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Big airy bits (Apr 3, 2006)

Sometimes, I can't help but see something on TV and want to recreate it as a CS map. A few seconds thought and suddenly I'll be visualising what something would look like once all mapped out, textured and populated for Counter-Strike. It happened again this weekend whilst watching Spooks.

The area below caught my eye:

I have absolutely no idea what this place is in real-life, but in this episode it was an army barracks. The buildings are fantastically English, apparently drab and dull (maybe it's the overcast sky) but simple and very flexible. I've always wanted to do a map in this architectural style, but the problem is that it always seems so monotonous in-game.

The immediate idea when seeing something like this - with these absolutely courtyards - is first to think of 'landmark' and then onto 'bomb target in the middle.' The problem is that these courtyards are a huge a 50m (or more) square of flat nothingness. Large flat expanses like this never work well in CS, particularly not as a focal point of the gameplay. CS players don't like to expose themselves if at all possible, so this wouldn't work.

This problem can however be turned around. Make the courtyard an optional shortcut between areas, and suddenly the player has to balance risk with opportunity. This style of architecture has wide corridors in the perimeter buildings - these would be the major gameplay paths - and the courtyard would simply offer the opportunity to save some time or get a better sight of the enemy. The courtyards essentially become as dangerous as the Dust's T-junctions - get caught out and you're toast.

With this in mind, the map would share more in common with corridors gameplay, but with many opportunities to escape the boringness of corridor maps due to the large expanses.

My idea considered the Terrorists starting in a large first-floor hall/room above the entrance to the primary courtyard, with the tall stained windows bathing the room in bright sunlight to give it a 'warm' feel (this is important to keep the Terrorists feeling 'safe' and encourage them to guard hostages.) The windows would (naturally) give the Terrorists an excellent view of the courtyard and hence some glimpses of the CTs.

This sort of scenario balances itself. A few windows offering a good view to a large area seem the obvious place for a sniper to camp and take potshots at everyone, but conversely, the fact there are only a few windows means an enemy sniper knows exactly where to look.

So, Terrorists have a perfect little nest. It's big, open, airy, and gives them a good view of the main courtyard. Meanwhile, CTs have to take the perimeter buildings, taking corridors and darting through hallways, sometimes opening back out into the courtyard. It's all very simple.

Unfortunately, it's not all that exciting. The first few times, sure, maybe... but it's hard to see the replayability in it. It is essentially a figure-of-eight routemap (remember the two courtyards in each loop of the figure), with the CTs just navigating corridors for a large proportion of the map. Make it symmetrical (as in my example) and it becomes even more tedious.

There are ways to spice this sort of thing up - make the routes quite open, add lots of furniture to the areas, a dash of supporting buildings and alternative ways to reach the hostages - but those don't come just yet. I'd get the base plan down in Hammer, and then work out from the geometry the best way to make the map a little less symmetric and give both teams a little more to play and experiment with. That's the key: they should never have to play one round exactly the same as the one before it. Looking at the layout here, that just won't happen without another draft or two.

That all said, I'm still a little tempted. Just a little.

Bah.

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user comments

Atrocity at 03:49 on Apr 4, 2006

HaHa that place does look awesome but I want to see the one map you were workign off of that single reference photo of that stoned canals..... even if the source was lost or what ever it was sexah! go back rebuild go go go... for us dave. your beloved readers.... :D

Gregor at 03:50 on Apr 4, 2006

Hey, cool, looking forward to the next article :) I hope you delve deeper into this idea, as I would like to see how you plan on making the map more fun to play.

Also, was the "lack of originality" article error-ed on purpose for april fools? I still can't view it.

dave at 06:58 on Apr 4, 2006

Gregor: that was an April Fools article! Except, it kinda lacked the whole 'April Fools' bit and almost sounded serious. No big loss, trust me.

Parthi at 01:05 on Apr 5, 2006

"but conversely, the fact there are only a few windows means an enemy sniper knows exactly where to look."

Reminds me of the guard-houses from the Bridge map in America's Army. I played that map more than any other in the game. It wouldn't just be enemy snipers though any smart opponent would spray the windows with fire when they got the chance even if they didn't see anyone in them.

Parthi at 01:10 on Apr 5, 2006

btw, I think you should go ahead with this map. Considering that each corridor would actually have two floors :D

I think I would enjoy a map like this, as not alot of CS maps deal with gameplay on more than one level.
The only one I can think of right now is Office.

TheFly at 01:38 on Apr 5, 2006

Is it just me or does first of april jokes come across best on first of april?

Blitzkrieg at 01:42 on Apr 5, 2006

I like this idea, but then again, ideas have been hard to come by lately... Alot of times i think of or see something cool, and start thinking about it, mabie draw a layout. It usually lasts two days, three if i'm lucky. does this happen alot to anyone else?

Blitzkrieg at 01:49 on Apr 5, 2006

btw,
dude i think your pretty much my new hero. i'm into architure and art and especially mapping, but im new at it. anyways just keep doin what you do.

Gregor at 06:34 on Apr 5, 2006

Also, this reminds me of the yard of Prison Break :P (the show)

Blitzkrieg at 21:40 on Apr 5, 2006

I thought about a prison level once. Couldn't make it work.

Parthi at 22:31 on Apr 5, 2006

Ya, played a few prison maps in various games, they are always bland.
There is just no way to make a prison look interesting, unless it was set in a high tech setting.

Parthi at 22:32 on Apr 5, 2006

But this place looks more like an academy than a prison.

Blitzkrieg at 01:18 on Apr 7, 2006

yeah but the yard kinda looks like one.

splart at 14:13 on Apr 7, 2006

What did you use to make that plan?

dave at 18:37 on Apr 7, 2006

splart: Inkscape. It's not really a very good plan, just a very rough version of the layout I was thinking of. Can't plan too far ahead :)

Weezer at 12:48 on Apr 10, 2006

Dave, man, I know you know, but you surely deserve to hear (read) it: keep up the fantastic job and being such a humble and supportive lad.