Paper's 10 Orphans

Mâché

Big Ferret
aa
Sep 7, 2015
381
301
Some people seemed to be up for this idea (though I was a bit vague with the details) and I've been meaning to do something with these maps for a while, so here it goes.
Starting today, I am going to be giving up the following old maps of mine for adoption (each are links to the original map threads):
  1. pl_operandi Adopted by Suna
  2. koth_redux
  3. pl_millhill
  4. ctf_wichita
  5. ctf_apollo Adopted by Sono
  6. cp_atrium
  7. ctf_pogger Reclaimed, renamed to Parabolic
  8. pl_paperstage1 Adopted by zythe
  9. koth_illinois
  10. dom_weir
In order to claim a map, you need to post your intent in this thread, which I will privately review, and you need to meet at least one of the following criteria:
  1. Be a donator
  2. Be a veteran
  3. Be a staff member
  4. Be a proven adequate map-maker
Probably seems a bit restrictive and hypocritical given that I am technically none of the above, but I want to have at least some knowledge/trust in the people I'm giving these maps to. Sorry if these restrictions put a wrinkle in anyone's plans. If these restrictions end up causing hardly any of the maps to be picked up, I'll lift them.

Finally, no one user may adopt more than one map.

Anyways, here's what you'll receive if you get a hold of one of those maps:
  • The current vmf and all of the previous vmfs
  • As many playtest demos as I can find
  • Links to the feedback.tf pages for each version
  • Any notes I happened to keep while developing the map
  • List of the custom assets used (this one might be tricky; if you get the map and find missing assets, I'll try my best to figure out where they're from)
Since these maps will be totally out of my hands once you receive them, you can do literally anything to them. Massive geometry changes, gamemode changes, you name it. However, before you do that, I'd recommend you read below what my original intentions were with the map. That way, if for whatever reason you want to stick closer to the map's original vision, you'll have something to work off of. You can ask me anything you'd like about them in DMs (Discord: Paper#8834). My only other stipulation is that I'm given at least partial credit for the original map, and that is all.

Anyways, here were my original intentions with each map:
Operandi was my 4th attempt at payload. It started with me wanting to make a Process-themed payload map, as I felt like that combination of theme and gamemode hadn't been used a lot and I wanted a theme that would be easier to detail. The name, in fact, is derived from the Process theme; the term modus operandi, or method of operating, could be loosely synonymous with a process.
Gameplay-wise, my original intent was to make a smaller-scale map with an emphasis on re-using space and more strictly controlling player's movement. As development progressed, however, my original style of restricting movement lead to having way too many dynamic elements (doors, mainly), cramped gameplay, and awkward geometry, especially on A with its incredibly weird U-turn setup, shortage of routes for BLU, and even worse flow for RED, especially after adding a """forward spawn""" for just that point. It looked nice enough, and even managed to get featured on the site (as well as showing up throughout ArraySeven's mapping video, albeit in an early version), but I am not proud of it. I'm proud that I was able to get it as far as I have, and of the detailing in it, but I'm not proud of the product as a whole.
Redux is a literal redux of an earlier KOTH map of mine, Ordinance. It takes place in a rocket silo in the badlands, with the rocket actually cutting through the capture zone to form a point that has a giant cylinder in the middle. My intent was to have a point in a large indoor area with an emphasis on having a lot of highground to work with such that things were generally at least slightly tipped in offense's favor, though I don't think I pulled it off quite well, at the very least not as well as the original Ordinance.
Millhill was a much more recent attempt at payload where I attempted to get really brazen with some of my design choices. A big twisty cave that'd need some serious displacement work later, large swaths of things on angles, an elevator in the middle of the map, a weird spawn that turns into a route, and many other weird things. I had ideas in mind for making things less awkward and more streamlined, but I just don't feel like it with this one. I do like the map and its concepts, but I'm just not feeling it anymore.
Wichita was the map that I ended up submitting for the Pick-it-Up contest. It's yet another Chin-style CTF, though I think the way that I went about implementing it is actually one of the weakest parts of the map's design. Speaking of which, there were a lot of rapid and massive changes to said design, and I somewhat feel like I overall made the map worse as I went along. I restricted myself in weird ways that ended up crippling the map overall, and I'm disappointed in it.
This was originally going to be my entry to Pick-it-Up, but I ended up abandoning it after only a couple of version due to being in way over my head with the logic. It originally tried to be a CS:GO-style defuse map, where BLU takes the intel from their spawn, delivers it to one of the "bomb sites," and then has to defend the site for a bit, while RED of course has to either prevent the site capture or retake the captured site. One thing lead to another, and I ended up trying to convert it to some kind of weird gravelpit/invade CTF hybrid monstrosity that had even worse logic problems. I think I gave up on this one too early, there's a lot of brushwork that I enjoy, but I made a beast, and it needs to be tamed by someone better than me.
Atrium is weird. It's a 2cp A/D inspired by a section from the game INSIDE. The map takes place in a massive underground ravine/cavern thing. BLU captures the first point to open a massive door leading to RED's main base, where the second point resides on a giant contraption of unknown purpose over a deathpit. I think there's a lot of potential for really unique visuals here, I just don't think I'm equipped to handle them alongside this map's numerous gameplay issues.
Pogger was my first attempt at CTF, and ended up being surprisingly adequate. It's another Chin-style map, this one designed in a sort of figure-8 shape, with spawns residing off to the side from the large, open intel "yard," as opposed to being a smaller, closer-knit intel room. Picking up the intel causes one of the flank routes to close off (the other route beside it being one-way anyways), forcing the intel carrier(s) to having to take the long way past (or even through) the enemy spawn to escape. At lot of people actually seem to like this one, though it definitely still has issues. This map might be the only one I actually regret orphaning, but I've got too many things on my mind. Sacrifices have to be made.
paperstage1, as the name suggests, was intended to be the first stage in a three-stage payload map, starting at a lumber mill thing at the base of a mountain (a mountain that would've served as the map's centerpiece). Stage 2 would've been a climb through the innards of the mountain, and Stage 3 would've been going along the snowy cliffs of the upper regions of the mountain before entering a final spytech area back inside the mountain. Of course, Stages 2 and 3 never came to fruition, but oh well. This map also has an unusual fixation on unique hazards, with the first point featuring a running saw, and the second featuring a grinder directly next to the cart path. Another example of me getting in way over my head.
Illinois was my submission for the Back to Basics contest, and ended up scoring 2nd place in the symmetrical category. The funny haha gimmick of the map is that the point has a deathpit right in the middle of it, similar to one of the stages of Overwatch's Illios, hence the name of this map. It's certainly an ok map, but has a lot of issues. The lobbies between spawn and the mid are easily the weakest parts of the map, and the main gimmick, while fun(ny) at the time (especially when the map first released), isn't really utilized to its fullest potential. I will argue to the death that keeping it a death pit is of utmost importance, but I can't stop anyone from changing that if they pick up the map themselves. I'm definitely proud of this one to some degree, but it has issues that I just can't be arsed to fix myself.
Weir was my original Back to Basics map before I switched to Illinois, and good thing too, as Weir is definitely...weird. It switched from being a standin-style map with 2 points, to some weird 2-KOTH variant, and now I don't even know what to call it. It's interesting, but it needs a lot of fixing. Not a whole lot to say about it other than that. For some reason, I also streamed nearly my entire dev process of the A1, and even made a timelapse of all the streams. Not relevant to how the map actually plays, just a fun fact.

And that's all he wrote. If ya'll need me to clarify anything, let me know.

Until then, happy mapping.
~Paper
 
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zythe_

✖ ✖ ✖
aa
Feb 20, 2018
505
299
i would like to take, pl_paperstage1

i like paperstage1's idea, not only the original vision you had, but stage 1 itself. i will be continuing your vision if i get to adopt the map because i already have ideas for the other stages, and the overall idea is also really cool (id imagne something like cp_snowbase where you can see stage 1 from the cliff of stage 2, just that here you'll be seeing stage 1 from stage 3). i also just love all things multistage.

i wont go too into detail about what i would change but i'd change quite a bit of stuff about s1A, the entire saw building will change while keeping the saw. ill also try to keep the grinder but i'm kind of iffy on that, may end up getting removed, depends on what the feedback pages and demos say i guess, because i like the grinders idea, but don't know if it works well enough to keep. some roofs will be made unaccusable because some of them are ridiculous. i have ideas for the map, walking around it beforehand gave me a good idea of where i wanna take it.

id also probably send you updates as to what i'm doing via discord dm, even though i'm taking over the map and its out of your hands, i'd still like you to know what i'm doing and if those things conflict with your ideas, so you still have a bit of a say in the maps development, unless you don't want that in which case tell me and just ignore this bit.

if i do get to adopt the map or not, ill be very excited to hear back from you!
 

Mâché

Big Ferret
aa
Sep 7, 2015
381
301
Sold!
For everyone else, something I should've clarified about the "intent" part, I just meant what map you intended to adopt. Having read zythe's post, however, I would probably also recommend talking a bit about what you want to do with the map when you get it, though this is not absolutely necessary.
 

Narpas

Takes way to long to make and update maps
aa
Jun 11, 2015
433
436
Hello! I'd be interested in Pogger; I've been wanting to work on CtF lately, and I remember having fun playing it on tests. There's a few things I have in mind to change, though none are set in stone for now. I remember the flow inside the bases being a bit weird, particularly for defenders, and I also remember feeling the map was a bit too short, so I'll probably restructure the bases a bit with that in mind. Depending on how things go, I may experiment with some gamemode tweaks as well, such as how the first version originally had the capture zone at mid rather than in the bases (though that's not what I have in mind). As with Zythe, I'll also probably DM you on Discord discussing what I'm planning and stuff
 

Suna

What's a greybox?
aa
Nov 10, 2017
407
613
If you're really gonna be giving up Operandi, I'll take it. I enjoy it quite a lot past the first stage so I don't think i'll do too many changes past that, except maybe last since it's pretty wacky. I also may experiment with different detailing themes since alpine is my least favourite aside from sawmill, but there's a good chance of it staying the same for the time being.
 

QualityC

L1: Registered
Feb 23, 2018
20
2
Already dmed you about this but i would like to take over apollo and millhill, i already have some ideas planned out for them so i hope you dont mind that i havent really uploaded much :p

I dont really wanna tell all of my ideas since i want to keep some of it a suprise but heres some of the highlights:
- Removing the flag from apollo to compliment the dyn cp esque thing it has
- Making the cave on millhill feel less like a death trap with a billion different angles to get shot from
 

Niro

L1: Registered
Jun 28, 2019
45
21
Hey! I have been wanting to start a payload map for a very long time but never knew where to start, I have had previous experiences working with payload maps in the past. I would love to take on pl_Millhill. I know I am not any of the 4 things that are required but I do use hammer often every day and would love a real project to finally take on. I also have competitive experience in Highlander, Prolander and 6v6, also a large general understanding of the game, so I understand how all different classes will play on the map. :)
 

DoctorDoomtrain64

func_witch
Server Staff
Nov 26, 2012
121
155
Hai! I was wondering if I'd be able to take koth_illinois! I remember when it was in playtest rotation and I remember loving the map to death, so I'd like to see if I can breathe some new life into it. I can't say I'm 100% certain on what I'd want to do with it tho, mainly since it's been a long while since I last played it, but still!
 

Tiftid

the Embodiment of Scarlet Devil
aa
Sep 10, 2016
517
390
Hi, I'd like to adopt pl_millhill.
Now, I'm not a donator, veteran or staff member, and in many people's eyes I'm anything but an adequate map-maker.
But I do have this:
blu to A forward hold from first spawn: 9 s
blu to A backward hold from first spawn: 12 s
red to A forward hold from first spawn: 5 s
red to A backward hold from first spawn: 8 s

notes about A: not enough clear delineation between the forward hold and backward hold through routing; I would solve this by moving A more into the mineshaft and the red spawn backward to accommodate this (also involving some of the overhead space to let red exit the spawn with more advantage)

=====================

blu to B forward hold from A backward hold: ~6 s (!!!) (this should equal red's walk time to the forward hold from their spawn)
blu to B forward hold from first spawn: 12 s
blu to B backward hold from first spawn: 19 s
red to B forward hold from second spawn: 10 s, kind of
red to B backward hold from second spawn: 5 s

notes about B: again not enough delineation between the forward hold and the backward hold; also, the fact that red can sort of use the peek angles from their spawn and the elevator to have a weak forward-hold over B well before they should is annoying, so I would build walls to better section off the forward and backward hold. I would also add a new arena between A and B and give BLU a forward spawn so each team's walk time is more fair.

=====================

blu to C forward hold from B backward hold: 5 s (!!!)
blu to C forward hold from second spawn: 9 s
blu to C backward hold from second spawn: 14 s
red to C forward hold from second spawn: 10 s
red to C backward hold from second spawn: 5 s

notes about C: the routing sort of lets blu skip the forward hold so I'd adjust it, and I would add a new arena after the elevator or even make the map 2-stage

=====================

blu to D forward hold from C backward hold: 6 s
blu to D forward hold from third spawn: 14 s
blu to D backward hold from third spawn: 19 s
red to D forward hold from second spawn: 10 s
red to D backward hold from second spawn: 5 s

notes about D: I would make blu spawn have more than 1 exit.

Based on this analysis, I'm confident I would be able to fix this map up into a state where it would play very well with only a few days of work - although it would depend on how hard it is to work with the brushwork.

From there, I could start the artpass. Artpassing an SSPL map or other map of similar size usually takes me around 2 months, so you could expect the map to be workshop-ready within 3 months of handing it over to me, and if not you can reprimand me for being lazy.