Tutorial (WIP): Planning a Map

(Ifurita) #1

OK, maybe it’s just working the early stages of a new map

http://planetwolfenstein.com/4newbies/planning.htm

Planning a Map
“Mapping is like driving cross country. Sure, you can hop in your car and start driving, but if you sit down for 15 minutes with a map, you’ll get there a lot faster and probably see more interesting things.”

So, what does it take to make a great map? Well, given that I’ve made all of one map, I don’t know. However, I can offer up a couple of thoughts and principles that have helped me out. First, we make maps for two constituencies, yourself and the player community. Don’t lose sight of that. For you, the map should be a fulfilling project which was fun and something you can look back upon with pride. For the player community, it’s all about game play.

OK, so what should you be thinking about when you embark on your next project?

[b]Note:[b] This tutorial is focused on process tips to make mapping easier and is based on what has helped me plan maps better. Others may find other techniques to be more helpful. For detailed technical mapping help, you’ll have to look elsewhere.

  1. Sketch out your map and get ideas. Use Photoshop to make a height map then add objectives, spawn points, buildings on top of it using Powerpoint. Insert a legend and a quick overview of interesting points and get comments and suggestions prior to laying down the first brush.

  2. Consider the following points early in your map development - it’s much easier to get these planned right, up front, than to fix them mid-map:

  • Game flow. What are the objectives and how do you envision the game unfolding on your map? Play out in your mind how you think each team will game the map?
  • Connectivity. How will players be able to navigate your map? Will there be multiple routes? Will there be narrow chokepoints? Will routes display variety in terms of open vs. enclosed, low vs. high, and tight vs. open areas?
  • FPS and VIS. Think of your map in terms of enclosed rooms. Will you be able to segment off major areas from one another to prevent unnecessary drawing?
  • Character. What will set your map apart from the others? Will it be another beach attack clone or will it be something fresh and new?

  1. Develop the first cuts of your terrain, basic structures, and objectives/scripts separately. It’s faster this way and if you’re working with someone else, it will enable both parties to work in parallel. At least for me, this also helps me focus on specific areas and not get overwhelmed by the amount of stuff I have to do.

  2. Block out structural placeholders (e.g., buildings and hallways) with simple caulk blocks with standard dimensions. Save these all as a single prefab. This lets you develop a sense for how structures may be linked together. Also, as you make progress on your terrain, you can drop in the prefab to get a sense for how the two mesh together. If you make adjustments to structural placements, then re-select them all and save the selection as a new prefab. You can also take a first cut at your caulk hull and save this as a seperate prefab.

  3. Add entities and write your scripts in a separate test map. It’s easier to compile and easier to run through your objectives that it would be if everything existing in a full map. This also allows you to farm out the entity/scripting development to a mapping partner. Once your script is done, you can drop the entire contents of your test map into the working terrain box.

  4. While you probably want to think about details and eye candy in the early phases of your project, you may not want to start building in the detail until you are satisfied with the game flow and VIS properties. It’s a pain in the ass to spend hours putting in nice detail, only change everything because the map just didn’t flow right.

  5. Solicit feedback early and often. Give people a teaser of what you are planning and get their comments and suggetions. You may get a lot of wacky feedback, but you’ll also get some very good suggestions that are really easy to add in the early stages of a map, but much more difficult to add in later. If you’ve done the prep work right, you can actually circulate (to a limited audience) a fully playable and winnable map for people to run around in and test. This allows them to give you input on game play, game flow, and FPS performance.

Well, there you go. My thoughts for your first few days of mapping, going from an idea in your head to a testable, playable, and winnable map - complete enough for people to really start feeding you informed commentary, which will hopefully go a long ways to helping your publish an enjoyable, addictive map.

As always, comments and suggestions appreicated