What are the main errors that have to be avoid?

It's hard to imagine the map you have with just a written description. If you want, I'm free right now and can check it out.

 

I'm not sure why everyone makes a drama about line of sights?

some problems that come to mind :

-lenghty paths. more like very long corridors with just an entry and an exit. it slows down the flow. (though, you hardly ever see them on forge maps it seems)

-campable areas. areas that give a noticeable avantage with no good possibility to counter.

-spawnkill. if spawns placement is bad, you can make sure to kill your opponents as soon as they spawn. basically, the spawns pattern is too predictable.

-dead ends. they can occasionnally work though, but most of the time they are either useless or campable.

I don't think having streets with huge line of sights is necessarily a problem, as long as you have access to covers and alternate paths. it can also force players to take risks when crossing the road.

 

weapon placement is also a huge part of the design

I know there are some guides here somewhere, but it is in the H3 section, dated, but still applicable

http://www.forgehub.com/forum/halo-3-forge-discussion/99658-weapons-theory-forging-tutorial.html

hope that helps

 

It might help if you are unsure on whether to make the map or not to make a sketch of it, and post it here:
http://www.forgehub.com/forum/halo-...your-map-sketches-here-give-get-critique.html

The Official Sketch-Up Thread. You'll get critique by some knowledgeable guys, and your map will surely be better for it.

 

Height variation. I can visualize the map you thought out. If all the streets were on slight inclines, with constantly changing height variation, then you shouldn't have a problem with extremely long sightlines. A good rule is that you should never be able to see from boundary to boundary on a map.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about long lines of sight. Since the DMR is so dominant in this game I think it would force people to rely on their individual shot as well as team shooting resulting in a faster paced, more competitive gameplay. There are already an abundance of maps that provide too much cover (hence why the boltshot is already being nerfed). Make something you like by seeing the idea you have in your head through. You can always tweak spawn settings and weapon placements to enhance gameplay.

 

I would highly advise reading Joel McDonald's Competitive Map Design Guide as a starting point in your endeavors. It touches on most of the major multiplayer level design concepts for first person shooters, in the context of Quake III Arena. Given that Halo is for the most part an arena shooter as well, the concepts themselves are still meaningful and very good to brush up on.

Halo 4, in particular, introduces a couple of changes to game mechanics that should impact design significantly enough to warrant mention. Sprint and instant respawn have upped the pace of the game by increasing the amount of ground players can cover in a given time, and as a result of this I've found that bigger spaces in general are needed to accommodate players. In your case, making a BTB map in Halo 4 requires that you include a fair bit more playable space than in Halo: Reach, and certainly a LOT more space than in Halo 3, when sprint didn't exist at all.

Hope that helps a bit!

 

People fuss about long lines of sight because they encourage cross map fighting which can lead to stale gameplay if there is no player movement,which long lines of sight can also encourage camping.(just my two-cents)

Agreed with the dead end, they bring gameplay to a complete halt.

Spawning: spawning is extremely important in a competitive map,learn as much as you can about it and get people for help if you need it.

Kill barriers: make sure you have them around the map and places you don't want people to go. Test it with jet pack ...ETC

Possibly the biggest thing is layout: narrow passageways everywhere are a big no-no
Try to come up with a neat original design, draw it out then post it in the map sketch thread there we will give you useful feedback on how you can alter it to make it flow better.

Weapon placement: also very important. Don't put two power weapons near each other and you should always lose something to gain a power weapon, which leads me to the next topic.

Risk vs reward: for every gain you make there should be some kind of loss. Look at some of the better maps here on forgehub. A power weapon is often in a spot lower then the rest of the map, or on a platform over a death pit.
For elevation increases your lines of sight could decrease or you can have less cover.
I'm sure you get it. Hope I helped a bit.

Stick around a bit and learn from your mistakes and the mistakes of others, you will learn A LOT about map design. I sure did.

 

I think weapons should be found where they give you the biggest advantage, but good positions should be countered by other positions just as good. though, the problem I see with halo is that power weapons are extremly deadly if you do that. but it could apply to lower tier weapons. for example, you are gonna put an eradicator in a cqc area and a dmr where there are long lines of sight.

I think the openness is more of a problem that long line of sights. if you place covers wisely, you can create flanking opportunities for CQC players while leaving long line of sights for snipers. I actually often have many long line sights crossing each others. it could be good to have an incentive to go through the center of the map also.

trickjumps is something I didn't have to worry about when making timesplitters maps. it seems many people here want their trickjumps. I was wondering :
-may it break a map, when it provides an additional path that wasn't planned by the mapper?
-isn't it likely to break the flow, since they are usually hard to perform, right?

 

Trick jumps should not be in replacement of a route (I learned that while making impurity) but they should give a tactile advantage to someone who uses them, for example getting to a place faster. If done right trick jumps can be great if done wrong, or too much they can detract.

 

There's nothing wrong with long lines of sight down a street so long as it's broken up by variations in height, and the ability to take alternate paths through the alleyways.

Think about risk and reward. Going through the streets could be the quickest and most direct path to the objective, but also put you in more danger since it's the domain of vehicles and very open. However, more labyrinthine paths through the alleys or buildings could be a more viable option for infantry, with more cover, however, they could take longer to traverse. Having walkways and bridges from building to building could break up line of sight and offer extra routes for infantry to take.

Look at Headlong from Halo 2 (or Breakneck in Reach), and you'll see that the Sword Building and the lift corridor down the side of the base were huge chokepoints. There are more direct routes like going from the bottom of the base, but it's very risky as there's little cover on the ground and you have to fight your way up to the flag which is a huge challenge.

Also try to make sure that no matter where you are, you can be shot or grenaded. Like standing on one side of a corner, maybe you can be shot from blue side, but when you turn the corner you can be shot from red.

 

Agreed, but I also think the opposite works slightly better and requires less emphasis on making a position risky. Obviously, if you place a sniper in an open location with versatile lines of sight, you can expect the player who retrieves to spend some amount of time there despite the risk. On the other hand, if you place a sniper in a closed location, you can expect the player to retrieve it, move to an alternate location with better lines of sight, and spend some amount of time there. In the end, either way would have the same result, but the latter has better chances of movement.

Regarding standard competitive designs, I personally think cross-map LoS are excellent aspects of design if utilized well. The option to view and shoot your opponent from a certain, singular position is one of the better methods used to incorporate long range encounters as well increased gameplay speed as you have more options in which to discover your opponents position. Of course, these positions can't be a bastioned home for players, but I think they are perfectly acceptable. The cross-map LoS you want to avoid are those around the outskirts of the design.

I would definately check out that link Debo posted. This is also a pretty good guide to read. Good luck with the map, man.

 

Basic things large maps for me any way are these:

1. No large open spaces with limited to no cover ex: a 4 way intersection with no barriers or slight height variation that makes it a flat kill zone

2. Use ramps or subtle drops in long streets to keep people from shooting all the way down a road use crates barriers or blocks to add cover.

3. Weapon placement that pits risk vs reward ex: a rocket or sniper on a perch with ramps up to each side with some cover that's across an intersection, itl add just enough open are to get killed but not enough cover at the power weapon to let someone camp it out.

4. Look at some of the better urban maps halo has provided across it's games Aka headlong, turf, terminal, even orbital they will show you how to break up the map with open Los but ample cover to provide fast paced gameplay.

5. Limit choke points no one likes a map where everyturn is confrontation plan your pathways with some being riskier than others focus choke points around your middle section.

6. Overall use height variation for your map use buildings with landings or walkways above street level to give the height dynamic. Ex turf does this well

if you start to forge and need help message me here or over xbl I'll be glad to assist.

 

it should be obvious, yet, I've seen it quite a lot on Far Cry 2 map.

also, details are good. too much details isn't. that's more of a problem on an editor like Far Cry 2, since Forge isn't very userfriendly when it comes to detailing. I've seen maps that were so littered with random details, that you couldn't make 2 steps without having to jump over some random crap. I've even played a map where you would literally fall in a hole and get stuck every time you took a step (I'm not exaggerrating) and don't ask me why, but for some reason, everyone else seemed to love it (??????????)

there is something I don't remember having read in any of the guides that were posted here, but another drawback of too much details is that it makes the map hard to read. when there is so much to analyze, it can become that much harder to immediately spot what is of interest (including other players, especially if they are immobiles)

timesplitters maps are an excellent example, they are all perfectly smooth, and there is just the right amount of details to give a strong theme to each map without hindering gameplay.