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

It's similar to my last map. But it puts more emphasis on unconventional architecture and cares less about extreme detail.
I heard it reminds people of Halo in a way because it has many edges and 90 degree angles. I think there is indeed a similarity although I did not intend to copy the Halo style.

The map got bigger than I first intended. I started with a few areas and connected them with paths. In the process I underestimated how the paths add up to a lot of space. This is especially true since I didn't use narrow hallways but tried to make cool areas out of it.

In the end it took rather a lot of time to finish it. It was one and a half years since I started to build the first blocks. But it only took so long because I pretty much stopped working on it during my semesters and picked it up again in the holidays. So it took a while but it was not that much work.

What else is there to say? Give it a go and I hope you like it

_r1 in the filename means: revision 1
fixes a problem that made it impossible to play the map on a dedicated server

Phew! Finally done.
It took almost a whole year to get it finished.
In this map I reused most of the brushwork in several places to speed up the mapping. For example all the stairs pretty much look the same. I hope this doesn't appear boring. While working on the brushwork I discovered a little trick that allows one to create a 45 degrees rotated version of some given brushwork where all vertices are on the grid. Moreover it makes it very easy to combine a "45 degree version" of some brushwork with an unrotated one. I'm not sure if the trick is already known. If not, maybe Reno wants to write a small tutorial in case anyone is interested

Layout: I'm very satisfied with the layout of the map. It seemed very good to me and it kept me working on the map until it was finished. I tried to get some crossfire-feel to it with some sort of building (one looking a bit like a bunker). The textures also resemble a bit to crossfire. Still I think it got quite different.

Props and weapon placement: I didn't put a lot of props in it. They are rather placed like weapons (which they are). There are more props on the lower levels and fewer on the higher ones simply because there is more space to fight with them on the lower levels. Explosives are also to be found mostly on the lower levels because they are too devastating when shot from a high position (especially the RPG). The more precise guns tend to be on the higher levels (with exceptions).

Beta: Actually the map IS finished. But since I didn't put it up here on Snarkpit before, I decided to call it 99% finished and wait for some input. If anyone finds some errors I missed I can easily correct them.