User:Zzzoom/sandbox

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Gameplay

Strategy

There are a few basic strategies that are known in Global Offensive. The first one is boosting. Boosting occurs when one player is crouched, while the other one crouches and jumps on their head. This has a variety of different applications. The player on top is able to see higher up and get a visual advantage. There are also triple boosts, a modified version of the boost in which three players are stacked on top of each other. They are only possible in certain locations, such as corners.

For taking or retaking a site, a common strategy used is rushing. Rushing is when a player or group of players move into a choke-point on the map as fast as possible. This strategy is used commonly when one of the teams has a lack of money to buy weapons, or if there is a lack of time on the clock and the bomb needs to be planted or defused. The other common strategy for taking a site is using placed smoke grenades and flash bangs to block the enemies' sight. It is usually used if the team has money to buy utility grenades and rifles.

Development and release

Perfect World will not be a subheading under development and release, this is just for formatting in my Sandbox.

Perfect World

In September 2017, Valve Company worked with publisher Perfect World to release Global Offensive in mainland China. Chinese citizens, with their identification verified, can receive the game for free and earn Prime matchmaking status immediately. The game is played through Perfect World's launcher and contains numerous exclusive changes to the game, including the censorship of skulls and other symbols. Some other changes were in the cosmetics in certain maps, for example, the hammer and sickle on Cache and Train were removed. In preparation for the release, multiple cities in China celebrated and heavily promoted its upcoming release. Users who played the game during its launch month received free promotional cosmetics. In compliance with Chinese law, Valve also had to disclose its loot box gambling odds.

Dust II

Dust II
Counter-Strike location
First appearance	Counter-Strike
Created by	David Johnston
Genre	First-person shooter

"Dust II", also known by its file name de_dust2, is a map featured in the first-person shooter series Counter-Strike. Dust II is the successor to "Dust", another Counter-Strike map, and was developed by David Johnston prior to the official release of the original Counter-Strike. It was designed with the aims of simplicity and balance, and features two points which the two player teams fight over for control. It was first released in March 2001 for the original Counter-Strike game and is present in all games in the series; it underwent minimal changes since its initial release beyond graphical updates before receiving a major overhaul in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in October 2017. The map has been popular with players since its initial release, and both its original and overhauled design has been positively received by players and mapmakers.

Design

Dust II is map featured in the first-person shooter series Counter-Strike. As its name suggests, the map sports a dusty setting; Jess Cliffe, the co-creator of the original Counter-Strike, verified that Dust II is set in Morocco. Like the other maps in the game, players are divided into two teams: Terrorists and Counter-Terrorists; the goal of the Terrorists is to plant a bomb before a time limit, while the Counter-Terrorists try to stop them. There are two objectives, or sites, that the Terrorist side must get to gain control and plant the bomb. These two sites are easily accessible for the Counter-Terrorists at the beginning of the round. There are a few main choke points in the map: "Middle", "Long A", and "B Tunnels". David Johnston, the creator of the map, has described it more simply, explaining that Dust II in its most basic form "was little more than a figure-of-eight that had grown a pair of arms and legs, centralizing the battles but providing tactical wiggle room".

Johnston discussed in a blog post that, in making Dust II, he needed to ensure that this map had much in common with Dust, but not the point of it becoming Dust. He began identifying what made Dust, Dust. Similar to Dust, Johnston kept the simple structures, ramps, crates, and "Dust doors"; these were elements Johnston knew he had to keep. Though, he wanted to add other elements, an area with close combat and an area with long-range fights, which turned into B Tunnels and Long A. Compared to Dust, he was patient in using the "trim" feature, an element that separated certain objects; he said he, "tried to use the trim very carefully, only exactly when needed, and not just as filler." He set certain rules for himself with it, to make sure he didn't overuse under-use the feature. Another thing different from Dust is that Dust II didn't undergo any other major layout changes.

Dust II is noticeably one of the most balanced maps on Global Offensive, seeing the average win percentage rates between the Terrorist and Counter-Terrorist sides being 51:49, respectively. It is also noted that the rate in which the bomb is planted in a round is around 50:50.

In the main choke points, there are other tactically important positions and areas. In Middle, there are three main areas: Catwalk, an elevated pathway that leads to Short on A site; Lower Tunnels, a tunnel that goes from Middle to Upper Tunnels; and Middle Doors (Mid-Doors), a set of open double doors at Middle, which leads to the Counter-Terrorist's spawn. At Long A, there are another three important areas before approaching the A Site. Long Doors, which are the two sets of open double doors that lead from the Terrorist's spawn to Long A; Pit, a sloped area where the player can hide or use for cover near Long Doors; and Counter-Terrorist spawn, which is right of Long A from A Site and is where the Counter-Terrorists spawn from. B Tunnels has two main points, Upper Tunnels and Lower Tunnels. Upper Tunnels leads to the B site, Lower Tunnels, or Terrorist spawn and Lower Tunnels leads to Middle or Upper Tunnels.

History

Dust II was developed by David Johnston for the first game in the series as a conceptual sequel to the existing Dust map for the game. Originally titled "Dust 3" by Johnston and renamed to Dust II prior to its launch, the map was designed with the goals of simplicity and balance. During the initial development of the map, "Long A", a long pathway that leads towards the "A Site", was not present. It was added to the map due to space limitations without it, with unrealized plans to make the area even larger. Other changes during development include the removal of map features such as caverns, which would've provided cover, the removal of the window in "B Site", and a longer ramp in the Counter-Terrorist's Spawn to A Site.

After its initial March 2001 release in Counter-Strike 1.1, the map received minimal changes through the following updates to the rest of the original game, with slight graphical updates and lighting changes. It also received graphical updates in Counter-Strike: Condition Zero and Counter-Strike's Xbox release.

Counter-Strike: Source

Counter-Strike: Source was allowed to take advantage of Valve's new Source game engine and changed some of the physics. Dust II received a graphical update and new objects were added that would affect game play. New doors were implemented and a crate at "Middle" was made easier to climb.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive featured more graphical updates and changed all of the doors from wooden doors to metal doors, making them much more difficult to penetrate through. In an update on February 3, 2017, Dust II was removed from the Active duty map pool in the competitive game mode. It was instead replaced by "Inferno" and, at the same time, given its own exclusive map group in the Casual and Deathmatch game modes.

On October 10, 2017, Valve released a beta remake of Dust II. The updated map improved upon player readability, visuals, and movement. Eight days later, the updated version was made public.

Reception

Dust II has been a popular map since its initial release in all Counter-Strike games, and continues to receive positive reception from mapmakers and players alike as of the 2017 updates to the map. Shawn "FMPONE" Snelling, a Counter-Strike map maker, says that Valve has given the map a very cohesive and tactile look, making it easier to get a read on your surroundings. Mitch Bowman of PC Gamer praised the 2017 update, stating the change produced visual clarity. Jack Stewart of MailOnline added that the update has made the map "...drop-dead gorgeous."

Impact and Legacy

Dust II has existed since 2001 and has been subject to imitation, spin offs, and disapproval from the community. In February 2017, Dust II was removed from the Active Duty Competitive Pool in Global Offensive, a group of maps played in professional competition. The map was removed in favor of a revamped version of the map Inferno. There was immediate backlash to this change from professional players and community members, Peter "ptr" Gurney noting that Valve, "[took] out a map that's balanced and put a map in that literally has atleast 4-5 problems I can think of right away." Fabien "kioShiMa" Fiey, another professional Counter-Strike player, said, "Why is everyone so surprised. Looks logical that [Dust II] is removed, the only one that has not been redone??" referring to the fact that other Global Offensive maps have been revamped and refined prior to this change.

There have been several imitations and recreations of Dust II. In early 2014, it was found that somebody recreated Dust II in real life, though there is no known location of where it was created. Dust II has also been found in other games because of the work of modders. The map has seen imitations in games such as Far Cry 3 and Minecraft.

Design Paragraph 2 Change

There are three main choke points on Dust II:

• Middle, the center of the map and the gateway to almost every important location. Middle connects to:
  • Catwalk, an elevated pathway that leads to A site.
  • Lower Tunnels, a tunnel that is connected to Upper Tunnels.
  • Middle Doors, a set of open double doors which leads to the Counter-Terrorist's spawn or the B Site.
  • The Terrorist's spawn.
• Long A, a direct pathway to the A Site. Long Doors is the narrow entrance way with double doors that connects to Long A.
• B Tunnels, a tunnel system with two main areas:
  • Upper Tunnels, connecting to the B Site and Terrorist spawn.
  • Lower Tunnels, which connects to Upper Tunnels and Middle.

Inferno (Counter-Strike)

"Inferno" is a video game map featured in the first-person shooter series Counter-Strike.