So, I'm building a map...

One of the "hobbies" I do is play pretend in my mind. I imagine things so much that I keep thinking I should turn my imaginings into something more concrete, more tactile, more THERE.

Well, unfortunately I'm building a map for Team Fortress 2 (there goes the concrete). I say "unfortunate" because building a map for a game is very difficult work: you have to think about where to put your spawns; how many lights are in the level; where do you put the ammunition and health packs; and what path does everyone take when they play. It's a labor, for sure.

The map I'm building is for a game type called Payload. The objective for the Blue Team (the Attackers) is to "Push" a bomb cart to the end of a track where it will explode and destroy the Red Team Base. The Red Team (the Defenders) must stop the Blue Team at all costs. Standing next to the bomb either moves the bomb forward (for Blue) or stops the cart (for Red). Blue wins when the bomb reaches the end of the track. Red wins when the timer runs out. Along the way there are checkpoints on the map that the bomb rolls over. If the bomb does roll over one of these checkpoints the Blue Team gets one team point and more time on the clock to push the bomb. When either victory condition is met, teams switch sides and do the bomb run all over again in a new round.

This is a very fun type of game and it has its roots partly in an old game type called Hunted. The bonus to this is that the Red Team can set up and defend almost anywhere in the map, but the Blue Team has to commit some of its team to pushing the bomb that travels on a predetermined path. This allows for lots of replay and some tactical thinking for both sides.

The thing is that every Payload map I've played the track is always running away from the Blue Team's base. Never has the track made a circle and come closer, in terms of travel distance, to the Blue Team's original base. I am trying to fill that gap with a track that circles around and allows the Blue Team to always play from one base. The Red Team will be in an underground base and will have to leave a safe feeling cave and emerge into the open air to stop Blue from advancing.

It does sound complicated, but hopefully I get a working Payload map done by the end of this week, if I can give it enough time.