Screenshots:
Information:
- Project Name: 32in24-17: 3 Flags 3 Furious
- Game: Doom II
- Engine Needed: Boom Compatible
- Game Type: 3-Way Capture the Flag
- # of Maps: 33
- # Contributed: 4
- Status: Released
- Release Date: 03/30/19
Description:
32in24-17: 3 Flags 3 Furious is the 17th installment of the 32in24 series. As usual, this session was themed…
On your left, a red marine. On your right, a blue. In the middle, there you are. Green and ready to go. It’s time for a THREE WAY, BABY. – Shaikoten
So this was a 3-way CTF session, something I had never made maps for before. Ukiro’s awesome OTEX texture pack was used (seen previously in Eviternity). And we were given two sessions to finish the maps; one to do the rough layouts+gameplay and then another for detailing.
I always try to contribute as many maps as possible for 32in24, and for this session I was able to do 4. 3 maps were my own creations and the 4th was a collaboration between Marcaek and myself.
Yoo Hoo Wrecking Crew was the first map I made. Before I could get too deep into making more layouts, I had to wrestle with figuring out the work flow for a 3-way symmetrical base design. All three bases must be identical, and they have to meet up in identical fashions as well. So for this first map, I kept things simple. It’s a relatively tight map with simple bases, but the flag stands are very close to each other in the mid. Players can temporarily cut off the quickest access to the flag stand with timed doors, forcing opponents to take a longer, more dangerous route. It took me a while to figure out the best way to construct a 3-way mirrored map, but I got the hang of it by the time I worked on the 2nd map.
Butt Scratcher Deluxe was the second map I made. I had an idea for a map where there would be a very small mid section and then direct line-of-sights to each flag stand from the mid through long hallways. The straight-shot hallways would be the most direct but most dangerous path to take (especially with defenders given access to rockets and a plasma at mid). Alternate paths would be available, including an upper hallway that the players can access from a jump near mid, and some teleporters in each base that linked to the other two bases. I didn’t have much trouble making this map after Yoo Hoo Wrecking Crew, but my gimmicks required some major revisions after testing. I ended up nerfing the teleporter gimmick, tweaking part of the base structures, adding an extra hallway route, and then adding a flag stand that could be raised/lowered by defenders or attackers.
Swirlytron was the final map that I made from-scratch. By this point I was starting to run out of time, so I decided to make a really gimmicky map that I had in mind at the start of the session. Originally I tossed the idea out because of just out silly it was. But 32in24 is partially about making weird and crazy maps, so I just went with it. Swirlytron, as the name implies, has a ‘swirly’ mechanic. The bases are all very close to each other, only separated by a bounding wall and a lift in the center. On the outside of this is a trench filled with a ridiculously fast flowing liquid. Finally there’s an outer walkway ledge that encompasses the entirety of the map. The idea was to have the liquid trench provide 1-way access to each base; its fast and out of sight, but getting out and to a base can be tricky. Each base also has “blast doors” that can be opened by attackers to gain easier access to the flag platform. Defenders have to try and keep the doors closed so the flag is easier to defend. The map was kind of a nightmare to work on. I ended up remaking the entire layout after my first draft because it wasn’t properly symmetrical. The whole map is filled with weird angles that had to be stitched together properly. And the flowing liquids also had to be properly implemented because of the odd angles they flowed at (they flow needed to be perpendicular to the walls that contained them). All in all this map was a big mess but I kinda love it.
Crux of Captivity was the final map that I worked on. This was a layout that Marcaek made. He was looking for someone to detail it, and asked me if I would be interested. It was a relatively normal layout, nothing too crazy, so I gave it a shot. I think I got it finished within a day or two and it turned out looking pretty good.
This 32in24 session was really challenging, but a lot of fun. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to wrap my head around the 3-way symmetry required for these maps. The best way I found to approach the design was to make your base normally first. Then save a copy of that base off-map or in another wad, because its usually inevitable that you’ll have to come back and make adjustments later. And making adjustments to each base (particularly the off-grid ones that you rotated) is very difficult. The other bit that I found difficult was stitching everything together at the mid section (if there is one). I usually had lots of overlapping sectors when making mid sections or just when trying to stitch bits of bases together. I didn’t really find a great way around this; there was lots of line measuring and overlapping/broken sectors that needed fixing. I guess you can’t be afraid of breaking part of your map structures if it means getting things symmetrical when you paste & rotate things.
