by mookie on Wed Jan 19, 2011 11:54 pm
Based on the overview, it looks like a very difficult map for the Ts to defend. The three rescue zones to the south don't look like they can be defended/interdicted from a single point, and there is another zone at the opposite end of the map, meaning Ts will have to guess right to even have a chance (unless they are well enough manned to cover both ends at once, in which case hopefully they'd still be working on the house).
I think I see three routes to the house from the south, and two from the north (unless there is another way in by the garage as well). That would make five ways, compared to the usual three or four, and most of the perimeter of the house doesn't look to be especially useful as cover, especially considering that CTs can approach from just about every direction (if you try to work any corner of the house except the two southeast corners, you'll get shot in the back). The box truck is big enough, but also looks far enough out in the open that if you were about to be overrun, falling back would mean crossing a fairly large open space (i.e. the only attractive strategy with it would be to sit inside and set up a crossfire with teammates in or around the garage). This will probably mean that the Ts for the most part will not want to go outside unless they're trying to get behind someone, so by default the whole outside is a CT area (like Office).
Varying the ground level immediately around the house should be able to create some cover. The deck could be high enough off the ground that a crouched player can get complete cover from the deck itself, or even high enough to walk underneath, and there's no reason it has to be on level ground. The height of the planters and hedges seems fairly useless from a gameplay perspective (except as a step to get into the windows); they look too low to use as cover, but they may make it a bit harder to use the corners of the building as you'll fall off or bump into them as you sidestep around. Making the hedges somewhat taller so the corner of the hedges can be used as cover is one thought, setting them up away from the walls so that you can walk behind them in some places is another, changing some of them into bushes with solid cores and illusionary outer branches so you can walk between them is another. It looks like the windows are low enough to crouch-jump from the ground, so that's probably one purpose that's not actually necessary for the shrubbery.
Dropping the ground so that some of the windows are inaccessible without a boost may be a good idea as well, since it seems like once the CTs are around the outside of the house they'll be able to break in just about anywhere they want. Restricting them to doors, a handful of windows, and the two stairways onto the deck should help give the Ts a fighting chance inside.
To summarize the above, I'm thinking that the CTs can surround the house with impunity, and then attack probably a dozen points or more, which would make this play more or less like a shooting gallery. If the design is close to the original, it should be pretty easy to tell if this is correct or not (might not be).
The route running along the southwest edge of the map seems too isolated, since it will take a long time to run the whole length of it, and until you get to the other end you really can't do anything useful. It also seems like it gives the CTs too much of an advantage by giving them a spot to pick Ts on or around half of the deck, then turn around and attack and Ts watching the big rock, or rush straight down the stairs. This would probably be OK, except that there are already four other approaches to the house, and the time it would take the Ts to flank this position looks prohibitive. Making this route open up much closer to the big rock might be better, so might connecting it to the center route instead of forcing the Ts to run all the way out to the street to go around (or CTs, if they decide to change direction). Ideally, I'd lose it entirely. Turning it into a one-way drop and carving it out a bit underneath might be a thought, as it would force the CTs to have to turn around and look down as they went over, and once they were down they wouldn't have the option of falling back.
The route running along the eastern edge also seems excessively long and lonely. Presumably this is meant to give the CTs a chance to transfer between the two sides of attack, and the Ts a chance to transfer between the two rescue zones, but it looks much too long for that. You could probably connect it to the driveway just south of the box truck and eliminate the southeast corner, and/or change the tunnel from E-WNW to NNW-SE and eliminate the northeast corner. The tunnel itself could probably take up more of the distance, which might help make this area more distinct. Ideally, I'd make this as quick a connection as possible between the two rescue zones. Raising part of this route (and/or cutting a depression in the walls) enough to give a partial view of some useful part of the house (a place where the hosties would come out, or a window the Ts are likely to snipe out of) might be interesting.
I can't really see enough of the inside to tell what's going on there. Hopefully there are a fair number of places you can stand without being seen from the outside. I'm thinking that the hostages need to be kept in a more defensible spot than right by the windows in the living room.
The exterior wall texture seems like it should be neater, to go better with the ornate trim above, maybe even a tight brick texture with very little mortar visible. As it is now, it could just be that the shadows from the bumpmapping on the wood are too strong. The chimney texture looks good, but the colour doesn't go well with the exterior wall texture.
The fireplace looks odd. I'm not sure if it's because it extends so far into the room, or because the brick goes over the mantle.
It seems like the wood trim on the inside walls and around the windows and doorways should be the same wood (the windows and doors seem darker, maybe just the light). From the inside, the windows look like they go down lower than they need to. It may be looking more uncomfortable than it needs to because of the chair rail running right across it. The windows props themselves don't really seem to fit with the outside, so it might make sense to get the window frames settled where you want them, then find or make a window to go in them. Since they'll get shot out pretty quickly, they probably don't need to look great on close inspection, just good enough not to stand out. Just a thin func_breakable of a good, clean glass texture would probably do fine.
The outside light looks good, although the shadows seem too deep (screenshots will tend to be dark though).
The edge between the driveway and the grass might be a good spot to use $blendmodulatetexture, which I think is usable in CSS now. Can't really tell from these screens if you did that already or not. The grass around most of the outside of the house could definitely use a second grass texture blended in, maybe just a recolor a little more towards kelly green or turquoise.
The shape of the roof looks a little off; you might want to try running it all the way up to a point/line to see how that looks.
"When you mess up, it makes me feel better about me." -- Vince Masuka
