How do you plan your maps?

(ChumChum) #1

This question is for both Splash Damage and individual mappers.

What is your process for planning and creating a map? I’m really interested in how you come about your layouts. To me that is the coolest part of the map because you are essentially creating a world.

How do you decide what works and what doesn’t?

Do you plan for public or clan play? Why.

How do you get that objective opinion on it? I know way too many times that when I would draw soemthing that I would be all hyped on how perfect I drew this guys fingers that I didn’t see how shitty the rest of the form was. I had to force myself away from my drawings and come back the next day or 2 and look at it with a new set of eyes.

(Danyboy) #2

In the past my maps have been created from little design - untill one day someone gave me top down sketch of a map they’d like to see -which made it so much easier to build it.

So i get pad of paper sketch basic outline of map, any important features like objectives, spawns and certain entities.

Now that ET is out I’ve started making terrains for the first time and so to plan them i make a profile view of the map as well as a top down view.

(Drakir) #3

I plan in my head…i usually have a greater idea of what i wan to acomplish. But due to engine and design stuff it usually comes out pretty different.

(demonspawn) #4

ChumChum, I could write a bunch of stuff here that might help you out but its really a point for process.

  1. Bullet point document of what the map style is, what the maps objectives are, what kind of environments I want, game-play facts I want to have present and pit-falls I must be aware of when I construct the map…it’s a 1 page layout of my ideas that can/should change over a few readings and re-writes.

  2. Bubble play layout. This is simply a bunch of circles on a piece of blank paper that represent a very rough idea of the layout that I’m after. Things to consider in this plan are…: Divide the map into Major game play sections with things like possible VIS blocking plans and line of sight issues…game-play choke points…secret routs (dash lines)… all this info is in each bubble and each bubble is connected by a line. This isn’t for anyone else to see except you so don’t worry about being neat and tidy as a matter of fact the messier it is the more thought that usually went into it…mine almost never survive one piece of paper…:slight_smile:

  3. graph paper it out with a top-down view…once again it not a science…one thing I like to do is divide my graph paper into 8 X 8 graph units with red pen…these represent a close proximity to how the engine will break up the sections in the game. Then I draw out the major geographic elements of the map…things like cliff that border the map…road layouts with simple renditions (boxes) of base locations and game-play choke points (circles) access routs don’t worry about multiple level routs at this point just get a basic layout on paper.

When your happy and feel you have all the game-play issues dealt with…go into detail with each of the elements you’ve drawn…like the bases…get another piece of paper and do a top down view of the basic floor plan of each element…when dealing with different elevation use a separate piece of paper…so in the end you have several pieces of graph paper…each one is a plan of a different part of the map.

Now this is an extra step but what I like to do is define with words what is the feeling of each are so when I get building it I have a texture plan already in my mind…maybe even going so far as to choosing and documenting which textures will be used where.

Then I open up radiant and build a simple block plan of the buildings and major elements…this is a multi-purpose map…it will be used to see how the engine is dealing with my layout as well as a act as a blueprint in developing my terrain that I’ll need for the map as well as give me an indication of things like, line of sight as well as giving me a quick and simple 3D view of what I’ve been visioning in my head…does it match up with my expectations?

Make sure you use r_showtris at this stage to be sure everything is being treated by the engine as you expected /planned it to. If everything is what you want…use the top-view map plan you made as a blueprint for your terrain bitmap…scan it and bring it into Photoshop as a layer…paint your grayscale bitmap image over it to represent the terrain you want.
Bring that bitmap into Easygen which creates a basic terrain metashader for you…import the basic building-block.map that you created and use it as a template to adjust the terrains different heights according to your actual map…export it into your map.

You could even use all the top down blueprints you made of the different elements like the bases as guides to build from…just scan them, make them textures and place them on large brushes…now every piece of paper has multiple used and takes your map from a thought based pre-design phase to a action based development phase.

Here is an interesting read if you want more views

Hope this helps

(pwillard) #5

Excellent and very informative response… thanks for taking the time share your experience!