It feels really good to finally be done this map, and to have submitted it for the contest at TF2maps.net. It also feels good to have done so much that I’d as of yet not done before in this map. I’m not going to really go screenshot-heavy in this post because not much changed save for a few bits added here and there, but rest assured in the near-future I’m going to have download links up as well as a media gallery that will show off not only the map but also the custom content I created for it.
So the name change is official now. Slush Fund will hereafter be known as Frozen Assets.
I just finished going around the map testing out my latest set of changes which included putting in a fully working soundscape and almost completing the 3D skybox. I say “almost” because there’s still some minor graphical glitches that ruin the effect that I have to sort out. I also ran into some lighting issues that needed to be fixed. Those are fixed now in what I hope will be the “final” iteration of the Slush Fund/Frozen Assets development cycle but who knows.
I’ve also created two more custom posters that I’ve put inside my level, but lighting issues make them hard to read in-engine so i’ll just show them off along with some screenshots right after the jump:
It’s certainly been a while. I’ve been hard at work building the 3d Skybox for Slush fund so it doesn’t look like it’s hanging out in the middle of the sky as much. I’ve only got one side completed thus far (the other side I had a couple problems with displacements) but the side that is complete looks pretty good. Of course you don’t have to take my word for it or even agree with me, just take a look at these screenshots. I know some of the shadows are a little messed up but I’m not sure how to fix that just yet. Mostly this post is just to show some more progress work as I get closer and closer to the deadline and completion.
Still keeping the map name as “Slush Fund” for the moment. However I have been hard at work finishing texturing the map, as well as making lighting adjustments and adding props. Prop additions are coming along nicely, I had to dig into some publicly-released content from TF2maps.net in order to populate the vault with some riches but I think it’s turning out pretty well.
Second Capture point with some added walls
RED spawn now with a vent system running through it.
A room full of Data Reels. Lighting needs some work.
Some stacks of gold bars in the Vault
A safety deposit box room for added scenery.
Another look at the Vault
Looking a bit more like a bank now.
Added some signs to the building exteriors
Beginning to populate the Warehouse
Lastly, as an added bonus, here’s a screengrab taken from the playtest where the server host hacked in a bunch of sentry turrets all tied to his player and then created a laser light show with the Wrangler.
After 3 months of development I can say with absolute certainty that Slush Fund is finally in an Alpha testable phase. It’s not fully textured but just about all the necessary lighting (read: you can see what you need to) and all of the game logic is in place. With two months to go before the end of the contest I have a lot of confidence I’ll be able to get it all detailed, optimized, and personalized (naming the capture points for one thing) long before that. At least I hope I can considering it took 100 minutes to render the map with VVIS and VRAD at full, which means there’s a lot of room for optimization.
As always, here are some screenshots:
BLU Spawnroom. Lockers were added after this screenshot was taken.
Looking out of the leftmost doorway of the BLU spawn area
Lower Level of RED Base with a sign pointing to the next capture point
Bank Vault Interior looking back towards the Bank.
Another look at the interior of the Bank Vault
Upper Level of RED base with stairs and a sign
Tunnel exit into the upper level of RED base
More of the upper level of RED base
Bank Capture Point under new management
A successful test of the capture points.
I finally implemented the setup gates for the BLU side as well as gave them a functioning spawn room. This pretty much means the layout of the map is almost complete for testing. All I have to do now is finish setting up lights, add some resupply lockers, some on-map items (health and ammo) and then finish setting up the control points and get them working.
The only obstacle I seem to have to this is that Hammer seems really crash-prone now. Just today it crashed about 4 times in the span of an hour.
Anyway, here are some screenshots.
BLU Spawn. Currently untextured
BLU Spawn gates open
Interior of the Warehouse in the middle of neutral ground.
Interior of one of the houses in the map
Mining Tunnel Entrance
Startup gates with visible "no entry" overlays barring RED from entering
So I had put up some more lights in Slush Fund a while back but never really took screencaps of them, I’m rectifying that situation right now. Here you’re going to see lights done for the interior of the bank, plus lights done in the RED base stairwell. I also re-did the lights in the mining tunnel so that there’s less of them. It’s still kind of bright but I’m not really complaining.
Bank Exterior; in dire need of a sign
Interior of the Bank, which surprisingly lit up pretty well
Mining Tunnel, now with half the lights
Looking down from the top of the RED base stairwell
Looking up from the bottom of the RED base stairwell
So here’s another update, this time showing some areas with lights in them.
The mining tunnel all lit up
Lighting in one of the houses
Lighting in the RED Spawn Room
Lighting in a RED Base Hallway
I think it’s coming along well. Granted some spots could be brighter (spawn room) and some could be dimmer (the mining tunnel) but this is mostly just to get the map playable at this point.
So I went in and made some adjustments to the size of certain buildings and areas in Slush Fund. It looks a lot better now, and that’s not just because i’ve added environmental settings like the sun and so forth.
A shot from inside one of the houses
Exterior shot looking at a house and warehouse
Just outside BLU spawn.
I’d provide some shots of RED base but unfortunately there’s no lighting installed just yet (working on that now along with getting all the game logic in place). Also there’s been a slight hiccup regarding areaportals and a certain door model. So I have to figure out how I’m going to fix that. My plan is to have the map playable, but not necessarily fully textured, in a couple weeks.
So today I learned it’s very important to check the scale of things before building the whole entire map. Which seems like something I really should have done but I got too fixated on the whole architecture thing. I also forgot the standard door height is 192 units and not 256 like I was doing before. This is not the end of the world by any means, it just means I have to make a few tweaks. Which of course puts me back a bit in terms of doing things like terrain sculpting but oh well. I’ll get it eventually.
Anyway here are some screenshots. I’m particularly happy about how the displacement cliffs surrounding the BLU spawn are turning out.
This door doesn't actually go anywhere, it's just scenery.
While not entirely done, I am proud of the cliffs thus far
Mining Tunnel into RED base...it's so huge
This is the Second Capture point, deep in the RED base
(h)EAD Games 