DM_Outpost

[Rcw99]

This small, outlying station was built for a variety of different purposes, but its most important task is regulating the flow of an underground river which later joins up with the Black Mesa River at the hydroelectric dam.

Located many miles away from the main facility, the outpost incurred no damages when the Resonance Cascade occurred, and, until distress calls started to flood in, none of the staff had any idea that anything had even happened.

When they did finally receive word that some sort of serious, life-threatening disaster had occurred at the main complex, the staff quickly evacuated the outpost, leaving most of the machinery running, and the rest of the building in various states of disarray.

Dm_Outpost in a brand new, custom deathmatch map currently being developed by me with feedback and suggestions from the community. Feel free to criticize, ask questions, suggest improvements, and leave your opinions here.

I hope to get a beta versionof this map up on the workshop sometime in the near future. Progress is coming along great, but just like every other Half-Life related project, it’ll be done when it’s done.

Some pics:

Main entrance. That’s a freight elevator that goes between all three floors.

Going inside. Since this pic was taken, I’ve just about finished up this area. It’s a small lobby.

The second floor elevator.

Directly behind the previous picture. I’ve since gotten rid of both grates, but left the floor panel to the third floor.

A rooms filled with vents.

Third floor. Has a small canal running through it.

Pipes.

Looking out of the previous area.

Looking at the opposite end of the main room.

The elevator shaft. There is a way to get out through the floor below it if it happens to come down and trap you underneath it.

[Admiral_Sakai]

I’ll admit that when I saw the thread title “new MP map idea” I cringed a little, and when I read “I’ve never actually made a multiplayer map before, or indeed any sort of professional map at all. I don’t know exactly how well this will turn out, but we’ll all see together, I suppose.” I went ahead and cringed a lot, but this looks pretty good! There’s still some rough spots here and there, especially with regards to that elevator, but I think the idea is pretty solid. Perhaps this is the complex you see bombed from the cliffside map in Surface Tension; I wonder what purpose it serves for the wider facility?

[Dragunov2]

Some parts seem to come from HC

[MisterDigitalGuy]

@Admiral Sakai

I wonder what purpose it serves for the wider facility?

Well, outposts could have various uses, such as:

• Storage for hazardous materials that should be kept away from personnel
• Housing sensitive equipment that could be interfered with by equipment found in the main facility
• Security (or in this case, a station for the military)
• Providing a place to hide from a coworker you stole the last donut from

Actually, scratch that last one.

[Rcw99]

@Admiral Sakai

I’ll admit that when I saw the thread title “new MP map idea” I cringed a little, and when I read “I’ve never actually made a multiplayer map before, or indeed any sort of professional map at all. I don’t know exactly how well this will turn out, but we’ll all see together, I suppose.” I went ahead and cringed a lot, but this looks pretty good! There’s still some rough spots here and there, especially with regards to that elevator, but I think the idea is pretty solid. Perhaps this is the complex you see bombed from the cliffside map in Surface Tension; I wonder what purpose it serves for the wider facility?

Yeah. Maybe I went a little too cliche and cringe-worthy with the title and all that, but whatever. I never really had in mind that it was the complex we see in ST while I was making most of it, but that’s not a half bad idea. For some reason, I’ve always pictured Undertow as part of that facility. I’ll try and see what I can do about figuring out exactly what my map is actually for though.

[Rcw99]

@MisterDigitalGuy

• Storage for hazardous materials that should be kept away from personnel
• Housing sensitive equipment that could be interfered with by equipment found in the main facility

From what we’ve seen of Black Mesa, I don’t think they have the wherewithal to do either of these things. It’s an incredibly dangerous facility, even without aliens. OSHA would have a field day. I mean, right at the beginning we see a big radioactive material leak and two scientists trapped by it. Add into that all the catwalks that collapse, and everything else, and I don’t think Black Mesa cares much for safety.

[Admiral_Sakai]

@Rcw99

@Admiral Sakai

I’ll admit that when I saw the thread title “new MP map idea” I cringed a little, and when I read “I’ve never actually made a multiplayer map before, or indeed any sort of professional map at all. I don’t know exactly how well this will turn out, but we’ll all see together, I suppose.” I went ahead and cringed a lot, but this looks pretty good! There’s still some rough spots here and there, especially with regards to that elevator, but I think the idea is pretty solid. Perhaps this is the complex you see bombed from the cliffside map in Surface Tension; I wonder what purpose it serves for the wider facility?

Yeah. Maybe I went a little too cliche and cringe-worthy with the title and all that, but whatever. I never really had in mind that it was the complex we see in ST while I was making most of it, but that’s not a half bad idea. For some reason, I’ve always pictured Undertow as part of that facility. I’ll try and see what I can do about figuring out exactly what my map is actually for though.

You know, it does make sense for Undertow to be in that complex… maybe they are both in there, and Outpost is what’s behind that far concrete wall?

[MisterDigitalGuy]

@Rcw99

From what we’ve seen of Black Mesa, I don’t think they have the wherewithal to do either of these things. It’s an incredibly dangerous facility, even without aliens. OSHA would have a field day. I mean, right at the beginning we see a big radioactive material leak and two scientists trapped by it. Add into that all the catwalks that collapse, and everything else, and I don’t think Black Mesa cares much for safety.

Well, it was mostly just a general listing of what outposts in general could be used for, not necessarily what Black Mesa would use them for.

After all, Half Life wouldn’t be as much fun if Black Mesa cared anything about safety. I personally enjoy hopping over radioactive materials, nearly getting disintegrated by electrical arcs, and doing other things that would be too dangerous to attempt in real life.

[Admiral_Sakai]

I can’t post screenshots because Black Mesa is being difficult right now, but I took a look around and found some interesting things.

1. It’s not at all obvious because when you play it there are all sorts of catwalks and little twisty spaces, but there’s actually not really all that much to Undertow in terms of actual buildings- just the two big ones on either side of a little canyonny segment and some control rooms in there. Judging by their architecture, I think they might actually be on the “northeast” side of the base, up near Residue Processing.
2. The complex off the cliffside does not look at all like Undertow, and appears instead to be a series of platforms and a hangar sticking out of the hills. There are very few proper buildings, and while it’s hard to tell at 1/16 scale those that do exist appear to be metal-roofed shacks or bunkers similar to the ones in the munitions storage map in Surface Tension.
3. There are a large number of Osprey helicopters sitting around down there on the landing pads, which means RCW’s theory about that place being a military outpost is likely correct. That doesn’t explain why the military would be bombing it, though… secondary theory is that the helicopters, and the complex itself, exist to service the large antenna emplacements that surround it. The antennas themselves are likely out there so that there is no EM interference to/from the rest of the BMRF, or alternately to get enough distance for triangulation to be practical.
4. The large satellite dish MIGHT be dm_stack, as there seem to be few other buildings visible from the Stack map itself and the dishes are served by a road tunnel like the ones we see in the cliff vista.
5. If you physically place yourself inside of the 3-d skybox model, you can see the same model around yourself blown up to 16x scale, and the sky on that model is also the 3-d skybox model blown up to 16x16x scale, and so on. This has nothing to do with anything, but is pretty cool.

[Rcw99]

@Admiral Sakai

I can’t post screenshots because Black Mesa is being difficult right now, but I took a look around and found some interesting things.

1. It’s not at all obvious because when you play it there are all sorts of catwalks and little twisty spaces, but there’s actually not really all that much to Undertow in terms of actual buildings- just the two big ones on either side of a little canyonny segment and some control rooms in there. Judging by their architecture, I think they might actually be on the “northeast” side of the base, up near Residue Processing.
2. The complex off the cliffside does not look at all like Undertow, and appears instead to be a series of platforms and a hangar sticking out of the hills. There are very few proper buildings, and while it’s hard to tell at 1/16 scale those that do exist appear to be metal-roofed shacks or bunkers similar to the ones in the munitions storage map in Surface Tension.
3. There are a large number of Osprey helicopters sitting around down there on the landing pads, which means RCW’s theory about that place being a military outpost is likely correct. That doesn’t explain why the military would be bombing it, though… secondary theory is that the helicopters, and the complex itself, exist to service the large antenna emplacements that surround it. The antennas themselves are likely out there so that there is no EM interference to/from the rest of the BMRF, or alternately to get enough distance for triangulation to be practical.
4. The large satellite dish MIGHT be dm_stack, as there seem to be few other buildings visible from the Stack map itself and the dishes are served by a road tunnel like the ones we see in the cliff vista.
5. If you physically place yourself inside of the 3-d skybox model, you can see the same model around yourself blown up to 16x scale, and the sky on that model is also the 3-d skybox model blown up to 16x16x scale, and so on. This has nothing to do with anything, but is pretty cool.

Yeah, when I do think about it the buildings down by the in Surface Tension do look nothing like Undertow, and the surrounding skybox in Undertow looks nothing like it would down there. It being near Residue Processing would make sense. I took a picture of the buildings that get bombed in Hammer, since I have pulled up anyway.

It’s certainly not Undertow, and it’s not really what I envision Outpost to be like. It would certainly be fun to try and map out that area in real scale though. Maybe I’ll try that sometime down the line.

[Dragunov2]

@MisterDigitalGuy

@Admiral Sakai

Well, outposts could have various uses, such as:

• Providing a place to hide from a coworker you stole the last donut from

Actually, scratch that last one.

I only would use this for only this reason and this reason only, cause if u steal a donut from a co-worker, they are worse then any of the Xenian creatures u encounter.

[Rcw99]

Some more pictures. From the lobby on the first floor. Took some inspiration from the Questionable Ethics lobby.

Not too sure about the plants.

A break room at the back.

[Admiral_Sakai]

Looking good, but I think you could do with a bit less orange- I’d see about changing the color of some of the overhead lights, and using some of the other WGH concrete colors instead of just the orange one.

[fury]

Llooks really nice… I hope it won’t be too big…

[Rcw99]

@fury

Llooks really nice… I hope it won’t be too big…

Not too big, no. It’s a very vertical map enclosed in a relatively small space. Gasworks is probably my least favorite mp map right now, mostly because I feel it’s way to large.

@Admiral Sakai

Looking good, but I think you could do with a bit less orange- I’d see about changing the color of some of the overhead lights, and using some of the other WGH concrete colors instead of just the orange one.

That makes sense. The sunset does make everything orange enough anyways. I do use some of the other WGH colors on some of the other floors though. I think that having multiple different colors in the same room looks a bit odd.

[Pauolo]

A custom deathmatch map? It seems a while since I’ve seen one on the workshop that isn’t a straight port of an original Half-Life one. Your project looks genuine though.

The canal rooms and the outside area are nicely designed. As for your last patch of screens, the rooms look a bit rough around the edges, but there are some nice ideas too. I’d recommend adding posters to detail the lobby a bit more, and directional signs around the map so that it doesn’t end like a maze.

[Rcw99]

@Pauolo

A custom deathmatch map? It seems a while since I’ve seen one on the workshop that isn’t a straight port of an original Half-Life one. Your project looks genuine though.

The canal rooms and the outside area are nicely designed. As for your last patch of screens, the rooms look a bit rough around the edges, but there are some nice ideas too. I’d recommend adding posters to detail the lobby a bit more, and directional signs around the map so that it doesn’t end like a maze.

Looking through the workshop now, I only found five or six significant custom maps out of sixty. They’re all either straight ports from other games, ports of BM levels, or remakes of HL1 and HL2 maps.

Yeah, I’ll definitely get around to detailing the lobby a lot more. I sort of got distracted by another area soon after I took those pictures and I’ll get back to it eventually.

[LordDz]

@Rcw99 I just fixed an update to my custom deathmatch map that you can find here:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=514447684

[Rcw99]

@LordDz

@Rcw99 I just fixed an update to my custom deathmatch map that you can find here:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=514447684

Very nice! I hope your map does well.

[Adam-Bomb]

@Rcw99

Some more pictures. From the lobby on the first floor. Took some inspiration from the Questionable Ethics lobby.

I like where this is headed. Quite a lot in fact.

Your lobby is too bright and has too many lights. You have the sunlight, orange ceiling lights, AND blue up lights. They are all washing each other out. Let the sun light do 90% of the lighting for the lobby. Use spots to simulate light bouncing around the room from the sun. Any interior lights you have, set them to blue to contrast the yellow sunlight!

Like this:

Break room looks pretty good but could use contrast in the lighting as well.