Map first playtest

Well the project is over and turned in for my world design grade, but I'm going to continue to work on it and release it as a campaign with 5 maps total. Even though the map is still consider Alpha, I did save the map and made NAV markers to begin play testing. What I've experience was disappointing, but I was expecting road blocks in a first play test. I've documented these issues as not only to improve them, but as a learning experience on what the Hammer engine cannot do.

Navigation issues:

Was the top issue encountered during testing. The idea of having cubical desks on the top floor was solid, but the current models I had was too big for the room. Due to that it caused problems for the zombies and survivors to navigated through the entire floor. So in other words the cubical desks had to be removed and redone from start in a smaller form. Besides that, the elevator was a major problem for the navigation markers to connect from the top floor down to the main lobby. Hammer seems to have a problem connecting navigation markers from two floors using a elevator while generating them. It is possible, but from feedback from other designers it has to be done a certain way. Since I'm still new to level design the choice was made to remove the elevators for now until I become more experience. For now it was replace with a stairway leading from the top floor to the bottom. Good news is the NAV generator now connects both floors and during playtest, both zombies and survivors move flawless without any problems.

Zombie spawns:

The way the L4D engine works when it comes to zombie spawns. Major rule is they always spawn out of line of sight from the survivors. Could be down a hallway or around the corner in another room. Problem with the top floor is the outer area of the level near the windows is one major square room. When coming out of the starting break room, I've notice only a few zombies and the rest of the floor was empty. Where was the zombies? Majority was in each office room. Yeah it was a major problem since the floor was empty and a empty floor with nothing to shoot, well it's just boring. Gameplay was being effected so changes had to be made. In order to allow more zombies to spawn in the top floor, I need to be break it down in sections of rooms and add more walls to allow line of sight spawning. Not only that, but it gives me a chance to add more areaportal brushes to reduce rendering for areas not close to the player which helps boost performance.

Those are the top two issues during play test. All other issues were corrected prior to the first playtest.

The campaign story is still in the works, but what I have so far. The campaign is named "Fort Hope". The first map level as you can see is a call center which leads to the hotel level for the next map. In the story this corporate building was used during a safe haven for people in process for evacuation. The final map is a temporary military base known as Fort Hope where the survivors will fought it out before rescue comes in. I'm debating if its a military vehicle pickup or a helicopter pickup. This will depend which method is easier to put together for first time mappers.

Also made the choice to move the campaign from the first L4D to the new L4D2. This choice was made to take advantage of the new Director 2.0 A.I. Lucky for me, Valve just released the SDK for L4D2 this Xmas. I'm like a kid in a candy store. :)

L4D map update

All basic map features on the top floor is complete. Focusing now on the bottom floor and main lobby. Spent a few days to design and detail the cafeteria and kitchen rooms.

- Elevator is now operational with sound effects.
- Redid the lobby floor texture to resemble a more professional office building tile floor.
- Finished the men and woman's bathrooms for the main lobby. Lighting still needs to be added.

Bugs:

- Lighting is piercing through cracks where the brushes connect in some areas of the map. Will go back to add lighting block brushes later on to correct this.