ff_escape (new pics on page 2)

[o_toffee]

Hoi,

Well Ive been working on this for a while. (6 years it has took me to get decent enough at mapping to try and finish this through properly, Im a bit of a perfectionist ! )

The basic idea is CTF with a twist. You can get into the enemy Flag Room very quickly from an attacking respawn just outside your base and via a one-way type vent which drops you down. The thing is that only half the job is done and you have to get out of the base with the flag. The further you go up through the base, the more desirable it is to attack the flag from both directions – usual front entrances to the base and also from the flag room first.

I will do my utmost to ensure it’s balanced for offence/defence. I think Ive played enough TFC matches in my time to know how to try and make it work ! The idea is for a fast paced game where the flag is always on the move but not with too many caps at the same time. Any gameplay concerns I’m sure I will have an anwer to – Ive had the time to have thought it out quite well I think !

Below are some screenshots of what Ive done so far - The ramp leading out of flag room, and how the outside of the base is shaping at the moment. Would like to hear any feedback on how I can improve things Ive got to show so far. Bare in mind its work in progress and a lot of what you see may not have been finished. Ive tried to resist posting up pictures of a box room though !

Im a bit of a slow mapper but if the response is positive Ill keep posting updates with screenies when I think its worth doing !

[o_alligator]

Hmm, sounds like an interesting map. I believe you need to add more detail to this map to gain some interest from players (although gameplayer always comes first, you also have to make it look nice). Why is the lighting so dull? Fix it up a bit. Good luck and keep us updated .
edit:
doesn't matter if you are a slow mapper - this aint a race - it is much better to take your time instead of creating a horrible map

[o_toffee]

Agreed - the lighting does need improving on the Ramp. I was thinking maybe team coloured spotlights and the like. What would be cooler is if they could follow the flag whenever its in their view on the ramp. Im hoping LUA can make this possible, we'll see.

As for lighting on the outside. I definitely want to go for a bright daytime theme, so there will be minimal other lighting out there. Ive seen posts here on the past moaning about too many maps being dark, so Im gonna try and break the trend here and go back to the TFC way of nice and bright maps.

And yes I agree its not finished and needs more detail in many areas. I tried not to be showing box rooms, but I was hoping I could have some suggestions on how to progress at the same time!

[o_alligator]

Yes, but here you exceeded the brightness making it look like fullbright - ugly! Tweak the brightness / ambiant of the light_environment entity.

[o_toffee]

will do

[o_foxtrick]

One thing that grabs me, it reminds me of old Doom 1/2 maps. I think its just the greyish atmosphere to be fair, not saying the mapping is basic. Though because of it, it makes the map hard to judge.

Keep going ^_^

[o_2d-chris]

Colour is the key! with both lighting and textures

[o_toffee]

I think you're right. There is a lot of grey in there and not a great load of colour. That's something I'll work on. Thanks for the feedback keep it coming!

[o_tennovan]

Sexy curves!

I am liking this a lot. With a bit of work on lighting and textures, I can see this being played. What concerns me is the stairs, though. I think a lot of mappers have moved to ramps simply because of the possibilities of ramp slides/bunnyhopping/whatever else those crazy dudes do. Not saying it needs to be changed, just a suggestion. I do like it how it is though.

[o_player]

The map sounds interesting but there are a few problems or things that need to be tweaked to make it look more natural and appealing.

If you are going to use stairs, dont forget to add clip brushes over them so they act like ramps :P

Number one, which you are now aware of, is the dull appearance of the lighting. Try and make it more ambient with some nice blues as it looks rather grey and monotonous at the moment.

The rock texture you see in the last screen is too repetive and you can see the three separate displacements due to poor blending; but, as you say, it is only a WIP so it is expected Other than that, this screen shot looks nice.

In the first screen shot, everything looks rather boring; you should try and break it up with different textures. Add trims and create shapes on the walls/floors with textures or overlays to make it look more lively.

The second screen shot looks perfectly fine, but with team colours it will look better.

The floor texture on the third screen shot doesn't fit in my opinion. You should add some raised areas along the walls with a few bumbs here and there in the center area to make it look more interesting. If you are going to include bumps, make sure they dont affect the gameplay. Everything else looks acceptable in the third screen shot :P

The fourth screen shot looks okay with varying surface heights for more interesting gameplay, I would, however, add something to the large grey walls at the back though. Things such as supports or overlays/decals to break up the repetition.

Other than all of this, you need team coloured textures which will hopefully arive soon and the idea behind your map sounds fun and I hope it works

[o_kam]

Stairs dont have to be clipped into ramps, they work well as a semi-choke point.

[o_player]

True. Clip the stairs that will end up improving gameplay, which might be none

[o_toffee]

Thanks for the comments.

With the stairs, dont worry, theres no reason to need to ramp slide on them. I'm conscious of the need for ramp slides when its needed to improve gameplay.

The most elevated section is the top entrance to the base that you see at the start of that tunnel. I imagine people will conc up high and will be able to bunny hop almost the whole way down to the flag room at the very botttom. Kind of like a map I remember in TFC with a similar idea, the name escapes me. It was played in some UK leagues though.

Going up through the base with the flag, I will ensure there are plenty of opportunities for ramp sliding up, as Im sure you will imagine will be possible with the way I have designed the ramp for example.

I will add more detail in all the areas the screenshots cover, especially team colours as well as better lighting/textures. Bare in a mind a lot of the grey there, especially the very large walls, are temporary. You will also notice a floating ledge, Ill fix that !!!!

I have found displacements to be very strange and tempermental. For some reason they come out in the game the opposite way round on the blend for a start !! Anybody else experienced this? Needless to say I will ensure its all fixed !!

[o_sokrateas]

Very Nice, by the looks of the arhitecture you're ready to use the source engine the way it was meant to be used. Obviously most of those textures are place-holders considering the customs we have available are not really top of the line. I think this map really has a lot of potential, good concept, and good layout. Looks like there will be a lot of tight gameplay. And I really enjoy the multi-platform (or vertical) battles that will come out of this map. Ummmmmm, other than that, you should make sure the screens are taken with a higher res and kept to a minimum size of 1024x768. Those choppy edges (which obviously weren't meant to be there) will get smoothed out and will improve the overall opinion of your map. Other than that, great work so far!

[o_toffee]

Yeah, screenies were taken from my laptop which Ive been using to design it. I figure if it plays well on my laptop, it'll play well on anything

[o_vertical]

I really like the map, and am looking forward to playing it when FF eventually comes out I agree with everyone else on the suggestions thus far, sounds like a great map, keep up the good work!

[o_donny]

Rather nice brushwork. Textures could use bit more caring hand but I dont think any community maps have 100% final textures.

[o_nezumi]

The idea for the drop-in to the flag sounds really interesting. It reminds me a bit of crossover2, with the grate leading out nearly on top of the flag.

Along those lines, I might suggest putting an exit from the flag room near where the shortcut drops you, so people could potentially take that shortcut into the base just to sneak around. I don't know if it would facilitate or ruin your plans to have people take that route to get to a flag that's been moved, but it might make the map a lot of fun.

Well and CZ2 were favorites of mine on pubs because you could use a similar shortcut to sneak into the back of the base and raise hell.

Anyways, the geometry you have so far looks pretty cool.

[o_imbrifer]

Shots 1 and 3 look pretty plain, as do the far walls in shot 4. Consider adding detail geometry to the walls/floors/ceilings. Look at some official FF maps, and see how they mixed up floor textures, ceiling textures and such to make the area more interesting.

The rock ground in shot 4 - don't forget to make it into displacements, and it looks like on the left, the area behind the column is too tiny to fit through, or fit through easily. That may get rough when displacements are the ground and sides there, so consider widening that space, putting a fence in there, or something like that.

It is definitely looking good, and as others have said the multi-level gameplay looks like oodles of fun. Keep hackin at it and you'll amaze yourself.

[Circuitous]

Make the drop a spiral ramp that you can strafe against to build up speed, then grab the flag right before a ramp that launches you off onto your path. Zeeewwwwwm!