Guide to a Good Map Design

[TG]Omega · Post by **[TG]Omega** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 7:33 am

--------------Guide to a Good Map--------------

**Mods Sticky it if You Want**

I Have Never Made A Map But This is What I like in a Map.

All Maps Need These 4 Things:
Action
( Possibly )Custom Weapons/Vehicles
Variability
A Good Design ( not a Box Map )

All Maps Need To Be Original Like Ndugu was, it Had Snowboarding.
Another Original Map is the New Map: Castel2Castel, featuring Swords, Crossbows and Rocks.

3 Things You Need To Make a Good Map:
HEK ( duh )
3ds Max ( Possibly )
Creativity.

All Maps Need Good Textures, not a dull Boring old Green but Textures with excitment, like on a Custom Made Vehicle You Should Have Some Scratch Marks on it, not looking like it just came out of the factory.

Most of the Bad Maps Have AI, IMO They Ruin The Feel of a Multiplayer Map, UNLESS your are just Practicing against AI by Yourself.

Maps Shouldn't Have a Secret Uber Weapon Because if Someone Gets One Everyone Will Not Want to Play the Map UNLESS, they Know How to Get it.

Secret Rooms are OK, But I have Witnessed n00bs Hide in Them if Others Don't Know Where The Room is.

Not all Good Maps Need Vehicles, Saberarena didn't, Most of us Liked It.

All Mappers Should at Least Take over 1 Hour to Make a Map, if it's a 5 minute job don't Waste Bandwidth by Posting it.

A Good Map "Always" Needs Something New in it Like Lavaflows was One of the First or Only Maps to Have Lava.
And Island Hop is the Only Map to Feature Boats.

Maps Should Be Able to Support All Game Types From:
Slayer to King of the Hill.

*Thanks to All The Mappers*
* Who Take Their Time into Making us Gamers*
*New Maps to Play On*

gecko753 · Post by **gecko753** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 12:33 pm

i agree with most of that. but one thing is that if you have enough crativity with the map idea and such, you dont need to have new vehicles or weapons. ive played a bunch of great maps that had just the classic halo weapons and vehicles. but then again, if the map itself isnt that great, you might want to add some new stuff like that to make it look better.

and i think the same is with having something new, like boats or lava... its cool, but not needed if the good qualities of the map can outweigh not having them. oh yes and 1 last thing... i totally agree about maps should take more that 5 mins... if i dont take more than 2 weeks on a map, i usually dont post it. heh i think ive made over 20 maps in all... and i think ive posted 1 from right when hek came out

Master Chief1 · Post by **Master Chief1** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 12:37 pm

there was only one thing that i didn't see in your post that was missing... most of the time you should make maps with ai (of course the map was ment to have no ai in it or it would ruin the map if you put ai in it) but other than that your post was good.

ai + masterchief with heavy weapons = fun

Sonictag · Post by **Sonictag** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 12:43 pm

I dont like AI maps...

Master Chief1 · Post by **Master Chief1** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 12:49 pm

whats wrong with ai maps (are you being killed by them too often?

) because look at sniper training for example. That was a good map because it was meant to have ai in it. Same thing with wtf_ai. The ai was perfect in that map. So whats the deal? Of course some maps wouldn't be that good with ai like ewok or ndugu because their not really meant for ai and they wouldn't be that fun in them. A great map that should have ai in it though should be New Mombosa. That would be cool. One team would be covenant and the other could be Master Chief.

Sonictag · Post by **Sonictag** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 12:54 pm

I just find AI really annoying, if when you make ur map you could say AI on or off that would be alot better. And AI which play on teams rather than shoot at anyone who shoots them.

Master Chief1 · Post by **Master Chief1** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 1:00 pm

there are maps that are like that already (the ai that shoot other ai and not you) and its called wtf_ai cause the ai are on teams and you can choose to be on either team (red or blue unless its not team so then your on blue team) and there are three teams. Speaking of which does anybody know if there going to ever be another map like wtf_ai?

Sonictag · Post by **Sonictag** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 1:02 pm

I might release an AI map... i was working on some instagib (laser cannon with one hit kill) map a while back, if i finish it i think AI would be cool, probably wont be assed to finish it though..

Pie · Post by **Pie** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 2:53 pm

One, i agree

Two, i hate AI maps

If you want to see completely custom stuff, download the abyss_beta or whatever it is called. Sweet textures, custom scenery, custom 'grass texture' really well put together, great weapon placement, well designed. That is an exampel of a map that is awsome. Now all great maps have to be a new concept. For example: the_bazaar was an amazing map. Although i haven't seen it up on any sites lately. It had nothing new really, jsut a kick ass design, and textures. Textures and bump-mapping are what make the game....the game

there is my 2 cents....7 cents....pie hole....shut up

Danke · Post by **Danke** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 2:58 pm

Maps that rely on bump mapping really suck for what I think is the majority of us who won't dish out $100+ for a video card.

I'd just like to see an AI injector, so if we want bots or are internet challenged we can still have a little fun.

Atleast release an AI version. It only takes a few minutes to do really.

Burnination · Post by **Burnination** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 3:12 pm

ok..first..the weapons have to be modelled good, skinned good, and well balanced...or else the map will suck...also have good vehicle and weapon placement...try to make maps semi symmetrical, its just better so 1 team doesnt have advantage.

Pie · Post by **Pie** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 3:27 pm

Burnination wrote:ok..first..the weapons have to be modelled good, skinned good, and well balanced...or else the map will suck...also have good vehicle and weapon placement...try to make maps semi symmetrical, its just better so 1 team doesnt have advantage.

i agree with the symmetricalization yet not all maps need new guns. Some peopel with bad cards cant see the guns or they look liek crap to them.

And now that i jsut think of it. Maps with porn on walls or pictures of bathingsuit models or any of that, suck. They show the makers true pervertedness and offend people. My friend (who is a girl) was unable to play a map because of that.

[TG]Omega · Post by **[TG]Omega** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 6:55 am

What Maps That?

***EDIT*** In The Guide I Changed it to
(Possibly) Custom Weapons/Vehicles.
To Make You Happy.

Sonictag · Post by **Sonictag** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 7:40 am

Sewers... It is a pretty sick map (sick as in sick not... good)

dazman23 · Post by **dazman23** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 7:45 am

i think u are right with all but from AI i'm making a map for my clan so they all part of the clan i'm in can training in it/ what i got is a race track around the the map i'm going to try and make new vic but keep them same speed as norm vic i hate it when they got to fast yeah it fun but hard to control u just keep hitting the wall. for the snipers in my clan it going o be a big tower and u sniper moving ai in a little box place so they don't come out and mess with everyone who doing diffent training mihgt make it a bit fun with the AI shot back at the snipers and there going to be bit more stuff on the map for rest of the clan

[TG]Omega · Post by **[TG]Omega** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 8:27 am

Sounds cool

Pie · Post by **Pie** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 11:59 am

[TG]OmEgA wrote:What Maps That?

as in the_bazaar?