WiP in WiP, post your screenshots!

Vel0city

func_fish
aa
Dec 6, 2014
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I wonder if normal players would not see it as ice and instead never use the area with this texture?

How can someone not see this as ice.

Granted, if I make a cube with this texture it's not ice, but some clever brushwork should do that trick.
 

Moonrat

nothing left
aa
Jul 30, 2014
932
585
Yeah! Been working on Garish, and here is some news!

I finished the layout, and I am now working on clipping, lighting, and logic.
I have been widening the map, as it was quite cramped before.
I think the map is about the right size, nothing too big.
I have chosen a rather odd lighting color, I was experimenting with it back on Raise, but I never finished that thing.
I made some beautiful clipping on a pile of crates by last, I hope people have fun simply walking up all of the crates.
 

Zed

Certified Most Crunk™
aa
Aug 7, 2014
1,241
1,025
Is it 5cp or A/D?
 

ExtraCheesyPie

L420: High Member
Jan 29, 2015
484
151
Hooray!

Alrighty! After a month or two of learning hammer and regurgitating information, i'm almost ready to release my first map!

(Are areaportals/other stuff important for an alpha?)

Notes:

  • *half the map is missing (since it's koth)
  • The displacements are godawful, as it was my first time using them, but that will get fixed in time.
  • Lighting is basic, but usable
  • Currently the entire outside is bathed in blue sunlight, which I am leaving for now just to make visual clarity. Will be changed
  • Going to be an alpine sunset theme, on a hill with aging abandoned buildings
  • Mid is probably too narrow but i'll have to see it fullsized. Won't be too hard to change
  • Doorways may be too short, might have to lower the floors
  • Probably, most likely, incredibly unbalanced.
  • God this is a long list
  • Building in between battleground and spawns might be too narrow/cramped
  • Spawn blocker building probably needs to be pushed back to make more room for fightings
  • Still need to finish buildings and add clips
  • Need to entity some stuff and make consistant colourings

Anyways, here it is! It was originally gonna be called spacebound, but I somehow typed in spaceage, so w/e

koth_spaceage/spacebound/whatever

Inspired by:
  • Viaduct (The cliffs beside the point, the building divider; unintentionally the spawn)
  • Cactus Canyon (The level geometry, as well as standing on rooftops)
  • A bit of Frontier (Hills, and I think i may have developed a pointless drop-down fetish)

Screenies:
http://imgur.com/a/ngtsL

(I dunno where some of my screenshots went, but they aren't that important.)

Too lazy to re-type all the descriptions and stuff, as well as individually link it. Once i make my actual post i'll bother, don't worry :)

The story: On an abandoned forested hilltop littered with former industry, Red and Blue are fighting over an [as of yet unconstructed] rocket-silo hidden inside the hill. The rocket just needs to be fueled with either enough RED-TROLIUM or Blue Baby Oil (tm) to blast off.

Even if it's crap, I tried hard and had fun and learned a lot
 
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Vel0city

func_fish
aa
Dec 6, 2014
1,947
1,589
snip-

(Are areaportals/other stuff important for an alpha?)

-snip-

YES IT IS. (consider these 3 words flashing brightly to instantly grab your attention)

Optimization should be done from the very first alpha release (heck you should consider it before you've even made the first brush in Hammer). It ensures that people can focus on the map and how it plays and give feedback about that rather than giving feedback about nothing other than terrible frame rates.

It doesn't have to be perfect from day one, but it should at least be done. I've seen too many maps, even on TF2maps.net servers where early alpha maps are downright unplayable because of very poor (or sometimes lacking) optimization all over the map. One area is doing fine and suddenly you're at 10 fps because the engine tries to render the entire map.
 

Waffe

L5: Dapper Member
Dec 2, 2012
230
203
@ExtraCheesyPie

Although your geometry looks very nice, judging from the images, the map looks like it's going to be tricky to optimize. I also hope you've had sightlines in mind making this, given how open the mid is/looks like (again, it's a bit hard to judge from the pics)
 

Berry

resident homo
aa
Dec 27, 2012
1,056
1,898
YES IT IS. (consider these 3 words flashing brightly to instantly grab your attention)

Optimization should be done from the very first alpha release (heck you should consider it before you've even made the first brush in Hammer). It ensures that people can focus on the map and how it plays and give feedback about that rather than giving feedback about nothing other than terrible frame rates.

It doesn't have to be perfect from day one, but it should at least be done. I've seen too many maps, even on TF2maps.net servers where early alpha maps are downright unplayable because of very poor (or sometimes lacking) optimization all over the map. One area is doing fine and suddenly you're at 10 fps because the engine tries to render the entire map.

I absolutely disagree. Split up the outdoor portions of your maps properly like any official maps do, having sky blocking above it and no sights from one side out to the other, then make sure you're doing a normal (not fast) compile or at least vvis.

FPS will be fine even on the lowest of computers, visibility is way more important than areaportals, as without proper visibility set up your areaportals won't do a hell of a lot.
 

Tumby

aa
May 12, 2013
1,084
1,192
d3591349f1.jpg

mah first model
 

Vel0city

func_fish
aa
Dec 6, 2014
1,947
1,589
I absolutely disagree. Split up the outdoor portions of your maps properly like any official maps do, having sky blocking above it and no sights from one side out to the other, then make sure you're doing a normal (not fast) compile or at least vvis.

FPS will be fine even on the lowest of computers, visibility is way more important than areaportals, as without proper visibility set up your areaportals won't do a hell of a lot.

How is the big yellow YES IT IS thing different from this post? He said area portals/other stuff, and by other stuff I think he means splitting areas, sky blocking, hinting etc, basically every crucial thing about optimization.
 

Berry

resident homo
aa
Dec 27, 2012
1,056
1,898
How is the big yellow YES IT IS thing different from this post? He said area portals/other stuff, and by other stuff I think he means splitting areas, sky blocking, hinting etc, basically every crucial thing about optimization.

Let me word what I have to say differently. For an alpha, I don't think you should bother doing any more than sky division and proper visibility (no sights through multiple areas). This is a lot of effort that will barely save any FPS other than on absolutely hopeless machines (you probably lose more by having to re-do these every version than by hand)
 

Géza!

L4: Comfortable Member
May 12, 2008
183
40
Hmm, before I post any WIPs, I gotta ask: How okay is it to take the layout of an existing map that ISN'T from TF2 as a basis for a map?

Because I just had the grand old idea of taking cs_assault, tweaking it around to fit TF2's combat, and using it as the first stage of a Dustbowl-esque CP map, and have in fact mostly recreated the map by now in dev-textured boxy form.
 

ExtraCheesyPie

L420: High Member
Jan 29, 2015
484
151
How is the big yellow YES IT IS thing different from this post? He said area portals/other stuff, and by other stuff I think he means splitting areas, sky blocking, hinting etc, basically every crucial thing about optimization.

Yeah, I mean optimization, everything included
 

ExtraCheesyPie

L420: High Member
Jan 29, 2015
484
151
I'm back, made this map in around 2 and a half hours, lighting and prop clutter still needs to be done before im happy with it, but here's a sneak peak of mid

NbUK8uF.png


*red, not rep

Isn't that a little... small? And no cover?
 

Beetle

L9: Fashionable Member
Aug 17, 2008
627
178
e5fuYQgl.jpg

trying to make something totally off the wall with almost all custom content. oh and a carrot [not pictured]