More mucking about in the CoDRadiant editor (oh, and the new expansion pack coming out on the 14th supposedly includes the base game). This is the 5th redesign of this concept. The basic idea is for a 2-level, underground combination of a mine shaft and underground bunkers/storage. The upper level will be concrete and steel (standard bunker fare) while the lower level will be more like a mine with cave-ins and dark passages. There will be a vent system allowing you to bypass rooms (players have to move through vents in a crouched position) or attack from above. And a sewer system to allow attacks from below.

The first four attempts were either scaled wrong, or got too big too quick, or the layout got way too confusing for players. So I've gone back and re-examined how the mp_rocket map from the original game was done and am basing a lot of my scale off of that map (prior to play testing). The mp_rocket map seems to have been laid out on a 32 unit grid (1 foot is somewhere between 12 units and 16 units). The textures on the interior walls is a light gray with dark gray lines running horizontally. The vertical distance between the dark gray lines is 32 units. Most corridors and rooms in mp_rocket are then around 96u high, with a few 128u high ceilings. Doorways are around 48-64u wide and 96u tall.

The bunker portion of the map will have 128u ceilings, but with crossbeams that lower clearances to 96u. All "people" doors are 64u wide at the moment, but will probably be shrunk to 56u or 48u as I go back and do the detail work. (The initial design is done on a 32u grid, sometimes stepping down to a 16u grid.) Any brushes inside the main blocks are usually tagged as detail brushes (interior walls, the support columns, the crossbeams, ladders, the murder hole walls).

Top view of the layout so far. The wallpaper-textured shaft is the central lift shaft which I haven't fleshed out yet. Upper right is a single-story storage room with simple columns for support. Lower right is a two-level storage room with cross-bracing between the columns. (Haven't decided which style I'm going to use, it may depend on how many brushes I end up with.)




Upper-right corridor and storage area. The "wallpaper" texture is a placeholder, representing the location of the central lift shaft. You'll see that there is a guard room with murder holes right at the lift shaft (to control that section of corridor). Easy enough to sneak below the windows, which is as designed. The map is being designed for either HQ or Domination, so I want lots of defendable spots, but also allow the attackers to flank around.





This is the other corridor (with the two-level storage area). The first shot is lookup towards the central lift shaft (wallpaper texture) showing the storage area entrance on the left and the guard area on the right. Near the lift shaft is a pile of boxes that can be climbed to get into a vent (bypassing the murder holes).






This stack of boxes hides the ladder down into the sewers from people in the corridors. It should be enough cover that you can come up the ladder and make a break for the two side corridors. Or it could be used as a defensive position covering the main corridor. Looking at the screenshots, that main corridor is quite long and is going to be a major battleground (or no man's land). I'll need to provide for ways around it as well as adding enough boxes or other items to provide cover.



Inside the one guard area showing the murder holes in the wall as well as temporary textures showing where beds will be.



Ramp leading down to the lower level storage area.



Tops of two of the ladders leading down into the sewers. The left image is in the back of the one guard area (with the beds) and also shows access to the vent system. The right image is on the upper level of the two-level storage area (allowing the player to access both levels of the storage area as well as the sewer).



Underground sewer area. I'm not completely satisfied with this so it will probably get redesigned (at least the interior detail brushes). I may rip it out and just put a simple 96x128 box in until I decide. The current interior is 80x128 (if you don't count the detail brushes). Besides, I still need to route the sewers and figure out where all of the exits will be. And that depends on what the final main layout looks like and where I need to allow flanking routes.