Aquatic Barriers? Need ideas...

Mostly Harmless

L1: Registered
Jun 18, 2010
7
2
Greetings, mappers. Stuck and need a bit of help brainstorming here; the map I'm working on currently has one team starting on a ship moored in a harbor. The way it's set up, I want players to be able to jump over the railings of the ship and into the water if they choose, however I'm not sure as to what the most creative/detailed way to keep them from swimming away would be aside from invisible walls in the water. Help?

So far my best idea has been floating boueys (sp?) with a net marking the barriers, but doesn't seem like it'd cut it.

Any help appreciated :)

(FYI, the ship is moored long-side against a long dock, so it's only connected to the rest of the map on that one side. This is a PL map where the cart will move out of the ships cargohold and down a ramp to the dock before heading into the warehouse area.)
 

Timberjaw

L2: Junior Member
Nov 6, 2009
71
19
A few ideas:

  1. Sharks!
  2. Add some trigger_push blocks to start pushing players underwater to simulate tiredness (or leg cramps). Use a trigger_hurt underwater to cause faster drowning.
  3. Charybdis
 
Mar 23, 2010
1,872
1,696
animals would look rather tacky.

maybe fencing that goes underwater? it could extend above water too so when people pop up, they see the barrier as well.
 

lucky

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
May 25, 2009
583
145
Fishing nets :D
Make them out of a displacement with fence texture
 

Retroid

L5: Dapper Member
Aug 25, 2009
206
22
Mines with an invisible kill wall and an explosion effect. Perfect for the TF2 theme!

mines-water_~bxp27273.jpg


Edit: Damn you AgeNt!
 

Seba

DR. BIG FUCKER, PHD
aa
Jun 9, 2009
2,364
2,728
Mines like Retroid's picture tied with chains to the bottom; chickenwire-textured brush in the gaps.
 

lucky

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
May 25, 2009
583
145
I think the mines would be the best option, as they were used to create 'safe zones' for harbours. They wouldn't have fencing in between the mines though Seba.. anchors yes.
 

nik

L12: Fabulous Member
Aug 14, 2009
987
564
whals

maybe some buoys with a net hung from each?
 

Radishes

L1: Registered
May 3, 2009
18
1
I would have said seamines, but unlike an actual minefield, they would be highly visible and logically avoidable, so having the player blow up after going between them would be kinda... crumby?

One other thing I can think of is spytech. I mean, if the barrier is concealed underwater, then it matches the spytech "out of public view" vibe. I'm assuming there is a spytech base somewhere in the locale of the harbour?

One that comes to mind is:
A row of spaced electric pylons, that expel a burst of electricity when the player nears. Essentially, this would be like a fence, only far more logical submerged defense. It would also look aesthetically better, rather than some poles with chicken wire between them, and the electricity will be a workaround for the kill trigger in the gaps. How you would space these is up to you, as you could just do them in a line, or have them arbitrarily scattered around the perimeter. However, for gameplay's sake, you should spread some custom signage around that expresses the danger.

There are probably other spytech things you can think of (laser fences?), but I suppose it depends on your skill with entities.

Hope this is some help, if spytech is a direction you're willing to go.
 

UKCS-Alias

Mann vs Machine... or... Mapper vs Meta?
aa
Sep 8, 2008
1,264
816
Why dont you use the same noentry texture which is used for respawn areas. and to make it look fine just have it fade on a distance (func_lod). Ok, it will take some dynamic entities so be sure to have room to use some more of those.

And i dont know if func_lod blocks a player but if im right it doesnt so a playerclip can be used also.
 

Mostly Harmless

L1: Registered
Jun 18, 2010
7
2
Thanks for all the responses!

So far I'm liking the mine idea the best, possibly with a mixture of mines both chained to the bottom as well as some 'hanging' from bouys with express "DANGER! MINEFIELD" signs atop the bouys to ward off potention passer-bys. Far enough out to not limit the play field (Like I said, the far side of the boat shouldn't be in play anyway) but close enough to be seen from the ship deck. I'll just make the triggers large enough to prevent passage, in effect building a wall.

Thoughts on whether or not the explosion should kill the player, or just shoot them backwards towards the play area?
 

c-106mc

L1: Registered
Sep 9, 2009
41
5
Just use the mines to indicate they can't go further, and make an invisible wall that follows the line of mines. No sense in adding anything fancy for something so simple.
 

Radishes

L1: Registered
May 3, 2009
18
1
YES LASERS! You know you want lasers in your map!

Yeah >:D
I actually said that because I'm putting them in my current map around an objective. Kinda like the sawmill blades, but they don't instant kill. I'm trying to make them ignite the player :D

I did just realise that it wouldn't work so well underwater though :)

So yeah, seamines and invisible wall could work haha.
 

Ida

deer
aa
Jan 6, 2008
2,289
1,372
I just wanna tell you what I did has worked. No one has complained about it looking like you can get past my barrier in koth_shell.

I have a few buoys in a line. They're tied together with a slack rope entity, and from each buoy there's a rope going down to the seabed. Between the buoys, I have thin displacements textured with the barbed wire texture from cp_egypt.

EDIT: Actually, I changed the texture to the net texture from the Swamp Pack.
 
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Passerby

L2: Junior Member
Mar 27, 2010
99
15
what you need is freaking sharks with freaking laserbeams attached to there heads it fits the spytech theme perfect.

or just use radishes idea

I would have said seamines, but unlike an actual minefield, they would be highly visible and logically avoidable, so having the player blow up after going between them would be kinda... crumby?

One other thing I can think of is spytech. I mean, if the barrier is concealed underwater, then it matches the spytech "out of public view" vibe. I'm assuming there is a spytech base somewhere in the locale of the harbour?

One that comes to mind is:
A row of spaced electric pylons, that expel a burst of electricity when the player nears. Essentially, this would be like a fence, only far more logical submerged defense. It would also look aesthetically better, rather than some poles with chicken wire between them, and the electricity will be a workaround for the kill trigger in the gaps. How you would space these is up to you, as you could just do them in a line, or have them arbitrarily scattered around the perimeter. However, for gameplay's sake, you should spread some custom signage around that expresses the danger.

There are probably other spytech things you can think of (laser fences?), but I suppose it depends on your skill with entities.

Hope this is some help, if spytech is a direction you're willing to go.