So SaigonTime is gonna make a map (CTF_DEADSPACE)

Well, I tried to avoid it as long as I could, but the mapping bug has finally caught me, and I really have no choice but to answer the call. Of course I'll have to completely relearn the entire process (unlearning hours of Unreal Editor is going to be a bitch and a half) but what the hey. I'm not here to bellyache about what I'll be losing sleep over the next two weeks, I'm here to talk about what I'm planning on making: a CTF map based in the USG Ishimura (or a VERY similar environment), the main setting of the survival-horror game Dead Space. I've started a little work on it this morning (and I'm waiting for the world objects prop menu to cache as I type this) so I obviously don't really have anything to show for it, but the design has been on my mind for quite some time. Once I find a camera I'll upload some sketches and designs, but for now I'll just talk about the mechanics of the map:

Layout: there are four planned floors (not counting the bottom floor, also with a fifth one depending on the limits of what Hammer can do). Three of them will be inside the ship proper, but not necessarily separated completely. The floors will be catwalks and walkways (with towers interspersed) allowing for relatively safe travel over the death-trap riddled bottom floor. There will be railings on MOST of the walkways. Of course, it wouldn't be Dead Space without a MOTHERFUCKING SPACE WALK across the surface of the ship. However, the walk will be dangerous, as stepping into the cold vacuum of space without the proper protection can prove quite fatal. The possible fifth floor I envisioned was a single catwalk under the bottom floor which travels along the bottom of the ship and is useful only to Pyros. However, a single airblast and it's bye-bye. The intelligence will be at the top of a large tower that starts above the resupply/respawn lockers and extends up into space. Being INSIDE the tower in the space portion won't be damaging, but as soon as you step out of that airlock, get ready to run for your life.

Play mechanics:
- The environment as a weapon: building on some of the concepts seen in Arena_Sawmill, CTF_deadspace will feature many hazards such as timed exhaust vents, industrial blades, lethal drops, and of course asphyxiation. Unskilled players will find themselves fighting both their enemies and the ship itself, but, while the ship will never truly be 'on your side,' skilled players will be able to use the numerous hazards as traps for their enemies.
- Monsters in the ventilation shafts: CTF_deadspace will have numerous 'out of the way' paths for the more creative-minded players to take, allowing Spies and other less straight-forward classes a wider selection of places to strike and hole up. Of course, none of these paths will be terribly obvious, so you'll have to look for them, but sometimes shortcuts may be more dangerous than taking the long way...
- Survival horror comes to TF2: CTF_deadspace will NOT be pitch black; however, it will make ample use of shadows and mood lighting, and not just for effect either: shadows and out-of-sight corners will become much more important, as there will be a distinct lack of traditional cover in this map. Utilizing the element of surprise is strongly encouraged, before someone uses it on you.
- Risk vs. Reward: a very strong element of this map will be rewarding particularly daring actions with very rewarding results. Case in point: a path usable only by Engineers will take them through the ship's asteroid pulverization facility; a dangerous trip rife with traps and maybe a jumping puzzle, but getting through the facility alive will reward the Engineer with a nigh impenetrable sentry position overlooking the entirety of the middle ground, a field ripe for harvesting kills and defending intelligence.

I'll add more later; I'm planning out class roles right now. In the meantime, here are some Dead Space screenshots to give you kind of an idea of what I'm planning visually:

The Outer Hull


Not really a major plot point


Now imagine Isaac as a Scout and that Slasher as a Soldier


EDIT: Class roles are in the defining process. They're class expectations, really, how I see the individual classes performing on the map.

Scout: The Scouts will be able to take advantage of many of the same alternate routes that Spies can, though the routes may not be as useful to them. The Scout may also be the only non-Pyro class able to run the flag across the surface of because of his great speed, though I'm debating whether to keep that in or just make extended hull trips the realm of the Pyro alone. Scouts will also be able to travel quickly through the ship's many multi-level platforms. However, jump-happy Scouts would do well to pay attention, as one wrong step may send them into a wall-mounted exhaust port, or tumbling down into the ship's inhospitable machinery.

I played dead space and loved it.
Its a good idea, hope it turns out good.

synthetic wrote:I played dead space and loved it.
Its a good idea, hope it turns out good.

Yeah, me too. Trying to capture the 'oh god there's something in the shadows waiting for me' feeling while still maintaining the frenetic bloodbath pace is going to be quite a challenge.

You really sure on doing ctf? I think ctf is a terrible game mode in TF2...

You are going to have a lot of stuff going on in this map, perhaps too much. You should tone it down a bit. You want your players to not get overwhelmed by all the things that kill them. You are basically making this map a death trap and removing the focus on the objective of capture the flag. This idea would work much better as a capture point map. It keeps the focus on the objective, and emphasizes the hazards on the map. The red team would have to try and use the traps to their advantage while trying to defend the points. The blue team would have to find ways to the point to avoid the most harm. Be careful to not to overdue the hazards. Keep them simple, but elegant. For example, on sawmill, the saw blade trap is very simple and avoidable, but also deadly. However, it can be used to each teams advantage, namely by pushing the other team into them. Make sure to not make it seem like you are punishing the players for playing the map. Instead, coerce them into thinking differently. If pulled off correctly, this will be wonderful. Just be prepared for a lot of hard work, and a lot of disappointment.

yeah ctf blegh, and you know you will have to optimize the shit out of this if it even gets close to looking like the pics, otherwise ppl may see very shit fps throughout your whole map >.<
but the concept seems ok just dont think it would be put out right in ctf, cp might work better

lolfullbright

good looking so far

mm very nice, but dont leave it too open, add some cover :3 from those baddy snippers and hacking ambassador spies

lool, you got that skybox from fpsbanana, I dont see how that skybox that is made for css/ep2/ep1 would work for tf2.

PROGRESS REPORT!

From earlier today:





SON OF A BITCH HAMMER I AM HEAVY
HAMMER IS PIG
DO YOU WANT A FIRE EFFECT IN TF2?
DO YOU WANT A WIND DIRECTION?
HAMMER IS PIG DISGUSTING
Y AXIS IS A MURDERER
FUCKING FUNC_SMOKE



That is better.

AND AFTER EIGHT HOURS OF FIGHTING WITH THE RESPAWN ROOM DOOR...




HAMMER: 19
SAIGONTIME: 1

Very Nice

Okay Saigon, first off, this is like the third time now I've read you're thread and sorta felt these guys said it all. Secondly DANNNNNNNG you know a lot of big words! Awesome.

I look forwards to seeing this continue on to completion, so if you never finish WE WILL ALL BE DISAPPOINTED IN YOU. This is bad. Do finish, I want to play this. I think the only thing I have to say of any value is that this map seems a little similar to the BlackMesa map, maybe some of those props might be of good use to you... ?

LOL poor Saigon, I had problems fighting with Hammer too = (

PROGRESS REPORT

I've added a second walkway above the first one for Scoots and our more aerial-minded players, as well as giving some cover to the spawn area.





As you can see, I've also started adding in little details such as posters from the USG Ishimura (courtesy of an old article on Destructoid).




Ahahahha whoops.

The second walkways will extend out into the main room, but not entirely.

Are you planning on using Hl2 textures only cuz I dont see any tf2 textures so far?

I'll probably use more TF2 textures once I have the layout complete and I can get back to detailed texturework, but right now I'm sticking to whatever textures feel 'right' at the moment. Probably the majority of TF2 content going in will be in the props, though that's just a guess right now. It's hard to find TF2 textures that fit a dark, creepy spaceship.

PROGRESS REPORT

I have been a busy little bee. I added a 'lobby' room outside the spawn room because, as it was set up, the defending team could basically sit in the spawn and mow down anyone trying to get to the intelligence tower. This way there's a bit more distance and a little less firing range. And yes Jewsus, I WILL be putting in windows so you can sit and potshot to your wretched little heart's content...though I doubt you'll spend time in the tram station, as there are other more juicy sniping spots.



This next shots will give you a better idea of the main team rooms. Some of the details can be made out but, due to my lazy-ass texturing work at the moment, it's hard to tell where one ramp ends and the other begins, even in-game. Also notice the security railings: those aren't there just to keep Killa from wandering off the ledge like he tends to do sometimes -- though they're only on the ground floor, it will provide some semblance of cover from longer-range classes. The map is problematic in this way: too much cover and it starts looking like a Gears of War map; make the map too enclosed and it feels like just another CTF map and not like the inside of an alien-infested spaceship. This way I can keep wide expanses without giving Snipers a free pass. I gave them enough on this map as is.



^ as some of you more distance-minded players will notice, there are two out-sticking walkways where you can sit and snipe. Keep in mind that you'll be incredibly exposed at the same time.



This is the main route that opposing teams will take to get to the intelligence tower if they skip the hazardous hull route: an exposed walkway with a semi-enclosed room in the middle, giving offensive groups a chance to 'catch a breath,' though not in a completely safe area (take note of the holes in the walls; perhaps a few well-tossed pipe bombs or a sniper shot could go through?).



This is the second floor, a wide ledge suspended above and away from the ground floor. It's ripe pickings for Snipers (especially those using the Huntsman, as the relative short distance between floors plays to the bow and arrows' strength), but although I'll add more cover in the future, the ledge will be relatively short on hiding spots, so if you plan on camping, you'd better bring your hiking boots as well, as not many classes will appreciate getting arrows rained down on them.

Also, just to get this out of the way: yes, I noticed the map is very orange, it's a color_correction volume. Mixed with moody lighting and dust effects, it makes for quite the atmospheric touch. But with fullbright and a grand total of like five textures used in the map, it sucks a dick or two. It'll look good in the end, trust me.

Add a fucking light_environment so its not full bright.

blegh fail sniper map -_- i dont like

Killa wrote:blegh fail sniper map -_- i dont like

its still in alpha stage moron, he will improve it like he said.

looks confusing without the tf2 textures in it lol .. im like hmm is this tf2 or hl2 were talking about? Nice looks can't wait to see final product

PROGRESS REPORT:

New skybox lol



In these next few shots, you'll see I've basically made the map a lot less vertical. I've moved some stuff up and down, as well as lowering the ceiling so that players don't have to walk up a five miles staircase just to get to outer space.





Also, I've started going about the business of implementing TF2 content more directly than just textures. Yes, this is a bit of a change from the original deck, however I think it's an improvement. It fits in with the ship's industrial theme and give snipers a bit more space to move forward and backward. However, there's relatively little (re: NONE) cover from opposing snipers, so you'd better be quick on that trigger. Also, there's no way of getting back up on the catwalk from the crane platform, so if you're planning on retreating, you're going to have to jump down to the bottom floor and FIGHT LIKE A MAN to do it.





Lastly, I've begun the process of transforming the spawn room into a tram similar to the ones Isaac Clarke uses to move from level to level in Dead Space.





Also: special thanks to SWATY for teaching me what a func_detail is and saving me a WHOLE mess of time.

Dang this is looking very nice! Also looks very, very large.

swaty saigon says in a lot of those pics, there are spots for nigglet snipers to just sit and kill people, even though they are open, and the snipers can get shot by other people, there is still snipers, some who will body shot the fuck out of you, and others who spam shit at you saigon if you take it that way, where snipers are more powerful than other classes i really wont play it if there are more than 2 snipers on the other team :X

Killa, believe me when I say that the only safe spot for snipers on this map will be sitting inside their spawn, choosing another class. Yeah it looks like easymode right now, but have a little faith. Remember, if there's anyone in this clan that hates snipers, it's me. Do you REALLY think I'd give them a gift like this without a little something-something?