Alter
Initially made for the Gamebanana CS:GO Jailbreak Mapping Contest, Alter is a jailbreak map with a heavy focus on surreality and abstraction. The map was originally completed in one month and sixteen days but has since received several updates and plans to expand and refine the map are underway.
After submitting the map and playtesting it on live servers it was very apparent that the reaction to the map was very negative and only a handful of players praised the graphical fidelity of the map, the feedback received has now inspired an expansion and revamping of several core features of the map, most notably the minigames: the quality and originality of which need to be improved upon.
Nevertheless, the process of creating jb_alter has taught me an invaluable amount of knowledge regarding Source and has most definitely improved my skills in level design. Although an unconventional map that strays very far from the realm of traditional level design seen within a game like CS:GO, I hope that Alter serves to diversify my work.
Gamebanana link: https://gamebanana.com/maps/211303
Steam Community link: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2184146213
Serves as the main image and loading screen
An overview of the cells that the prisoners spawn in.
People had complained that players could jump out of the cells and end up in the idiot box. I can't comprehend why they would complain that they're being punished for trying to escape the map but that's just how it is.
One of the V.I.P cells in the map, some players may be lucky enough to spawn in bigger cells that provide some tools to aid in their escape.
The Counter-Terrorist spawn.
Some gags were placed in the map to add some personality and originality to the map, as just having a static world seems lifeless and boring.
The bar leads players into the hospital where they can heal any health lost throughout the course of the round.
Unfortunately, I couldn't adjust the lightmapping properly as no matter what I tried, these shadowy smudges kept appearing. I now believe it may have something to do with the fact that the stairs are func_detail but that could just be a wrong guess.
I didn't quite comprehend how HDR lighting would affect the lighting of the map, so lights that should be dimmer are now excruciatingly bright. This has since been fixed.
When players fall off the map, they are teleported to this space (the idiot box) where people outside of the room can either blow up the person inside or set them free.
Admittedly this space is very sparse for detail, an unfortunate result of being created two days away from deadline.
The rest of these screenshots are from a small update that provided some visual clarity as most players didn't know where to go within the map and didn't recognise some of the areas.
My only gripe with the nightclub is that I used copyrighted music, it didn't cost me the contest as I'd already lost due to the quality of the map, but in hindsight I probably would've used music I made or some royalty-free music.
A glass ceiling was added to one of the cells as players would just simply escape without taking damage from the trigger volumes surrounding the cell.
I don't know why the CT & T logos are placed randomly, I presumed that they were placed where the buyzones were but it's obvious that's not the case.