After-Life Map Suggestion Thread

[PepicWalrus]

Give us map suggestions for After-Life!

We have been exploring possibilities of what maps we want to use and wish to reach out for suggestions from the community. I believe a commissioned map for After-Life will ultimately be in the cards to fit all our needs but that will not be for launch.

So we are asking for anyone who has a suggestion on a map that fits the following vibes.

We are looking for a near futuristic city map, that has an industrial underground / slums sector, a nice upper sector, and an outer city area of decent size. Things that can be looked at for inspiration on the vibe is like Piltover & Zaun from Arcane as a big inspiration for the dichotomic vibe we want. Geo-location will be somewhere on the western european coast. The city itself is newly built.

We discovered this map as a prime example for the vibe we want. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3337580289&searchtext=

 

[DormNes]

Okay, I get the idea, I do vibe with the concept, I mean kind of, not a huge fan of the cyberpunk thing since... that's just not HL... but still. I just put like a few minutes of thought on this but how does Lambda which even during HL2 is working only with what they find, stole or had prior to the invasion, and then like every smaller group that probably doesn't even have as many resources as they do, plus whatever remains of the Combine which has materials but is working with less and less as they use up whatever they had stored plus the other xenian dudes manage to build an entire city within 5 years. Like yes, the Combine can build fast but that's because it's the Combine, with their hyper intelligent AI, their hyper intelligent psychic slugs, their never-ending supply of materials, and their soldiers and it still took them months to finish. And that's with the Combine efficiency attached.

What are stupid humans and transhumans and vorts gonna do with their lack of anything. Sure they can work together but let's see, first they gotta draw up plans, then they gotta get the materials, then they gotta get construction vehicles, then they need to create water ways, sewer lines, a plant to clean said water so its drinkable, another to turn sewage into clean water. Then they need to create foundations and sidewalks and everything else that regards to the ground. Then if they wanna have cars and other shit and not have car crashes, then you need street lights and stop signs and street signs and street names and parking for said cars. Which means city planning and managing where those goes. That also means electricity which means a coal plant or a nuclear plant or whatever else can generate power which you do have vorts but that means Vorts have to dedicate their entire life to powering a city as a job! And then, you need to draw out power lines and have them travel to transformers that then take that AC and bring it down to a proper voltage so people can actually use it because the plant can't be in the city itself cuz that's dangerous as hell so it has be generating super amounts of power to travel the many miles to the city.

Which means doing EVEN MORE WORK to place the transformers in the proper places, then that also means power lines in the city or you put them underground like NYC did which means doing it AFTER doing the foundations or having to build a power plant first and then doing the city which sucks. THEN! AFTER ALL THAT! We haven't even got to the city ITSELF! And the required buildings are a city hall for the politicians and a place to vote and all the legislature shit, a bank to manage the money, maybe more banks, apartments and housing blocks in general for the populus to live in, then you have every store front which requires many blocks so people may buy and exchange things like food and water, police stations to house the police, military bases to house the military, a prison to hold prisoners, etc. Which requires possible decades to build all of that out. And that's if NOTHING goes wrong. And everyone cooperates properly. Even with the high tech robots that Open Way had which despite their best, they were crappy corrugated metal deathtraps prefabricated without any insulation and were mostly attached to other buildings. And even if they could make something of quality, still wouldn't be enough time within the 5 years for a city. Especially one that's supposed to hold a sector of prestige and one of poor people.

 

[Bounter]

I somewhat agree with DormNes, that progress would not be NOWHERE NEAR as fast, especially with lacking numbers and efficiency. I say, maybe make a map. Also Cyberpunk is just, not HL I agree... At least, tone that down a bit.
I do not have any suggestions yet for a map, but you could try maybe getting some that are located maybe in Outlands, or other akin locations, considering the lore.

 

[Raiden]

Just to confirm, Cyberpunk is just inspiration - not the basis. We're taking inspo from a variety of sci-fi worlds whilst still maintaing that Half Life feel. The problem with creating our own map is that it'll take a long time and be expensive... longer then we want before we'd like to start the project with something tangible.

 

[PepicWalrus]

Okay, I get the idea, I do vibe with the concept, I mean kind of, not a huge fan of the cyberpunk thing since... that's just not HL... but still. I just put like a few minutes of thought on this but how does Lambda which even during HL2 is working only with what they find, stole or had prior to the invasion, and then like every smaller group that probably doesn't even have as many resources as they do, plus whatever remains of the Combine which has materials but is working with less and less as they use up whatever they had stored plus the other xenian dudes manage to build an entire city within 5 years. Like yes, the Combine can build fast but that's because it's the Combine, with their hyper intelligent AI, their hyper intelligent psychic slugs, their never-ending supply of materials, and their soldiers and it still took them months to finish. And that's with the Combine efficiency attached.

What are stupid humans and transhumans and vorts gonna do with their lack of anything. Sure they can work together but let's see, first they gotta draw up plans, then they gotta get the materials, then they gotta get construction vehicles, then they need to create water ways, sewer lines, a plant to clean said water so its drinkable, another to turn sewage into clean water. Then they need to create foundations and sidewalks and everything else that regards to the ground. Then if they wanna have cars and other shit and not have car crashes, then you need street lights and stop signs and street signs and street names and parking for said cars. Which means city planning and managing where those goes. That also means electricity which means a coal plant or a nuclear plant or whatever else can generate power which you do have vorts but that means Vorts have to dedicate their entire life to powering a city as a job! And then, you need to draw out power lines and have them travel to transformers that then take that AC and bring it down to a proper voltage so people can actually use it because the plant can't be in the city itself cuz that's dangerous as hell so it has be generating super amounts of power to travel the many miles to the city.

Which means doing EVEN MORE WORK to place the transformers in the proper places, then that also means power lines in the city or you put them underground like NYC did which means doing it AFTER doing the foundations or having to build a power plant first and then doing the city which sucks. THEN! AFTER ALL THAT! We haven't even got to the city ITSELF! And the required buildings are a city hall for the politicians and a place to vote and all the legislature shit, a bank to manage the money, maybe more banks, apartments and housing blocks in general for the populus to live in, then you have every store front which requires many blocks so people may buy and exchange things like food and water, police stations to house the police, military bases to house the military, a prison to hold prisoners, etc. Which requires possible decades to build all of that out. And that's if NOTHING goes wrong. And everyone cooperates properly. Even with the high tech robots that Open Way had which despite their best, they were crappy corrugated metal deathtraps prefabricated without any insulation and were mostly attached to other buildings. And even if they could make something of quality, still wouldn't be enough time within the 5 years for a city. Especially one that's supposed to hold a sector of prestige and one of poor people.

Timeline is likely moving up to 15-20 years. The setting is more of the focus then the immediate after math.

It's also a combination of Lambda, all other rebel groups in the area, Vortigaunts, Xenian Forces (Controllers & Grunts), Transhumans, Civil Protection Remnants with resources gathered from urban centers. Dismantling the closet Citadel. Yada yada. Grav gum technology also would be a huge boon in construction alongside all the other alien resources now available.

 

[DormNes]

I mean, just kind of

Timeline is likely moving up to 15-20 years. The setting is more of the focus then the immediate after math.

It's also a combination of Lambda, all other rebel groups in the area, Vortigaunts, Xenian Forces (Controllers & Grunts), Transhumans, Civil Protection Remnants with resources gathered from urban centers. Dismantling the closet Citadel. Yada yada. Grav gum technology also would be a huge boon in construction alongside all the other alien resources now available.

I mean, didn't we do a whole vote for how far we wanted to do the skip? So that was just pointless and fucks with people who wanted to bring their characters back from Squared. But secondly, even with all that, again, you cannot construct an entire city within 15-20 years. The planning phase would take 20 years alone. Even with the gravity guns and the controllers with the moving things with their minds, the construction of an entire city could take up to 50 years! But also dismantling an entire citadel... at the SAME TIME! The citadel wasn't even finished it was more than half a year when we see it in Alyx! And that again is with the Combine efficency. How the hell are they gonna take apart an entire CITADEL within the same time as building an entire city, that alone would take maybe 5 years! And also why would they take apart cities to make an entire new one? Why wouldn't they just find the least decimated city in Western Europe and just take it over and rebuild the infrastructure from there.

 

[Sil]

I mean, just kind of

I mean, didn't we do a whole vote for how far we wanted to do the skip? So that was just pointless and fucks with people who wanted to bring their characters back from Squared. But secondly, even with all that, again, you cannot construct an entire city within 15-20 years. The planning phase would take 20 years alone. Even with the gravity guns and the controllers with the moving things with their minds, the construction of an entire city could take up to 50 years! But also dismantling an entire citadel... at the SAME TIME! The citadel wasn't even finished it was more than half a year when we see it in Alyx! And that again is with the Combine efficency. How the hell are they gonna take apart an entire CITADEL within the same time as building an entire city, that alone would take maybe 5 years! And also why would they take apart cities to make an entire new one? Why wouldn't they just find the least decimated city in Western Europe and just take it over and rebuild the infrastructure from there.

I'll let you in on a little secret

This is a fictional universe. It can just happen

 

[DormNes]

Just because something's fictional doesn't mean it doesn't operate on a sense of logic. Half Life can be... very unrealistic AT TIMES but humans ain't doing inhuman feats constantly unless aided in some way by technology that can either increase strength or manipulate gravity. Or jumping and not breaking a leg or taking damage without something like a brace like in Portal. Things are still treated like how reality is, sometimes they are aided by whatever strange alien tech exists and aliens in general but even then, how far they are aided depends on A. which aliens, Xenians ain't doing what the Combine do. And B. What can they realisitically do? If you told me the Combine at the height of their power built a city in like 15-20 years, sure. They built the citadel in like less than 2 years-ish and that is a massive megastructure. But... that just isn't gonna happen with the groups labelled. There's just not enough to realistically have that all happen within the setting.

 

[Tinbe]

I think it depends on how large the city is going to be at the start, and whether from narrative perspective the server kicks off after the initial phase of building - meaning that while it's big enough to house a decent amount of people at first, it's going to be expanded significantly storywise as time goes on. My assumption that the growth is dictated by the policies enacted by the players (both whether they decide to promote infrastructural growth and whether they make living in BP palatable enough for immigration to increase significantly).

 

[PepicWalrus]

I think it depends on how large the city is going to be at the start, and whether from narrative perspective the server kicks off after the initial phase of building - meaning that while it's big enough to house a decent amount of people at first, it's going to be expanded significantly storywise as time goes on. My assumption that the growth is dictated by the policies enacted by the players (both whether they decide to promote infrastructural growth and whether they make living in BP palatable enough for immigration to increase significantly).

Along those lines, yes. It is not a finished city, nor does 'newly built' have to mean ENTIRELY built from the ground up. Also after speaking to Raiden we'll likely stick to the early timeline, set in 2030 so 6 years.

 

[DormNes]

Along those lines, yes. It is not a finished city, nor does 'newly built' have to mean ENTIRELY built from the ground up. Also after speaking to Raiden we'll likely stick to the early timeline, set in 2030 so 6 years.

Yeah but that wasn't specified... like at all. If you said a broken city that was in the middle of reconstruction... with futuristic elements and the rich places are the most fixed up and the poor people's are the most mid-construction/hasn't even started. Then sure that would be cool. Especially seeing Xen biotech patchworked onto human structures or a decimated building but the framework still intact and then using Combine and Xentech to build it back up so you got this werid mesh of everything. That would be cool, but that wasn't what was said. Near-futuristic and the provided basis map being cyberpunk in terms of lighting and some structuring just isn't what that looked like.

 

[PepicWalrus]

Yeah but that wasn't specified... like at all. If you said a broken city that was in the middle of reconstruction... with futuristic elements and the rich places are the most fixed up and the poor people's are the most mid-construction/hasn't even started. Then sure that would be cool. Especially seeing Xen biotech patchworked onto human structures or a decimated building but the framework still intact and then using Combine and Xentech to build it back up so you got this werid mesh of everything. That would be cool, but that wasn't what was said. Near-futuristic and the provided basis map being cyberpunk in terms of lighting and some structuring just isn't what that looked like.

Right well, this was a map suggestion thread not a map lore thread.

 

[DormNes]

Right well, this was a map suggestion thread not a map lore thread.

Yeah well, the lore informs what the pick should be. So cleaning and clearing up what the lore is and getting further information on what you want was necessary to get a better idea on a good pick.

 

[DormNes]

Man, uh spent the other day trying to find decent maps that fit the location but... trying to find anything in Western Europe sucks... I mean there's City 24 but... eh. The maps I did find were like...
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1507775782
requires fifty fucking addons for a single map but god its a nice coast city.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1186665942
this one is nice but small.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1555243315
This one is neat but it's kind of an old styled source map so ehhhhh
-
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2766886794
this one is cool for the rebuilding city angle but its also like in the terminator universe so might require editing to not be in that, and then propbuilds to rebuild buildings, vaher would be great for that type of stuff.

Then just some random cities I found.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2092313387
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3106361968
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1555243315
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3148388678
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2486584849

 

[Bio Junior]

We discovered this map as a prime example for the vibe we want. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3337580289&searchtext=

Just use city 8 lol

Steam Workshop::rp_city8

steamcommunity.com

Steam Workshop::rp_city8_2

steamcommunity.com

Steam Workshop::rp_city8_district9

steamcommunity.com

Steam Workshop::rp_city8_2_hl2

steamcommunity.com

 

[FreeSpy]

Just use city 8 lol

Steam Workshop::rp_city8

steamcommunity.com

Steam Workshop::rp_city8_2

steamcommunity.com

Steam Workshop::rp_city8_district9

steamcommunity.com

Steam Workshop::rp_city8_2_hl2

steamcommunity.com

i mean, in a normal setting yeah but given the post occupation setting i doubt a "stable" city map would be the best choice

 

[Bio Junior]

i mean, in a normal setting yeah but given the post occupation setting i doubt a "stable" city map would be the best choice

Just use stuff and make the city look ruined, build around that, use the story to set it up. ((THIS IS VOID BECAUSE YOU ASKED FOR A CITY THAT IS BRAND NEW))

Also @PepicWalrus instead of dumb rating, perhaps be more explicit in what you want brother, otherwise fuck off and find out yourself lmao

We are looking for a near futuristic city map, that has an industrial underground / slums sector, a nice upper sector, and an outer city area of decent size.

Cause you said this, I gave you what you asked, City 8 fits all of that (maybe not the industrial underground)

The city itself is newly built.

i doubt a "stable" city map would be the best choice

Also Freespy, lmao

Please be consistent people

 

[FreeSpy]

Also Freespy, lmao

Please be consistent people

honestly mate i aint even read pepic's original, just saw the city 8 post in the bar :D

 

[Lewis!]

Steam Workshop::rp_lepointe

steamcommunity.com

 

[DormNes]

Just use stuff and make the city look ruined, build around that, use the story to set it up. ((THIS IS VOID BECAUSE YOU ASKED FOR A CITY THAT IS BRAND NEW))

Also @PepicWalrus instead of dumb rating, perhaps be more explicit in what you want brother, otherwise fuck off and find out yourself lmao

Cause you said this, I gave you what you asked, City 8 fits all of that (maybe not the industrial underground)


Also Freespy, lmao

Please be consistent people

Well uh, I mean technically... Pepic contradicted himself with what he wanted
"It is not a finished city, nor does 'newly built' have to mean ENTIRELY built from the ground up."
"We are looking for a near futuristic city map"
"Things that can be looked at for inspiration on the vibe is like Piltover & Zaun from Arcane as a big inspiration for the dichotomic vibe we want. Geo-location will be somewhere on the western european coast. The city itself is newly built."

Newly built and near futuristic sounds like what you presented but... besides being in Asia, it's also supposed to be a busted city that was rebuilt though you wouldn't be wrong for picking what you picked because "newly built" does mean built from the ground up, that's why there's the word rebuilt exists but I guess Pepic forgot or didn't know the word.