Reply To: DGC Map Pack Collaboration

[Wesbat]

#9486

Some tips to save time mapping, these are editor agnostic and nothing here is absolute. Take what you will.

The basic steps of building a level:

1) Create the foundation: rooms, locations, and the connections between them.
2) Do a few test runs, adjusting rooms as needed.
3) Populate with monsters and items.
4) Do a few more test runs, balancing as needed.
5) Add flourish, detailing the aesthetics.

* It’s easy to change or reshape rooms, but it gets more time-consuming the more details you have to deal with (lines and vertices). Save time by leaving the fine details for last, allowing you to make rapid changes while the structure of your level is coming together. Also if you start detailing before the foundation has settled, it becomes too easy to lose momentum: your level feels unfinished (there is no exit?) despite all the time you spent making it look good.

Approach: Start with “broad strokes” and create rooms and locations first, optionally apply wall and floor textures where they act as visual reminders of a room’s purpose. Structures that have an effect on gameplay (stairs, lifts, keyed doors, nukage pits) all fall under broad strokes.

* Balance to make sure there is enough ammo and health for the player, and that monsters do not overpower the player. Maps are usually designed for “pistol start”: players who die and restart the level, players who record demos or do speed runs. Balancing also involves setting the easy/medium/hard flags on monsters so accommodate the difficulty level the player has chosen.

Approach: Place the initial monsters for what you consider the medium difficulty level. Play it a few times. How many times did you die before reaching the exit? Do you exit with 100% health every time and a fully stocked backpack? Add/remove monsters & items so you exit with barely enough ammo, and you picked up at least half the health bonuses.

Catering for the easy skill: When you are happy with the medium monster difficulty, select every second or third monster and remove the “easy” flag, this will give less monsters on the easy skill.

Catering for the hard skill: add one extra monster for every 3 medium monsters, setting only the “hard” flag for this new monster.

Balancing is by far the trickiest, I would be happy to assist with this, I’ve done a lot of it 🙂