Greetings... First a bit of preface/obvious CYA excuses.

1. I'm not a graphic artist.
 - Some people have the ability to create amazing looking
   maps with loads of creativity.  Sadly, that's not me.  This
   is my first crack at doing anything like this.  Lots of
   simple square blocks.

2. I'm not a 3D modeler.
 - I'm a network/server guy.  Usually I'm the one who builds
   the servers, sticks them on the pipe, and makes sure they
   stay updated and running smooth.  This is my -first- attempt at
   using anything like Hammer or any type of CAD/3D modeling
   tool.  I usually always leave this stuff to trained professionals.
   I've had to teach myself everything with all the online tutorials 
   and pure experimentation with hammer.

3. I know everybody hates big boxes.
 - But right now at my skill level anything a little more complex
   is going to require quite a bit more practice with Hammer and
   modeling in general.  I tried to take all the parts I really liked 
   about the custom maps I keep in rotation on my HL2DM server 
   and kept bits of those ideas in my mind while building this map.

4. This isn't 100% original.
 - This is a remake of a CounterStrike map from Nipper called playground_x_s.  
   I found the .vmf for it on a mapping website.  I'd like to give credit
   to Nipper for a good portion of the original map geometry this map is 
   based on.  Thank you.

5. It's not perfect yet.
   I've been working on it for about three weeks now.  And I've just in
   the last few days gone through all the online docs I could find about
   map optimization and done my best.  In a couple spots fps dips low.  
   I'm trying to figure out the root of the problem.  And there's not much in 
   the way of soundscapes at the moment.  I'm still learning how those work.


Map: dm_playground_beta
Rel: 03/16/2004
Author: Moike_the_Squid

Sample screenshots 
- http://moike.net/playground/

Download 
- http://moike.net/dm_playground_beta.zip

My crummy hl2dm hosting server with the map in rotation 
- 66.127.103.165 / moto-games.squick.net

Enjoy!  And of course I appreciate any type of constructive feedback
any experienced map makers/players may have for me as I work on the
final version.

Thanks,
-Mike-