CE: Begginer- A Guide to making Maps
Posted: Sat May 15, 2004 11:26 am
Could i ask this to be moved to tutorials?
Level Designing:
A good map needs a theme, a consistant look to the whole level.
Before starting your map, you should spend a good amount of time planning out EVERY part of your map on paper, infact make a map (lol, yes map as in tresure map type map) on paper then draw a few concept shots of it from different angles, Also a map needs to have a colour pallet, a map with random colours and themes everywhere will just look out of place, so a good example of a colour theme is the covenant levels, Damnation and Chill-Out; those levels are mainly made up of purples and pinks, those are the covenant colours, whereas bloodgulch is browns and yellows to give the feel of a dusty sandy dry area.
I would like you to imagine a large BRIGHT green box in the middle of Bloodgulch, that would look TOTALLY out of place am i right? well thats what i am getting at.
Next i move onto the level itself, as mentioned (co-incidently) in the e3 2004 videos, a good level needs history, a story; so while drawing out your map and thinking up what it would look like, try to imagine what had happened in that maps past, make a short 30 line story to describe its past, the level should have parts of it that reflect that past, like if a war had took place on that map, it should have bomb crators or something along those lines.
Now onto the levels actual geometry, i have seen (not just for halo) so many maps where someone has made a quick hightmap with TONS of hills and dips placed everywhere, this is wrong, you should think of how the map will play, dont just make it up! imagine playing the map in your head - BE there and you will notice the problems, a map should have set routes aswell, a easily spotted way through the level, like Bloodgulch has that "road" that snakes through the middle of it.
Lighting, Lighting is just as important in a level as the walls and floor themselves,
make sure your players can see thier way around the level or they will loose interest in it because its so frustrating to get around. also, try to make all the lightsources visible, show the player where the light is coming from - even if you just model a light bulb onto the cieling!
Onto the most overlooked part (in my opinion) and what lets most maps down,
Effects, while they look nice they can totally spoil a level,
Take Casualty Gorge for example there is a beutiful water effect for the lake in the middle,
but for those without 'good' graphics cards, its not even there! which can unbalance gameplay by ALOT.
if you cannot see the water that means you can sniper from under it, and those who do see the water dont know where it is coming from, so what i mean is, when making all these lovely effects for your level, test it in the -useff mode which sets your graphics to the lowest possible for halo, so you see the worst your level can possibly look, and try to get around it.
While on the subject of unbalanced games,
There is one thing that can break a level forever, weapons.
Something that many people do with thier levels is add a superpower weapon right there in the middle, while this can be fun for a few games, after your map is played a good 10 - 15 times by people other than you, the superweapon will become a big annoyance more than a fun element.
So if you absolutly NEED a big weapon in your level, make it dangerous to get - not dangerous with big drops ect, but dangerous like a long ladder to get to it, so while they are trying to get to it, the player is open to be attacked.
Finally I want to talk about vehicles, in particular i want to tell you about Banshee's, In the opinion of many people the banshee is overpowered. you can just fly around and squash up to 20 people before your even hit so if you want banshee(s) in your level then you must create a counter-banshee weapon, like chainguns in an area where banshees are hard to fly in, so you have enough time to get on the chaingun without being squashed, but enough space for the banshee to shoot at you.
I hope you understand and use this information that i have written for you, and if you disagree with anything feel free to PM me and i will see if i can change anything.
- GHL
[edit] Before anyone says anything, i didnt say i can do every one of these things for my maps ect, i am saying what all the great maps for any game have, and what i think people should think about when making maps. [/edit]
Level Designing:
A good map needs a theme, a consistant look to the whole level.
Before starting your map, you should spend a good amount of time planning out EVERY part of your map on paper, infact make a map (lol, yes map as in tresure map type map) on paper then draw a few concept shots of it from different angles, Also a map needs to have a colour pallet, a map with random colours and themes everywhere will just look out of place, so a good example of a colour theme is the covenant levels, Damnation and Chill-Out; those levels are mainly made up of purples and pinks, those are the covenant colours, whereas bloodgulch is browns and yellows to give the feel of a dusty sandy dry area.
I would like you to imagine a large BRIGHT green box in the middle of Bloodgulch, that would look TOTALLY out of place am i right? well thats what i am getting at.
Next i move onto the level itself, as mentioned (co-incidently) in the e3 2004 videos, a good level needs history, a story; so while drawing out your map and thinking up what it would look like, try to imagine what had happened in that maps past, make a short 30 line story to describe its past, the level should have parts of it that reflect that past, like if a war had took place on that map, it should have bomb crators or something along those lines.
Now onto the levels actual geometry, i have seen (not just for halo) so many maps where someone has made a quick hightmap with TONS of hills and dips placed everywhere, this is wrong, you should think of how the map will play, dont just make it up! imagine playing the map in your head - BE there and you will notice the problems, a map should have set routes aswell, a easily spotted way through the level, like Bloodgulch has that "road" that snakes through the middle of it.
Lighting, Lighting is just as important in a level as the walls and floor themselves,
make sure your players can see thier way around the level or they will loose interest in it because its so frustrating to get around. also, try to make all the lightsources visible, show the player where the light is coming from - even if you just model a light bulb onto the cieling!
Onto the most overlooked part (in my opinion) and what lets most maps down,
Effects, while they look nice they can totally spoil a level,
Take Casualty Gorge for example there is a beutiful water effect for the lake in the middle,
but for those without 'good' graphics cards, its not even there! which can unbalance gameplay by ALOT.
if you cannot see the water that means you can sniper from under it, and those who do see the water dont know where it is coming from, so what i mean is, when making all these lovely effects for your level, test it in the -useff mode which sets your graphics to the lowest possible for halo, so you see the worst your level can possibly look, and try to get around it.
While on the subject of unbalanced games,
There is one thing that can break a level forever, weapons.
Something that many people do with thier levels is add a superpower weapon right there in the middle, while this can be fun for a few games, after your map is played a good 10 - 15 times by people other than you, the superweapon will become a big annoyance more than a fun element.
So if you absolutly NEED a big weapon in your level, make it dangerous to get - not dangerous with big drops ect, but dangerous like a long ladder to get to it, so while they are trying to get to it, the player is open to be attacked.
Finally I want to talk about vehicles, in particular i want to tell you about Banshee's, In the opinion of many people the banshee is overpowered. you can just fly around and squash up to 20 people before your even hit so if you want banshee(s) in your level then you must create a counter-banshee weapon, like chainguns in an area where banshees are hard to fly in, so you have enough time to get on the chaingun without being squashed, but enough space for the banshee to shoot at you.
I hope you understand and use this information that i have written for you, and if you disagree with anything feel free to PM me and i will see if i can change anything.
- GHL
[edit] Before anyone says anything, i didnt say i can do every one of these things for my maps ect, i am saying what all the great maps for any game have, and what i think people should think about when making maps. [/edit]
for u
oh well, i cant do better, thats why i dont try. Oh yeah, and i dont have a 3,000 dollar program.