How to create good gameplay?

(russlndr) #1

At the time I’m working on better gameplay in my map. It is not easy. Small changes can really affect battles.

I would really like to know how splash damage and other map editors think when they create a maps.

  • What to think about
  • How important are many objectives
  • Where to place commando posts/ammo/health/guns
  • How to control where the main battles will be
  • How to test gameplay
  • And so on if there are more :slight_smile:
  • Size of map

Hoping for an answer. It can’t be with luck six very good maps was created for ET?

My experience is:

  • Small maps create almost constant battles, but they seem the be in the same placed all the time. Playes can get bored after a while.

  • It is important to attract battles to the target in maps where the target is to be dynamited. Else defenderes get bored and run to other places of the map to be a part of the action. The opposite forces will than have a easy target.

  • Fredrik

(BXpress) #2

well i think thats the biggest question at all! :banghead:

(redfella) #3

To me it sounds as if u have a map already built for the most part and now u are going back to revise\look at gameplay. If this is correct, then you are a little on the late side to consider map layout and function.

For future mapping, I can recommend from my own personal experience that laying out an entire map in caulk or notext (BEFORE doing anything else) is definately the way to go. This will allow you to concentrate on gameplay and function w/out having to worry about style\form extures\lighting and so on. This method is used by many experienced mappers.

gl

(ziege) #4

But then you can’t actually test the gameplay, everything would be invisible O.O

(SCDS_reyalP) #5

One thing to do is think about the other maps you play, and try and figure out WHY they are fun (or not).

Some things I think are important:

  • Choke points. If there are too many ways from between the spawns and objectives, it will just be a matter of the attackers eventually picking one that isn’t covered. If there are too few, it will be static and boring.

  • multiple routes. This ties in with the above. If you have two routes, it is often a good idea to have one shorter/more risky, and one longer/less risky. Spawns should always have a couple of exits, preferably such that they cannot both be covered by a single enemy.

  • Plan your fight zones. Give the attackers cover to prepare their attack, and the defenders places to set up defence.

  • Time between objectives / spawns. If you have a planned fight zone, you can make it even more likely that the fight will happen there by putting the both teams spawns an equal travel time to it. The space between the initial allies spawn and the flag on oasis, for example. Also, the space between the flag and the second axis spawn.

  • Smooth movement. Make your major routes big enough that a large group of players can move without running into each other, or the ceiling.

(ziege) #6

Yes! I was thinking about that while playing yesterday, on the Axis side for first time ever in Goldrush. Once near the bank, one of the spawn exits becomes almost completely unusable since ppl camp with panzers pointing straight at it. You can run the long way to the other exit, thankfully, but it’s time consuming.

Another problem was the spawn is outdoor, and well placed mortars kill everyone before they even get a chance to decide which exit they want to use. It’s annoying for the Axis, but in a strange way it helps them because the noob Allies have so much fun bombing your spawn they forget about the gold. Even so, having well-placed spawns will be something I’ll put a lot of thought into. You can also make ppl invulnerable at spawn for a few seconds, but I’d rather just play a better laid out map.

Also please don’t make any exits that are only about 64 wide, like when Allies spawn at the hut in Fuel-Dump. So annoying having to wait for 20+ other players to fit through the doors first.

(emPulse) #7

You need BETA testers. Thats how you get a map that people wanna play. Let some people or whole Clans you know/trust demo it, and tell them to be vicious about their comments, ask what they would change or want to see. Thats what Marko has been doing for Carnage2 and after playing it with people today their are few negative comments and alot of “Wow this is a nice map!” You can’t do it all yourself. Plus I think people get to focused on it when they attempt it all alone, when I used to rwrite music it would get really really bad, to the point of me deleting things i know were good but i was so damn tired of looking at it / listening to it that i was convinced it was crap.

my 2 centavos.

Chris

(Blockbuster) #8

i dont know if this is what you mean but:

if you want big battles you could make a big plaza with in the middle the objective and surrounded by places where axis and allies can hide and shoot from… most of the time this is fun and sometimes even ask teamplay (not that some players do teamplay cuz they feel like “the lone ranger”)

very basic… you could have like houses around the plaza or something

if you want battles on different places create the objective(s) and multiple ways to it like this:

also very basic… just to give you some idea

:slight_smile: help it helps… i always have troubles with my english and explaining

(SCDS_reyalP) #9

If people move as soon as the spawn, this isn’t too much of a problem, because you spawn invlunerable. People who dither in spawn should die. (assuming the exits are big enough that people don’t get jammed up on each other). An exception to this is battery, because you move more slowly in the water, you don’t have time to get out of the spawn area before the invuln wears off.

I’m not sure the spawnflag called ‘invulnerable’ actually does what you expect. In RTCW at least, you always spawn with 3 sec invulnerability, and that spawnflag actually did something else (related to auto spawnpoint selection). I haven’t tested it in ET.

Another point about smooth movement: Put your spawns far enough appart that you don’t get trapped if the people next to you are still loading the map, or just too dumb to move. There should be a player width between each spawn point.

(redfella) #10

You can select all brushes and paint them in a concrete-type texture if you need to test ure map\gameplay.

:eek3:

(Blackadder_NZ) #11

Yes! On the Radar map at the Axis forward spawn if you happen to spawn in the corner to the right of the flag and 2-3 players spawn and don’t move then it’s impossible to move…