Nasty's Tips on Good Map Design

I came across this over at the MLGpro website, and thought a lot of what Nasty could greatly benefit the community here. I feel that there has been far too much emphasis placed on geomerging objects just for the sake of doing so, and ends up doing nothing for the map's overall playability. Hopefully this can help some people get a better idea of how to create their map, and also to spark further debate/input on how to create a good competitive Halo 3 map.

P.S. For those of you who don't know who Nasty is or why you should listen to a word he says, go check out Narcosis. It was published back in February and puts most of the maps currently made to shame.

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1. Elevation Modulation - One of the most important things to remember when making a map. You always need variation in the Z axis. If you ever find yourself with a long, straight walkway or corridor, consider changing it to ramps up and down. If you can cut down the line of sight so that people aren't fighting from miles away, it's probably a good thing. Also think about platforms that are "looking out" at each other. If there's a line of sight between them, you'll probably want to put them at different Z heights. You want to make sure that your level is played in 3 dimensions, not 2. Make sure that your elements have some wrap-around. Wrap-around is when a path interacts with itself by ramping up or down, then circling back over itself. A great example is on Damnation. If you're at sniper by pipes, you can go up pink tunnel, circle upwards, and end up peering out on top of the pipe.

Also, one of the best things you can add to a map to increase skilled game-play is a ramp that is exposed on its lengthwise side. Shooting somebody whose strafe takes them both left-right AND up-down is much more difficult. An excellent example is standing in front of a base on Onslaught looking at somebody who is moving up towards top A or B. You've probably noticed how difficult that battle is, and it's not just because of the elevation.

As a final note, you should think about elevation in several ways. Firstly, you can use it to give one area a height advantage if you wish. As a corollary, you can use ramps to give one pathway an advantage by making them particularly hard to shoot at on one axis. Secondly, you can use elevation to break up lines of sight that are too long, or boring. Finally, you can use it as a general technique to make geometry more interesting by having wrap-around.



2. Walkway Continuity - One less recognized piece of making maps is consistency. In every map you will have tunnels, walkways, or paths that take you here and there. It is important that you keep these walkways smooth and uninterrupted. Nothing ruins the look, feel and flow of a map more than failing to do this. There are a number of don'ts here.

Don't make people jump. Let me re-iterate. Don't make people jump! It's bad map design. The only time you can break this rule is if you have a power-weapon or position that you want to make extremely dangerous. Examples are Chill Out's Rocket spawn and Wizard's top center. Outside of this type of conscious decision, the map should smoothly move up and down to where it needs to go. It will help you in the long run if you are forced to fit ramps between various areas, because it will likewise force you to keep good distance between your map elements. Don't lie dumpsters next to every box-height platform. A dumpster jump-up is by definition a piece of un-continuous walkway. If you want to let people up to a place, make a ramped walkway to it. People should be jumping from continuous element to continuous element in a perhaps unforeseen connection.

Keep the walking space the same. Remember, we're talking about walkways, not rooms. In a room, it's fine to condense the movable area as you move to the edges by adding doorways that channel people through. But if you have a walkway, which by definition connects you to different parts of the map, its width should stay constant. Don't randomly widen it and then contract it without good reason, because you create hiding spots and bad aesthetics. A strong width for a walkway is, conveniently, the width of a box. For a more treacherous walkspace, bridges are fine. Try not to modulate straight between these two widths, because the result looks sloppy. Let them each be their own surface that is continuous until it meets a larger area. A good example is on Mecro. Notice how the Rocket S Curve is bridge length, but garage (under window panels) has a box length walkway. To resolve, there is a much wider lookout hole that is wider than both.



3. Tight Corners - Tight turns and corners are a no-no. The most you should be doing is 90 degrees at a time, and if you are turning 90 degrees, it's preferable to do it with a bit of space around you and not in a tight corridor. One of the most frustrating areas in the game is from Snipe 1 of Guardian up to Snipe ramp. How many times has some infuriating melee battle occurred there? In general, soft turns should be used to keep people out of short range, the same way elevation is used to break long range. Lockdown and Midship do this well. We've already talked a bit about this before, by saying you shouldn't widen corridors without good reason. We'll talk about it much more in a second.



4. Chunky and Technical - The hardest concept to understand, the easiest to identify if you're experienced. Beyond all other pointers, if you can grasp this idea then it will guide your element design the best. The best existing forge that exemplifies this is Xyience (Flux). The best Bungie map that exemplifies this (indeed, the best Bungie map period) is Damnation. K, here we go.

When making a map and its elements, you want to keep the geometry either chunky or technical. What the hell does that mean? Let's break it down. We've said we want to avoid tight corners, and we want to keep walkways consistent. We've said we want good elevation modulation. We also want to keep things simple. Adding too many paths interacting makes it too confusing to play, and skill gets lost in confusion even for great players. When we say we want to make a map's geometry chunky, we refer to the ratios of its walkway widths and heights, the lines of sight, and the walkway continuity and elevation all at the same time. Essentially, we don't want random crap littered through the map.

Make maps, not clutter. There is no such thing as "adding cover" in the way that most people think about it. You can add cover in the sense that you can cut off lines of sight by walling something off, or making a window or railing. But adding cover to an open area should not be done. Your level is your cover. That's why we say that things should be chunky. Geometry should be substantial and looming. Its wrap-around should encompass your view and define your movement. It is not just some stuff in your way.

When your chunky map structure is made, with large pieces creating soft angles, elevation changes, and comfortable flat areas where you can catch your breath and look around, your next step is quite different but very subtle. The other half of making the map is the wispy technical pieces. This does NOT mean sticking signs in the ground, or blocking half of a walkway with a door. We already know the latter is wrong because it interrupts walkway continuity. When you're doing this, think about Damnation's central area which has narrow girders that connect the chunky top walkway and above shotgun areas. The wispy part of your map is what we're calling technical.

The technical pieces of your map should very rarely be open on one end. Almost always, they should connect a ceiling and a floor, or two adjacent platforms. Technical elements are so-called because they require highly technical play to use them correctly. The map cannot be totally covered or made from these elements, because as we said above, the player needs a breather. The general map structure should be simple but elegant. The pieces should strongly define where you can see and where you can't, and define where you must go to see certain parts of the map. Technical pieces are things like thin columns and narrow walkways. You can use them in high-risk or high-traffic areas to break things up and separate the men from the boys. A great situation for a BR fight is to be fighting around a pillar that is just barely wider than a player. This is why Warlock was a good 1v1 map - it had lots of technical fights because of all of the narrow columns. Think also (you guessed it) of Damnation. By angling yourself you can use the column as cover when the enemy fires, then open the FOV for your firing. Great players can put even good players to shame in this environment, and you get some amazing 1 on 1 battles this way. If the wispy elements are horizontal instead of vertical, they can act as a difficult walking surface. It should not be a common path that always needs to be used, but rather a place that if you could maneuver well, you could cause some damage. Think big window on Chill Out - easy to fall off, dangerous to be on, not necessary for flow, but delicately powerful when used correctly. A more current example is the columns used on Xyience, along with the two walls right above the OS spawn. A common area of battle using thin geometry. If you've ever played Zanno's Greenhouse, the courtyard makes great use of columns to make OS battles interesting.

 

I posted that here, too. A couple of months ago, in fact. I troll the MLG forums more than you realize, good sir. ;-)