Did a quick critique for you...
1. Without meaning to sound overly harsh, my first impression when
spawning was "is this the same map?!". The interiors here really are
the weakest point of the level, due to hugely simplistic brushwork and
textures that just don't look right. I appreciate that they are custom,
and its nice that it gives the map a unique look, but they just don't
look very realistic. I actually thought it was looking more like XIII
than CS:S at this point. I dunno what to suggest really - new textures
would help, but I understand if you are against doing this. Less boxy
brushwork may be enough, but I dunno what you can really do with a log
cabin...
2. The texture on the stair fronts repeats really badly. Typical
problem and easily fixed - just offset the horizontal alignment by
random numbers (do so for 4 steps or something then just clone) so it
looks nicer.
3. Pretty awkward looking line along this rock wall behind the T base. Try and break it up somehow.
4. I expected to be able to walk through these plants and was quite
suprised to find they were solid. I think others would feel the same,
and reckon they would be better if you could walk through. Might look a
bit wierd having a player model with plants going through them of
course :wink:
5. Watch your texture alignment, particularly in a location as obvious as this.
6. Loved the fog around the canopy, nicely handled.
7. Its a well done waterfall (and first I've seen in source actually,
so kudos) but from this angle it looked a bit wierd. Too thin I guess,
and having the spray only at the front looked awkward. Perhaps you
could have "layers" of the waterfall texture to make it look thicker?
8. I assume this was the CT spawn or something? Anyway, you should have
a visual barrier rather than just an clipping brush; should be easy
enough to put a knocked down tree or fence or something. Displacement
surface in the background looked pretty poor too, lots of sharp angles
despite the texture suggesting it should be smoother.
9. Another case of invisible barrier syndrome, though perhaps one that is less easy to solve.
10. I was beginning to grow weary of these long forest paths by this
point. While yes, they do look great, there is nothing that really lets
you differentiate between them all. Perhaps you could try and "theme"
the paths a little to make them more unique - a small mostly dried up
river with the odd pools of water, a dank, misty one, etc... Not only
are they hard to tell apart, but they take quite a while to navigate
without offering the player any route choice while following them.
Obviously its less integral in CS to have as many routes as in DM, but
its still nice to offer the player the occasional choice. As it stands
it felt like the map was just 2 areas (compound section and waterfall
section) linked up with two paths, which doesn't exactly lend itself to
hugely interesting gameplay. That said, I didn't even test it with
bots, so I could be wrong.
All in all its a map with some awesome potential, but I felt a little underwhelmed while playing it.
