First map evar.

[XeNo]

-:Taking ideas for map name.:-


Total Time Spent on map to date
Uhmm, about a week learning everything to use SDK.
What is the map about?
It's a napalm map, using Dev textures as I don't think I really need to make a napalm map pretty.

I plan to try and use as many original ideas as I can, which is why I need help from you guys to give me ideas.

I am trying to address many problems most Napalm maps have, a few are:
1. There's only ONE good spot in the entire map, due to it being nearly overpowered. I am trying to make as many unique rooms and areas as I can to make them all seem appealing to hold off at. As well as try to keep them a bit close together, so you can run from room to room if you're really feeling daring.

2. Always the same types of rooms/holdouts. While I use many of the same types of hold-off areas as you guys see in other maps, I try and implement them in a more fair (if needed) or unique way. Such as I'm working on making a red crate (Everyone loves the hollowed out red crate) but made completely out of dev textures. (Proving to be annoying..)

3. Decent secrets. All my secrets should be things you don't need to open the map up in SDK just to find out (Unless you want to know all of them the first day it comes out then I guess it doesn't matter, I'll end up showing a lot of them to you guys anyways) on top of making them somewhat easy to find, I'm going to make them as fair as possible. I won't be making teleporters that teleport you on top of humans, or some complex invisible button pushing to get on top of the map, nor any secret rooms that are impossible to reach as a zombie.

4. Colors and symbolized rooms. While colors may not mean much to you guys, I actually like it when different areas look different rather than the whole map grassy with wooden boxes for example. I intend to make every room and every hold spot something you can easily identify by hearing it. I hate it on ZM when someone says 'THEY'RE ON THE BOXES' and the whole map is filled with boxes. With my map I'll either use: Uniqueness. Or: Colors/shapes. to try and help humans and zombies alike in communicating where they are. One example is my room where boxes are stacked to higher boxes, it is the only green room in the entire map, so if someone calls out 'Need help in green room', everyone knows where to go.
Completion Percentage?
Probably not even 10%, I have two rooms done, and a lot of more room for plenty of rooms.
Current Map Plans/ What I will be doing
Listed above, one room at a time.

I'll also be implementing a unique idea I'm pretty sure no other map has tried. There will be a room off the side of the map, it'll have a teleporter to the map, but it will also have deagles that give you glow trails, and the word Lottery Winner above your head. There will be one ct spawn point and one T spawn point in the room, so basically as it says you gotta get a lucky spawn and you'll be in there, pick from the colors, pick up your deagle and go back to the map like normal.
Screenshots
I took a few screenies, they're in 22inch widescreen so I made them thumbnails.

Showing off size as well as spawn points:
http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/2672/testing0000.th.jpg (http://img508.imageshack.us/my.php?image=testing0000.jpg)
Close up of the house:
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/2729/testing0001.th.jpg (http://img8.imageshack.us/my.php?image=testing0001.jpg)
Green room:
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/5703/testing0002.th.jpg (http://img8.imageshack.us/my.php?image=testing0002.jpg)
Tube room (no lighting yet but it's finished)
http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/6752/testing40002.th.jpg (http://img134.imageshack.us/my.php?image=testing40002.jpg)
That's all for now, I'll only update this post with most recent screenies or ones that show how done the map is.
Link to FPSB WIP
Won't be uploading to FPSB.
Programs Im using
SDK Hammer
Map By [SG] XeNo

[cakeshark]

well if you decide to make a ZM map, my brain is brimming with ideas for those maps.
good luck!

[XeNo]

I just said it's a ZM map...

[Daze]

This is probably a stupid question:-

the two people that spawn in the special rooms with glowing deagles, could they just camp in the room the whole round to not get zombified?

[cakeshark]

I just said it's a ZM map...

oh, when i first read this thread it was changed, you had said you weren't sure if was to be a ZM, ZE, or something else.

[Dracula]

My name.

[XeNo]

This is probably a stupid question:-

the two people that spawn in the special rooms with glowing deagles, could they just camp in the room the whole round to not get zombified?
Well I thought of that which is why I'm going to put a trigger in the room that teleports those inside out after like 30 sec or so of the map. Still, that's the kind of feedback I'm looking for.


Update:
I thought of an idea for a new room. Essentially, it's a grav room, separated by a wall, the entrance is on the roof and a button upon entering will enable the grav to take you up, and through the hole. The buttons on the other side turn it off and on, that's the only off button in the room. You can then cade up the wall separating, then hit the grav button and all the objects float up and block the door way.

I'm still not sure how well that will work, if it will at all to hold zombies back. Which is why I have you guys, amirite?

[XeNo]

Update (and double post, who cares) with screenies:

I decided fastest room to start building after my initial test room became an actual room (See green room pic) is one where Zombies must utilize tunnels.

Screenies:
Showing the map:
http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/2672/testing0000.jpg
Close up of the house: (The house has two secrets attached to it, both evened out and fair for both humans and zombies)
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/2729/testing0001.jpg
Green room (No secrets here, just a simple hold off room, on the last jump if you fall, a teleporter brings you back to the beginning of the room):
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/5703/testing0002.jpg
Plenty of room as shown in the next two screenies for many more hold off areas, or just simple stuff to fill up the map:(Disco room for all I care, so long as I can figure out how to make strobe lights appear on demand and stuff.)
http://img365.imageshack.us/img365/448/testing0003.jpg
http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/601/testing0004.jpg
Bit dark, but I haven't done lighting in over 80% of the map yet.


The Panic room:
(Will upload a picture in a bit) This room consists of a large block (without going into detail) that has small tunnels at the bottom for zombies to crouch through, I evened this room out by having it quite large, so one human can not hold this room, it's definitely a team effort. The Zombie side/entrance side will have a perfect see-through look of the other side, the Human/hold off side's view will be constricted to only seeing zombies when they start going into the tube, this gives Zombies the ability to sneak up or surprise attack by going into all the tubes at once. While this room will be a team effort to hold, it's also a team effort to take.

I have symbolized this room with the use of 3 buttons (Panic buttons), one in the middle one to each side on the hold-off side. By pressing one of these three Panic buttons, doors will instantly close off the tubes, halting any zombie attack for a brief period while you reload/get in position. You can shoot through the doors still to prevent zombies just ganging banging the tubes while this rest period is going on. However, the reset time on the Panic buttons is yet to be decided, you will not be able to spam them so use them wisely.

One more feature to this room I'm not fully decided on is if after some time the block in the middle breaks, causing zombies to be able to run down the tubes instead of having to crouch. One problem I have found is that you would suddenly need over 6 humans or so to hold it, so I'm still not sure if I should add that. On the downside, if every human camps the panic room, zombies will not be able to win. I may simply disable the use of the panic doors, or allow the tubes to be opened further so two zombies can fit in one tube. It has yet to be decided.


As always, just spam the thread with ideas if you want, I'll take anything.

[Neji]

That's your first map? Looks nice, We should test it on the server.

[Olli3]

Strobe lights?

If you want them rotating, make their parent a rotating object, and use light_spot. Make the light_spots "initially dark". Make their 'Custom Appearance' go to fully bright, then fully dark and and it will loop it. Then have all of the lights parents set to the rotating object. Have the rotating object spin when the button is pressed. And have the lights TURN ON when the button is pressed.

On the other hand. It looks hawt. Hotter than Hot Pockets.

[cakeshark]

the numbers on the boxes represent the height of the box, 1 = 1 box, 2 = 2 boxes etc.
the -6 in the middle represents a drop down tunnel that leads to the top of the middle box, maybe with a destroyable covering to make it semi secret.
and the step around the right most island is so zombies can stack.
just an idea, looks like a fun map so far.

[XeNo]

That's your first map? Looks nice, We should test it on the server.
I think I will re-scale the map, and include the house the building and maybe some things beneath the main building. A smaller version of the map basically to release and try to see if there's any major bugs. (Which I kind of doubt, I test my map to the max every few hours or so lol.)

As of right now there's only like three hold out spots so I don't want to put it on the servers yet.

Strobe lights?

If you want them rotating, make their parent a rotating object, and use light_spot. Make the light_spots "initially dark". Make their 'Custom Appearance' go to fully bright, then fully dark and and it will loop it. Then have all of the lights parents set to the rotating object. Have the rotating object spin when the button is pressed. And have the lights TURN ON when the button is pressed.

On the other hand. It looks hawt. Hotter than Hot Pockets.
Ah, thank you very much. I have an idea now how to make them.

the numbers on the boxes represent the height of the box, 1 = 1 box, 2 = 2 boxes etc.
the -6 in the middle represents a drop down tunnel that leads to the top of the middle box, maybe with a destroyable covering to make it semi secret.
and the step around the right most island is so zombies can stack.
just an idea, looks like a fun map so far.
Thanks, keep giving ideas.

Update with screenies:

Finished tube room: (Except for lighting which I'm saving till as late as I can to reduce compile times so I can go in and test faster.)

Three buttons, zombies can see humans through, humans have pretty easy view through the tubes. I can't make the doors invisible without them being invis when they go down as well, so I'm leaving them there. (You can't hide behind them anyways lol.) The buttons press the other two buttons when one is pressed, all have a 60 sec cooldown before you can push them again, doors fall instantly and hold for 20 seconds, will add console commands to indicate when they are closed and when they re-open. If it's seen a problem, I'll add a teleport to the door so if a zombie gets stuck in one it teleports them out to the room entrance. For now I think it's fine.

I am working on Lottery room at the moment until I can think of another idea to start working on. The upper platform currently has room for maybe 2 more rooms. Beneath the plateform I may just make plain rooms to hold out for so I can release this as a beta.

Screens below:
Zombie side of tube room
http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/9624/testing40000.jpg

Human/hold off side of tube room
http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/6752/testing40002.jpg

Taking suggestions to improve current rooms as well, I'll take more screenies of inside the house once I get the lighting to something I like. Also added a secret to the house so it now has 3 secrets, only one of which is a alternate route into the house to try and hopefully make it even we'll find out in beta testing I guess.

Also try to avoid texture differences, and shadows and roofs. I will be adding them, just not while I'm testing the map and key features so it speeds up how much it has to compile.

The shadows I will be making sharper, and lighting I will add at the end as well as the roofs. Only they will come at the end of the map, as it will make compiling time take hours (I expect).

Current thoughts:
Maybe making rooms around the spawn points, so zombies have somewhat safe haven if they choose to !ztele and won't be as easily shot across the whole map, and can ambush any humans trying to chase them down/pin in a corner.

[Toxin]

Try to not make too many tubes. Tube camping is fucking annoying, especially with 4 people with shotguns standing in one tube.

[XeNo]

Try to not make too many tubes. Tube camping is fucking annoying, especially with 4 people with shotguns standing in one tube.
Tubes aren't long enough for 4 people, and the whole point of that room is humans hold off on the other side...I'll try and think of a way to stop tube camping.

Perhaps a button in the room that is only activated by zombies (t team) on human hold-off side, that kills people in the tube slowly...I really don't know any other way to fix that lol.

Like I said, I'm working on getting the map up to beta stage. I have just finished the lottery room, let me go in game and get some pics.

Edit:

I could make the tubes have a button on Zombie side that makes anyone in them shoot out the end towards zombie side (So humans camping get pushed out towards where zombies would be) so that humans can't do it to zombies as they hold off, and if zombie does it to other zombies it's not really that big of a deal unless they spam it which can be handle by an Admin or two.

[XeNo]

I'm shortening the map from original idea, to release a beta version.

I need to make about two more rooms on the inside platform, perhaps another house, and some details to make the map overall look more filled and "exciting".

I plan to have a beta version working and on napalm server within the week or early next week.

How long it takes mainly depends on how long compiling takes.

Since I will be making the map smaller, I'm adding more lights, changing lighting while increasing how good the lights and shadows look, to make the map look better visually while not as large. The lights and shadow increases can cause the map to take hours to compile. (compile = making the map into .bsp and playable)

Updatemnate (Even though I think I'm the only one that even checks this thread):
Figured out a name: zm_sghangout however the screenies say holdout, cause I'm retarded. I'll change the name of it later.

Fully functioning lottery room:
http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/5718/zmsgholdoutb040004.jpg

Panic room is fully functioning aside from an anti-tube camper thing I'll make, it also has console commands so nobody 'panics' (LOLOMGPUN) when the doors close thinking they're for too long or whatever:
http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/834/zmsgholdoutb040005.jpg

I made a crude attempt at making a red crate out of dev textures underneath the main building (cause everyone loves crates) but didn't turn out well, I gave up half way so it looks kinda retarded but it does what it's supposed to, I'll probably make it wider, also the empty space around it will be closed off, cause I am not gunna use it.:
http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/9481/zmsgholdoutb040001.jpg

I made a sign that advertises SG website, which I will add some billboard-looking lighting to it, plus included a lamp post thing I made and am quite proud of even though I plan on fixing it up more. If you think it's bad I will fucking ban you:
http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/5921/zmsgholdoutb040000.jpg


What I'm currently doing:
I'm working on some details for the map, these are things to just make the map more filled and have more activity. While I do this I'm also playing with the environment lighting to try and find one that works with zombie mod. I will be perfecting my lamppost once I'm done posting here, from there I will be closing off the underground so that the crate doesn't have all that empty space around it, due to me not planning on putting much else under there. I will then be adding more details which I am sure will go unnoticed, but I know it will overall make the map better.

I am also working on an Admin room which is the same as lottery room but for admins. I will then work on roofs, a disco room. And anything that I happen to think of between those things. I had another idea for a whack-a-mole type of room, where there's windows with buttons on the outside that zombies can push and try to jump in, causing humans inside to keep on their toes and watch the window doors. But, due to this being really easy to make I'm doing it after I do details.

[XeNo]

I've finished fixing up my lamp post and I'm quite happy with it now, and don't plan on changing it much anymore.

I'm going to lower the light to some ridiculous low number next time I go to test to see if I can get the brightness down.

It's a small update as of right now, cause I haven't really made much changes. The roofs and how to better make my buildings look has caused me to rage and not work on the map for hours. I'm still not sure how I should go about making the roofs more appealing, but decided I'll work on my road and lighting until I can get something pop into my head.

Whack-a-zombie is basically finished, aside from adding the doors and buttons which won't take more than 10 mins:
http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/1775/zmsghangoutb070001.jpg

I added a billboard-looking thing and lights to my sign, as well as a credit to myself, mainly cause I'm ossim:
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/8976/zmsghangoutb070000.jpg

And a door to the Admin only room (Will put a sign so nobody is confused when the door goes nowhere.):
http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/1001/zmsghangoutb070002.jpg

[PingPong]

looks good so far, some suggetsions would be to NOT use doors that open since ive played on really badly done napalm maps where the zombies keep opening and closing the door destroying the cades also if you can think of a place where people actually have to work together to make and so that one guy cant just hold off an entire team. Last thing is make sure the physics are well done so you cant just jump through a cade

[XeNo]

looks good so far, some suggetsions would be to NOT use doors that open since ive played on really badly done napalm maps where the zombies keep opening and closing the door destroying the cades also if you can think of a place where people actually have to work together to make and so that one guy cant just hold off an entire team. Last thing is make sure the physics are well done so you cant just jump through a cade
Already done.

I don't plan on having doors except those that slide, so they don't destroy or move cades.

Currently trying to work out an admin room problem, as well as try to solve this issue I've been having with one of the rooms I'm trying to make.

[sneezing panda]

yay admin room

[PingPong]

Already done.

I don't plan on having doors except those that slide, so they don't destroy or move cades.

Currently trying to work out an admin room problem, as well as try to solve this issue I've been having with one of the rooms I'm trying to make.

Thank you. making doors that slide is a good but what i usually do is get a can or couch glitched through so that the door fucks up. You might wanna put that into consideration too.

[Daft...]

Hmm... i have some concernes with the map..

1.) Having dev textures.. its a terrible... terrible idea. Dev maps are crappy. only a slight few can pull it off.
2.) From the screenshots it seems rather small.
3.) you made your following laser wrong

Uhh. more then likely moreso.. but that is off the top of my head

[Prozak]

Map looks really good.For your first map, you did well.

[Stevee]

Looks cool.
Nd dont worry bout ppl saying dev textures suck.
I find them ok ..

[killerkallerant]

dev textures rule! expecially when ur making the map!