CP Imbricatus a5

[JeanPaul]

Imbricatus! This is a 3 cp A/D map with an emphasis on height with uphill and downhill battles. Blue pushes its way through a winding uphill battle to capture all three points.

The area seen in the first few is pretty much the same size as gorge's first area while also utilizing the layout idea of not containing the first control point. Point A is in the next area up on a small hill. A contains a shortcut for Red to get to the frontline faster which closes as soon as A is captured. Once B is captured, blue spawn moves up and a shortcut opens up for blue to get to the final point faster. This was to ensure a faster, more intense gameplay as this map is pretty much the same scale as Mountainlab and I always found that map incredibly fun but also a little slow at times. Here is the layout:

http://i.imgur.com/gUqLR.jpg

Green is the path taken by blue from first spawn to the final point.
Purple is the shortcut red can taken before A is captured
Blue is blue's second spawn location that opens once B is captured

So without further explanation, the screenshots! (note* all these shots were taken with noclip, so some shots will be taken from non-playable areas) Also, there might be a few line of sight problems, but nothing too bad or not easily fixable because I am still adding cover!

A view of the first area from the lowest blue spawn
http://i.imgur.com/g0AZ5.jpg

A view from the midway blue spawn
http://i.imgur.com/rmToS.jpg

Blue spawns from the left in this image
http://i.imgur.com/QN3yD.jpg

view of mid spawn and then lowest spawn in the background and high spawn all the way in the back
http://i.imgur.com/4cHy7.jpg

view from the first bunker type place with lowest blue spawn in the lower right corner
http://i.imgur.com/qgeHv.jpg

Transitions from one area to another in my map are slopes that immediately favor blue then slope back upwards slightly into the new area. Here is the first one of this kind.
http://i.imgur.com/6bRai.jpg

Opposite view of previous screenshot
http://i.imgur.com/35Knw.jpg

In this image, blue spawns in the first area seen to the LEFT and A is to the right, these curved nooks are for really easy access to the new area without allowing a line of sight through either area. (this might be a confusing screenshot haha)
http://i.imgur.com/pW2VU.jpg

First view of A's platform (way in the back here)
http://i.imgur.com/X0dUD.jpg

View of A from the other entrance
http://i.imgur.com/WRLzI.jpg

View of A
http://i.imgur.com/42bIK.jpg

View of A from red's shortcut facing where blue would be coming from
http://i.imgur.com/om1OC.jpg

View of A looking down into the transition to B. You can either take the low road or the high road.
http://i.imgur.com/5QN7P.jpg

View of transition to B. A is immediately to the right on the other side of that wall
http://i.imgur.com/BN3F1.jpg

High road leads here
http://i.imgur.com/mvrCd.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/iFnav.jpg

These are the stairs to blue's height advantage point for B (youll see what I mean in a bit)
http://i.imgur.com/P3enz.jpg

To the left here is the view from near B viewing the lowe route, the high route and blue's height advantage (the curved walkway)
http://i.imgur.com/5kooJ.jpg

View of B from low route
ttp://i.imgur.com/826MA.jpg

This is my strategic level design creation that allows blue COVERED access to B while also giving blue a small height advantage and one way path to keep red back (except for rocket jumpers and shit)
http://i.imgur.com/h8Wdo.jpg

View of B from the close quarters route from the higher route
[url]http://i.imgur.com/2TAHY.jpg[/url]

Inside point B. To the right is blue's covered path (notice how red has a pit of death and CANNOT go into blue's covered path. Since the height is in red's favor, blue gets layout advantages
[url]http://i.imgur.com/crU2d.jpg[/url]

View of B and lower route
[url]http://i.imgur.com/xYIzB.jpg[/url]

View of blue's height advantage via noclip
[url]http://i.imgur.com/WfOhn.jpg[/url]

View of B from red's vantage point. Immediately behind me is the main door to C
[url]http://i.imgur.com/Qw4Ay.jpg[/url]

B again
[url]http://i.imgur.com/B7FRk.jpg[/url]

Red's shortcut to A at the beginning of the round.
[url]http://i.imgur.com/rxyhh.jpg[/url]

View of entrance to C from in front of B
[url]http://i.imgur.com/DXUHE.jpg[/url]

View from blue's covered path to B
[url]http://i.imgur.com/rlOpv.jpg[/url]

And thats it for now. I am working on the layout for the final point now. Any thoughts or questions?

 

[Sergis]

emphasis on height eh

that always works well

beware that the snipers dont enjoy the map too much too

also the OP takes 20 minutes to scroll through

 

[JeanPaul]

Absolutely. I have been making sure that snipers wont have free reign on everyone and worse case I can always add cover in places.

Everyone must really look at the fullsize screenshots, the thumbnails make everything seem way further away than they are.

EDIT: Also its nowhere near as large a height difference as proletariat . Its also a lot more open, so no worries!

 

[Sergis]

in any case, rename it lubricatus so its easier for me to spell

 

[Jyyst]

Wow! That brushwork and the architecture overall is very impressive.

While it looks very nice... To be honest I think with this layout this map would work a lot better as a payload (judging from the pictures).

Here is why:

1. Many areas of the map are so huge that I fear the fighting will be very scattered and quite possibly that allow for attackers to just passby defenders. For me in these kind of maps the best parts are the intense chokepoint fights with flanking and explosivespam and all that good stuff .

2. The layout will favor some classes a lot. I can see pyros and heavies having a hardtime here.

In payload mode both of these problems would be solve because the figting is focused mostly around the payload. This way the focus is there and and short range classes stay relevant at least for defenders.

Then again I might be totally wrong.

Just my thoughts.

TL; DR: Map looks shweet, map might work better as a payload.

 

[JeanPaul]

Those are some very valid points and I will keep it in mind while building. I want to test before I make any rash decisions though. I have a feeling heavies and pyros will be just fine so long as they dont mindlessly run into the open bits. I also have smaller side routes and stuff. Seeing these screens and judging your reaction makes me feel I need some more cover in areas though.

EDIT: Thanks for the brushwork compliments, this was truthfully some of the hardest stuff I have ever managed before and I have worked entire maps based off a 32 sided cylinder before

 

[Mr. Happy]

I ran around an early version of this map and have to say that it is really cool! It might be a bit big but that should be easily fixed with cover placement and minor structural changes as JP said.

This is a sweet map and one to watch.

 

[tyler]

you know about displacements right

 

[JeanPaul]

Not every map has to have displacements bro

 

[tyler]

it seems like you could use them

 

[JeanPaul]

How so, yyler?

EDIT: Didnt notice that was a link. I think the image looks fine, how do you think it could benefit from displacements?

 

[Fruity Snacks]

I think he's just poorly saying that displacements would work better there than multiple solid brushes.

Also, great brushwork! You've really made some interesting architecture.

 

[Hanz]

This is looking good! I'd like to play it sometime. Be careful though with that circular move at B (the path BLU has to take from A->B->C) if you make too many turns and wind the map too much without clear signage it could get pretty confusing for new players. But if you keep this in mind, and put a few signs, it should be fine.

 

[Fredrik]

This looks so cool! Please use displacements, it would look so much better.
PS. Some of your windows are floating.

 

[Jeremy]

This staircase needs lights.

 

[Pocket]

How so, yyler?

EDIT: Didnt notice that was a link. I think the image looks fine, how do you think it could benefit from displacements?

It's supposed to be the ground, yet it's made of large flat surfaces at odd angles to each other. A smooth, natural-looking ground would make a lot more sense. Even if you plan to texture it with something artificial like concrete.

 

[JeanPaul]

I am going to experiment with some displacement work but I feel as if the style I am going for would work out better as brushes. Another thing I might do is take all the floor geometry and raise it by 1 unit, and convert ALL of those copied brushes to displacements so I can paint in the texture from doublecross's mid so I can have mini green plant sprites wherever I want.

 

[tyler]

That's probably the worst way to get plant sprites. Just make a new blend texture and do it like normal. You don't need to actually displace displacements, you know.

 

[xzzy]

The downside to having all those funky angles on your brushes is your vis times are going to be murder.

Building nice square nodraw geometry with displacements over the top will save you a bunch of CPU cycles.

 

[JeanPaul]

The downside to having all those funky angles on your brushes is your vis times are going to be murder.

Building nice square nodraw geometry with displacements over the top will save you a bunch of CPU cycles.

Not if they are func_detailed. My vvis compile times are always sub-10 seconds.

That's probably the worst way to get plant sprites. Just make a new blend texture and do it like normal. You don't need to actually displace displacements, you know.

Displacements dont block out the void, bro.

I dont know why people are so worried about how I create the map