Last night I submitted my entry for the Asymmetry vs Symmetry Control Point Contest at TF2Map.net. I started thinking about this map around January just after the competition started. It took me a month to come up with an idea that I really liked. The idea was one team are prisoners of war breaking out of a prison and the other team has to stop them. This translated to a 3 CP Attack/Defend game. There were some issues with the scene, like why would the mercenaries be locked up with all their weapons? And why are they fighting against the clock?
Well there were some ideas how the inmates end up with weapons. One was that an NPC spy would de-cloak infront of the cells, hit the door release button, say something cool, cloak and run away. The team could then get out of the cells and grab some weapons from somewhere. The other idea I think Luke came up with was that the weapons get dropped on top of them from a vent by some unseen character and then they could break out using the weapons. I liked both, but never implemented a solution. Currently, players spawn in a cell that they can break out of using the weapons they spawn with. As for 'Why fight against the clock?', well, nothing ever came of that either.
By February/March time I was drawing out possible layouts, just anything that came to mind. At this stage I should have been studying existing maps, so I could see what already works, rather than just drawing something that I think might work but in reality there would be some unforeseen consequences. A problem that popped up quite a lot (and could still be a problem) were sentry positions that made it impossible to attack. The basic formula I used to draw the layout was to have at least 2 routes for attacking a control point. At the end of March I had a fully functioning map with plenty of problems to solve.
About a fortnight later I came up with a new layout that isn't all that different from the version I submitted for the competition. Unfortunately I don't have any images of the layout before this one (I did that on paper).
A scale sketch of the layout made with Paint.NET
Shortly after that I started adding textures
cp_breakout_a4: A view of control point A.
This area is supposed to look like a dining hall for inmates
cp_breakout_a4: a view of control point B.
This area is where prisoners are admitted into the prison
cp_breakout_a4: a view from outside control point C.
This gate control room, the only way in or out of the facility.
By this time there was just over a month to go so I stepped up the pace. This meant I didn't give the map enough time to get play-tested properly because I didn't have much time to, and any problems found by play-testing might just be too much to do. A month might sound like enough time but I had three coursework deadlines in May, so it was more like two weeks or so. Yes, that means I managed my courseworks in pretty much three weeks as well. I'm just that badass (let me think that at least until I get my results).
So I was working pretty fast, I didn't really document anything, so let's just skip to the end:
cp_breakout_a8: a view of control point A (from the opposite side to before)
You can't really see it here but it looks more like a mess hall
cp_breakout_a8: a view of control point B (from slightly to the left of the view before)
Shows off some of the detail I added here.
cp_breakout_a8: a view from outside control point C
I decided to change the skybox from day to night (I heard prison breakouts are more frequent at night)
I quite proud of how it looks. These screenshots illustrate how dramatic different light temperatures can be. The first ones (a4) all the lights were 100% white. The newer screenshots have mostly warm lighting with some white or light teal highlights (the pipes under B, under some balconies at A, the spotlights outside C).
If you look inside control point C (click here) the lighting is 100% white again. I think it makes it look more important. I intended to only have the red brick texture come down from the ceiling part way and have that white wall texture (around the pipes) lower down, I just never got around to it.
Here are some more screenshots I didn't show:
Fin
Things I learned
- Start things early.
- Playtest as much as possible
- Study other maps before you start to find out what works and what doesn't, and what hasn't been tried yet
- Sketching digitally with a graphics tablet is way easier than on paper
- Next time add spectator cameras early so that when I take screenshots for each new version I can cycle through them like a time-lapse. That would be sweet
- Contests are fun
Thanks to TF2Maps.net, Acid Police, and The Crazy GFL for testing, resources and feedback.
Follow me on Twitter @explosivose
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