sid6.7 wrote:LARGE question...
there is no REAL correct answer as maps
can vary too much...
Buzz, wrong...
It is the crowd, and theme you are trying to get at. bust mostly the crowd, when I made Boxy War it was not for atheistically pleasing maps to show off to other mappers, like so many maps nowdays, it was for whispershadow and his friend... (The normal Joe's of BZFlag was my crowd/audience)
Then the theme was "liked gameplay" most admin/servers don't like camping... but all the "Normal Joes" like it... so I made a map where camping was "required"
1. what is the overall "theme" or effect you want
can be what determines what you have on the map.
1. ALWAYS have counter flags..I.E GM = ST
OO = SW
Crowd + Theme;
2. not everyone appreciates climbing, try to stay
with 3 jumps to get to a different level MAX or
use teles to help facilitate that..
Physiologically speaking... symmetrical spaces of 2 to 4 sides are maps today, gives the player the "sense" of fairness, if a player thinks it's unfair then he won't play the level... notice most maps on Halo, Doom, Quake, Quake mods, etc. etc. all the big maps that hit have a "sense" of fairness and equality, because everyone wants to feel equal.
(It's a fact of life... seen several times in history)
That is the "width" and "length" layout though...
Don't level everything at 3 jumps, or 2, or 1, makes for bad camping (bad camping = camping that makes people leave of frustration)
Making smaller heights in correct spots and higher heights in other correct spots makes your map like-able, depending on the "correct spots" is if it promotes good or bad camping, or even camping at all.
3. try to avoid making CAMPING spots or at least
provide a counter camp spot...I.E GM tower?
provide another tower to shoot them with a LASER
thats outa reach of GM from across the map...
A map without camping spots *at all* are boring, because if everyone feels equal to everyone at
every second of the game, then no one will play... I get all giggly when I get ST and camp at a spot... and it causes the other players to have a challenge, to fight... to win... to play
4. towers = favors GM and ST and SW
Not ST, ST is best served in maze like structures...
(Inside the tele building on viper, in the center on Boxy War)
5. open maps = favors laser, narrow, tiny, CL
Sniping maps favor laser. Narrow is preferred on one or two shot servers or on really really really high shot servers.
6. cluttered maps = favor ST and SB and OO
Maps with good "no radar" camping spots favor ST, SB is favored by a big wall or area where you can be and shoot through things.
OO is favored by walls as well, buildings and hiding spots... for squirrel shots (where you pop out and then pop back in)
6a. 1 shot maps = favors MG , narrow ,tiny, CL and fast reload
One shot maps are highly disliked by normal players.
7. make sure ALL your tele sides go somewhere
unless your looking for window effects
Extremely good advice, btw the "Window effect" is where you camp behind a tele... very very good tactic on World Of Chaos.
8. rico is bad with laser unless thats what you really want...
Make the laser shorter, maps with lasers that reach just farther than bullets are good too... *mental note to have devs fix laser physics*
lasers follow shotspeed for their physics, in real life if you shot a laser it would not curve either way, because light is considered infinite.
9. try to at least create 1 barrier that cuts a map in half
to prevent TOTAL laser or SB camping....
Nononononono, heavy cover, pryamids and boxes!!! you should "Never" play most of the game on the ground, the ground should be for moving from area to area, and then fight to control the area you are moving too.
Ducati is fun because it's "old" style... we are moving to 2.x it's things like that that keep the bzflag mapping so far behind and gets people like me shunned for all my "newage" mapping skills...
10. wings can be very evil and screw up map planning
unless your making a "wings theme"...I.E 2 flaps
on cluttered/tower maps is more then enough to
kick butt...
Wings servers are dying...
Wings should be split into Gyroscope and thrusters.
11. as suggested above pyr's can be used for some
creative rico's...
No, then people that get hit by "famous" pryamid shots like GamesUnited base legs will get all frustrated... pyramids should be used for shot diffusion and if you hit a guy in the air every once in a while... good
(as long as the shot is moving horizontal and not vertical when it's intended rico hits the person then it's fine... shots hitting you from below or above should stay out... confuses, frustrates players when they get hit)
12. everyone has an opinion on good map making, do what you want...
Yes sadly... This is probably gonna turn into a flame
It's the popularity of the server by the crowd, lasermania had its own crowd, so did viper, and gu and ducati... none of them were mixable...
Here's some great links for general professional map making, when you have read this stuff for 8 and more years like I have then you can disagree
*is working on becoming a professional map maker and graphic/game designer*
common terms
Note: Brush is considered by me as an "Object", Leaks in bzflag could be considred... /set _drawGround 0
Really cool effects but I haven't found a use for it in a map yet...
(may not "leak" on some advanced graphics cards... basically the "leak" is not draw on so anything drawn over that portion of screen stays there... like a "blur" effect)
And "Portals" are *extremely* important in most games... Idk if bzflag runs portals... I don't think so
(if it doesn't, and it did then the performance could be up to 5 times as fast)
To add, Deathmatch is FFA and Jugernaut and assassin are rabbit hunt
CTF is CTF...
CTF map design
I disagree with several small comments he says... I'll get another link that more closely looks toward general map making... instead of CTF next...
When he talks about grapple... think "Wings" or any other movement enhancing flag... like OO etc. etc.
I kinda stopped reading when he got more quake specific.
But the "Hyperblaster" part is a good example why lasermania wasn't massivly played by all... because of the lag... even my dads super-video card couldn't handle it sometimes...
Level design 01
If it goes to another page for you... just hit the stop button before it redirects next time
Sequel to last link... Game design 02
Use the stop button if it starts redirecting you!!!
Those last two links I've been over like four times... ahh...
I applyed most of those rules to Boxy War... and look where it got that map..........
*edit*
wow took me almost two hours to write this...
Forgot one thing... too!
If you are a mapper trying to push bzflag along... then make maps that border on 1.x and 2.x to get players used to all the new features...
deadly phydrv's should be obvious... and not in the way... players "feel cheated when they get killed by the map"
1.x is the groovyness
at the moment
Get other games that are based on maps... Quake, Quake mods, cubeengine.com dpball.com and look at their maps...
The best research you can do is on xbox live, find the maps liked by a wide majority of people... like Ascension or Lockout...
Then find how you can incorperate it into bzflag...