Sin CTF

SinCTF was created post launch and after I had already joined 3D Realms to work on Duke Nukem Forever. While Ritual was working on it I was asked if I wanted to do a map for it… which sounded like fun. I had created a CTF map for Quake 2 while working on Sin, and I was eager to take another stab at one.

I actually had two ideas I played with… but ultimately ran with a concept *very* loosely inspired by the game “The Dig”… though to say it has any relation to that game would be stretching it. The other was pretty straight forward… a giant barge with two boats on each side. I went with The Dig because it let me play around with something I probably couldn’t do for a commercial product anytime soon.

– The Dig (ctf_dig)

The basic gist of this level is each team has a different gravity direction. So your floor is your opponent’s ceiling and vice versa. What I really wanted to do though was play with mixing some alien looking environments with human hands “violating” it.

It goes without saying that since the map was *never* play tested before release, it leaves a lot to be desired on the balance end. I didn’t have the Sin CTF code until after it was out… and the guys at Ritual didn’t have time to really play test beyond making sure it worked.

I had a lot of fun making the map, I just apologize for any lack of fun players had who were subjected to it. A small section of the already small Sin player community really dug it though. I consider it more of an art experiment than a truly playable level. The premise could be made to work, though shooting at people on the ceiling in any game has yet to really be fun for a large number of players.

Commentary on The Dig.

– Barge (ctf_barge)

I built out a concept map with a large barge structure being pulled by two boats on either side. Naturally each boat was the base for the teams. I got so busy with DNF I didn’t think I was going to be able to finish it so I eventually released it to the Sin map making community in case anyone else wanted to run with it to completion. I finished the layout and gameplay needs, but never got around to doing a proper visual and entity pass. Someone did and the final result was pretty darn fun. The visuals left something to be desired, but the gameplay intent was there and worked well.

Unfortunately I don’t have a copy of the map, and it is only included in the Sin 1.0 to 1.11 patch… which can’t be applied to the version of Sin on Steam.

Commentary on The Barge.