CP Space Station

KingOfSandvich

L1: Registered
Jan 18, 2011
26
12
This is a 3CP Gravelpit style map I am working on for the (A)Symmetry contest.

WHAT A VIEW! This map is planned to have quite a few windows to see out of. I plan on making a few more. Func_areaportal is my friend here.

Story:
This station is the result of all the rockets BLU failed to prevent RED from launching. The station is finally finished and contains an ion cannon that is ready to fire at any BLU base it feels like. BLU team has crashed a small ship into the waste ejector at the far end of the station, and has to work its way through A (Comm Station) and B (Solar Array) to delay and ultimately destroy the cannon. The cannon fires if RED holds out, or explodes if BLU captures its point.

Status:
It's currently playable but mostly dev-textured.

Screenshots are out of date I have added more textures on a1 than shown.

Broken window trap in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-yae_4TF0E
 
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nik

L12: Fabulous Member
Aug 14, 2009
987
564
STANDING ON A METAL DISK FOR X MINUTES WILL STOP IT FROM WORKING!

cool idea, and I can't comment on the layout or anything..but I can say that the texture for the earth looks too un-tf2esque
 

KingOfSandvich

L1: Registered
Jan 18, 2011
26
12
If you can find a better skybox, you are credit to team. I'm not super happy with it either (it looks to unfit and far away, plus it's not correctly sized and doesn't have an HDR version), and it is certainly not finalized. The problem is that most space skyboxes are in the middle of space, but I want one that is orbiting earth. For the fitting problem, I might just put a blur or pastel effect on Earth to make it more TF2 Cartoony, or I might want to start from scratch so I can put the sun in a more workable place for a lighting angle.
 

Sgt Frag

L14: Epic Member
May 20, 2008
1,443
710
You can probably just use solid colors for the oceans and landmasses on the earth and it might look better.

The only way you should need area_portals in windows is if they look across into another area of the station. If they just look out at space you can have a little box of sky a few units out past the glass.

With the outside view it almost looks like you're surrounding your map with on large box, that's gonna be a lot worse for performance, no need to see the entire outside of it. Just build sky right up to anything that can't be seen from inside.
area_portals can be bad for performance too, so combining them with a huge box would just be worse. (all they do is make models not seen through them but in visible leafs not render - if you don't have models outside no reason to use them. One satalite dish isn't enough reason to need one)
 

nik

L12: Fabulous Member
Aug 14, 2009
987
564
Void might be willing to make a really good one for you.
 

Mr. Happy

L6: Sharp Member
Jul 16, 2008
320
158
wow that's the exact same concept of my artpass map (tho i ran out of time before building the gun) so im really excited to see how this turns out. good luck!
 

Citizen Snips

L3: Member
Apr 8, 2010
118
16
I've always wanted to see someone do a good space-themed map. I'll definitely try this out.

Though is it possible to have certain areas at low gravity while the rest is at regular? It would provide a very interesting change of pace and would require people to run with some crazy strategies.

And maybe there could be an airlock area that you could knock people into that would instantly kill them, like the buzzsaws on Sawmill.
 

KingOfSandvich

L1: Registered
Jan 18, 2011
26
12
I think low gravity might be too much of a gimmick, especially since we're dealing with Knockback Fortress 2 already.

As for the airlock idea, I'm thinking of an idea that isn't too different. The final design will have lots of large windows. I was thinking if they received enough damage, they would break and suck everything near them out into space for a few seconds while a metal door closed in their place. Do you know if there's a way to only activate the trigger_push for the opposite team of the player who dealt the damage, to prevent trolling by breaking windows near teammates? I already have the open space below the cannon as a falling trap.

The last things I'm thinking about are escape pods. They'll open in certain places when the round ends to serve as a way to survive humiliation or as a victory exit. When a player steps in, the door closes and they are ejected, avoiding the kill trigger and lasting until the round resets.
 

Sgt Frag

L14: Epic Member
May 20, 2008
1,443
710
I don't know if you can register damage done by a team. But it would be weird anyway if a window broke and a red guy got sucked out but not the blue guy right next to him.

Would be a cool effect though. I think the glass would need to respawn fairly quickly though. Every time a window broke you'd be effectively sealing off paths. Could have major effect on gameplay.

Though I don't think gravity is any more gimmicky than the two other options you're exploring. in zerog map discussion someone mentioned gravity setting sticking if you die in the gravity brush. Probably need a regular gravity brush in spawn to reset.

I think just having a nicely done theme and layout would be good enough. Start throwing in gimmick things and the map either doesn't get played because of it, or it gets put on fun servers only. (in which case it could get played a lot)
 
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Citizen Snips

L3: Member
Apr 8, 2010
118
16
Too many gimmicks could turn people off of a map, but having just a few could provide a hook to keep people playing.

I still think you could definitely work in a low-gravity area. Not a main battleground, but perhaps a side-route that not many people would take that has a huge vertical drop. The team on the high ground would have a big advantage, but with the low gravity, the bottom team could just jump up there.

Though while I think the smashing windows is a cool idea if you manage to implement it in a way so even novices know what hitting a window does, the escape pods are a bit much.

What I think would be a cool idea, thought it may be a bit complicated, is to have areas with the glass windows have steel doors nearby; whenever the windows smash, the doors seal off the area, locking both teams out. Anyone who's still in the room with the smashed windows gets sucked into space and die.

Red could create the vacuum as a means to keep Blu out of an area until the windows regenerate and the doors unlock again, and Blu could sacrifice one or two of their men to take out an entire horde of Reds. It would serve strategic points on both sides and not necessarily just be a gimmick if implemented well.
 

KingOfSandvich

L1: Registered
Jan 18, 2011
26
12
I just figured out how do different things depending on which team dealt the final blow to a func_breakable. It's actually pretty straightforward. All you need is the func_breakable, a filter_activator_tfteam, and whatever you want to happen depending on the team that broke it.

Breakable:
OnBreak -> red_damage_filter -> TestActivator

Filter (Set to RED):
(RED broke it): OnPass -> trigger_push_killblues -> Enable
(BLU broke it): OnFail -> trigger_push_killreds -> Enable

I'll get to work on a video demonstration!

EDIT: It's up! Check the description!
 
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Sergis

L666: ])oo]v[
aa
Jul 22, 2009
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i think you should try to remake the skybox like this
Untitled-59.jpg

so when the player falls out, he could notice the Earth getting closer. Imo that would make the fall even more awesome. although i wish i could enjoy it longer even the way it is. I'm not sure however if source will like rendering an area that big enlarged 16 times :D
Also, some of the stars look like unaesthetic shapeless blobs. You can see it in the second screenshot in OP. I think you should make the stars smaller, more round and also add the sun, the moon and some nebulas to spice the sky up.
something like this.
Untitled.jpg


The map itself seemed to be small areas connected by long corridors. I think it should be the other way around - large areas connected by small corridors :p
 

Tinker

aa
Oct 30, 2008
672
334
From what I can tell from the screenshots and the movie, the layout of the map itself is rather too small. It reminds me of junction at the moment. A lot. That's not good - especially B looks incredibly tiny. Don't be sparse with space (heh), there'll be a lot of time spent on each of these points, more so than on a 5cp map.