CTF Tombfort

[evanonline]

TOMBFORT - Available in CTF and Arena form!

WORKSHOP PAGE FOR CTF: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=454117408
WORKSHOP PAGE FOR ARENA: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=454126958

The Mann brothers have discovered that due to a property zoning mistake, an entire Egyptian pyramid falls within the territories of the Southwest American gravelpits owned by their father. Both teams have immediately set up treasure hunting fronts to disguise the fact that they're actually...treasure hunting! It's up to you, the player, to choose a side and obtain top secret intelligence files on all the treasure the other team's hunting.

Tombfort (formerly 2ruin) is my return to mapping. It's a CTF map just because it felt like the simplest thing to do to get my feet back in the water. It's heavily inspired by my first map from 2008(!), Waterhole, which was an Egypt-themed CTF map with ridiculous underwater Turbine vents. This map has ridiculous underwater areas, and Turbine vents, but mercifully, they're separate now! I wanted to make a really fun map for public servers that felt fresh yet familiar, and I hope I was able to accomplish that.

Contents:

-CTF Tombfort RC
-Arena Tombfort RC
-Menu thumbnails
-CTF Tombfort intro video

CONTENT CREDITS

Projector Screen and Camera by Sgt Frag
Team-colored Egypt textures by Engineer
Mann Co. Box Sign by Void
Vending Machine, Portable Toilet and Forklift by Rexy
Film Studio Lights by mangledpixel
I lost track of how many materials from the TF2 Maps Construction Pack I used! Oops! But there's a lot of them!

SPECIAL THANKS

Ikks for the Tombfort name
Constable Lemon for early feedback and testing
Nadia and Carmyn for starring in the original intro movie
Rally and Sophie for starring in the final intro movie
Rally for rocket jump demonstration/ammo pickup advice

 

[Aelfric]

going to download it soon, the first screenshot shows a very tidy design

 

[wareya]

I don't like how you have this one almost straight path to the intel that goes through the water and only connects to the rest of the map along that distance in one place with a relatively obscure connector that only goes into it.
That was a mouthful but hopefully it makes a little sense.

 

[evanonline]

Not a mouthful at all, I get you completely. The underwater passage and its path through the map was something I really wanted to try but I've been kind of unsure about it. I was given a great idea from a friend today on how to improve it that I plan on implementing in A2. But I'm gonna let it sit for a bit and try and get some testing done just to see how it fares.

 

[Garuda112]

I think ill give this map a fly-through/playtest on my own. Ill update with any feedback when I get the time to look at it.

 

[Garuda112]

Ugh i just finished doing the update and it got deleted. Let me try again:

Overall, I think the map has some good elements, and i think with a few improvements it could be made even better.

Image 1: I don't think this back area will be used much, aside from the occasional flank around the intelligence area. I would suggest making it smaller around the far ends. Also, is this upper area intended to be used, or is it scenery?

Image 2: Since the only two exits through this room are right next to each other, I found it a little annoying to have to go to the far end of the room to access the upper area right in front of me otherwise. My suggestion would be to either shorten the ramp as it is, or better yet, turn the ramp 90 degrees toward the vent entrance. It would also cut down on the room size.

Image 3: I like the concept of the island here, but it is too high to access for anyone other than Scout, Demoman, and Soldier, who don't have to use the water to get there. For reference, I can't get up there as a Heavy. Either a set of steps could be added (like the other ones into the pool) or, since there is room, add a solid walkway to each side so both teams can walk to it (you would have to cut a hole in the wall, granted).

In addition, you should probably move the health pack in front of the tree - it will make the pack much more obvious when looking straight at the island.


Other notes:
- The ventilation shaft/water route felt too far removed from the rest of the map. This looks like a route that could be easily exploited by intel runners, where the only counter would be to surprise them in the water or guard the exits closely. I think if the path was running right through the center of the map (through the center of the pool, not on the side) it would make it a less obscure path and, hopefully as a result, more balanced against runners. I'm thinking of the same principle as 2fort's sewer path.

- I really want to go to Five Guys now. Thanks. Those signs are excellent.

I hope all of this helps. Have fun with the Gameday playtest!
~G

 

[evanonline]

Thanks for the great feedback! It's especially important because I...think I slept through the gameday test for my own dang map. WHOOPS.

The island being too high up is intentional, but maybe should've been more clear as a high spot than it is. I made the walls just high enough so a Detonator Pyro could leap them and get to the healthpack at the middle. All of that said I think I'll probably just change it so you can access it from the pool.

My big idea for making the side area with the vents a little more "attached" is to add a middle area to the map that connects to the room in the water pit with the big medkit, and extends upwards leading to a balcony between both battlements. This would solve the problem of vent area being a little disconnected, adds a way across to the battlements much like the 2fort bridge, and gives a little area to come up for a breather underwater too.

I'll definitely consider repositioning the pathway of the pool too, that's a great idea.

 

[evanonline]

The overall feedback from the gameday response was that there were too many areas that go unused, which I really already knew deep down inside, but I wanted to throw it out there to the wolves as it was and see what people thought.

The side entrance to the intel closest to the respawn is already gone in the revisions I've made, so that way you have to go through the back area. I might take out the "main" entrance to the intel and make it so you enter in there through the stairs room. It might be a good idea to remove the balcony and just make it so you enter through the corner with the health if I do that.

A few people seem to like it though and I'm glad!

 

[evanonline]

I took a bit of a break the last two days but I have some updates to share for today.

I extended the battlements a little so that a stock Scout can successfully jump across. This might not stick depending on some other changes I plan on tooling around with later, but hey, there's something.

If you'll forgive me for being too lazy to build cubemaps, the intel now looks like this! Instead of the weird ramp thing that had been going on, there's now just two passages to the intel room: the upper passage from outdoors, and the lower passage from the vents.

The stairway room is now much more straightforward: you can still get to it from the vents but there's no more balcony. I think this makes it much less obtuse in terms of access but keeps its original purpose (preventing the player from getting completely fucked by sentries should they take the vent into the intel room) intact.

Last thing to do before I release A2 is to make a nice new area connecting to the vent shaft rooms, which should help in eliminating how out-of-the way and obscure it feels. Another small change worth noting is that I've raised the flooring of the underwater area by about 64 units, if I recall, which doesn't look like much but might help a bit with spam issues (originally the underwater area was the same height as the well in Well).

And, yes, the lighting is atrocious. That won't stick for the actual release.

 

[evanonline]

Updated to A2! Sorry it took so long. I got a little occupied with another project. Screenshots in OP got updated too.

-Fixed a few erroneous textures
-Added more directional signs
-added small ammo pack near the small medkit by the fence/ruins side area
-Removed the metal pack underneath each balcony to try and limit spam
-Removed small healthpack and medium ammopack by spawn in the intel room
-Added signs pointing to the respawn room in the intel
-Raised floor of underwater area and changed lighting to draw more attention to underwater exits
-Revamped stair room in the intel: no more balcony, stairs from vent go up to where the health and ammo used to be
-Back outdoors area completely removed, only entrances to intel are the vents and through the base
-Battlements retooled to adjust sightlines and provide more room
-Room between ruins and vent shortened and simplified
-Can now access the middle island using some stairs

The change to make the vent room more accessible that I had been talking up isn't here. I was going to open up a passage in the middle, in the gray dev texturey wall between the battlements, that led into the vent room. I realized that wasn't really going to fly and basically adds a straight shot into the intel between both bases.

Instead going forward I think a better solution would be to make a passage between the intel and the vent room that isn't...a vent. I also have a few ugly curves going on, some cubemap problems, and most importantly a really bad sightline I noticed a little too late. Stuff to work on, but for now I wanted to get something out.

 

[evanonline]

Okay, so I kinda got jumpy and instead of getting the map Actually Tested, I sent it around to some friends and got some feedback that way, and made a few fixes. Again, too lazy to do cubemaps. Sorry.

The door inside the ruins has been cracked open!

It leads to this swanky door I made that I'm irrationally proud of, which serves as a passage into the intel room! This gives the ruins area and the vent room a more "connected" feeling.

I'm jumping the gun a little, but some of my friends complained that the fact that I hadn't really textured anything made it hard to navigate the map. Obviously by no means final, but I love detailing and I think this is coming along well.

 

[evanonline]

Version A3

-Missed notes from previous version: Removed guardrails in spawn rooms to emphasize lower passage more
-Adjusted entrances into each base from outside to fix problematic sightlines
-Fixed clipping on barbed wire fence posts
-Did some detailing--inside the vent rooms and the ruins outside
-Added new passageway from ruins to intel!
-Sized down vent room
-Fixed all the respawn lockers being the same entity (...oops)

A bit of a quick jump between versions but I wanted to apply the changes I've made for when I shove this on gameday. Updated screenshots later today.

 

[evanonline]

Last minute update before gameday. FInally implemented that change Garuda suggested a whole page ago. WHOOPS.

Version A4

-Adjusted clipping on corner fences to prevent weird rocket jumping glitch that can send you out of the map
-Adjusted stairs in mid so you can walk up them as you emerge from the pool rather than needing to hop up
-Changed the center of the map: two paths on each side of the pool leading up into the enemy base rather than one connected passage to the side, allowing for players to cut off escaping enemies at mid
-Adjusted the vents leading from the ramp room by the ruins into the intel to adjust sightlines a little and help against potential sentry nests
-Placed medium metal/healthkit in the ramp room
-Fixed rocket jumping exploit

 

[evanonline]

The "dry" route through the map was a particular point of contention at Saturday's gameday and I've never felt too satisfied with it anyway, so...overhauling! Nothing spices up a bland area like a little height variation.

 

[evanonline]

Merry Christmas y'all! Alpha 5 is here with a new name and a revamped layout.

Version A5

-renamed map "Tombfort"
-Raised floor of underwater area some more
-Adjusted spawn points to put more emphasis on alternate exit
-Tweaked intel room--Intel platform is now more towards the back
-Widened back area with small health/ammo and removed back entrance to base due to low usage
-Lowered exit from spawn to ruins interior to prevent fall damage
-Added more directional arrows throughout the map
-Simplified the vent route, only one bend again, but the bend occurs farther back
-Toyed with lighting subtly
-Brought the exit from the stair room at the back of the intel room forward
-Overhauled the dry route through the map--less bland, I hope!!
-Scooted the sniper decks back a little bit--stock Scouts can no longer jump across. Sorry, but it had to be done.

Known issues:

-Forgot to fix a few doorframes that you could get caught on
-Some issues with cubemaps

Already fixed both but neither seemed huge enough to recompile over.

I expect this to be the final alpha version unless something really horrific comes up! Really excited about it! Pictures coming soon!

 

[evanonline]

Not dead yet, just been busy and I hit a bit of a wall with detailing. Here's how things look so far.

 

[evanonline]

Not dead yet!

I'm anticipating having B1 released by Friday at the latest. c:

 

[Egan]

I can't tell from the screenshots if you have one yet, but you should try to create a 3D skybox for b1.

 

[evanonline]

I don't have one, but yeah, I'm going to! I still gotta do soundscapes, the 3D skybox, optimize some more and finish detail for the red side, off the top of my head. Probably more. I got a list!

 

[evanonline]

B1 is here!! Hooray!

-Detail!!!
-Soundscapes!!!!
-Fixed erroneous cubemaps in some areas
-Fixed players being able to walk into the computers in the foyer area
-Added small healthkit and medium ammopack underneath the stairs into the intel in the main hallway
-Added medium health and ammo in the back room by the intel

With the map moving from alpha to beta, I felt it was a give the OP a rewrite, so check that out for more deets! I'm pretty excited to have reached this point. The bottom two screenshots are outdated though, whoops. Gotta take more screens.