comments. I only came across minor issues overall and after the session had ended, and I'm very pleased with how the map turned out. Below is a heatmap collected of RED deaths over most of the almost 3 hour session:

The map was fairly balanced in my opinion, with the scores slightly favoring BLU by the end (aka, RED losses). Some of my favorite chokepoints were zone a's woods, zone b's tall grass, zone d's cargo container, and zone d's sheriff's office. BLU mostly went into ghost mode and those remaining often preferred the PVE over the raceway (but some players who did love the raceway were vocal about it). Nobody bothered with the PVP (as expected), and I don't blame them because I don't like Slender PVP either. Also: I underestimated the power of pizza and instead the delinquent fun of lighting your friends on fire seemed to be a favorite on the server.

Standing on the campfire would light you on fire, and it created a fun social moment that the spawn area was not intentionally trying to create, but still a win in my book.

A couple things I observed:

• NPCs can eventually phase through func_doors/func_brush if necessary to pass through
• Certain bosses alter fog and even the 2D skybox
• Pathfinding would be comparable to GMod NextBots, and bosses aren't as helpless as the Github wiki poised them as.
• Health packs were a fairly good reward for players to explore off the main path to heal with
• Shallow water can lead to unique waterboarding deaths for certain bosses

(blurry screenshot courtesy of Fire)

I believe I've succeeded in my goal of a fun and unique map, and has proved to be a crowd favorite, which I'm proud to be able to provide. I plan to do another small update for the map and a Steam Workshop release too, but I don't think much else needs to change from here on out. Thanks to anyone who participated, and anyone who plays Unknown Ridge in the future.

 

[Miki]

V2

Spoiler: Patch Notes

General changes:

• Replaced legacy SF2 entities with newly updated support
• Reduced time limit from 6 to 4 minutes
• Reduced time gained per page from 90 to 75 seconds
• Reduced escape time limit to 2 from 3 minutes
• Reduced grace period to 25 seconds
• Adjusted storm timer intervals to enable the possibility of storm strikes very early in a round
• Fixed some sound files not being packed
• Fixed stormscapes not resetting at beginning of new rounds
• Fixed some off light models being turned on
• Increased objective message hold times from 3.5 to 5 seconds
• Fixed late intro sequence fade time
• Fixed some rocks not being blocked off
• Blocked standing over all vehicles for consistency
• Reduced storm sounds by around 40%
• Added line break to mission file
• Minor visual changes, perf, and clipping improvements

Zone A:

• Added more page spawn points and a new mini path to go with it
• Fixed cabin button sprite not resetting on new rounds
• Redecorated the lit cabin and rearranged flow

Zone B:

• Gate objective now requires 2 (from 3) pages to unlock crank
• Added 2 new structures for potential page spawns (shed and cabin)
• Added another entrance to the watchtower from the forest
• Lengthened alternate river route into village
• Spread out and randomized old page groups to reduce predictability and adjusted spaces to compliment this
• Adjusted tree placements leading to village
• Replaced func_brushes on stairs to remove jiterry BLU ghost movement
• Fixed non-solid bush

Zone C:

• Renamed Mill to Ruins
• Added a fence to randomly block the hill leading to ruins, forcing a detour
• Ruins now spawn 2 pages randomly inside (previously one guaranteed page spawn)
• Reworked entire ruins layout
• Fences now rattle when pressed up to them
• Added a shake to the collapsed floor
• Added hut with a button required to open exit gate after collecting all ruin pages
• Fixed car color case
• Broken electric wire can now damage bosses
• Adjusted bush collision

Zone D:

• RED must now survive for 30 seconds before the escape gate opens
• Added another page spawn to the gas station
• Small rework to lake cover and visuals to be more readable
• Blocked top lake inner corner exit and replaced it with another one further right
• New visuals added to the sheriff's office
• Fixed a sheriff page spawn orientation
• Removed a police car in the sheriff's parking lot
• Added more sheriff page spawn points
• Adjusted exit after the lake container climb
• Fire department given an interior space
• Adjusted street cover to give more route options
• Adjusted final zone cover
• Fixed rain falling through the church in final area and missing rain in certain spots
• Removed parking lot tree at escape zone
• Motivated final chair

BLU Lobby:

• Added jump, climbing, and dodgeball minigames
• Added extra ammo/health kits to PvP
• Added resupply and a respawn room for PvP
• Brightened up more areas
• Replaced some exit signs with the barricade version
• Adjusted PvE clips
• Fixed some floating fences & lowered bumper car railings
• Added a boost pad to the raceway jump-off
• Fixed a potential stuck spot

Today's update introduces new areas, features, and layout reworks to aid replayability.

Map Rework​

Something that bugged me was how linear the map was at times, mostly due to inexperience designing Adventure maps which was an ambitious scope of mine. It was too funneled and lacked enough player choices on where they want to go.

Originally, I planned the layout like a single player map because of the long waiting times I experienced playing other Slender maps, to the point that I felt waiting was the real game with a side of Slender. I also ran into an issue where my vision of large open areas had to be scaled down so they’d fit in the editor, which resulted in more linear areas than I wished (past zone B). So those are good lessons for future projects, but more importantly what would be the least amount I can add to alleviate these issues from playtesting?

I chose to expand on existing areas like zone B and C for more exploration, add more page spawn locations to be less predictable for experienced players (randomized too), and more variety in the level using randomized paths and adjusted flow in some places. The biggest culprit however came from very few page spawn points. Now instead of a few pages in a predictable vicinity, there are more spots to check across the zone that will be randomly chosen instead.

New Lobby Minigames​

3 new minigames have been added: Jump, Climb, and by popular request Dodgeball.

Jump uses the PvE code to grant weapons without friendly fire and is intended for rocket jumping Soldiers to enjoy a mini jump course. Tackle this challenge with others, speedrun the course when you get the hang of it, and perhaps teach others learning to rocket jump. You can even accomplish it with other classes. It was lots of fun researching & playing jump maps to make this and I hope it encourages players to seek out dedicated jump maps/servers.

Climb is like rock climbing or parkour requiring precision, strafe jumps, and dexterity to reach the end, which should be familiar from other Slender maps. Choose your difficulty (Heavy through Scout) and reach the end for a victory teleporter. There’s a checkpoint halfway and health packs to recover HP should you need them.

Finally, dodgeball has been a requested minigame and has been added to PvP island, opening up the lighthouse grounds for spectators and players alike. Choose a team (A or B) by walking over the marked platforms, and you’ll be teleported to the dodgeball islands to duel your friends. It’s more compact than the default basketball court players may be familiar with so there’s quicker rallies and faster rounds.

To review, the total minigame count has doubled to 6 (PvP, PvE, Raceway, Jump, Climb, Dodgeball). I’m personally satisfied with the extra activities added and I hope this shakes things up for people looking for more to play with.

Conclusion​

Map updates tend to be my weakest point because it’s a test of judgment. However, I’ve received lots of great feedback from players and their input helps to make in-touch decision making. The key idea behind my decision making tends to be “how can this go wrong?” and coming up with the possible scenarios players might intentionally or otherwise break their experience. It’s very easy to see the end result and not the hundreds of micro and macro decisions made behind everything. For example, I learned page spawns don’t like being inside func_instances: they’ll spawn at map origin instead. Thankfully there’s a new debugging tool Mentrillum made (guy who makes the Slender plugin) that outlines all page spawns on the map, otherwise it’d take longer to figure that out myself.

I hope the update goes smoothly, and that Slender players enjoy what's been offered up.

 

[Miki]

V3

Spoiler: Patch Notes

General:

• Fixed page count message not appearing
• Clipped dynamic props to help prevent AI spotting through certain vehicles
• Added a hud hint to each objective gate button if they are approached while locked
• Fixed some previous update's time changes not being applied
• Increased probability of early round storms slightly
• Adjusted initial HDR bloom to match post-storm bloom (the map will look brighter at first)
• Reduced storm audio intensity while indoors
• Reverted to default grace period time
• Fixed some unlikely but possible perch points via boss knockback
• Increased render cut-off distance slightly (from 2500 to 2900 HU)
• NPCs no longer spot players through tinted windows (trade-off, they can now spawn in LOS of them)
• Fixed several sprites being off
• Updated mission file
• Minor perf improvements, visual changes, and clipping improvements

Zone A:

• Fixed first objective sound not playing
• Fixed incorrect soundscape inside gate control room
• Removed some page spawns added from V2

Zone B:

• Added ramp after zone A dropdown to avoid NPCs wanting to climb cliffs
• Fixed missing rain at zone A dropdown
• Broke previously added watchtower stairs; it is now a dropdown
• Removed several new page spawns that were too hidden to find
• Page spawns can now appear in all landmarks (with the small trade-off of potential duplicates)
• Added a few new page spots in some places
• Fixed incorrect soundscape inside big shed
• Added more radiotower page spawns
• Added more cabin detail as visual aid for finding pages

Zone C:

• Reworked ruins to be more open and easier to navigate with more lighting
• Added alternative entrance into the ruins via cellars
• Breakable floor interaction removed at ruins
• Improved broken ceiling visuals
• Re-added blend floors to ruins
• Fixed NPCs not syncing to ruins fog
• Added visual aid for finding potential pages
• Adjusted bush clipping by ruins car
• Added a mini-route beside gate control room
• Fixed minor visual errors at gate control shed

Zone D:

• Removed survival sequence and reverted to previous escape behavior
• Removed some new Sheriff page spawns to streamline searching for them
• Added cover beside gas station

BLU Lobby:

• Added ducks to the raceway (for no effect)
• Prevented Engineers building over minigame teleporters
• Swapped PvE invulernability trigger with speed boost since invuln was already automatically added via plugin
• Moved first health pack closer to the climb start
• Added a resupply locker to the jump course start
• Installed tent flooring
• Minor visual errors fixed and changes made

Today’s update features a rework to the 3rd zone’s ruins alongside small balance changes across the level.

V2 had a mixed reception. On one hand, people enjoyed the new areas, less predictable gameplay, and increased difficulty. Simultaneously, it introduced new annoyances from the attempts to introduce those enjoyed features. Mapping is always a learning experience and sometimes playing it safe on an update can limit the lessons you would have learned just trying something. I think I got a better grip on Slender from V2's failings at least. Here’s my thoughts on the key changes:

1) Less isolated page spawns

Isolated pages were the worst offenders that caused some rounds to excessively run the clock, sometimes causing a loss. These pages were on trees, pillars, and tucked away corners that weren’t in plain sight. They lacked affordability, or visual interest, that hints where you can find pages. The best example would be the new buildings added to zone B, players seemed to enjoy searching inside and naturally caught their eye as a place to find pages.

I broke the page placement guidelines I set for myself in V1 to find what is acceptable, and what is less desirable. V2 helped me learn a little more about that.

2) Reworked Ruins

From the first point, many players get killed in zone B which may skew the statistics a little bit, but I do think the ruins needed a second rework.

The first iteration (V1) had a guaranteed page spawn and the intended challenge was navigating through the dark and to the roof. I felt that Slender maps were dark, confusing, and maze-like, so I created the layout off of that. Playtesting showed this was quick to accomplish as players usually chose the fastest route and seldomly met boss confrontation. Some players stayed outside as someone efficiently grabbed the page, essentially skipping the zone for most players, even if they wanted to explore inside.

V2 scrapped that design and replaced it with two pages that randomly spawned all around the now expanded building, including a gate control room as seen in previous areas. The increased time to search through rooms and halls increased the time spent here, which was sorely needed. However, there was still a perceived difficulty navigating the ruins as several paths became blocked and the main floor’s darkness didn’t help either.

V3 chews out some of the desired atmosphere exploring an abandoned building, but I felt those light sources were too valuable as a tool to reduce complexity. Pacing wise, I think there are plenty of dark buildings in the map to explore, so this rework serves as a break from that. I opened up much of the first floor, added an alternative entrance via cellars, and adjusted page spawn points slightly.

On top of this, I added chipped paint to the walls. It brightens up the area a little bit while also drawing your eye where pages might spawn.

Conclusion​

This update aimed to finalize the level with strong design choices. I’ve finally met the displacement limit while updating zone C, so that’s another strong argument to really polish what is already on the map. Of course things don’t always go to plan, but I hope the changes made today prove to be built to last. Although mappers warn you about reaching editor limits, I’ve learned you can seriously pack a map full of content if you’re smart about it. My condolences to any mappers who’ve met the hunk alloc lightmap error.

I hope you enjoyed reading this and that the Slender community enjoys the update.