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Maps of the month – Février
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Page 2: English version
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February just ended and it is now time to present our new Maps of the Month selection. Like the previous one, this article aims to suggest you some recently released great maps. Moreover, because of the lack of new maps in the recent Operation Phoenix, you may be looking for new game environments to play in.
For each map, we will try to get some words from the creators (when it's possible), giving them the opportunity to share thoughts about their map, its developement, its gameplay, their picture references... We hope that you'll appreciate their statements, please let us know in the comments !
Map creator : Douglas "Skybex" Hamilton
Release date : February the 7th, 2014
8 months after the release of its map Chinatown (which was available in the Operation Bravo), Skybex comes back with a new bomb/defuse map, a competitive map. This time it takes place at Lahore, Pakistan, a place looking a bit similar to dust2 (the middle east), but Skybex succeeds to make his map unique and very different from dust2. The realization is better an more mastered than for Chinatown, because his creator bothered to make a multitude of textures and models to make his map credible.
It's easy to recognize the 8-shaped loop layout, that you can find in almost every defuse map of the game, but this one remains specific by its rotation paths (the equivalent of short and lower on dust2). Snipers will appreciate the huge bombsite B and the long middle alley, but otherwise the timings are pretty classic. Pakistan is a map with a nice gameplay, on which it is pleasant to walk with a game environment that seems faithful and full of life. So, congrats to Skybex, who succeeds to progress and brings to the game high quality maps.
Here is what Skybex wanted to tell you :
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After working on Chinatown that was a very small map designed for casual play, I wanted to work on something that was aimed more towards competitive play so I got to work on the layout for Pakistan. It was designed to be quite traditional with the 4 square layout, but I wanted the map to make much more use of gameplay elements that are only present in the Global Offensive version of Counterstrike such as the ability to sky flash and smoke as well as incendiary grenades. To do this, a vast majority of buildings should be quite low, easily allowing you to get grenades where you want them to go before assaulting an area. I also missed being able to wallbang in 1.6, so this map was also designed quite heavily with this in mind. After testing and adjusting the dev-block layout and being happy with it, I got to work on the visuals.
Initially, the map was to be set in an ultra-modern shopping centre in London, but due to the low buildings and wanting to keep the playable space as clutter free as possible to aid gameplay, it was proving near on impossible to make visually interesting. I had decided early on to have a lot of inaccessible shop interiors to create nice visuals at player height, but having both sleek and low buildings were making the map very boring to play in. After a long time trying to think of a solution for this, I came to the realisation that the theme just wasn’t possible with the gameplay I had in mind. Looking at images of various cities around the globe, I noticed that cities in Pakistan had an unusually high amount of shop signs as well as very uniquely shaped buildings that could work with the gameplay I had in mind. Therefore I had no choice but to completely overhaul the visuals and work towards a theme loosely based on the city of Lahore. Luckily the change in theme solved almost all of the problems I was having while working on the map and from here the map progressed at a very rapid pace, slowing down only for necessary changes needed based on play testing. |
Workshop link : here
Map creator : Will2k
Release date : February the 12th, 2014
Brooktown is one of the surprises of this month because it is simply a recast of the dust2 layout. Therefore, the first visit of this map is surprising because, even when you are discovering it, it feels like you already know it. However it is similar on a global point of view, the details of the 2 maps are very different.
The production of the map is not the finest you will ever see, you can find weird things almost everywhere that could have benefited for a bit more work. There are also some funny jokes that make the visit of the map enjoyable. Brooktown is a nice map that could be very successful in casual servers, easy to learn and nice to play.
We met the author to get his statement :
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Brooktown is a bomb/defuse map based on neighborhoods in the boroughs of Brooklyn and Manhattan in New York City. The map is inspired by the buildings and architectural style in those boroughs rather than being an accurate recreation of the neighborhoods. The layout is a variation of the standard dust2 (figure of 8) layout. The map was built 100% from scratch basing its layout on the dust2 layout (the topographic map if you want) for reference. This layout gives players a familiar place to fight yet it's different to give a new experience. The heights, widths, brushwork size/place and props, cover spots, some routes, angles/line of sights and corresponding tactics are different from the standard dust2 if you want to compare. The ultimate goal is to give players a layout they all know (by heart) and like, yet be different to refresh the fighting experience. Story-wise, this map is a sequel to my map cs_east_borough where a SWAT team managed to raid a gang hideout and rescued the captive undercover cops while inflicting heavy damage to the gang infrastructure. The remaining gang members are seeking revenge and will attempt to bomb the city hall or the police headquarters. 
The map shares most of the assets (textures, models) that I created for cs_east_borough, in addition to new textures that I made specifically for Brooktown. The map is very realistic and authentic, and I tried to incorporate all the elements and details that make New York so unique: storefronts (with the exception of couple of them), road and traffic signs, sidewalks, manholes, graffiti and buildings... were all taken from actual NYC photos. The storefront signs are mostly from landmark stores in New York (brand names edited) and the traffic signs are taken from the Department of Transportation (DOT) and are specific to NYC. I built the sidewalk, curbs and ramps according more or less to the specifications found in the road manual of the NYCDOT. Even the orange traffic lights and the famous orange NYC taxi have the RGB color values as in their real life counterparts :)
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Workshop link : here
Map creator : Raidix
Release date : February the 8th, 2014
Arcade is probably not a map that you would have noticed at first sight. It uses the Inferno visual aesthetic, but this is not the point on which the map stands out. The level design is surprising, it is a quite big bomb/defuse map, with a great amount of paths that will make both teams to be very mobile and able to outflank the opponents. Some game areas are vast but Raidix controls it : you do not feel you are in a nomansland, nor in a place where an enemy could be hidden anywhere. In a general way the paths are wide and their interweaving are ingenious. The walls are clean in order to allow for a great readability.
The map might be a bit too big for competitive gaming, yet it is actually quite hard to know. Unfortunately we have not been able to contact the author.
Workshop link : here
Map creator : Julien "Virtuel." Heux
Release date : february the 28th, 2014
To end on a lighter note, we have chosen a remake of "Favela", a map from the game Call of Duty : Modern Warfare 2. This time, unlike Brooktown on which Will2k just took the overall layout of dust2, Virtuel. tries to reproduce as accurately as possible the original level. Those are 2 different games, naturally we have to expect some differences, but the concept has gone quite far here. "This building is made of red bricks ? Ok, i'll do the same", it must have been a hard challenge for the creator.
Concretely, the map is not magnificent, it is easy to recognize a visual aspect similar to the CS:GO's Favela (which was available in Operation Payback and is again in the Operation Phoenix), but the graphics are not very elaborated on this one. Optimisation is not even already made. However, the game environment is very open and the gameplay fits well to CS:GO with adapted combat distances, the map could be a great success in casual servers. You will probably be lost with all the possible paths, but they are miscellaneous and that is an enjoyable aspect for a CS:GO map.
Its author, Virtuel., told us the following :
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When i first started working on de_mw2_favela, I just wanted to get inspiration from the Cod:MW2's Favela, and then, as the developpement was going on, I realised that making a remake on CS:GO could be a good idea, and that its gameplay could easily fit to CS:GO. So, I started by taking some screenshots from the original map in order to reproduce it the best way possible, up to import some mw2 textures to CS:GO. To compare, here are some small examples :
MW2 map on the left, the CSGO remake on the right
By the way, I would like to thank Skill who helped me by finding a huge amount of bugs, and for giving me precious advices. |
Workshop link : here
You can find out all the maps from the Maps of the Month articles in our Workshop collection :
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Page 2: English version
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Rédacteur  |
| Menguy Sylvain |
| leplubodeslapin |
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