We thought that Paris is a rarely used theme that could bring some fresh wind to CS. The idea was to synthesize iconic elements of the city in a map with visually coherent and credible gameplay. After scouting out places and multiple iterations, we got a prototype of a simple and readable map, minimizing “over connected” playable areas, and we playtested it with members of mapcore.org. Then we listed the necessary custom content and estimated the production time. The goal was to be as efficient as possible with the most visual variety. In parallel with the prototype gameplay, we also have developed a standard street map to test our content. Once decoration elements were completed and propagated into the map, we worked on lighting and chose a cold atmosphere “TV coverage like” to reinforce the theme of urban riots, which was also very useful to define the game area.
This map was for us a double challenge: to create an area of urban game both open and contained, and overcome the limits of the source engine to offer detailed Parisian facades and a credible new theme.

We hope that the map will be enjoyed !

Thanks to the mapcore.org community for its support and to leplusbodeslapin for giving us this presentation.

While working on Bagra I dedicated myself to create a competitively viable map. Aspects like balance, visibility, timing, smoke/flash possibilities, boosts and wallbangs were kept in my mind, tweaked and reworked over the five month period I've been working on this map.
Whole areas got a complete rework at some time, like B site, which used to be inside a warehouse. It was obviously out of place and needed to change. It made me sad to destroy it, since a lot of time already went into it, but it had to be done and it worked out. Sometimes you have to take a step back to take two steps forward.

 
The B bombsite in an older version (on the left) and the current one (on the right)

I believe the map is in a good and competitively viable state now and should give the players a fair variety of possibilities in terms of gameplay and strategies.

At first crossfire was going to be a remake of Snowcapped, a level I made for cs-source a while back. I completely stripped snowcapped and began improving the layout a bit. But in the end it changed so much I decided to make a new level out of it. The only things that haven't changed are the CT spawn, the sniper window at A and the train yard. When it came down to choosing a theme for the map I wanted to do something new for a csgo map and I really like it when the map has a bit of a storyline. So I decided to make it a government facility based on area51 that has been closed for a few years and is now going to be reopened.

   Crossfire's alien model

The first step of creating Coldwater was for us to design a unique layout. We quickly realized that it needs to be complex enough to differentiate it from others yet familiar enough that players don’t get lost or feel overwhelmed. Competitive maps are even more difficult to design because all angles and lines of engagement need to be perfected.

Playtesting the map was an important requirement throughout all applicable stages of development. There were times when we spent weeks building an area only to scrap it much later because it didn’t play as well as we hoped or fit the overall theme of the map. Both bombsites were victims of this early on and had to be redesigned from scratch.

Frequently, a map creation process starts with a drawing

One of the most important things we did to improve the look of Coldwater was to find and apply relevant concepts from reference pictures. This was done both while creating the early concept layout and while adding final details into the map. The advantage of including references in both of these stages is that they help create a level that looks interesting and plays well. In this way, we feel that making a map is as much of an art as it is a science – that is to say, there is an expansive workflow behind building a map to ensure that the standards of a well designed level are met.

 
Example of a reference used in Coldwater (on the left) and its application into the map (on the right)

On the other hand, some aspects of map creation are almost purely artistic in nature. In Coldwater, for example, we used cooler, more uniform, lighting outside and a wide range of warm colors inside. These different colors add to the variety of environments by creating contrast between interiors and exteriors as well as make the map easier to navigate and recognize.

The CS:GO community has been very helpful since we released our map. Both of us listened to the criticisms and added some fairly major updates to the layout and aesthetic design. For those who haven’t played Coldwater since the initial release, or at all, we hope that you’ll play it and let us know what you think!

When coming up with the Idea for the design of Retrofit, I read about one of Gears of war 3's maps that was in the beta and how the design failed. In the article they explain how most death-match levels are all circular in design. so I figured ‘heh’ why not make a level that is based on an architecture that is circular. Originally I started working on a level that was very similar to this in Killing floor, But I can't remember why I wanted to stop (i think i made it to small and figured it would be more fun to make something for CS:GO). But after awhile, i came back to the idea of a missile silo and started to design Retrofit for CS:GO.

So when designing Retrofit, i wanted to make the level for Arms race right away (mostly because not to many people made a level for the game-mode and all the levels have to be circular and its my favorite game-mode! so it was a no brainer). In the Arms Race levels for CS:GO, the T and CT sides have the same type of styling (except for Monastery), so I wanted to make a symmetrical that was the same on both sides but looked completely different, and in the middle i wanted multiple levels of open area for gunplay. I originally wanted a bridge in the middle that could be lowered and lifted (at the players will) to the three different levels, but that didn't pan out. So I opted for a regular bridge that players could jump off of and water on the bottom that breaks the players fall. After some game-play tweaks I started going through the paces and Finished her up and made her nice and pretty.