Here at Forgehub, we don't have nearly enough content on the theory and design of maps. We've got pages and pages of threads all about how to stick things in places that they don't usually go, but we've got next to nothing about whether it is a good idea to put them there. Interlocking and geomerging and floating and switches and everything else we have here are entirely worthless if a map is not designed well from the start. This thread will be the definitive thread, the place to go to reference what makes a map good. The place to ask questions about what works and what doesn't. This thread is not the place to ask how to geomerge, or how to build a ramp, or anything else related to the actual construction process. Anything you find here is information intended to help you before you even turn on your 360. This thread ideally should be a collaborative effort, rather than just my thoughts. I'm going to write up my own guides on various subjects, and then leave the thread open to questions and open for anyone else to write up something of their own. If your writing is better than mine, or you've added something I didn't even cover, or you have a different and valid point of view to offer, I'll copy-paste it here with credit given. Otherwise, I'll just link it if it is redundant. My writing is biased towards team games, since I don't like FFAs, so if you have any good advice on making a map play FFA well, please contribute and you'll probably get quoted. Feel free to ask questions about anything design related, or to contribute your own knowledge. If you write something good I'll either quote it in the OP, or I'll link it under useful links. [aname=TOC]Table of Contents[/aname] [jumpto=1]1: Your Idea[/jumpto] [jumpto=2]2: Overall Map Styles[/jumpto] [jumpto=2a]___2a: Simple Symemtric[/jumpto] [jumpto=2b]___2b: U-shaped[/jumpto] [jumpto=2c]___2c: Circular[/jumpto] [jumpto=2d]___2d: Asymmetric[/jumpto] [jumpto=3]3: Lines of Sight and Cover[/jumpto] [jumpto=4]4: Map Flow and Movement[/jumpto] [jumpto=4a]___4a: Goals[/jumpto] [jumpto=5]5: Strength and Weakness[/jumpto] [jumpto=5a]___5a: The Countering Principle[/jumpto] [jumpto=6]6: SPAWNS![/jumpto] [jumpto=6a]___6a: Spawn Mechanics[/jumpto] [jumpto=6b]___6b: Clustering Spawns[/jumpto] [jumpto=6c]___6c: Where and How to Place Spawns[/jumpto] [jumpto=6d]___6d: Respawn Areas[/jumpto] ~PAGE 2~ Page 2 TOC: 7: Weapons and Equipment ___7a: Building for Specific Weapons/Equipment Other great design resources. Coming Soon [aname=1]1[/aname]: Your Idea Every map begins as a vague, half-formed idea floating in somebody's head. The best thing you can do is to sketch out that idea on paper ASAP. Get something tangible that you can look at and picture it in your mind as a fully functioning map or map section. Really think about playing a game on that idea, and don't assume your enemies are beginners. Imagine how the best players in the game would use that space. Think about it from all points of view, both from the PoV of controlling and defending a position and being outside of it and trying to dislodge a team from it. You're trying to see if any tactic would be obviously overpowered there, or if some part is underpowered and perhaps not worth using as it is. If nothing jumps out at you as being imbalanced, then you've got the beginnings of a map on your hands. Here's what Fritzster has to say about coming up with ideas Useful Links: The Ultimate Sandbox Sketchup Template -- Use your computer to build the entire map before you fire up the 360. Not everyone likes it, but it is extremely helpful to be able to zoom in and fly around your map before you put in the hours of work in forge. Good ol' pen and paper works fine, but this is the most accurate you can get before you turn on the xbox. [jumpto=TOC]Table of Contents[/jumpto] [aname=2]2[/aname]: Overall Map Styles There are a few basic tried-and-true map shapes that work well. You've got the Simple Symmetric, U-shaped, Circular, and of course, asymmetric(though this can still resemble the others). [aname=2a]2a[/aname]: Simple Symemtric This one is the easiest, thanks to Sandbox and Foundry providing handy rectangular rooms to work with. Everyone is familiar with this shape, it is the simple one base at each end, with other structures in between. It plays flag and assault well because by its very nature each side is balanced evenly. Balanced doesn't mean good though. You can fall into a trap of leaving the sides so weak or the center so strong that the gameplay never leaves the center. Whichever team gains control of it would never have to leave and go into the enemy base. Alternately, you might leave the center so weak or the bases so strong that neither team wants to leave their own base outside of Objective games. There are several easy ways to fix this in your map though: 1. Distribute power weapons far apart. Don't give the base a sword and a shotgun, and don't give the middle the snipers and the rockets. Equipment as well, don't give powerful positions equipment to help them defend(regenerator, bubble shield). 2. If the middle is able to spawn camp in Slayer games, consider making all spawns neutral(Narrows) instead of keeping each team to one side(The Pit). The upside of neutral spawns is that you can never be certain where the other team is spawning, since there are twice as many possibilities, but the downside is that the game might just spawn players too far from the action and it could get boring. 3. Play Objective games! Objectives are by themselves incentive to move, so players have to get out of their chosen spot if they want to win. 4. If something is too powerful, either weaken it or beef up something else. As a quick note, I will mention inverse-symmetric and rotational symmetric as well. These are maps where each side is not a mirror of another side, but rather it each side is the mirror of the other, but flipped. Standing at either base, what is on your left is the same, unlike a mirror image where one base's left side is the other base's right side. Default Sandbox is an inverse symmetric, the chopper is always on the left and the warthog on the right. [aname=2b]2b[/aname]: U-shaped The shape of Avalanche and of Orbital. It is no accident that this shape plays one-sided objective so well, because it offers the defending team several positions to defend. First is the initial clash in the center, then inside the base itself. Two sided works nicely as well. A good U-Shape should offer multiple routes from base to base. These paths need to offer meaningful gameplay differences, or else teams will use the same one every time and your map will get boring. Avalanche pulls this off quite well, it offers three main routes: the long vehicle path, the "keyhole" footpath, and the more stealthy teleporter route. Your map should attempt to match that level of difference between the choices. Use the fact that the inner edge of the U is shorter than the outer edge to your advantage here. Perhaps make the short inner edge exposed to fire from either base, and make the longer outer edge really hard to shoot at from a distance. [aname=2c]2c[/aname]: Circular The circular style map doesn't necessarily have to be a circle, but the flow of the map should behave as if it were. Most if not all spawns should be along the outer ring of the map, and the middle should be more of a place to pass through than to control. Circular maps in Halo 3 obviously includes Assembly, but there are several other great ones you might not have considered. Guardian, for example, most of its spawns are on the outer 4 areas, and gameplay always moves counter-clockwise due to the lift system pointing that way. Crossing top mid alone is asking for death, and bottom mid as well if you're caught down there. Circles play oddball extremely well, because it offers three options to the ball carrier at all times. Move clockwise, move counter-clockwise, or get rid of the ball. Getting rid of the ball does not have to mean throwing it off the map, it can mean taking it towards the middle of the map, where it is hard for anyone grabbing it to get a significant chunk of time without being shot. Anyone familiar with MLG Lockdown knows what I'm talking about, you can throw the ball bottom mid and your team will be able to place shots on it upon respawn. Circles can be built as simple symmetric maps as well(Assembly), so don't rule out mixing categories. Asymmetric is fun though, if you can get it right. [aname=2d]2d[/aname]: Asymmetric Asymmetric maps are a category I'm sure most are familiar with. They're just the maps where everything is different from everything else. Everyone will have their own opinions as to which position is the best, and as a map designer you need to offer at least two locations that could be argued are the best. The tricks to making sure nothing is overpowered on an Asymmetric map would be too long to simply list here. Use the information found in the rest of this guide, particularly 5: Strength and Weakness, and 5a: The Countering Principle, to balance your map. The one kind of Asymmetric that I will go into detail on is the one-sided objective map, or one-base map. High Ground and Last Resort being the biggest examples, but Utah Mambo is quickly becoming just as familiar to those who enjoy Team Mythic or Team Objective. The one-base map's main feature is the base, so that is what I will discuss. Basically the base's outer edge needs to be swiss cheese. Mostly solid, but with multiple points of entry in varied locations. Gravity lifts combined with not-too-high walls make an excellent gameplay device to create additional points of entry. Remember that the base can be very powerful, it should be a challenge to breach it, and remember that when it is breached, likely the defenders will spawn between their base and the attackers' capture point. And be very wary of placing power weapons inside bases. [jumpto=TOC]Table of Contents[/jumpto] [aname=3]3[/aname]: Lines of Sight and Cover Lets start with definitions. Line of sight is exactly what it sounds like, it is a line from one point to another so that each point is visible to the other. Cover is anywhere a player can move to break LOS with their attacker. Lazy cover is that single wall, or that barrier, or anything else you just plopped down because you wanted to add cover. A map with good LOS and cover should: Have a variety of LOS ranges. Make no position invulnerable. No shotgun camping position or sniper perch should be overly difficult to grenade, as the grenade is the primary camper-stopper in Halo. Promote movement. Players should feel that they can move around the map without simply dying instantly. Offer ways to escape. The Pit is a great example, because no matter where you are you usually have a way to leave. Bad LOS: Makes everything a BR/Sniper battle. Believe it or not, offering opportunities for AR use is a good thing. Makes the BR/Sniper useless. See above. If your map is so close ranged that beatdowns and grenades become the tool of destruction of everyone, you've got a design problem. Promotes spawn killing. If a large chunk of respawn points are visible from any one position on the map, you have a problem. More on respawns later. Consists mostly of lazy cover placed around the map where the map maker felt like putting something in. But Uncle Ladnil, how do I balance all of these things in one map? Very good question! The best way to do it is to build solid structures and to avoid lazy cover almost entirely. Lazy cover offers no escape, and does not even truly break LOS because it by definition is so small you can walk around it or stand on top of it and have full LOS as if it weren't there. Building actual structures instead of placing cover does a few things: A structure is large enough that it really severs LOS across the map, and you have to actually walk past it or through it to shoot the other side. It changes elevation. Height changes block LOS from bottom to top and vice versa. Just plain makes the map look and feel like a real map, instead of just a collection of blocks and walls. The various corners and geometry of the structure provide the cover, rather than having to drop extra walls in. Conduction is an excellent example of good LOS and cover. The only lazy cover he placed is the columns, and those are all placed around other columns so they feel more like a part of the map than just a column placed to hide behind. The height changes are perfect as well. The high ground cannot dominate the whole map, because the lower sections are all blocked by the floors. The whole map is one big structure, rather than just cover placed in the Crypt. Also look at Narrows, the arch of the bridge breaks LOS beautifully, and it uses lazy cover to good effect with the various barriers along the length of the bridge. Useful Links: Transactionzero's Tester's Guild map feedback terminology. -- This is the stuff that the Tester's guild is supposed to judge your map on, and it covers LOS and cover is good detail. [jumpto=TOC]Table of Contents[/jumpto] [aname=4]4[/aname]: Map Flow and Movement Again, we'll begin with definitions. Flow is how players tend to move around the map, and how quckly/easily they do it. Tactical jumps are jumps that aren't required to get from one point to another, but will get you there quicker at the cost of a little effort. Moving around the map should be simple and intuitive. A player brand new to Halo should be able to pick up a controller and immediately be able to figure out how to get to anywhere from anywhere at minimal effort. You have to reward some map knowledge though, so don't be afraid to leave in those tactical jumps. Basically, a beginner should immediately have a sense of where to go and how to get there when they first see something. Avoid dead ends as well, with very few exceptions. Not only do they create instant camper's heavens, players new to the map will walk down them and get confused. Teleporters are not always the best idea either, as they can disorient players who aren't already intimately familiar with the map. Think Cold Storage, how many times did you have to play it before you figured out which sender node connected to which receiver? I know I still don't have that figured out. Ramps are essential for map flow and movement. Ramps allow you to walk instead of jump to change elevation, and they provide more interesting height variation for gunfights, as well as 'nade points to land a grenade at the top of the ramp. Jumping should be a bonus, not a requirement to get somewhere. Basically, if there's a spot on your map that you couldn't drive to on a ghost, you better have a damn good reason for it. Now, this all doesn't mean you need a direct ramp from everywhere to everywhere else. Where you can and cannot move are just as important to gameplay as LOS is with where you can and cannot see. Just as a map that is too open has too much LOS, your map can have too open flow. Limiting movement but allowing LOS via gaps in the floor, windows, or un-jumpable platforms can create interesting gameplay features, but you have to be careful to keep it balanced. Controlling map flow is a tricky concept. Players will always gravitate towards their goals, whether those goals are other players, power weapons, or objectives. Using that knowledge, you can manipulate where players go and how they get there. Try to position power weapons in obvious spots like the top-mid or bottom-mid of your map, but keep them out of power positions like towers. Place a very strong weapon like rockets in a low traffic area and you'll draw players to that spot, thus drastically changing the map flow. Flow can be restrited in one direction via: grav lifts, one way teleporters, or jumps from high points to low. ___[aname=4a]4a[/aname]: Goals Tester's guild staff member What's A Scope? had this to say about goals on your map. To recap, a map with good flow and movement design: Makes it easy to see how to get to anywhere from anywhere. Encourages players to move all over the map via power positions and weapon placement. Can be driven entirely on a ghost(mongoose can't get up wedge, large ). Cynosure is a great example of perfect map flow. Everywhere you go, there are ramps to take, with a few jump possibilities as well. The power weapons are spread evenly, to promote movement, and it is very easy to tell how to get anywhere. Useful Links: Transactionzero's Tester's Guild map feedback terminology. -- Again, this is a great guide to what the tester's guild looks for when judging a map. It covers flow and RvR(which I'll get to later, but influences flow) really well. [jumpto=TOC]Table of Contents[/jumpto] [aname=5]5[/aname]: Strength and Weakness Sometimes a position is too strong and gets abused so much that an otherwise good map completely breaks down. Sometimes the opposite happens, and a significant portion of the map is completely ignored because there's no reason to use it. Both situations can really cause a map to break down. The power of a location is determined by a few things: Cover/LOS(as I outlined above, these are directly related). Access points. Less access is a stronger position. Access to weapons/equipment. Elevation. Lower points are able to be shot from everywhere above, and the above points have access in, but the low point often lacks ways out. Overall, the determining factor is Risk vs. Reward. Reward >> Risk means the area is overpowered, and Risk >> Reward means it is underpowered, pretty simple. Accounting for that inequality, the easiest way to balance the two is to adjust the risk side. Add more cover to underpowered locations, and reduce the height or the cover for overpowered ones. Sometimes simply adjusting the risk is the best way to balance a spot, but I think the more interesting way to fix them is to adjust the reward. A spot has too much LOS and cover? Don't get rid of its cover completely, cut down its LOS. Check out the sniper towers on The Pit. Clearly very powerful positions, but what is their LOS like? That's right, there's a bunch of big ass walls and structures blocking at least half the map from view. Just about the only places you have a clean shot on with little cover provided is the sword room bridge, and your own side's flag platform. A place is campable? Give it handy dandy grenade windows or open it wide to increase risk. Or better yet, make it completely avoidable so that camping it offers little reward. Few ways in, but important? This is one of the situations where I think adjusting risk is probably better. Add a third way in if you can do so without screwing everything else up. But if that fails, just move whatever was important about that spot. A weak position has no incentive to be there in the first place? Give it some incentive. Think Standoff Laser spawn, that middle is probably the worst possible place to be on foot on that map, and yet you have to go there to get the most powerful weapon on the map. If it's weak because it slows you down or makes you jump too much, build a ramp or delete and rebuild the whole thing. Just generally the most defensible/powerful position on the map? This one's my favorite. Don't make any changes at all to that powerful section. Instead, beef up something else to match it. Which brings me to my next topic: [aname=5a]___5a[/aname]: The Countering Principle Every position of power needs a counter. Look at Lockout/Blackout. BR tower is clearly a very powerful spot, good LOS, few ways in, solid cover from its railings and height, easy to drop down from mid to bottom. How in the world could that spot not dominate the whole map? Sniper side, that's how. Sniper has decent LOS on top BR, as well as the power weapon which BR lacks, and cover of its own. Same for sword/shotty, they're balanced opposite each other. Each position is counterbalanced by a corresponding power position opposite it, and yet the map is asymmetric. You need to do the same with your asymmetrics, but also with your symmetrics. If the middle is too strong, beef up the bases before you decide to castrate the middle. A symmetric map can't just say that since each base is very powerful, they counterbalance each other and the map is balanced though. That can lead to boring gameplay where neither team is willing to leave their base, and if they do leave they die in the middle. A good strategy is to simply cut off LOS base-to-base with a good center structure so that the bases don't directly interact. That's what Valhalla and The Pit do, they each have very interesting and fairly strong center lines, so that camping inside the base is not going to be a successful strategy. The middle balances each base, rather than just assuming that the base counters the other base. Alternately, instead of balancing power positions with countering power positions, you may simply remove some of the power from that spot by cutting its LOS, its cover, its access to weapons, or its elevation. Omni is a great example of a center line that balances the power positions inside the base, and cuts LOS base-to-base. The sniper towers inside the base are balanced by the fact that they lack LOS into the opposing base, as well as they can be shot from both sides. Check out this map if you want to see how power positions and bases are balanced. Useful Links: [jumpto=TOC]Table of Contents[/jumpto] [aname=6]6[/aname]: SPAWNS! What can be said about respawns that hasn't already been said? People have taken the spawn system and broken it down and tried to come to a full understanding of how it works precisely, and still nobody is quite sure what it takes to make it work perfectly. I read someone say once that a respawn system is 50% common sense, 25% knowledge, and 25% luck. I think that sounds about right. [aname=6a]___6a[/aname]: Spawn Mechanics As a map maker, here's the most basic stuff you need to know about the functions of respawn points, starting points, respawn zones, and spawn influence. You can go into much, much greater detail with them but this is a basic guide I'm writing here. Respawn points: Are where players respawn upon dying. Have invisible respawn areas around them, roughly a double box radius. Starting points: Are where the assigned team spawns at the beginning of a game. Influence nearby respawn points to act as starting spawns. Bungie maps use this principle, and generally only have one starting point per team, per gametype. Respawn areas: Apply their team setting to all neutral points within them. No team besides the assigned team will ever respawn in that area. Neutral allows either team. Apply all influence to every point within them, no matter how far away. This means if you recently died within a respawn area, you won't respawn at a respawn point anywhere within that particular respawn area if possible. Most Bungie maps include just two respawn areas, one set for each team covering their entire half of the map excluding neutral spawns. Spawn influence: The respawn zone with the highest influence is where players will spawn. Teammates have a positive influence. Enemies have a negative influence. Unexploded grenades have a weak influence. Yes, unexploded grenades anywhere within the respawn zone influence the whole zone. Enemies looking at the location has a very weak negative influence. If two locations have equal influence otherwise, you will spawn at the one with less enemies looking directly at it. Recent deaths of teammates has the strongest negative influence, and the influence lasts roughly 20 seconds beyond the death. If you find yourself spawning on enemy players, it is likely because every other area is blocked by either more enemy players, or deaths within the last 20 seconds. [aname=6b]___6b[/aname]: Clustering Spawns Note the aforementioned invisible respawn area around each respawn point. This means that you don't necessarily need respawn areas on your map at all, and opposing teams still usually won't spawn within about a double box length of each other. Check out Guardian to see what I mean, not a single respawn area on that map. Using this invisible respawn area, you can cluster your spawns, and usually avoid spawning on enemy players. Place all respawn points in a cluster less than a double box in length, and players standing on any of the points in that cluster will influence all of them against the other team and for their team. A compact cluster is better, so that players have some time to run forward before they unblock any of the spawns behind them. Leave some elbow room though. [aname=6c]___6c[/aname]: Where and How to Place Spawns Now that you know how to cluster up spawns to take advantage of their invisible respawn areas, you need to know where to put them. Generally, a spawn cluster should be in or around a structure that offers cover. You don't want players spawning out in no-man's land, and having nowhere to go when they start getting shot at. This doesn't mean you always spawn people behind walls or inside tunnels or anything though, just that they should be able to quickly reach cover if they need to. If your map's LOS is balanced well, good respawn locations should not be hard to find, and you normally shouldn't have to build something extra just to protect your spawns. Placing spawn clusters in varied locations all over your map is very important. One and two base maps should offer multiple potential spawn locations at the base ends of the map, at the very least inside the base, and to either side. Additionally, neutral respawn areas(Sword on The Pit, helipads on Standoff) between the two bases provide a safe place for the game to spawn a team whose base has been overrun rather than continuing to spawn them in and around an enemy-occupied area. Asymmetric maps should simply spread the spawn clusters over the whole map, but still in appropriate locations. Be careful with the number of spawns you place in any location as well. For example, if Guardian had 10 respawn points in the yellow room, and only two in green, guess where people will more likely spawn? Keeping the number of respawn points somewhat even keeps spawns less predictable, which is a good thing. On the other hand, if you wanted players to spawn inside their base more often than the neutral spawn area, placing very few neutral spawn points helps. As for spawn orientation, here's what Shishka had to say when helping our own Cosmic Rick with spawns on Utah Mambo. Emphasis mine. [aname=6d]___6d[/aname]: Respawn Areas I admit, I'm no master of respawn areas, so this would be a good category for someone else's sage wisdom to be quoted. Usually I simply opt not to use any at all, which has worked out fine so far. Where I do use respawn areas, I've done so simply to assign teams to one side or the other. I place two big respawn areas, covering half the spawns on the map excluding neutral ones. Assign each one to the appropriate team, and my respawn areas are complete, it's quite wonderful actually. Respawn areas can solve problems of players spawning on top of each other though, especially in larger areas. If you've got a location where players are likely to stand more than a double box away from the respawns, then a respawn area is good for allowing players to block spawns while standing anywhere within that area. A Bungie map that does this is Standoff. They've got a respawn area grouping all of their spawn clusters, wider than the invisible area. That way, if anyone is at Invis, for example, they block the spawns around invis. Useful Links: Furious D's Respawn Area Guide -- Good guide, with pictures, of what respawn areas do. Just don't scatter your respawn points as evenly across the map as the images show. Devinish's Advanced Guide to Respawns-- This one focuses more on the gameplay mechanics of respawning, rather than effective placement. The knowledge is essential for building the best respawn system you can though, so study up. [jumpto=TOC]Table of Contents[/jumpto]
[aname=TOC]Page 2 Table of Contents.[/aname] [jumpto=wep]7: Weapons and Equipment[/jumpto] [jumpto=7a]___7a: Building for Specific Weapons/Equipment[/jumpto] [jumpto=fun]8: Fun and Interesting Combat[/jumpto] [jumpto=8a]___8a: Z-Axis Variation[/jumpto] [jumpto=8b]___8b: Jumps[/jumpto] [jumpto=8c]___8c: Technical Cover[/jumpto] [jumpto=res]Other great design resources[/jumpto] [jumpto=soon]Coming Soon[/jumpto] [aname=wep]7: Weapons and Equipment[/aname] Limey had some good stuff to say about weapon placement here in this thread: Thanks limeyyyy. Expanding on some of what he said, you shouldn't necessarily put a weapon in the best place for that weapon to be used. Structures with strong lines of sight and height advantages do not need the added bonus of a rocket or sniper for example, and reducing access to appropriate weapons is a great way to reduce the power of any given structure by cutting some of the reward for being there. Always keep in mind risk versus reward. Very powerful weapons and powerups like the Rocket or the Active Camo shouldn't be in the team's easy to defend bunker, rather they should be risky pickups. Standoff's laser is my favorite example, the weapon is so powerful on that map that whichever team possesses it is almost guaranteed to pick up a huge chunk of kills. So, where did Bungie put it? The worst, least controllable spot on the map where a team pushing for it is at great risk. [aname=7a]___7a: Building for Specific Weapons/Equipment[/aname] The wrong weapon load for any given map can easily ruin gameplay. Here I'll go through point by point with what works, and what doesn't for certain weapons. Snipers - Snipers obviously excel at mid to long range combat, and can work in melee range in a pinch, making them very powerful in the right hands. The best map for a sniper have long, but limited lines of sight. Think about Guardian, The Pit, Narrows, Epilogue, Blackout, or Construct. All of these maps have snipers that work quite well, and all of them have cross map lines of sight. The difference between these and a map that doesn't work well with a sniper like Standoff or default Sandbox is that those long lines of sight don't cover the whole map. Despite what far too many people think on the Bungie forums, a sniper is not a good idea on a very open map because a lone sniper is unavoidable. You simply cannot accomplish anything while staying out of the Sniper's sight, and the sniper can stay far enough away that he isn't worried about anything but another sniper. Rockets - The rocket launcher works well on all but the smallest maps. This doesn't mean you should automatically place one however. The rocket is the best reward you can place on any non-vehicle map, and it should appropriately be placed in a very risky spot. The center of the map is a spot that usually works pretty well, as it can be reached and fought over by either team evenly. Make sure anyone caught going for the rockets won't have an easy escape. Laser - The very best weapon on large vehicle maps, and in smaller maps it has a rather strange niche. It should go without saying that this should be a major point of interest on vehicle based maps, as it will take down a warthog or banshee no sweat, and then it will act like a sniper on your infantry. Place it in a wide open location like Utah Mambo's top middle or Standoff's center, and let the teams fight over it from the start of the round. For smaller maps(Construct, Snowbound) this weapon becomes a mix of the sniper and the rockets. Best advice I can give on the laser for small maps is that you should consider that a laser holder won't engage in a 1v1 battle with the laser, instead he'll charge up and pop out to take shots, and duck back. You'll want a good amount of cover for players not holding the laser. Active Camo - Combined with any short range weapon the invis player becomes an unstoppable monster. To counter this, separate your shotgun/mauler/sword/hammer from the active camo, and put the camo in a somewhat exposed area. That way, any player who picks up a short range power weapon and then makes an attempt at invis will likely take shots. Guardian has the right idea on camo, it is placed out where it can be shot cross map, and the sword or hammer has to travel up to yellow and outside to get it. Invisibility is almost a guaranteed flag pull if you can make it from the invis to the flag in that time, so be careful of putting this on flag maps. Utah Mambo has the right idea there, and Avalanche. The invis is a good distance from the flags. Overshield - Limeyyyy used the example of placing an overshield to draw traffic to an area, so I'd like to highlight another interesting feature of the OS. The short invincibility period. For those who don't know, upon picking up a red overshield, a player is invincible until the full shield charges up. That means the more shots they're taking the longer they remain invincible. Because of this, I recommend that an overshield NOT be placed in exposed areas. Lets face it, when a group of people are rushing for the same OS, they all keep shooting at the guy who picked it up. Their shots are draining the shield as it is trying to charge, so it never reaches full charge, so he remains invincible and scores a multikill. I like sticking an OS in a low traffic area(like The Pit's or Narrows' OS spawns) which offers little reward to a player who camps there waiting to exploit the invincibilty as often happens on Guardian. Short Range Weapons - Mauler, Hammer, Sword, Shotgun. I'm lumping them together since I view them as variations on the same thing, a melee range death dealer. You should not hand these to players easily, make them either go out of their way to reach them. Maulers can be the exception, since nobody will go on a killing spree due to the fact that you have to pair it with a beatdown for a kill, and the mutual beatdown system will shut down a mauler's dream of bubble shield killing sprees. If you're going to place these on your map, don't force players to use routes where they'll face campers. Keep options available that do not include the sharp corners shield doors and bubble shields that a short range camper loves. SMG/Spikers - Some like them, some don't. They work great in close quarters against a BR/Carbine, and when dual wielded they are probably the most underrated weapons in Halo 3. I wouldn't overload your map, but keep couple pairs of duals available to those who want them. Plasma Rifle - Drains shields quick, and paired with a beatdown or a different gun, it will kill you quick. Treat these like the SMGs/Spikers, but keep them spread away from the SMG/Spiker combo. If you have the PR combined with another dual automatic weapon, it is bordering on power weapon status for small maps, treat appropriately. Brute Shot - best for flipping vehicles and breaking maps. Acts like a mauler close range, and like a hard to aim BR at mid range(4 shot kills). Quite a versatile weapon, so I like to include one on every map that I can, but BE CAREFUL that your map is completely unbreakable. If the brute shot allows people to reach places they shouldnt, you don't lose much gameplay-wise by just deleting the gun. BR/Carbine: - Since these weapons can win a fight at all but the shortest distances, they become the bread and butter of nearly all maps. I'm just going to quote Limeyyy again: Make sure they're available, but limit their availability. Don't just litter them all over main pathways where they can be picked up with no effort, and don't place them at every spawn point. If players want to play a game where every person has a BR all the time, they will play that gametype, you should not necessarily be forcing it on them with your map. [jumpto=TOC]Table of Contents[/jumpto] [aname=fun]___8: Fun and Interesting Combat[/aname] You can have a map that is very well balanced, and in all respects is a perfect map, but it lacks that intangible thing called FUN! Everybody has a different opinion on what makes a map fun to play on, but there are some things that make fighting more interesting. Here I'll go over a few easily overlooked aspects that make moving around and fighting people on a map more fun. [aname=8a]___8a: Z-Axis Variation[/aname] Height variation is a lot like your eyebrows: very important, but you hardly think about them until they're gone. Have you played on maps that use only that consist of just cover placed on the floor in the crypt? Probably not, since that is the kind of thing that you'll see in screenshots that just looks bad. Your map should take full advantage of the many heights easily buildable on Sandbox, and if you really want to excel in this area, it should create some more between the simple half box height increments. Ramp, Wide or just building your own small ramps adds that subtle height change that you don't notice until its gone. If you've got platforms facing each other across a gap, change the height of one if only slightly, and your map improves for it. Look at any and all Bungie maps for examples of this. Something that would seem like it would be flat like Guardian's hammer hallway has small slopes at both ends, as well as a tiny plateau at the hammer. These break up height and the map is a little better for it. Don't be afraid to build your floors at angles either. Horizontal flooring leads to horizontal fights where people neither look up nor down. Having a large sloping section, or just a variety of ramps is a great way to keep players moving up and down as much as they move side to side. Plus, slopes make better flow than jumps. ___[aname=8b]8b: Jumps[/aname] Like I said in the flow section, jumping should be a bonus not a requirement to reach a place. Jumping is more fun than walking, no matter who you talk to, so don't cut out all of the jumps in your mad panic that you don't have enough ramps. Optional jump-ups as well as some good tactial jumps add a small reward for players who know the map, so those players will be more eager to come back. ___[aname=8c]8c: Technical Cover[/aname] Technical cover is the small cubbies and pillars that you can hide behind, if only for a short time. They give a chance to reload, and to block a shot or two from that nasty BR coming your way, and anything else that you can do in about a second. It is easy to slip from building technical cover into your map into just placing lazy cover and calling it technical cover as an excuse. Got columns all over the place? Lazy. Built a "graveyard" type area with columns? Technical. Its kind of a feel thing, if the thing feels like you just dropped it there to cover that spot, its lazy, if it feels like a natural part of the map's structure, its technical. Cubby holes in hallways provide good technical cover that almost never seems out of place. Construct has some great technical cover in those columns under the snipe bridge leading to bubble shield(and in front of the purple rooms), and Orbital has some good cubby holes with its their garage door things. [jumpto=TOC]Table of Contents[/jumpto] [aname=res]Other great design resources[/aname] MLGpro's Comprehensive and Collaborative Guide to Map Design -- This guide, maintained by TheEpicCiabatta, is actually where I got the idea to make a guide that is open to community contribution. It is done with MLG in mind, but nearly all of it applies to regular competitive maps as well, and it is fairly obvious what parts you can ignore for a non-MLG map. [jumpto=TOC]Table of Contents[/jumpto] [aname=soon]Coming soon[/aname] Designing for specific gametypes: I'll be writing for Oddball, Slayer, King, and Flag. If anyone has good information on what makes a great map for Territories, Assault, VIP, or any other competitive gametype, go ahead and write it up and I'll quote you. I lack experience in those areas so I'm hoping for some community support. ? suggest a category you think should be covered. Or better yet, write for a category you think should be covered so I can quote you. [jumpto=TOC]Table of Contents[/jumpto]
Very good post, I look forward to seeing more added to this in the future but a fantastic start non-the-less. Brings up a lot of basic issues I've been seeing over and over.
ah yes,I remember the blog,and it is a very good guide for newbies and pros alike.Best overall guide on forgehub at the moment
Any suggestions for things you'd like to see added? I added a coming soon section for things I'm working on next, but I'm very open to suggestion. I'm also looking for people other than me to contribute, so if you've got something to say, write it up and I'll quote you like I've done for Shishka, Fritzster, and Whats a Scope.
You should write about custom gametypes and not just about competitive maps. Since 98,9% of the map in Forgehub are played in custom games, why don't you talk about more casual map creation? I mean, talking about an assault map or multiflag isn't bad, but most of the game I play in curstom is more about strange modification of Infection like Ducks Hunting, D-Day Wars, Mexican Run or simply Swords. All my friend list like new ideas and new way to play. If the map is godd and everybody is not quiting the game shouting it suck, the map will be played much more than a competitive map. So, if you want suggestions: -Put a list of ideas -Add a category for each gametypes explaining what are the special options -Put a list of forge technology in development to use in casual -Explain how to work with teleporter for a better usage.
I'll throw in some links that I had posted a while back that went off the radar fairly quickly. Hopefully your thread will be stickied so those that care to know can find the information quickly. Nasty's Tips on Good Map Design Competitive Design Guide (from a Quake 3 perspective) - it may be about Quake, but there's a lot in this lengthy read that can transfer over to Halo.
@Squid: That Quake guide is awesome. I suggest everyone read it, you will learn things from reading it that you never even thought about before, and other than the Quake terms 99% of it relates to Halo. OT: Beautiful beautiful post, this guide truly brings all knowledge of Forgehub together. I really can't wait for the CTF section. I seem to have large problems with incorperating "Flag Away" respawn areas into my map, like when to you use them, their size, position, strength of the area that they're in, etc. Also from my experience enemy position has more or just as much influence on spawns, when compared to dead teammates (look at the pentagon for an example, you can snipe a guy 4 times in a row on the exact same respawn and he will still spawn there, but if you move too much to one side or another their respawn will change). Here's my guide for KotH play creation, relates to MLG play a lot. Spoiler On many of Bungie's default KotH maps the play is very hectic, non-stop crazy fun. This has its upsides and downsides; Upsides are that player never feel bored, easy for new players to play. Downsides are that there is no reason, need, advantage to setting up, spawns are switching too frequently for a set up to work for more than 15 seconds. Another downside is that player often die a lot because they are rushing hill constantly and only killing enemies inside the hill. These maps have a lot more of a casual feel to them. So how do we add a competitive feel to KotH? I'll use MLG Construct v6 as an example. There are 3 hill positions on this map, bottom hill, open side hill, and closed side hill. The hill rotation goes, Bottom : Open : Bottom : Closed. Bottom hill is very open, very hard to survive, only upside to it is Sniper Spawn is inside the hill. Closed and Open are both very similar to eachother. They are on the top half of the map so they're easier to hold, harder to die. Team's usually get most of their time on the open and closed hills. What they do during bottom hill is try to get a set up and hold a set up until the hill comes back to open or closed. This creates an uptime and downtime to the map. Much less random chaos more teamwork oriented play. Also to add on to the setting up between hills a Custom Power-Up (2x overshields) spawns at every hill change (2 minutes). MLG also did this same kind of idea for MLG The Pit v5. They also added neutral spawns to each side so spawns could be swayed for set-ups. Ideas to reduce chaos on KotH: -Make alternating hills. (make the hills spawn in specific order and not at random) -Make 1/3-1/2 the hill time in a dangerous hill, this should be times teams use to set-up. -Make hills last for at least 90 seconds to allow team to set up in hills and pick up larger chunks of time. -Make the score to win a higher number, whatever makes you're map play out for at least 2/3 - 3/4 of the time limit. -An idea I haven't seen yet is making some of the hills spawn in places teams can't get at, so it is essentially, time without a hill. For a map to be good to play with KotH there should be many different possible positions for set-ups. A set-up position can take up anywheres to 1/4 to the entire map. The best way to choose the players position for a set-up is to make a room or area that has choke points (think the top purple rooms on Construct). There should be two separate choke points that the player has to watch (lobby door and lift in purple room), and a third way that leads to a teammates room/area to watch (door leading to streets). This way if 1 player is taken out, his teammates can move and defend that points and enemies can rush that point and use it as a weakness.
This is going to help me so much on my next map. This should definatly get stickied or put in forging 101. Can't wait for the weapons guide. I think you should add a section about teleporters to the guide. Also, I like how you made a new account just to reserve a post.
You can use some stuff from my guide if you want. It was written with MLG in mind, but I'm pretty sure you could find use for some of the material I have there.
Ok, first of all, did you pull that percentage out of your ass? Now, besides that. There is no real thinking about spawns and ways to modify those types of maps. Possibly the swords one, but even that one takes simple logic. This is for MAP design, not GAME design. I believe he already said he was not going to put anything about the way on how to forge. I don't really know what "ideas" you are talking about. He already said he was going to put a category for each gametype(excluding infection). As for the 'explain how to work with teleporter for a better usage' I could agree on that.
Thanks, your guide was where I got the idea for this one, and I've linked it several times to people asking about map design. I'm hoping this will match the level of community contribution yours had over there. Yea, forgehub recently added a feature that automatically merges double posts with each other, and my post here was at the character limit for a blog. I was afraid I'd hit the character cap, and I am unable to double post with the same account, so I just made a second one for potential continuations. The auto-merge feature is very nice to shut down spammers and accidental double posts, but in this situation it was not helpful. The problem I have with including custom game variants and infection in a guide like this is that they are a completely different way to play Halo. Even if I had any interest in standard infection(I don't, by the way) that would be a completely different guide. What am I going to do, edit all of my sections to say that you should do spawns in x way, except infection! Long lines of sight mixed with shorter ones are good, except infection! Camping spots are bad, except infection! My point is that it is such a different beast than standard Halo is that an infection guide is a completely different guide. As for other mini games, each one is even more specific and specialized than regular infection is. I will take your advice and work a bit more on teleporters though. Expect to see that particular subject worked on in the coming days. Thanks. I saw the sticky of that Quake 3 map design thing on MLG and it completely changed the way I look at mapmaking. That will absolutely be added, I'll have to create a section of the guide for non-forgehub sources of information.
I have a little to say about weapon placement, considering I find most maps have rather poor weapon placement and power weapon placement. Every weapon has its purpose and usefulness, and some weapons share the same usefulness (BR and Carbine, etc). Power weapons/ups should be limited alot more strictly than a normal weapon, maybe 1 power weapon/up on smaller maps, 3 on medium sized maps, and 5-7 on larger maps. Not only does this give a player an incentive to move out of his camping spot, it can also increase the power of any given structure. If the OS wasn't underneath sword on The Pit, would you even go there? No, because it is a very poor place to be and is rather easy to either be naded or be trapped. But due to the OS being there, it allows more of the map to be used, dispersing the ammount of power along with it. If the shotgun (normal)/ mauler (mlg) wasn't in the back corners of each side, the traffic would be also be reduced along with the power of that position, considering how easy it is to be naded. Now that power weapons are out of the way, now on to normal weapons. BR's and Carbines should be placed around the neutral parts of a map, but should be limited: if you are using more than 10 BR's on your map then you need to cut back. This also applys to Carbines. Like power weapons, normal weapons should also be limited, and also placed in areas where they would normaly not be immediatly effective/overly effective, like the magnums at the snipe lift on Gaurdian, or the SMG's on The Pit (applys to my analysis of fun competitive maps, not of mlg as there are different standards).
Great guide, but the title is misleading. Most of this thread concerns more on the map building side (at least from what I got from it). For me at least, the map designing stage begins way before you get anywhere near Forge itself, on pencil and paper or sketchup. Regardless, very nice.
I don't know a better word than design to convey that this is about the design of a map, rather than how to interlock and geomerge etc. It isn't all about the process of coming up with and sketching/drawing the idea, but most of the design decisions should be helped by the info here. Thank you, that's pretty good. I'll use at least your BR/Carbine paragraph. And I added a new links section, for other great guides that aren't specific enough to be added under any one category of this guide.
I just noticed this was up. This is a great guide. ForgeHub lacks things like this. This will definitely help out members. I really hope everyone pitches in. PS: I love the Quake 3 thing. I have it book marked.
Very long overdue, but I updated it with some weapons info, and I'm requesting a move to Forging 201. Reason I didn't deliver the promised update is that I was busy enjoying my first summer at 21, and I just plain had other stuff to do. School year is starting up again though, so I'll be around more often.
Excellent guide but may I say: China wants there wall back!!! Never the less this can be useful with some minor adjustments.
Care to share what needs adjusting? I put the word collaborative in the title for a reason: I want the community(people like you) to help update and edit this.