This isn't a tutorial on how to make arena maps, one of those can be found here: http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/TF2/Making_an_Arena[/QUOTE]
The new entity: "tf_logic_arena"
Its a point entity thats not in the FGD yet so if you try to make it you'll get the obsolete thing, but thats fine, give it one keyvalue "CapEnableDelay" then its value is the seconds it takes before the capture point becomes unlocked and ready for capture.
The spawn doors are opend by this entity, as are the big blast doors when the cap becomes unlocked, output goes like this (respectively)
OnArenaRoundStart | spawn_door_1 | open
OnCapEnabled | blast_door_1 | open
OnCapEnabled | Capture_hologram | showmodel
The last one turns on the capture point hologram when the capture point is enabled, this is a minor thing but kinda works.
Key features of arena:
There are often no medkits on the entire map, also there are no resupply lockers, this is so that no one returns to the spawn room and camps, the lack of medkits is to keep the action going, medics and engies need to assist their team by providing health (not using the needle gun!)
The spawnroom doors open automatically and don't close again, they remain fully open and there are no resupply visualisers so the other team can come in and make sure no one is hanging about in spawn trying not to get killed. This seems a small thing but is quite important to the arena game mode, since anything that allows players to camp means you can't win fairly. Make sure you're respawnroom has a func_respawnroom brush around otherwise changing class at the begining of the game will result in failure.
The capture point takes about 60 seconds before it is activated, when it is lumberyard opens some blast doors, due to the layout of lumberyard this is needed because the capture point would be too easy to caputure without resistance. If your caputure point is in an enclosed space, consider making an extra route to it that only opens once the timer ends.
Once unlocked the capture points of the official maps is set to 3 players to cap and time to cap is about 4, personally I think this is a bit quick but oh well.
The map should probably be symmetrical, either by rotation or reflection (either like an N or a M). Because of the symetrical nature of arena maps they need very little play testing since by definition they are evenly balanced, but if it isn't symetrical you'll have to carefully consider various points for each team just like any other map.
Good dimentions for an arena map, size can vary depending on the layout but for best playability I'd say 6000x6000 units for a playable area is about right. Obviously a shape 3000x8000 might work, as might 4000x4000 but I think anything larger than 9000x9000(playable area) will be too large
Water should probably be used sparingly in arena maps since it has a big canceling power to the pyro and it can slow down gameplay quite a lot (since everyone moves slower in water)
Testing your map: Since the arena mode is a bit stupid for testing (must have >2 players before it does anything) you may want to do either of the following:
1) Refrain from adding the specific arena entities until right at the end or hide them using a custom visgroup
2) add bots when you join, load up the console using the tilde key "`" then enable cheats "sv_cheats 1" then add a bot "bot" and you're ready to go.
Don't be decieved by the name though, bots are pretty dull things, they don't have any AI like combine soldiers or even alyx so they just stand there like a great big lemon. but who cares, you're testing you're arena map.
The new entity: "tf_logic_arena"
Its a point entity thats not in the FGD yet so if you try to make it you'll get the obsolete thing, but thats fine, give it one keyvalue "CapEnableDelay" then its value is the seconds it takes before the capture point becomes unlocked and ready for capture.
The spawn doors are opend by this entity, as are the big blast doors when the cap becomes unlocked, output goes like this (respectively)
OnArenaRoundStart | spawn_door_1 | open
OnCapEnabled | blast_door_1 | open
OnCapEnabled | Capture_hologram | showmodel
The last one turns on the capture point hologram when the capture point is enabled, this is a minor thing but kinda works.
Key features of arena:
There are often no medkits on the entire map, also there are no resupply lockers, this is so that no one returns to the spawn room and camps, the lack of medkits is to keep the action going, medics and engies need to assist their team by providing health (not using the needle gun!)
The spawnroom doors open automatically and don't close again, they remain fully open and there are no resupply visualisers so the other team can come in and make sure no one is hanging about in spawn trying not to get killed. This seems a small thing but is quite important to the arena game mode, since anything that allows players to camp means you can't win fairly. Make sure you're respawnroom has a func_respawnroom brush around otherwise changing class at the begining of the game will result in failure.
The capture point takes about 60 seconds before it is activated, when it is lumberyard opens some blast doors, due to the layout of lumberyard this is needed because the capture point would be too easy to caputure without resistance. If your caputure point is in an enclosed space, consider making an extra route to it that only opens once the timer ends.
Once unlocked the capture points of the official maps is set to 3 players to cap and time to cap is about 4, personally I think this is a bit quick but oh well.
The map should probably be symmetrical, either by rotation or reflection (either like an N or a M). Because of the symetrical nature of arena maps they need very little play testing since by definition they are evenly balanced, but if it isn't symetrical you'll have to carefully consider various points for each team just like any other map.
Good dimentions for an arena map, size can vary depending on the layout but for best playability I'd say 6000x6000 units for a playable area is about right. Obviously a shape 3000x8000 might work, as might 4000x4000 but I think anything larger than 9000x9000(playable area) will be too large
Water should probably be used sparingly in arena maps since it has a big canceling power to the pyro and it can slow down gameplay quite a lot (since everyone moves slower in water)
Testing your map: Since the arena mode is a bit stupid for testing (must have >2 players before it does anything) you may want to do either of the following:
1) Refrain from adding the specific arena entities until right at the end or hide them using a custom visgroup
2) add bots when you join, load up the console using the tilde key "`" then enable cheats "sv_cheats 1" then add a bot "bot" and you're ready to go.
Don't be decieved by the name though, bots are pretty dull things, they don't have any AI like combine soldiers or even alyx so they just stand there like a great big lemon. but who cares, you're testing you're arena map.
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