rM Community

Welcome to the official development thread of ow_prison, a multiplayer map being made not only for the Level Design/Model contest hosted by the Overwatch development team, but in hopes of being included in further Overwatch releases.

Schematics Outdated
 ow_prison.png (38.6K)
downloads: 64

Description: A fortified Combine prison with a wide-range Communications Tower has been wreaking havoc on the nearby Rebel communications. Desperate to send out transmissions, the Rebels devise a plan to start a prison riot and sneak into the prison via a supply train, breach the facility, and destroy the Communications Tower. If they fail, the Overwatch will launch a massive counter-attack and eradicate all organized Rebel forces in the outlying sectors. At all costs must the Rebels, or Overwatch, succeed.

Prisons are built to keep people from breaking out, these Rebels are the only ones who want to break in.

Objectives[REBELS]:
- Break through the courtyard gate
- Demolish/open the inner Combine penitentiary gate
- Assault the main prison facility, destroy the Combine Communications Tower

Objectives[OVERWATCH]:
- Defend the courtyard from forward Rebel advance
- Protect the inner wall gate from destruction/breach
- Make your last stand inside the prison facility, defend the Communications Tower at all costs

Map Structure:
- Rebel forces ride in on a train, they enter a small storage area and stock up on health and ammo. Riot shields and medpacks are available. The Rebels then press a button, which blows open the door of the storage facility. An alarm goes off, and the Rebels then storm the prison facility. They fight their way to the courtyard gate, and blow it a small portion of it open. Then, they fight their way through the Overwatch forces and toward the inner wall gate. They blow a small portion of it open, and advance toward the prison facility. They blow the door open and fight their way through the narrow hallways and prison cells until they reach the communications tower(a generator) Along the way, they need to find grenades to blow it up. Once its destroyed, the Rebels win.

My to-do list:
1. Make basic layout of the map
2. Make the basic detail of the area outside of the prison wall/ the train ride to the storage facility
3. Add detail(rubble, displacements etc.) to the courtyard, inner wall, and prison facility areas.
4. Texture some stuff, enough to work with(I've done 25%)
5. Spruce up the inside prison area/add props and detail to courtyard/inner wall/outside prison area/prison facility/cell blocks(I've done 25%)
6. Make spawns/explosions/objectives/settings/doors
7. Make lightning
8. Playtest/make final adjustments
9. Quadtruple-check EVERYTHING
10. Submit developer version to AndY, I will continue to work on the map if I win.

Screenies! This was accomplished in about 2 hours, please refer to the sketch for the meaning of the colored squares.

Images Outdated

 ow_prison0000.jpg (110.92K)
downloads: 16  ow_prison0001.jpg (95.75K)
downloads: 22  ow_prison0002.jpg (103.83K)
downloads: 16  ow_prison0003.jpg (172.91K)
downloads: 15  ow_prison0004.jpg (84.42K)
downloads: 11  ow_prison0005.jpg (110.45K)
downloads: 8  ow_prison0006.jpg (114.05K)
downloads: 12  ow_prison0007.jpg (64.32K)
downloads: 15  ow_prison0008.jpg (87.5K)
downloads: 10


By the way, an ideas on what the communications tower should be? Maybe just a simple generator or something similiar, I am no modeler ;P

More screenshots, these ones really reveal some depth and structure of the map. Please feel free to comment on them.
Images Outdated


 ow_prison0000.jpg (66.83K)
downloads: 26
- This is the entire map as of right now, 1:41 PST, November 8th, 2010. The lightning is temporary.

 ow_prison0001.jpg (93.58K)
downloads: 24
- This is one of the troop spawn points available to the Overwatch player, the building to the lower right is a type of barracks-looking building, or guard post.

 ow_prison0002.jpg (88.38K)
downloads: 13
- This is one of the three watch towers that overlook the main courtyard area. I plan to add detail to "spruce" up the realism of a prison-type map, hence the watch towers in the first place.

 ow_prison0003.jpg (93.38K)
downloads: 12
- This is the first objectives, the main courtyard gate that leads into the outer prison facility.

 ow_prison0004.jpg (47.63K)
downloads: 13
- This is a close-up shot of a guard post, one of three in the map which serve as spawn points.

 ow_prison0005.jpg (77.74K)
downloads: 15
- This is the entire area of the so called "Tower Garrison" because of the Combine tower(but for some reason its invisible in this photo), which will have a special ability to position a Combine trooper on the top of the tower.

More screenshots and GREAT NEWS, I have successfully completed all basic schematics of the map, the entire layout is now final. I will begin to add detail to the inside prison facility, give you guys more screenshots, and hopefully texture it as well. Here you go:

Images Outdated


 ow_prison0006.jpg (85.12K)
downloads: 17
This is the entire map from directly above the Rebel Spawn point.

 ow_prison0007.jpg (48.63K)
downloads: 20
One of the three watch towers.

 ow_prison0008.jpg (47.52K)
downloads: 9
This is directly outside of the Rebel Spawn point.

 ow_prison0009.jpg (66.58K)
downloads: 10
This is one of the three watch towers, I plan to edit them to be just like this and place either a Soldier or MetroPolice inside the tower, shooting at enemies.

 ow_prison0010.jpg (100.7K)
downloads: 13
This is the inner wall area, the Rebels must destroy the gate and proceed into the outside corridor(which will have fences and props) and breach and storm the prison.

 ow_prison0011.jpg (84.47K)
downloads: 10
That is the prison facility from the outside, it'll look much better later.

 ow_prison0012.jpg (68.15K)
downloads: 8
This is the entire outside corridor leading up to the main prison entrance.

looks good in the technical sense, but the layout itself seems a bit hap-hazard. I would suggest using more right angles, and removing those odd 45 degree walls. some slanted rooftops (using vertex tool NOT the clipping tool) would also fit well... as for cover I suggest you romove the brush cover you have now and use some base props (I.E. rubble, ect.)

I would also suggest adding some height, perhaps raising certain segments, creating several levels as the players progress upwards to the main building, having sub buildings (wings)sever as alternative paths and troops spawns will also work. as I see it you can wrap the main building around on the right side, and elevate it a floor or two above the ground you have now, have stairs leading to the gate you have set up on the left, and have that leading to another elevated surface, then more dispersed stairs leading down to the bottom towers. add some side entrances to the rebel spawn, and remove the Z junction in front of it.

and thin those walls, they look WAY too thick, I suggest using 8 unit thick walls, they fit between with doors anyway, and make windows look more fitting.

I can explain more if needed.

Jgoodroad, on 10 November 2010 - 10:46 PM, said:

Thank you for the suggestions, I will consider them strongly. Due to construction and detail issues, I had to reconstruct the prison facility, the corridor, and the inner wall courtyard, so I am going to mix it up a little to add more oomph.

EDIT: I have actually realized that Jgoodroad's suggestions truly make a lot of sense, and I have decided to overhaul the entire map. It will be bigger, better, and more awesome. Please expect screenshots by the end of today.

I like the idea of the map! I think that when done, it will be awesome to play.

Trainzack, on 12 November 2010 - 12:29 PM, said:

Thanks man! I appreciate the support! Believe me, it will be awesome!

Screenshots! Sorry for now uploading anything yesterday, you have no idea how much work I had to do to get it right. I actually had to redo 8 hours of work in about 2, I am now back on track. I originally thought this design was good enough, so I tried to make another. It failed, so I went back to this design.


 ow_prison0000.jpg (80.45K)
downloads: 24
This is the entire layout of the map so far, I have one more floor to go.

 ow_prison0001.jpg (92.88K)
downloads: 19
This is the entire lower courtyard of the map, the orange walls(the little ones) are placeholders, I will put bits of debris/rubble to make them as cover for Rebel players.

 ow_prison0002.jpg (61.97K)
downloads: 10
Some more of the courtyard, a watch tower in the distance

 ow_prison0003.jpg (92.25K)
downloads: 9
This is the courtyard gate, the first objective. You can also see the new wall I put in, these serve as battlements, which the GM can use to overlook the courtyard once the Rebels push the Overwatch back to the walls.

 ow_prison0004.jpg (82.39K)
downloads: 13
This is the entire battlements area, the second stage. More detail is to be added.

 ow_prison0005.jpg (93.43K)
downloads: 12
This is the view from the tower on the battlements, you can mount a Combine soldier here.

PLUS: I am debating whether or not to have the Rebels ride in on a train, and enter a "warehouse" type storage structure, similar to the Rebel spawn now. They then breach the door, and an alarm goes off, that's when the real battle begins.

again, what is with the diagonal walls?... I like that you added more height but some contrast would be good (more height, perhaps some displacement work), the map looks too small (going by the screenshots) and a bit confined... it is also one strange looking prison.

Jgoodroad, on 12 November 2010 - 08:20 PM, said:

The walls represent rubble, displacements come later. Craters, holes, explosion remnants. I need to get the the basic layout of the map until I add in specific terrain details like displacements. The diagonal walls are there just because. The map actually isn't small, its pretty big. It looks small, but I'm not even half-done.

As for the actual look of the map, it is meant to look more like a military base stationed within a prison, much like Nova Prospekt. Alyx said it used to be a high-security prison, and then turned into something much worse. This leads to the theory that prisoners were once housed there and the prison looked like a prison, but now is a Combine military base where experiments, secret operations, torture, and interrogations took place. Same theory applies here. I am making it look more like a military base, as it hasn't been a prison-in-operation for some time.The Combine morphed it to suit their needs, hence the fact that it looks like a stronghold, just as Nova Prospekt did. Towers, a wide open beach, thumpers, walls, towers, a HUGE military garrison, sounds like Normandy, France doesn't it?

still, I strongly suggest replacing the diagonal walls (or at least those three really odd ones) with right angles, strait walls... Even if you did plan to turn those walls into rubble their sizes looks too big for such a thing.

the reason I say the map is small is because it's inside of 4 thick walls (and looks more like a castle then a prison ATM)... I suggest expanding the map to include non-reachable areas. such as that beach you mentioned.

and Nova prospect's conversion was a bit more subtle then what you have so far.

just be prepared for deconstruction during detailing... sometimes, when you don't have a clear picture of what your mapping, thinks go wary... then your stuck with a problem, either change the map or change the description... then you start making exceptions and explanations that ultimately decay your initial idea.

just make sure your map doesn't need some kind of over-complicated backstory in order to compensate for illogical circumstances. you may not think your having problems with this now but trust me... it has a tendency to sneak up on you.

Jgoodroad, on 13 November 2010 - 12:49 AM, said:

Well, I guess your right. I really do appreciate your support and suggestions, thanks man. I'll try and change the diagonal walls, and probably shift round other things. I have made it so the Rebels ride in on a train and enter a small storage area, I could probably make something that they see along the way, such as a beach, or something else, maybe towers and thumpers. As for the actual detail inside the prison involving non-reachable areas, I was thinking of adding doorways into the main wall, and tall buildings behind them(small prison cells, solitary confinement, administration offices, soldier garrisons, storage areas) that the players nor Overwatch could actually get to.

Just to offer some contrast, some may not like the angles, but other people will like them. I say keep them if you like them (which you seem to). Personally I tend to make my maps a bit too blocky, such as having too many right angles. I think some variance to that can be a good thing. Not everything in the real world is all right angles, and I think it sort of helps the realism of the map to not have everything as right angles. That said, a large amount of prisons are 100% right angles.

I am just saying, there are some bits that seem quiet illogical, and the thing is not all walls have to be free standing, in my first suggestion I noted that he could raise one of the front segments, making the diagonal wall a supporting wall forming a kind of L shape that could lead up to the stairs, it's really hard to explain but it is whare the upper right hand tower is, facing the main building.

Jgoodroad, on 13 November 2010 - 06:10 PM, said:

What you see in these current photos is what your going to get. I will add some "logical" looking detail to the courtyard area, then make the second stage garrisons and detail that as well, then proceed to third stage, and make the basic layout of the prison. I hope to have all of this done by tomorrow night.

After that, I will make non-reachable buildings all along the train ride to the storage area. Behind the non-reachable buildings, I will put factories. This helps me because I can use the non-reachable buildings a detail all along the sides of the prison walls, and the factories will add more oomph.

I see I can't change you mind on this, so I guess it's "your" loss... but then again it's also your map.

However the layout does look like something you would find in a CSS aim map... just saying.

Jgoodroad, on 13 November 2010 - 11:42 PM, said:

I think that's the key to remember . What constitutes "good" or "failure" to one person, is "shit" or "awesome" to another. As I've pretty much said, I find the layout interesting just from looking.

not saying it isn't interesting.

braddollar, on 13 November 2010 - 11:58 PM, said:

Jgoodroad, on 14 November 2010 - 04:40 AM, said:

Guys, thanks for all of your support. Jgoodroad, I have edited the walls a bit, they look better. Bradollar, I really appreciate you finding my map interesting and explaining your argument, you have my thanks.

Criticism is everything, or I wouldn't be doing so well on this map. I appreciate it guys. I'm doing my best to look at your suggestions, and make them even better, so that everyone has a piece