Mapping For TF
by SpiKeRs (view all articles)
unrated
A general guide, with a number of points to consider when mapping for Team Fortress and its variants.
by SpiKeRs (view all articles)
unrated
A general guide, with a number of points to consider when mapping for Team Fortress and its variants.
Introduction
This is a rewritten version of my article covering key points about Team Fortress. It is primarily written for Team Fortress Classic but much of it will apply to other versions for other games, including upcoming versions like Fortress Forever.
Cater For The Classes
In general terms your map should be viable for all of the classes and the only limits you should introduce should be because of the game-mode not because of faults in your map design. For instance, Hunted limits the classes because they would not be practical for the game-mode (think for a moment how different an experience Hunted would be with engies and demomen available).
Grenades
In a similar way, you should be very careful how you limit grenade supplies. They are an integral part of the game and a lot of classes rely on them (a scout without his concs would be an easy target).
Conversely, having free rein on grenades will encourage too much spam, which in TF is a big issue. Most maps adopt the policy of providing the classes with a limited number of grenades when they spawn and providing a slowly spawning gren supply pack so that people aren't maxing out their grenades all the time. If players want more grenades they either have to wait or go out of their way to find another supply (in 2Fort that would be going to another spawn room, in Well they would have to go up to the attic). Essentially its a matter of playtesting and judging the right levels. If you think its too spammy, change the time supplies appear for instance. If you constantly find yourself inconvenienced at your lack of grenades provide more supplies.
Respawn Rooms
The traditional approach is to have rooms for people to respawn in that are cut off from the outside (usually with doors or having them around corners where enemies can't look in), though there is always the potential for other innovative approaches.
Its important to have measures to avoid people entering other team?s respawns. The traditional way is to use turrets but make sure they don?t fire at people outside of the room for obvious reasons. Another approach is to have lasers across the entrance. Again, there is always the opportunity to think up your own measures. Respawn rooms are an often neglected area despite it being a good chance to use your imagination.
With regards respawn and resupply room placement, make sure defenders don?t have to go far out of their way to get resupplied but at the same time don?t have them too near to main action areas. It should be a risk for the player to have to leave his position to resupply but not one he can't recover from.
Balance
TF gameplay 99% of the time revolves aroud offence and defence principles. All the classes are generally speaking designed (though not tied down) to do one role or the other. There are some key principles to bear in mind to create this off/def balance.
Size/scale - If your map is too large (wide corridors and rooms for instance) then this becomes more beneficial for the offence as it gives them more room to maneuver round the defence. It makes fast classes like scouts and medics particularly effective too. If the map scale is too small then this will be advantageous to the def for the opposite reasons and caters more towards the likes of soldiers and demomen. A map that is too small and tight will also have the disadvantage of encouraging spam (and as mentioned previously you don't want to put limits on classes and grenades as a quick-fix to design problems in your map).
Choices - This follows similar principles to the above. If you have too many areas and routes around the map, this again caters for the offence as the defence can only cover so much. Likewise having too few areas makes it too easy to defend. It is important that whatever different routes you have in the map, they are suitably varied in how they can be approached. For instance, on Well you can enter the base through the front door, or you can go for a swim (you can even swim most of the way there from your own base if you wanted to). Basically, you should have enough routes around the map so that they can each be defended fairly and not have them all meeting up at the same place.
Height - The most effective way of catering to the defence is to add an element of height. A basic room is going to be difficult to defend one on one but if the defender is above the attacker on a platform it immediately becomes a defensive hotspot which balances the playing field. Mixing areas with height and areas that are on the same level is a good way of creating varied gameplay.
Whats Right: 2Fort
2fort is a very effective map and a good example to use. It provides the player with a variety of ways around the map, whether it be the bridge/water/conc-to-balcony or spiral/lift down to the basement. This gives the player choices which can all be approached in different ways. Going down the spiral is the basic way, while going down the lift is quicker but can leave you more exposed.
Note also that these routes go to different locations which means the defence have to be on their toes all the time to keep covering the different angles.
Whats Wrong: Dustbowl
Dustbowl is plagued by spam primarily as a result of basic problems in the def/off balance of the map. There are very few alternative routes around the map and those that exist don't pull the action in different directions. Its very much about the offense trying to bulldoze their way through because all routes lead to the same place. While arguably, there is nothing inherently wrong with this gamestyle (the likes of Avanti and Warpath also do a similar thing) gameplay wise it suffers as much of the time it ends up being a deadlock.
Furthermore the grenades policy is inconsistant and many would argue the supply is too generous which doesnt help with the spam levels in the map. They are there so that the defense has a chance of holding the offense back at the choke points. Otherwise, as Dustbowl is generally a large, open map the offense would have a comparatively easy time (note how when player numbers are low the offense has a easy time as there arent enough people to cover the choke points).
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This article (plus the original version, and others, can also be found on my website, Creating Worlds
This is a rewritten version of my article covering key points about Team Fortress. It is primarily written for Team Fortress Classic but much of it will apply to other versions for other games, including upcoming versions like Fortress Forever.
Cater For The Classes
In general terms your map should be viable for all of the classes and the only limits you should introduce should be because of the game-mode not because of faults in your map design. For instance, Hunted limits the classes because they would not be practical for the game-mode (think for a moment how different an experience Hunted would be with engies and demomen available).
Grenades
In a similar way, you should be very careful how you limit grenade supplies. They are an integral part of the game and a lot of classes rely on them (a scout without his concs would be an easy target).
Conversely, having free rein on grenades will encourage too much spam, which in TF is a big issue. Most maps adopt the policy of providing the classes with a limited number of grenades when they spawn and providing a slowly spawning gren supply pack so that people aren't maxing out their grenades all the time. If players want more grenades they either have to wait or go out of their way to find another supply (in 2Fort that would be going to another spawn room, in Well they would have to go up to the attic). Essentially its a matter of playtesting and judging the right levels. If you think its too spammy, change the time supplies appear for instance. If you constantly find yourself inconvenienced at your lack of grenades provide more supplies.
Respawn Rooms
The traditional approach is to have rooms for people to respawn in that are cut off from the outside (usually with doors or having them around corners where enemies can't look in), though there is always the potential for other innovative approaches.
Its important to have measures to avoid people entering other team?s respawns. The traditional way is to use turrets but make sure they don?t fire at people outside of the room for obvious reasons. Another approach is to have lasers across the entrance. Again, there is always the opportunity to think up your own measures. Respawn rooms are an often neglected area despite it being a good chance to use your imagination.
With regards respawn and resupply room placement, make sure defenders don?t have to go far out of their way to get resupplied but at the same time don?t have them too near to main action areas. It should be a risk for the player to have to leave his position to resupply but not one he can't recover from.
Balance
TF gameplay 99% of the time revolves aroud offence and defence principles. All the classes are generally speaking designed (though not tied down) to do one role or the other. There are some key principles to bear in mind to create this off/def balance.
Size/scale - If your map is too large (wide corridors and rooms for instance) then this becomes more beneficial for the offence as it gives them more room to maneuver round the defence. It makes fast classes like scouts and medics particularly effective too. If the map scale is too small then this will be advantageous to the def for the opposite reasons and caters more towards the likes of soldiers and demomen. A map that is too small and tight will also have the disadvantage of encouraging spam (and as mentioned previously you don't want to put limits on classes and grenades as a quick-fix to design problems in your map).
Choices - This follows similar principles to the above. If you have too many areas and routes around the map, this again caters for the offence as the defence can only cover so much. Likewise having too few areas makes it too easy to defend. It is important that whatever different routes you have in the map, they are suitably varied in how they can be approached. For instance, on Well you can enter the base through the front door, or you can go for a swim (you can even swim most of the way there from your own base if you wanted to). Basically, you should have enough routes around the map so that they can each be defended fairly and not have them all meeting up at the same place.
Height - The most effective way of catering to the defence is to add an element of height. A basic room is going to be difficult to defend one on one but if the defender is above the attacker on a platform it immediately becomes a defensive hotspot which balances the playing field. Mixing areas with height and areas that are on the same level is a good way of creating varied gameplay.
Whats Right: 2Fort
2fort is a very effective map and a good example to use. It provides the player with a variety of ways around the map, whether it be the bridge/water/conc-to-balcony or spiral/lift down to the basement. This gives the player choices which can all be approached in different ways. Going down the spiral is the basic way, while going down the lift is quicker but can leave you more exposed.
Note also that these routes go to different locations which means the defence have to be on their toes all the time to keep covering the different angles.
Whats Wrong: Dustbowl
Dustbowl is plagued by spam primarily as a result of basic problems in the def/off balance of the map. There are very few alternative routes around the map and those that exist don't pull the action in different directions. Its very much about the offense trying to bulldoze their way through because all routes lead to the same place. While arguably, there is nothing inherently wrong with this gamestyle (the likes of Avanti and Warpath also do a similar thing) gameplay wise it suffers as much of the time it ends up being a deadlock.
Furthermore the grenades policy is inconsistant and many would argue the supply is too generous which doesnt help with the spam levels in the map. They are there so that the defense has a chance of holding the offense back at the choke points. Otherwise, as Dustbowl is generally a large, open map the offense would have a comparatively easy time (note how when player numbers are low the offense has a easy time as there arent enough people to cover the choke points).
---
This article (plus the original version, and others, can also be found on my website, Creating Worlds
