Hot Zone is coming along well so far. Got the whole map blocked out and starting to add detail now. Hot Zone is one of my smallest most carefully planned maps. Screenshots will be coming soon!
Here is an early top view of Hot Zone: Hot Zone still has a long way to go before even testing, I just wanted to show the layout and get y'alls feedback. Much more cover and detail will be added, but I will be cautious as my piece count is already very high. Also the top left corner area past the retaining wall is not accessible.
This is probably going to be rather useful to you since you seem to actually want feedback to improve. Here is a generalized layout of your map. Green being all the same lowest level, Orange being the 2nd highest same level, and red being the highest level of verticality. The grey boxes are the cars/trucks. Looking at it like this, the most interesting part of the map is the middle and thats because its the only place something isnt a 90 degree angle. I would like you to compare this to this picture which is the "whiteboard test" Now realistically, comparing your layout to what is above, you would be in the beginner category, which is fine, we all start somewhere and everyone here would just like to see progress of you showing that you are learning. What you really need to do is design more thought out things that take into account how players will react to their surroundings, which in all the maps I've seen from you is running in a straight line and ducking behind a random piece of cover., which does not create fun or exciting gameplay. Heres the layout sketch and final topdown for my map upward. Id recommend looking at this layout and thinking a bit more about what makes this layout different from yours above.
Thanks for the feedback! I wiIl try to improve my map design so it is more exciting. It is hard to see in this screenshot but the map actually does have 2 major levels of terrain verticality and the buildings at the top right and small one near bottom left are at odd angles. As far as the layout goes it is based off the mission blackout from modern warfare:
I wonder if doing the free Xbox live trial would count? Is that something you get with a new account or do we still have to hunt for games that might have a free trial in them. If we load up even a 2-day trial will the map stay there after words?
Consider condensing and segmenting the layout, especially if it’s a 2v2. The irregular terrain elevation can be made more meaningful if it isn’t so symmetrical. Imagine I read of a cul-de-sac, you had a musical note or something
I already segmented off a section of it, but I might condense it some more. I'm thinking about making the streets more narrow so there are fewer open areas. It will probably be an infection map when finished. Or possibly 4v4.
I may not know a whole lot about design but I think you should consider the gameplay variant and playercount beforehand. It's not that you can't play infection on a 4v4 map but if you decide on one or the other it will play a whole lot better in the end.
Yeah I'm currently designing it for infection and it will be an infection map unless something goes wrong with the map.
I see that your layout appears to be a layout for sometype of an arena shooter? Possibly for an older Halo game??? While Nadekils seems to be a preliminary layout for a squad shooter like Battlefield, Call of Duty or Halo 5... Although its lacking in tech, utility, better pathing and creativity I think nadekills design more closely resembles a squad shooter map then yours. My votes for nadekills on this one!
I wouldn't go so far to say I Iove you salty but I enjoy you very much. @nadekil Since we are on this the thing that you need to understand is that call of duty and Halo are very different games with very different game mechanics. A call of duty map in halo will not play well since the time to kill is higher for halo. While looking for inspiration from other games is always great, it dosnt always transition well into the game you are trying to create for.
It wouldn't play well as an exact remake, but it's not an exact remake. Besides it is an infection map so the time to kill is actually closer to call of duty. The time to kill for ai enemies in modern warfare was only slightly lower than the time to kill infected in halo 5, and I added several twists and turns for infected to ambush survivors while keeping a few solid holdouts for survivors. As for cover there will be enough to make the town feel like it was once alive and to make it fun play but there won't be cover that doesn't have both an aesthetic and gameplay purpose.
Regardless of the time to kill, what you are getting inspiration from is a singleplayer level that is designed to have long range of sights as you have a sniper in that game and the the game is designed for you to take advantage of that. If you were to compare this to a singleplayer engagement to any in a halo 5 mission it would differ a lot. Essentially what I am saying is that you cant expect things in singleplayer games to work for multiplayer, especially for halo 5 which is probably one of the most difficult games to design for. Also for everyone this is the outpost panel from Philly feel free to say whatever so the next panels can improve People from left to right are Crush, Dust, Foge, 0micron also talking in front of people is hard
I don't think its that difficult to design for the mechanics of Halo 5, but rather it's difficult to design for the player expectation of Halo 5. I make this distinction because the title of the game and how it was marketed inherently linked the game to an audience that expected a Halo game with Halo maps. Halo 5 is not a true "Halo" game. Its a bastardized hybrid that IMO more closely resembles a tactical squad shooter then an arena shooter. Halo 5 fundamentally breaks the golden formula of Halo(and arena shooters) on a number of levels. Clamber, Sprint and Thrust. These are your main offenders. These primary movement mechanics directly go against a main tenant of what makes Halo, Halo. Halo 5 makes you choose between being able to shoot/throw grenades or use an advanced movement option. The ripple effect this causes when trying to design a "Halo" map for "Halo" 5, is HUGE. Infact, its nearly impossible and in this manner YES it is extremely difficult to design for when you are trying to stay true to the core tenants of what made a "good" Halo map. Its akin to trying to fit a square in a circle hole. So many forgers in this community are so hard wired to design for Halo and an audience that expects halo game-play, they never saw the true potential of design for the games raw mechanics. Design is personal, and as a designer your welcome to design for any metric that you wish. So i'm not going to say anyone is wrong for designing maps that align with and push halo esque principalities in there game-play, but ask yourself why? Just recognize that by doing so your alienating a TON of design potential that the RAW mechanics of the game have to offer. Casa Su Casa was one of my first foray's into this relatively unexplored design space, and I must say, it was quite liberating to create maps and experiences that weren't shackled by what a "Halo" map is supposed to be. So is it really hard to design for Halo 5? Or is it just hard to design for what we EXPECT Halo 5 to be? Because let me tell you, HALO 5 is not Halo and anyone that tells you any different is either lying to you or themselves.