Need Advice On Building My First Forge Map

Here is a link to guides: http://www.forgehub.com/threads/gameplay-and-level-design.142784/#post-1565170

Pretty much you should try to draw out a rough plan on a piece of paper, sketch-up, or whatever works for you and then lay it out in forge with simple blocks. Then from there try to improve and change the layout you came up with by scaling, testing routes, and sightlines. Gameplay is your priority and then once you are satisfied with the map layout you can start optimizing for aesthetics.

There is nothing wrong with going into a forge map and messing around with rough ideas too. That is how you grow more proficient with the forge tools and even learn new tricks and shortcuts.

 

First is too get an idea of what you want to build. Do you want towers, an enclosed base, a canyon? Drawing out a basic idea on paper will help do some basic visualization. As you forge more and get to memorize the scale of your pieces, this will come a LOT faster over time as you practice.

Next is to build your terrain. Use flats or floors to establish the desired size of your playing field, and it's good to go a bit over size you can add closure to the edges and still have the desired size. Then worry about hills and variation to height next.

Your structures come next. If you are placing power weapons, consider where you'd want them placed relative to the structures on the map. Also consider player size and locomotion. I find about 16-20 units in actual height to be good for hallways and small rooms per floor. Much larger atriums may require more.

Once all this is done and you are satisfied, respawn points and initial spawns as well as objectives go in. This makes sure your map is functional.

After your essentials are on the map, your excess budget goes toward lights, details, and scenery, basically the pretty stuff. Doing this before the essentials may result in budget shortage.

Some of the higher ups in Forgehub Probably have much more detailed knowledge and advice concerning this. This is a basic run down of my experience with map creation. As you practice with your pieces and tools you will likely get much faster at thinking and creating a map. Hope this helps!

 

I would start by thinking about the experience that you want to create. Going into the project have an idea of how many players, what gametypes, what type of play style, etc that you want to build for. The more specifics you have in mind now the faster things will come together later. (That said however don't feel locked into those specifics. Some great 4v4 maps came from people starting out making 2v2s )

Another suggestion would be once you have some goals, jump into forge and build something just using 3 or 4 different blocks. Be messy and be fast. Most developers call this a blockout and it lets you build without the restriction of worrying about visuals. You can use this step as much or little as you'd like. Some forgers often take the blockout phase so far as a playable version with all the spawning, weapons, and sightlines fine tuned to perfection.

Hope that helps and good luck! No doubt multiple people have probably posted something similar in the time it's taken me to type this

 

As far a scaling goes, the footprint for most of the disc maps is only slightly larger than the default 256x256 floor that is on each canvas. In general, you want your core pathways to be at least 24-32' wide. Avoid having too many 90 angles and too many really long straight pathways with no options for cover or escape. Clamber routes should generally be used as shortcuts instead of core pathways. These of course are guidelines, not absolute rules to map design.

Oh, and the Halo 2 BR does not need to be on every single map.

 

Most of this is stuff I've learned from better designers:

Begin with the experience. How do you want players to play on your map? What do you want them to see? What kind of gameplay would be interesting ?

Look at the maps you enjoy playing. What is it that you like about them? What would you do differently? How are the structures and the environment on this map designed? How did the designer move players around the map?

Ask yourself what kind of environment do you want to create? Is it a moon base, or an alien cathedral? Keeping a theme in your mind loosely while you decide what kind of map to make will help to focus your vision and develop interesting areas you might find therein. And don't just limit yourself to Halo environments. Branching out lets you explore your creativity and work outside of the constraints of what people expect your map to look like.

Grab a sketchpad and draw out some flow. You don't need to make a blueprint or anything elaborate. Just draw some arrows and then stop players at a certain point, and then draw a box around that. Then ask yourself what kind of visual or sightline you would see from that position. Direct your players towards an area on the map, and then redirect them towards another area. How do you want them to move?

What player count do you want the map to be geared towards? This will determine how much playspace you have on the map.

Pick two objective gametypes that you want your map to play. Everything has to play Slayer, but the others are up for grabs. Do you want a CTF map? Focus on tight and predictable paths, a foward positioned flag and spawns parallel to it. Do you want a King of the Hill or Strongholds map? Create something with round flow, multiple vertical levels and clean sightlines. It's important to think of the gametypes sooner than later so you don't have to shoehorn them into a flawed design. I'd also advise that you avoid 2-way symmetric maps if you don't want to play CTF or Assault. A symmetric map that isn't designed to play symmetric gametypes will need to play asymmetrically, either vertically or parallel to your initial spawns, or rotationally symmetric to maintain balance in asymmetric gametypes. Otherwise your spawns will be too predictable.

Pick a few objects to scale your map with. One for the floors, one for the width of the walls, one for the height of ceilings, etc. Maintain this throughout the map to keep your proportions consistent and develop a pattern that will allow you to rebuild the map if necessary. Avoid making walls and floors too thin; beefier and bulkier structures make the map more grounded and give it a good sense of scale.

Be mindful of how long it takes to move from one area of the map to another. Avoid unnecessarily long travel times, especially along extreme flat distances.

Add some dynamic gameplay to your map by putting players above other players. Take care however to introduce some interaction between these levels, otherwise your map will be too segmented. With radar on, players will also be encouraged to crouch when a player is above or below them, which will slow the gameplay down.

If you're building a BTB map, strive to allow vehicles and infantry to interact with one another. Warthogs should have angles to shoot players on higher elevations. Vehicles also need to be able to drive around the map in a comfortable circle or figure 8 shape, or otherwise have plenty of space to make a U turn.

When you have an idea in mind, start thinking about the weapons you want on the map. This can always change as playtesting goes, but it's good to keep them in mind while you're designing the geometry of the map. If you're building a 2v2 map, you should avoid certain pick ups like melee weapons that would promote camping, and the anti vehicle weapons that would diminish strategic gameplay. Powerups are generally placed in contestable places you wouldn't want to be normally, whereas power weapons are placed in areas that are risky and/or not the best place to use them (e.g. a shotgun in a hallway).

Keep an eye on spawning locations. Triangulate your spawn hives so that if two players are spread out around the map, you can spawn at the third position safely. Halo 5's spawning system will always spawn players at the furthest possible most positive spawn point from the most negative one. Spawns don't necessarily need to be behind cover, but you should have several options off of your spawn.

The age old saying "less is more" is an important aspect of level design. Be sure that your geometry does not impede a player's movement or visibility, especially when discerning what areas of the map they can go to. Reduce the map to its simplest components and see if it can still work.

Once you get to this point, you should end up with an initial draft of your map. Whether it looks like a bunch of blocks or has some art assets on it, you'll want to start thinking about playtesting it. Playing on your map will help you understand what you created and inform your decision on where to go with your map from thereon. You'll learn whether it was the kind of map you wanted to make or not, and if it is worth pursuing further.

All of these are guidelines that can be bent or broken once you understand why they work to begin with. The most important thing you should know as a designer is to be flexible. Be open to changing your design either based on feedback or new ideas, and build it in a way that makes it malleable so that you are not wasting time correcting small mistakes. Coinciding with this will be your ability to detatch yourself from the design and look at it objectively. Sometimes, the thing you wanted on the map most is what was holding it back. There will be moments when you realize that certain ideas just don't work well together and you will need to start over or put it on the backburner and revisit it later with fresh ideas.

Beyond this, remember that you are designing because you enjoy it. Don't work on something you no longer enjoy making, and don't build for anyone but yourself. Make maps that you would like to play on and then make changes that make it accessible to more people without alienating you or compromising your original vision. Everyone will have different opinions on how it looks and plays, but as long as your vision shines through, they may be able to find some of it in there for themselves.

 

This is some great advice, thanks man, some of us have a lot to learn and this helps a lot. Even though I can draw and create stuff on paper, I never did this for forge. Most of the time I start doodling in forge and the map creates itself from that. I don't come up with an idea or a theme at first. Mostly that is. Sometimes I have an idea and then I just start. There is a huge gap between us forge noobs and the settled community here and you guys really try to improve it all. Kudos. I know I will get better keeping posts like this in mind.