Baby Steps

It seems like an easy thing, to grab an hour or two here and there. well, let me tell you, it's very very hard. my progress so far was mostly accomplished over the past two hours tonight.

Here is the inside of the barn, around the sniper window. Not much to see when it's not in-game.

Here is a shot of the Red Complex, including the new silo! The barn will be rotated to a more aesthetically pleasing angle, and then a "secret" passageway will be made between the barn and the silo (yes, you will be able to go in the silo).

Here is the other side. in order to provide some more interesting visuals, this new building will be a garage that is not accessible - it will simply be a play boundary.

I'm concerned about the size of this map ballooning out of control, so I have tried to compress it a bit...but I can't without ruining the farm believability. in your opinion, how large is too large? should i consider it by Hammer units or by scout run time? all comments would be appreciated.

all for now,
-J

New Arrival

hi all - last week saw the arrival of my new son! Third Born arrived with only minor complications! i would gush on and on about him, but honestly it would bore everyone (anyone?) here.





while in the hospital, with wife and baby being taken care of, i got more done. the farmhouse, version 1, is complete!


the above shot is the front of the house. the awning allows rocket/sticky jump access to the second floor, while everyone else can access it via the right-hand stairs. the porch opens to the bottom floor, which opens to two doorways to the outside behind the house.

this is a shot of the back of the house; notice one of the rear entries to the ground floor and the blocked in concrete? inside the concrete (accessible from the top floor only) is the flag room. when everything is complete, the concrete will have radar dishes and other fancy bits on it - my idea is to show a run-down, rustic farmhouse with a poorly-hidden surveillance complex on the back.

one more note: i have put all house brushes into a custom visgroup so that i can easily hide and select them, in the event i want to move or modify the house at all. i will try to do this for all structures; each one will receive its own visgroup, which should make my job easier.

this is the beginnings of the barn - the back part will be red spawn #2, with the metal grate leading to the ground floor and also an open window that can be used as a sniper post and one-way exit. this will eventually also have a rear exit that will lead straight to the house stairs and a semi-hidden tunnel entrance that will lead towards the center of the map (for an alternate route, think 2fort sewers).

all of this was done in the span of two nights, with the house being about 3-4 hours of work and the barn about 1. things are changing at the jynx household, and i'm not sure if it's for the better: Third Born is waking us up a few times at night, keeping us feeling exhausted much earlier than usual, which means putting nighttime time into this will be hard. however, First and Second Born are starting school again, which means i may have some morning time to put in on this, if Third Born lets me.