Forging Theory: Path Manipulation [In Progress]

Forging Theory: Path Manipulation

Forging Theory
Path Manipulation
By: AZN FTW

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<< Previous: Forging A Plan

Planning Recap

“Good plans shape good decisions. That's why good planning helps to make elusive dreams come true.” -- Lester R. Bittel

It's that time again... I think I'm gonna recap on the last article with a straight planning example. I just discovered Sketchup so I'm going to abuse it now. You guys are going to see the planning out for the conquest map HeadlessBarbie and I are working on. Are you guys ready?

As usual I've changed that snippet up a little bit. So let's define our purpose, what do we want to accomplish:

• We want to build a Conquest map... this is our first and foremost purpose. This means we are going to have to define an odd number of territories in a linear fashion (pathwise of course, not literally) and in almost every part of the map we want you to be in a territory. We will keep in mind that we also don't have starting grenades and that territories take 10 seconds to capture.
• We want the center focus of the map to be built about 3 double boxes high on Foundry. We are going to utilize the lighting at the top to our utmost ability.
• As a minor goal I want to recreate the slight influence on territories that aren't adjacent to each other, sorta the way that teleboxes do, but I don't like that teleboxes effectively make your team one man smaller. So we are going to go for a Boarding Action effect, where you can shoot across the map to keep things interesting.
• We want to show that Conquest is not just a close quarters combat (CQC) map. Conquest's only real requirement is linear territories. So we want to keep a focus of midrange combat. The above purpose helps us with this one as well.
• Naturally, most Conquest maps, it is nearly impossible to get the farthest territory on your opponent's side, because that's normally where they spawn. The same is pretty true for the second territory on your opponent's side. It's pretty hard to capture and keep. I want to set this up so that if you take a territory and you can hold it you WILL keep it. So that way all of the focus is not just in the center unless the skill level of each team is about equal. Basically once it's captured it's easy to be fortified.

Now no matter what, EVERYTHING we do should work towards one of those above purposes. If something you put on a map doesn't help the or the aesthetic theme then it should not be part of your map. This is pretty much guaranteed.

So this one is going to be tough. We know that we want to make the center territory feel like an attic. As for the territories leading up to it, I guess the only thing I can think of to work towards an attic would be either lower flowers of a house, or ledges on the outside of a house so that you can break into it. Trying to keep with the boarding action theme I guess we can just try to make the other parts of the map as scaffolds or whatnots. So a fight for an attic... not much of a powerful theme, but the focus is the gametype for this map. We just need an aesthetic theme to string everything together naturally, no matter how loosely.

Now it's time to define major components of the map so that we may make us a rough draft. I guess I should have switched the order of those eh? lol... anyways. First of all we want to make in attic so the attic is our meeting point, and it also contains the center territory. Now we need 3 more territories on each side that are big enough so that you can take total control of it. We also want to recreate the Boarding Action feel. We don't have much vertical to work with so I am going to setup two ledges, one over the other as the two closest territories to the attic, obviously the same ledges on the opposite side of Foundry. These are both meeting aress and territories. And the first territory on each side will be a starting courtyard, base-like area that will act as a last stand but not be where you spawn, just act as the first meeting areas. And then finally the starting team spawns that are just a little behind the first meet zone.

Now I want to point out for all you building Conquest maps for the contest that Conquest is about making a linear set of meeting areas that all influence the objective of the map. So every meeting area should be filled with one of the territory objectives. If at anytime the two teams are clashing, they should be clashing for a purpose. Alright that brings us to our rough draft. I already made it in Forge, but I'm going to go create it in Sketchup real quick.

So Sketchup froze... ARGH!!!... AGAIN!!!! While I wait for this to unfreeze... I will admit. Snap to grid is very nice... this is three times already. I'm frustrated... that's four... five *cough*... SIX... had to stop and go help Insane54 test his map for a bit... alright I'm back and finishing it up... I can't wait to cover spawns next week... Here's a screenshot of the mostly finished Rough Draft:






Understanding Paths

"Understand that the right to choose your own path is a sacred privilege. Use it. Dwell in possiblity." -- Oprah Winfrey

Read that quote... it's your job as a map builder to show what opportunities a player has when traversing your map. No one person is going to sit there on your map in one location, let alone fly around and see EVERY part of the map. Not everyone goes through forge... for some it is too much to handle. So you've got to introduce them to possibilities. Don't require them to explore. Introduce as they traverse the map. You control where the player goes. A "Path" is defined in AZN terms as a path between the major components of your map. As a review, major components are the parts of your map that the player almost always interact with. The types I gave last article are:

• Spawn Areas (not respawn areas)
• Meeting Areas
• Objectives
• Landmarks

Come to think of it... Landmarks aren't quite as important, let's remove that and stick with the 3 essentials. Spawn areas are the main sections of the map where you will most likely spawn be it with a team in one specific area, or individually throughout the map. That is your start point. Your end point is your objective; be it the opposing team camping, the flag, or a bunch of goal points. Now to get from A to B you will most likely enter into conflict at your "detours" or as we call them, meet zones. So now you have a start point, end point, and rest stops along the way. Now obviously we must get from one to the other. That's where paths come in. Every major component is connected by a path. But how does one go about choosing the paths in the great web while playing? And as a map designer, how do you control these choices? This is where path manipulation comes in...

Players select their paths based on several factors: situational awareness, knowledge of map, objective, and risk/reward. There could be more... if I figure them out I'll make sure I cover it in the recap next week.


Situational Awareness

"Acceptance is not submission; it is acknowledgment of the facts of a situation. Then deciding what you're going to do about it." -- Kathleen Casey Theisen

Obviously when something is going down, a player will adjust as he sees fit... almost always out of impulse. So let's imagine the player has no knowledge of our map. There is no conflict. What does the player use to decide where he goes?

So the player has no knowledge of what is at the end of those paths. S/he also has no knowledge of where his objective is. Both paths have equal visual risks. Now, most of you will select the Double Box on the right... correct? It makes sense... it provides more cover sooner than the other path most of the time. It also has a short term goal of getting around that corner, so the player feels he gets some reward out of it. It's natural for people to want reward. Well what if a sniper stream comes out of that double box? Not so appealing now, correct? In this case, the open area that is farther away provides more cover. That's path selection on impulse. Let's see what's at the end of those paths... shall we?


Knowledge of Map

"The more extensive a man's knowledge of what has been done, the greater will be his power of knowing what to do." -- Benjamin Disraeli


So... knowing what's behind that wall kind makes you rethink things huh? Now when one is in search of their objective and the risk is equal with no conflict in the general vicinity, how does one select a path? You pick a path based on continuity. You want to be able to continue your journey with ease and decrease your time to get to your destination. So now, in general the best be now is the hole in the wall. Mainly because you know that you will be able to have a good path to your destination with no breaks and detours. This may sound familiar:

Now enter situational awareness. You have a frag grenade and no conflict. Just take the double box path and grenade jump up to the platform and hallway. VIOLA! Now what if there is conflict around the corner... oh well, you didn't take that into account, did you? So the safest path is still the stairs on the side. Well how can a player know from the start if there is conflict in that hallway?


Objectives

"You, too, can determine what you want. You can decide on your major objectives, targets, aims and destination." -- Clement Stone

Alright... now you know your objective is around that corner. Now it makes sense to choose the safe path, which, as a domino effect, makes you choose the hole in the wall. Ending objectives always have an effect on what you choose. Now let's forget we know what's behind the wall and go back to the start:


Alright now you see the waypoint for your objective, be it a VIP, flag, bomb, whatever...

Ok... now with no knowledge of what's behind the wall, no conflict, and equal risk/reward, what does one choose based off of the waypoint? You choose the hole in the wall... why? Because the shortest path that you can see between you and your goal is towards that hole in the wall. People are always anxious... the shortest path to what they are trying to get is always the more predominant choice. Also, the objective is an utmost priority, you must go after it at any cost, no matter the risk...

Risk & Reward

"Progress always involves risk; you can't steal second base and keep your foot on first base." -- Frederick Wilcox

What's life without risks? At times there are path decisions where one must way the risk/reward factor. With all else equal - no conflict, no knowledge of the map, no known objective location - all there is to do is risk taking one of the paths and hope the reward is great. This situation normally comes out when you know where one path brings you, but the other is a mystery... is the risk really worth it? The risk in path selection is being set back farther. Can you make up for the time? What is the chance that things could get you closer to your objective? This is known as the risk factor...

In this situation you gain about 5 seconds when trying to get to the back hallway if you get lucky. But on the other hand you loose about 3. OH WAIT!!! What about that ledge/staircase to the hallway. Now if you don't have a grenade, or it's not safe then you have to detour back to the stair case anyway. But if you do, there is still chance in some reward. False hope my friend... that is what makes people take sacrifices. If you know how to give people false hope, then utilize that in your maps. Cuz then I shall congratulate you.


Conclusion

"Thou arnt finished..." -- oWNo Beebo

And that brings us to the end folks. This topic is EXTREMELY important. Controlling, balancing, and manipulating paths is a very difficult thing. You can only get better with practice. I will give a nice in depth analysis of path manipulation in next week's recap. I apologize to say that I was originally going to write about spawns next, but I must cover incentives/detours first. This is mainly because they affect spawn placement as much as paths do. Also please let me know what you think or what I could do to improve the article. Possibly even some special topics you would like me to cover. And again I apologize for the delay in this article's release... I have a real life like the rest of yalls... lol. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this and please leave your feedback and share with friends. The more the better folks... to better our cherished community.

AZN OUT!!!

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Lol that too good sir... it's turning out well... and what do you think of the article Insane? How did I do?

 

I agree with you... I think I'm gonna start a post to see who will make Sketchup Components for Sandbox... I will pay for their copy of Halo Wars Limited Edition... it would be well worth the investment for the community. My only worry is the people that offer to do it won't after they get the maps... what do you guys think I should do? I'm willing to pay the money, but I need someone trustworthy.

And I hope you guys don't mind that I'm not doing spawns next week like I had originally planned... but Incentives/Detours are pretty important...

 

I'll make sure I look him up... thanks bro... and btw... this article was a pain... ARGH!! Again with the apology of late shipping, it won't happen next week (4 day weekend FTW!!!)

 

I sent a msg to the original creator of the Foundry components, and hopefully he will accept my proposal. And zeppelin, if you read the articles carefully, they don't only cater to small close quarters maps... they cover maps in general. Look at some of the BTB maps and define their Meeting Areas, Spawn Areas, and Objectives... then define their paths between each. Trust me.. I think I will analyze a BTB map on next week's recap just to prove the point...