Thoughts and suggestions for this KOTH map concept?

[dryerlint]

Hey guys, I'm not sure if this is the right forum, but I finished a basic layout design of my KOTH map. I just wanted to see if there were any big issues with the concept, before I start working in Hammer.

The concept... "art" is attached

It's basically just a small KOTH map with 3 levels, underground with no skyboxes or terrain, so hopefully it should be simple enough!

(Yes, the concept drawings are overkill. OpenOffice is pretty fun and I kind of got carried away =P)

Thank you!

EDIT: I updated the design as zahndah suggested

 

[zahndah]

From the sketches it looks too simple. You run out of spawn into one area then onto the point right after that, unless if you made this map very overscaled i cant see it taking more than 5 seconds to get to the point.
Also almost all of the underground looks like thin hallways (which don't make for interesting battles)
And, you cant go up to level 3 without being in view of the point in the first place.
There, to be honest is only 1 route to the point, people have almost 0 choice on where to go

My suggestion is adding more between the spawnrooms and the cap, having the staircases not just off of a main hallway and having more than 1 route to the point (also widening and simplifying the underground). Also, from the flank route the only way up is spawn, or next to the cap. So if you were flanking via it you have to go up by the enemies side of the point, and it seems much less dangerous to just go over the point (and quicker).

 

[Lain]

Don't overthink a first alpha map. Just make a simple map to get your level design skills hammered out, and then move on to more advanced maps and ideas.

 

[dryerlint]

From the sketches it looks too simple. You run out of spawn into one area then onto the point right after that, unless if you made this map very overscaled i cant see it taking more than 5 seconds to get to the point.
Also almost all of the underground looks like thin hallways (which don't make for interesting battles)
And, you cant go up to level 3 without being in view of the point in the first place.
There, to be honest is only 1 route to the point, people have almost 0 choice on where to go

Yeah, I was worried about how quickly people would be able to get onto the point. I could add a large room with obstacles on L2, separating spawn from the main hallway?

The underground areas were partially intentional (it's supposed to give a claustrophobic sort of feeling) but I'll try to work on it.

Having a dangerous route to L3 was intentional, since it gives you a pretty big advantage being up there, no?

My suggestion is adding more between the spawnrooms and the cap, having the staircases not just off of a main hallway and having more than 1 route to the point (also widening and simplifying the underground). Also, from the flank route the only way up is spawn, or next to the cap. So if you were flanking via it you have to go up by the enemies side of the point, and it seems much less dangerous to just go over the point (and quicker).

I'll try and rework it, adding a big room with obstacles between the spawn and the point, and I'll add some more staircases as well to make it easier to get up onto L3. I'll open up the underground as well.

Thank you for all the help and advice! As someone who doesn't know much about level design and gameflow it means a lot to me

Don't overthink a first alpha map. Just make a simple map to get your level design skills hammered out, and then move on to more advanced maps and ideas.

After completely half-assing my first map, though (the glorious koth_dish), I'm determined to actually do this one properly. The aesthetic won't be great but maybe I can make it playable this time!

 

[dryerlint]

Alright, I added in your suggestions