MP Maps
I recently compiled a rough list of what players consider to be some of the best multiplayer maps ever created in an attempt to look for patterns, “rules”, common themes or anything else that might stand out as the secret ingredient to creating a great skirmish environment. I had originally thought that, if anything, I might see commonalities in things like the number of entry points into a room or their general flow (circular, linear or otherwise), but as soon as you ignore sub-genres and just look at any great shooter map in general, most of the similarities immediately fly out the window. When you step back and look at maps like Q3DM17, de_dust, Blood Gulch and Strike at Karkand and are forced to ignore structural comparisons, the core thing that makes these maps great stands out: predictability.
That is, all of the really great maps excel at making the player always feel like they’re in control of the situation, whether they are or not.
Let’s use Q3DM17, otherwise known at Quake III’s “The Longest Yard”, as an example of this. While the map looks like it’s a wide-open warzone where anything goes, there’s actually a predictable flow to player movement.
In this case, the flow of the map is dictated by the use of jump pads (which, if I recall, were originally added to Quake III because a space soldier using a ladder looked weird). If you watch the video above and pay attention to his movement, you’ll note that most areas of the arena only have a couple ways to get to them despite the map being essentially devoid of walls. The guy in the video is able to watch a player and know where he’s about to wind up because the flow of play is predictable. That allows the player to focus more on skill, movement and map control rather than having to worry about whether or not he’s going to get shot in the back.
Let’s now look at a very different map: de_dust2. Whereas Quake III is all about big guns, many kills, frantic movement, lots of health and individual play, Counter-Strike is essentially the complete opposite of that. You need to play smart, plan your movement and work as a team as you can be killed very quickly and there are no respawns. And the magic ingredient that makes de_dust2 (and many of the game’s other maps) a classic is that it’s predictable.
If you watch the video, you’ll notice how confidently and quickly the player is able to move through the map and take over positions. Everything is predictable. That is, he might not know where the other team is at, or if someone’s about to get the drop on him and take him out, but he can be pretty sure that he’s not going to be shot in the back and he has a good idea of where a player will be (if they’re there) when he rounds each corner. This allows him to feel like he’s in control of the situation, rather than being lost in a big battle that he has no control over.
Looking at Blood Gulch, this is a map that’s basically just a giant oval with a small base on each side and very little else in the middle. In this case, predictability comes from simplicity. If you’re defending one of the bases, you have a very clear view of where the enemy is coming from – there’s really nothing for them to hide behind. If you’re attacking the other team’s base, you can be pretty damn sure that they’ll be inside of and directly around it rather than standing off in a corner somewhere. And even when you’re running across the field you can pretty confidently feel in control of the situation, even if you’re heavily outgunned, because you have a very clear view of anything attacking you. Yes, you might not stand a chance against an incoming tank, but as long as you’re paying attention then you should have plenty of warning that it’s coming your way.
And that’s kind of the big thing that comes from all of this. By creating predictable flow and gameplay, you greatly reduce the likelihood of an encounter feeling “cheap”. That is, the focus shifts to what’s in front of you rather than trying to avoid getting shot in the back repeatedly. Aside from poor controls or cheaters, there are few things more frustrating to a player than getting shot in the back.
So how do you create a predictable map? Well, for starters, playtest the hell out of it with skilled and competitive players. They’ll find problem areas much, much more quickly and effectively than bad players will (no offense to them). But before you get that far, pay very close attention to sightlines and visibility, and how those things change as you move around a corner and through a map. Also, playtest as early and often as possible. You’ll be much more willing to change things up as needed if you (or the rest of the team) haven’t invested a bunch of time filling in details. If it’s fun when it’s still ugly, you can be pretty certain it’ll be even better when it looks great.
If a player moves into a new spot, they should (in most cases) be confident that the enemy is not going to appear behind them in the very immediate future. You can help avoid this by using hallways instead of doorways, or limiting the number of entrances into an area (obviously these solutions aren’t always ideal). Putting space between each of a room’s various entrances/exits can help a great deal. Try to visualize the flow of the map and limit crisscrossing – this is the sort of thing that results in kills from the side or rear. In some cases, it might be good to think of a map as a series of connected hot spots. Try to keep these things separate but still reachable. If you have players in one hot spot commonly firing at those in another, you probably have an issue with the flow of play.
If you’re going to specifically allow for snipers, limit their effective area. In most cases, an experienced player should know whether or not they’re in danger of being shot by a sniper, and if so, where they would be located. If a sniper has a view of the entire map then that’s a problem. A player should always have some sort of idea of where they can be killed from and act accordingly.
A lot of those tips are probably well-known to most MP level designers in some fashion or another, but they’re worth looking at every now and again (particularly after you finish a fairly “complete” pass of a map’s layout) as it’s easy to get lost in the details of an environment and miss some of the big picture stuff.
