Decroded and Onion's Mappers Guide

[SvBSheep]

Decroded and Onion's Mappers Guide

Over the last few years of jailbreak, the involvement of the community into creating maps for the servers itself have increased drastically. With so many new mappers and developers coming through, many have asked for a thorough guide for the requirements of a jailbreak map on Domination servers. This guide outlines the basic requirements and musts for a map and further incorporates the expectations about layout, detail, games, sounds, optimisation and more.

Before I begin, everyone has to acknowledge the fact that this is a GUIDE about making a jailbreak map, not a rulebook.. onions, me and other developers strongly desire mapper freedom, originality and creativity that provides new and improved experiences for the server itself, this does strongly disregard stupid shit however (up to discretion).
 

Jailbreak Map Requirements 

Multiple cells 
Keeping in mind that a normal server holds 50 players, the map must hold around 40 prisoner spawns.. a generic map would have about 10 cells with 4 spawns in each. There are maps that have either less than 8 cells or 20+ cellls but this is to stick to theme and realism.. what you shouldnt do as a guide is have 2 cells with 20t spawns in each as it disregards realism as seen on voodoo (https://gamebanana.com/maps/184671)

Realism and Theme
Our maps generally take the form of realistic locations. Sticking to a realisitic location and theme allows the map to revolve around the specific australian jailbreak playstyle providing that less gimicky experience. Theme and location is completely up to your choice, try to maintain the theme and realism as it will aid in detail, games and layout further on. Some themes include snow, medieval, space, bunker, russian, "prison", western, mine, asylum, etc.

Games and Layout
Games must be spread out throughout the map to provide the chance for t's to rebel, this is a dominant feature of australian jailbreak that avoids us looking like an american jailbreak. Having games close provides a stale rebelling experience. Games should also revolve around the theme chosen and can be as whacky as you want, as long as it makes sense.

Cells and Map Weapons and Equipment
Keep cell weapons to a minimal or dont have them, too many weapons will make the map unbalanced and affect gameplay. Most weapons in cells have been changed to tasers during the port from css to csgo. There shouldnt be more than one smoke in cell area and its unusual to have more than 2-5 more guns throughout the map, again this is dependent on the map size and theme and is up to discretion (disregarding gunrooom).

Map Size
Map Size is a very sensitive subject. Your map can be fairly large or small but must obey to it's realism and theme. It is highly recommended to have distinct areas and key landmarks throughout your map regardless. Your map does not need everything in it's map (pool/kitchen/cafeteria/cage/pit..etc). Choose whats in your map wisely.

Gunroom
An important apspect of gunroom is its accessability. Disregarding vents or secrets, the gunroom must not be easily accessed by ts within 10 seconds of opening cellls. It should deem very difficult getting into. There must be a way for ts to get into gunroom.

Vents
Vents must not be overpowering for the T team, it should be somewhat manageable by the ct team. Too many vents and long vents are not recommended. Vents do not have to be the convention metal box, they can be cave systems, sewer systems.. etc.

Advertisements and Sprays
Your map MUST NOT contain any advertisements to anything or other inappropriate decals and materials. Sprays should be very limited to the developers of the map itself and other credits.. there shouldnt be any sprays of people from the community (unless staff).

Sound
Audio should be kept very minimal if the audio is global, other sounds should be kept at a reasonable volume. There must not be any global door sounds or other sounds that interefere with gameplay.

Map Secrets
Map secrets must not be easily activated or replicated round after round, there should be some difficulty in accessing the secrets. There is no prooblem with crazy and original secrets. Map secrets are secrets that must not be shared by the map developer regardless. A player should find out the secret by following hints/patterns/players. There is a difference between a map secret and the teleporter shown in canyondam. Any discussion about a map's secret is a bannable offence.

Domination Servers Coloured Banner
There is NO reason for any player to go and create their own Domination Servers Map Banner. The map banner is a signature texture given to you by onion to show that the map has successfuly made it onto our servers. Any replication of the banner will not be tolerated. Placement banners (from other maps) are fine however.

Post Release and Developer Adequacy
All developers must be willing to support their map(s) post release with newer versions if required due to bugs, glitches or other issues. If a map is released, you are NOT to use it as a platform for popularity or an ego boost. Any issues revolving adequancy will concequently result in the removal of your map.
 

Hammer Basics and Tutorials

Csgo utilises an old program called Hammer (also known as csgo sdk) to design and create a csgo map on the source engine. While learning hammer you'll come across ALOT of issues which is normal. Learning these is not an easy task and requires alot of time and effort. This subheading will outline what hammer is and the best tutorials to access.

Tutorials
Hammer is a very extensive and intricate program that is initially very difficult to learn. There are alot of recommended sources out there to assist you but personally, the two dominant developers out there are TopHatWaffle and 3kliksphillip. Both developers have a series of hammer (they may refer it as csgo sdk) tutorials on youtube and their own personal websites. 3kliksphillip is more beginner-friendly and i'd suggest you watch him to begin. However, as your skills develop TopHatWaffle is more specific and  professional. TopHatWaffle is an extremely valuable asset for the source engine as his website remains one of the only sources to download and see guides on relatable programs for the source engine and hammer. If you have noticed, TopHatWaffle has also made our map "Lockdown".

TopHatWaffle -      https://www.tophattwaffle.com/       https://www.youtube.com/user/rocketrascal34
3kliksphillip -       http://www.2kliksphilip.co.uk/           https://www.youtube.com/user/3kliksphilip 

For anything more specific that the tutorials dont cover, I'd suggest leaving a question in the #mapping and development channel in our discord or asking one of the mappers/developers.

Installing Hammer

1. Open the Steam window.
   
2. Click on the LIBRARY tab and then the TOOLS tab.
   
3. Double-click on the Counter-Strike Global Offensive SDK entry.
   
4. The CS:GO SDK will download to your computer via Steam.
   
5. Once it has been fully installed, you will be able to launch it in the same way you installed it (from the Tools tab)
   

Creating a Good Map and Mapping Standards.

When mapping, there are alot of key factors that go into a good map. This subheading will help you identify these key aspects and push you past the standard raised by both Onion and I. It is important to note that not all of your maps will make it past this standard and that's okay, personally i've got four rejected maps. We will cover originiality and creativity, detail, layout, theme, games and landmarks. Most have been touched on before.

Originality and Creativity
Detail
Layout and theme
Games
Landmarks

Frequently Asked Questions

How Long Does it Take to Make a Map in Hammer?
If I Make a Map Will it Go on the Server?

 

decroded for senior admin/mod when?