[WiP] ctf_hammerhead

Apom

L6: Sharp Member
Sep 14, 2008
366
65
[WiP] ctf_hammerhead - Alpha 2 is out !

Alpha 2 is available, you can download it from this very site's download section! It weighs in at less than 4MB, and here's a link for your convenience.

hh14.jpg


Additional credits go to Shini for the sky texture, lillbrorsan for the barrier models, Nineaxis for the hardhat poster, Shmitz for the TF2M posters, and elfworks for the class posters. Thanks to all of them.


*** UPDATE LOG ***

Alpha 2:
- complete layout redesign : entirely reworked outdoors and expanded base space with new corridors
- removed gimmicks (ladders & jump ramps)
- steel trusses turned into full 3D
- adopted deep night / space skybox

Alpha 1:
-initial release
 
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Apom

L6: Sharp Member
Sep 14, 2008
366
65
I've been working on a CTF map as of late. The setting is some sort of warzone just before the storm, so there are already trenches and the like, but no destruction yet (i.e. no craters, buildings still stand, etc.). Here is what I have so far:

hh00.jpg


This picture is taken from the top of the red antenna, which is different from the blue one as it is more a TV antenna of sorts (notice the details at ground level are different too):

hh01.jpg


Here is the inside of the blue antenna, you can see the red one in the background for a view from ground level:

hh02.jpg


While the outside of bases is still in dev textures, the interior is already detailed to some degree. I'm trying to make a CTF map that is faster than most (I'm not sure I can do as fast as Turbine, but that's my goal), so the bases themselves are really small.

hh03.jpg


Here's the intel room on the other side of the wall:

hh04.jpg
 

theydidntnameme

L1: Registered
Jan 2, 2009
40
8
wow great!! :wow:always nice to see a map with a flag!!! :woot: hopefully everyone that posts wip posts gets good feedback ;).

im assuming your lighting is not final? it could just a little more ambient light. or this could be caused by a leak which results in direct lighting only :(
 

Zeewier

L9: Fashionable Member
Sep 20, 2008
619
262
I like your style for the outdoor areas, original style :) It does look a bit like sniper heaven though...

Advice: Turn AntiAliasing on max when taking screenshots makes them look a lot better!
 

Apom

L6: Sharp Member
Sep 14, 2008
366
65
Hey guys, thanks for the feedback ;)

im assuming your lighting is not final? it could just a little more ambient light. or this could be caused by a leak which results in direct lighting only :(
There are no leaks (it's cordon-compiled), it's supposed to be night time hence the ambient darkness. However, I will properly light play areas (with things such as the spotlight poles you can already see), which hopefully will create interesting contrasts while at the same time properly giving an impression of ambient darkness that isn't detrimental to gameplay.

It does look a bit like sniper heaven though...
My two goals for this map are limited sentry spots (sentries are good in PL or A/D CP, but they tend to kill the fun in CTF), and very limited sniper lines. This second aspect is the only one that has been somewhat play-tested so far, and the wooden barricades along the central trench seem to properly do their job at cutting sniper lines. This will of course need testing at a larger scale, and rest assured that I will not allow snipers to rule this map.

(FYI: the bases only have accesses at ground level or below, and the platforms on both antennae can only be reached by soldiers and demos. Snipers can hardly use height advantage to overcome sight-blocking obstacles)
 

Apom

L6: Sharp Member
Sep 14, 2008
366
65
I have entirely re-done the spawn rooms, as the ones I had before proved somewhat messy during test play. No real screen-worth material yet, but this change makes it sufficiently playable that I released an alpha version for you to test and point gameplay flaws:

http://forums.tf2maps.net/downloads.php?do=file&id=958

Of course, style remarks are welcome too, but know that outdoor textures are merely tentative, and indoor detailing is not complete either (especially in the lighting department).
 

Apom

L6: Sharp Member
Sep 14, 2008
366
65
I made some progress on the skybox, you can see in the attached picture one of its key elements.

For those who wonder, the whole map is inspired by the Starcraft: Brood War intro movie:

[ame="http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=EOEGudEoSW4"]YouTube - Brood War intro movie[/ame]

Hence the trenches and night setting, for instance.
 

theydidntnameme

L1: Registered
Jan 2, 2009
40
8
wow cool!! when you put it that way it looks GREAT!! the atmosphere is very well done. it would be cool if at some point you had the battlecruiser turn on its spotlight and start searching the map lighting up everything.. but i dont know how that would affect performance
 

Apom

L6: Sharp Member
Sep 14, 2008
366
65
wow cool!! when you put it that way it looks GREAT!! the atmosphere is very well done. it would be cool if at some point you had the battlecruiser turn on its spotlight and start searching the map lighting up everything.. but i dont know how that would affect performance
This is already planned and will be implemented in the next version, precisely to test the impact on performance ;)
 

Apom

L6: Sharp Member
Sep 14, 2008
366
65
Here's what it looks like with better texturing and in-game lighting. The skybox texture is experimenal (IR-filtering atmosphere anyone?), I'm not yet sure if it's too much or not.

As promised, you can also see the tracklight, it follows the flag carrier! I'll be fine-tuning its effect (intensity, halo etc.), this one is a rough approxmiation that I used as proof-of-concept.

hh05.jpg
 

theydidntnameme

L1: Registered
Jan 2, 2009
40
8
cool! that battlecruiser is part of the 3d skybox right? if so you should take advantage of the 3d skybox and make it COLOSSAL!!! and then theres also the soundscapes i think that will make the level sound like a war zone.

i am very excited for this map!:thumbup:
 

Apom

L6: Sharp Member
Sep 14, 2008
366
65
Well right now it's a big (really big) func_detail, since this is only a private test version. I'll be switching it to 3D skybox before any public release.
 

GrimGriz

L10: Glamorous Member
Jan 2, 2009
774
133
Shame about the player numbers this map got. It's really pretty for this stage of development, more than a little dark than I like however.

There seems to be an anti-ladder convention you might consider adhering to.

The outside seems faster and easier than the inside, perhaps some more obstacles?
 

Apom

L6: Sharp Member
Sep 14, 2008
366
65
Some areas of the base are dark because I only put a couple of lights in there (haven't done the fixtures yet, it's on the way). This is not intended to stay :) The outsides are closer to a final version though, namely the areas that are properly lit (around lightpoles and antennae).

I intentionnally do not adhere to the anti-ladder convention. I tried using a stairway in its place, but it always ended up eating all the available space. I know that people asked for larger bases, so depending on how I make them larger (i.e. which direction), I may have enough room to eventually add a stairway.

Obstacles outside, yes! As you say, there still needs to be a bit of space cutting. So far I did "interesting" obstacles, with the antennae and lightpole bases. But now I'll get lazy and use some rock props :D

By the way, someone else asked that I make the antennae accessible. The platforms up there are purposefully reserved to Soldiers and Demomen, as a Sniper would be in a very overpowering position.
 

Apom

L6: Sharp Member
Sep 14, 2008
366
65
Okay, here's an update! I'm entirely rethinking the outdoor layout in order to reduce the number of alternate paths and make players more able to understand what's going on outside of their short radius of action. In the meantime, I'm increasing base size (a major player request) by adding corridors, this one already existed but is now detailed and twice as long:

hh06.jpg


I'm also adding a longer behind the other exit (it will help my layout changes as well). I'm taking advantage of this to add some brushwork to make the bases look more like bunkers and less like shoeboxes:

hh07.jpg
 

Apom

L6: Sharp Member
Sep 14, 2008
366
65
Okay, second corridor is done! As you can see, it starts where the side exit used to be (the fan is new too, I figured it made sense to aerate a bunker):

hh08.jpg


While the previous corridor was a radioactive material storage area, this one has a very strong "pipework" theme. Notice how the exit now faces the same direction as the other two (it's no longer a side exit per se), but with extra elevation - something that's going to help me with the new outdoor layout.

hh09.jpg


As you could see on the first picture, there is a dead-end corner where engineers should be able to literally dig themselves in (it's the one gift I make them). Here's a closer view:

hh10.jpg
 

Apom

L6: Sharp Member
Sep 14, 2008
366
65
I realized that the pillars of the first corridor (a few posts ago) were annoying to walk by. So I figured, hey, why don't I demolish them?

hh11.jpg


In other news, I've pretty much finished working on the outdoor layout (for now). I still need to do some lighting and I should have version a2 available for gameday.

hh12.jpg

hh13.jpg
 

Dustoxx

L6: Sharp Member
Jan 9, 2009
304
43
Nice displacements! I like how the tree and rock are in the middle.

Also cool crosshair
 

RavenStryker

Former Alias: †Blade†/Xi.Cynx
aa
Nov 25, 2008
782
844
All I can say is... Bigger Spotlight!!!

That's such a small spotlight on such a big ship, I would think that if it was about... 4x the size it would be perfect, maybe put 4 of them really close together to achieve this effect? But besides that the rest is looking mighty fine!~ ;)
 
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