UPDATE (11/29/05): The final release of de_cpl_fire is available for download at http://gotfrag.com/portal/files/622/

Each night when even the most dedicated American gamers are finally getting sleepy, the sun is just rising on a busy new day for two Germans. They’re known as the d00ds, and they aim to bring about a new wave of competitive mapping to the Source scene. Having successfully launched their first Source collaboration several months ago—the well received de_losttemple—Myrko and Paul, or Magikus and Stard00d as they’re known in the mapping world, are ready to pull the curtain on their latest project. And for a community yearning for wider range of maps, this comes as a welcome announcement. The map, soon to be released for public BETA testing, is none other than the classic competitive map, de_cpl_fire. I had the pleasure of discussing the project with Magikus and Stard00d:

Tell us about yourselves.

We both live in Germany; Magikus is pretty involved in gaming in Germany running the company ingame™ GmbH. We started mapping together with the Source-engine using the alias d00ds.com. Nevertheless, we’ve known each for quite some time now and Stard00d had experience in creating quake maps. Before Fire, we had already released the map de losttemple for CS:Source, already trying to create a balanced map that is fun to play.

How did you get started working on Fire?

After working on Lost Temple, we really wanted our next map to have a completely different style, and a more industrial look seemed to fit Fire perfectly. It was an interesting challenge to port the map to Source and create a remake with a remarkable Source look. After we decided to do it, we checked the 1.6 Fire and tried to imagine a big picture for the Source map, while maintaining the original layout and game-play. So StarD00d created the very first version from scratch in the editor within, say, 3 hours, which was a completely playable copy of the 1.6 map (except textures).

What was your vision for the map and how has it turned out so far?

The clear vision was to make a new and polished map for Source while keeping the original game-play of Fire. It was very important to create a nice game-flow for a competitive map without any barrels and stuff blocking players or ruining their gaming experience. That includes no dark areas, distracting textures, and low FPS. From the creative point of view, the idea was to create some kind of explosives producing factory with some transportation attached (road and train). It has two test-areas (the bombsites) and the production buildings in the center. Fire also had to look like the name suggests: hot and a bit red/orange themed. Regarding the results, a mapper is never completely satisfied with his map, but we think we’ve done a good job thus far.

When will the map be released for public BETA?

Well September 23’s HDR update with all its little bugs has pushed us back, but we look forward to releasing a public BETA in the next 1-2 weeks.

What other projects do you have planned?

When we work on one map, we tend to get ideas for 3 other maps, so at the moment we already have a lot of new ideas for future maps. As our next map will be an original layout again, we want to try some new tricks to improve the realism and liveliness. If we release anything new, it can be found on d00ds.com.

Any last words?

You have been d00ded! ;)

Editors Note: This map is pending final approval by CPL/CAL upon completion. Click on pictures to enlarge. More screenshots on next page.