Borax - From A1 to B1

Fearlezz

L10: Glamorous Member
May 4, 2008
787
476
Borax - From A1 to B1 Progress

boraxad1.png

From A1 to B1​

This is the progress thread about Borax. From the first version, Alpha 1 to the latest version today, Beta 1. The changes has been in large scales. I tried different things in each version, what looked best, what worked best and so on. I think I came with the best design in B1. But thing might change in later version.
The alpha version was all in dev textures, except the later ones, which contained some detailing in both Reds and Blus spawn. But lets get started on what I thought throughout the process and what I could have done differently. Here, I have only noted the biggest changes in each version.


Alpha 1

As you can see in the first picture, the main thing I was focusing on here was higher defend position for Red and ground level attack positions for Blue. Now that I look back, the first thing I see is that blue has much more advantage.
Blue exists from 3 doors, all 3 gave Blue good view over the battlefield and also could spread out very quickly and efficient. And to make it even worse, the Reds didn't have much cover on the defend areas as much as it could use.

Second picture, already here you can see that its very bland and boring. Not much color variation and its quite empty. The second Blue forward spawn was, back then, located on top off that little cliff. The stupidity of this was that when you capture the point on the screen (cap2) Blue would spawn in there. That makes Blue spawn closer to the goal then the actual cart is.
And here actually, I used Youme's 3D skybox from pl_halfacre. Which later on got replaced.

Third screenshot, this is where some awesome ideas about vertical advantages began. Later on it turned out not to be so awesome. Again, lack of cover for defenders. Also turns out to be to low in height to really give a vertical advantage. And also that sertain path restricts players and forces them to take that way around the enemy. Which is never a positive addon to gameplay.
Again, if you look futher back in the map, you can see more rocks, no color variation, boring and bland.

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This is how the map looked like from above.

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This is the original idea of the map from above. To the left, my original sketch and to the right, edited by Youme

Alpha 2

In short, here I started to do some more work on the buildings. I thought twice before making changes to them. Think about possibilities. Take every class in TF2 into consideration. Already in A2 we had custom props. Two actually, and both from Nova Silisko. He made me a Barrel Cart and a animated Fan for the final cap. And its great how fast he made them for me.
Also as you can see in the last picture there, I started to do some more structures and trying to improve as much as possible. Which in the end turned out to be to weak for attackers.

Alpha 3

Oh this version was embarrassing :blushing:! I forgot to compile with the player clip on! Haha it was quite funny on gameday but still very frustrating to see players jumping outside the map :p Slight changes to it though. Nothing big.



Alpha 5

In A5 there was the biggest change from a version to another. In the first picture you can see how the last cap area has changed from the previous versions. I added more structures which improved attackers side in a positive way. Im still pretty happy with the basic design of the last cap. It's still in Beta 1 ;)

Second picture, main problem in Borax from the start was lack of signs. I really tried to counter this in A5. Added some static and dynamic ones that pop up on cap. Although it turned out not to be enough.
For example, Reds first spawn, players would walk straight forward when coming out from the spawn. But they where suppose to walk to the left. In later version I put 2 BIG dynamic arrows in the way on the main path. Pointing to the left. Magically enough players still walked right pass them D:. I decided that the problem really was the direction the spawn pointed, but more on that later.
I also added some covers to that 'vertical advantage' point but showed later on that it was no use, which is why we do alphas!

In the third image, you can see that I kinda carved one of the exits into the cliff. This looked good and gave a slight advantage to Red. Since they can see Blue coming from father distance. I also did some slight changes to the smaller cliffs where you could stand on. Which was removed completely in later versions.
 
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Fearlezz

L10: Glamorous Member
May 4, 2008
787
476
Borax - From A1 to B1 2

Alpha 6

In A6, I started some more serious work on height advantage. You can see on image 1 and 2 that I made 3 levels of displacements for defenders to take advantage off. It turned out to be a good choice to create. Made some smaller adjustments to it in later version but the same structure still remains.

In the third picture, you can see that I raised those bridges. This not only gave it more height that it was missing, but also more cover (due to the height). Serves its purpose well.

Alpha 8

It was in A7 and A8 where we where starting to get some changes that are noticed in B1.

First image, in A7 I decided to do something about the spawn. And I mean really do something about it. So as you can see, I made one big spawn. 1 big spawn with two exist, 1 at each side of the big cliff. The building that you see in the first picture goes through the whole cliff. When Blue would capture the second CP they would get the spawn as you can see in the first picture. Red would spawn on the other side of the cliff. Still same basic idea is in B1, but altered.

Second screenshot, this structure that you can see, it's idea came in A7 aswell. Lots of changes where made in A8 though. The idea was to fortify Red just a tad. But showed later that it was to defendable. The second CP was impossible to capture.
Many complained that the spawn was too close to the point. Maybe, but I saw that the main problem was Blue getting pass that huge structure. Totally remade and altered in B1. :wow:

In A8 I decided to create the 3D skybox for Borax. It turned out well and fitted good. I also decided to add the skybox part of the rocket aswell.

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Better look on the 3D skybox

Alpha 9

So in A9 I wanted to try out a new look. New style for Borax. So here we have 5 screenshots. The 4 first screenshots is of 4 different styles. The fifth screenshot if off the end result.
I liked all of the styles but as they say, you cant have everything. I decided that I wanted the lightning of image number 2, and the shadows from image number 4. And the fog from screenshot 1. The result, well you can take a look at the fifth screenshot.
I'm happy with it and wont probably change it.

Beta 1

Beta 1 was the most version putten effort in. The amount of time was even more. I went away from TF2Maps and all the other communities a while to work on this 24/7. Ofcourse I didnt actually work on it 24/7, but most of the time I had spared. The result was pretty good, but I wasnt alone in this progress.
Snipergen, who has shown his heroic acts and modeled and half skinned a Hawk just for the use of this map can now finally sit back and relax. More on that later though.

For the map, much has changed since previous versions. First off, the whole map is fully detailed and textured. Secondly there has been many structure change there and some smaller changes over here.
Due to request and many many nights of thinking I decided to go back to the default payload cart instead of Novas. Sorry NovaSilisko.
Thats pretty much all I can tell about the map.

And now for the Hawk. The hawk was in progress for about a whole month, and thats the reason for the awesome delay of Borax. But it turned out great and its now the Borax mascot. You will be seeing more of him in the trailer for the map. For now, this is the end.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrBPZcrsmOE"]YouTube - Payload Borax - Flythrough[/ame]
 
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MangyCarface

Mapper
aa
Feb 26, 2008
1,626
1,325
This isnt really related to the map sumbit thread. This belongs in the mapping discussion forum. Therefor needs a new thread.

Mapping threads are the equivalent of WIP threads from when we used that system. These are pictures showing your work in progress, and do not necessarily cover more information than your WIP thread already would. In fact, the thread's called A1 to B1 but there's no b1 stuff at all? I'm all for promoting discussion of one's map, but do it in the same thread : /
 

Fearlezz

L10: Glamorous Member
May 4, 2008
787
476
Mapping threads are the equivalent of WIP threads from when we used that system. These are pictures showing your work in progress, and do not necessarily cover more information than your WIP thread already would. In fact, the thread's called A1 to B1 but there's no b1 stuff at all? I'm all for promoting discussion of one's map, but do it in the same thread : /

Alright, mistake noted. Ill do different next time. Information about B1 will be posted very soon, along with the release of it.
 

Mar

Banned
Feb 12, 2009
607
63
Very cool, I really enjoyed it as a quick read. But the grammar nazi in me wants me to tell you that your English needs a little bit of tweaking.

EDIT: more people should do this.
 
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mtv22

L3: Member
Feb 28, 2009
116
22
Wow, the finished version looks amazing. I remember playing it in alpha and thinking how ugly those red and blu textures looked. The simple task of texturing buildings made me fall in love with it.

BTW, what's the song in the video?
 

Fearlezz

L10: Glamorous Member
May 4, 2008
787
476
Wow, the finished version looks amazing. I remember playing it in alpha and thinking how ugly those red and blu textures looked. The simple task of texturing buildings made me fall in love with it.

BTW, what's the song in the video?

Custom song made by DaBeatzProject.

No, no it doesn't.

For bumps to be justified there needs to be new and relevant stuff to bring to the table. I see nothing new.
You just couldn't resist to post a response to that, could you. :eek:hmy: