Do you Plan, or forge blindly?

Kind of a combination of the two. I start with whatever I'm inspired by, and try to let things grow out from there. After I've started building, I spend a lot of time playing around with different ideas on paper and in SketchUp, and put the map together bit by bit. Each time I build a new section of the map, I spend a few minutes running around it trying to get a feel for it and how it fits into the map, including movement options, and what areas I feel should be visible from where I am. Once I'm happy with my new addition, I go back to my notebook paper and SketchUp. It's a constant back-and-forth, and nothing is ever final until the whole thing is final. Makes for a long process, but I feel like the map benefits from it in the end.

 

Well my map ideas usually come to me at the weirdest times. Like at school or something. I picture a certain part of the map then another and so on. When I actually start forging, I make one of the parts Ithought about earlier. Then, just let the map flow. Sometimes smoothly. I regularly scrap ideas when I feel it doesn't fit what I'm trying to accomplish.

In short : I plan it out (for the most part)

 

a planned map is a happy map. too many maps are just random structures, and they generally suck. only planned maps will have ideal gameplay, unless you get some stroke of luck.

 

It depends, if its a proof or concept or a map Im not planning on spreading outside my friends I forge as I go. If I plan to spread it far and wide I use a piece of paper and plan it out.

 

Both. I start off with a vision of how I want the map to look like in my head. I then lay down the basic foundation, all while thinking of practical and balanced weapon and spawn placements (I don't add them yet), and as I continue, I add what's needed, then eventually, I add aesthetics, then weapon and spawn placements, and then I add final touches like additional aesthetics and soft/hard killzones.

 

I made a map which is good for 4 v 4 slayer and CT just by starting from a large walkway cover! The ideas just pop to mind!

 

I usually have a plan made in my mind when I start creating a map. Usually my maps change just a little as I get building and but for the most part I start my maps with a plan.

 

I gain all my ideas whilst walking or running around backwards or forwards. From there, the first thing I do is jot the idea on a graph pad and refine it. By this, I add to it and take away parts I see as clunky or create unbalanced gameplay. I also go onto ForgeWorld and see what terrain there is to support the map.

The creating stage is the final bit. I will only make minor adjustments to the map here and try to keep to plan. And if it looks poor by the end, it gets binned.

I went onto the life cycle of my maps there a bit But yes, every map is planned and I can visualise what parts will look like in my head.

 

I plan my maps. But as I build. I'll spend any amount of time on a specific section of a map, until I feel like it's just right. From there, I'll usually fly around the map a few times thinking of the best way to build off that to connect to the other parts of the map properly.

 

Same here. I also spend a lot of time walking around from section to section, imagining how the gameplay would be from where I'm standing/which way I'm walking/which team I'm on, etc. I literally put myself in the game, and sometimes I'll notice things like "the rocket shouldn't spawn here, it's too powerful", or "this is a bad spot to spawn", etc.

 

I'd say I plan on the fly. I start with a core idea that inspired the map and then I start either building a particular structure (maybe a base) or kind of marking off general areas I want things to be with big pieces. Then as I am putting the map together I will improvise some things (like changing design a little to affect lines of sight or available cover) and systematize others (like mirroring my initial base to make the map symmetrical or partly so).

I could never sit down and plan an entire map on paper, because that just isn't inspiring to me. But I also don't just lay a piece here and there and connect some ramps, and then call it a finished map. I guess I'm somewhere in between the two. But if someone was just to watch me over my shoulder, they'd probably assume I was improvising.

The map I am working on now though was actually mostly planned out, even drawing a crude mock-up in MS Paint just to visualize how things would fit together. It's a small map which is where I was stumped on using my usual methods - it still needs lots of passageways and has two levels, so I figured unless I planned it out it just wouldn't all fit into the space I have in mind.

 

Pretty much sums it up. If I'm making a symmetrical map, I mark my center first. and build out usually,

 

My most recent map is the only one i have ever done any form of solid planning. All the other maps i plan mentally, and therefore tend to make a ****-ton of changes while I'm forging them leaving them crippled and broken in a pile on the floor.

 

I plan.. A lot. I usually make a really rough and crappy version to get the framework in mind, then I delete it section by section and remake it. Usually I remake it about 3 times before it's actually done. Then after that I'll probably add new things once I start really looking at it.

 

I planned.... and then only made one map i planned. I've made almost 30 without a plan or a rough idea. I prefer letting my imagination go and not limit myself to things that might or might not work due to my abilities of forge.

 

Thus far my maps have all been spontaneous affairs. I'll sit around and play in Forge for hours sometimes just trying to see how pieces can fit together, and eventually something will catch fire. I haven't yet sat down and deliberately planned a map out.

I don't know if it's fair to say that building maps this way is just throwing pieces down randomly. Typically that might be how I start, but once I have some kind of idea what I'm doing, every piece is put somewhere for a purpose. I'll grant that I haven't been able to test them yet. It's entirely possible that there could be some massive flaws that I won't see until gameplay reveals them, but I think they should flow alright.

 

~THIS~
"If by "thinker" you mean a person whom sits idle sometimes for minutes at a time just staring at pieces. Or sometimes idly plays with 4 random pieces for a half hour. Or builds what most would equate to half a map, stare at it for an hour and a half and then delete all but two pieces to begin rebuilding. Then I'm your guy.

No seriously, I think a lot about my maps while I build them, but often play with pieces to figure out something cool before a wild idea will strike and then off I go running around forging like a wild maniac starving for forge budget and a capacity to consume all 10,000 dollars in a ravenous binge eating craze." -Quoted from another post of mine-

 

I plan, but only minimally and mentally.

My map (see signature) started with the circular "reactor" structure. I'd built something like it in another map (when I was attempting to remake Singularity's "Extermination") that never went anywhere, and liked it.

I also wanted to remake an old map from Halo 3 (that I once posted here), but without it being an overcomplicated piece of crap that was a bit too heavily balanced in the zombies' and Last Man's favor.

So my plan, then, was as follows:

• Infection.
• Non-respawning short-to-medium-range weapons.
• Small-ish -- try the Quarry.
• Circular aesthetic structure at its corner.
• Two floors.
• Minimum three entrances everywhere. No camping.
• Lots of cover for the infected.
• Make it look abandoned.

And everything else, I basically made up as I went along.

 

I normally plan a map. But I just love it when a purely awesome map just comes out of nowhere.