[L4D2] Damned Nation

[Knight-Errant]

Okay lets try this again...

This time around, I've decided to restart a l4d2 campaign. Since the last one was lost to me due to a hardware crash, I've decided to give the Damned Nation Campaign a do-over. I felt the heavy need to rework the campaign over and over a few times just to get a sense of how the map, I imagine, would work out.

Theme: Daytime
No. of Maps: 4


http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/DNCmaplayout-1.jpg (http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/DNCmaplayout.jpg)

As it looks now, its rather rough. This is a 4 map centered campaign with one optional cresendo, and a gauntlet. The finale is still a bit of a debate, but since its across the river, there is no rush to plan a layout for it now until at least map 3's initial layout is done.


http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/DNCmappaths-1.jpg (http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/DNCmappaths.jpg)


Map 1: Players will start at (S), at the docks of the map and at the base of the bridge they want to get on top of. They will head down the street towards a few different paths that the director decides to pick. The easiest of course would be the "dance hall lobby", followed by one of three entrances to the "office #1 and stores" (the farthest door being the second easiest and the other two being mildly easier. After which the players will arrive somewhere in the alley at (1). They are to head towards the following street and then are possibly given a choice of paths again, which leads them towards (2), the backlot. Here I may plan to run a cresendo, which would be a simple spray and pray (for now). Then the players are to head towards the next street where they are to head down the path and cross an director-optional overpass to (3). After that, the players are to head downstairs towards the "Hazmat Alley", which then they must enter the subway which is under construction. Map 1 ends at (E).

Map 2 starts at (E) and continues down the subway tunnel towards "Hole #1", then continue down towards "Hole #2". There, they must take the ladder to (4), which is back to street level. After that, there are alternative paths again. This time, its either "Apartment #2", a small Alley, or through the "Theater". Players will make their way to (5) on the map and are now in a parking and loading area. The are to enter the "Depo" which will contain an optional crescendo. Make their way towards the overpass towards the office building. Here, they will have to navigate from the second floor to the Third floor where there is a saferoom (E2) at the end of map 2.

Map 3 will leave through the same door as (E2) ended on the last map. They are to make their way up one more flight of stairs and towards the roof. After which there path only will take them to the train bridge. After exiting a caboose, the gauntlet crescendo will start and players are to make their way over the bridge towards a "Indoor Pool" building (E3).

Unfortunately, I have yet to figure out what way I want to end the campaign so there currently is no layout map for the other half of Map 3 or Map 4. However, I will have time to debate that sort of thing when I get to it. Because players are crossing the water, there isn't a need for me to make that part of the map right now.

[ZapWizard]

I like the plan, and the map drawing is great.
You may want to gray box this out a bit to make sure none of the maps are too-short. When I started my Seaholm campaign I thought it would be five maps, but once I started running the lengths in-game it shortened to four, and the fourth I am currently having to make even longer.

[MikeZ]

That is a great start! My ultimate weakness is thorough planning but this is excellent!

[Knight-Errant]

I like the plan, and the map drawing is great.

You may want to gray box this out a bit to make sure none of the maps are too-short. When I started my Seaholm campaign I thought it would be five maps, but once I started running the lengths in-game it shortened to four, and the fourth I am currently having to make even longer.
Thank! Also, good suggestion because its just as necessary because the first three campaigns actually do intersect at the beginning.


http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/wip-01.jpg


The beginning area seems pretty on scale, so does the second street of the map. You can't see it right now, but there is a subway tunnel underneath the road that lines up with as well.

But how long can you say a campaign's length before playing it in-game?



That is a great start! My ultimate weakness is thorough planning but this is excellent!
Thanks!

However, even with planning I've run into a terrible snag. Since I never drew the map on a grid my drawings might be off scale. Upon working on the area before the back lot (for map 1), I realized that there isn't any room for the lot or the buildings facing the other street.


http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/wip-02.jpg


I will have to find a way to either compensate for the room, or remove things, starting with probably the overpass and bridge. Then consider remaking most of the back lot area.

[ZapWizard]

I am also working on a campaign where every map intersects at some point.
What I am doing to manage that is building a "master" map. See here:
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5212/5457596163_13b1bcb5f3_o.jpg

It contains all the building geometry, terrain, lighting, and all the major prop_statics. So far my master map is basically a VERY long playable map where you just walk though the saferooms to the next one.

I use VMF instances for all building interiors such that I can simply turn them off or hide them if needed. I also use VMF instances for major parts of the map. My plan is to latter convert chunks of each map into their own VMF instances. By using instances I can open one up, copy it, remove the parts that are not needed and convert a whole building or section into a model or background chunk of another map.

[Knight-Errant]

That still leaves my question open to you. You mentioned that your campaign had to change the number of maps from 5 to 4 to compensate size. How did you figure the actual relative size of each map? I'm trying to get a sense of length in units.

[ZapWizard]

Since my map is based on a real world location, I can't move buildings around or the change the overall scale much. So in my case it was more a matter of looking at the area and trying to determine how to make it into a map and where the saferooms would be.

[Knight-Errant]

I don't feel too worried then. For now, the length feels fine from the outside view. Map 1's length is distance but has little backtracking involved. Map 2 is mostly height. While is a much smaller map, its mostly ascending from Subway floor to the 3rd floor of the office building. Map 3 is shortest right now, but its difficulty is the fact that is a gauntlet. I should be fine.

The initial layout is complete of course.

http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/wip-03.jpg

The backlot has been replaced.

http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/wip-04.jpg

The apartment #1's been moved over and will be accessed after the cresendo in the back lot.

[Knight-Errant]

Alright, here's some more progress on the map. I wasn't sure where I wanted to start, so I figured I start on at least the first safe-room and some of the surrounding area. Most of the areas I should begin to concentrate on though are overlapping areas in the maps and the two known safe-rooms.

Here's the before.
http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/wip-05.jpg
Simple, lifeless room with nothing going on. Suppose to be a subway station.

http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/wip-15.jpg
The arrival area from map 1 to map 2. This side of the platform is under construction. Off to the far left, you can see the entrance to the subway car.

http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/wip-11.jpg
The subway car here is meant to block off the players from map one and two.

http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/wip-16.jpg
Looking from the area of the crash towards the end of the station.
http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/wip-12.jpg
Here's a long shot. Looking towards the crash, most of this area is in map 2.

http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/wip-14.jpg
http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/wip-13.jpg

The Safe-room, which doesn't feel very safe. I'm sure, under the right circumstances, a tank could roll right over. Hence why there isn't any sleeping bags here, PCs wouldn't spend long here.


I will get around to an in-game rendering once most of the subway is finished off. I've not completely hooked where I want to light it.

[Smog]

It's looking good, I like the look of the safe room, even though it may be particularly safe. I look forward to seeing some in-game screens.

[Knight-Errant]

Finally finished detailing the subway. However, there are no lights as of yet. So everything is pretty dark, except for this outdoor shot that doesn't even have a decent sun I was wanting to use.

http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/dnc1_baselayout_10000.jpg
This is Hole #1 on the map, btw. Its the one that blocks the players from continuing down the street when they reach surface level.

(hammer screen: http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/wip-19.jpg )

Some more screens:
http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/dnc1_baselayout_10001.jpg
[/URL]http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/dnc1_baselayout_10002.jpg (http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/dnc1_baselayout_10003.jpg)
[URL]http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/wip-17.jpg
http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/wip-18.jpg
http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/wip-20.jpg
http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/wip-21.jpg
http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/wip-22.jpg

(Don't want to flood every post with screen shots )
After I have this area well lit, I'll post more screens.
The next area I want to detail is this street to the intersection where M1 starts (behind that barricade)

[WarrenM]

(Don't want to flood every post with screen shots )
Heresy! Screen shots are awesome. :)

[Knight-Errant]

Then I shall post more then, sorry for a bit of delay. I was trying to get the street detailed and optimized for in-game shots.

Here's a bit of transition from the last post with a bit more lighting and some more detailing.

http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/dnc1_baselayout_50012.jpg


Mind you, I've been working also on fogs and lighting (only for subways) but when I finished, I began blocking out the street's buildings. This is the area between Hole one and Hole two above ground.


http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/dnc1_baselayout_50006.jpg


http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/dnc1_baselayout_50007.jpg


I don't think I like the fog right now or the sky-box for that matter.

http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/dnc1_baselayout_50010.jpg

http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/dnc1_baselayout_50011.jpg

The theater and Apartment two have had their layout built and optimized but there's no lighting to show off anything good in-game.

http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/dnc1_baselayout_50009.jpg

http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/dnc1_baselayout_50015.jpg

http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/dnc1_baselayout_50016.jpg

The next pace will be the street itself with mostly props. Working again from Hole 1 to Hole 2 and onto the street section with the traffic lights. More work needed on fog and lighting.

[WarrenM]

You really have a nice feel for streets and buildings. This shot is great:

http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/dnc1_baselayout_50006.jpg

The texturing needs to be aligned better on the bricks (some ALT+RIGHT_CLICKing will fix that easily enough) but the overall build on that corner piece is really nice!

[ZapWizard]

The buildings really do look nice, they also fit well together.

My only tip is add some signs for old performances (or blank) to the empty walls on the front of the theater.

[Knight-Errant]

Oh, good eye! I didn't realize that the posters boxes didn't render.

[MkAndersson]

Nice looking buildings :) Especially like the broken wall part. Looking foward to see more.

[Knight-Errant]

Sorry for the no-show lately. I've been trying to get other things done on my pallet.

Over the weekend, I was able to work on the map again and textured most of the new area today to have something to show off at least.

http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/wip-40.jpg

Most of the work I did in the map was scaling and alignment between the train bridge (m3), the Office #2 (m2). Its an important corner for scale on both those maps and after doing so, it gave me an idea on how to fix a few problems. The first part was getting rid of the original prop train bridge from Crash Course, and decided to build my own out of brushes after all. CC's is just too tall!



http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/wip-41.jpg

I've been working the idea of two alternative paths in the game which the players are forced into either the warehouse or the office building. Either way, they will make their way towards the stairs that are featured in the map. In the pic above, this is the second floor looking down to the first. A brush will force the players down into the hole.

http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/wip-43.jpg

This is the inside of the warehouse. For layout sake, all the props are the same type. I will get around to changing them up. Here, the optional crescendo will be avoiding to shoot gas cans that are scattered around the room. Most of the programming is ready on this, I just need to test more of it in-game when I build specifically for map 2.

http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/wip-42.jpg

One of the problems was figuring out how players at the start of map 3 were actually going to get from the roof of Office #2 to the train bridge. I've decided that players will be forced onto the roof of the very same skybridge they might have crossed in Map 2. After which, its just a hop, skip, and jump onto the train bridge.

http://i571.photobucket.com/albums/ss154/R_Matthews/wip-44.jpg

The saferoom.


My next venture is actually to break the map up into three maps. There's very little important areas that need to be addressed for the intersecting maps. At this point I've built almost all of Map 2. I want to get started on Map 1 solely for game play.

[MikeZ]

Looking good, in the factory you seem to get some repetive geometry with the shelves/boxes, etc.

[mAd-]

Any chances to get high-res pictures from directly editor or in-game?