KotH Overland

Jigen

L1: Registered
Oct 18, 2009
22
3
Greetings TF2Maps! This here is my first attempt at mapping for TF2. Being an admin for a custom rotation server years ago made me appreciate any and all work that went into them. At some point I was curious enough to check out Hammer, but it never went further than that. Recently, I was determined enough to see what I could put together for the experience at least. Hopefully it came out somewhat interesting.

Overland is set in a fight between RED and BLU's competing export/import establishments. Long abandoned by its employees ever since the mercenaries were called in, the capture area sits atop an empty lot that divides the territory between the two teams.
 
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HQDefault

...what
aa
Aug 6, 2014
1,056
535
Well this looks like a very promising map! I think the gameday sign-ups are later today, be sure to remember. I'd love to give this a run :)
 

Jigen

L1: Registered
Oct 18, 2009
22
3
I had to step away from this for a few months, but finally had time recently to finish this version. I'm hoping I can call it the "Won't be RTV'd 5 Minutes In Edition."

A2:
- Recreated the center point from a bridge into a two-story building
- Removed many dead-ends and empty spaces throughout the map
- Removed water
- Removed platform inside spawnroom
- Removed alternate spawn exit
- Deleted many unneeded extra light/light_spot entities
- Removed the alternate exit at the bottom center in the forward area
- Added another walkway connecting the platform on the right side of the forward area
- Removed the doorway on the right side of the forward area
- Changed the doorway at the small room in the forward area to a one-way door
- Widened the capture zone
- Decreased time to capture point from 12 seconds to 8 seconds
- Widened the hallway connecting the spawn and forward area, and simplified it by removing an unnecessary extra route
- Repositioned the left and right exits in the forward area to face forward
- Adjusted signs throughout the map
- Adjusted health and ammo throughout the map
- Doubled the train's speed (Was 450 hmu, now 900 hmu)
- Added collision to the cargo container doors at forward and properly playerclipped them
- Indented the train track slightly into the ground
- Added a balcony that connects the left and center forward exit
- Moved the garages forward a bit closer to the train track
- Playerclipped all windows
- Added a small wall to the left of the garages
- Recreated right side of mid into an extension of the forward building
- Added a path that leads to the garage roof
- Changed the open window in the garage to a doorway
- Minor misc. changes/fixes

Egan, if you're reading this, I did my best to replicate your advice for the point. You said you couldn't explain it easily, but I understood the gist: it was too one-note. So I ditched the bridge in favor of a stairway on both sides:

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In addition to rooftops on either side providing optional routes to attack/defend from:

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Hopefully both of these provide more variety. Another major complaint was the complexity of the initial transition. I simplified the hallway here so whether you go left or right, the teams won't be split from each other immediately like before.

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I also removed the water that was underneath the train track because it was a terrible idea and everyone knew it:

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Jigen

L1: Registered
Oct 18, 2009
22
3
A2Fix
- Fixed RED's one-way door so it opens correctly
- Repositioned the train's flatbed props to the end of the train so players can no longer stop the train

Just a quick update to fix the immediate problems from yesterday's impromptu while I work on A3. My biggest focus for the next version will be downsizing the initial area after spawn. The first room will most likely be removed entirely so I can move the spawns up. I also want to redesign the path upstairs that leads to the one-way door so it feels like a better option to take.
 
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Jigen

L1: Registered
Oct 18, 2009
22
3
Played this yesterday. Felt very chaotic, which wasn't a bad thing, in fact it was very fun to play as medic. Only complaint is that the spawns were very large and took a while to walk through before entering actual gameplay space.

Yeah I'm definitely gonna be addressing that the best I can. Removing the first room out of spawn should help quite a bit, but I'll try to tighten up the area just before mid, too.
 

Jigen

L1: Registered
Oct 18, 2009
22
3
A3
- Fixed the left garage door at center so it no longer requires crouching
- Adjusted health and ammo throughout the map
- Removed the initial room from spawn and condensed the spawn area
- Changed the second floor of the cap building into a first floor roof
- The capture point now sits under the train track on the first floor
- Added an additional route to the rooftops opposite of the stairway
- Removed the one-way door path in spawn
- Added a path right of spawn that leads to the flank route
- Added a secondary exit from the spawnroom
- Widened the balcony at center
- Adjusted the lighting inside spawn
- Widened the stairs that lead to the center spawn exit

I hopefully resolved one of the major issues which was that the spawn felt like it came from another mode. I tightened up the area so it should be a smoother ride to the point.

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The right side of spawn was changed into an alley-like flank to put more emphasis on the flank route which was previously tucked out of sight.

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The point didn't work out last gameday so I'm trying a different approach by moving the point to ground level with the train driving directly over it. The capture area is still the same size however.

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So the second floor became the roof, but this time without a hole to shoot through. I also added another route to reach the roof.

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Jigen

L1: Registered
Oct 18, 2009
22
3
Now that the spawns are much more appropriate for koth, I'm going to give the center the same overhaul treatment. Feedback was about what I expected: the center is just too small and cramped.

The easy thing to do would be to widen the center area for more space. However, I've learned a lot since I started this map and I think it would be better for it to try a whole new design. Like the old spawn area, the center is an outdated design. I'm going to use what works, combine that with what I've learned, and start again on paper using the spawns as a framework.

Thanks to everyone who's given feedback so far.
 
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Jigen

L1: Registered
Oct 18, 2009
22
3
A4
- Recreated entire map layout*
*Scrapped the old layout instead of resizing what was there in A3
- Changed skybox to Sawmill/Thundermountain

I'm gonna take a page from Marvel Comics and call this update the All-New Overland. As you can see, and as I said in my last post, I decided to scrap the entire thing and start over with everything I learned from the last 3 versions. It's basically a new map, but I chose to keep the name anyway.

I started by rethinking the point because the largest issue with the old layout was that the center was cramped and limited by the really small building it was inside of. So I decided to go with a completely open point and build around it.

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The most interesting part of Overland (or at least what I meant it to be) was the moving train. However, it ended being really uneventful (lack of skill on my part pretty much) so I opted to making it a static prop instead.

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Thanks again to everyone who's given feedback so far during gamedays/impromptus!
 

Jigen

L1: Registered
Oct 18, 2009
22
3
A5
- Disabled collision on the train tracks
- Adjusted health and ammo
- Raised the skybox
- Widened the upper stairs inside the two-story building
- Divided the two-story building's first floor into two rooms
- Removed the sliding doors from the flanking buildings
- Added a route from the point to the windows of the two-story building
- Moved the full healthkit to above the plank walkway
- Added more brushwork to both flanking buildings
- Adjusted lighting
- Added a direct route to the point in place of the fences
- Widened the space surrounding the train tracks a bit and duplicated the tracks for a second set

Being my first map, scale is something I've struggled with while making Overland. This is partly why I scrapped the old layout pre-A4. The last version seemed to be on the right track, but I'm hoping A5 will be closer. Based on feedback, here's the new area between spawn and point.

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"Pretty long, eh?" -Professor Hubert Farnsworth

I also replaced the fences with a proper direct route onto the point, which can't be jumped over since that caused problems last time. Hopefully these changes will improve the pacing.
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The two flanking buildings have also been fleshed out.
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Jigen

L1: Registered
Oct 18, 2009
22
3
A6
- Added a new route to get ontop of the boxcars
- Adjusted sniper sightlines
- Removed the sliding doors at the entrance of the spawn building (not the spawnroom)
- Added more areaportals
- Removed the trees near the point for less obnoxious props
- Added ramps between the train platforms to make traveling between them a smoother experience
- Tweaked indoor and outdoor lighting
- Fixed sticky bombs sticking to the spawn doors

I experimented with Overland using the lighting knowledge that I have and ended up making the switch to Thunder Mountain's settings. I think this one is going to stick.

It was only 5v5 by the end of last week's gameday, but the feedback I did receive led to some good improvements. I started by removing the sliding doors from the spawn buildings because they seemed to give the impression that it was a spawnroom inside of a spawnroom. I'll need to tweak the area further, but hopefully it feels less redundant.

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Back in A4 I got a suggestion to create a proper path that leads on to the boxcar, and I found the perfect model to do that.

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I also added simple ramps to streamline getting across the platforms. I wanted something that would look as if they were setup by workers temporarily to move around easily.

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The trees inside the lot turned out to be a little obnoxious so I swapped them in favor of more space and a better match to the theme.

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