The legacy of fy_iceworld, Counter-Strike’s divisive, popular custom map (2020)
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The legacy of fy_iceworld, Counter-Strike’s divisive, popular custom map (2020)
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Re: The legacy of fy_iceworld, Counter-Strike’s divisive, popular custom map (2020)
#2Offtopic but I'm convinced Minecraft was inspired by fy_breakfloor
Re: The legacy of fy_iceworld, Counter-Strike’s divisive, popular custom map (2020)
#3Any given video game is more than just the game itself. A video game is a toolkit for making games. To say that a simple map like this isn't in the spirit of the game is missing that it's an entirely different game in its own right, merely built using the same toolkit.
Re: The legacy of fy_iceworld, Counter-Strike’s divisive, popular custom map (2020)
#4> This is perhaps the central tragedy of fy_iceworld. The game industry benefits from its legacy, but the conditions that spurred its influence no longer exist. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2019 does not offer a freely downloadable level editor for players to make new custom maps, nor does it allow a decentralized network of player-managed multiplayer servers to distribute these custom maps. We can only play what someone else has decided for us. This climate change has ensured that there will never be another fy_iceworld.
Couldn't agree more. I have a lot of fond memories of playing on stupid custom TF2 maps. In most ways, game development has gotten more accessible by miles over the last few decades, but this is one of a few ways it's gotten less accessible. It's easier than ever to make a full new game, but it's become impossible to make a single simplistic map for an existing shooter that your friends actually play.
Re: The legacy of fy_iceworld, Counter-Strike’s divisive, popular custom map (2020)
#5Iceworld gave you a random weapon and you had to make do - that was a fun twist on the usual CS gameplay, and that’s all it took to be popular. Another genre in this style (possibly an evolution of iceworld itself) is “gun game”, where you all start with the weakest pistol and every kill changes you to the next weapon. This was popular for the same reason, it was a fun twist on the usual gameplay and you played with unfamiliar weapons.
Re: The legacy of fy_iceworld, Counter-Strike’s divisive, popular custom map (2020)
#6> This is perhaps the central tragedy of fy_iceworld. The game industry benefits from its legacy, but the conditions that spurred its influence no longer exist. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2019 does not offer a freely downloadable level editor for players to make new custom maps, nor does it allow a decentralized network of player-managed multiplayer servers to distribute these custom maps. We can only play what som…
Urban Terror has a lot of custom maps, but there don't seem to be many players online at any given time, at least not where I have decent ping.
Re: The legacy of fy_iceworld, Counter-Strike’s divisive, popular custom map (2020)
#7> Indeed, I argue that you can witness bits of fy_iceworld’s DNA everywhere, blasted and seeded across the entire landscape of the game industry, as long as you have the blacklight to trace its ropes of influence. Perhaps its most famous direct descendant is Shipment, an official multiplayer map for the original 2007 release (and 2019 remake) of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.
Today I learned that Shipment from COD is modeled after fy_iceworld! I can’t believe I never put 2 and 2 together. These types of small, hectic maps are always fun. Halo has Octagon variants, COD has Shipment and Nuke Town.
Re: The legacy of fy_iceworld, Counter-Strike’s divisive, popular custom map (2020)
#8Custom maps, not arbitrated by the game company, were the best part of the FPS genre.
Re: The legacy of fy_iceworld, Counter-Strike’s divisive, popular custom map (2020)
#9> This is perhaps the central tragedy of fy_iceworld. The game industry benefits from its legacy, but the conditions that spurred its influence no longer exist. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2019 does not offer a freely downloadable level editor for players to make new custom maps, nor does it allow a decentralized network of player-managed multiplayer servers to distribute these custom maps. We can only play what som…
Remember Counter Strike was not an independent game. It was a mod of Halo. Halo did not offer a downloaded level editor.
Re: The legacy of fy_iceworld, Counter-Strike’s divisive, popular custom map (2020)
#10Iceworld gave you a random weapon and you had to make do - that was a fun twist on the usual CS gameplay, and that’s all it took to be popular. Another genre in this style (possibly an evolution of iceworld itself) is “gun game”, where you all start with the weakest pistol and every kill changes you to the next weapon. This was popular for the same reason, it was a fun twist on the usual gameplay and you played with…
Yeah, I love gungame. It's deathmath style so you respawn pretty much immediately which makes it a lot more fast-paced and interesting instead of dying and having to wait out the round.
There are still a decent number of people playing gungame in CS: Source around me (apparently it's not as good in the newer CS:GO but I don't have that one). It's also mostly people in their thirties so a bit better vibe than when there used to be a lot of annoying people who sound like they're twelve - they mostly seem to be on CS:GO now (not that all teenagers playing games are annoying, just mostly the ones who are on the voice chat a lot).