4 replies to this topic

[Sabre]

This is a question I've asked various people, usually mappers, and each time got the nothing but sarcastic mockery or no answer at all.

How do you make maps, levels, ect. fun and interesting?

It's not just design and execution of mechnics either. After all, I have played alot of great Half Life 2 maps, I've also played some real horrid ones. The game, the guns, the AI, it's all the same. Some are ugly but great, some are pretty but horrid to play.

[WAXT]

I'm not a professional or anything, in fact I'm still pretty amateur, but I think the key is to forget realism. I've found that maps will be so much more enjoyable if you focus on what feels right rather than what's actually realistic. But that's just my opinion.

[Coppermantis]

Yes, Realism does not always equal fun. Areas in real life are often flat, repetitive and suffer from a severe lack of explosive barrels. This is easy when creating environments like the Citadel, which has no basis in reality but in places like City 17 things will at least need to make sense otherwise the game will lose some immersion i.e, a noisy factory next to a housing block would almost never happen in real life, or a hospital next to a garbage dump, etc.

[A1win]

I'd say it's not so much about what the map itself is or looks like, but rather what's in the map. You might have an amazing looking area with cool height variation and interesting spots to take cover in, but if combat never happens at that part of the map, it's just mostly going to get ignored. On the other hand, even a flat room with a pillar in the middle can be fun if the encounter that happens in it is properly paced. Fun and good graphics are almost completely separate from each other, but if you combine them both, you'll have an amazing map.

Almost a decade ago, I made a map series for Sven Co-op with extremely simple (and even somewhat annoying) graphics, and yet I got lots of positive feedback for it, because the gameplay was so fun. Andy still hates me for ever making it, but that's just because he's never played through it.

[Sabre]

A1win, on 15 March 2012 - 06:08 AM, said:

I'd say it's not so much about what the map itself is or looks like, but rather what's in the map. You might have an amazing looking area with cool height variation and interesting spots to take cover in, but if combat never happens at that part of the map, it's just mostly going to get ignored. On the other hand, even a flat room with a pillar in the middle can be fun if the encounter that happens in it is properly paced. Fun and good graphics are almost completely separate from each other, but if you combine them both, you'll have an amazing map.

Almost a decade ago, I made a map series for Sven Co-op with extremely simple (and even somewhat annoying) graphics, and yet I got lots of positive feedback for it, because the gameplay was so fun. Andy still hates me for ever making it, but that's just because he's never played through it.

I remember tetris. Never played through it properly though. Why would andy hate it?

So, how do you ensure that combat takes place in the right place?