August

Hello. It's been a while since I've posted. (Over a month!)

August was quite a busy month for me. I went on a week-long family vacation, graduated from college, and turned 23.

Also, at some point, my graphics card died. I decided this would be the perfect opportunity to upgrade my computer a little bit. I got a new case, graphics card, and power supply in addition to switching out my processor and motherboard for slightly upgraded ones from one of my family's other computers. Just about everything but the hard drives got upgraded.

One unfortunate consequence of all of my computer upgrading is that I reformatted my system hard drive without remembering to back up my bookmarks. I had collected a number of interesting articles on game design that I wanted to post here, but can no longer remember them.

Long story short, I have finally restored my computer to full working order and will be resuming posting.

Fixing Pathfinding Once and For All

This article over at Game/AI isn't specifically tied to Map Design (and technically, neither is my blog), but it's an interesting read nonetheless on one of the problems plaguing a wide variety of games today.

It has videos showcasing examples of pathfinding errors in titles such as World of Warcraft, Age of Conan, Oblivion, and Half-Life 2.

The article came to my attention via one of the leading game journalism blogs, Kotaku.

Gamefest: Designing Rapture To Make Sense In BioShock

An article was posted yesterday on Gamasutra on 2K's approach to creating believable environments that not only play well but also tell a back-story for the area with its aesthetics.

For those who aren't interested in reading the whole article, here are a few snippets and a short summary.

Excerpts

The BioShock staffers followed a simple formula: function follows form follows function.

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De la Plante explained, "What happens is we build a space, we figure out we have an underwater apartment tower, we figure how it's going to look, JP decides how the gameplay is going to function, and then we ask a question: what happened before the player got there?"

Summary

Essentially, the formula is actually function->form->function->form.

1. The first step, function, was deciding how the area would have originally functioned - if it was an apartment complex, the area had to be laid out like an apartment complex prior to gameplay and detailing concerns.
2. The second step, form, was detailing the area to fit with its original function. (Making the apartment complex BSP look like an actual apartment complex).
3. The third step, function, was making the game function well in terms of actual gameplay. (Adding places for the player to hide or blocking the player's access to certain areas).
4. The fourth step, form, was used to detail the area to provide the aforementioned backstory. This is where the step where things like extra rubble, corpses, and other signs of fights or other story elements would be added.

Defining Boundaries: Creating Credible Obstacles In Games

An article appeared on Gamasutra at the beginning of the month that was quite an interesting read.

It discusses (in great detail) the challenges of creating believable and effective barriers at the edges (and in the middle) of maps and levels in various video games (using examples primarily from FPS and third-person action/adventure games).

It's a good read if you're serious about map design and something to think about while working on your own levels.

Possible Minor Changes to Corion1Round1

In the last post, I hinted at some minor changes that might be going into Corion1Round1 after some feedback and playtesting on Alpha 3C. Since I don't have my camera available to take a picture of my hastily scribbled notes, I'm actually going to type them out and reword them so they make sense.

• Control Point A:
  • Re-examine the area with the Sniper in mind.Many of the current potential sniper locations can only cover an extremely limited amount of space. Some of the locations force the sniper to get too close to the front lines.
• The Upper Tunnel from A->B:
  • Make the room larger with potential sentry locations for a forward defense or for teleporters.
  • Add defensive position above the exit from the tunnel in the cave containing Control Point B (similar to the location above the tunnels in Dustbowl Round 2 on the way to the second control point).
  • Add extra ammo in the area to promote sentry building.
• The Big [Gray Gravel] Building:
  • Upgrade health and ammo on the lower level so the area sees more use.
  • Downgrade the ammo on the upper level for the same reason.
  • Possibly rework the three windows into two larger ones.
  • Add an extra sniper window in the small room on the way to the CP facing the upper tunnel from A->B (directly opposite).
  • Remove some supports from under B so a sentry in the three-window area could cover that pathway more effectively.
• Control Point B:
  • Increase the cap time for Control Point B by 1 second (possibly more) to prevent quick caps right after A is taken.
  • Rework the ramps inside the building containing B.
• Sniper Window Near B:
  • Add an extra path for RED to take to that room. It's not seeing as much use as it should be.
  • Make it a little easier to jump back into the room with the Control Point.
  • Possibly add an exit for RED near this location, but more vulnerable than the existing one-way door.
• RED Spawn:
  • I had intended to rework the red spawn at some point, but wasn't sure how and didn't think it would effect the gameplay much. This will probably happen in a future version.
  • Currently players seem to be taking the long way to A rather than the shortcut, so I'll be adding more hints.

Another thing I'll be looking into is possible ways to prevent BLU from running right past A to set up a forward base at B.

Corion1Round1 Alpha 3C Is Out!

Download it here.

You can comment on the map here on this post, at TF2Maps.net, or on the Control Point Podcast forums.

The most noticeable change in C from B (shown in the screenshots in the previous post) is the addition of another ramp to Control Point B. I may upload screenshots of this addition in the future.

The game play in this version is vastly improved over previous versions, which proved extraordinarily difficult for the attackers. Changes to Round1 of Corion1 from this point out will be minor, though not necessarily few.

It's not official, but I probably will NOT be releasing another Alpha of Round1 until I'm finished with the other two rounds and have the full map completely sewn together.

Screenshots of Alpha3B

I've uploaded screenshots of Alpha3B of my Team Fortress 2 map, as promised.

I still have a tiny bit more work that I could do on the map, and since today is a free weekend and still facing the wrath of the new pyro patch for Team Fortress 2 I'll be delaying the actual release of Alpha 3b. Playtesting it on a server where 50% of the people are Pyros wouldn't be a very accurate sample of the gameplay on this map.

So I'll be waiting until tomorrow or possibly even next weekend to actually release and playtest the next public alpha.