I'm writing this topic because frankly the maps being produced for SourceForts on average are generally very poor for gameplay. This is not an attempt to tell people what the perfect map should look like or force people to build concepts for me, I would have been direct with something like that. What I want here is for people to think before they do things in terms of mapping, which is something I'm not seeing enough of based on the average map being produced here. Straight into the subject matter.
Fallacy: What SF maps need to do is leave players with a blank canvas in order for them to be as creative as possible
I've heard this a few times, it is unworkably idealist and frankly it is just ignorant. I have nothing against uberforting on bigflatmap or whatever it's called, but that is not sourceforts. There are two parts to the game of sourceforts, the build round and the fight round, what a mapper needs to do is create a map that is both fun for building and fighting. For practical reasons a large flat map is neither.
- What makes a map fun in the fight round?
The ability to do as much as possible. I want to be presented with an environment where I can attack the enemy from several angles, I can choose between trying to work subversively and unfreeze parts of his fort what he isn't paying attention, I can pound the crap out of him with guns from my fort, I can pound the crap out of him with guns from any forward outposts I have been lucky enough to take, and I can do crazy tricks and get into places he didn't expect/doesn't want me. What does this mean for building?
First of all in order for a map to be subversively fun it needs to force the opponent to build far enough away from his spawn that if his active defense line dies you have a chance to get a piece unfrozen before he gets back. Deck is a perfect example of what not to do, the spawn is so close to the build wall and the build wall is so close to the opponents build wall that it only literally takes about 2 seconds to spawn and be at your outer wall if you built right up against the build wall. Simply put there is not enough space there to realistically create challenge in terms of preventing an enemy from deconstructing your wall. This won't be fun for subversive play.
What makes defensive base pounding fun? well luckily this one is fairly easy. Whenever you make your map in such a way that a defense wall is possible players have the opportunity of integrating bunkers into it and improving their feeling of invincibility, even while they are not. If you make a map where the player can feel they have build a good fort then this will come naturally. Surprisingly putting obstacles in the way actually improves this because when a player accomplishes a feat they feel it more viable because of the obstacles they overcome. Your map should challenge the player in building with it's architecture without creating an environment too abstract or too large to effectively cover. Too much space results in a player having to endlessly repeat the action of laying up a straight wall, which is boring and degrades the experience of building an effective fort.
How do I make my map fun to attack from the outside? The short answer is break up or eliminate the no man's land. In noman's land a player feels helpless and panicked. Skywalk and tactical have small noman's lands and in the case of tactical if you go through the window you can almost eliminate the noman's land completely, at the same time they take enough time after spawning to get the the usual outermost wall that most of the time it's possible to pull a piece off if you manage to kill all the defenders as your engineer starts working. This is part of the reason those maps are some of the favorites in sourceforts. How do you make your map fun to trick in? Add tricks, add architecture that allows for people to build tricks, add architecture that requires other teams to build around or tricks will be possible. On sky walk unless the other team appropriately covers the rails and builds far enough back from the 3 way fork a skilled tricker can sideswipe jump or longjump over their walls. This kind of architecture requires more competence from the builders to account for which in turn increases the feeling of accomplishment when a fort is well made there, as well as making the game more fun to play for the fast moving and quick thinking players.
- What makes a map fun in the build round?
The way to think about this is less what makes a map fun and more what makes a map unfun. The first simple answer is the inability to build a defendable fort, this can exist for several reasons. Firstly if a map is too large the block counts will need to be exorbitant and the time needed to set up walls will both seem tedious and probably impossible. A quick guideline is to aim for a basic wall length necessary of 6-8 pieces. More pieces if your architecture is more simple is fine, but if the player has to work around alot of abstracts aim more towards 6.
Second the map shouldn't have any architecture that allows the opponent to completely ignore any form of defense. A huge tower that a player can jump off of right onto the flag makes any sort of wall or bunker irrelevant, the only thing that can be done is to completely box off the flag. Boxxed off flags make a map unfun for flag cappers unless the box can be unfrozen with relative ease, a flag D that can be easily unfrozen is frustrating to defend. Realize that players can build towers themselfs. Never make a map where the setup allows for players to build a structure that gives them immediate access through falling on the enemy flag. It's a lose lose situation for everyone.
Finally some obstacles that require abstract building should exist. A flat map with no abstracts will result in a wall with ramps to run over it and maby a crawl tunnel built every time which quickly becomes tedious to build. In skywalk players need to do creative things to create the flag D, in tactical players need to account for the large window, abstracts make the map more fun to build.
but SwiftSpear, knifa originally intended for SF to be open and creative! that's why it's called source'forts'
That's great. Will Write originally intended for The Sims to realistate efficiency simulator, that doesn't change the fact that the current quirky life sim is infinitely more fun and addictive then a realistate simulator would be. The idealism of what SF is 'supposed' to be is irrelevant, it's a game, it's supposed to be primarily fun, make maps that are fun.
Map architecture and what it means:
The vast majority of SF maps to date are constructed in such a way that it seems to me that people have no concept of what the very basic architectural structures do to maps in terms of building forts. Maps with the very very popular and common valley design in my opinion are innately flawed by design because they accentuate the noman's land by making travel through it less covered and slower, and make building forts tedious and easy.
Wall: Any wall that a player cannot build over will provide a natural limit to the map and in the case of it being central will provide valuable no man's land coverage. Additionally proper placement of walls can drastically decrease Rspeeds which will make your map run at higher average FPS.
Overlook: any high ground point that can be climbed up to will invalidate any defence built for a certain ammount of space after it. This is true of player built overlooks as well, so keep in mind the expected wall zone and try to keep overlooks as small a threat as possible from them.
Slope/hill: When looking up a slope a wall is more intimidating then the same wall would be on a flat. When looking down a slope a wall is less intimidating. On a violent down slope you must build a wall very high to prevent others from jumping over it and defenders need more creative ramps to get over it themselfs, on a violent upslope you lose a fair bit of wall coverage but the tiniest walls can block people out and defenders can jump over effortlessly. The steeper the slope that your opponent faces the harder it will be to break your base. As a rule of thumb I'd say optimum is actually a slight downslope to increase the building challenge and force more defensive competence. Use slopes to force more creativity out of teams when making flag zones.
Step: A step is any jump higher then 32 units. A step is a great way to add some altitude variation to a map and force creativities. A 2 unit block can be jumped over if at the bottom of a step, a one unit block cannot be jumped over if at the top of a step. If a step intersects a wall it forces the builder working around the step to accommodate for sideswipe jumpers and also gives them a great structure to work bunkers and crawltunnel's around. Steps used properly are a great way to provide NML (no man's land) field coverage and force more creative building.
Catwalk: In order to defend a catwalk the wall built will need to be significantly farther forward then your front wall. Catwalks are a great way to ensure that players don't huddle their fort too close to their spawn, but if you focus gameplay around catwalks too much you run the heavy risk of ending up having to deal with alot of problems from weak overlook mechanics in gameplay. An underwalk is the opposite, the fort line must be build further back. Underwalks are rarely useful, I don't think I'd recommend them too much just because they usually play a non spectacular role, they get blocked and remain blocked for the duration of the game.
Door: doors will instantly be fort focal points because they are choke spots. There are a few fairly fun maps focused around doors, and when used in conjunction with walls they can create some interesting no man's lands. I don't encourage too much usage of doors because you run the risk of turning the map into a "sourceclog" map rather then a "sourceforts" map, but be creative and think of ways for using them where the immediate stratigey won't be to block them, or where they are blocked but they are not the primary line of defence.
Friendly suggestions:
When you create a map imagine your map as a series of zones. Any area that can be walled off in less then 8 blocks is a build zone. Now what you want to do is look at the architexture of your map, any build zone that faces downhill to the opponents flag is overpowered, try to decrease the viability of it. Any build zone that is in the shadow of an overlook consider a non build zone and make sure there is some build zone between your flag and the enemies flag. Any build zone that is shorter then a 2 second run from the spawn zone should be eliminated. Now view your build zone and try to put something there that will make it more interesting to build around. This could be trenches, steps, side to side slopes (don't use displacements though, they are too abstract and are frustrating to build around) or front to back slopes.
Once you have an interesting build zone idea develop your no man's land. The goal here should be to eliminate as much no man's land as possible without eliminating combat space. Tactical is a prime example, the combat space is quite large, but the noman's land is relatively small considering the time it takes to get to the enemies front line from the window. Large no man's lands make make offensive progress too difficult, and small combat spaces restrict combat and encourage fish in a barrel style shooting from rocketters. Your combat space should be at least the same size as your average base, and your base should be large enough that it takes a minimum of two seconds to run from the spawn to the outer wall. This is difficult, most of my ideas just steal what tactical has done, be creative here.
Develop your flag area carefully. A flag should difficult to get into if the opposing team has built a good flag defense, however, the opposing team is warned loudly when their flag is captured, there isn't a good need to make a flag zone difficult to get out of. Consider structures like the skywalk upper platform with a nobuild at the top part, or a flag pyramid. Even an elevator. It's not fun to have a game that entirely consists of touches, if a team has fought their way in and through the flag D give them a running chance at a capture.
Be aware of how close your flag zone is to your build zone. Too close and your opponents are in no man's land before your in base defenders have a chance to turn around. Too far and it's difficult to defend both wall and flag and contain them appropriate distances from the spawn. The flag should NEVER be in range of an externally available overlook. Building vertical defenses structures is unwieldy difficult and frustrating.
Ammo crates and health should always be available to defending forces. If your no man's land is large, consider putting some ammo and health as well as cover to decrease the experience of a risking crossing. Accessible and easy to use disposers are also a plus, keep this in mind when making your build area's.
Overall have fun and build some good maps
Map Design 101
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