Insight into development of new de_tuscan with Catfood

INTRODUCTION AND CHANGES

Why have you decided to rework de_tuscan? Did you approach Colin (BruteMaps) about creating a new version by yourself? Or Vice versa? How exactly did it happen?

At one point Colin (Brute) added me on steam and after a month or two out of the blue I got a message from him asking me if I wanted to work on a Tuscan remake and I said yes right away. It was very exciting to be asked to work on it since the layout has been “on ice” for such a long time and now finally there will be a new version.

What happened with the first version of de_tuscan in CS:GO and what changed now?

The first CS:GO version that came out had quite a few flaws in the core design and visuals so for me it was better to start from scratch with this new version. The new version will have better readability overall, smoother collision and will be less cluttered in general.

Will new version be an exact copy of the old one or is it more like “reimagined”? If copy of an old one, how you'll deal with this kind of problems:

• A lot of close spots and narrow corridors, which can be easily countered with molotov (didn’t exist in CS 1.6).
• Unusual map structure with a lot of narrow corridors and balconies.
• Lack of CS 1.6 wallbangs, which greatly balanced some spots on the map.

Besides a few small tweaks for now we decided to go with a layout that stays true to the original 1.6 layout but it will be updated for CS:GO gameplay. There will be more wallbangs, some spots will be wider and some areas will be more open to counter these possible issues. Then playtesting will show if there need to be other design decisions to be made to make it a good layout for CS:GO. But I honestly think it aged really and with these small tweaks it will be a good layout of the bat.

For how long have you been developing new version? And how much more It’ll take in your opinion?

I’ve been working on it for a couple of months on and off. It’s difficult to say how much longer it takes since there is so much left to do but in a month or two I hope to be able to come up with a possible launch date at least for the open beta.

Have you heard anything from Valve about de_tuscan?

No.

EASTER EGGS

Will there be Edward’s ace “tribute” graffiti?

If there will be one tribute in the map it will be this one :) but if this actually will be added and which easter eggs is something that will be decided later.

Any other cool easter eggs besides small references?

Yes I’m pretty sure there will be at least one easter egg :)

MISC

Which character fractions you're planning to use on the map?

For now they will be the SAS for CT and Anarchist models for T but this also might change later on. But at least these models are very easy to spot around the map.

Is there any story planned to be told on the map (besides “we are bad guys, let’s explode some wood boxes”)?

There will be a small background story but nothing out of the ordinary.

Are you planning to rework de_tuscan for Wingman?

Nothing planned as of yet but it might happen for sure since parts of the layout lend themselves for wingman really well.

If new competitive gamemodes (like Retake) will be added in CS:GO, are you ready to adapt de_tuscan for them?

Same answer as for the wingman map this might very well happen but we’ll see what will be added to CS:GO.

How could someone get into the closed alpha / beta test?

If you like to be in the closed play tests please send me a DM, higher ranked and pro players are preferred at first but after that there will be more play tests with a wider player range. In the end the map has to be fun to play for all ranks. Twitter: twitter.com/catfood_maps Discord: catfood#3806

After ending the development of de_tuscan, are you thinking about reworking something else? Or something completely new?

Right now I’m also working on a layout of my own and I might also take on another older popular 1.6 layout but can’t talk about yet.

Modern CS:GO map development consists a lot of “workarounds, trick or duct taped methods”, do you remember something interesting or funny?

Yes some things are really outdated. What I can really suggest other map creators are these tools which I personally don’t want to live without: “Terri’s auto radar” by Terri and “WallWorm tools” for 3Dsmax by Shawn Olson.

Have you tried to make maps in new Hammer on Source 2? If so, what’s your opinion on it?

Not yet but will do this for sure whenever I have more time on my hands.