Gameplay Thoughts Part 2

by David Münnich

David Münnich

http://www.planetunreal.com/teamvortex/davidm/

On the latest tutorial I was talking about good gameplay, now I want to show how not to do it, I think that's pretty helpful too and makes you think about every single brush and actor that could affect the gameplay or your map.
You must have read Gameplay1 before you read this. The 'Predictability stuff' is important.

1.

Let me start with that one.
You are the red robo babe and the green stick dude is your opponent, he is running away to the question mark (follow the arrows).
Now you don't know if he takes the right of the left way.
In the previous tutorial I said that you just have to be able to control the 3 exits, but in that example the ways are too long, and my rocket too slow, and in the stalwart example you cannot really see all exits, cause your field of view is only 90° to all sides.

To fix that, you need the sound indicators, like lifts, itemsounds, or water....
When he takes the upper way you will hear his steps in the water, the other way he will probably grab up the vials.
It's important that you hear the sounds early enough, if the water/vials come too late, you won't be able to run that way fast enough and catch him..
To make sure that he grabs them you got to do it like in the following pic, in that case you have no choice, he MUST take'em or he doesn't choose a way at all, and just waits for YOU to look for him.
Here the 'MustVial'.
The way must be thin and long enough (you shouldn't be able to pass em with a jump) that you can't pass 'em without grabbing them.

2.
Red = You
Green = Phag1t running away
He can follow the blue arrows.....and you have no clue where he is going to.
He can be anywhere when he's taking route A or B, only way to catch him is C, but if he takes route A you won't have a chance.

Here an idea how to fix it. The green dots are a window (you don't get tru it).
If he enters A you can see it in the window and catch him at B.
You can add the sound indicator stuff if necessary...

And DO NOT think in 2 dimensions, the drawings are not supposed to be a top view!
The A hallway can be a lift that moves upwards and the B point where you try to catch your enemy is on a higher floor.
So please no flat stalwart like maps. Stalwart was made for beginners because a flat map is easier to coordinate.

3. Now something many people ask me all the time

The Room-Corridor-Room syndrome
That's something like that....
That's the way newbies and id level designer (is that the same btw?) build their maps.
Huge rooms interlinked with long thin corridors. It's not hard to tell why that sucks.

As CliffyB once said: Avoid Room, corridor, room "by creating a map that continues to spiral into itself without ever seeming forced or boring.
Try to make your rooms interlock nicely with one another. Remember, a good map is always returning back into itself, like a cloverleaf on a highway or a snake that's eating itself."

Ok, most people will say "What the heck??"
The problem of R-C-R are

-the long thin hallways
-the rooms are just connected on one floor
To avoid it, build some rooms, leave 128 units between them.
Now add big doors instead of hallways and
interlink the rooms on 2 or more floors(!), that makes the big difference (And now you have a snake that's eating itself *cough*).
A good example map is DM-Pah, you find it on my Maps page.

Next problem that happens to people who try to avoid R-C-R is, that the maps are too open, you can look from one side of the map to the other end.....that sucks and should be avoided.
I think I don't have to tell you how to fix it, its really easy, you just have to know that there is a problem. So check your maps, if they are too open and block the view (by placing a crate, a pillar, or just relocating a door....).
You can also see that problem in DM-Pah, it's way too open in some spots, check it out, because "to know how not do it" is a very important part of mapping...

Feedback and suggestions to DavidM@Planetunreal.com