ctf_geo

dirtyminuth

L5: Dapper Member
Nov 5, 2007
221
15
Good to hear your staircases are in working order. Great looking map. Any more thoughts on the sewer passages (i.e. more motivation to use them)?
 

Paria

L5: Dapper Member
Dec 12, 2007
202
31
its really hard to gauge at the moment, since the best playtest i've had so far was probably an 8v8, that was pretty evenly balanced in class distribution which was pleasing, however the main purpose of the tunnels for me were for 3 classes

the heavy to avoid having to cross the middle and be a sitting duck/the spy to get behind the enemy without having to burn all of their cloak, and for the offensive style engineers for setting up teleporters/turrets in more offensive postions, unfortunately i think people need to learn the map a bit more before they fully utlize everything you put in there for them to use, i'm gonna test out the changes/improvements i make to the spawn areas to see how that impacts the general flow.

people have suggested it would be nice to be able to swim from the middle main tower (inside room) to these connecting rooms, but honestly i dont think that adds much to the map.

I think ill run a second playtest version with improved spawns, im hoping this will make the middle area much more chaotic and intense, and then be brave and release a beta and see how it pans out.

hopefully on my days off i should be able to make some good progress on the changes.

edit ,
http://img168.imageshack.us/my.php?image=geooverlayij8.jpg
thought i best attach my uber ms paint skills version, the blue arrow marks the existing "quick" way from the spawn room (its actually underneath the room u can see on the map), the red areas are the portions of the spawn room /corridors i will be adding, and the yellow routes are the hopefully new way to spice up the action, less travel time more carnage :) and a couple more options.
 
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Paria

L5: Dapper Member
Dec 12, 2007
202
31
thought i better supply a few more screenshots , level is almost ready for a beta release, still have some clipping to decide on in the middle area, but apart from that it seems ok,

ctf_geothermal_1.jpg


ctf_geothermal_2.jpg


ctf_geothermal_3.jpg


ctf_geothermal_4.jpg


ctf_geothermal_5.jpg


ctf_geothermal_6.jpg


ctf_geothermal_7.jpg


ctf_geothermal_8.jpg
 

Vilepickle

Banned
Oct 25, 2007
372
199
hmm, I might actually have to give this a look. :eek:
 

Snipergen

L13: Stunning Member
Nov 16, 2007
1,051
150
How fantastic this even looks, even now i have something to bitch about: its close to the original tfc setting. And with the skill you have, i find that a bit sad :(
 

DJive

Cake or Death?
aa
Dec 20, 2007
1,465
741
eww, how did i miss the screenshot update.

Brushwork impresses me =) not often i say that lol.

looking forward to trying this out.
 

Earl

L6: Sharp Member
Dec 21, 2007
284
38
I DL'ed it, and it seems pretty cool! It took running around it for a while, but then I recognized features from the old ut2003 map. I'm going to reccomend it for my clan's server.

Only criticism I have is that you need to make your curves smoother -- the source engine can easily handle 32 sided instead of 16 sided cylinders. The blockiness really is noticeable.
 

Noggin

L5: Dapper Member
Nov 17, 2007
226
48
I liked this, I did a solo run around and was very impressed, will try and get Rattys server to give it a go.

I agree with Earl on the circular stuff, also put them cylinder faces in a smoothingA group, should help with the smooth-rounded effect.

Also I found the 'hut' a bit out of place, try replacing with big pipes or something?

This is what I mean...

ctf_geothermal_6.jpg
 
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Paria

L5: Dapper Member
Dec 12, 2007
202
31
at least you recognised it as hut noggin :), that "feature " has been the bane of my life - people thought it was a train carriage and numerous other things it wasnt :) , i've probably rebuilt it from scratch 4 times already whilst i was learning hammer :D, its really there to prevent direct lline of sight to the main exit and also as a defendable choke point (engys can get on the roof using dsipenser /teleports)

as for the pipes comments its good to know, i started off using arches and cylinders with more sides - but after looking through the valve maps noticed they didnt tend to go too overboard so tried to follow suit, does anyone how big/small a strain to fps a 16 sided to 32 sided cylinder would make ?

the smoothing groups is something i did read about on the dev site so ill take a further look into that and try to suss it out.
 

Noggin

L5: Dapper Member
Nov 17, 2007
226
48
Yeah I just thought the hut looked out of place "Why is there a hut inside a building?"

Otherwise it looks great, well done :)
 

Shmitz

Old Hat
aa
Nov 12, 2007
1,128
746
I get why the hut is there, but it does seem out of place. Also, the wood one on red side doesn't mesh well with the spytech everywhere else in the room. Maybe try a corrugated metal texture?

Without that hut, engineers would have no possible place to set up a sentry that isn't a cakewalk to take down. I found one place right where the main room connects with the hallway that leads to the hut. Anywhere else was easy pickings for stickies or out-of-range attacks.
 

Paria

L5: Dapper Member
Dec 12, 2007
202
31
yeah the engy thing was done on purpose, i really didnt want to make the flag room turtle friendly, although i might give the engy a bit more love in that room in b2, i've fixed all the bugs/clipping/no draw issues i've found, also thinking of adding a route from the main spawn exit, that when you take a right turn from the upper spawn will allow drop down access to the right hand sewer (and also allow a soldier/demo to jump upwards through it.

I made a quick fly-thru video today for it

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhOcu4bdcVQ"]YouTube - TF2 - CTF Geothermal b1 fly-thru[/ame]
 

Paria

L5: Dapper Member
Dec 12, 2007
202
31
updated to b2

Beta 2.0 Changelist
Fixed various nodraw surfaces being visible
Improved spawn rooms to make it easier to distinguish on which level you have spawned on.
Added Playerclips to Blue spawn and numerous other areas
Fixed engineers being able to build in some areas of the spawn rooms
Fixed Intel getting stuck in various areas
Toned Down ambient sounds in most areas
Added smoothing groups to certain areas
Added Basic 3d Skybox
Added 1 new route for attackers/defenders - right of the upper spawn exit.
Added more detail and colour to the main section
Increased Lighting and ambient lighting and reduced the fog effect for better visibility


ctf_geothermal_92.jpg
 

Spike

L10: Glamorous Member
Feb 13, 2008
716
82
Lol I played that map the other day at =VIA= clan server. I pwned but I think it has too much engi sentry sites. Also I get headshoted more than one time when going out of the spawn room, I think you need to cover the spawn room from snipe scopes
 

ryodoan

Resident Bum
Nov 2, 2007
409
117
its fine as long as 1 sg cant lock the whole area down
maybe add a few pillars

I dont know if this got responded to, but if not, I want to say this now.

All Yall custom mappers need to stop hating on the engineer. :mad: seriously.

Look at 2fort, there are several places where 1 sentry gun can cover all entrances and yet they still get destroyed fairly easily. If you make a map to unfriendly for engineers you are going to piss of a large group of people that play CTF maps.