s2a Compound

studio2a

L1: Registered
Apr 22, 2009
17
0
picture.php


- Important New Changes, For Your Playing Enjoyment! -

-- s2a Compound - Beta version 8 --

- Important New Changes, For Your Playing Enjoyment! -

There have been a lot of changes, we really hope people will take the time to understand the gameplay (it's really quite simple!) and give this map a try on Game Day this time around. (seriously folks...)

Most importantly, a TON of optimizing was done, I know it will not be perfect yet, but much, much better!

Also of extreme importance, the HUD was "fixed", now it will always point to the flag. We had hoped people would enjoy "hunting" for the flag initially, but seems not :p

Some of the routes, etc, have been changed, but nothing major.

- Previous Changes -

-Very obvious, custom, signs saying DEFEND THE INTEL and CAPTURE THE INTEL for Red and Blue (respectively).

-func_respawnroomvisualizer on all spawn doors

-Red players carrying the flag will no longer drop the flag if trying to carry it into their respawn room- just be blocked from entering

-Custom "DTF" chalkboard, which explains the DTF game rules simply

-Brought lighting up a few notches
--


A TF2 styled re-dub of the old Counter Strike map, with a unique variation on standard CTF play- we call it "DTF", for "Defend the Flag!".

Gameplay: Red Defends the Flag, Blue tries to Capture it!

Like the original Compound, the attackers (blue) start in a warehouse outside the main walls, and will be tasked with finding and capturing the Intelligence (think: hostages) hidden in the main base.

Also like the original, the defenders (red) will be doing their best to keep that intelligence (hostages) out of Blue's hands.

Therefore, at any time, Blue can pick up the case and carry it to their base for the win. However, if Blue drops the case, Red can pick it up and attempt to carry it away (further back into base, to better defensible area, to hiding spot, etc). However, once a Red player drops the case, they cannot pick it up again (until Blue drops it once more).

Hence, "Defend the Flag"- Red will only be defending their flag, while greedy greedy Blue is only out to steal it.

Make sense? Sound fun? We hope!

--

Credits:
-Huge props to "-gr-" for thinking up the logic for "DTF" case
-Skybox is currently a semi-modified rip from CP_Gravelpit
-Owlruler for the prox sensor, to keep flag carriers out of respawn rooms
-All the many tutorials and people on TF2maps.net that indirectly helped via me trolling your forum posts, leaching knowledge from your problems and solutions... ;)

--Thanks again to all!

Studio2a
Chicago
www.studio2a.net

Our Steam Group:
www.steamcommunity.com/groups/studio2a
 
Last edited:

A Boojum Snark

Toraipoddodezain Mazahabado
aa
Nov 2, 2007
4,775
7,669
1: pictures :p
2: leave the download section blank if you have none, then it actually says unavailable instead of having a download button that goes to a fake link.
 

(s2a) yahodahan

L3: Member
Apr 22, 2009
144
18
ABS you TOO fast :p

I was uploading pics, kept kabooming on me...grr

Now they are up! enjoy! Having some unforeseen difficulties preventing a final build to upload- but I promise in about 30 min! Sorry for delay :( (since everyone is just DYING to try it, yes?)

:D
 

(s2a) yahodahan

L3: Member
Apr 22, 2009
144
18
mmm, your right. I got too caught up in just making it look "interesting", it appears.

I always miss these basic things...lol...well, stuff to fix before the real test on Sunday, thanks!
 

studio2a

L1: Registered
Apr 22, 2009
17
0
If anyone has a chance to download and play-test this map, would be MOST appreciated, during "internal testing" the gamestyle is great fun!
 

Seba

DR. BIG FUCKER, PHD
aa
Jun 9, 2009
2,364
2,728
Need. Now. *goes to DL*
 

Ida

deer
aa
Jan 6, 2008
2,289
1,372
I'm sorry, I love the idea of the mode, but we had to skip this because no one understood it. I can understand that the HUD was messed up (no flag pointers at the beginning), but there was no form of guidance from your map. The map info menu displayed the standard ctf text...

This is a very unusual ctf variant that is hard to understand unless you've played Counter-Strike, so it's important to let people know exactly what is going on. Therefore, the first thing you should do before doing any more testing is to make the objective very clear to everyone.

Btw, I heard someone on RED claim that they could get into the BLU spawn.
 

(s2a) yahodahan

L3: Member
Apr 22, 2009
144
18
Huge bummer, but my mistake if if wasn't clear enough. :( :(

I did set the opening "goal text" to show "Capture the flag!" for Blue, and "Defend the Flag!" for red, had hoped that would be enough for people to grasp the basic roles. I'll make sure and clarify all that much better for further testing.

Sorry I wasn't able to make it for the testing, I was mistaken on the time...arg. ARG!

Well, does the concept seem explained well enough via this thread? Does anyone have any questions after reading this here?

Thanks, and I'll check out that blue spawn entry issue, was it perchance by jumping up through the sewer?
 

drp

aa
Oct 25, 2007
2,273
2,628
i want to extend on my decision to alot only 15min to this map. it was a decision based on players getting frustrated and leaving the server. it would of been fine if this map was the last in line ,but we still had a coupl eof maps to go and didnt want them to lose out on the player count.

anyway, most users found the map REALLY confusing. the hud would not show an intel in the map, we all thought it was a deathmatch type of map.

after the setup timer ran out, the intel finally showed up in the hud. when we started our attack to try and cap it, we all go lost. half of the team took a tunnel, and we thought we were being clever. the tunnel turned out th ebe a dead end we got bum rushed by a pyro killing almost everyone.

the lighting is extremely dark. like boojum said, class recognition is an important part of tf2.

visually, the map looks stunning, it looks amazing. but it needs optimizing. a lot of it.other than that and more directional signs, this map could be a keeper definitely.

just wanted to post that we didnt quickly skip the map, but we did play it for about 15min before changing. didnt think it would be fair to you to skip it right away.
 

(s2a) yahodahan

L3: Member
Apr 22, 2009
144
18
hey drpepper- thanks for the extra info, appreciate it- and I totally understand if you had to cut it short, my bad!

If I could ask for a few points of clarification, so I know what to fix:

1)
the hud would not show an intel in the map, we all thought it was a deathmatch type of map.

One of the ideas of the map was, that Red could grab the case quickly during setup and "hide it" in a well defensible area, or even let one of thier players run around with it while others attempted to keep him/her alive and on the move. Just gives Red a few more options of how to "defend the flag".

Otherwise, we were afraid it would be the same battle every singe time, with Red hunkering down around the flag in teh same place each round. This way, the flag would move all over the map and really be a dynamic and full-use map.

Would you suggest to allow Blue to always see where the case is? And also...how would I do this? :p

2)
half of the team took a tunnel, and we thought we were being clever. the tunnel turned out th ebe a dead end we got bum rushed by a pyro killing almost everyone.

The tunnel is my favorite part! But did it not open for some reason?? On Setup End, it should open up and allow everyone out- at least it did during our testing. Or do you mean you got all the way to the end of the big sewer, and it ended? I could put another stairway out there, too. Did anyone see the side stairways in there? They go up to each of the side gates.

3)
the lighting is extremely dark. like boojum said, class recognition is an important part of tf2

I will bring this up a bit, as I personal opinion I REALLY like to make lighting more dramatic than the usual TF2 look- but in the end, it's the fan's decision :)

4)
visually, the map looks stunning, it looks amazing. but it needs optimizing. a lot of it.other than that and more directional signs, this map could be a keeper definitely.

Thanks!! Great to hear it looked good at least :D When you say optimizing- were the FPS chugging? Any particular spots, specific details, etc that you could point me to for optimizing? I admit this is my weak spot...

Thanks very much again for the response, and I'll have a new version up right away for the Wednesday map testing!
 

(s2a) yahodahan

L3: Member
Apr 22, 2009
144
18
Several things added, just finishing up:

-Very obvious, custom, signs saying DEFEND THE INTEL and CAPTURE THE INTEL for Red and Blue (respectively).

-A tunnel from Red spawn over too the flag, and Intel arrows pointing players in it's direction

-func_respawnroomvisualizer on all spawn doors

-Red players carrying the flag will no longer drop the flag if trying to carry it into their respawn room- just be blocked from entering

-Custom "DTF" chalkboard, which explains the DTF game rules simply

-Currently attempting to add audio cues as well- no more getting lost!

-Brought lighting up a few notches

That's about it, please let me know if you have other suggestions!
Thanks!
 

(s2a) yahodahan

L3: Member
Apr 22, 2009
144
18
Hi Immortal-D, thanks for dropping a comment!

I can see that the "circular" gameplay of this map (versus TF2 usually is a linear progression from point to point, or between two mirrored sides), might seem more conducive to "deathmatch" style games. It definitely isn't standard TF2 play, but we're hoping enough people find it an interesting variant :)

There definitely was a lotof work put into it, thanks for saying so :)

Did the directions make sense this time??