-NaStY-
11-19-2008, 01:54 PM
I've got some spare minutes, so I thought I would throw together a small compendium. As a quick preface, I've started to see a good flow of maps in this community - that is, it's not that we just have a lot of maps stored up over time, but I'm seeing a good amount arriving each week. And that's great. But I've seen a lot of maps out there that have made some elementary map design mistakes.
My hope is that this can inspire a notion of good map-making practice. It seems appropriate to establish a set of general rules that you can spell out once here, and then reference later. That way you can have quicker, more precise critique later by just referring to these basic ideas. What I'm going for here is less total map design, and more (as the title suggests) element design. This is the stuff that isn't left up to the creativity of the mapper. It's just common sense principles that more inexperienced forgers might not have intuition for. You'll notice that all of these points have commonalities that run together. That's because what I'm really describing here is just the general notion of good map-making, so some principles will overlap.
1. Elevation Modulation - One of the most important things to remember when making a map. You always need variation in the Z axis. If you ever find yourself with a long, straight walkway or corridor, consider changing it to ramps up and down. If you can cut down the line of sight so that people aren't fighting from miles away, it's probably a good thing. Also think about platforms that are "looking out" at each other. If there's a line of sight between them, you'll probably want to put them at different Z heights. You want to make sure that your level is played in 3 dimensions, not 2. Make sure that your elements have some wrap-around. Wrap-around is when a path interacts with itself by ramping up or down, then circling back over itself. A great example is on Damnation. If you're at sniper by pipes, you can go up pink tunnel, circle upwards, and end up peering out on top of the pipe.
Also, one of the best things you can add to a map to increase skilled game-play is a ramp that is exposed on its lengthwise side. Shooting somebody whose strafe takes them both left-right AND up-down is much more difficult. An excellent example is standing in front of a base on Onslaught looking at somebody who is moving up towards top A or B. You've probably noticed how difficult that battle is, and it's not just because of the elevation.
As a final note, you should think about elevation in several ways. Firstly, you can use it to give one area a height advantage if you wish. As a corollary, you can use ramps to give one pathway an advantage by making them particularly hard to shoot at on one axis. Secondly, you can use elevation to break up lines of sight that are too long, or boring. Finally, you can use it as a general technique to make geometry more interesting by having wrap-around.
2. Walkway Continuity - One less recognized piece of making maps is consistency. In ever map you will have tunnels, walkways, or paths that take you here and there. It is important that you keep these walkways smooth and uninterrupted. Nothing ruins the look, feel and flow of a map more than failing to do this. There are a number of don'ts here.
Don't make people jump. Let me re-iterate. Don't make people jump! It's bad map design. The only time you can break this rule is if you have a power-weapon or position that you want to make extremely dangerous. Examples are Chill Out's Rocket spawn and Wizard's top center. Outside of this type of conscious decision, the map should smoothly move up and down to where it needs to go. It will help you in the long run if you are forced to fit ramps between various areas, because it will likewise force you to keep good distance between your map elements. Don't lie dumpsters next to every box-height platform. A dumpster jump-up is by definition a piece of un-continuous walkway. If you want to let people up to a place, make a ramped walkway to it. People should be jumping from continuous element to continuous element in a perhaps unforeseen connection.
Keep the walking space the same. Remember, we're talking about walkways, not rooms. In a room, it's fine to condense the movable area as you move to the edges by adding doorways that channel people through. But if you have a walkway, which by definition connects you to different parts of the map, its width should stay constant. Don't randomly widen it and then contract it without good reason, because you create hiding spots and bad aesthetics. A strong width for a walkway is, conveniently, the width of a box. For a more treacherous walkspace, bridges are fine. Try not to modulate straight between these two widths, because the result looks sloppy. Let them each be their own surface that is continuous until it meets a larger area. A good example is on Mecro. Notice how the Rocket S Curve is bridge length, but garage (under window panels) has a box length walkway. To resolve, there is a much wider lookout hole that is wider than both.
3. Tight Corners - Tight turns and corners are a no-no. The most you should be doing is 90 degrees at a time, and if you are turning 90 degrees, it's preferable to do it with a bit of space around you and not in a tight corridor. One of the most frustrating areas in the game is from Snipe 1 of Guardian up to Snipe ramp. How many times has some infuriating melee battle occurred there? In general, soft turns should be used to keep people out of short range, the same way elevation is used to break long range. Lockdown and Midship do this well. We've already talked a bit about this before, by saying you shouldn't widen corridors without good reason. We'll talk about it much more in a second.
4. Chunky and Technical - The hardest concept to understand, the easiest to identify if you're experienced. Beyond all other pointers, if you can grasp this idea then it will guide your element design the best. The best existing forge that exemplifies this is Xyience (Flux). The best Bungie map that exemplifies this (indeed, the best Bungie map period) is Damnation. K, here we go.
When making a map and its elements, you want to keep the geometry either chunky or technical. What the hell does that mean? Let's break it down. We've said we want to avoid tight corners, and we want to keep walkways consistent. We've said we want good elevation modulation. We also want to keep things simple. Adding too many paths interacting makes it too confusing to play, and skill gets lost in confusion even for great players. When we say we want to make a map's geometry chunky, we refer to the ratios of its walkway widths and heights, the lines of sight, and the walkway continuity and elevation all at the same time. Essentially, we don't want random crap littered through the map.
Make maps, not clutter. There is no such thing as "adding cover" in the way that most people think about it. You can add cover in the sense that you can cut off lines of sight by walling something off, or making a window or railing. But adding cover to an open area should not be done. Your level is your cover. That's why we say that things should be chunky. Geometry should be substantial and looming. Its wrap-around should encompass your view and define your movement. It is not just some stuff in your way.
My hope is that this can inspire a notion of good map-making practice. It seems appropriate to establish a set of general rules that you can spell out once here, and then reference later. That way you can have quicker, more precise critique later by just referring to these basic ideas. What I'm going for here is less total map design, and more (as the title suggests) element design. This is the stuff that isn't left up to the creativity of the mapper. It's just common sense principles that more inexperienced forgers might not have intuition for. You'll notice that all of these points have commonalities that run together. That's because what I'm really describing here is just the general notion of good map-making, so some principles will overlap.
1. Elevation Modulation - One of the most important things to remember when making a map. You always need variation in the Z axis. If you ever find yourself with a long, straight walkway or corridor, consider changing it to ramps up and down. If you can cut down the line of sight so that people aren't fighting from miles away, it's probably a good thing. Also think about platforms that are "looking out" at each other. If there's a line of sight between them, you'll probably want to put them at different Z heights. You want to make sure that your level is played in 3 dimensions, not 2. Make sure that your elements have some wrap-around. Wrap-around is when a path interacts with itself by ramping up or down, then circling back over itself. A great example is on Damnation. If you're at sniper by pipes, you can go up pink tunnel, circle upwards, and end up peering out on top of the pipe.
Also, one of the best things you can add to a map to increase skilled game-play is a ramp that is exposed on its lengthwise side. Shooting somebody whose strafe takes them both left-right AND up-down is much more difficult. An excellent example is standing in front of a base on Onslaught looking at somebody who is moving up towards top A or B. You've probably noticed how difficult that battle is, and it's not just because of the elevation.
As a final note, you should think about elevation in several ways. Firstly, you can use it to give one area a height advantage if you wish. As a corollary, you can use ramps to give one pathway an advantage by making them particularly hard to shoot at on one axis. Secondly, you can use elevation to break up lines of sight that are too long, or boring. Finally, you can use it as a general technique to make geometry more interesting by having wrap-around.
2. Walkway Continuity - One less recognized piece of making maps is consistency. In ever map you will have tunnels, walkways, or paths that take you here and there. It is important that you keep these walkways smooth and uninterrupted. Nothing ruins the look, feel and flow of a map more than failing to do this. There are a number of don'ts here.
Don't make people jump. Let me re-iterate. Don't make people jump! It's bad map design. The only time you can break this rule is if you have a power-weapon or position that you want to make extremely dangerous. Examples are Chill Out's Rocket spawn and Wizard's top center. Outside of this type of conscious decision, the map should smoothly move up and down to where it needs to go. It will help you in the long run if you are forced to fit ramps between various areas, because it will likewise force you to keep good distance between your map elements. Don't lie dumpsters next to every box-height platform. A dumpster jump-up is by definition a piece of un-continuous walkway. If you want to let people up to a place, make a ramped walkway to it. People should be jumping from continuous element to continuous element in a perhaps unforeseen connection.
Keep the walking space the same. Remember, we're talking about walkways, not rooms. In a room, it's fine to condense the movable area as you move to the edges by adding doorways that channel people through. But if you have a walkway, which by definition connects you to different parts of the map, its width should stay constant. Don't randomly widen it and then contract it without good reason, because you create hiding spots and bad aesthetics. A strong width for a walkway is, conveniently, the width of a box. For a more treacherous walkspace, bridges are fine. Try not to modulate straight between these two widths, because the result looks sloppy. Let them each be their own surface that is continuous until it meets a larger area. A good example is on Mecro. Notice how the Rocket S Curve is bridge length, but garage (under window panels) has a box length walkway. To resolve, there is a much wider lookout hole that is wider than both.
3. Tight Corners - Tight turns and corners are a no-no. The most you should be doing is 90 degrees at a time, and if you are turning 90 degrees, it's preferable to do it with a bit of space around you and not in a tight corridor. One of the most frustrating areas in the game is from Snipe 1 of Guardian up to Snipe ramp. How many times has some infuriating melee battle occurred there? In general, soft turns should be used to keep people out of short range, the same way elevation is used to break long range. Lockdown and Midship do this well. We've already talked a bit about this before, by saying you shouldn't widen corridors without good reason. We'll talk about it much more in a second.
4. Chunky and Technical - The hardest concept to understand, the easiest to identify if you're experienced. Beyond all other pointers, if you can grasp this idea then it will guide your element design the best. The best existing forge that exemplifies this is Xyience (Flux). The best Bungie map that exemplifies this (indeed, the best Bungie map period) is Damnation. K, here we go.
When making a map and its elements, you want to keep the geometry either chunky or technical. What the hell does that mean? Let's break it down. We've said we want to avoid tight corners, and we want to keep walkways consistent. We've said we want good elevation modulation. We also want to keep things simple. Adding too many paths interacting makes it too confusing to play, and skill gets lost in confusion even for great players. When we say we want to make a map's geometry chunky, we refer to the ratios of its walkway widths and heights, the lines of sight, and the walkway continuity and elevation all at the same time. Essentially, we don't want random crap littered through the map.
Make maps, not clutter. There is no such thing as "adding cover" in the way that most people think about it. You can add cover in the sense that you can cut off lines of sight by walling something off, or making a window or railing. But adding cover to an open area should not be done. Your level is your cover. That's why we say that things should be chunky. Geometry should be substantial and looming. Its wrap-around should encompass your view and define your movement. It is not just some stuff in your way.