Mirage was made by a mapper known as BubkeZ: real name, Michael Hull. Before Counter-Strike,
he had mapped for games like Duke Nukem 3D, Red Alert and Star Craft. Quake 2 was a big
game for him. He played professionally for the Swedish national team and developed maps
for it. His jump maps were particularly popular and he’s still asked to this day if he’ll
ever make another one.
Developing maps for Quake 2 is remarkably similar to making them for Counter-Strike.
In fact, you can even make Quake 2 maps in the map editor for Half Life!
He didn’t, though. He stuck to Counter-Strike, developing defuse maps from 2002 onwards,
from this computer right here. He made de_hotsand, de_ccargo, and the Anarki series of aim maps.
It was 2004 when Mirage’s story began.
At that time, CPL was biggest tournament, and maps like cpl_fire and cpl_mill were particularly
popular. BubkeZ got in touch with Tonya from CPL and asked if they were interested in new
maps and she said ‘yes… if they’re any good!’
So he got to work on Mirage- or as it was called back then, de_strike.
Its development took place from midway through September 2004 to the end of October that
year. Here you can see a list of file versions! He didn’t play with friends- he worked on
it all by himself. He says that the requirements for a defuse map are rather simple; you need
fast rotation, an interesting and unique layout and great angles. He says you can’t get
a feel for how a map will play until its layout is complete, so he makes the whole thing in
one go and then spends the bulk of development getting the timing and angles just right.
He struggles with theme and design, but layout comes naturally to him. There are a few parts
inspired from other maps. You may notice similarities between Mirage’s and Dust2’s catwalk,
for instance. And similarities between Inferno’s window
room that looks down alt mid, and the window room in Mirage.
But the rest of the map comes straight from his imagination, all designed in his mind
to make Mirage a unique experience.
The first thing he made in the editor was CT spawn, which he used to test textures for
the map. At this early stage, the CT’s spawned further back, but he didn’t like this and
quickly moved it forwards to where it is today. This earliest version of Strike was never
publicly seen. There’s an easter-egg at CT spawn behind the crates on left-hand side:
go into spectator mode and you can view the map’s credits. In de_cpl_strike, it looks
like this. In the newer, de_mirage version for 1.6, it looks like this.
At this very early stage, Site A was also different- especially for approaching terrorists!
If I draw on what it used to be like, if you were a terrorist attacking A, palace didn’t
exist. Instead, the tunnel to the site was further over and more open, and there was
a boost into a window that went through a building, coming out where Tetris is today.
But at the time, this was a raised platform, very different from how it is now!
Bombsite A connector to mid was also different, with a fence separating it from jungle. This
was a VERY early version of the map, never publicly released and it was changed soon
afterwards into how the site is to this day.
Mid catwalk was inspired by dust2 but he made it so you could guard both sites from one
spot, which is unique. He thinks this adds a lot of depth to the map, allowing for all
kinds of ‘200 IQ plays’. For example, it’s possible for terrorists to plant at
A, then to rotate through T spawn and around to catwalk, taking out defusers from far away.
It wasn’t made like this intentionally- this strategy was discovered by players, which
he enjoys seeing very much. Guarding catwalk and the window room at the
same time really helps CT’s to lock down mid, as well as providing them with a safe
route between the two sites, enabling quick rotations in the event of a terrorist rush.
He also likes the connector between middle and bombsite A, saying that sniping into mid
from this corner here is one of his favourite angles on the map.
The map done, he called it called de_cpl_strike, and got it into the league. After release
he only had to make 1 update- this was to a small lamp in kitchen room which was causing
a bug where you would ‘flash out into space’.
There’s an easter-egg at CT spawn behind the crates on the left-hand side. Go into
spectator mode, and you can view the map’s credits.
In de_cpl_strike, it looks like this. In the newer de_mirage version for 1.6, it looks
like this. But why did it have its name changed to Mirage
in 2010? And what’s different about it? A friend of his from the Quake 2 scene was
working for Dreamhack at the time and asked if they could use the map. At first he decided
against this, what with its affiliations to CPL, but after loading the map up and noticing
some bits that he could improve, he decided it was time for a fresh start for the map,
so he improved the bits he didn’t like, removed the CPL logos, and Mirage was born!
The improvements are mostly around the B site. He didn’t like the timings, or how easy
it was for CT’s to hold the site. I think the changes are best shown with a side-by-side
comparison: Mirage removes a few of the fences that were in Strike, and replaces the site’s
central wooden supports with a solid looking stone building.
But the biggest changes are to the terrorist entrance! We all know Mirage, its raised walkway
and so on. This hasn’t changed since 1.6! But de_strike’s entrance was completely
different. I’ll just run through it to show you.
Here’s the bit you can wallbang in CS:GO…
…and now we’re back to a bit you should be familiar with, only in CS:GO it’s outdoors.
He feels Mirage is a lot more fun to play.
Strike had been plastered in logos for CPL and CAL. After they went bankrupt, BubkeZ
felt under no legal obligation to change the name, but decided to out of respect. Strike
was- and still is- theirs.
For CS:GO, Valve bought the rights to Mirage from him and have been responsible for developing
it ever since. Because of this, BubkeZ no longer has control over what happens to it.
He says the style of the map matters more for CS:GO than it did back with 1.6, and really
likes the Moroccan theme that Mirage has been given. He also likes how open the path from
T spawn to B is, saying that it was all indoors before. This was perhaps a way of modernising
the map, opening it up -literally- for grenades. He also likes the height in the map, saying
it looks good. But there are some things that he prefers
from his 1.6 version. He doesn’t like the ladder in this room here- he says he’d replace
it with crates instead. He doesn’t like the jump from mid catwalk
over into window room, either. This was never possible in his 1.6 version. And rather than
the stairs in bombsite A, he preferred the box in connector room that you used to have
to stand on in order to get a line of sight through to palace.
Those are his thoughts, but he’s happy to see his creation still being played and enjoyed.
His development time with Mirage has ended, having moved on to creating new maps for CS:GO
instead.
In 2011, he started working on Mirage 2 in 1.6. Its name was chosen to help get it attention
within the community- they may not have known BubkeZ by name, but they definitely knew Mirage!
He had no knowledge of mapping for CS:GO so he designed it in 1.6, but the ultimate goal
was to get it into CS:GO, which it did, under a new name: de_thrill.
This was all possible thanks to Mapcore, which he is 100% certain helped with Thrill’s
success. He thinks its community is amazing and says it’s a great way of opening the
doors for level designers. It feels like family to him, who all help each other with map playtesting.
BubkeZ has even become an admin for its faceit hub! So he’d like to thank the people at
Mapcore for making his CS:GO maps a reality. Through Mapcore, BubkeZ collaborated on de_thrill
with Squad and Yanzl. Unlike his earlier maps, this one WAS tested extensively, by 10-15
people, and since its release even got into Operation Hydra, whereupon it was officially
part of the game and competitive matchmaking for several months.
Now 36, he’s proud to still be an active mapper, having just finished a new map: de_iris,
which he worked on with Oliver. . In classic BubkeZ style, he made this whole
map in one go. He went from nothing, to a complete, untextured map and only began playtesting
it after this stage. As with previous projects, BubkeZ retains
control of the layout, timing, angles etc, and Oliver focuses on the graphics. Right
now, the map is complete, but they are still updating and improving it.
(Show both sites) More so than with previous maps, BubkeZ really
got involved in this map’s theme, and Oliver loved creating the old cars, which are a fundamental
part of the map’s story. It’s based around a town that once thrived from its automotive
industry, which is now targeted by the terrorists. He has deliberately kept the bombsites open
and small so there’s no ‘standard hold position’. He thinks this feels like classic
Counter Strike to him, filling it with hills, jumps between buildings and fast rotation
times to keep it feeling frantic and full of action. Just like mirage, there’s a spot
you can guard both sites from for 300 IQ plays. He is excited to see the creative ways that
players come up with to give them the advantage on this map.
It's playable over on the mapcore FaceIT hub right now, I’ve linked to it in this video’s
description. Check it out! BubkeZ may have moved on from Mirage, but
its spirit lives on in his newer maps. Thank you to him for speaking with me, and for sharing
the story of one of Counter-Strike’s most loved maps.