Basic

engoldin

L2: Junior Member
Apr 10, 2009
80
10
CP_BASIC

New Content:

cp_basic_b4/b4-1:

Cp_basic_b4-1 Is almost identical to b4 except that spawn exits have been reworked slightly to stop "launching" once and for all. Check the log for the specifics. Next build should be mostly art/cosmetic. Enjoy.

Cp_basic_b4 has been about correcting a couple of major problems, 3 actually. The gameplay seems to be mostly there at this point and I have no desire to upset it. So, changes I make henceforth are likely to be more subtle.

The three problems are as follows: Spawn room layout is awkward and not intuitive to the player. Courtyard/room to the left of the respawn room seems like it should have a more important role. Sentry building on the pillars in front of the enemy base covers all three spawn exits (more or less). This would be fine except that it isn't all that difficult to pull off. Risk vs. reward ratios are off. This "exploit" needs to be corrected.

You can check the changelog for the specifics. I hope that everyone will be pleased with the results. I had to make some fairly major adjustments this time around... I didn't want to but I had to so this build is a bit of a gamble. Thank you for your interest... It's why I do what I do. Feedback is appreciated and welcome.

"Basic" Summary:
The maps concept is pretty much proven at this point so I decided to revamp the info and remedy the "wall of text" syndrome it was experiencing. There are a few things you should know about cp_basic.

- The map is small and gameplay is fast paced and moderately chaotic.
- This means that you will die more than you would in a standard map, but you will also respawn more quickly.

- There is one control point. The goal of each team is to capture the control point as many times as they are able within the mp_timelimit.

- The control point is a deathtrap. The map plays a lot like a king of the hill. This is per design. The player is expected to discover ways to take the point in spite of this.

- For the most part, the player should not be able to reenter their respawn room once they have left it. This is also per design. There are ways to accomplish it but they are few and somewhat difficult.

A word on cp_basic and its designer:
I'm new to the mapping community and this is my first effort. What I am trying to accomplish is both simple and ambitious. It is modeled after fy_iceworld a la "Counter Strike" but has been adapted to suit some of TF2's unique needs. This map is designed to be the first in a series. Subsequent renditions will be more complicated (more game mechanics involved) but will retain the same "basic" structure.


Changelog


cp_basic_a1-1


Gameplay:

- Respawn time is now set to 3 sec.
- All "OnCap" spawn adjustments have been removed.

Art:

- Changed the skybox to a TF2 skin. Will choose a more appropriate skin in the future.
- Realigned some geometry.
- "Fancied" up the spawn room a bit.
- Removed faulty lighting from spawn room and replaced with temporary sourceless lighting. Will be emitted from a lantern on a box in the center of the room.
- Fixed some texture scaling issues.

Known Issues:

- Generally simplistic/drab appearance.
- Inconsistency between env_lighting choices and skybox.
- Lighting issues with respawn room tile floors.

cp_basic_a1-2

Gameplay:

- Control point and surrounding area are now sticky immune.
- "Walls" in the left and rightmost lanes have been adjusted so that all classes can use them to climb onto the pillars.
- Sniper/Engineer friendly nests added to the right of each respawn room.

Art:

- All non-TF2 textures have been replaced.
- Cubemaps in respawnrooms have been repaired.
- More cubemaps have been added.
- Placeholder lighting in respawnrooms has been replaced.
- Ground texture has been changed to one that will blend better with foliage (to be added at a later date).

cp_basic_a2

Gameplay:

- Blocked off area to the left of both respawnrooms.
- Reworked cap point to be both smooth and "unstickyable."

Art:

- Added a ton of props.
- Added a ton of overlays/signs.
- Generally glitzed up the level a bit.

cp_basic_a3

Gameplay:

- Respawn time adjusted to 5 seconds.
- All ammo packs/health kits between the pillars have been upgraded to the medium tier.
- Nooks in pillars have been made deeper and better for hiding for all classes.
- Nooks have been made taller so that sentries and dispensers are now buildable in them.
- Capture point trigger area has been enlarged to include the whole of the grated area (metal beam frame not included).
- Respawnroom doors' triggers area have been tightened up some. Can only be opened from inside now.
- Looked into resupply not allowing users to change loadouts. Verdict is: not a map issue.

Art:

- Nooks in pillars have been resized.
- Many cubemaps have been added and all have been repaired.
- Significant amount of optimization has been done.
- Environmental lighting has been tweaked a bit.
- Observer cameras have been added (no black screens after death).

cp_basic_a4

Gameplay:

- Ramps beneath respawn rooms have been removed in favor of a series of three fans that slow the player's fall and create a generally low gravity-ish environment in their proximity.
- Respawn wave time has been pushed back to 4 seconds (5 in cp_basic_a3)
- New areas beneath the respawn rooms have been partially gilded in an "unstickyable" surface.
- New sniper/engineer spots have been added beneath each respawn room.
- Front-facing respawn room walls have been extended downward in order to provide players with more cover before they land.
- Map can now be won. Whoever has the most captures when the mp_timelimit is reached is the victor.
- More optimization has been done.
- Buildings that house the respawn rooms have been reskinned so that they are immediately identifiable as belonging to the RED or BLUE team. BLUE container on RED side has been replaced with a RED container.


Art:

- A couple of new overlays have been added.
- Environmental lighting has been adjusted so that it is less obtrusive and more consistent with the skybox.
- Some textures have been swapped out for textures more compatible with new lighting scheme.
- A sun has been added.
- Area beneath the respawn rooms has been entirely redone.
- Buildings that house the respawn rooms have been reskinned so that they are immediately identifiable as belonging to the RED or BLUE team. BLUE container on RED side has been replaced with a RED container.

Sound:

- Soundscapes have been added to the outdoor area.
- Soundscapes have been added to the indoor area.
- Ambients (proximity sound effects) have been added in the vicinity of each of the 6 new fans.

Other:

- Tf_gamerules RED and BLUE team goal strings have been changed the maps unique style of gameplay.

cp_basic_b1

Gameplay:

- Much of the area beneath each respawn room has been made "stickyable" again.
- Ceiling of the area beneath each respawn room has been made "unstickyable."
- Fans have been enhanced at the end of each round to enable players to jump up into the enemy spawn.
- Teleporter exit room has been adjusted and now only accommodates one buildable. This is temporary and will likely be rolled back in subsequent iterations.
- Respawn room door frames have been made "unstickyable." This has a very interesting side effect that I'll leave it to the players to discover.
- Players should not get caught in the air above the fans any more.
- More optimization has been done (specifically with the skybox).
- Environmental lighting has been brightened a bit.
- 64 unit wide paths now connect each pillar to the two adjacent pillars (no diagonals). This is an experimental change to make heavies a bit more viable.
- Colliding with respawn room doors from the outside should no longer cause them to open (regardless of which team the player is on or which door they collide with).

Art:

- Some overlays have been added.
- Teleporter exit room has new props.
- Newly "unstickyable" surfaces and newly "stickyable" surfaces have been retextured appropriately.
- Player rag dolls should no longer fall through the map.
- Some minor bug fixes.

cp_basic_b1-1

Gameplay:

- Strengthened fans (additive trigger push) only fires under the losing side's respawn room at the end of each round.

cp_basic_b2-4

Gameplay:

- All new.

Art:

- All new.

cp_basic_b3

Gameplay:

- Central area has been redone.
- Left and Right "Longs" have been redone.
- Map has been reworked in a moderate capacity to facilitate smoother more fluid movement.
- Major optimization has been done.
- Respawnroom visualizers have been added to the respawn doorways that lead to the courtyards (we had a spy teleport problem).
- Courtyard surrounding the "right" spawn exit has been adjusted to be more viable and engineer friendly.

Art:

- 75 % of the map has been re-textured.
- Central area has been reworked to reduce the congested prop placement.
- A few props and overlays have been added to spawn to make pathing clearer to the player.
- A few props in the bases have been removed and brushes adjusted to compensate for their removal.

cp_basic_b4

Gameplay:

- Respawn room and respawn room exits have been reworked so that they are more intuitive and fluid.
- "The room that does nothing" to the left of each respawn room now "does something," a lot of things actually (you'll have to see for yourself).
- Updated some signs in the respawn area.
- Added doors to the non-water exits of each respawn room.
- Lowered respawn wave time by 1 second (it is now 3 seconds)... This is experimental and may be rolled back depending on results.
- Fixed people getting launched hilariously out of spawn exits.
- Fixed stuck spots in the underwater tunnels.
- Deleted some props in the courtyard that the right respawn exit opens into.
- Switched the resources in the water holes atop each pillar... ammo is now health and vice versa.
- Widened capture area for the central point slightly. May wide a bit more if neccessary.


Art:

- Aligned a lot of textures.
- Added overlays to respawn rooms and a reoriented some props, deleted others, added others.

cp_basic_b4-1

Gameplay:

- Launching has finally been fixed... srsly.
- Spawn exits reworked slightly to accomplish the above. Some side effects that I think some of you are going to be very pleased with.

Art:

- None.

Thanks to all who are following/playing the map. Please feel free to post any issues/suggestions/critiques in this thread or email them to engoldin@gmail.com.
 
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engoldin

L2: Junior Member
Apr 10, 2009
80
10
If any of you guys know of a better free file hosting resource clue me in and I'll switch out the download link.
 

engoldin

L2: Junior Member
Apr 10, 2009
80
10
Entirely possible. Analysis is no substitute for playtesting. But the map hasn't been playtested yet so I've got nothing to do but sit back and over analyze. Ultimately, it's a first effort. And if it turns out to be nothing more than a reskin then I'll scrap it and move on.
 

engoldin

L2: Junior Member
Apr 10, 2009
80
10
cp_basic_a1.1

Hey all. I just wanted to notify everyone that I've pushed up a new iteration of cp_basic. The download link has been updated accordingly. I also plan to replace the respawn room screenshot with a more current one (in a minute or 2). Thanks to any and everyone who has given this map a shot.

P.S. It recently came to my attention that I should be hosting a .bsp and not a .vmf. This has been corrected.
 
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arbalet42

L1: Registered
Mar 26, 2008
4
1
Oh My God - my dreams are coming true! Finally some potentially good successor to "CP_Iceworld" and "CTF_Vikings"!
For those who might not know it, I am telling you that both aforementioned maps were exactly about this:
- Affords all players immediate access to action and objective.
- Is hectic and violent in its pacing
How much I grieved for the unexplainable disappearance of "CP_Iceworld" from the only server it was hosted on... Tearful nights... :(
Which now with "CP_Basic" might come to an end! :)
 

engoldin

L2: Junior Member
Apr 10, 2009
80
10
Hey guys. So I finally got the map playtested which was very exciting for me. I got some good feedback and I've made quite a few changes in the newest iteration. Cp_basic_a1-2 is now available for download via the link. Screenshots and changelog have been adjusted accordingly. Enjoy and thanks for playing.
 

engoldin

L2: Junior Member
Apr 10, 2009
80
10
Morning! Sleepy one for me. Was up until 3AM PAC working on the map. Read the "take good screenshots and stuff" tutorial and switched out the new screenshots for some even newer and better ones. Check them out.
5
 
Last edited:
Feb 17, 2009
1,165
376
i think that letter in 1st pic is from hl2, please remove it and use a proper tf2 model, decal.
 

engoldin

L2: Junior Member
Apr 10, 2009
80
10
cp_basic_a2 now available!

Afternoon. So I've made alot of changes to cp_basic in the newest iteration cp_basic_a2. The map is starting to look really good. Overlays are in, almost all props are in, and some gameplay changes have been made as well. Please check it out. Thanks for your interest.
 

engoldin

L2: Junior Member
Apr 10, 2009
80
10
Just pushed up a new iteration cp_basic_a3. Fair amount of gameplay changes, a few art adjustments and a lot of optimization. Screenshots have not been updated but art adjustments were relatively trivial. Will update when necessary. As usual, download link and changelog have been updated. Please take a look and tell me what you think.
 

engoldin

L2: Junior Member
Apr 10, 2009
80
10
cp_basic_a4

As of 9:05ish PM PST cp_basic_a4 is now available for download. I haven't gotten around to editing the screenshots yet. Just lazy really. Not too lazy though. All other items have been updated as usual: Changelog, Download Link, Version Number, Etc. Lots of aesthetics in this one but also a fair number of gameplay changes. Check the changelog for specifics. Enjoy.
 

engoldin

L2: Junior Member
Apr 10, 2009
80
10
I'm glad you guys decided to give the map a shot. Any feedback is good feedback and I appreciate it. I would be curious to know what those who hated the map hated about it. I'd like to know what those who liked about it liked also, but in my experience the negative feedback is the most useful. If you get around to it please hit me back. I assure you that all input will be read and carefully considered. Either way, thanks.
 

engoldin

L2: Junior Member
Apr 10, 2009
80
10
Just updated the info to suit the phase of development that the map is now in. Conceptual outline has been replaced with a summary. I may post updated screenshots depending on my mood but it doesn't seem likely.
 

captainAngry

L420: High Member
Feb 1, 2009
434
247
The people who didn't like it are the same people that don't like cp_zigzag and the ilk. I don't think there was anything specific that they didn't like, they just didn't enjoy the in-your-face nature of the gameplay on the map, which is exactly what the people who like the map like.

Someone posted some feedback on my forum:
This map grew on me quickly. It reminds me of cp_iceworld in that it's a high energy, multi-class friendly frag fest. Soldier or demo or heavy/medic seem to be the classes that make a difference. Snipers have a decent view, spies can easily stop them. Scout seems playable but not ideal and I have already seen some really clever sentry placement.

My main problem with this map is the care you must take coming out of your spawn to not take fall damage. If this was incorporated to slow the spawning players it is unnecessary. Find a better way for people to join the fray and you've got yourself a good map.

The map made it into our regular map rotation so you must be doing something right.