New Map: Dunkirk Dynamo - the Allied retreat at Dunkirk, France

[Rafterman Profile Website]

I'm working on a new 3 vs. 3 (possibly 4 vs. 4) map based on the allied retreat at Dunkirk, France that took place during May/June of 1940. The evacuation, known as Operation Dynamo, successfully saved the lives of over 300,000 British, French and Belgian soldiers after they were cornered by the Germans at the port city.

The premise of the map is that the Allies are on/near the beach and must fight their way through the surrounding German army in order to break out of the city. Meanwhile, the Germans are trying to kill as many of them as possible, driving the Allies into the sea and delivering a massive blow to their fighting ability. The Americans weren't at the Dunkirk retreat, but since they're a faction in the game, we'll just pretend they were.

The sheer number of bridges and buildings on the map will create many choke points, but also many options for attack and defense. Winning this battle won't be as simple as blowing up a few bridges then defending their reconstruction. This will keep stalemates to a minimum and teams will have to choose their attack and defense strategies wisely. The large docks on the canal will be prime real estate for German Hummels to launch artillery strikes on Allied positions. However, Allied airborne and commando squadrons will find the docks a perfect landing zone for launching an infantry attack on the German flank. Vehicle battles will probably take place primarily on city streets, where light tanks and armored cars will have a distinct mobility advantage over medium and heavy tanks, but all must be wary of AT guns that could be lurking around any corner.

I don't have any screenshots to show just yet, but here are several images of Dunkirk that I'm basing my design on. This should be a very fun map to play when it's done with lots of urban and canal-based combat. I'm looking forward to putting lots of detail into it. There is no fixed date for completion, but I'm aiming for a late summer/early fall alpha release.

The red box is the approximate area of the city that the map will cover. [Supersize satellite image]



The city in the mid-18th Century



During WWII





















Here's some photos of how Dunkirk looks today.

[Rhino]

Nice

[Bielab Profile]

How exciting, I can't wait to play it . Keep up the good work!

[MajorFullWood Profile Website]

Rock et.

[Rafterman Profile Website]

The fact that this map will be basically 100% flat should help immensely during production since I won't have to worry about anything being above or below the primary plane other than the water level in the canals. Once I get a few rows of buildings strung together, the town will get built fairly quickly as well.

For those who got to play my first map Bridge Rush, which never got past about 75% completion, you can count on MUCH more detail in this next mapping attempt. I hurried Bridge Rush into playable status, which made it suffer due to a great lack of detail. This new map will not be forced, and will be ready when it's ready. I will post progress screenshots throughout the process though.

The map will be known as "Dunkirk Dynamo" (name of the city and name of the operation).

[Arctictiger Profile]

All i can say is Goodluck! This definately has the potential to be a great map! Just take your time and have fun making it!

[logik]

[Rafterman Profile Website]

Got the bases in and the canal system dug out.

Germans in the upper-left. Allies in the bottom-right.

[MajorFullWood Profile Website]

Looks pretty versatile. A well coordinated strike from the top riverside could be detrimental to either side.

[Rafterman Profile Website]

Looks pretty versatile. A well coordinated strike from the top riverside could be detrimental to either side.

The formations you see jutting out into the body of water at the top will be the concrete shipping docks. There will also be numerous destructible vehicle and foot bridges that traverse the water at various points. My goal for this map is to have the fighting be very intense and for matches to last no longer than 60 minutes in human vs. human contests.

Resources will be pretty sparse, with just one or two high fuel/ammo points on the entire map and most of the rest as low-level points. The high points will be in key locations, most likely with one in the center of the city and one on the docks to create dramatic "to the last man" battles.

[Arctictiger Profile]

Resources will be pretty sparse, with just one or two high fuel/ammo points on the entire map and most of the rest as low-level points. The high points will be in key locations, most likely with one in the center of the city and one on the docks to create dramatic "to the last man" battles.

Sounds like a good lay out

[Captain Speirs Profile]

Sounds like a good lay out

[Rafterman Profile Website]

Did lots of work tonight (about 2 hours worth) lining all the docks with canal walls and painting them with a concrete texture. After I finish edging all the canals with walls and getting all the ground areas painted up, I can start working on installing bridges, buildings and other structures. You guys have no idea how tedious it is getting the docks to look perfectly squared, level, and edged like that.

[zraupp Profile YIM]

Did lots of work tonight (about 2 hours worth) lining all the docks with canal walls and painting them with a concrete texture. After I finish edging all the canals with walls and getting all the ground areas painted up, I can start working on installing bridges, buildings and other structures. You guys have no idea how tedious it is getting the docks to look perfectly squared, level, and edged like that.

Looks GREAT !

[MajorFullWood Profile Website]

[Arctictiger Profile]

Hey, did you get your COH log in fixed yet? Cause i use to have that same problem after i unlock OF. I dont remember exactly what i did but it most certainly was something stupid like turning my computer off for 30 seconds and removing the power from it.

[MajorFullWood Profile Website]

Yeah. I can't run it under regular CoH or OF but I bought ToV through Steam and if I load ToV through Steam, it works.

[Arctictiger Profile]

Yeah. I can't run it under regular CoH or OF but I bought ToV through Steam and if I load ToV through Steam, it works.

Ehhh that sucks man. It must be a real pain in the ass!

[logik]

It must be a real pain in the ass!

I don't see how. You just click a different icon and get the same content. I suppose if you mean the fact that he must run it through steam now, but .

[Arctictiger Profile]

It must be a real pain in the ass!

I don't see how. You just click a different icon and get the same content. I suppose if you mean the fact that he must run it through steam now, but .

I didnt mean that, i meant like the whole ordeal. From like having to buy the game through steam just for it to work.

[logik]

oh, well... yes, very frustrating.

[Rafterman Profile Website]

No offense, but can we please not sidetrack this thread and keep it related to the map discussion? It's just that whenever I see a new reply in it, I think someone is commenting on the progress or asking a question. Thanks.

[Arctictiger Profile]

No offense, but can we please not sidetrack this thread and keep it related to the map discussion? It's just that whenever I see a new reply in it, I think someone is commenting on the progress or asking a question. Thanks.

Sorry about that Rafter!

But can we/I get a picture of your new canals from a cranes eye view?

[Stevo Profile]

I bought a new car this week...

[logik]

did it come with one of these?

[Rafterman Profile Website]

Put in about 3hrs of work earlier today before I had to leave for my softball doubleheader.

I needed a break from working on the canals after about an hour, so I started placing some stuff on the docks. The buildings at the docks and in the city closest to the Axis will be damaged as the Germans shelled and bombed the area while the Allies retreated towards the beach. None of these areas are the finished product yet of course, just work in progress.







Overall progress shot of the docks and canals. No, I didn't miss putting down concrete textures at the top. When you zoom out really far, some of the textures and objects disappear or look funky.

[Stevo Profile]

Looks great Ted! I can't wait to see the finished product and play a few on it.

Back to the point...
Logik - Those are sweet! Can you forward me the link? I want to get some of thos for the new car. They were not included...
Thanx!

[MajorFullWood Profile Website]

This is definitely going to make for some interesting battles. Looking good.

[Rafterman Profile Website]

More man-hours invested. More progress pics.

I chose a different texture for the docks. The previous one looked too modern and after looking at some of the old Dunkirk pictures I first posted, I decided to go with a more stony texture instead. I started putting in some roads and bridges as well.

The red line you see in some of the photos outlines the map's playable area.

[MajorFullWood Profile Website]

Looking good.