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Title                   : dm_boundless
Date                    : 6th November 2012
Filename                : dm_boundless_v0.bsp
Gametype		: HL2DM
Playercount		: 2-12
Author                  : Christoph "Radon" Erhardt
Email Address           : 222.radon.86@gmx.de
Home Page               : -

Description             : The basic idea of the map was to create a tower that
			  repeats endlessly and creates the illusion of
			  infinite height. It has 3 floors that are designed in
			  such a way that they can seamlessly be stacked on top
			  of each other and thus in theory create an endless map.

			  In practice this is obviously not possible. I created
			  a single set of 3 floors and connected the bottom and 
			  top with teleporters. This is the only practical way to
			  make a working map based on the idea. Unfortunately the
			  illusion of a continuous space is mostly destroyed by
			  the teleporters. I wish I had real portals (as in the 
			  game 'Portal') to connect the floors. With those the
			  idea would work much, much better. Alas, there is no way
			  to get portals to work in Half-life 2 multiplayer. It's 
			  a different version of the source engine. So I have to
			  live with the 'simple' teleporters. I hope basic idea
			  still becomes apparent when you play the map.

			  Another unique element in the map is the architecture.
			  Unlike most maps it was not build on the editors basic
			  grid that creates a lot of 90 degree angles. Instead I
			  used a 'fake' grid with a 60 degree angle between
			  the x and y axis. That allowed me to create a hexagonal
			  layout for the tower. 

			  With a hexagonal shape for the basic layout I could do
			  some very interesting things. Three corners of the tower
			  form big open shafts that allow sunlight pass directly to
			  the center. The other 3 corners of the tower form 
			  'usable' space where the player can walk. This 
			  partitioning of the space is extended by the vertically
			  repeating layout of the tower. In the vertical direction
			  the open and the walkable spaces alternate. This effect
			  is achieved by the fact that the 3 floors are not 
			  designed to be simply stacked on top of each other. Each
			  copy of the 3 floors also has to be rotated by 60 degrees 
			  to connect flawlessly with the lower set of 3 floors. So
			  in essence the tower is an endlessly winding structure with
			  3 big shafts that alternate their orientation each 3 
			  floors. I hope this doesn't sound too confusing. Just play
			  the map ... it should make things more clear :)

Other Levels by myself  : dm_scepter
			  dm_amplitude
			  dm_cannon


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* Construction *

Base                    : -
Spawnpoints		: 35
Editor used          	: Valve Hammer Editor, Propper
Known Bugs              : -
Worth knowing		: Getting the hexagonal layout for the tower to work was quite
			  hard. I had to invent/find a few tricks and tools to make it
			  feasible. Those were mainly:

			  - An artificial 'fake' grid in Hammer that could be used as a
			  replacement for Hammer's integrated grid. The fake had one
			  requirement: all intersections of its lines had to hit spots 
			  in Hammer's grid. Only that way it was possible to align 
			  anything on the fake grid. That creates a new problem however.
			  If you create a fake grid with a perfect 60 degree angle its
			  intersections simply will not coincide with positions in Hammer's
			  grid. I had to create a slightly 'stretched' version of such a 
			  60 degree grid for this to work. As a consequence however the 
			  angles are always slightly incorrect. In the finished map this
			  stretching is not noticeable. It made the whole construction 
			  process more difficult though. Since the angles of the brushes
			  are never exactly what they should be it was not easily possible
			  to copy and rotate pieces for reuse in a different place. In
			  order to do that I had to create:

			  - A script that did rotations correctly while taking the slightly
			  stretched angles into account. I worked out how the 
			  transformation had to be done with my 'fake' grid and wrote a 
			  small application that would take brushes and apply the 
			  transformation. With that tool building on the fake grid became
			  reasonably efficient.

			  - The tower also pretty much does not have any straight walls.
			  Everything is based on slanted base pieces. These pieces can be 
			  connected from different directions. Furthermore they are slanted
			  in such a way that base area of the pieces would shift exactly by 
			  the size of one such piece each three floors. With these properties
			  the pieces would guarantee that the three floors of the tower would
			  always connect flawlessly with a (rotated) copy of themselves.

			  Some of these tricks are hard to explain properly here. If you
			  are curious or maybe even want to create something similar, simply
			  send me mail. I will gladly help you with any questions you might 
			  have :)

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