oc_outhouse

[Xenire]

Greetings my fellow coop enjoying brethren. Many of you may have probably seen me lurking around on the server now and then. I greatly enjoy cooperative experiences and have been doing so since Doom (which I still coop), and Svencoop was one of my favorite original HL mods. I have not made this thread to simply introduce myself but also introduce a map I've been working on. I have mapped for Goldsrc but it was a rather limited experience and more of experimentation than anything serious, but I did make one hell of a nice Imperial Shuttle prop. I'm a newbie when it comes to mapping for Source; this map is essentially me teaching myself the ropes and I've progressed decently. I call it oc_outhouse a good name... yes, it is good. It's still an early WIP so there is much to do yet and plenty of things to improve that are already in place. The map will generally be of a more serious nature in the spirit of classic coop and that's what I enjoy the most (but I do like fun maps now and then too). I'll briefly explain some of the goals of the map and what it is and isn't designed for.

What to expect:
-Linear combat based progression
-Simple teamwork requirements
-Limited ammunition and weaponry (sharing is caring)
-Lives
-Secrets (to be well equipped it will be best to keep an open eye)
-Scripted weapons from OC
-Decent standard of architecture and detail

What not to expect:
-Complex trigger work
-Uber npcs
-Rush friendly
-Expert level design

The map will require Episode 2 mounted since it uses a large number of textures and props from it. Episode 2 content is so much higher quality and it just didn't feel right to not utilize what's there. I will include a simple brief story with the map if anyone really cares.

Some early WIP progress screenshots:





If there is any interest I will post more screens or provide more information as it gets done. Feel free to comment, ask questions, or make suggestions those are always helpful, especially early on.

Edit:
Fixed the crappy thumbnail Imageshack links.

[MaestraFénix]

For be a W.I.P. looks great, specially the forest with the fog.

Hmm, maybe can you say the "plot" of the map?

[Xenire]

It takes place after the Combine have taken control. I'll give a brief synopsis of the introduction to the story of the map as I currently have it.

You are a civilian being transported by the Combine to one of their facilities for exactly what they do to all civilians who are gathered up. In your darkest hour by what seems to be a stroke of luck in the thick of fog rebels ambush the convoy. You and some others manage to free yourselves but the fight is too intense and the Combine begin to overtake the rebels. In a desperate attempt to escape you run into the nearby forest along with the others who have been freed, but you notice that oddly the Combine are not following. The forest is infested with zombies that have traveled from the nearby cities/towns and your situation has not improved. As your group travels through the forest trying to survive there is a lone mysterious outhouse in the middle of the forest. Perhaps somehow it can be the key to your survival.

That's pretty much the introduction story to the map. The map begins in the forest and all you possess is a crowbar.

Also a note on the screenshots: The areas in the pictures are mostly complete with possible minor adjustments to be made, but the map as a whole is still an early work in progress though.

[Axel_m3sh]

good wip pics, i like your foggy forest, makes me feel as if zombies will burst outa their graves and eat you as you try to go past

[MaestraFénix]

Is a very good introduction, i like it.


I look forward to this.

[Xenire]

I've been been keeping a fairly constant pace and have made a fair amount of progress. The map will likely be somewhat like a bastard child between original Half-Life and Doom with teamwork elements mixed in. It's mostly an attempt to separate the gameplay a bit from others and keep things interesting.

Here is a screenshot of a newer area that I'm working on:




I'd also like to ask, is there a way to have a weapon stay with a player upon death? If anyone knows a way this can be accomplished I'd love to know.

[destiny]

looks nice xen.

[Axel_m3sh]

Outhouse sounds like one of those old wood huts that people take dumps in


As for the weapon stay, I don't think so unless you wanna do a bunch of I/O and stuff that detects what weapons the player is carrying lol

But there is a tricky way to do it, whenever a player picks up a weapon on the ground (say like down the road you get the OICW but its far from spawn) have it triggger (with OnPlayerPickup?) a point template that spawns an OICW at the spawnpoint so players can pick it up.

Dunno, it's one way to let players have weapons spawn at start.

[Xenire]

Outhouse sounds like one of those old wood huts that people take dumps in


As for the weapon stay, I don't think so unless you wanna do a bunch of I/O and stuff that detects what weapons the player is carrying lol

But there is a tricky way to do it, whenever a player picks up a weapon on the ground (say like down the road you get the OICW but its far from spawn) have it triggger (with OnPlayerPickup?) a point template that spawns an OICW at the spawnpoint so players can pick it up.

Dunno, it's one way to let players have weapons spawn at start.

Hehe... but you are correct it is an old hut in the woods people take a dump in!
The easy way would not be useful to the design of the map sadly. It must be specific to the player who picks it up.

I figured there was some way to do it by parenting the weapon to the player after giving him an I/O name, and then maybe using a filter but I don't know how exactly to go about it or if it's even possible.

[Axel_m3sh]

Well CSS mappers sometimes parent things to their weapons (like this: http://www.gamebanana.com/prefabs/1900 ) so it's possible to parent an entity to a weapon that a player picks up which can be used w/ a filter or something

The problem is when the player dies, they drop their held weapon and items but not the other weapons in their inventory so if a player had more then one weapon, the specific weapon would be deleted if it was in the inventory I think...

[MaestraFénix]

Nice screenshot.

[Xenire]

The forest is far more frightening than expected! Run for your lives!

The map is still progressing well and I'd say it's around three quarters finished. Initial tests have been ran and it seems to be of fair results and good fun. I'll say right now that the map is very combat intensive but without being spammy.
If you aren't into consistent combat this might be one to pass up on. The primary challenge is the combat rather than puzzles and it won't be easy, mostly so at higher skill settings.

[MaestraFénix]

Is good know it.

[GlassCannon]

If you think that's frightening, a few minutes before that screenshot was taken, giant Miku was fighting a giant Big Momma. Sadly I was in so much awe that I had forgotten to take a screenshot of it.

Some other very odd things were happening during testing, but most of them were caused by server problems or just random screwing around.

[Xenire]

If you think that's frightening, a few minutes before that screenshot was taken, giant Miku was fighting a giant Big Momma. Sadly I was in so much awe that I had forgotten to take a screenshot of it.

Some other very odd things were happening during testing, but most of them were caused by server problems or just random screwing around.

If only your ability to make a quality post was as good as your ability to entice the destruction of my crappy server. I suppose it is true that a giant Big Momma sac is rather frightening though.