Design Considerations for HLDM Part 3
by sulsa (view all articles)
unrated
Gamedesign theory for HLDM
by sulsa (view all articles)
unrated
Gamedesign theory for HLDM
DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS FOR DEATHMATCH MAPPING
Part 3
Promoting the 'active lifestyle'
Many players and subsequently many map reviewers and map designers subscribe to the idea that a map is good only if every nook and cranny are well lit, every room has multiple connections and every hallway is uncluttered and open. The reasoning is that if there is nowhere to hide, the game is constantly shifting and changing and remains dynamic and exciting. Quake and Quake II are the templates to this style of gameplay: Fast, Frantic and Fun.
When you begin a game of Halflife, your #1 priority instantly becomes BIGGER WEAPONRY. An intelligent map designer knows that collecting resources (weapons, powerups and health) is THE MAIN REASON for anybody to move from the point of their spawn.
Placing resources in a map is just as important as designing the physical world the player is in. The activity of collecting weapons and ammo and health makes the player want to go to different places. When you design a level, you need to be thinking of places to put those resources AS YOU BUILD. Lazy mappers create a level and sprinkle the items around as an afterthought, not caring or thinking about creating high or low traffic areas. At that point, the GAMEPLAY SUFFERS. All of a sudden you don?t need to climb up that crazy pile of crates to get the Gluon gun, it's sitting at your feet from the luck of a good spawn point. All of a sudden you are getting AR grenades rained down on you from someone who just happened to run down a hall littered with the things. All of a sudden you notice this guy ain't dying because there are batteries and health packs ALL OVER.
The strength of a weapon should be proportional to the aggravation in getting to it. That is: make the harder weapons harder to get. Making them harder to get also means putting LESS OF THEM in your map. Don't turn a sweet map into an RPG fest. Don't let the Tau Binders that everyone hates have an easy time getting to that thing. Make 'em WORK for it! Batteries and Health Packs are another item you use to promote game flow and player movement. The pick-ups are better in many ways than the actual wall chargers players need to use. On the other hand, the actual rechargers add a lot more to the environment than just some battery packs lying around. The fact that you have to stop and use them, be turned away from all the action and create a constant sound broadcasting exactly where you are, adds a HUGE amount to the tactical and strategic considerations of the level. Place them in clever and compromising places, and once again, your gameplay value has gone up.
Two conflicting ideas in weapon/item placement which both have their pros and cons is this: Do you place weapons where they would be well utilized as soon as you pick them up? Like the crossbow or RPG on an overhang outside, or on a catwalk in a huge room? Or do you put the RPG or Crossbow in a closet and the tripmines outside? Both approaches create the same thing: game flow, and it seems to be a matter of personal preference. Choose one approach and you run the risk of disappointing a player who has just made it to the top of a cliff, only to find grenades and a shotgun. Yet you have created the need to go and find a long distance weapon elsewhere in the level so you can return to the spot and use it as it was intended. Choose the other approach and you have rewarded a player for navigating a tough pile of crates or finding that hidden room containing a powerful weapon. At this point, if 'fast and frantic' is the theme of your map, you need an incentive to keep them moving.
Rise and shine campers!
For every player that loves to leap around a level with the jump pack or Tau gun bind, spewing ordnance at anything that moves, there are those that love the thrill of the hunt, the tension of stalking their prey and the godlike thrill of each and every ?perfect kill?. The player that goes for ratio and efficiency rather than body count is a legitimate player on the battlefield, but is frequently on the receiving end of "less than constructive" criticism on his methods of warfare. Here is where it needs to be reiterated that when you make a map, you make a map that you don't want to make. Not a 'hunter'? Don't put in many (or any) camping spots. Like the tension on a slow, deliberate stalking game? Make the map with larger, darker areas, so it takes longer to observe everything and look for snipers, thus slowing the game a bit. Just like anything in life, though, there needs to be balance. Don't try to satisfy everyone, just provide elements for all styles of gameplay, and your map will be well received by most players. Sniping/camping goes hand in hand with the concept of defendable areas discussed earlier. Don't let the camper get too comfortable though. He needs to get out and stretch his legs a bit replenishing his ammo and health. Don't give him a treasure trove of goodies to squat on the whole game.
Trick or Treat
The environmental variables of Halflife are one the reasons it has remained so popular for so long. The flexibility of the entities used in the game to produce the interactivity inside the game levels are astounding, and different effects and uses are continuously being imagined by mappers.
To go into the different traps and tricks capable of being created in Halflife is pointless. There are far too many possibilities to write an effective essay on them. If you do the research, put in the effort to learn all you can and use your imagination, you will come up with incredible effects that have not been done to this day.
Traps can almost always enhance your map. Causing the demise of another player through alternate methods can always be a crowd pleaser. Just remember: balance. Don't make the trap too powerful and don't make it a waste of time. A trap should create the desire to utilize it, but shouldn't let a player stand there, continuously setting it off.
Environmental effects, whether they are visual or audible, play a big role in completing the overall feel (ambience) of the map. It's easy to go overboard with effects. Continuously looping sounds get very annoying, very quickly. Flashing lights are almost always irritating, plus they can cut into the framerate of the game. Once again: BALANCE.
Baptism in blood
If you are just starting out as a mapper, you will lack familiarity with the tools used to create your maps. Because of this, it will take you longer to get to the finished product. As you get better and more comfortable with the controls and shortcuts of your tools, your speed and efficiency will improve. There is no way to say "This map should take you x months to make". That is unrealistic. Everyone works at their own pace and is at their own skill level. Just remember this:
THE FINAL PRODUCT IS A DIRECT REPRESENTATION OF YOUR SKILL, IMAGINATION, RESOURCEFULNESS AND DISCIPLINE.
What kind of image do you want to give to the thousands of Halflife players out there in the world, about yourself? The bottom line is this: TAKE THE TIME TO CREATE SOMETHING YOU ARE PROUD OF. How do you feel when you take a trip around some god-awful map someone made in an hour? Kind of insulting to the mapping community, isn't it?
Last on the list is play testing. Play test all you can, and don't be afraid to do major reconstructive surgery. Get all your buddies together and beat the piss out of each other (in your map). TEST EVERYTHING. Don't let the map reviewer find your mistakes. When you do run your tests, don't be afraid to tell your beta-testers to "do this" or "go there". Beta testing is a blast. People love to beta test too, so don't be afraid of emailing a server admin and ask if he would be interested in helping you out. Just make sure that:
a) The server is password protected.
b) Your map says somewhere in it that it is a BETA TEST.
c) Get the contact details of any many testers as you can for feedback and the future- Lep.
-Good luck!
This article is an amalgamation of thoughts and ideas, nothing more. I sincerely hope it has helped you in some way, perhaps making you think along different paths than you are accustomed to. Good luck in your level design. We are all looking forward to some good ol' wholesome fragging in your new map.
Part 3
Promoting the 'active lifestyle'
Many players and subsequently many map reviewers and map designers subscribe to the idea that a map is good only if every nook and cranny are well lit, every room has multiple connections and every hallway is uncluttered and open. The reasoning is that if there is nowhere to hide, the game is constantly shifting and changing and remains dynamic and exciting. Quake and Quake II are the templates to this style of gameplay: Fast, Frantic and Fun.
When you begin a game of Halflife, your #1 priority instantly becomes BIGGER WEAPONRY. An intelligent map designer knows that collecting resources (weapons, powerups and health) is THE MAIN REASON for anybody to move from the point of their spawn.
Placing resources in a map is just as important as designing the physical world the player is in. The activity of collecting weapons and ammo and health makes the player want to go to different places. When you design a level, you need to be thinking of places to put those resources AS YOU BUILD. Lazy mappers create a level and sprinkle the items around as an afterthought, not caring or thinking about creating high or low traffic areas. At that point, the GAMEPLAY SUFFERS. All of a sudden you don?t need to climb up that crazy pile of crates to get the Gluon gun, it's sitting at your feet from the luck of a good spawn point. All of a sudden you are getting AR grenades rained down on you from someone who just happened to run down a hall littered with the things. All of a sudden you notice this guy ain't dying because there are batteries and health packs ALL OVER.
The strength of a weapon should be proportional to the aggravation in getting to it. That is: make the harder weapons harder to get. Making them harder to get also means putting LESS OF THEM in your map. Don't turn a sweet map into an RPG fest. Don't let the Tau Binders that everyone hates have an easy time getting to that thing. Make 'em WORK for it! Batteries and Health Packs are another item you use to promote game flow and player movement. The pick-ups are better in many ways than the actual wall chargers players need to use. On the other hand, the actual rechargers add a lot more to the environment than just some battery packs lying around. The fact that you have to stop and use them, be turned away from all the action and create a constant sound broadcasting exactly where you are, adds a HUGE amount to the tactical and strategic considerations of the level. Place them in clever and compromising places, and once again, your gameplay value has gone up.
Two conflicting ideas in weapon/item placement which both have their pros and cons is this: Do you place weapons where they would be well utilized as soon as you pick them up? Like the crossbow or RPG on an overhang outside, or on a catwalk in a huge room? Or do you put the RPG or Crossbow in a closet and the tripmines outside? Both approaches create the same thing: game flow, and it seems to be a matter of personal preference. Choose one approach and you run the risk of disappointing a player who has just made it to the top of a cliff, only to find grenades and a shotgun. Yet you have created the need to go and find a long distance weapon elsewhere in the level so you can return to the spot and use it as it was intended. Choose the other approach and you have rewarded a player for navigating a tough pile of crates or finding that hidden room containing a powerful weapon. At this point, if 'fast and frantic' is the theme of your map, you need an incentive to keep them moving.
Rise and shine campers!
For every player that loves to leap around a level with the jump pack or Tau gun bind, spewing ordnance at anything that moves, there are those that love the thrill of the hunt, the tension of stalking their prey and the godlike thrill of each and every ?perfect kill?. The player that goes for ratio and efficiency rather than body count is a legitimate player on the battlefield, but is frequently on the receiving end of "less than constructive" criticism on his methods of warfare. Here is where it needs to be reiterated that when you make a map, you make a map that you don't want to make. Not a 'hunter'? Don't put in many (or any) camping spots. Like the tension on a slow, deliberate stalking game? Make the map with larger, darker areas, so it takes longer to observe everything and look for snipers, thus slowing the game a bit. Just like anything in life, though, there needs to be balance. Don't try to satisfy everyone, just provide elements for all styles of gameplay, and your map will be well received by most players. Sniping/camping goes hand in hand with the concept of defendable areas discussed earlier. Don't let the camper get too comfortable though. He needs to get out and stretch his legs a bit replenishing his ammo and health. Don't give him a treasure trove of goodies to squat on the whole game.
Trick or Treat
The environmental variables of Halflife are one the reasons it has remained so popular for so long. The flexibility of the entities used in the game to produce the interactivity inside the game levels are astounding, and different effects and uses are continuously being imagined by mappers.
To go into the different traps and tricks capable of being created in Halflife is pointless. There are far too many possibilities to write an effective essay on them. If you do the research, put in the effort to learn all you can and use your imagination, you will come up with incredible effects that have not been done to this day.
Traps can almost always enhance your map. Causing the demise of another player through alternate methods can always be a crowd pleaser. Just remember: balance. Don't make the trap too powerful and don't make it a waste of time. A trap should create the desire to utilize it, but shouldn't let a player stand there, continuously setting it off.
Environmental effects, whether they are visual or audible, play a big role in completing the overall feel (ambience) of the map. It's easy to go overboard with effects. Continuously looping sounds get very annoying, very quickly. Flashing lights are almost always irritating, plus they can cut into the framerate of the game. Once again: BALANCE.
Baptism in blood
If you are just starting out as a mapper, you will lack familiarity with the tools used to create your maps. Because of this, it will take you longer to get to the finished product. As you get better and more comfortable with the controls and shortcuts of your tools, your speed and efficiency will improve. There is no way to say "This map should take you x months to make". That is unrealistic. Everyone works at their own pace and is at their own skill level. Just remember this:
THE FINAL PRODUCT IS A DIRECT REPRESENTATION OF YOUR SKILL, IMAGINATION, RESOURCEFULNESS AND DISCIPLINE.
What kind of image do you want to give to the thousands of Halflife players out there in the world, about yourself? The bottom line is this: TAKE THE TIME TO CREATE SOMETHING YOU ARE PROUD OF. How do you feel when you take a trip around some god-awful map someone made in an hour? Kind of insulting to the mapping community, isn't it?
Last on the list is play testing. Play test all you can, and don't be afraid to do major reconstructive surgery. Get all your buddies together and beat the piss out of each other (in your map). TEST EVERYTHING. Don't let the map reviewer find your mistakes. When you do run your tests, don't be afraid to tell your beta-testers to "do this" or "go there". Beta testing is a blast. People love to beta test too, so don't be afraid of emailing a server admin and ask if he would be interested in helping you out. Just make sure that:
a) The server is password protected.
b) Your map says somewhere in it that it is a BETA TEST.
c) Get the contact details of any many testers as you can for feedback and the future- Lep.
-Good luck!
This article is an amalgamation of thoughts and ideas, nothing more. I sincerely hope it has helped you in some way, perhaps making you think along different paths than you are accustomed to. Good luck in your level design. We are all looking forward to some good ol' wholesome fragging in your new map.
