AAAANNND DONE!

So I just uploaded my art pass contest entry. And with that I’m off to other projects. (you can find my map here:http://hotfile.com/dl/71316106/5c19397/artpass_zero_rogue.rar.html)

But before I start rambling on about my next big thing.  Ill spend some time explaining what I did for the art pass.

For those of you who are saying “what the hell is an artpass?” Here’s how the contest worked.
everyone Got a copy of the same map, however all the textures have been reverted to a basic white and most of the models removed.  Each entrants job is to turn that in a fully lighted textured, and modeled map.

What did I go for?

The first thing I did on the map is load it in tf2 and play a few round with bots. This allowed me to look over the map and think about how i would want it. to look. During my play i noticed how A point was in an alcove that looked like a cave. This developed me to think about making it that the Red base was inside a mountain. Secondly the wall on the other side was solid as well. making a small canyon through to B point. This is where I got the idea for a canyon. However I knew I needed a hook for the map, One map I always loved was pipeline. However it seems in the circles i go in the map is not that popular. However the lighting in the map was great. dark outside with it bright in the combat areas. I decided to model the lighting after that map, however doing it in a rural location rather than an industrial one.

Midnight Canyon

That is what I called the theme.  I wanted to have a balance between light and dark, similar to what you would see  at a gas station during the night. Bright where it counts and dark where it doesn’t. I used light strings to illuminate the outdoors locations and spot and point lights for the indoors parts.  As work progressed I also decided to have many of the vista rooms dark, as if the non-essential personal have already gone home for the night and this battle was really unscheduled.

Catching the hint

Even though the map was white washed you cant erase intent, as i went through the map I noticed small things that they forgot to remove. although I do not take this very serious I use them as a hint on how the original author intended the map. This gives me my own ideas on the map. For instance the func_occluder showed that that wall was designed to split the level to reduce lag. I kept it and turned it into a rock wall and used that Occluder as well as a few hint textures,  to help with reducing lag.

The Skybox

I wanted the canyon to spill out into a bowl of sorts, I guess you could call it a dustbowl (har har har tf2 joke). The initial bowl was a displacement subdivided into a bowl after some modification i decided to add in some large rocks. The dam was last go in, Originally it was part of the cliff with a railroad track on it and two tunnels. However Creativity sparked when i saw the dam. The other side of the canyon was made to look like it would continue for many miles after the map. The buildings along the canyon where the last thing added.  Finally the actual game area was raised considerably to cover up the transition between game world and sky box. the Train about B point originally was in the skybox at the top of the canyon however I decided to bring it down and have it as a train going through the sides of the canyon. This also allowed me to add additional details not available in the skybox.

Red base

Always being a person of substance I wanted there to be a reason for this assault. as one of my initial vistas was a seemingly endless server room I thought What if this was some sort of information spy base, where red spies on blu’s doings? That would be a very valuable target and the concept of it being in a mountain would fit as well. I continued to add various tech stuff. (server rooms, map rooms, and control rooms) Finally the grand chalupa, a giant server core resting above and below C point. The more violent part below, thus explaining why falling down would kill you. above I added cameras witch in turn used as light sources to light the pathways around the point. and three satellite dishes pointed out to space

FPC’s

fpc’s or Fake Player Characters(a play on the term NPC) are something I added to the map’s vistas. Basically there player models that are just models with an animation command. I first dabbled in them in my Summit map. (the first map to use FPC’s in vistas.) For this map I added 4 fpc’s 2 spies 1 demo and 1 scout, I wont say where they all are(try to find them ^_^). however my favorite was the spy in the red spawn vista. set on a conveyor belt inside a red hallway. He rides it down towards an inaccessible Intel room, as he goes he watches his pda, occasionally taunting. Keep watching him a few times and he may really show you the reason hes heading for the red Intel room.

So what now?

Now I get back to work on the maps I put on the back burner, Coming soon I want to do a “Whats next” graph that will show what maps are upcoming and how far along I am with them.

Hey You! Yeah You Listen up!

If your reading this then I’m talking directly to you… Right now I’m working on doing a tutorial for hat making for tf2.. However I deicing on If  I should do it as a text tutorial or video… So I need your input! Just vote in the poll below! That’s it, Just hit your choice and vote!

I dont care if you just found this site by searching for the best way to peel Kiwis. Just vote in it!

Thank you.

Pool is closed thanks for voting

A video is worth a thousand pictures

And so I made a movie. Of what you asked? My art-pass contest map. This will be the first map where I will make particle effects for it as well! I finally figured out how to do them(once you figure out what everything does its quite simple.)

so anyways the video!

I’m still trying to work on my “midnight canyon” theme. the effort is to enough light into the map so all combat areas are brightly lit while the outing area are darker and naturally its getting this to actually bend that’s the hard part…

another thing, this is the first time I used the demo smoother. quite an interesting little tool. Although it works like most valve tools, powerful but chaotic and slightly buggy.

I’m still trying to write up a few how to-tutorials to post here. (im adding particle effects to the list as well.) I found when working with source that many of the advanced items have little to no help for them, leaving those who want to do the cool stuff, out in the cold(irony?). I hope to make a bridge with some tutorials so that other developers can use them to work on more advanced things. Like particle effects, Modeling, and other things.

lurking mapper.

Recently Ive been the recipient of multiple mails asking about my current activities in neotokyo. so I decided to make a post to explain everything.

Currently all work on any neotokyo map has been shelved. I have decided this due to many issues,

-Dead community.
Although trying to post that on the official forums would ignite a flame-war. the community is on its last legs. I used to map for Tribes:Vengeance, a game that lost official support one month after release, and even after several years later it had a more active community than neotokyo current state. Let me be frank. The main cause of this was a “creative tumor” the designers with pure intentions, focused themselves on a game mode that was extremely harsh on beginners.  Join a game, Play for a few seconds, Get killed in your first sortie, wait for 5-10minutes till next round. This game mode is liked by some, however not by all. and with the game focused more on stealth and tactics, It causes a long stalemates. where either team refuses to move forward at the threat that they may be killed. A “respawning gamemode” is in the works, and I plan to continue mapping once its released.

-Restrictive SDK
Unfortunately whoever developed the coding for neotokyo did it in a restrictive nature that blocks creative new ideas for game modes by map makers. In other source games a mapper has access to countless opportunities and ways to modify how entities work in the game. In Fact, Payload game mode in Team Fortress 2 Is just Control point game mode with the capture area parented onto a moving object. In neotokyo however a player can only control what game mode and where the ghost spawns and can be captured.  I Actually have Several Game modes I would like to try but Without some new input/outputs I cant do much.

-Buggy game
The game is still Far buggy for me. And i know for many others. the game still crashes at random, server connection lost for 10-20 seconds after joining  a server, and I can still not play on redlight without loading the map on my computer THEN joining the server.

Work in neotokyo is a hassle, one I have had enough of. although Its all 3 that made me have this decision. If any one of them was fixed i would probly get back to mapping for neotokyo. Until then however I’ll wait.

Artwar!

Sooo. Valve did a mapping contest….and yes, I’m joining the fray..

The theme I went for Is what I’m calling “midnight canyon” basically the same lighting theme used on pipeline but set in a desert setting. The map itself starts in a giant Gulch this leads into a canyon that stretches far beyond the game world. As for red’s base It is set into the canyon wall. Inside red is housing a computer database system that is the target for blu.

currently I’m about 56% done. Ive finished re-texturing everything as well as doing new displacements. Ive got basic lighting up to B I still have to work out the skybox and add detail props.

An annoying gameplay problem and the solution.

Sooo, I think everyone who has played engineer has experienced this.. Your defending the control point, you precariously placed your sentry just right, place the dispenser so its out of the way but still accessible. And placed a teleport you can get everyone up to where you are. you just finish getting everything to lv3 when the sound of engineering hell, Stickies. all it takes is 3 and all your work is done for…

Now, How can I fix this? I dont work for valve so what can i do? Simple, Make it myself…

Yep, I’m working on models now!

the Projectile sheild will be a replacement for the engineer that keeps those lone demo man away at the cost of your dispenser.

Heres what it does:

Replaces dispenser
All enemy projectiles that hit the sheild are reflected off in a random direction.
Projectiles dont change owner. Each projectile that hits the sheild subtracts 25 energy from the sheild.

non/projectile weapons are not affected by the sheild.

all friendly projectile weapons are negated at not energy cost. Sentry rockets are not negated.

All explosions outside the sheild do not harm whatever is inside however each explosion takes off damage/3 energy.

If all energy is depleated sheild shuts down untill energy is fully restored.

energy is shown on engineer hud.

lv1
cost 100 metal
150 health
model size approx 95×49
192 range
100 energy
10 energy recharged a second

lv2
180 health
256 range
125 energy
12.5 energy recharged a second

lv3
216 health
320 range
150 energy
15 energy recharged a second

balance ideas(can be implimented to balance sheild.)
sheild can be recharged with metal.
Energy/regen can be changed.
reduced health
top of sheild is damageable.

Also keep your eyes peeled for an important update coming soon..

The Unoffical Rulebook to TF2 Mapping.

Recently Ive been frequenting a custom maps server. Being on the server really shows me how much people who could really make some awesome maps really get bogged down with some stupid little thing that should have never been in the map, or some issue with the map that they should have caught immediately. So I decided to Put forward my “unoffical rules of TF2 mapping”  What this is is a list of rules that I have observed when looking through valve maps as well as things when making custom maps. These are things from simple layout mistakes that cause stalemates or easy caps to literal no no that may look fine but can cause players real bad problems.

First off the #1 rule, This isn’t from valve but its from me. walk your maps. Before even letting a friend see them start up tf2 and run your map. and explore. Run up every staircase, through every door, cap every point(for both teams). Do everything look everywhere, while doing this keep a notebook handy to jot down any problems you see or improvements you could do. A few minutes of wandering can save you big time further down. Last week as I was working on King of the Train 2 I found 3 items just from wandering throughout the map. That’s about 4-5hours in total just wondering around and testing everything.

keep Objectives and spawns separate
This sounds simple but many people really make this mistake. Never Put an Active Objective near an active spawn. This means If its ctf, keep the intel room and the spawn separate. If cp Never put the currently contested control points right outside of spawn. ones that would be locked when the spawn is active are fine however make sure to keep the resupply cabinet away from the doorway. Just remember, you may be playing your map on just plain tf2 but There are servers with 100% crits, moon grav, instant respawn, crazy weapons, ect. And If the control point is right outside of spawn an attacking team could be facing an endless stream of enemies.

Never have only one route!
Go to any valve map and find a spot that the only way past is through this one spot. This is because tf2 can turn into stalemate really fast. so everyone going to the same place means there’s everyone on one team has to die for one to push forward. This is not even putting into account the good old engineer. A smart engineer can turn a poorly designed map into a nearly guaranteed win for his team.

Skybox means high room.
once again a simple concept that many have trouble following. If the skybox is above the player, make sure they have plenty of room to sticky/rocket jump. Enough said.

A good mapper Can Make models for his maps. A great one doesn’t need to.
one thing that will always sell your map is the download size. If your map looks great, is fun and balanced, and small to download then you have no where to go but up. download rate is key when making custom maps. So how do you keep the size down? recycle! first off use the valve models as much as you can. they don’t have the book shelf you wanted? make it a cabinet instead. Secondly Is using func_detail models. Still need that bookcase? Make a texture with a bunch of books on it and model one in hammer. (Interesting fact. In red spawn on 3rd round of dustbowl there’s a film projector seen inside an eye candy room. However if you try to find that projector in the model viewer it doesnt exist! The projector is in fact a func_detail model, however it looks good enough to be a full detailed prop!) finally recycle the textures, If you see a texture you want but you cant use it for some reason(its a hud texture, or a model skin) then make a material that makes it a texture instead! You cut down on size and time. (In my pad map you can see 20 foot tall bonk drinks. see the third picture These are really just cylindrical brushes with a material that uses the bonk drink’s model texture.

Smooth out the edges
One of the biggest annoyances on a map is when a player is backpedaling trying desperately to say just out of a pyro’s flamethrower when suddenly a small random object stuck to a wall causing him to instantly stop just enough for the pyro to overtake and kill the player. This problem can happen anywhere. Therefore you must make sure the player doesn’t stick anywhere. Now before you start breaking out the player clip colored shrink wrap, This doesn’t mean covering your map in player clips. rather just thinking like the player. If there’s a small conduit that leads up to a speaker high overhead. then I shouldn’t run into it. Similarity a unspoken game rule pops in here. small corners don’t exist in games. any high traffic location that has a small outcropping should be playercliped so if a player is using a wall as a guide he curves around the outcropping instead of just stopping at the corner. a good rule of thumb is if the player model is  wider than the outcropping then it doesn’t need to to be clipped.

Expect Idiots.
There out there just waiting for you to let your guard down so they can ruin your map. Every time valve releases a new map slews of people go to work trying to find every little spot that valve forgot to player clip or made incorrectly, or created a stuck area. then they use those to grief and mess around with. Remember this? Always assume there going to exploit something. use thick playerclip fields and make sure if it looks exploit able it isn’t. Last thing you need on your map is another gravelpit.

beware of closed areaportals.
To be honest I don’t use closed area-portals at all. there far to dangerous for their worth. And valve seems to agree with tf2. I have yet to find any closed areaportals on any valve tf2 map. closed areaportals are for single player when its only one monkey in the cage. in multiplayer you got 24-32. Much harder orchestrate properly opening and closing areaportals.  this does not mean you shouldn’t use open areaportals to help viss learn what to render. just don’t close them.

Keep it simple stupid
OK your making you super awesome sweet map that has a Super awesome super complicated game mode that…STOP! Kiss method. This is a saying used in the Film, gaming, web, and any other multimedia industry. When working on something try to keep it simple. This applies to tf2 as well. Don’t make things too complicated. you’ll cause too much work for yourself and you’ll confuse the player.  This doesn’t mean not to make something look detailed. just not down to the inch. Now some may be thinking “but valve does this complicated intricate and highly detailed maps, why cant I?” First They got-cha… second they dont. Take a close look at a valve map next time, there in fact very simple in design. they often use textures, props, and overlays to break up the simple geometry and make it look more complicated than it really is.

the necessities of tf2
Tf2 has a habit of things. Things that are in every valve map guaranteed. such things as in a respawn room there is a func_respawn, and a resupply cabinet. This means in every respawn there SHOULD be a func_respawn and a resupply cabinet. Similarity every spawn door has a blocker to prevent enemies from getting through.  Secondly If there’s a cap point, there’s always an hazard outline that dictates the range of the cap point. Similarly if you break these rules players will assume they are still in place and this can cause problems.

two houses of mapping.
there are two ways you can make your map. These are standard maps and fun map. Standard maps are maps that are designed according the development scheme of tf2. Fun maps throw the scheme to the wind and wing it. Fun maps can ignore or bend rules without causing the player much strain. So how do you tell the difference between a fun or a Standard map? the basic difference usually comes from how you want players to play the map. For instance a currently popular map Koth_lolcano. The map is full of big LOL’s OMFG, ROFL, and wonderful Russian singing(he he he). However for all of its craziness Its still a Standard map! Even Lava coming up and killing everyone on the control point doesn’t change it. the idea is that people are still intended to capture the kill and hold it for the allowed time.  Unless this changes the map stays a standard map. King of the train? that’s a fun map. Its a single cp Push map that is on a train that crashes into the enemy base upon capture. When making a map think about where you want the players to go and what you want them to do.

two Worlds of mapping.
It is true how to map looks makes up for about 70% for when players like your maps. However the other 30% is The world that you cant see. the one the engine uses to know where the player should go and what each item should do. In order to make a good map you need to make sure both worlds are working perfectly together.

Beware of being shiny!
As I said 70% of people judge your maps on looks alone. However, this doesn’t mean you should just a map that looks good. A map that looks good will have a good run but it will be soon forgotten when game play problems become apparent. Once everyone knows how to break the map your “shiny map” gets stuffed in the trash on nearly every server. Think Hoodoo. I have always said the only reason that map was ever selected was to show off valve’s particle editor with the particle effect at the end.

the gamer is always right
If you are playing your map and someone complains about something. FIX IT! yes, Many times they complain for stupid things that would break the game and those comments should be left where they stand. However If its something that issnt a major game change or something that is simmilar to your own opinions then change the map. remember you make maps for everyone else just as much as you make them for yourself.

ques save time and headache.
Giving the player a hint where to go will always make your maps run smoothly, not to mention reducing the problem of people wondering where they shouldn’t be at the time. There are visual ques(most common) audio ques, and text ques(when visual and audio ones wont work.) Visual ques are signs, lights, or objects that make players have better view of ways that they should go. (go watch the valve commentary if you dont know what ques are.) Simmilary you should have all player spawns pointed towards the exit to spawn.

beware of linkage!
the theme of Team fortress 2 should always take prescience in any map you make for the game. Ceritan models, sounds, and events are linked in a player’s mind with important game play elements. For instance the win music played when a team wins. When a player hears it they may assume they won.  although a quick look at the hud shows otherwise they may become irradiated at the deception. when placing something always think “will anyone be confused because of this?”

Give the classes what they need.
You cant predict 100% where everyone will go and what may result in your map. But you should at  least give the player some place to start. These are what I call zones, spots that a specific class will excel. The most important zones are Engineer, Sniper, scout and soldier/demo most other classes dont have any “spots” they would exell or are less dependant on geometry. Engineer’s need a spot where their sentry can cover every direction. This doesn’t mean that its invincible rather just no class can just get to a spot out of combat and hit the sentry from range. Snipers need long corridors and spots that take them out of the main combat keep them safe from spies. Scouts need spots they can double jump onto giving them the ability to quickly navigate a map. and Soldier/demos need spots where they can get up high and rain down death.

When in doubt ask valve
yeah I doubt you have a direct line to gabe.. however you have the next best thing. Their maps vmf’s . Recent updates in the sdk gave tf2 mappers the source files for several tf2 maps, including dustbowl, lumberyard, badwater, goldrush, and many more. If you ever wonder how you should make something think if its been done in a valve map then see how they did it. Similarity if its in a custom or a valve map that the source wasn’t released in. there are programs online that can decompile maps so you can see what they did as well just remember decompiled maps are not 100% copies of the source files. There are bugs in them. NEVER recompile a decompiled map.

watch the commentaries
Like i said further up the commentaries for valve games really have some gems in them that give you a sense of how to map for game-play rather just to map. Watch all the commentaries for all the valve games. Even if its on a different game many things can be still done in tf2.

That’s all the rules for now. I’ll try to update this as and try to make this a really good guide on what to and not to do in tf2 mapping… If you have any questions feel free to comment!

Skeletons in the closet.

Yes im working on Kott2 I’m busy hammering down the last few problems and getting everything looking somewhat presentable for the first balance testing release of my map.

Ive always tried to be creative in my maps, and as many of my testers know Ill try to push the limits of my mapping. However pushing the limits can often cause them to break, very badly… And such i present to you my failures.. these are maps that never quite made it to release, Many of them are just dev textures, while others are fully textured proped and rigged, however every map Has something wrong with it that prevented it to be released..

Arena_Garden

This was before when I was deep into Neotokyo mapping and wanted to make the traditional Cherry blossoms blowing in the wind thing. However due to the fact Neotokyo was modded in the old version of source It didn’t have access to custom particles and thus my efforts where for naught. That’s when I decided to make a Tf2 map. (one above) I didnt want to really map that big of a map. Mostly since I wanted it to be quality over size. Due to the fact King of the Hill was not implemented into tf2 yet i was forced to make it a Arena map(a game mode I have always despised).  This eventually wore down my initiative to make the map and stalled it before I could do any more than get a rough layout… I may still restart this map later but for now its on cold storage..

CF_Docks

CF_docks or Control Fuel docks, was a custom game mode and map I designed. The map is fully textured and rigged. The game mode was this: 3 control points  and 2 fuel depots, one next to each teams spawn. When a team captured a point the fuel tank would fill, More points faster filling. once full the team wins(yes its domination).  The map itself was deigned to be a “muli-map” and idea I spawned from a previous game I played. There are CTF, CP, CF, and arena versions of Docks. my idea was to release them as a map pack. same map played 4 different ways. Balancing was a nightmare and I had to start making special objects and sets for each game mode, Something that drew away from the original concept. This eventual put the map on cold storage.. Due to its ability to be used for nearly every symmetrical map game mode It may just see the light as some other game mode.

CTF_Canyon

The concept of this map came from two things, 1)was the want to make a canyon map(both teams fighting across a canyon.  2) was a part of the meet the spy video (this scene) Where they have an underground base from the cave entrance. And so I began work on Canyon. adding a back door on the upper level similar to the one in the scene. This coupled with a large defend-able  entrance. The problem came inside the base that went through iteration after iteration. each being either too complex, to hard/easy to defend. or very hard to model. Eventually I gave up and put the map down to cold storage..

Ctf_bayfeild

Ahh, infamous bayfeild. This is the first map I ever made. The maps balance is great, game play is great, everything is great, the map is fully ready to compile… If it would compile… for some reason this map has been unable to compile after the beta version. I know if i go back to it now i could probably find the problem. However The map has lost its “theme” I’m my opinion and Ive move onto other things. However this map has in a way continued on.. Next time your in King of the Train take a look in to the skybox. this map is in it!

cp_Barrel_Roll

Do a barrel roll! no really! this was an interesting idea i had. a slew a barrels falls from the top of a hill the objective of the teams is to get up the mountain and cap the point at the top. hit a barrel and YOU DIE! The map started with problems. the barrels would get caught and start stacking up and causing massive lag. Even after I added a timeout to the barrel the barrels still lagged the server considerably. Secondly once a player reached the top It was nearly impossible to get him off due to the fact that a player would have to fight him and the barrels at the same time. Finally i wanted to make special barrel types, Exploding barrels, Iron unbreakable barrels, barrels that break with health inside, and more. However this needed me to model special barrels. Something I didn’t know how to do at the time. So the map eventually was thrown into the freezer.

Arena_wreck

I SOOO want this map to work correctly.. However this is my classic case of pushing the envelope too far. everything in the map is either destroyable or moves with damage! the idea was to have 4 warehouse buildings with multiple barriers blocking each teams, The teams would have to destroy walls and barriers to reach the enemy team! even more there are 4 pillars inside the buildings that if destroyed take the entire building down on everyone inside!! Problem is 1, crush damage doesn’t work in tf2. so I would have to lace a kill field inside every object if i wanted to make the crashing buildings work correctly. Also, when rendered with shadows, the entire building gets a checkerboard pattern from the separated breakable objects.  surface to say two serious problems with the map that would need to be fixed by a valve patch if this map would see daylight.

CTF_streak

streak (like Winning streak) was designed to be a fast paced map with teams battling between two close bases. whats more ever so often a train would go right through the map forcing team to use the lower or upper routes. as you may notice the map is fully textured, rigged, and lighted. However, there where two problems. one was func_train hates turning upwards/downwards. It would sharply turn the train cars  that made the train look very odd after it left the map. Secondly was MASSIVE game play hole. once a scout had the intel and was out the side door he could easily get to his base by jumping over the gorge in the picture. and with the layout of the map  no one who saw the scout grab it could even get out of their base before the scout was back on his side and running into his base for the cap. I wanted to move the intel into a basement however This left even more problems and drew attention to the lower floors where I didn’t want it.

sg_reactor

This is the 3rd map i did, and a attempt at a custom game mode I found.  The game mode is Siege. Red would attack the blue base, First busting down the front door, then destroying 3 “relay stations” then finally the core. After the core is destroyed the base explodes. The map had a solid design.. If it was about 50% smaller. being that this was a early map I still didn’t have proportion correct and several rooms as WAYY to big or small. So I would have to totally recreate the map if i wanted to go any further with it. One thing i did take off of it was my “hidden sentry” prefab, I don’t have a place for it yet… but ill find one someday…

Pl_Pushcart

Its tug of war, basically both teams push the cart to the enemy base, Once the cart reaches it it explodes destroying a room in front of the spawn. The map never was finished due to game play problems. basically the game was either a slaughter or a stalemate.

cp_metro

This was when I thought “if well has 2 trains” I wonder how fun it would be if there where more trains?  this map has 10 trains! each going through the map at various spots, many times spots where combat is likely to happen! the problem of the map was length. It was easy to die and took a while to get back to the battle. It eventually lost interest. This map still lives on in spirit, many pieces of the map are lifted for newer maps. Most recently I used the Lighting that was in a part of this map for a eye-candy room in King of the Train 2.

cp_iron

There is nothing wrong with this map, no seriously there isn’t! The map started from a piece of valve concept art for lumberyard(shown here). The map was going to be 6point 3 round cp map similar to dust bowl. The problem was simple…time. This map came shortly after release of Summit. and I realized making large maps is Tiring. I sill haven’t fully recovered form the effort from summit. Eventually I may release this.. but not for a while….

An Upcomming map.

As I work on a few new and old projects, id like to let everyone know I’m working on it.

Gotta say this is gonna rock.

What ive been up to…

Yeah, I haven’t updated this in a month.  Ive been busy.. First off ive put all Neotokyo Maps on the backburner for now. Ill probly get back to them eventually, however I’ve been working full force in Tf2 again. Im starting work on two brand new maps.

But wait! Being the evil genius I am Both maps will have completely new game-modes!

First Is a map ive been wanting to make ever since the Halloween update. I’m currently calling it fr_terror This will be the first map that will have Custom models in it! Yep Ive finally got around to learning how to port models into tf2! This map is by far no easy task and ill probably be lucky to get it to a testing level in two months. It will be the single most worked on map I’ve have done yet.

I’m at about 20% and I know for certain it will have at least. Custom Particles(also a first for me!), 8 custom models(currently, Will probably increase as more of the map is made.), 10 custom textures(once again currently and to increase later!). It will also use some stuff from the Swamp pack released on Tf2maps.com(linky)

Now about the map. Its going to be a mansion, and not any mansion! The mansion of the late Zepheniah Mann! The mansion is run down with two long abandoned red and blu bases hidden underground. There are about 12 rooms on the ground floor and 8-12 on the second(haven’t planned the 2nd floor fully out yet). Each room of the mansion has something spooky happening in it! From simple Moving objects to a full blown Spectral encounter with the inhabitants and your allys of battles long past.

The game mode for terror will be: find and retrieve

Four Intel cases will spawn at random in the mansion (each room has a chance to spawn a case inside) the team that retrieves all four wins.  as you may have guessed its highly likely one team will take 2-3 while the other team take the other 2-1 at this point the teams must invade the enemy base to retrieve the cases that the enemy holds. Once a team gets all 4 they win. This should give players plenty of time to explore the mansion and discover what secrets it holds. Not to mention the quickest way between the bases is through the mansion.

The Second map I started on just a few days ago. cr_headlands The map is being made as a summit 2.0 (pl_summit is a map I made before however due to problems I have been stalled in its creation. you can find the beta of it on fpsbanana) the map will looks similar to summit in many ways; an objective at the top that is always visible, the feel of climbing a hill. but without some of the problems I ran into in summit. right now at about 10% done with the alpha.

Like I said it will be a new game-mode; cap rush

Think of it like a combination of payload and attack/defense ctf. How it works is blu team will have an intel case. their ultimate objective is to deliver it to the cap point at the base of a rocket at the end of the map. However the point starts out locked. as well has X number of caps before it. In order the unlock a cap point the player must capture the mini-cap points before it. each one will be in a line heading up the hill. In order to cap the second minicap you need to first cap the first minicap. and so forth. Once all the mini-caps are caped the first checkpoint cap will unlock and be able to be capped. If however the intel gets returned before they cap the checkpoint cap. all the previous minicaps turn back to red side. after the first checkpoint cap is capped the intel spawns at that point and they must capture the next set of minicaps! The game mode is still being thought out so it may change before the alpha is played on the test-server. ^_^