Map improvement: 3 steps

I've started to think the reason why I stop working on my maps when they're ready for first release is that I run out of clear goals. Since lack of improvement is a bad thing, the past couple of weeks I've been trying to find a work flow that lets me state a problem in a way that makes it easier to find a solution.

Stating the problem in the first place is a good thing because then you've actually got a more specific way of determining whether you're improving the area you're working on or not. My problem has been that I've just said to myself "this is bad, it should be better" instead of trying to say exactly what is bad and how it should be made better.

The last couple of weeks I've been trying to clearly state what is a problem and why, noting down things that need to be there and working from that. The latest area I've been trying to improve have been the second story area between the first and second capture point.



Since the second floor balcony was overlooking the first spawn point for Red, it was a bit too powerful to begin with, if Blu managed to get a Heavy+Medic team upstairs the defender reinforcements couldn't really get out of their spawn door. Rebuilding the spawn points gave Red three separate paths out of the spawn, allowing the second floor more freedom since it only blocked one of the exits.

Another issue with the first layout was that the stairs being inside the houses blocked nearly all the space, making the houses feel really cramped. Having the two houses with a bridge between them also made it look a bit too much like the buildings at Capture point 1 as well as taking up even more space.

Step 1: make sure you have a clear goal. Writing down the problem it came out to: make the second story area bigger while keeping the sniper paths run along the sides.


Right side showing balcony overlooking Red spawn #1

Step 2: after setting the goal, make sure you pay attention to all the limiting factors. There might actually not be a lot of them, some of them are just lazyness, continuing to build on your old houses because you already built them.

After clearing out the houses that were there to begin with and just raising the platform there was a lot of space to work with. The only necessary walls were the one blocking the stairs to the second spawn as well as a big wall mostly to block visibility for snipers.



Working from this small number of limitations there were several ways of doing the layout. The solution I finally chose has the added benefit of being able to also extend the skybox inwards to optimize visibility and keep players from seeing too much of the second area while attacking the first stage of the map. It also keeps players from standing on the right side (top in the screenshot) and sniping any of the exits from the Red spawn.

The bottom area that's been blocked off from seeing the sky feels a bit cramped instead now so I'm not sure if I need to put non-skybox lighting there or not. I think it looks pretty cool either way, with a couple of props it'll be pretty nice as well as offer more variation from stage one. If it doesn't work I'll just block it off and make the first floor of the houses have a way through since it's currently entirely empty.

Step 3: test it to see if you've lived up to your goal. I thought of putting this first but there'd be nothing to test if you didn't build it first so having it last applies to the first case as well as the last.



I haven't really decided if this is the way to work in every case but right now it feels good. I haven't been doing too much mapping on occasion of the holiday keeping me busy with work (that I get paid for) but hopefully it'll pick up over the summer. Here's to hoping and writing down clearer goals.