The Mapping Plans news

Hey everyone,

Sorry for the long read, but I think you will find this update very interesting and informative.

Over the past few days I've been taking a look at mapping and the Valve hammer editor - so I'm trying to get to grips with that at the moment. I'm prepared for a long haul though seeing as for this mod I'm aiming for a dark, scary atmosphere with large scale maps.

However whilst being large scale, I've always enjoyed sometimes 'cramped' combat situations, or seeing how players react in those sort of situaions - forcing you to think on your feet - picturing battles with up to 64 players all shapes and sizes offers thoroughly interesting results.
One of the main priorities for the mapping aspect of this mod is to encourage 'focused' battles and also to encourage team play - by this I'm talking about one large, continous and flowing battle taking place in one area in the map - one large moving battle basically.

The idea behind the main map I have in mind at the moment, "The Battle of Thermopylae", (The battle in 300 Movie in the finale) is a continous, flowing battle which is based around a series of 'control points'. As a control point is taken by the Spartans or Persians, that team will then gain a spawn point at that control point - leading to dead players getting straight back into the action. So, without further ado, let's take a quick look at the plan -

So, as you can see, the two teams spawn at opposite sides of the map. We have paid attention to fine detail with this map, so we will be including all facts we have picked up from research.
Take note of how most of the battlefield is basically on cliff edge - especially the Spartan base and the Phocian wall, expect extremely tight and cramped fighting here, where taking the wrong step could leave you falling to your death, but we'll talk about that more later.

Already you can see how this map will play out in some areas - extremely aggresive team movements will be required to put the opposition in places they'd rather not be - you're going to have to expect some real vicious and tyranic fighting.

Now, near both base spawns is a mountain pass - this pass will offer a secluded path straight to opposition territory. Easy, right? No fighting, no Phocian Wall's, no falling off cliffs - BUT! This Mountain Pass will only be in use at certain times on this map due to the weather - heavy storms will leave visibility around the mountains very low, and we plan on placing some obstacles there making it very hard to get through if you pretty much can't see.

And the old folk back in Sparta say foul and evil creatures roam the mountains during the ravaging storms....

The river near the Persian base will be quite large seeing as it feeds into the sea, so a bridge will be neccesary for players to cross over. Again, this will feature as another point for focused combat.

So the hotpoints so far on this map are the Phocian wall, the mountain pass and the Persian bridge. Expect the fighting to be most fierce in these places - just make sure you're not caught out in the mountain past when the weather takes a turn for the worst, who knows what could happen to you...

Thanks for reading! We're still recruiting!