Team Fortress 2/Creating a Single Flag Keep-Away map
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This tutorial teaches about how to make a one flag map where players can play a simple game of Keep-Away. Keep away is where either everyone tries to keep an object (such as a ball) away from everyone else, or where there are teams involved. Basically, each team tries to keep the flag away from each other as long as possible.
It is assumed that you know some of the basics of CTF map creation, and as such it will only teach about the concept and creation of this type of gameplay. This tutorial also assumes you know about basic map techniques such as making a spawn room, working doors, creating brushes, etc.
Entity List
Here, are the following entities required for this.
These will be set up like any regular Capture The Flag map except for a few major differences in entity placement and properties.
Start with a regular TF2 map. All that will be taught here is the entity arrangement so it can be implemented into a map.
Starting your keep away map
Start by putting the item_teamflag in the center of the map. Double click on it in 3D view and the properties will open up. Naming it is not necessary, but it is optional (depending how the map is set up).
Note: In single flag maps the flag is always red, but can be picked up and captured by either team. That's just the way it is.
Here is a reference picture from the map CTF_Smear-The-Quere which is what will be used as an example here.
- The "Game Type" field should be set to "CTF" as a default. Leave it like that.
- Under "Team" put "Any" if it isn't there already. It should be by default though.
- "Start Disabled" should be "No" by default as well. Leave it that way.
This part of the process isn't very hard since it is like this already.
Next, put the team_round_timer entity in the map. Put it anywhere in the map. Go into the properties and set the following fields.
Here is another reference picture from the same map.
- Name it "game_timer" or whatever seems fit.
- "Start Disabled" should be "No" by default.
- "Timer length (in seconds)" should be set to something like 600 for now. That is ten minutes.
- "Setup timer length (in seconds)" should be 0. This is recommended because for some reason, the game can't distinguish between the two types of timers in some cases with I/O connections.
- "Reset time on round restart" should be "Yes".
- Set "Use countdown sounds" to "Yes".
- Set "Show timer on HUD" to "Yes" as well.
The timer is now set up. Next on the entity list is game_forcerespawn.
Place the game_forcerespawn entity anywhere in the map. Name it "respawn_01".
Another reference picture.
Now make a brush that fits around the whole map and tie it to the func_capturezone entity. It needs to be wherever any player can go with the flag). This will be one huge brush. Do not hollow this brush! Texture it with either nodraw, or the trigger texture. The trigger texture is preferrable because it's partly transparent in hammer. No matter what it is textured, it will be invisible in the game.
Here's the last reference picture in 3D view.
- Name it "capzone" or something.
- Set the "Start Disabled" field to "Yes" and "Team" to "Any".
- Ignore "Capture Point" because it isn't needed.
Inputs and Outputs
Almost all of this is activated within the team_round_timer because time is what determines the way the game plays out. The way this will work is that when the ten minutes are up, the team holding the flag gains the point.
Go into the team_round_timer properties and click on the Outputs tab at the top of the properties window.
Fill all of those in accordingly. Here is an explanation.
First click "Add" at the bottom of the properties window. Several blank spaces should appear and will need to be filled in as follows.
This enables the capture zone when one second remains so that it counts the point just before the round ends.
Now the game needs to force players to respawn so they don't stay outside of their spawn rooms after time runs out. This simulates a round restart.
Now at the same time, tell the capture zone to disable so it doesn't stay on for the next round until time runs out again.
Now assuming the door to the red team spawn room is named "door_red_1", this will lock the door so players can't instantly go for the flag.
Same will be done with the blue door (assuming that it is named "door_blue_1").
Now put in the same stuff, except have the "Via this input" be "Unlock". Enter 3 under "After a delay in seconds of". Do this for both "door_red_1" and "door_blue_1".
Now have the timer restart itself, but after a delay of 3 seconds also. This means, the players will respawn and the timer won't start for another 3 seconds. This gives them some time to get a feeling of how this works and prepare for the round.
Finally, disable the Capture zone so people can't capture as soon as they pick the flag up during the next round. An output like this has been made already, but do this just to be safe in case something else in the map is affecting the timer.
The Finished Product
Now it should work like this:
- The game starts.
- Somebody holds the intelligence for ten minutes and gets the point for holding onto it.
- Everybody respawns and has to wait 3 seconds before the doors open and then the timer starts again.
- This gets repeated until either team has 3 points total.
Bugs
Known bugs:
- Occasionally, the intelligence will stay where it is if it is dropped right before the round starts. Then it will be somewhere where it shouldn't be when the round starts over.
- Also, after the first round, the countdown sounds won't play. So, after the first round, the sounds won't play again.
Other than that, it works great! Some people like maps in this style because it's original and hasn't been done until now. It's a new style of gameplay and is unique to TF2 at the moment. This tutorial will help others introduce this to the rest of the community so everyone can have fun playing keep-away!
P.S. I plan on editing this tutorial until I perfect this system.
--GreaseMonkey 02:39, 16 Mar 2008 (PDT)