Final Map Update List

Removed Window in garage (This improves navigation in that area)
Improved Valve carpet textures (more detail)
Added very useful Poster in Radio room
Added physic model blinds (move when shot)
Added custom blue ring teleport effect (basement)
Added extra start sound for spike trap
Added extra start sound for hev shock trap
Added sprites on GTA pool trap button (to help show button)
Added another vent near basement stairs
Added a 2nd button for the spike trap (in box area/help text)
Added a sound for vending machine
Added a sound for garage teleport (with spark effects)
Added a sound for teleport by pool
Added HP on basement stairs
Added light near jacuzzi (many use to be jumping on to get to above vent)
Added tap in large hot tub
Added small help/hint text on walls e.g. combat box area etc (requested)
Added support brush detail to side of house (use as cover)
Added sparks to broken TV in kitchen
New prop in radio room
Moved the 2 wood boxs outside by pool
Box in wood area can be moved by pressing the use button (hint text available)
Other tweaks have been made to gameplay.

Have fun

Thanks for the feedback, will be useful.

Heres some answers

The 3 traps are the super charger (that has spikes)
The small old HL1 Hav charger, up stairs (that shocks you then blows up)
The swimming pool trap then drowns (shoot the small gta sign to enable)
Here's the traps video (beta version)
Link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRtIXgzTMJU&fmt=18

The concrete wall downstairs in basement, to get in that room the wall has 50000 hp
(only cause when you get the box its very useful\funny)
Here's a video on how to use the box
Link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOqjk9XBy7M&fmt=18

To open the shower door press the use button (e)

The jacuzzi my friends wanted (but I could put something in)

The fireplace i've put a 10hp health pack in (but you will loose more health when going in the fire)

The rainbow telport its abit random/funky (im not sure what I was thinking when making it hehe

FPS Banana comment i'll send by pm.

Well I had a run around your map this morning and as house style maps go this ones pleasantly amusing, and has quite a bit to offer.(Much to my own suprise).
Your attention to detail is awesome.
The traps and tricks seem very well thought out and executed, but there were two I could'nt figure out. The concrete wall downstairs in the basement. I no-clipped finally to get in there, and pushed the button, and a big wicker hunting hut thingy appeared in the middle of the room????????????.
Also could'nt get in the upstairs shower to retrieve the slam. I did notice my health dropping everytime I hit it with the crowbar though. Nice touch there. If it is an unattainable item, maybe you could put a shower sound in there and some steam or something as well, just for appearance..
Now onto some critz/and a few more suggestions.
Please fix the windows. Getting through them right now is such a chore!
A few anticlimactic spots:
The jacuzzi and the pond outside. Put something in them to justify going into/through them(maybe some expensive ammo, or a tele or something).
Also the fireplace seems like a prime location for some kind of trickery other than burning.
The crates with the crawlspace need some....re-thinking?. They just look bizarre as is.
The rainbow brushes just seem out of place over that wall. I'd seek a way to camofluage them somehow.
And on a personal desire, I'd love to have a jump booster up on that diving board, but thats just me, hehe.
I would also suggest using Haymakers speed ladders in the house.
Your doing great with this one and I think your very close to being done here. Nice job so far.....
Now I have a quick question semi off topic. Did you have to trash your original post at FPS Banana to get you latest version at the top of the list? They don't give you the ability to bump a map post there, and it's quite frustrating?!?%*!

Thanks for the feedback Riven, I will try my best to greatly improve the map.
I will take my time with the updates and post on forum in the future.

Haha, nice! You should publicly critique maps more often while on an energy drink high :P. I don't think anyone wouldn't appreciate a review like that for their own map!

-So, I entered this map by myself to begin getting a feel about what I had gotten myself into. I'll start off by saying I've never really been a big fan of 'house' style maps, but they aren't killboxes, and they must have gameplay mechanics in order to make them 'fun' (aside: simply relying on the core gameplay mechanics of a game [the guns abilities, etc...] is no excuse for a level /aside) -So I figured this ought to be fun to play around in.

I may be the wrong person to review a map like this since I'm such a heckler of 'purpose in gameplay and setting' but I'll try and subdue those critical urges to try and talk about what the map is obviously trying to focus on the most: Fun Gameplay!

Unnatural though it may have been, I proceeded to suspend my disbelief and wonder about the level aimlessly trying out the different mechanisms. I instantly figured the vent shafts all along the bottom of the building (and some above) were breakable, breaking one, I entered the 'house' for the first time. I noticed a carved out brush with a tile texture coating and water (supposedly meant to resemble a tub of some sort) and the 'dead guy from de_train' posed in it. Realizing I must have walked in on a REALLY 'bad hair day' I proceeded through the all brush-based 'blocky' bathroom. I continued through the maze of 'simple' rooms until I came across some stairs. I ducked down to see what might be hiding there in the dark abyss underneath, and right next to another breakable vent, was my good 'ol friend the Gnome! -Come to greet me in another world (supposedly not ruled by Combine). (pictured below) The greetings were short, I told the Gnome, I had to leave for I was on a mission; A mission to check this map OUT!

-Ok, enough with the story there, I really had no way to tie that up whatsoever, so I'm just going to skip to some of the details I thought stood out in the map and some that didn't so much. If your name is not 'gtamike' I suggest you skip this next part as I'm sure it will be pretty boring for anyone else

The not so good points:

• Some rooms in the house seem pointless in gameplay terms. The space with the Gman's body for instance... I think you should avoid small spaces like that for a fast paced game like this. Maybe, a few, but not as many as you have.
• The breakable windows (once they're broken) just beg for you to run through them, but every time I do (and this is out ANY window in the house) I always get stuck on the bottom ledge. For such a large window that just beckons for people to run through them, shouldn't it be without hassle? I mean, If I had the choice to go through a door or window, I'd go through the window because it's more fun. But if I'm running away from someone my brain will get conflicted when coming across such a decision. I will automatically want to run for the window, but because I don't remember I get stuck on the window sill, (for whatever reason) I end up getting killed for a simple problem that can be easily fixed IMO. (see below)
  
  -So just lower those ledges just a little; (I think the max auto rise for players in Source is 20 units).
• Some of the props seem to get in the way of the main passageways. I don't remember any offhand atm, but give the map another look for yourself and keep that in mind to see if anything catches your eyes then.
• The 'garage' area (with the white car) could be fixed a little. I think the car itself should be all the way up against the wall in one corner. I know it's fun to run around the car, but it sucks during team-play when half your team ends up crowding in there because it becomes a choke point for around the map when people are trying to maneuver themselves from one side to another. One carefully placed smg nade would wipe out anyone in there. -And also, for such an important choke point, I think you could do more with it visually, and gameplay-wise.
• the file cabinets around the bed are in the way of the window. (not a big deal actually since they can easily be moved)
• The house seems to be very cut-up and jarring. Doesn't allow for a lot of wiggle room. Meaning, players will be running into one another before they might ever spot them.

-The good stuff!

• I love the little death traps (at least the ones you can expect!)
• teleporters are always fun. (especially the one through the floor <pretty neat!)
• love the kitty!
• plenty of Z-axis fighting <always makes things interesting.
• plenty of breakable or discoverable items, places and interactive things to find and use.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
The map offers your generic HL2DM gameplay with some twists here and there. That is, the actual death traps and toys that you can set up automatically to deceive other players makes it that much more fun. I think as a person simply trying to achieve a high fun factor for gameplay, I'd say you've achieved that. I wish there was a story to go along with it, but sadly enough, nothing obvious pokes out at me as giving me a clue as to what the setting might be. And with that I must cut myself off, as I am crashing from an energy drink from earlier and I can no longer keep coherent textual thoughts in my brain for longer than

Yeah Aaron knows the sound dealio.

Have you checked out any of the Contest Maps yet? You should.. may give you some ideas on how to use sound to make the feel of your map come alive.

aaron_da_killa said:

gtamike_TSGK said:
Have you got any ideas of what sounds would be good for this map?

Let's see, an overall ambient sound for the outdoors (and maybe the indoors also) that plays everywhere at a consistent volume as long as you are outdoors. Perhaps the occasional wind blowing, distant car driving by, bird chirping and what not, this should be setup via a soundscape. Alot of objects in your map could have also had sounds such as a buzzing sound for the vending machine or the lights, sound for the fridge, noise from the computer, noise from the fire etc. You could also setup a few soundscapes for some rooms in the house and added like wood cracking or walking sounds as if somebody else is in the house.

Just think about what kind of sounds you would expect to hear in a house and don't be afraid to exaggerate it a bit (toss in those sounds you think would only occur uncommonly or rarely). If your browsing through sound effects and you hear one that would suit your map than add it! Just don't flood the player with sound, it rarely ever gets to that stage though.

This will be useful, thanks again.

gtamike_TSGK said:
Have you got any ideas of what sounds would be good for this map?

Let's see, an overall ambient sound for the outdoors (and maybe the indoors also) that plays everywhere at a consistent volume as long as you are outdoors. Perhaps the occasional wind blowing, distant car driving by, bird chirping and what not, this should be setup via a soundscape. Alot of objects in your map could have also had sounds such as a buzzing sound for the vending machine or the lights, sound for the fridge, noise from the computer, noise from the fire etc. You could also setup a few soundscapes for some rooms in the house and added like wood cracking or walking sounds as if somebody else is in the house.

Just think about what kind of sounds you would expect to hear in a house and don't be afraid to exaggerate it a bit (toss in those sounds you think would only occur uncommonly or rarely). If your browsing through sound effects and you hear one that would suit your map than add it! Just don't flood the player with sound, it rarely ever gets to that stage though.

aaron_da_killa said:
+ Layout and pacing
+ Secrets/Easter Eggs/Traps
+ Height Variation

• Aesthetics
• Ambient sound
• Lack of background detail (such as 3D skybox) and non playable spaces

I played this map yesterday. This is of those "fun" maps. This map certainly reflects level design skill but I don't think its quite on par in regards to design and aesthetics and certainly ambient sound of other "good maps".

But hey, I can imagine myself having fun with this map, and that's the most important thing right? I think it has pretty good pacing, you can kind of walk around the house and through it plus walk on the roofs and through the second story as well as the basement so it certainly has height variation and pacing so that's a plus. There are quite a few secrets and things to play with also like the typical gate over the pool, walls with no collisions with secret stuff behind them and exploding soft drink cans etc.

The things that this map most lack have to do with aesthetics and overall design and I don't really think there is much point in talking about them because I don't think it matters too much for this map.

I will mention ambient sound however. Ambient sound is really important to me and this map totally lacked it! Games aren't just a visual medium, they are an audio medium also and you have the potential to multiply the player's experience. Some people even think that sound design should be more of a focus than visuals and detail of the level. Instead the lack of sound is detracting from this map and all I could hear where my weapon sounds and a concrete walking sound.. even when I was on the grass. No matter what, doesn't matter if its a kill box level, at least make the effort to toss in one sound for the overall level.

Anyways, its a decent map, the fun is there which is the most important thing, just make an effort to add ambient sound next time and keep on improving on your aesthetics and design mojo, this seems to be your best looking map so far! Keep it up!

Thanks for your feedback.
Have you got any ideas of what sounds would be good for this map?
(sounds are not by best department)

Off the top of my head the sounds in the map are the teleporters, toilet, a hl2 song of the radio, doors, the 2 trap kill sounds, the fire extinger and sound for buttons.