Pipedream

Edit: In light of FPSBanana not allowing uploads, I'm using filefront as a temporary host. I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused by this.

Omg, I am so nervous! This is my first real map release!! D:

CTF_Pipedream has been a pet project of mine for a little now.

The actual layout took about a month to make, not including reworkings due to suggestions (move this vent entrance here! make this door wider! hehe~ :blush, with aesthetics taking over a month. The intel room alone took a week! And don't get me started on the pipe room! Isn't it funny how great an idea is when you get a vague glimpse of it, and as you chase it, it turns into something more stranger, better? That was the case with those 2 rooms, and why aesthetics took so long. Kept on reworking em over and over again!

Optimizations took about 2 weeks, not including major structural changes due to me not knowing what a visleaf was when I started making the map.

2.5 alphas released to the community I frequent (0.5 was when I accidentally deleted a func_respawn... lol)

And finally, on 7/27/09, I get enough courage to release a version of this map to the public! Oh my!



Now onto the map itself.

CTF_Pipedream is faster-paced map with de-emphasis on turtling. If you sentryspam, you aren't doing your team a favor. Not usually, at least. This is my number one complaint of CTF maps: they are too easily turtleable. This map is largerly a reaction to that issue plus the issue of class balance. Future revisions are going to come in time, even if it be fixing some minor known issues (sentry issue in the pipe room + texture issues).

And please, if you play this map find an issue, whether it be aesthetics, gameplay, technical or otherwise, do not hesitate to post or PM me about it. Any bit of feedback is always welcome, regardless of how harsh it is. How else can a map get better, otherwise?

Mashpotatoe said:

wow, looks real nice

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Aw, thank you ^^

obso1337 said:

there are a few brushes in the map that cross over other brushes. (2,3, and 4)

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Thanks for pointing those out. Noted 'em and will fix them for b2.

obso1337 said:

the ladder in the spawn room that goes up to the little platform thing is kind of confusing. When I first spawned in I was temped to try and climb the ladder to find some alternate route, to no avail though.

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Hahaha, I'll try to find a way to make it more obvious that you can't climb it then

obso1337 said:

Outside the bases there are lanterns randomly floating in the air D: (attachment 5)

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That might be a setting on your end. No one else pointed that out. What it's supposed to look like is the lantern is hanging from a rope attached to the pully above it.

obso1337 said:

The world map sign in the intel rooms stick out just far enough from the wall to make players get stuck if they're too close to the wall when they go down the stairs. I would recommend either moving the sign or putting a playerclip there to prevent people from getting stuck.

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Thanks, I'll try to put a player clip there for b2. Noted.

obso1337 said:

On top of the buildings with the little sniper windows where the long pipes that stretch across the map end, I would recommend putting some kind of step up. Why? When demomen/soldiers jump up there, they're forced to sticky/rocket jump again to get on the pipe. Idk if this as the intended effect or not but I just feel that should be pointed out.

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Oops! Meant to put something there for this compile! You're meant to be able to go back onto the pipe from the side which has the grate on the roof. Not the other side. Definitely will try to remember to put that in for b2. Thanks for pointing it out!

obso1337 said:

One last thing lol. The little ledge that stretches across the front of the bases is just barely wide enough to allow people to jump onto it. Once again idk if this was the intended effect but I'm just pointing it out.

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Plenty intended! Lots of little tricks like that all over the map. Keep an eye out for 'em.

obso1337 said:

Overall this is a very well designed map. Just those few little problems that I noticed. I really like this map and look forward to playing the final product.

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Thank you so much for pointing those out! Glad that you like the map

The_Ulf said:

Looks HAWT!

My only concern from looking at the screens is are those HL2 textures on the walls in shots 2 and 3?

Other than that - it looks like you've really nailed detail and proper lighting - I'd love to see a playtest!

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Those would be HL2 textures. The reason why I used them is to allow focus on lighting for team-color-specific notifications (am I in red base or blu? used light instead of textures due to the already slightly visually busy nature of that room), and TF2 didn't have any very good textures for that situation.

littleedge said:

Ohhh looks pretty. I hope you put it in a Gameday this weekend .

Only problem (to me) from the screenshots that I can tell is the pipe room. It looks too organized IMO. I dunno about other people, but I would imagine it to be more messy with less pipes exactly the same (you can tell that in some places you just Shift-Dragged) and the no variation turns me off slightly. But I like it!

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Thanks for the input!

Unfortunately, I'm hesitant about tweaking the pipe layout. While it is on the overly orderly side, after playing with pipe props for a while, I found them to be rather limiting in terms of giving them a more disorganized, nonsensical look. I will however try to play with the props more to see if I can dilute the organized feel of it though.