Volcano on Gaming

de_cache released for CS:GO

I’m proud to announce my custom map, de_cache, is now ready to be played in CS:GO. I welcome any leagues, tournaments and servers to use the map.

Download

http://news.esea.net/csgo/index.php?s=downloads&d=view&id=24525

http://gamebanana.com/csgo/maps/170479

Design Goals

• High player visibility in all areas of the map
• Devoid of clutter as to not obstruct a player’s movement and vision
• Support for several different types of play styles to be successful
• Balanced for competitive play

Screenshots

Tweaking the Kill Reward System in CS:GO

In theory, CS:GO brought along a great mechanism for weapon balance by tweaking the monetary value awarded to the player after landing a frag.  In practice however, the values chosen for the rewards were too extreme and also did not accurately take competitive play into account.  I believe that this idea can be tweaked to perfection over time and provide more balance and incentive to each gun without decimating the intricacies of the economy system in competitive gameplay.

The original intent

Valve’s original intent of altering the kill rewards was to provide more incentive for the team strapped for cash to invest in weapons rather than just performing a full save round.  If the team was able to get two or three kills but still lose, they would be able to recoup much of their expenses and not fall too far behind economically while giving them a larger chance to win the round at hand.  Also, guns that were typically neglected would become more appealing.

The problem

As it stands now, guns that have always been used on anti-eco rounds now reward the player a whopping $900 per kill.  This allows the winning team to further snowball their advantage. 

There are a few reasons SMG’s are so effective on anti-eco rounds:

• SMG’s have a fast rate of fire
• SMG’s are great against unarmored targets and significantly weaker against armored targets
• SMG’s are inexpensive

These weapon traits mean that players using SMG’s can mow down unarmored targets with ease.  Should a player from the winning team die, there isn’t much of a risk of their team losing the round due to the enemy getting their hands on the SMG which is ineffective against armored targets.  If it were a rifle that made its way into the hands of the other team, their chances of winning the round increase tremendously.  Also, the dying player’s bankroll isn’t damaged as severely as it would have been if they had lost a rifle instead of an SMG.

Working towards a solution

As we can see, there are a several factors working contrary to Valve’s initial intent given the current implementation of the kill reward system.  Below, I attempt to create suitable monetary kill rewards to make the weapons in the game appealing and balanced without altering current weapon behavior and prices.  By having extra monetary incentives based on the weapon used, the player has more factors to consider when making a weapon purchase.

Weapon reward guidelines

• Rate of fire
• Accuracy
• $ Spent/Kill Ratio
• Damage
• Efficiency vs armored and unarmored targets
• Frequency of use compared to similar guns

New Kill Rewards

Team Kill Penalty

The penalty for killing a teammate should simply be the inverse of the kill reward.  An AK-47 would award the player $300 for a kill and -$300 for a team kill.

• Very straightforward and easy to understand
• Players are not excessively punished for team killing in a competitive match since killing their teammate is punishment enough
• Retains the economic variables of team killing in a much less extreme manner
• Guns with the highest kill reward also have the highest team kill penalty

Pistols

• The side specific pistols award the player with $450 which provides these pistols a unique benefit to make up for their lack of appeal when compared with other pistols such as the P250
• The reward for pistols is not greater than $450 as that would greatly skew the amount of money players have in the second round
• Extra layer of complexity in weapon strategy as players can use their sidearm to finish off a helpless or wounded foe to earn $450 instead of using their primary weapon
• The P250 has a slight reduction in kill reward as it is already an extremely powerful pistol at a low price of $500

SMG’s

• The most effective SMG’s at winning anti-eco rounds do not reward the player with extra money
• Low cost SMG’s that the losing team can afford offer a slight bonus to cash reward
• Keeping an SMG that awards extra cash is very dangerous vs rifles and deagles

Heavy

• Shotguns provide extra cash since they are risky to use for the winning team on anti-eco rounds
• The MAG-7 is the most powerful and versatile of the shotguns so it provides the least kill reward.
• The XM1014 is an underused and expensive shotgun so it provides the largest kill reward
• The M249 currently makes very little sense to buy compared to the Negev so it is given a large kill reward bonus to add extra incentive
• The Negev has a slightly larger than standard kill reward since it is the most expensive gun in the game and purchasing it will quickly drain a player’s funds

Rifles

• The standard four rifles remain unchanged
• The SSG 08 (scout) awards the player $900 per kill and can be utilized for low money/surprise buys since the player can recoup a lot of their costs with a kill or two
• The SG 553 provides $150 more per kill than the AUG since the price discrepancy between the SG 553 and AK-47 is twice the price discrepancy between the M4A4 and AUG
• The AWP kill reward was tripled to $150 which should suffice as the AWP is an extremely cost effective gun
• The kill reward for the autosnipers was increased to $450 since they are the most expensive rifles and are also underused

Miscellaneous

• Knife kills were reduced to $600 since they are typically the most common in pistol rounds or when a team already has a large lead
• The Molotov kill reward was bumped up to compensate for their large cost and low probability of getting a kill
• Decoys, flashes and smoke kill rewards were increased to $600 since they are so uncommon that a player should be rewarded for getting a kill with one of these grenades

Final Thoughts

This is a first pass at these values and will likely require some further tweaking.  I believe that these new kill rewards are a step in the right direction as they attempt to balance the weapons while providing the player with more interesting decisions than the current kill rewards in CS:GO.

Improving the CS:GO HUD

The introduction of the “quick round status” HUD element at the top of the screen was a great improvement for Counter-Strike.  However, I feel that it does not live up to its full potential.

This image shows the current CS:GO HUD displaying match score instead of players alive, along with red skulls for dead CT’s

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Design Discussion: de_nuke_ve - Part I

In reference to my new map de_nuke_ve: Competitive Version of Nuke for CS:GO Released

There are a few additional aspects worth mentioning about de_nuke_ve that may not be obvious at first.

1.6 Style Door Rushes Are Possible Again

From the angle shown above, simply toss a HE grenade at the door which will destroy it.

Your teammates rushing behind you will then be able to throw flashes and smokes directly over the boilers from far back in the lobby (increased the size of the entrance to squeaky making this possible).

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Competitive Version of Nuke for CS:GO Released

My new competitive version of nuke for CS:GO has been released.

Download Mirrors:

http://media.steampowered.com/apps/csgo/de_nuke_ve.zip

http://news.esea.net/csgo/index.php?s=downloads&d=xdownload&id=24012

I’d like to thank Valve for giving me their support in creating this map.  I welcome any league or tournament to feature this map in competition.  With the community’s support there is a chance that one day it can become the standard for de_nuke in CS:GO.

This map was featured on the official Counter-Strike website here with the announcement of the Map Workshop.

Check out this awesome article highlighting some of the changes I made on this map over at ESEA News

Why I created the map

In Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, de_nuke received several changes from its previous iterations that greatly limit the options in available playstyles.  The removal of the outside backhall limits the attacking options of the T’s as well as limits the rotating options for CT’s.  In addition, CT’s have even less incentive than ever to focus their attention on outside as the option for T’s to sneak through the backhall and wreak havoc is completely eliminated.

Nuke was one of my least favorite tournament maps in both 1.6 and CSS to compete on due to the limited options available to the T side.  One of my main goals in creating de_nuke_ve was to make the range of effective strategies more diverse than has ever been possible on any version of de_nuke.  I also attempted to remove props that didn’t positively contribute to gameplay while also maintaining the high aesthetic quality of the original map.

Additional Design Commentary on de_nuke_ve

Design Discussion: de_nuke_ve - Part I

Video Highlighting Major Changes

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Improving the Spectating Experience in Counter-Strike - Part I

One of the largest obstacles preventing Counter-Strike from being as active in the tournament circuit as League of Legends and Starcraft II is the lack of interest in spectating tournaments.  I believe a large cause of this dwindling interest is due to the shortcomings of HLTV/SourceTV and the limited amount of in-game information available to the spectator when stuck in a first-person POV.

In Starcraft II, the viewer isn’t locked into the eyes of one unit.  The viewer is able to see all of the action unfold right before their eyes.  Compare that to Counter-Strike.  You might be watching a player throwing a fake in bombsite B on de_dust2, but while this is happening, you would be missing the intense firefight on catwalk.  Often times, you wouldn’t be able to see the effect this fake had on the round at all. 

It’s also extremely difficult for first time viewers to understand what is happening as they are placed in the middle of an unknown 3D environment.  They are unaware of locations where enemies might be and unaware of which areas of the map are crucial.  In games like Starcraft II and League of Legends, this information is much easier to absorb as the viewer watches an overview of the action.  In those games, the spectator doesn’t need to know what part of the map is around the corner as they can already see.

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