KotH koth_sandsweep a11

[~curlysnail]

koth_sandsweep - An Upward themed koth map, origionally for the 72hr summer jam.

I made Sandsweep for the 72 hour jam with the goal of making a fully working map that wasn't overscaled like the one I made before it.
I failed.
A2 is basically a fully rebuilt version of the map with simular ideas. Hopefully it's not as big this time!

 

[~curlysnail]

-Made death pits more obvious
-Killed sightlines throughout map
-Increased cap zone size
-Reworked mid route to point
-Less gravel texture

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[~curlysnail]

-Shortened walk from spawn to point, as well as shortened much of the map
-Added more pick-ups
-Reworked highground route to include cliff entrance
-Added cliff
-Placeholder textures now team-specific, but still ugly

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[~curlysnail]

A5:

-Rebuilt map again, was getting messy and still a little too big
-Reworked left and right routes
-Health by the point no longer full health
-Made map less open
-Made point smaller

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[~curlysnail]

Yet another rebuild because I am bad at scalling. This version hopefully kills the issue completely.

-Reworked left path (left from red spawn) to include in-doors area and a path around the building, both meeting to go to a path behind the point.
-Cave and elevated building layout roughly the same, however no dropdown in this version.
-Central hill now much smaller and less steep.
-Deathpits on the point side of the map removed completely.

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[~curlysnail]

a7-

Now the map is scaled properly, I can focus on the gameplay and everything else.

Optimization-

- Skybox no longer one large box.
- No-drew more unseeable textures.
- Added areaportals.

Gameplay-

- Roof of the middle-building infrount of spawn now accessable via ramp to prevent easy spawncamping. Also alows soldier/ demo to jump over for better rollouts.
- Stairs on route behind point split in two, rather than one steep staircase.
- Building behind point now accesable by both teams, with window overlooking point.
- Middle building now accesable via sniper balcony. Jumping classes can also access sniper balcony via boxes in building.
- Blocked chicken wire fence under sniper balcony now moved to the center.
- Land up from spawn courtyard to center hill now less steep.
- Hill behind point flattened by death pit.
- Death pit now more obvious.
- Added balcony hanging over deathpit
- Cliff-house interior now less open.
- Fixed issue in cliff-house where noclip extended below roof.
- All pickups now have patches under them.

Visual-

- Added RED/BLUE signs above point.
- Added dope arch above deathpit.

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[~curlysnail]

a8:

Gameplay:

- Removed upper exit in spawn, moving it to lower level.
- Spawn yard now slightly bigger, to accomodate lower exit.
- Overhanging building now accessable via ramp, so people spawning no longer forced to use lower, disadvantaged route.
- Death-pit side of map flows smoother towards death-pit.
- Made mid open area more open.
- Added room in middle buildings overlooking the point, accessable via sniper ramp or box jumps for jumping classes.
- Stairs on left side of the map (for Red) now less steep.

Visual/ Cosmetic:

- Health/Ammo packs now coloured differently.
- Added Upward soundscape.

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[~curlysnail]

a9:

- Spawn moved more to be more central.
- Spawn points changed so side door doesn't open when people spawn in.
- Overhang building roof less steep.
- Right-from-red-spawn building inside tweaked.
- Cliff-side entrance to highground now reworked to be a smaller building.
- Middle building now has staircase to lead to highground.
- Hill area now more open.
- Added more pickups.

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[~curlysnail]

Been slowly getting back into making maps and playing TF2- Decided to work on an old map I never really completed.

A10 is pretty simular in layout to A9, but has been rebuilt from scratch and is hopefully scaled much better, and is thus much more fun to play.

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[~curlysnail]

And so it is packed.

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[nᵗʰSonata]

As requested, a small critique from me just running around. Your shutter doors open too slowly, especially when playing as scout; I'd suggest extending the trigger brush farther. Your clipping is fairly good, but there's a few things I noticed, first being that the small step down outside of the front facing door is lacking clipping. I can get caught on the corner of this window, remember to add slopes to the sides of your clip brushes so they're smooth to walk up from any angle

I also feel like I shouldn't be able to walk straight up it, as (I believe) it's 32 units high, which is higher than the max stair height of 18 units. This applies to the other windows too.
I also feel like these two walls could be smoothed out a bit with some clipping

I feel like the lighting here is way too yellow, which might effect team visibility and readability

And lastly, I feel like I should be able to walk under this without crouching, but it's just barley too short

Overall, the map feels like a pretty standard Viaduct formula map, though the deathpit with a full healthpack over it adds some interest. Scaling feels fine, though the I feel the route in the last screenshot could be narrowed a bit. Lastly, I noticed a lot of the props, especially rocks, have some pretty weird lighting; I'd suggest using an info_lighting or compiling with -staticproplighting. Cheers!

 

[~curlysnail]

Thank you Narpas! I'll get right on fixing stuff.

 

[~curlysnail]

a11:

- Added a flank over the death pit at the back of the map, connecting the two teams cave routes
- Main route out of spawn thinned
- General clipping/ geometry smoothing
- Lighting in caves tweaked
- Areaportals!

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