Influx's Guide to Map Design
Hello, and welcome to this guide. I’ve noticed a lot of… lacklustre maps being produced recently, the kind you can churn out in about 5 minutes, and I’d like to see a return of the detailed maps I love. This will NOT teach you how to actually make a map or use the associated tools – it’s just some points to consider when actually designing your map.
Also, it’s worth noting that this is MY particular map design process – many different styles are out there, and it’s always good to make your own particular style. I tend to go for realism and urban settings.
Chapter 1 – The Basics:
So, you’ve played AoS for long enough and decide you want to make a map and have your name immortalised in the legends to be passed down from generation to generation. Great! But before you go rushing off into the great unknown that is map-making, you’ll first need;
a) some tools. Go to this link;
viewtopic.php?f=69&t=230
And you will find the two pieces of software you need; Slab6 and Bildramer’s Bitmap Converter. Download them and save somewhere convenient.
b) an idea.
The first one is easy to take care of; the second one is the stumbling block for many maps. A great idea can be ruined by poor design, and vice versa. Now, on to getting that all important concept sorted.
Chapter 2 – A Modest Proposal:
In my mind, level design comes down to two main things; Theme and layout. This pretty self-explanatory, theme is the setting of the battle – desert/forest/WW2/city/wherever, and layout is the, well, layout of your map. Although the layout is the most important part, theme is also pretty important. Picking a good theme can generate more interest in your map. Since you can’t work on the layout until you have a theme, let’s sort that out.
As I said in the introduction, I’m more of a realism person, and I like WW2 maps. My two most popular maps have been based on WW2. However, that doesn’t mean yours have to be. You could pick a more modern setting, or travel back to the medieval era, or do something completely new. If it’s your first map, though, I’d suggest sticking to something that you can get a lot of source material on.
“Why do I need source material?â€, I hear you ask. Okay, you probably didn’t actually ask that, but just play along for a second. Well, young Timmy, it’s because we’re about to move onto the longest part of the map designing process – making props.
Chapter 3 – Getting Mad Props:
Firstly, load up Slab6. You’ll be greeted by a nice sphere. First, delete it except from ONE BLOCK. Save it. This will be your blank canvas.
Now, let your artistic mind run wild, remembering what theme you chose. If you chose a forest setting, you’ll need many different trees, maybe a few boulders and rocks, a little woodsman’s hut, bushes, etc. If you chose a desert, you’ll need cacti, palm trees, rocks, a few white buildings to make an Arabic village, and so on.
If you’re basing your map on a real place, however, use the internet to pull up some source material. This helps you immeasurably when designing props. Just remember a few points about the scale of props;
- A person is 3 blocks high x 1 block wide.
- Rooms and stairs should have 4 blocks minimum between floor and ceiling
- If you’re stuck on how to scale a certain prop, imagine how many times taller/wider it is than you. If it’s height, multiply that x3.
- Not everything will scale nicely and look okay. Either be happy with it or find a replacement.
I always make several variations of each kind. For example, in Normandie, there are 4 different types of basic house, plus unique buildings like the church and manor house. In Market Garden, there are 3 different types of house, each with 4 variants, plus the church, inn, farmhouse, etc.
Variation helps stop the props from feeling repetitive, especially with the trees. The thing to remember about trees, though, is that each one has 4 different profiles if you rotate it. This means you can get away with only having about 2 or 3 different style of tree, each with 2 or 3 variations.
Something to avoid is hollow buildings. Room-to-room fighting inside a huge building can be intense, and it doesn’t take that much more effort to add some interior walls inside that towering skyscraper. It also means a building is a bit harder to destroy.
The most important thing to remember about this chapter is that if you cut corners, your map will suffer for it and it’s almost impossible to go back and fix it. Get it right first time.
Chapter 4 – Where Maps Are Made or Broken:
So, you’ve made all the props you need, now it’s time to do the most important part of the map design – the layout.
First: Do NOT, under any circumstances, create a symmetrical map. It smacks of laziness and I just hate it.
Asymmetrical maps are tricky to pull off, as you risk giving one side an unfair advantage without proper consideration, but reap better rewards. With a symmetrical map, the only thing people have to consider is which colour they like the best. With asymmetrical maps, they must also think what advantages and disadvantages each side has. One side might be more CQC-oriented, meaning you’d be better off picking an SMG or shotgun, the other might be fairly open, meaning it’d be wise to pick a rifle. Think about your favourite multiplayer FPS. How many maps on there are symmetrical?
Again: Do NOT make symmetrical maps.
Also, try to avoid island maps. Yes, they focus the fighting into a narrow area, but there are tonnes of wasted space and everyone ends up piling into the water anyway. The only island map I can think of that did it right was "Island" by izzy, mainly because he had put outlying islands and ships in the water to give cover and also provide a fighting area.
Right, now that’s out the way, onto the 3 main considerations of map layout;
- The main route
- Flanking/secondary routes
- Destruction potential
The Main Route:
This should be a simple way to get into the fight – fairly straight, long lines of sight, great for each team to slug it out with each other. Not much ground will be made here without a massive team imbalance, a huge skill difference between the teams or super co-ordination. This is the kill-zone. There should be some kind of focal point in the middle where both teams meet to fight over - be it a hill, building, strategic location.
Flanking/Secondary Routes:
This is usually the way to go when trying for the intel, or if a squad is taking a flanking manoeuvre. Not as busy or hectic as the main route, there should be a minimum of two of these – one on each flank -, but careful about making too many. It may mean enemy squads completely miss each other. It's also wise to put some kind of focal point on at least one flank, as it can draw people in from the main route and create two lanes of heavy fighting.
Destruction Potential:
This is AoS. Things are going to get griefed or destroyed. It’s a fact of map-making, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. The only thing you can ensure is that once the focal fighting point, a row of buildings or all the trees have been destroyed, it doesn’t ruin the gameplay. This can be done with the terrain, or by putting important buildings in the main fighting zone. Take, for example, the church in Normandie. The team that holds it will usually defend it and repair it, and the enemy team will try their best to destroy the church. This can mean a building will last for a lot longer than it would outside of the main fighting area. If your map is Flat Map #2574 with a few buildings flopped on top, when they go down, it's going to be a boring map. Use Bildramer's Bitmap Conversion tool to generate a map with some height variations in it, so there is still natural cover when things are inevitably destroyed.
I would recommend sketching out a layout, either electronically in a GIMP/Photoshop, or on a pad of paper. This way, you can see where the flow of the battle is headed and pre-emptively stop it from going where you don’t want it to.
Once you’re happy with the basic layout, it’s time to think about the spawn areas.
Think not only about defence, but also how the enemy might sneak in. Spawn-camping can be very annoying so try not to provide the enemy with a clear line of sight onto the spawn area, especially if they’re spawning in a small space. Give the spawn either a tunnel/trench or walls to act as cover for both teams. Foliage is a popular choice for sneaking in, and so are wheat fields if they fit your theme. A good spawn area is not only easy to defend, but easy to infiltrate as well.
Now go and read Exile's Post where he brings up many great points.
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Well, that’s all the points I can think of pretty much covered. If you have any questions, would like to see me cover any other points, or have general feedback, please leave a comment. Otherwise, go get ‘em, tiger.
Also, as a 'reward' of sorts for not clicking the back button when you saw a wall of text, have a gif of the design process for Market Garden (possibly interesting?):
http://i.imgur.com/5xARC.gif