Crevice: Introduction

During the summer or perhaps late Spring, I began creating a Team Fortress 2 map. I was probably in class or waiting to write an exam when I sketched up the concept. The idea was to have a vertically oriented capture-the-flag map where two forts in a ravine were connected by exposed walkways on upper levels and covered walkways at lower levels. Traversing the upper walkways would be quicker, but much riskier due to the falling hazard and lack of cover, while the lower ones would take longer, but provide cover. I hoped the vertical orientation of the map would provide a unique experience that the valve vanilla maps did not.



Using Valve's Hammer Editor, I built and textured the forts and did the roughwork for the exterior environment. The forts wound up being less vertical than I had planned. Still, there is a vertical element and the height transitions filter which classes can reach different heights with special abilities (scout's double jump, soldier's rocket jump, etc.). The forts' interiors provide close and medium ranged combat opportunities, while the exteriors provide long ranged combat opportunities. Overall, the design came together well and the map feels appropriately sized for about 16 players.



I tried to do displacement work on the grass and cliffs, but made a few alignment errors, so I'm going to have to redo them. The lower levels of the outside look a little too unnatural still and need a bit of gusto. My other failure was in making cubemaps. The cubemap is what is shown on the reflection of certain weapons and objects. The process compared to making Counter-Strike ones is a little more involved and I accidently skipped some new-to-TF2 steps.

To add a more unique element to the map, I plan to knock out the cliff walls surrounding the ground level and replace them with a giant pit. Deadly map edges will make the ground battles more interesting, due to a greater emphasis on positioning and not falling to one's doom. As a bonus, I think this will visually add to the 'crevice' theme of the map.



Once the exterior layout is complete, I can hopefully move on to adding details and refining the lighting.