Counter-Strike Map Released! cs_qasba Now Available On CS:GO Maps Workshop!

Valve has opened the CS:GO Maps Workshop to the public!  Yay!  In other news, cs_qasba was uploaded to the Workshop today, and is available now for download!  Enjoy!

L4D2 Addon Campaign - It Seems To Be Happening!

Well, it does seem to be happening after all!  I've stopped working on my untitled CS:GO and TF2 maps for the time being to return to work on the Still-To-Be-Titled campaign.  When I last worked on this, the first map was almost finished, and the second was a good bit along.  Now I'm considering making this new work the first map, although that's up in the air; it could work as a second or even third map, depending on how I move things around... Currently, I have the survivors starting just outside, you guessed it, a hospital!  The main area is an atrium, which leads deeper into the complex, and then out the other side (you'll come out in the area pictured in the last screenshot I posted a couple of weeks ago - see below!).  Here's a Hammer screenshot of how the atrium area is shaping up.  It's very WIP.  Just sayin'...  :)

L4D2 Workshop & Down On The Farm Update

Well, Valve has finally released the Steam Workshop for Left 4 Dead 2!  Both my released maps (Escape From Parkdale & Down On The Farm) have been uploaded to the Workshop, and will no longer be supported on the l4dmaps.com website...

Additionally, I've just completed a large update for Down On The Farm and it's running a LOT better now!  Here are the changes:

- Fixed many windows where bots were getting stuck

- Removed 2 main survivor ladders in barn, added stairs

- Added various clips to, and changed physics properties of a lot of foliage/props

- Improved optimization

- Improved soundscapes

- Additional fixes to Nav Mesh

You can download it here!

Cheers!

L4D2 Campaign - Is It Back? - OR - Am I Really Working On This Again?

Work in film has slowed down a bit for the winter, allowing me to get in a little mapping.  But what's this?!!  A new Left 4 Dead 2 map?  To be added onto the existing work on a campaign?  Am I sure?!  No!  But here's a Hammer screenshot anyway...

Oilcake Productions Website Now Live!

Just a short note to announce the launch of the new Oilcake Productions website.  Along with the launch of the site, you may notice that the blog has some changes as well...  A new header and several new links, etc., down the right side.  Hope you guys like the new look & feel!  Cheers!

CS_Qasba For CS:GO Almost Complete!

Well, It's been a pretty crazy summer, that's for sure! Work in film/tv has been constant, for the most part. I've had a couple of weeks free to get back at mapping, though, and have managed to (almost!) complete the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive version of my old, unpublished and unnamed CS:S map.

I've decided to call it CS_Qasba, which has a bit of a story behind it. When I began work on this map almost 3 years ago, I was really just starting out with Source mapping. Besides trying to design a well-balanced, fun-to-play map, one of the main things I wanted to learn was how to texture properly. Being a big fan of David Johnston and his work, I decided to go with the Dust environment... All this went quite well, all things considered, but at the end of the day, the CS:S version of the map was never released. It never quite looked the way I wanted it to, and then it got lost in the tidal wave of L4D2 work.

With the release of CS:GO, I decided to resurrect the map, which still remained nameless (well, I went through a series of names, but they sucked for the most part!).  Finally, I settled on CS_Casbah, only later remembering that David Johnston (again!) had made a Team Fortress Classic map called Casbah...  Obviously, this wouldn't do, but at the same time I liked the name a lot, and it fit with the map very well.  I ended up deciding to change the spelling to the Arabic version, Qasba.  That way I could keep the name, while still paying homage to the Johnston link.

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about it: "The Casbah (Arabic: قصبة‎, qaṣba, meaning citadel (fortress)) is specifically the citadel of Algiers in Algeria and the traditional quarter clustered around it. More generally, a kasbah is the walled citadel of many North African cities and towns."

So there it is!  Very close to completion now, only a few last things to do...  I'm still trying to decide if I should wait for Valve's CS:GO Map Workshop to release it,  or just go ahead on my own.  I'll make that decision soon.

In the meantime, here are some before and after screen shots, CS:S version on top, CS:GO below.  Enjoy!