Commercial Work

Counter-Strike: Condition Zero

Sienna (de_sienna_cz)

Sienna was designed in early 2004, and intended as my last 'serious' map for CS 1.6. My desire was to create another map in the same vein of Dust 2, with the tightness and openness that many people seem to enjoy, whilst also trying out a few experimental features. Most notably, it features several small connecting passages and intricate alcoves and platforms designed to encourage particular play styles. The map is set upon an upward incline, with the attacking team (Terrorists) needing to advance up towards the bomb targets, whilst the Counter-Terrorists must defend from higher ground.

Sienna is the last map I worked on for which I produced the majority of textures. During the last stage of its development cycle it underwent an art pass at Valve, during which it took on a far grittier and individual feel, but maintained the same theme I had created. The above two screenshots are from the last version I worked on.

Tides (de_tides_cz)

Tides was initially just a small map I was working on after Cobble, again using all custom textures. It was later bought, re-textured and made an appearance in Counter-Strike: Condition Zero (above).

Tides was updated by Valve for inclusion in Counter-Strike: Source.

Counter-Strike

Dust (de_dust)

Dust is certainly the map with which most people associate to myself, and has become not only excessively popular, but a hallmark of Counter-Strike itself. Despite being so simple and basic, it rapidly became a favourite amongst players and held the title of most-popular (or most-played) map in the world for many months.

Dust has seen various updates in its life, not least by Ritual Entertainment in Counter-Strike: Condition Zero and by Valve in Counter-Strike: Source (above, respectively). In both updates, the map layout has remained mostly the same, but the map has undergone significant visual improvements to make it look much more realistic and improve the gameplay.

Dust 2 (de_dust2)

Dust 2 was initially designed to be Dust 3, in response to the popular understanding that sequels rarely match the quality of the original. The map is a slight departure from Dust, featuring tight conflicts and many more elevation changes than the original map, but apparently boasts much more appeal amongst players and stole the most-played title from Dust. If Dust is a map for casual matches, Dust 2 is a map for organised massacres.

Like Dust, Dust 2 has also seen a number of updates.

Cobble (de_cbble)

Cobble was born out of a desire to build a map based on a castle. I was delivered with approprate textures by Chris Ashton, the artist behind the Dust textures, and proceeded to create a huge castle which ended up being entirely unsuitable. Heading back to the drawing board, I then built Cobble in a matter of hours, designed around the same principles that had found favour in Dust - notably the simplicity and openness.

Cobble does however suffer from a few glaring problems. Most notably, the scale is unrealistic and hence players look minute in the environment. While never as popular as Dust or Dust 2, Cobble has remained a favourite amongst clans and is amongst the top five most played CS maps.

Cobble has also been updated by Valve for Counter-Strike: Source.

Team Fortress Classic

Casbah

After the success of Dust and Cobble, I was contacted by Valve to produce a map for Team Fortress Classic 1.5. As an enormous fan of the game, I quickly got involved making it the first mapping contract of my career. Casbah was the result of a very difficult project which helped demonstrate my immaturity as a designer and hence acted as a very important exercise. The original map sprawled out into an entire mess of a town, which was later cut into something more playable and appropriate by Valve's David Sawyer who acted as my coach for the project.

James Bond 007: Nightfire

Casino (dm_casino)

When I was asked to create a Casino for Nightfire I wasn't sure where to begin. After all, casino's are a big part of the Bond image. The map was derived from unfinished works on the TWINE game, and hence uses the same textures and general stylings. My initial casino map, like Casbah, sprawled out into a large two-floor mess which required significant reworking to bring back to a sensible size.

Power Station (dm_power)

This map was based on a theme from one of the single-player missions in the game, and hence is effectively a derivation. The layout adopts a classical focus in the centre of the map containing a high-value weapon.

Romania (ctf_romania)

Romania is one the maps I am most proud of, one that went through 3 or 4 very different revisions before coming to rest on the S shaped configuration that made the final game. The map ended up as a passage through a small (semi-Romanian) town, featuring many high vantage points, looming buildings and quick shortcuts across the map. The majority of the textures were my own.