CP axle rc

[Rexy]

Your drawings show exactly what I was going to suggest. I was thinking about the problems bothering me during the playtest today and I was thinking about other 5 cp maps...I realized they typically have 3 entrances (2 main, 1 alt) on either side to the area around the middle capture point, where as axle only has 2 right now--this kept my team bottle-necked at the 2nd point mostly the whole map, and your 2nd route out is up on the high-ground, this made it really difficult to push back. You do need that 3rd round from the 2nd to middle capture point.

EDIT: about your general style, acumen is right as you say, if you want custom somethings, just ask, I'll be more than happy to lend a hand.

 

[Pocket]

Interesting suggestion, i'll see what i can do. The current setup was to satisfy people spamming rockets, pipes and arrows at the enemy exit a-la 2fort round start between battlements.

FYI This is a basic illustration of the original third route:

But literally nobody used it except the odd spy. It came out into the small path besides CP2, but had no access behind CP2, it just exited into the courtyard. It was a classic 2fort/hydro sewer route with medium health and ammo and good sentry spot for defence. Still, it never got used; i think because it physically seperated teams up too much... i can't say for sure, there wasn't much feedback on it except remove it to make the middle smaller.

Oh, so it is gone. Yeah, that's a good thing; when I played that version I kept mistaking it for an alternate route and ending up going in circles. I would have mentioned it at the time, but I think that was just before I had to go somewhere or something.

 

[Scotland Tom]

grazr, regarding the comments about your general style:

Acumen mentioned that your maps seem to lack an "oomph". I don't think this has anything to do with a lack of detail, custom assets or quality brushwork or anything, but a lack of uniqueness. Sure, you can make a good looking spytech facility, but what makes it stand out from other facilities? Is it hanging off the side of a cliff? Is it buried in a crystaline cave system? Does it house a giant doomsday device? What? Also, keep in mind that players like to give names to places rather than call out directions. Control room, attic, shed, loading dock - all a heck of a lot better than "that room with the window that overlooks the point on the left after you go up the stairs."

To sum-up:
1. This Thread
2. Make your important rooms unique enough so players can derive names for them rather than rely on directions to point teammates to generic locations.

Hope that helps!

 

[grazr]

No, you're totally right. I know i can make basic details because although some people don't like my maps, others enjoy and support my work. Something unique is exactly what i need to get noticed. Rexy has offered modelling support, but i need to think of something awesome first before he can lend that support. I havn't left much room for stuff around 1 and mid though. We'll see, the map comes out of alpha soon, hopefully this will be my last one.

Space i have to work with potential large scale custom gear: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v213/grazr/SS-2010-10-25_235825b.jpg

Update on progress:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v213/grazr/SS-2010-10-25_231942.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v213/grazr/SS-2010-10-24_172136.jpg

(now my concern is for gameplay and LoS under the point, but we'll see after tests).

Also, this is the third route to CP2 from CP1: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v213/grazr/SS-2010-10-25_232528.jpg as recommended by playstuff.net

I'm rotating the spawns fully now, to point forwards. Although now it'll be easier to spam the spawn with explosives (why i didn't want to do this in the first place), you guys will have to let me know if this is an issue after more tests. The spawn setup is going to be more like badlands and coldfront, rather than 2 seperate spawns.

Hopefully i can get a release worthy compile out tomorrow, Tuesday.

 

[grazr]

***UPDATE***

cp_axle_a5c​

>>In an effort to distinguish areas i've started to add unique details to specific areas of the map. Feel free to call this one "the tire room".<<

Change log:

Added third route to CP2
Added third route to CP3
Added ramp to first floor of outter CP2 area.
Combined primary spawn and changed orientation.
Changed orientation of spawn positions in tertiary spawn.
Added minor details.
Fixed buggy vent grate.

If there are no complaints i will go to Beta in my next release.


TF2maps.net 22.5MB zip
Dropbox Mirror 19.8MB Bz2
Dropbox Mirror 22.5MB zip

 

[grazr]

In an effort to try and individualise axle, i've been brain storming a few finale ideas. This one seems easy and unique enough at the moment:

Ambiguous glowing radioactive rods.

The idea is they come up out of the floor when point is captured.

Only thing is this space might look bare before the capture, unless i get the consoles to slide into the wall or something.

y/n?

 

[Snacks]

I suggest inanimate carbon rods.

 

[absurdistof]

I think two or three major clusters would look better then a arc of single radioactive rods coming up.

 

[Rexy]

I'm not sure grazr, what are they for? Are they nuclear rods? It could work, but I'm not really sure right now.

 

[grazr]

They are supposed to be nuclear rods that either power the station or some doomsday device. They would come up and potentially steam would come from the base.

Well here's a list of current (predictable) ideas:

Nuclear rods seen above, which raise on capture.
Screens hanging off the ceiling behind CP1. (boring)
Blast door replaces slanted ceiling behind CP1, which opens up on capture to show: lazer/rocket/missiles/generic payload.
Area infront of CP1 opens to show piranha pit. You die if you jump in.

Not sure what else to do with the space...

If i do the piranha pit i'm gonna need some help creating a custom particle effect for splashes. Not as dramatic as other ideas but pretty funny...

Kinda thinking of Austin Powers/James Bond stuff here. Satillite wouldn't look right, rocket is done too many times. Other stuff could work but a lot of that has been done before... I could do a drill, but that may take up too much space and i don't really have anywhere to put it, especially with the spawn below the empty space above-and-behind CP1.

 

[StickZer0]

Don't nuclear rods seem kinda... cliche? Lasers and glowing objects always scream CUSTOM MAP to me

 

[grazr]

Cliché? Are you sure that's the right word to use? How many other maps use them? Because i can't think of any...

Most official maps use lazers or radio dishes. The fact that most customs use rockets and lazers makes me want to avoid that norm in an effort to reach some individuality and maybe even some originality.

Feel free to suggest anything that isn't a rocket, lazer or radio dish.

P.S. (the rods would glow green).

EDIT: Map is getting around slowly beyond my own publicity, SimianCage and PennyArcade seem to have grabbed my map for rotation too. Ubercharged wont accept it in rotation until it's beta. Regardless of the fact it's out of DEV (alpha suffixes bother players during the voting process).

Servers running _a4a:

83.142.226.201:27075 - UK, EU - SimianCage
208.167.242.188:27015 - New Jersy, US - Penny Arcade
178.63.146.2:27015 - Germany, EU - TF2maps.net
174.34.133.100:27500 - Texas, US - TF2maps.net
84.45.84.166:27015 - UK, EU - Playstuff.net
81.19.219.104:27015 - UK, EU - Playstuff.net

Servers running _a5c:

178.63.146.2:27015 - Germany, EU - TF2maps.net
174.34.133.100:27500 - Texas, US - TF2maps.net
84.45.84.166:27015 - UK, EU - Playstuff.net
81.19.219.104:27015 - _, EU - Playstuff.net

 

[StickZer0]

Not cliche then, but cheesy, but not in the good "oooh a secret base underground" way that TF2 normally gives off. Glowing things just don't seem right to me, especially green.

And other than the spinning disk on Nucleus, where are there lasers and glowing objects in official maps? (This isn't a sarky comment, I genuinely would like to know where they are )

I suppose as soon as you suggested glowing rods coming out of the ground I thought of cp_blackmesa and all the ragdolls being suspended in ice or whatever - not sure why, but that's just the first thing that came to mind, and I just really dislike them (ragdolls/lasers) in TF2 maps. And by lasers, i'm talking about env_lasers btw, which always look horrible in TF2. I think i'm also thinking of one of the CTF contest maps where a sandvich powered a laser beam or something and I thought it just looked terrible.

The pirahna pit idea sounded pretty funny, but I don't know, I can't think up any ideas for your map.

(PS, most of that post is probably me repeating the same stuff over, but dammit, I'm tired D

 

[grazr]

Glowing things just don't seem right to me, especially green.

Aw, i thought the pinch bomb cart model looked pretty cool, especially whilst glowing green D:

Gravelpit uses a lazer above C, panamint and furnace creek used lazer's (custom, i know). I just feel like doing something that's not been done several times already.

 

[grazr]

Gonna try these as a 3dskybox ;o

 

[Seba]

If you're gonna have the water behind the bases as well, you might use last as a nuclear waste disposal place, which would tie in your fuel rods.

 

[grazr]

I just realised that's the same place in both photo's lol.

Good point Seba, i'll need to think of a way of opening visibility to the water to show it off better, maybe open the back of the building which door opens onto CP2.

 

[grazr]

Please ignore the maps lower fog fade distance, i didn't sync the settings to the sky camera (so that i could see the batholiths in more detail).

I'm almost certainly going to need to create a custom skybox as the mountain overshoots these Buttes. The buttes also feel a little small, i might double their scale. Then maybe the huge texture scale wont be so apparent.

Should i increase the displacement scale? Some of it looks blockier than when i was working in Hammer.

 

[Acumen]

I don't know if the lighting settings even changed but I totally like the look and feel of that scenery now. Looks like a tf2 map now and not so dull and washed out anymore. Very nice progress ! This is leading somewhere

 

[tyler]

Wow, yeah, this looks beautiful.