In what could prove another boost for the competitive CS:S scene, especially in North America, former CGS star Sal "Volcano" Garozzo has relaunched his very own map after numerous tweaks.

The map, called de_cache has been made specifically with competitive play in mind and was released last year to the public, since then Sal has spent his spare time making adjustments to the map, taking on board the communities feedback. Things heated up a few months ago and over the past few months a number of top tier American players have been playing and giving feedback on the map and what needs to be altered.

It seems that Sal is now happy with the map design and the project and has decided to release it to the public once more, ESEA have already added the map to their PUG servers and it is available to use to the general public. Whether their European counterparts start doing the same remains to be seen but tournaments and LAN events have been eager to spice up the map-pool at recent events so anything could happen.

If you would like to test the map out it can be downloaded Here

ESEANews star writer Heather "sapphiRe" Mumm conducted a detailed Interview with Garozzo

What was your inspiration for the aesthetic and strategic design of de_cache, as well as the map name?

I decided to go with an industrial map that would feel like a weapon cache. I like the textures and theme on maps such as nuke and train so I adopted a similar feel while trying to eliminate the problem of having spots that are too dark.

Middle, as viewed from the CT-side of the map The strategic design all stemmed from the idea of only including what is necessary. I appreciate simplicity in level design. I tried to keep the number of major choke points to each bombsite to a minimum while following a figure of eight layout. If an ‘8’ were superimposed over a layout of the map, the center of the 8 would be right at the center of the map, with the other bombsites and routes to it being the rounded area on the 8. This means that the center of the map (middle) will generally be the area of the map with the most conflict.

I was seeking a map name that fits the 8.3 file format, much like some of the old school maps like de_cbble, de_dust, de_dust2, de_train, de_nuke etc. This means that the filename is 8 characters or less plus the additional 3 characters for the bsp extension. That is also the reason cobble was named cbble. The map has a warehouse full of weapons/explosives type feel so I went with the name de_cache, as in a weapons cache.

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