Big Map (WIP)

mattriddle

L1: Registered
Jun 22, 2008
12
0
So I wanted to make me a fun map that I can have a fun deathmatch experience in. of course, I've never made a map before, so I have no idea where I am going with this, but I definitely have come a long way with it, and was wondering if people could give me their advice and suggestions on the design (before textures applied and details placed).

This is very, very, pre-alpha, pre-pre-alpha stage.

Here are some pictures. I included information about the picture in the details for it, so I am just going to link to it instead and posting them here. The pictures can be found at: http://s26.photobucket.com/albums/c102/MattRiddle/

Is the map too big? I want to give it low gravity, and some jumps, so that people can scale the buildings faster and I wanted a high ceiling so people can fly around while in low gravity. I want to make it a fun map. I included a lot of details about my ideas in the comments of the pictures.

Thanks!

Matt
 

Snipergen

L13: Stunning Member
Nov 16, 2007
1,051
150
I can't be very positive on this yet, it's fullbright, you use HL2 textures and your geometry isn't believable. It's not because you want a fun map that you don't have to make it decent.. (hell you might be the first one that does an effort to make a funmap look good)
Now you also say this is your first map. I have a rule about that: don't release your first 3 maps. Because it's gonna be terrible and you know it. You need more practice if you want me to be honest with you, but keep up the good work!
 

mattriddle

L1: Registered
Jun 22, 2008
12
0
i appreciate your viewpoint, but it would help if you gave some suggestions on the idea of the map. Again, I'm not looking to make a map like the ones valve has made. Just like how Mario Kart is more fun than professional, I wanted to go in the same route.

Like I said earlier, this is a very basic form of the map, ie, the construction has been made. No little goodies have been added, no final touches to the buildings have been made, no textures have been applied, it is nowhere near it's final version. I didn't mean for people to judge it like it was finished.

The hl2 textures will be changed further in the making of the map. Right now though, textures aren't important, the theory behind the map is.

I'm making this map for me and others to enjoy. I won't release it until I feel it's adequate, if that day ever comes around. I'm not shooting for quantity, I'm shooting for quality. That is my main reason of posting this (more idea, less map) and asking on suggestions/ideas. I can learn on my own, but I can learn a lot faster when I have others helping me. I don't expect it to be easy, or quick.

You have a lot more experience with this than I do. I would really like to hear what you think about the idea.
 

DJive

Cake or Death?
aa
Dec 20, 2007
1,465
741
. Just like how Mario Kart is more fun than professional

I musta missed the "its fun" memo =) *i hate mariokart*

thoughts on the map is its a bit to big, atm you have no were to have a controlled fight and that will hurt it. Snipers will reign, pyros, heavys, medics will be sidelined and soldiers demo's will be rarely used.

Even if you add some cover, the map itself is just so huge that it can easily be dominated by a sniper.

Maybe make two building and have every other floor accessible.

key to making a map is.

you want it to be as close to balanced as you can make it
you want to control your fight areas, or HOT spots.
and you want to find a mix in hetic/chaos battles and a "i cant find anyone and have been running for an hour snore* fest
 

MangyCarface

Mapper
aa
Feb 26, 2008
1,626
1,325
Ergh, unfortunately this map does not have much potential right now. This isn't a bad thing! You're just starting out so expect to make some mistakes. I'd suggest restarting on about 1/4 the scale you're currently looking at. Try to keep it to maybe 2 buildings that are open inside enough to get some effective sentries, etc. Add some sort of gameplay mechanic to give teams incentive to move around. As it is, the gameplay will be very stagnant. If you're concentrating on gameplay over aesthetics, you're going to need to have some control points in there, or some intel or anything to keep players moving and into those hot spots DJive mentioned. For example, have the intel at the top of the base, and make it impossible to jump off the top. Relocate your spawn rooms to be inside of the buildings and give them at least 2 exits. Spawn camping will happen if your exit is that small and an easy way to avoid it is to add two doors; the windows can be scrapped then

Anyway, good luck
 

Sgt Frag

L14: Epic Member
May 20, 2008
1,443
710
I'm with the other guys here. Fun map is OK IMO but it does need something more. These are the points I'd focus more on.

gameplay: You didn't really descrive what the point is other than deathmatch. I guess the point is to just rack up kills. I don't really dig that gameplay style too much but I'm sure some people do. But it might be good to add something more, like CP's or flags. That way you'll be directing the player instead of all out brawl, but you might want that too.

optimizing:right now it's basically one large room it looks like, with that and an all out brawl it might have terrible fps. Gonna be hard to optimize I think. Might be better as several rooms... See next point

layout: Might be best to start a new map as you have a handle on the editor now. Think about the optimization more when building terrain.

textures: deffinately use the tf keyword to filter out tex. I think it's easier to tex as I go then to go back later and redo everything. Gives me a much better idea how things will turn out in the end.

Even if it's a fun map like Snipergen said, "it can look good". The big room thing really looks like a big box. Its hard to turn a big box into anything but a big box. That's my point about layout. I'd much rather play a deathmatch in a cool missle silo, or granary, etc... than a big box. That moonbase level is a great example, it's CTF but it's in a moonbase, has low grav, lot's of jumping, different rooms. But it looks like a moonbase not a box.

Anyway, good luck with your mapping. Hope those points help.
 

mattriddle

L1: Registered
Jun 22, 2008
12
0
Earlier this morning, I thought about it, and scrapped 2 buildings. And I scaled the other two buildings width back 50%. So now there are 2 buildings facing each other. My only problem with buildings is that it's hard to have low gravity inside of them without people not hitting the ceiling a lot.

About the "way to win", usually people don't want a way to win on this kind of map. They want to play deathmatch for hours on end, and if there is a way to win, they will yell at the people that are going to end their game early by taking the points. But I have seen how having control points can motivate people to play more. But I would want the last two control points to be very, very hard to get to so that the game doesn't end after 30 minutes.

I want to put an underground passage connecting the two buildings too.

I want to give Snipers plenty of places to snipe, but I don't want them to dominate like they do on Mario Kart. That is one of the big flaws with Mario Kart.

I appreciate everyone's suggestions/thoughts about this deck. It really does help a lot when I am making something that I can discuss the idea and how it is going to work in game while I am making it.

I was thinking about moving one base to the bottom of the map and keeping on at the top so at the beginning of the game, one team has to travel up and another down and they can meet in the middle.
 
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