[WIP]orange something (no name yet)

[Shadow Scythe]

I'm not opposed to orange maps and I really like the lighting. However, I'm worried that the layout might be somewhat confusing.

 

[stealth]

I'm sorry, this is something that has always pissed me off about 5 cp custom maps - Make ONLY the middle point be captureable at the beginning. Have the 2 points on either side BOTH belong to one team at the beginning, not doing so is a pointless practice, because those points are always going to be captured by their respective teams anyway.

Also, it's alright if it's your first map and it's for practice, but try to stay away from orange maps in the future, make a good map and make it look good and fit the TF2 style.

One last note. Please follow naming conventions for maps. I think orange maps usually start with orange_ so this could be orange_tower or something along those lines. Keep it all lowercase because capitals are a pain in the ass for server hosters.

well I don't know where you play, but on the servers I play people actually try to stop the other team from capturing the first point, so they can cap the middle without being bothered.... So that arguement is relative.

and I've decided to call it cp_Uber-Tower_b1

notice the capitol letters and the lack of orange_ in the name, omg how dare I, well it's there and I did it. What you gonna do about it?

 

[Psyphil]

notice the capitol letters and the lack of orange_ in the name, omg how dare I, well it's there and I did it. What you gonna do about it?

What probably very many will do is to not play it and not host it on their server. But if that is what you want, you can name it whatever you want.

 

[TheDarkerSideofYourShadow]

Also, the hyphen is something you might want to ditch. A map should always be all lower case, not spaces, underscores only, etc.

 

[MrAlBobo]

and I've decided to call it cp_Uber-Tower_b1

notice the capitol letters and the lack of orange_ in the name, omg how dare I, well it's there and I did it. What you gonna do about it?

bear in mind this map will not function properly with capital letters in the name on linux servers, im reasonably sure it will cause people to be unable to download the map from a server
the hyphen shouldn't cause any problems...its just not standard, but the caps will

 

[stealth]

ok thats a valid arguement, removed the capitols

 

[Apom]

I positively hated all orange maps to this point, and their stupidly textured versions even more so, but this one has a crazy-absurd-impossible feeling that is somehow appealing. Actually, this looks like a Quake map.

 

[stealth]

I positively hated all orange maps to this point, and their stupidly textured versions even more so, but this one has a crazy-absurd-impossible feeling that is somehow appealing. Actually, this looks like a Quake map.

OMG!
That is so wierd, whenever I make maps people are like that looks like quake and I mean all my maps, but I have never played that game it's insane.

Wierd.

 

[Altaco]

well I don't know where you play, but on the servers I play people actually try to stop the other team from capturing the first point, so they can cap the middle without being bothered.... So that arguement is relative.

But here's the thing, that's not good for gameplay. You want a good, exciting battle around the middle point, not an instant steamroll. I've never understood why mappers would do this.

 

[MrAlBobo]

But here's the thing, that's not good for gameplay. You want a good, exciting battle around the middle point, not an instant steamroll. I've never understood why mappers would do this.

i disagree; leaving them neutral adds another type of strategy to the game, like he said about some people rushing the other point to take pressure of the main one they are trying to cap...the static battles in the central location of this type of linear map always bugged me...being able to make choices will almost always make a game more interesting

 

[Chilly]

i disagree; leaving them neutral adds another type of strategy to the game, like he said about some people rushing the other point to take pressure of the main one they are trying to cap...the static battles in the central location of this type of linear map always bugged me...being able to make choices will almost always make a game more interesting

I agree with this point of view as well. In addition, even if the opponent can't reach your second CP, your team still needs to decide how many people they'll dedicate to capping it and how many they'll dedicate to pushing the middle. I don't like Warpath, but it's one aspect of the map I enjoy.

 

[stealth]

Well the deadline was yesterday night. And I completed it sunday morning 2am
I released it yesterday to a private community, but due to lack of feedback I'm just gonna release it here too, and see what you guys say.

I can always make a b2 so....

download link for the bsp from this forum(8.82mb):
http://forums.tf2maps.net/downloads.php?do=file&id=779

download from my site in zip, unzip it then place the bsp in the right folder (2.81mb):
http://stealth.staatsschutz.org/ubertower.zip

Place the bsp file in:
steam\steamapps\<yourname>\team fortress 2\tf\maps

Screenshots:

 

[Chilly]

Will try it out tonight. Other people mentioned this, but I'll do it again...

Please remove the dash in the map name. cp_uber-tower_b1 is actually harder to read and type than cp_ubertower_b1. It's not a huge deal, but if you make b2 it's something you should consider so your map fits with the normal naming scheme for TF2.

 

[grazr]

This map breaks pretty much every mapping rule and etiquette out there. It amuses me.

I would never normally comment on an orange map but this..

Is a night map.
Is an orange map.
Is one big room with a reasonably large amount of geometry to render.
Is cordoned off by a big wall.. and fences.
Has HL textures.

The top 5 no-no's in creating a (TF2) map.

The walls everywhere help prevent sniper abuse. But there are still tons of long corridors that look a pain to traverse if there were to be a sniper at the other end.

I wont deny that the geometry is pretty in it's 80's urban concrete architextural style-sort of way. But it's only the lights that make it "sparkle" which is a really cheap way to make it appear pretty. Yes, it does infact look like a quake map; but consider this, Quake is 10 years old. Is that really a compliment?

"My first map" (or TF2 map) is a really cheap excuse for not pushing yourself to greater achievements, and probably the reason why your map, past ten years worth of gaming technology evolution, still looks like a quake map.

Now i realise this sounds incredibly like a lecture. Oh i'm so high and mighty/egotistical. But seriously. Do yourself and everyone else a favour and make a real map. This is TF2.

I'm seriously not trying to put you down. I just want to see you produce something even a little nice. If not amazing. My soul aches with the wasted effert and possibilities for talent that get put into such half arsed idea's. You can obviously do so much more, you are hardly lacking skill. I just don't know why anyone would rob themselves of the oppotunity to make a real map.. something to be proud of. Why else would you pick up this editing feature?

There's no real need to release "your first map" to the public. Or if you must, leave it to a place like FPSB. This is a place where people develop their skills, ask for help and critique. Which i have to say you seem pretty defencive against.

But by all means publicise your map here. It's a good place to get yourself reputation. But from the more experienced level designers here, don't expect much in the way of a congradulations. I noticed that a lot of them havn't even bothered posting in here..

 

[Cerious]

Yeah, I've been getting a huge amount of FPS issues too. While I can run at a comfortable 100fps (what? who needs more than that?) this map drops it to <30fps, which is unnacceptable.

The least you could do is give it a few textures and spruce it up. If you look at the turbine room in Hydro, I noticed you could easily try to do the same thing (except split it into multiple rooms) and make those steel walkways. If you do that, you could get rid of the excessive amounts of lights as well. I'm not too good with the technical stuff (I haven't even tried to build a map yet lol) but I certainly enjoy helping people make good, beautiful maps that I can awe. Orange maps fill me with distate and hate, except when I play on Orange_x clan servers (break a ton of spy records).

 

[Apom]

Yes, it does infact look like a quake map; but consider this, Quake is 10 years old. Is that really a compliment?

Actually, when I said that, I was referring to the impossibly aerial superstructures and sharp contrasts. None of which detract to a map's visual qualities.

 

[MrAlBobo]

i personally see no reason to repeatedly tell him that orange maps are bad, one person said it, someone else agreed, thats more then enough...
personally I like the complete randomness the central part of the level has, and in my opinion might be fun to have as that being the entire map, and changing to a smaller less serious mode like ctf or arena

I say again; look at it, there is virtually no way this can be textured or detailed to fit into the tf2 theme, and someone telling people to just ditch their map and start over is just plain cruel. Though ill admit, if its going to stay an orange map, then the map is basically done, and the mapper will be starting a new map shortly if they decide to continue

this is just something i found interesting...cerious said he gets terrible fps...then immediately after says to add textures...just kinda funny XD

 

[Dox]

I dont usually like orange maps, but Ill admit I have a far higher tolerance for them than most of my fellow mappers.
Regardless, I LOVE the look of it, the lights, the structure...
But if it has a crippling framerate without people anywhere on the level, than it has the potential to crash servers.
I would love to suggest it to my clan but not without you doing some decent work on optimization.

Good luck!

And if you need help testing it out we have a gameday coming up on the 15th:
http://forums.tf2maps.net/showthread.php?t=4289

 

[Chilly]

Played this tonight with a couple of people. The map timer is broken. Once it reaches 30 minutes it just sits there at 0:00 forever. I'd really suggest fixing that.

One other suggestion is to grab Youme's red/blue dev textures and make use of those. Right now when you reach the top it's very hard to tell which direction you're facing. In fact, the only way you can tell is by looking back at your CP. I'd recommend changing some of the oranges on the red/blue side to their respective Youme texture so it's easier to understand the layout.

Besides that it was reasonably fun for an orange map. It's HUGE, so snipers still had a fun time of it. Plus they have more levels to work with, so they can snipe from elevated positions more easily. I had fun sticky jumping around as a demoman and running around as a scout.

This map won't be for everyone, but it's definitely the only orange_x clone that I'd play for more than 2 minutes.

 

[Tinker]

It's a good map, but it's huge - which wouldn't be a problem if it was easy to get around easily. However, the second controlpoint is obscured by anti-sniper metal, and there's no signpoint in sight, which makes it very hard to navigate - the first time I played this I ended up at the red first point (while playing blu) when looking for the second point.