"Heart of Gold" (hog_b8)

(Uchronic) #1

Hi,

I’m pretty happy to introduce you a new map by Bob le Roux and myself.

It is called “Heart of Gold� but everybody calls it affectionately “HoG� :stuck_out_tongue:

We started working on this map after a talk with CaribouX, an admin of the LFET, a european cup. He was looking for a new competition map. And, even he liked a lot ParisBastille, he wanted to find a smaller and faster map (15 minutes long) for his cup.

After several discussions, Bob and I decided to renew our partnership to create another map with the help of CaribouX and his friends.

The creating process was pretty strange, sometimes very fast, and sometimes very slow. Working with players gave us a lot feedback … often conflicting :). Nevertheless, it was fun, interesting and productive.

We went through a dozen of private versions, and today we’re publicly releasing the beta 8 version.
We’re hoping that the map will be casted for the LFET cup, but also for the Ouichbase²cup too.
Anyway, it can also be a fun pub map. If players like the map, we could do a specific “pub mod” with destructible truck, no 2ndary axis spawn etc…

The objectives are pretty simple:
The allies have to escape the city with the gold loaded in the truck.
To clear the way for the truck, the allies have to blow a gate, and to raise a track switch.

Note:
The gold can be stolen and brought back to the truck right from the beginning.
The axis command post offers a secondary and very useful spawn for the axis team as long as the gate is not destroyed. If the allies destroy the CP, the axis loose this spawn point until they reconstruct the CP. Once the gate has been destroyed, the CP spawn is lost, whoever constructed it.
The truck cannot be damaged.
The truck won’t go beyond the track switch until the gold is loaded.

Credits :
Bob le Roux & Uchronic: Brushwork and script.
Lowlife: optimization of the vis.
Burniole: improved command map, great animated gif, and screenshots.
CaribouX and all the alphatesters (FBK, GW, YEP, 3RFPI, Bebar, Burniole and all the others…).
Drakir and Dave Gurea: great prefabs, and awesome textures.
… to be completed :stuck_out_tongue:

Here are some screenshots:

The Allies Spawn

Nearby the Axis Spawn

…that keep the ally medic searching for the “Heart of Gold�

An ally covert op has stolen the “Heart of Gold�!!!

Obective secured!

Axis are impeding the ally from escorting the truck.

The Allies are escaping with the “Heart of Gold�…

Download : http://hog.mapping-territory.com/HoG_b8.pk3
More screenshots : http://hog.mapping-territory.com/images/
ReadMe : http://hog.mapping-territory.com/README_hog.txt

We’ll soon upload a page regrouping infos, screenshots, credits and more at: http://hog.mapping-territory.com

Thanks to Wolfy to lend us his webspace.

(ChiemseeMan) #2

Mirror here:
http://new-etmaps3.de/maps/HoG_b8.rar

Map looks very good. :drink:

(iwound) #3

beautiful. i like the unfinished building frame work in new wood. original.

(AkiraCorp) #4

:smiley: GG Uchronic and Bob le roux ! It’s a beautiful map !

You can find here a mirror for your map :slight_smile:

http://et-map.com/et-map/accueil.php

Sincerely :slight_smile: …
Akira.

(die die) #5

nice map:)
the axis doors are abit large imo

(Uchronic) #6

Thanks a lot for the comments.

For the axis door size, you’re not wrong. But i heard it’s standard size in BLR’s country. :smiley:

(psyco_mario) #7

1 word:
WOW

nice map! :smiley:

(RToiletman) #8

Good job, map looks great! :banana:

(Pytox) #9

Yea, nice map :slight_smile:
Would be good for the Wildwest mod :stuck_out_tongue:

(SPU9) #10

nice map…can you gimme some links to the named cups too?

(SPU9) #11

it would be nice if allies blow up the gate…a voicecommand appear… Gate destoryed
and if they build cp…same…need voicecommand : Allied CMP constructed

and i think the second axis spawn is a bit to near to the obj. and the allied spawn is too far away from the gold (i think if they destroyed the gate and build cp they should get a forward spawn)

and befor the trackswitch…if you are standing in front of the truck you will get crushed…so let the truck stop a few meters befor the switch :wink: and see picture…i think the truckway is a bit to narrow…axis can shoot from everywhere…but allies can only move in the narrow street… so make a ammo&health or an other room or some steps… (as i said see picture)

http://home.arcor.de/et-cup/truck.jpg

(zivs) #12

zee mirror

And yeah - map looks really awesome! :eek2:

(DerSaidin) #13

Looks very nice.

I agree with SPU about teh stairs.

Instead of health an ammo racks, I think allies should get a forward spawn…

… there WHEN either they build the CP or the gate is blown.

And to compensate, the allied spawn time increased to 20.

Also, the areas near the two axis spawn exis should have SOME non-minable dirt like near the gold.

(Jaquboss) #14

The allies have to escape the city with the gold loaded in the truck.

This is the biggest minus of map ( haven’t tried yet ), but I’ve lost count of map where you have to do this

(DerSaidin) #15

Another thing: It’d be nice for spectators if they could fly above those buildings and above the gold area.

(Shaderman) #16

For me all the buildings look oversized on those screenshots. Have to download it and see how it looks in game :slight_smile:

(Uchronic) #17

Are you ready for a BIG post ?!

@[]v[] :
Thanks a lot for your comments, it means a lot coming from the guy who committed Castle Attack :stuck_out_tongue:

@Pytox:
Indeed, why not the Wild West Mod? But you should replace the truck by a diligence but… erf… the horses won’t stand very long :stuck_out_tongue:
The first inspiration of this maps was a village in the Alps, but the structure of “main street” for vehicle and “backstreets” for pedestrians, with a lot of wood involved, you can have a feeling of Wild West. Even though the architecture is not quite the same.

@SPU9 :
For the cups, the LFET : http://khay.celeonet.fr (in french only:/) a CB-like cup, with specific custom rules. These are the guys who asked us for this map.
Ouichbase² : The website is temporarily down until this weekend, but you can find some data here : http://www.yepteam.com
The ouichbase is a pretty cool cup as the rules are a bit different from most of the other tournaments. The rules are very simple : no panzer, no /kill, no sk, and fair-play. The 2nd edition will start in April.

I’m not really involved in comp world, so there might be other cups interested in this map. Just let me know.

Voicecommand : yep, you’re right, we should add some for the CP. I’ll write this down in the to do-list.

Crushed by the truck Well, don’t you think it’s pretty fun? I know it’s a bit sadistic and merciless, but we laughed out so loud during the test sessions with this, that we decided to keep it.

@Der’Saiding too

Screenshot : Very interesting. We were wondering where to add ammo/health racks… it might be a good idea.
But you have to know that, even if we tried to balance the map as much as possible, the allies still have a little advantage over the axis, having a non-damagable truck. You just need 1 allies near the truck to make it move. Well… you know the story, it’s just like in supply depot.
So the question of having places to hide, or having a secondary spawn point with the CP, was discussed a lot. If we offer a secondary spawn point to allies, then we should probably counterweight and turn damagable the truck, add a dynamitable barrier, change the spawntimes… i.e. a lot of changes that can ruin the current “balance”. Anyway, the public release of a beta version is also here to tell us if we made the right decision. And if not, we’ll swiftly change this for the next version.

Flying
Well, there are already places in the map where you can see some caulk sides of the buildings brushes. And it’s not really nice.
So I’ll check what’s possible, but don’t expect too much, as it would give an unpleasant point of view.

@Jaquboss
I’m sorry, but I haven’t understand the meaning of your question.
Did you mean :
Where should they go with the truck?
Where are the objectives written?

@Shaderman :
Oversized.
You’re not wrong if you mean that it’s not really that kind of cute little village you can find in the mountains. It’s more like medium-sized town. Most of the buildings are big. But it was intended to be so.
Everybody knows here that making a perfectly scaled map is sometimes not a good thing, as everything seem smaller from the point of view of the player.
Let me quote Wils that I read in www.real-et.com (original post somewhere in the lower undergrounds of this forum)

The railgun in erm, Railgun, is pretty much the right size compared to the player model. Unfortunately, ET is a little bit weird when it comes to proportion and scale, so things look a lot smaller than they actually are for various reasons. Being able to leap six foot high crates and run at 50mph might have something to do with it… I dunno

So we decided to slightly oversize some part of the map, so that the player can have a better feeling.
And, to end with this, most of the town was designed through different test sessions. It is not supposed to be a reproduction of a real, or at least realistic, town, but just a fun place to frag in.

congratulations, you read the whole post !

(Shaderman) #18

Absolutely right. I’ve had a quick look during lunch time and think that the scale of your buildings is absolutely ok in game. Conclusion: really nice buildings with some very nice custom textures :wink:

congratulations, you read the whole post !

No I didn’t. I’ve searched for @Shaderman and only read the part that was dedicated to me :stuck_out_tongue:

(CrazyGuy) #19

This map was designed for comp. So leave the truck as is and possibly make an capturable flag somewhere at the main gate.

As for this for pubbin. Their should be a different version.

Just add mines placement on the road in some spots.

I liked the wood details. And please make the ceiling higher.

One other question?

Could you make it possible to climb onto the wood so axis can more of a defense at gold ?

(Uchronic) #20

Hé hé :cool: You like shooting from above, don’t you?

For the pub version… well it’s just an idea. We’re not really sure about it, not sure about the interest of having another version of the same map.
We had very specific comments, advices, feedback from players who usually only play in comps, so that maybe explains the feel of the map. We’ll need more of this coming from pub players to figure out what could be a good, balanced, and fun pub version (if needed!)

For climbing up the wood frame… well…
We decided at the very beginning that there should not be too much great places to shoot from. I’m not sure it makes sense… I mean… We don’t want to have a nice place where a smart FO can just sit or lay down and shoot everyone without being spotted and protect, alone, the objective. You have some nice places, that are higher than the ground level, and you can be a bad surprise for your enemy. But these places don’t give such a an important strategic advantage over the allies. Most of the action is at the ground level and we’d like to keep it that way.

(but, hey ! that could also be a good idea for a pub version… opening other areas such like the terraces and balconies)