Third_Law

Third Law

The RED and BLU corporations briefly joined forces in pursuit of scientific achievement, constructing this alpine base and developing new laser technologies. Inevitable corporate espionage led to both figurative and literal backstabbing, and the situation soon devolved into RED and BLU's more customary total warfare. Each lacks the complete blueprints needed to reproduce the new weapon, but the prototype may come in handy during the conflict.

Screenshots:

Laser Control Room
Center Building Exterior
BLU Base Exterior
RED Intel Room
Exterior Overview
Battlements Overview

Comments/criticism/questions are welcome!

[HeaH]

Looks great! Can't wait playing it!

Make sure you enter it to a gameday once they reappear

[gamemaster1996]

Looks amazing.

Love the generator in screenshot #1.

[h3r1n6]

I like the big intel rooms. CTF maps with small ones (2fort/sawmill) play poorly imho.

One questions, where are the spawns?

[Aly]

It looks pretty, but does it play well?
It seems fairly open. Not just sniper sightlines but you've got to realise that all classes need cover to reaload and hide.
Also, make your water a scale of 1.
Other than that, keep up the good work!

[Timberjaw]

Originally Posted by HeaH

Make sure you enter it to a gameday once they reappear

Will definitely do that.

Originally Posted by h3r1n6

I like the big intel rooms. CTF maps with small ones (2fort/sawmill) play poorly imho.

One questions, where are the spawns?

I hope the big intel room works out. That was the first part of the map I built (this map has grown organically rather than having a clear design from day 1. Chalk it up to my inexperience).

The spawns are on the left side of each intel room, on the upper level. So there's a spawn exit directly into the intel area, as well as a spawn exit that leads onto the 'battlements' outside (left side of screenshot #2). Direct access to the intel room from the defenders is intended to counter the short capture distance (about 25 seconds for a scout) and the wide-open intel with multiple entrances. The intel area has three entrances: front, roof (where the grate is hanging down), and back tunnel (right side of screenshot #4).

Originally Posted by Aly

It looks pretty, but does it play well?
It seems fairly open. Not just sniper sightlines but you've got to realise that all classes need cover to reaload and hide.
Also, make your water a scale of 1.
Other than that, keep up the good work!

It's definitely pretty open right now. The few additional design/layout elements I'm planning on adding are intended to remedy that problem.



There is also a set of underground tunnels connecting the bases that will avoid the large open exteriors. One set starts in the lakes, the other set starts in the basement of the center building:

[Excalibuur]

I like how this looks so far, keep up the good work.


Excal

[Timberjaw]

Alpha 7, first public release is up. I've made some significant layout changes to the areas in front of each base. Hopefully this will break up sniper sightlines and make the area more interesting.

Lots of other changes, all in the changelog. The battlements have been revamped, all areas are now textured, spawn rooms have doors/windows/resupply cabinets.

Gameplay addition: the roof laser can be activated from inside the central structure by two cooperating players (standing on a pair of control platforms). This will destroy everything on the roof (players and buildings) after a short countdown. A 60 second cooldown is required before the device can be activated again. Kind of a goofy idea I guess but my test players have liked it so far (or they told me they did to get me to shut up about my map ).

The map file is available to download and test at your convenience. Comments and criticism appreciated!

[Nerdboy]

Those courtyards in front are pretty huge.

[Timberjaw]

Originally Posted by Nerdboy

Those courtyards in front are pretty huge.

In play I don't think they feel as big as they look in the screenshots. It is intended to be a more spacious map than most CTF maps (2fort, Mach4, Turbine...) though.

We've been testing it on PALS (my group's server) and have found a couple issues in A7.

Known Issues:
* Players can hold the main spawn door open and let enemies in (oops!).
* Occasional server crash on map start (? We were also getting this with a stock map today, so maybe it's a bug on Valve's side. Not sure).
* Secondary spawn would be nice, probably near the battlements.
* Standing in front of the drop chute exits can cause dropping players to get killed by the doors (not a bug per se, but a potential gameplay issue). Might add a push block there to shove players aside, or use a double-gate setup that allows the dropping player to pause for a moment and choose when to step out (instead of propelling them out).