Drainfield

Stormcaller3801

L5: Dapper Member
Jul 5, 2009
249
28
My first map, just getting started on its development.

The basic idea of the map is fairly simple: there's the RED side and the BLU side, and a road in the middle. This road is undercut by a series of drainage ditches, which are in fact a cleverly disguised series of trenches and bunkers.

There are five capture points- the road itself, two forward buildings, and two main buildings (a la Granary). The two main respawn rooms are underground and have two exits- one leads backwards into the main building and the second leading up to the forward building. Capturing the center point opens up the second exit. Capturing the opposing forward building gets you new respawn rooms that open up into the trenches.

I'm attempting to set up the entire map with the idea of certain areas favoring certain classes.
  • The main buildings, forward buildings, and two towers per side all feature Sniper decks, although the towers trade better angles of fire for less protection and no health ups.
  • Two bunkers per side give Heavies and Soldiers excellent positions for raking open ground, including the center point. These also feature 100% health ups and ammo.
  • The trenches themselves are ideal for Pyros and Demomen, as well as featuring some useful locations for Engineers to drop Sentries in.
  • Winding tunnel systems will allow Spies to pop out behind enemy lines.
  • Trench heights will be set up so that double/rocket/grenade jumping or a convenient Dispenser or Sentry Gun are necessary to climb out. Scouts will be able to navigate the map much faster than anyone else, although they will have to rely on speed to survive.
I'm figuring health and ammo will be smaller the closer you get to the center. Forward spawn rooms will be in pairs, on opposite sides of the trenches, while the main spawn room will have two exits into the main building and at least one into the forward building. That way camping is more difficult to pull off.

I'm debating how to handle water; I want there to be water on the map, but I don't want to have 42 HU water throughout the trenches. That would basically eliminate afterburn and limit Pyro effectiveness in an area where they should excel.

For details, I'm going to have a parking lot and drainage pond flanking each building. I'm debating having the road turn off at the CP, making a four-way intersection that terminates in a loop between the main and forward buildings. That would look good but might affect map balance. Just having a road is fairly out there for TF2 maps as it is.

In any case, that's the map so far. I'll edit this as I do more work and figure out how to accomplish all these ideas.

Edit: Completely revised the landscape, and started work on prep for the displacements, water, and buildings. A lot to go, but based on the reactions of people whom I've talked to about this, I'm either working on a masterpiece or the biggest fiasco since the piloted bomb.

fu3.jpg
 
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Seba

DR. BIG FUCKER, PHD
aa
Jun 9, 2009
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2,728
Looks awesome, but I'm not too crazy about total symmetry. Even though the 2 sides are extremely similar, Granary has some asymmetrical parts (mostly shipping crates) that block off some routes and open new ones. Think about that in your map, like maybe blocking a street with rubble, but opening up the inside of a building for Snipers, SG's, and the like that would be accessible only by climbing the rubble.

I'm gonna track (read: stalk) this map because I love Granary-styled ones. Go you.
 

Stormcaller3801

L5: Dapper Member
Jul 5, 2009
249
28
I'm probably going to leave anything like that to static props and the like. The actual layout will be mirrored simply because that feels like the easiest way to make sure both sides have a fair shot at winning. I'm hoping that my first map will be playable enough that it will see some use, as opposed to something that will sit in a directory never to be seen again. And if I can make it look great, well, hey. I'll have another feather in my cap.
 

pl

L5: Dapper Member
Mar 6, 2009
248
55
Sounds like an interesting yet fun idea. I hope that you're planning to add some cover in some places in the second screenshot as it seems a bit open :)

Will watch this map.
 

Stormcaller3801

L5: Dapper Member
Jul 5, 2009
249
28
Generally speaking, the spot where the soldier's standing in the second picture is an area you don't really want to be, by design: the trenches are intended to be the main fighting area for the center three cps. You can (and eventually have to) go over the top to cap the middle one, but I want that to happen in basically two situations:
  1. You're completely steamrolling the other team, so you can push forward without regards for defenders.
  2. Your team has made a concentrated effort to clear out the bunkers and sniper towers, giving you an opportunity to push forward hard.
I've seen a lot of maps (Fastlane and Granary spring to mind) where one side or the other grabs the center point in the initial rush because a Scout got off a lucky crit or FaN shot, and the rest of the game is reduced to a question of how long the defenders can hold out. I'd like to shift that and focus the fight around the central point, with the general acknowledgment that if you're really good or really coordinated as a team you should still be able to roll over less skilled teams.

That said, I'm debating whether my approach is a good one as-is. The map's conceptually 4000 HU from end to end; I've spawned a Sniper at one end and a Dispenser at the other and been able to pick it off clean. The large open areas and narrow (100 HU) trenches may just end up encouraging Pyro/Sniper spam.

I can probably fix that by adding more cover, but I'd rather not band-aid the map if I can fix things beforehand.
 

Stormcaller3801

L5: Dapper Member
Jul 5, 2009
249
28
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0TZhv8N5QY]Drainfield Work In Progress[/ame]

I don't know how many of these I'll be doing, but I hope it gives an idea as to the general environment around the center point. I'll be extending it further; the map is already about 2400 x 6000, but in comparison Granary is about 12300 x 2400. So this isn't a mammoth yet.
 

Stormcaller3801

L5: Dapper Member
Jul 5, 2009
249
28
Just uploaded a .vmf of the central area of the map for perusal.

THIS IS NOT PLAYABLE. It's not even remotely close, given that there's no win conditions. This is solely to give people the chance to run around a bit and see the layout as it stands so far. It's still very much a work in development, and to that end, there's displacements that have nothing under them, the skybox goes all wonky near the map edges, there's no props, and there's areas that really should be better lit but aren't yet. But if you just want to run around, check heights, and see what you can do, here you are.