New Map: Wasteland

[Tini]

Hello again—friends, family, and haters.

I set out to create three maps for the broz_ lineup, and this is the second installment: Wasteland. I haven’t seen many competitive maps that lean into a Fallout/Nuketown-style aesthetic, and that gap is exactly what this project aims to explore. The map is currently in beta, with additional visual detail planned once the gameplay proves fully sound.

rspeeds, rspeeds, rspeeds.
That was the recurring issue on Trainyard. I needed to step away, reset, and start fresh before revisiting that layout—and it paid off. Rspeeds are significantly improved here, capping at around 1000. A solid W for Tini.

Gameplay Philosophy & Design

Minimal reliance on “speed jumps”

Designed as a two-flag, tactical brawl, centered around an interconnected tunnel system with multiple routing options

Strong thematic influence: wasteland scarcity, scrap-built environments, and guerrilla-style engagements

Coordination is critical on this map. The layout is intentionally structured to enable multi-route pressure, encouraging teams to create 3v1 scenarios and coordinated flag grabs. Mid control is highly impactful, while the side lanes exist to apply pressure when mid becomes congested or heavily defended.

Attached are the .map file, .bsp file, and screenshots.
Let’s get this on servers and start running it.

Known Issues / To-Do

Skybox is interacting oddly with certain walls

A few brushes are protruding and need cleanup

Feedback and playtesting are welcome.

[Tini]

screen shots

[jitspoe]

Looks like you've learned to work within the limits of the Quake 2 engine on this one!  Much better r_speeds and visibility blocking here.  We'll have to give it a go next Social Saturday, but just running around, here are my initial thoughts:

- Not obvious what surfaces are ice, so I was kind of surprised when I started sliding on various metal surfaces.  Could throw a thin, transparent glass texture on top to make it look like ice.
- Main flag is a bit clunky to get to for bots and new players.
- 2nd flag and surrounding paths seems like a bit much for the number of players we have these days.
- Why not just call it "wasteland"?  The prefix makes it difficult to remember map filenames.

On the technical/nitpicky side:
- The water down low doesn't go all the way to the ground, so you can see the surface on the top and bottom.
- Sky does not necessarily block visibility, so there's some areas where you can really see through parts of the map, especially after going through the tunnel with the ramp at the end.  Might have to cover that with rocks or other geometry.
- The banner textures are not aligned.  Probably because you're using the jpg textures directly (which have a special case thing to change the scale since the original banner texture was not a power of 2).  You can use the .wal files instead, as outlined in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5BtADbOsCs

[Tini]

Okay, i've made the following changes to the map:

*changes made
changed the spawns where before blue players would spawn on red.
opened up mid allowing for jump from 1 to 1 and a jump from 1 to base sewer window
raised heights of ceilings so sky doesnt look weird
added laddder/hole in sewer window in base so gives players options to drop down
changes the surfaces of the sewers from ice to non ice
added ice floring to the one sewer in base and extended this path so youre able to do a reverse ice speed from base to mid
addes base stairs to make it accessible for new players to flag 1
details added to sidelanes, such as wooded frames
Alignment adjustments throughout entire map
fixed the water so its not just hanging anymore
flag 2 detail work was added
trim added around midsections

Im curious if I could change the mid section still to make it look a little more clean or polished, but havent drummed up ideas for it.
I would like to keep the prefix of broz_ as it just helps me reference the map later when playing.
I wasn't able to align the banner, so i adjusted the it to arrows lol

attached is the .map file   -   .bsp    and the two hr4 textures

[jitspoe]

Something changed with the directory structure of the new server I'm hosting the forums on.  You should be able to upload attachments again, now.

[Tini]

THE .BSP AND .MAP FILE   - ignore the wasteland_b3.bsp and download the b4 version.

[Tini]

THE HR4 PACK THAT IS NEEDED (just two textures)

[Tini]

Screenshots

[Tini]

updated version of the map is b4

[jitspoe]

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2672688485 at around 1:26 has my stream video and voice chat from when we played.  Note that the VOD will only stay live for a few more days, so watch it quickly for feedback!  People seemed to like it.  There are a lot of paths to get lost in.  That can be a good or bad thing depending on who's playing.  Felix commented that his younger self would love just wandering around getting lost and finding multiple paths, but I feel like the more straightforward maps tend to be the most popular.  I think a lot of players get annoyed when they can't find their way around.

For me, the biggest confusion factor is that you have 2 identical low mid areas that are actually different, but mirrored (area with the metal team bunkers, pipes, and puddles of water).  I would suggest consolidating those into 1 single low mid path.  With that, you could also balance the path lengths to be shorter so the main center path isn't so much faster.  Low could be a straighter shot with some branches to the other base entrances.  If you absolutely must keep both paths, at least theme one to look significantly different so it's obvious what path you're on.  Maybe have one rock and one with wood or something.  Also, it took quite a while before I even realized there was a 2nd flag.  I only saw it because I spawned by it.  It's hidden away in a little tunnel that doesn't really look like a main path.  Not sure it's really necessary, to be honest, especially with the player counts we have these days.  The mid part seems fun.  I think it'd be pretty enjoyable if you streamlined the low path(s) to play more like that as well.

Some of the lighting looks a little funky -- are you using the ericw tools?  Maybe it's just the way the point lights are placed.  Perhaps if there were light fixtures to emit all the colored light it would look more natural.