CTF_Frostfire - Dev Diary

[Deadeye2007]

Updates: February 1st, 2008


Map Name: CTF_Frostfire

Current Stage: Mid Development (Pre-Alpha)

Date Started: January 2nd, 2008

Developer: Deadeye
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Map Story:

This map is set on an offshore oil rig. Red and Blu have co-existed side by side for over two years, but Blu recently discovered Red was drilling into their oil supply. Determined to stop the deceitful acts of Red, Blu now plots to plant bombs at strategic locations in the Red base. Red needs to strike first to ensure their oil supply remains safe.

Map Inspiration:

This map is based upon the Socom map named "Frostfire". The dimensions of the map are very similar, but the texturing has been modified to fit with TF2 style. While the original map was NOT a ctf map, but rather a suppression map, I decided the same would not work well with the fast pace of TF2.

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Dev Journal: January 29th, 2008

My first entry! As you will see from the screenshots, this map is already under progress. I think this journal will be a nice way for me to document my efforts toward my first map with Hammer editor (or any editor for that matter).

Tonight's mission is to finish the rough-in work on the west-most building. You should be able to tell which one I'm referring to by the screenshot. Last night I hollowed the building out so that I could create a 'quasi-skybox' inside. Essentially it is a detailed area where no player will step foot, added only for level of realism and detail.

I'm not going to say too much in this entry as I want this journal to be a going-forward one. No sense in recanting what I've done to date, just enjoy the process yet to come.

For anyone wondering about the ladder at the sniper tower, touching the ladder will teleport the player to the top.

Without further adieu, my screenshots:

 

[Deadeye2007]

 

[Deadeye2007]

 

[TheBladeRoden]

I was worried as hell when I read the title that someone stole my map idea before I could even get the thread up.

 

[YM]

Looks nice, I like the idea of a dev diray, I will be following this one

First pic on the second post, You have an HL2 texture (baleet it!)

Offshore Oil rigs tend to be much more metal than concrete (its lighter) So swap some of those clean looking concrete textures for dirty looking metal ones.
(also, add a few huge chimneys and one of those "excess gas" pipes thats constantly burning - black smoke partical effect)

 

[Deadeye2007]

Which texture is HL2?

I had corrugated metal as the first texture on the buildings. Unfortunately, it too was an HL2 texture and did not fit well with TF2. I do agree with your suggestion regarding oil rigs being mostly metal - I may have to delve into making a custom texture to suit my needs here.

 

[YM]

http://static1.filefront.com/images/personal/r/rsjaded/117290/zystdjxxyy.thumb500.jpg
just under the gun, its a brick texture from HL2

 

[Deadeye2007]

Oh yea, that one. That was a texture I used when mocking up the buildings. That area will be transformed to a 'grate' texture. Thanks for being diligent though, appreciated.

 

[Deadeye2007]

February 1st, 2008:

I started the night planning on fixing up this ugly monstrosity of a guard/sniper tower I made quickly. (see pic below)

After manipulating vertexes on the supports a bit, I ended up with a "bad vertex" and had to revert back to a previous save. I decided I would rework the whole building instead of trying to fix this one. I've decided on making a brushwork replica of the guard tower from alcatraz! I'm pretty pumped about it, but it will take some serious work - at least 5-10 hours. I will save it for another day.

So to occupy the rest of the time I had tonight, I decided I would take YouMe's suggestion and start on metal textures for my buildings. The original Frostfire map had corrugated metal all over every building. I tried that to begin with, but the corrugated textures were all HL2, and they looked like crap. The only way to remedy the situation was to make my own. So I did. Normal maps and all, and they turned out great IMO - very TF2 style.

These pics below show the 'cream' texture and the 'lightblue' texture. These are both the 'clean' versions (I have also made dirty looking ones).

I'm very happy with the final results. The only issue I have left to determine is what type of 'support' structure I am going to make that will be visible from the outside and inside of the building. Buildings with metal panelling always have some sort of support structure because the panels cannot be used to create structural integrity. Most hide it inside the panelling, but in the case of TF2, it will look plain. I'll give it some thought tomorrow and hopefully come up with something.

I am going to make the textures I made available for download. TF2 needs more textures badly, and I think this one is pretty 'TF2' by the looks of it. So far I have clean and dirty version of Blue, Red, White and Cream. I can make other colors without too much work, but for now those are going to be it.

End of entry.

-Deadeye

 

[dirtyminuth]

Enjoying your dev notes, Deadeye. You might want to consider "exposing" the underlying support frame by making some holes in the metal paneling. You can do small holes (slits near a corner) or large holes (whole panel sections missing). If you're clever about it, you can still block VIS.

 

[Haas]

Please ad a tf2 skybox that hl2 skybox made it so more ugly!

 

[Deadeye2007]

February 4th, 2008

I have a special surprise for you all today. Instead of just taking screenshots and typing something up, I decided to record a video for you. The audio is a bit low, so turn it up a bit - and please don't make fun of my nasal voice, I have a cold.


EDIT: Video is being reworked. I should have it up again later today.

 

[Snipergen]

Your normal map has too much detail I think, blur it a bit and add some scratches too.

 

[Haas]

Could you please upload it to google video or youtube.
File front is not working for me

 

[Deadeye2007]

Your normal map has too much detail I think, blur it a bit and add some scratches too.

Yea the blue texture bump is a bit too "bumpy". I was going for the sprayed rubber effect - like you would see on a car undercoating. It does not mesh well with the cream texture though.

 

[Deadeye2007]

EDIT: I will hopefully have the video back up this weekend. Stay tuned.

I've taken the last few days off of mapping to work on getting custom models to work. One of the major issues I had was creating intricate railing with brushes. It is extremely hard to get a nice looking curve/transition with cylinders when working in the scale your map is. To fix this, I made them at 5X scale, then shrank them down. That worked until I saved the map with "invalid objects", and broken vertices. So I gave up.

To get the railings I NEED for my map, I have no choice but to model them. So it was extremely important that I learned how to do it. About a month ago, I made a serious attempt at getting a custom model to work, but compiling was holding me back. Thanks to Hawk's tutorial, I have finally managed to get a model to work - mind you, I have not yet gotten the texture on it to work.

I also took a break from CTF_Frostfire to start in on a new idea I had for a map. The map is to be called Suburbia, and its setting would be residential suburbs, and a small commericial "kwik-e-mart" type area. I got a few hours into that and decided it was too much like the work that is going into Frostfire, so I put it on the shelf for the time being.

I still wanted to work on something new, so I decided my next map project would be a natural environment with displacement types cliffs/areas. There is an old socom map that was a favourite for almost everyone - Desert Glory. That will be my next map project.

I know some people say don't make old maps for TF2. But I cannot agree with that unless there is some reason that it shouldn't be done. A lot of times people try to port old maps to new games by making them look exactly the same as the original. That is not my goal here. My goal with Frostfire, and Desert Glory, is to make those maps FOR TF2. What I mean by that, is the general premise of the maps remains, but the style and gameplay must be modified to fit the new game style. I hope I can pull that off.

-end of entry.