Ideas to make map less open?

Use covers under decorations and add something that will stand out

 

Of structural objects, one of my favorites is a tunnel brace set at a 45 degree angle and merged so only the spikes stick out. This doesn't provide cover so much as break up the map. Of course people also tend to overlook the most obvious cover, scenery objects including crates and barricades. When well placed these lend a homey feel to a map and give good cover.

 

Height difference for the long hallways, it's simple, easy to forge and it works perfectly

 

One simple trick I recently desocvoered I like is making a cylendar out of 1x1 tall and thins. This couls be used for some extra cover, but I think that it's not something you should have more than about 2 of. You could try some extra height variations like LD said.

As for bases, I dont usually make any myself. I just make the map and decide what room/side to put each team in. As far as I'm concerned bases are irrelevant, just continue adding to the map and think about where you could put people to start along the way. If you have your heart set on a base similar to that of a BTB style map then I cant help you other than saying not to use building pieces like Hemorrhage.

 

That's what I normally tell people but he already has quite a bit of height variation.
The best thing for those bases would be to raise up the blocks in the front and put ramps up to the outer too so there's an alcove for objective games in the center of each base.

 

DO NOT just throw random cover around. From the little I can see, you look like you have a pretty solid design but as you said it's too open. Instead of placing random crates or little cover pieces, give the map some real structure. For example, you have a lot of vertical brace, larges to break up some lines of sight and set some areas apart from others but that's it. They're just brace larges and they really only provide a line of sight blocker in one direction; the other direction being blocked only by the thin part of the brace, larges.

I think your biggest problem is that the map is essentially a big box with some stuff built in it. Look at some of Bungie maps for some reference and inspiration. Even the simpler ones such as Asylum aren't simple boxes or rectangles; they have some variations in the walls/edges of the map. Also, Bungie maps really separate parts of the map. Think about Countdown or Boardwalk and how many different distinct areas there are on those maps. I'm not necessarily saying make your map into a bunch of rooms, but try to define one area from another.

Hope that helped.

 

I'm with Ace on this one. You use vertical brace larges in one direction, which only blocks one line of sight. Bulk up those cover bits and it will help a lot already. Again, do NOT throw random cover everywhere. That's also codenamed lazy cover. Try working large columns into the map maybe, while still making them fit with the design. That's my thought, along with adding to the thickness of the cover that's already there.

 

I personally find that looking at a ton of maps and the designs used in them, usually help to give me some inspiration for my own maps. If you see a map that has a column or some other object that you think looks cool and would function well in your map, then use it as a starting point and adapt it and change it so that it works for your map. Don't forget though that even if something looks awesome, it doesnt mean it will work well in your map (thats something I struggle with all the time) but your map definately looks like it has potential. im looking forward to seeing it when you post it.

 

I'd suggest a full redesign. I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but the reality is that the map in it's current state just won't be successful. You need to rework and refine your entire design into something unique and interesting, rather than just a big box with a wide open bridge in the middle.

When I'm designing, I try to imagine what I like to call "combat zones." A combat zone is essentially the immediate area that players are fighting in. A good example is the outside walkway on Countdown, or the central building of Asylum. All good maps have multiple, varied combat zones; ranging from large, wide-open spaces like the central courtyard of Boardwalk to tight, close-quarters areas like the grenade launcher building on Powerhouse.

Right now, your map essentially has five combat zones that are all exactly the same - long, straight, relatively flat, and cross-map. I've drawn a little picture to illustrate.



At the moment, gameplay on the map is gonna feel stale and boring because there's no variation in the type of combat zones you have. Spawn, shoot people across the map with your DMR, die. Rinse, repeat. You need to mix up your combat zones if you want players to have fun. Add some close quarters areas, some medium range areas, some areas with lots of height variation, and some areas that force players to fight left-to-right across the map. Connect your zones in interesting ways - perhaps put a close quarters zone right next to a long-range one, like the upper sniper building on Boardwalk, so that the best sniping position can be assaulted from close range, where the sniper is weak. This not only helps promote varied and interesting gameplay for all kinds of players, but it also aids in player orientation and will help make your map design stand out from the crowd.

Here's another little picture, but this time I've changed up the combat zones.



Same basic premise, but in this design I've added some columns to the center of the map to break up the one massive space into two interconnected ones, broken the left hallway into three medium-range spaces (perhaps with connectivity to bottom center as well as the top bridge), and turned the right hallway into a close-quarters upper room (purple) with some smaller, tighter access corridors to weaken what would otherwise be a powerful sniping position. Perhaps purple would have good LOS into both bases, but the middle columns would provide lots of cover for the central green combat zone.

Now, I just whipped this up in like two minutes, so of course there could be many more improvements to the design. But the important thing is the process - instead of just placing things at random or drawing out the physical rooms of the map, I'm first deciding what shape I want the gameplay to take. Once you know how you want the map to play, laying out the physical shape comes much easier and you're far more likely to end up with a successful map.

 

Completely redesigning a map is also called making a new map.

 

Ummm, yes... Is that somehow a bad thing?

 

Go play abridged. The good one, not the one in matchmaking.

It's best not to quote giant posts with pictures. Trying to expand on a map is the quickest way to get choke points, dead spots, and generally shoddy gameplay. The best thing you can do is stick with what you have. There is nothing wrong with what you have the structure of a map, it just needs detail--smaller pieces people can fight between. Trying to expand the map to make it not a box is more likely to cause problems and won't help the map that much. I've seen plenty of great box shaped maps.

 

The picture I drew is still symmetrical, Blue base is on top and Red base is on bottom, and the line of symmetry runs horizontally through the middle, just like Countdown, Anchor 9, and Zealot.

It's important to understand that I didn't draw out the actual map in my picture. I have no idea where any of the walls or ramps would be, the only pieces of actual geometry I drew in were the large columns in the middle.

What I did draw was a map of the gameplay areas or "combat zones". All I mapped out is how I envisioned certain areas would play, in terms of engagement distances and relative size. I basically just drew a bunch of colored blobs to represent where the areas are located relative to one another and how big they are.

Also, pyro: You've seen plenty of great box-shaped maps, and I've seen plenty of great ones that aren't boxes. That's irrelevant. I'm not trying to advise Shikarix to make the map bigger, it's already plenty large as it is. What I'm trying to help with is the layout and general design of the map within the box.