Hello all. This is the first map I've actually completed and I had a lot of fun making it. I like the gameplay and it runs pretty smoothly, at least on my system /w 15 bots. I haven't had a chance to play it on a server anywhere yet so I can't say anything about that.

? quoting G.Ballblue

Hmm.. That extremely obscure (yet interesting) shaped hole in the ceiling in Pic1 looks like somthing that is just begging to collapse. Consider putting some supports underneath it to make it look safer. I also feel that the floor in Screen1 is kinda.. hmm, flat. Maybe something like a "sunken living room" perhaps?

Also, judging from the ceiling thickness from those holes in screen1, it looks like your ceilnging is wafer thin. Make it thicker?

Yeah, yer right.. the Cresent shape in the ceiling doesn't look well supported. I'm not sure how to go about making it look supported and real.

Also, I didn't like the emptyness of the Mosque (that's what it's supposed to be) but was unsure what to put in there to fill up some space. From all the mosques I've seen where there's a bunch of guys on their knees praying there's always huge open spaces. It would be a bit more interesting with some stuff in there ... just not sure what.

And thanks for the comments! I've been checking back here every 30 minutes or so after I've posted my map to see what people say hehehehe

Nice work with the prefab. There are some things I'd do differently with it but you've certainly managed to recreate the generic army truck very well. You just need to get that thing some suitable textures!

Yak,

Quick newb question... So a prefab is just something built out of brushes? About the texture on the truck.. yeah that green metal is the best I could find. I've got a Canon Digital Rebel and I've been thinking about playing around with trying to make some custom textures, but I've never done that before. I've got experiance making repeating textures for use on webpages and such using the blend and rubberstamp tool in photoshop, Im guessing it's sorta the same process for making textures.

BioPulse,

I definately hear ya there. I've been play testing it with bots, which I know doesnt give you a real sense for balance, so human playtesting is something I'd really like to get done. Unfortunately I don't have access to a machine anymore with a fat outbound internet connection to set a server up on

I knew that creating an ambush scenario map was going to bring up the concern of balance so I tried to stay aware of the issue while creating the map. I currently have all the CTs spawning in the cabs of the trucks (4 spawns, 2 in each cab) or in the beds of the trucks (12 spawns). The T's start off either in their compound (8 spawns), on the roof of their compound (4 spawns), in the mosque across the street (2 spawns) or on the ground at the enterence to their compound (2 spawns). The intersting thing is that while it seems that the Terrors have the upper hand because of their positioning, unless they coordinate that with good teamwork the CT's win more bot-vs-bot battles because they start out together and tend to move in groups together, engaging and overpowering the more scattered Ts. I might still play with repositioning spawn points if I get some input.

Looks pretty good for a first effort, though there are still a fair few tell tale signs that this is from a new mapper. Most obvious is the sparse area shown in the first screenshot, which may have an interesting ceiling hole but is otherwise very devoid of not only detail, but cover. Get something in there for players to hide behind - pillars, clutter, statues, planters, monuments, fountains, whatever you feel fits the setting provided it looks the part and keeps the gameplay interesting. The exterior area looks far more interesting from a gameplay perspective, and the second shot in particular makes it looks quite frenetic and atmospheric. Problems here? Well the crate nearest the camera is much too large for the texture used on it which makes it looks rather horrible. Now I mention it, it seems you have overly stretched textures left right an centre - 0.25 should be your default texture scale for most purposes. Besides that, you may want to try playing around with 3D skyboxes, as it lets you suggest a far greater sense of scale to the map than actually exists, and you seem to have ample opportunity to show one off with your exterior regions.

All these comments were based on the screenshots by the way, as I'm currently away from my own computer so can't test it in game.

You, sir, kick ass. I use google image search all the time but never crossed my mind to search mosque interior... show off

I've got de_ambush up and running on a linux server (woo hoo!) It has some regular players and I've gotten some really good feedback from people. I'd love it if the mapper folks around here went and played some rounds

server: dingolicous

ip: 69.93.55.6:27015

the server is set up for fast download and runs very nicely. I've also got a map called cs_darkride that's alternating with de_ambush in the rotation. cs_darkride is still under construction but I wanted to make sure some of the stuff I was trying to do would work in a CS:S multiplayer map without getting really stupid.