Hi Guys, just thought I would show a few pics of a map I am working on in conjunction with another mapper named Skybex. Ages ago I started to make a DOD map, but realised I would not have had the time to complete it.

I have been playing DOD again recently, and decided that I had to make something. So far, what we have is the core layout (in dev textures) and all of the floor elevation. We recently started the art side of things.

Here are a few very early WIP pics. This represents a weeks worth of layout making, and a weeks worth of art. I will post more pictures as things progress. Constructive criticism appreciated.

http://www.chehamilton.com/Random/dod_zutzendorf01.jpg
http://www.chehamilton.com/Random/dod_zutzendorf02.jpg
http://www.chehamilton.com/Random/dod_zutzendorf03.jpg

The "church" on the right will be worked on today. I'll post a pic of the progress later on.

Sounds good...the links for the pictures are missing.

Hey Ornate, I remember you stopped by our community for your CS:S map de_tropea, which looked awesome. Look forward to the screens later.

Screens should be there. Maybe they take time to load? Is there a size limit on the pics?

Hey Formologic23, I remember! That pesky map is still in the works :)

Sounds good...the links for the pictures are missing.

just klick on quote and there they are ;) they used to work a few minutes ago but now they seem to be down.

http://www.chehamilton.com/Random/dod_zutzendorf01.jpg
http://www.chehamilton.com/Random/dod_zutzendorf02.jpg
http://www.chehamilton.com/Random/dod_zutzendorf03.jpg

Sorry guys, I think my host is messing up. Hopefully they will be there again soon.

www.imageshack.us

That's a good, free image host.

Your architecture is amazing man! Don't do what you did to tropea, and keep teasing us.

Keep up the good work and can't wait for more updates.

Looks great, but I'm really getting tired of these small Norman village maps. I hope the layout will be something interesting, or maybe they'll be something unique on the visual aspect of it. There are no destroyed buildings yet, maybe you could make DoD's first "untouched" city map.

Links fixed. Thanks. Visuals are very enticing, will be a pleasure to frag on this map. Cheers..

That hill with the Tiger at the top looks amazing.

Thanks for the comments.

Formologic23 - not teasing with de_tropea - its just not ready yet :(

Dwin - Destruction will eventually be added.

Pvt.Snail and Watevaman thanks!

A pic of todays work. The textures on the church will change, and some sort of curved geometry added.

http://www.chehamilton.com/Random/dod_zutzendorf4.jpg
http://www.chehamilton.com/Random/dod_zutzendorf5.jpg

Looking good, is Skybex the same one from INS?

Yep, its the same Skybex that works for Insurgency.

mmmm tasty:

http://www.chehamilton.com/Random/dod_zutzendorf02.jpg

love that road work

Stunning :O
Can't wait to test her out.

Wow, looks breath-taking

n1 one i like what i see. =) keep it up

wow!!

Thanks for the nice comments :) Here are a few more pics. This is the German spawn. At the moment they will spawn in the house next to the church. If anyone has any ideas about things they would like to see in the map, please feel free to make suggestions.

http://www.chehamilton.com/Random/dod_zutzendorf_4.jpg
http://www.chehamilton.com/Random/dod_zutzendorf_5.jpg
http://www.chehamilton.com/Random/dod_zutzendorf_6.jpg
http://www.chehamilton.com/Random/dod_zutzendorf_7.jpg
http://www.chehamilton.com/Random/dod_zutzendorf_8.jpg

It's so painful to see such beauty!

this map looks freaking sweet!! Keep it up.

Looks good ornate, but I feel the ivy on the side of the church looks really tacky and unconvincing.

Additionally the dome top isn't really christian in nature, might want to find a more appropriate prop there.

very beautiful :)
looking forward to run on those streets you have there!

Additionally the dome top isn't really christian in nature, might want to find a more appropriate prop there.

Yea. Most churches in Germany have the pointy square pyramid tower things.

Nice architecture, very crisp looking work.

Is the map based on anything that's been released (in terms of layout)? If not what's the general plan? I love solid mapwork (as Jake said...great roads) but the most important thing is gameplay.

Thanks for the comments and constructive criticism guys. Much appreciated.

FMPONE - I don't think the ivy looks too bad, but if others think it is a problem, it will get removed. Because the windows on the church are bricked up, I thought it would give it an overgrown look. Also, adding some greenery stops the map from feeling completely urban. Still, the ivy will probably go once the destruction has been added.

Regarding the church tower, this could be re-modelled, but there are a lot of churches in France that have all sorts of towers. At some point, a more pointed spire, or a triangular roof will be tested. I'll post pics to see what people prefer. The church is not from reference, so some tweaking will definitely happen.

nave - Zutzendorf is in France :) I don't know if any battles happened there though. The name could change if we find something better.

FuzzDad - I wouldn't say that the map is based on anything, though it does have the Colmar bridge in the middle of the map as a two man cap. Essentially there is one main route -the road, which leads to the bridge in the middle, and two side routes. The idea is to have a lot of shooting from one side of the bridge to the other, but also a lot of crossfire from underneath the bridge, since each of the side routes lead underneath. It is however, possible to get from spawn, to the final cap without having to cross or go under the bridge, using the side routes.

The intention is to make the central area as hectic as possible, since it is quite open and well connected, while also seeing mini skirmishes in the side routes. Its the usual stuff, with one team "owning" their half of the map. Hopefully, it will be easy to cap, with enough effort. If I were to compare it to a map it would be avalanche.

Its not a month old yet, so I imagine things will change slightly, even though the layout is more or less there, and then change even more once properly play tested. Its just that early feedback can really help things along.

FMPONE - I don't think the ivy looks too bad, but if others think it is a problem, it will get removed.

Ivy looks fine to me, I say leave it, it's a nice touch.

I like the Ivy too.

Great looking map.

Hope the FPS are good :)

I don't think you understood Dwin, thing is DON'T DO DESTRUCTIONG! All village maps are destroyed in some way and it creates a very generic feeling. Having a pristine cillage with no damage, no craters, and so on, would be refreshing.

Looks nice !

:)

I don't think you understood Dwin, thing is DON'T DO DESTRUCTIONG! All village maps are destroyed in some way and it creates a very generic feeling. Having a pristine cillage with no damage, no craters, and so on, would be refreshing.

Refreshing? This is a WWII game afterall. Having a map with tanks in the streets, yet the buildings don't have a scratch on them? Wouldn't make much sense to me at all.

Most villages/towns did get damaged in some way. They didn't call it a World War for nothing.

It looks good, but it looks cleaner/more untouched than the stock maps...and that's not a good thing in my opinion.

EDIT:
Just saw the "Destruction will be added" part...good deal. :D

It has potential dont let it go to waste but also i understand the time and effort that it takes to create a map, but a realistic timetable should be implicated as not to keep us waiting forever.

As usual, thanks for the comments :)

[I&S] Pvt. John - The map is a bit too early to see about the frame rate, though we are aiming to keep it to the official standards.

Dash - I think destruction has to be added. Because there are lots of connected buildings that can be entered, the only way for things to make sense is if some of the inside walls are broken down. The map might look a bit strange if the insides were damaged, and the outside was really clean. Also displaced rubble and craters are really cheap ways of detailing places.

zman_warmachine - We are working as fast as we can :)

A couple more (non hdr) pics. Its beginning to feel like a map now. The cloned chimney in pic two will get changed.

http://www.chehamilton.com/Random/dod_zutzendorf10.jpg
http://www.chehamilton.com/Random/dod_zutzendorf11.jpg

Ornate your team's disign work is very unique and breathtaking. I wish you sucess with your project. There is one thing you may want to consider which is the water tower which comes from half life, I believe you should reskin it to fit the era better

Looking pretty damn good... Look forward to seeing it complete!

zman_warmachine - I think the water tower will probably get removed, although I think it is possible to still use it for the era. I did a search on Google for "old water tower", and this is what it came up with.

http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=old+water+tower&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2

Rolk - cheers.

Some more pics. The first shot has had the quality of the sky texture reduced for some reason. The contours don't exist when in game. Last two pics are very WIP. We just wondered whenther people preferred this lighting or the blue stuff. Feedback appreciated.

http://www.chehamilton.com/Random/dod_zutzendorf_12.jpg
http://www.chehamilton.com/Random/dod_zutzendorf_13.jpg
http://www.chehamilton.com/Random/dod_zutzendorf_14f.jpg

This is wonderful looking geometry. Is this is a playtested/proven layout?

professional looking

My only comment is in pic#2 there is a pile of rubble. What is the rubble from? There appears to be no destroyed buildings?

nave - Its not been playtested, nor proven, but it is a pretty simple layout. From trying to imagine the gameplay, it seems as though there will be a lot of fighting. Players will also "own" certain parts of the map (like on Flash, Donner, and Avalanche). Its quite symmetrical, but with different floor elevation, and differing geometry on each side, just so that the symmetry isn't completely obvious. There are three main routes, all of which lead to the final cap. It has five flags, though because of the fairly small nature of the map, after playtesting, this could be reduced to three.

Neutrino - :) Cheers!

ultranew_b - Yes, the rubble is left over from a previous build when the building on the right was a destroyed house model. Damage will be added to the buildings, but because they are angled, we thought we would do this nearer the end of the map. Working with angled geometry can be a real motivation sapper.

Anyone have a view on the lighting? Do people think that the red light/skybox looks better than the blue?

Just a comment about the water tower. What you have in the map right now might be okay for the WWII period. The design, however, is typical of water towers you can see in the US for instance. I've just never seen such a thing in France. Typically they look much more actual towers, not just a tank on top of a see-through structure.

Here are a couple images for instance (though some are a bit more recent than the 40s):
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Ch%C3%A2teau_d%27eau_%C3%A0_Cl%C3%A9ry-en-Vexin001.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/fr/f/fa/Chateau-d-eau-de-toulouse.jpg
http://www.cig.ensmp.fr/~thiry/FBL_nappe_Beauce/Images/img00chateau-eau.jpg
http://vendenheim.free.fr/Images/Jpeg/plan/60Chateauo.jpg
http://home.scarlet.be/~p4u02976/Photo/magnee/magnee%20chateau%20d'eau.jpg

See there too for some French water towers across different periods: http://chateau.deau.free.fr/Dossiers/ChateauDeau/Histoire.htm

Well, you see what I mean. :D Water tower is chateau d'eau in French; you can google to your heart's content.

Also keep in mind that many water towers were built in France in the 60s and 70s. If you map a small village, chances are there was no water tower at the time.

Keep it up, it looks very nice so far.

Everything looks top notch, keep it up!

Cpt Ukulele - great feedback! Its thoroughly appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to look for those images. When we go through a second pass, the tower will be removed, and something like the circular water tower will be added, provided we have the fps spare to do it. I think it will be doable though. Again, thanks for the constructive criticism.

Price|BigEz - Thanks :)

http://www.chehamilton.com/Random/dod_zutzendorf_15.jpg
http://www.chehamilton.com/Random/dod_zutzendorf_16.jpg
http://www.chehamilton.com/Random/dod_zutzendorf_17.jpg
http://www.chehamilton.com/Random/dod_zutzendorf_18.jpg
http://www.chehamilton.com/Random/dod_zutzendorf_20.jpg
http://www.chehamilton.com/Random/dod_zutzendorf_21.jpg
http://www.chehamilton.com/Random/dod_zutzendorf_22.jpg

Looks superb!

Looks like it will be a great map :)

My only gripe is the sandbag walls stand out way to much in the map with the new mood and seem out of place imo.

Now dont get me all geeked out for this map and then it disappers!! Can you give me a update? What is the current status of this map? I also pm Skybex on the INS. forums

Thanks for the interest teflon{the_truth} :)

Basically, Skybex has Insurgency commitments, so can't work on the map for a while, or indeed at all. So I will be working on it by myself.

I posted some screenies on other sites to get more criticism, and there are certain things that people didn't like.

(1) The red lighting does not look good.

(2) The map is a bit cramped, and has buildings that are too big in relation to the space in the roads. Players might feel a bit hemmed in.

(3) There is nothing that really uniquely identifies the map. A few comments were along the lines of it just being "another Normandy village".

(4) While the buildings are just first pass, a few areas have a blocky feeling to them.

(5) Capture points do not look interesting enough.

I agree with these criticisms, so I will be re-jigging the map to address them. I want to go for a more global theme, rather than just making buildings, and putting them next to each other. The idea so far is to base things in a village that is perched on a cliff. Its hard to explain what I mean exactly, but imagine The Lost Coast, only less vertical.

This will allow for a 3d sky lighthouse and water, a beach, rocks wherever appropriate, and a decent amount of floor elevation. Nothing original, but small things that should make the map more interesting.

It was definitely worth getting the criticism in early, before too much was done, so hopefully, a better map will come of it.

Really well stated Ornate, hopefully you guys can work something out as you described, I have full confidence :)

Are you gonna have some craters in the road with tanks or vehicles in them, with fire and smoke coming out.

Thanks for the update. I look forward to what you have planned come to life.

Not much to show, just the slight change of light, mood and skybox (its less purple). The theme is not really there yet, but I will post more images when I have something worth showing.

zonetrooper5 - I might give that smoke idea a shot. Sounds good.

http://www.chehamilton.com/Random/dod_zutzendorf_23.jpg
http://www.chehamilton.com/Random/dod_zutzendorf_24.jpg

I like the lighting !

Yeah ...it really reminds me of dod_sturm.

WoW! Nice work, really love the architecture and the mood.

Looking very good, look forward to playing this.

Thanks for the comments. I have done some more stuff on the map. I recently added a market place, and a train yard, as well as a beach. I will show pics when they are more complete. The American side of the map will be a lot more rural and rocky.

Criticism appreciated.

http://www.chehamilton.com/Random/1.jpg
http://www.chehamilton.com/Random/2.jpg
http://www.chehamilton.com/Random/3.jpg
http://www.chehamilton.com/Random/4.jpg
http://www.chehamilton.com/Random/5.jpg

That is looking very nice Ornate, yeah... :)
EDIT: if it counts for anything I like the blue summer light a tad better.