Quagmire

PL Quagmire final

Monsterclip

L2: Junior Member
Jul 9, 2011
57
37
This is my submission to the Dynamic Payload contest.

Quagmire
Red has encroached on Blue's swamp, stealing their precious swamp water to be resold for profit!
Blu has had enough. No one enters the Blu swamp and lives to tell about it!


The dynamic element comes from the 3 capture points, which Red has rigged with TNT. When Blu gets their bomb to each point, the roadblock will ignite and explode!

The map uses the Swamp Pack and a few TNT timebomb props made by Eric "ChickenLover" Johnson, which I downloaded from this board. So, thanks to those!

Any advice/bugs/PL features I might have missed/etc. is openly accepted.
Thanks for reading!

-Monsterclip
 
Last edited:

Spacek531

L4: Comfortable Member
Jan 28, 2012
165
94
On the second screen that you have there, I cannot see any track for the bomb to travel on.
 

Monsterclip

L2: Junior Member
Jul 9, 2011
57
37
your dl link is borked. tf2maps.net/monsterclip.com/...

also itd be cool if you could pack everything (except .nav) into .bz2

Rookie mistake. I should have checked the link. If I don't add http:// to the link box, it adds tf2maps.net to the front. :blushing:

Anyway, fixed it up. Thanks! I'll look into the .bz2

On the second screen that you have there, I cannot see any track for the bomb to travel on.

It's there, just under some shallow water. From that angle the water is reflecting in a way that makes it not visible but it's pretty easy to see in game.
 

MangyCarface

Mapper
aa
Feb 26, 2008
1,626
1,325
OK, this is pretty good, but an area you can stand to improve upon in is prop usage. For example: we can see your payload travels across some water over a bridge; cool. But- you've used those detail swamp jetties as the entire length of the bridge- were you aware that any prop that is both in and out of water is rendered twice? This would be a good area to use brushwork instead of props.
In your first screenshot, on the tall building to the right and up of the center of the shot, you've got a wooden prop attached to the side, right underneath the weathervane. This is a mineshaft prop: does it really make sense here?
It would do to ask yourself the same question about other props in your map. We can see numerous grain silos. What are they doing there? Does the rest of the map support their inclusion?
A final point- you basically have no vertical displacements. While in real life we often see the world as a continuous surface, to bring out the character of a TF2 map and support immersion we need non-horizontal natural surfaces. Try replacing some of your larger rock props, or at least integrating into them, such surfaces.
 

Monsterclip

L2: Junior Member
Jul 9, 2011
57
37
MangyCarface - thanks for the feedback.
I don't agree with you that some of the props don't belong. You know that the light hanging from a support beam is in the mineshaft directory because presumably you make maps. The average person may think it just looks like a wooden support for a hanging light.
Same as the silos. Here's a water tower/silo:
http://vanishingsouthgeorgia.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/newington-ga-screven-county-missile-style-silo-water-tower-pictures-photo-copyright-brian-brown-vanishing-south-georgia-usa-2010.jpg
Which, looks just like the grain silos. In my opinion, this gives the swamp environment more personality and totally fits in the story I'm trying to tell with the level.

I didn't know the thing about the water though. It's interesting, though I think I'll be fine. Thanks for the tip!
 

Monsterclip

L2: Junior Member
Jul 9, 2011
57
37
just as a note, you can make nice looking docks with brushes. It's just one less thing to render.


just a thought.

My thinking was, If the docks are props, they'll frustrum cull when not in the players view. Brushes won't cull until the whole visleaf drops. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Currently I don't have any real performance issues on my machine and the PCs of friends that have played it.
If the performance does become an issue I'll be sure to take a look at the dock props. :)

Wankhouse, that's my goal. I'm definitely going to look out for the next one!
 

tyler

aa
Sep 11, 2013
5,102
4,621
It kinda looks ugly, too, I'd recommend you change it anyway. Brushes are a lot less expensive to render to begin with so it's not a big deal.
 

Monsterclip

L2: Junior Member
Jul 9, 2011
57
37
2/29/2012
Changelog just for record. Not updating the download link yet.

- Got rid of the remaining dev textures in the center building. Exterior detail of center building 90% done
- Replaced silos with water towers after being convinced ;)
- Clip pass on some areas associated with rocket jumping to rooftops and getting out of the map, as well as getting hung up on some protruding props
- Removed collision on some props
- Added a few fx
 

Monsterclip

L2: Junior Member
Jul 9, 2011
57
37
Updated the screenshots to reflect some changes. Also removed the download link since it was a couple of versions out of date. I'm trying to get this next version fully compiled and packed up for Game Day!


3/2/2012
- Made explosion radius larger on the checkpoint bombs. Making them actually something you need to pay attention to.
- Reflected this by using a bigger, better explosion particle
- Placed colored decals on all pick ups
- Fixed some lighting origins on some props
- Some ground detail (plants, etc.)
- Changed the sky to hydro from harvest. Seems I want this map to be a pretty day because I keep changing the fog / sky to something prettier
 

Monsterclip

L2: Junior Member
Jul 9, 2011
57
37
You're saving my life, Sergis! Can you tell that this is my first time packing up a Source BSP? Haha. :blushing:

Anyway, I did your recommendation and made sure that it unrar'd correctly.

Try again?