Fortress Forever Update

[Azlan]

Just one week after their last update, the team at Fortress Forever have come up with four new screenshots of Hunted. In addition, their concept artist has designed the sniper concept and created a background composed of his medic, demoman, and sniper concepts. Take a gander here, and feel free to visit their website.[br]

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[Varsity]

Hunted is looking very bland indeed. Not like their other maps which all have memorable, bold styles.

 

[Dodo]

this is a very cool mod.... good work

 

[ket_]

As always very promising. I like this Hunted as well, although I must say I am somewhat missing the whole desert feel many of the HL/TFC/CS maps offered, both on this and other maps. It's purely cosmetic, but still...

 

[MuToiD_MaN]

Eh, I'll leave it up to them to make the levels, I'll just play 'em >: D

 

[D€vIL²]

I like how they show a shot of the old version, like before and after.
They are doing a great job on this.

 

[bgesley426]

Little more "bland" mapping than the other media releases. But its not, not bad at all.

 

[agentbob00]

well i really like there other maps, and this is a work in progress after all...nice jobs guys

 

[nutcrackr]

Reading the dev journals also sounds promising. Nice sniper and demoman concepts too.

 

[DoctorWeeTodd]

I like how the sniper appears to have a target right on his chest.

 

[DrkBlueXG]

I think hunted was the best map of TFC. I just hope that they fix the easy shortcuts to the goal which cause games to only last a minute or two.

 

[rebo]

Hi guys, be sure to check out our Development Journal section it contains some useful information regarding the progress of the mod. With respect to hunted, well yes its a working progress.

Many things that add to the character of the map such as prop placement will be determined by play testing. It makes sense really, if the hunted is too easy to snipe in certain placed the mapper can add some cover for him etc etc. I think we have hunted down as a map to contain a large amount of custom props and map details unfortunately these take time to model and skin.

So stay turned and check out its progress, your comments are appreciated both good and bad.

 

[FrenchToast]

God, this mod kicks ass...

I would have like the grassy areas in hunted to be sandy like the original, but that's just opinion, and it still looks awesome.

 

[Smigit]

this is the 1st map for the mod I've liked, the others so far looked borring and a little empty, since they arent finished and all (and thus had no props in em). Only thing is the hill on the 2nd pic looks very HL1'ish, nothing compared to the slope in the 3rd pic that looks alot more natural.

Good work

 

[trepid_jesse]

Well Smigit, I would speculate some of that may be due to the angle that the picture was taken as it's doing a good job of negating any depth that surface has, and it all kinda blends together with the texture.

If you could elaborate on what you find bland, Varsity, it can only help to improve the polished product.

We like to think that it has come a stride or two from the ominous grey walls that were in the original Hunted, and it's been a rather involved and ongoing process to attempt and remove the "arena-esque" feeling that existed because of such things. I suppose skewed opinions are also to be expected considering it's not a typical TFC style map (as they typically fall into the previous "arena-esque" category). Over-the-top and superfluous architecture, we feel, doesn't belong in places where it doesn't complement the general aesthetics of the map. One thing Jon and I would talk and joke about is how long, flat, boring walls exist all over the place, but to make one in a game and trying to pass it off as "realistic" and hope for the "oohs" and "ahhs" is another story altogether.

The criticism is definitely appreciated/wanted, but elaboration would be helpful.

 

[Smigit]

wasnt so much bland as empty or quiet. Like you probably wouldnt notice when playing but the shots ive seen lacked any wordly objects. you know how CS has bottles and the like lyeing about, just something that makes the map feel like a real place and not just corridoors that exist just for the sake of existing for a fight. Don't get me wrong, it looks like a brlliant mod and I'll deff try it, just the screenshots id seen to date without any models in them made the map look just a little like coridoors and not much else. Im aware its a WIP but and I really like the shots above.

another minor thing the fake windows that are only a texture. would be cool if that was actual glass even if you needed to make a semi fake room behind the window that you couldnt enter. Its a pointless thing I know but it might look nicer than the blueish glass texture. That ads polygons but, detracts from performance so thats really in the air whether its worthwhile, especially when the windows 2 stories up.

"I would speculate some of that may be due to the angle that the picture was taken as it's doing a good job of negating any depth that surface has, and it all kinda blends together with the texture."
I looked again and your right, it isnt perfectly flat like I thought the 1st time I looked

all the best but. Ill also add I never played TFC but ill be giving this a go. Infact I've only really played CS:S so perhaps thats why I like this map so much more, feels more familar to me than the other screens were

 

[Morganhahaha]

I love the concepts, those characters rock, you can tell exactly what their supposed to be. I hope the models/skins come out exactly like that! (P.S. Normal map the characters kthx )

 

[r~ Defrag]

Hunted has turned out pretty much exactly as I envisioned it for the Source engine; those screenshots don't really do it justice (after running around in it ) in my opinion. Stay tuned, the trepids will be giving us more media in the coming months, or they get the hose again.

 

[Azlan]

wasnt so much bland as empty or quiet. Like you probably wouldnt notice when playing but the shots ive seen lacked any wordly objects. you know how CS has bottles and the like lyeing about, just something that makes the map feel like a real place and not just corridoors that exist just for the sake of existing for a fight.

Because of all the different skills in tfc, such as concing, pipe jumping, rocket jumping, and others, having too many props might get in the way and cause someone to even lose a match because they get stuck on one in the last ten seconds, whereas they might have gotten to the capture point otherwise.

To me, that seems to be the only real argument as to why not to put lots of debris in FF maps. Personally, I'd love to see lots of props because they would add a brand new dimension to Team Fortress that it has never had. I have no doubt that other map makers will include some props inside maps, so I look forward to hiding pipes around props

 

[trepid_jesse]

another minor thing the fake windows that are only a texture. would be cool if that was actual glass even if you needed to make a semi fake room behind the window that you couldnt enter. Its a pointless thing I know but it might look nicer than the blueish glass texture. That ads polygons but, detracts from performance so thats really in the air whether its worthwhile, especially when the windows 2 stories up.

We did that in some other places intially, and then took it out. It's likely we may add them back in in the end, but putting those two simple windows in there was a much quicker solution at the time.

 

[rebo]

That would be a cool hiding place if a sniper could grenade jump up there.

 

[agentbob00]

I am hoping that they dont replace all your maps with grass/dirt rather than sand and stone because then it will lose the TFC look and maybe the feel....don't just make dustbowl the only sandy map

 

[Lethal01]

Remember that the sand/desert textures wasn't used in TFC until the 1.5 update. Until then it was maily about the concrete industrial look. I'm sure both will be featured in FF. And I'm sure all of the maps will get a more uniform look when they get their own textures together.

 

[prostyle]

If this mod is halfway playable, I promise to recreate the original, original Hunted layout. For Netquake TF. Oh, I have sketches abound. It will be lovely.

 

[COALslaw]

props to the awesome engie pic!

 

[Smigit]

Because of all the different skills in tfc, such as concing, pipe jumping, rocket jumping, and others, having too many props might get in the way and cause someone to even lose a match because they get stuck on one in the last ten seconds, whereas they might have gotten to the capture point otherwise.

yeah I understand. Even if it was things such as just bottles and the like that players clip right through, anything to add a little bit of reality to the surroundings and something to shoot when the round begins

 

[sharp]

awesome mod. can't wait to play the beta.

gj and keep up the good work

 

[RaBiD WeAzEL]

The map Hunted was never as 'fortressy' as many of the other team fortress maps, so I think they're doing just fine. I must say that this mod looks amazing and I can tell they're working hard.

Looks great.

 

[Phisionary]

you guys really like your curved surfaces, dontcha? :cheese:

Looks like another winner. I'll have to agree that this is the least distinctive of the maps I've seen from your group so far, but meh... WIP, I'll assume. Keep it up guys, it's very exciting having a good media release every week or so from the FF group :thumbs:

 

[NoNe]

Fortress Forever really seems to be coming along well, the shots really nice so far.

 

[Insano]

Because of all the different skills in tfc, such as concing, pipe jumping, rocket jumping, and others, having too many props might get in the way and cause someone to even lose a match because they get stuck on one in the last ten seconds, whereas they might have gotten to the capture point otherwise.

To me, that seems to be the only real argument as to why not to put lots of debris in FF maps. Personally, I'd love to see lots of props because they would add a brand new dimension to Team Fortress that it has never had. I have no doubt that other map makers will include some props inside maps, so I look forward to hiding pipes around props

It isn't really an arguement if you know that you can choose in Hammer if you want the prop to "hold back" the player or not if he runs over it.

This is done in Counter-Strike: Source with the bottles etc.

But I still think that the TFC maps looks better without props

 

[bi0_gauss]

wouldnt it be weird to have a table not hold you back?

just walk right through then

 

[r~ Defrag]

The props that typically don't hold you back (e.g. bottles) are usually prop_details. They are not required (i.e. can be turned off at the client's discretion) and usually are set up to scale with the DirectX level.

It's not really feasible to make larger props have no clipping associated with them (other than for light fittings and other stuff that may snag the player, but isn't big enough to be noticed). This is the principal reason why Fortress Forever won't be 'propagated' as much as most mods. The gameplay is very fast and varied, so having a million objects to bump into doesn't bode well.

http://www.valve-erc.com/srcsdk/Levels/prop_types.html