cs_island

[ckb]

Myself and another member of my counter-strike "community" (therubysquare, V) have begun collaborating on an island cs map. Hes doing the prop work and details on the buildings, I am doing everything else. The geography is pretty much done, although tweaking will most likely be done eventually. Here is the latest version of the map that I have done work on only, I sent it like this to the other guy and he is adding foliage now. After he is done I will work on the lighting and other effects (weather, sounds)

Considering that these screenshots were taken on absolute lowest settings with a GeForce 2 (my radeon broke ) of a work in progress, I think it looks pretty nice. Any tips on how to make it look better (effects wise, its lacking detail because we haven't done it yet) would be welcome, this is my first attempt to make a map that I am putting the extra work into to make it look good as well as be fun.



Notice the ships in the 3d skybox ; )



btw, the foliage and the airplane are from cs_jungle by shiroko, very appreciated.

[Spas12]

put an env_sun, do not leave mat_fullbright 1 to do the lighting. fix the sand texture, put a shadow_control in the map, and add some more foliage.

[ckb]

put an env_sun, do not leave mat_fullbright 1 to do the lighting. fix the sand texture, put a shadow_control in the map, and add some more foliage.

I just realized that you can't really tell what the sand looks like in those screens. You can't see the sand really well because of the crapiness of my computer, but it is sand, and up closer or on better settings it looks a lot better. haven't done the lighting yet, waiting for my partner to finish his work on the foliage so that I can check out the shadows and other stuff.

what does shadow_control do? (obviously something with shadows, but I don't know what)

I guess I wasn't really clear enough in my original post. I don't want the map wieghed on the standards of a finished project or one even remotely near being finished, because it isn't either of these obviously. But how is it as a concept? Is it possible to fill the entire green part of this island with foliage and still be playable? Can a map rely entirely on trees and bushes for cover? Are there any special effects in particular I can use that might help a jungle or tropical island map look or sound or feel good beyond what is expected or used in regular maps?

[YokaI]

common, up the grafics on those houses, the one thats really bad is the solid grainy colored gray one.

Put alot of trees on the grass part, make it jungle like, make sure to rotate when reusing trees to make it look different every time you rotate.

[ckb]

read and you would know that I am not finished with the trees yet

[dragonfliet]

um...well, concept wise: You have the ct spawn on the beach (jeeps nonetheless...where's the boat they came in on and why do they have jeeps?) and the terrorists in the house...but where is the cover for the ct's? You've not shown any indoor maps, so I'm going to have to assume that it's meant to be played outdoors, but the ct's have virtually no cover from snipers at the house. That's all I can really get from the crappy screenshots. Wait and have your friend take some shots that won't hurt our eyes though, it will be greatly appreciated.

~Jason

[Cker]

i'd say very good idea and layout but you need a sun and fix the shadows as well as more foliage but very good idea and i'd rate it even if it's unfished 7/10

[Tombi]

I like the idea of this map but it still needs a lot of work, and better pictures would be nice.

[ckb]

if someone with a good system who can actually run source on high settings wouldn't mind taking screenshots that "don't hurt our eyes" I could send you the .bsp. I admit that they don't look great, but I am still waiting to replace my burnt up nice video card and am currently using a GeForce 2.

If I fill the island with trees all the way from the place on the top down to the shoreline, that would mean quite a large number of props. Would the map still be playable by the majority of players with so many props? I really don't know how polygon count effects playability when it comes to props.

[Cker]

i'd be happy to take the screens on highest resolution and graphics setting
email me the bsp at christina.lemmermann@tiscali.co.uk

[ckb]

I will do that once it is to the next stage of completion.

[YokaI]

Change the gray building. outside texture of it is bad, make it brick or something

Make it look tropical, not military base

[upriser]

Okay, the way you have to think about this is: what kind of island are we talking about? An ocean with really shallow water with some land coming up above the water, because that's what it looks like to me. But, as you've probably realized, it's hard to make that play well.

What I would do is make it a volcanic island, which would allow for a much more vertical map, allowing cover, hills, and put plenty of rocks. Also, if it's a more vertical island, you can have inlets and make the shore areas more separated, perhaps with the beach spawn being the only legitimate landing spot. And further, volcanic islands are ripe for vegetation. Look at far cry, I would say, for inspiration here. So, I guess that's what I would recommend. Hope that helps.