TF2 Mapping Episode 6: How can the gameplay be improved during the beta stage?

I was going to cover all the changes I've made with the layout but I don't want to be writing a diary so I want to skip to another juicy part of mapping.

"Gray-boxing" is a term used to describe a stage of map development where the environment is simply made out of development(dev) textures. Most dev textures are gray so it is called gray-boxing. There is usually little to no detailing involved in this stage and it is purely for testing the layout. It is really important to refine the gameplay as much as possible in this stage because when you try to change the layout significantly with all the details in place, you are effectively wasting the time you spent on detailing areas which need to be changed anyway.

Alpha stage is when gray-boxing is done. The map has gone through 12 iterations. Beta is where the detail comes in after the gameplay finishes.

However, beta is still a stage where changes can be made. Of course, one can literally change the layout in some ways because they did not do it in the alpha stage, but there is another way to change the gameplay. It is by implying what players need to do with using the environment.

This guide on tf2maps.net explains this idea very well. I am sure that there are plenty or even better ones out there but this is the one that I was most influenced by. To briefly summarize, the environment can point players to a direction they need to go. By doing so, it is telling players what to do just by being in the map without looking out of context or just cheap.

You dont always have to write what the player need to do on the screen.

So how did I tell players where to go? This is the first capture point of my map cp_hazyfort_rc3

Red lines drawn over the map to show how the geometry leads the players.

As a blue team, who are more likely to not know where they should be heading unlike red players who had 60 seconds to look around the map during the setup time, This is what they see as they approach the first capture point. The lines on the tower, on the building and the big arrow all leads to the capture point that is in the center of the screenshot. Apart from the big arrow, hints of where players need to be heading are all integrated to the detail. Big tall tower naturally leads players' eyes to the point. 

I did something similar for the entrance of the second point too.

Players can't really see the second control point from this position, where they will naturally end up being. The castle has a vertical structure that will help players to notice that there is the objective below. Also the doorway acts as a frame. This helps players focus on the important area. This method is called framing.

This is the same doorway from the other side.

This is what red players see first as they exit their spawnroom. I've purposefully used red texture on the building behind the door while keeping the colour palette on the rest of the buildings more green and yellow. The Hue difference is what leads players eye to the doorway, where players should be heading towards.

Shape is just one way to lead the players.

 This is a doorway the blue players need to go through before the first point. Since left side of the doorway is brighter, players will naturally head to the left rather than trying to investigate the right. This is important since the right side is a flank route that goes around the point. Using the contrast of light I can easily lead players without using arrows.

A density of detail can be used to control the player movement as well. A density of detail simply means the amount of detail used in a certain area.

This area used to have a problem where players are naturally lead to the area highlighted by the green circle. This was problematic since it is a dead-end. It is not intuitive that the path that penetrates furthest into the enemy territory is a dead-end. To fix this, I significantly increased the density of detail in area highlighted by the red rectangle. Now there are many more interesting features in the red area compared to green area. Not only does the red part now have a big arrow, it has a lot of crates, a trolley and a big signage saying 'keep the doorway clear.' 

The wall behind the green area is also not lit bright while the red area is brightly lit. This slight contrast helps player locate where they need to be heading.

As a small detail the hand sign on the wall behind the green area has a hand symbol which is often associated with 'stop.'

But it is actually this sign which I thought could be used as a detail while also using it as a symbol to keep players away.

There are obviously more examples of these methods used in my map to lead the players but the rest are mostly repetitive. Here are the screenshots of it so see if you can find them.

All the techniques I've explained in this post are all popular methods used by artists to create a good composition. This video explains the composition very well and I referenced it while detailing this map. 

Too Long, Didn't Watch for the video:

There are 3 stages for a good composition in a scene:

Focal Element is "Something that the viewer is drawn to immediately".

In terms of tf2 mapping, the focal element needs to be the objective, the control point.

The second stage is the Structure which is "The organization of elements based on a rule." and the third stage is the balance which is "Keeping the weight of the scene balanced."

It is actually near impossible to implement stage 2 and 3 in a first-person-shooter like tf2 because players control their own cameras. So I focused on the first stage

Natural Focal Elements are things that people's eye are naturally drawn to.

There are roughly 5 types of it.

1.High Contrast

2.Saturation

3.Camera Focus

4.Motion

5.Faces or Figures

Obviously not all of these can be applied to tf2 mapping since camera focus, motion or figures are hard to implement without directly harming the gameplay. However, high contrast and saturation is what I used for my map.

Focal Element influencers:

1.Guiding Lines

2.Framing

Guiding line is what I ended up using for most occasions. Rooflines and vertical structures are great for integrating detail with the gameplay itself.

This is an example from the video on guidelines. The curve around the character naturally lead viewer's eyes to the face of the character.

This basically sums up how I detailed my map cp_hazyfort_rc3

TF2 Mapping Case Study: Snowycoast's First Chokepoint

If somebody asks me "Are all choke points bad?", my answer is a definite no.

Chokepoints are one of the most hotly debated subject when discussing about map design of any first person shooter. It is extremely important to understand what a chokepoint does to utilize it. 

According to the Official TF2 wiki, chokepoints are "any enclosed space, corridor, or area where large numbers of players are forced to pass through, with no alternate routes."

Most chokes of tf2 actually have alternative routes but they are for flanking.

In this series,(if I decide to continue) I will go over some good and bad chokepoints because I get the feeling that the biggest problem of cp_hazyfort is the chokepoint I added. I will hopefully be able to fix the problem of the map as I go through other good and bad examples of chokepoints.

To start off with, we have pl_snowycoast. I think this choke is a good example because blue team has a good chance of going through. Fighting around this choke is not really frustrating as either team. It can be tight in some cases but I think it is a chokepoint that works.

The first point of Snowycoast

This is the first point of pl_snowycoast. There are actually only two routes blue players can take to proceed. The flank is sometimes a choke by itself because of how enclosed the area is. Soldiers, Demos and Heavies can easily blast away enemies in the room on the right. Pyros can also work well in the right flank because, again, the room is small.

Pretty crammed

The white cross represents health pack and brown arrow represents ammo pack. This is the route each teams can take. 

This next screenshot shows the distance from the choke to the close health packs.

Not only blue has 3 more health packs compared to red, the distance they need to travel is much longer in some cases. Despite blue's spawn being very close to the chokepoint, blue was given 5 health packs to work with which may sound quite absurd. 

A unique feature of this choke is that there is a large health pack right next to the choke point.

I think this health pack is a very interesting feature as it can be used by both team given the right situation. In most cases, it will be used by blue players who took a lot of damage from pushing the cart. They are given immediate cover and a large healthpack so that they can return to the cart very fast. It can also be used by some red players who are very offensive. For instance, a red scout can take the health pack to continue harassing without losing any time in doing so. In most of other maps, players would have to take a longer route in order to gain this much health.

The medium health pack on the left is helpful for blue team engineer who is trying to set up a quick dispenser for their team. Although blue team would have to fallback quite a distance, the dispenser is very safe from most threat other than spies because of how far it is from the chokepoint. This place is almost a counterpart to the red's strong sentryspot on the other side of the building.

To talk more about useful dispenser spot, there is this area:

The fence prop covers the area just enough to protect the blue dispenser from all the spamfest. The low fence provides useful cover for long ranged classes like sniper. Combined with the small health pack, it is a very strong holding area.

If not this doorway on the right...

It is pretty much only way to avoid the extreme projectile spam for both team and it is very likely for red team to flank using this route. So the dispenser spot mentioned above is balanced. A general high-risk-high-return.

TF2 Mapping Episode 5.5: Does anybody actually enjoy this map?

Sometimes, you are better off disregarding some feedbacks despite your map being heavily work-in-progress. This is for two reasons. 

First, you get to think about the problems of your map by yourself. This is a good way to significantly improve your layout design part of your mapping skill. I think I was able to learn a lot just by writing this series; I got to think about my map. Beforehand, I used to simply take the feedback as it is granted. This is a really bad way to use the feedbacks because you dont understand what the essential problem is. It is like using answer sheet to finish your homework quickly; you don't get anything out of it. Let's pretend that your map got a feedback saying that "There's a long sightline here." What I used to do is to put a big wall there and call it a day. But the thing is, I don't know if the sightline was actually necessary. Take a look at this sightline here.

Upward's one of many long sightline

Something like this would get an instant "!fb long sightline". While it is true that the sightline is pretty long, Upward is considered one of the best map in the game. Reason? It is an easily counterable spot with two low ground flanks leading to it.

3 possible flanks to remove the sniper from the highground.

Not only there are 3 flanks leading to it, it is relatively open. So rather than the spot being an overpowered sniper sightline, it simply becomes a place where good snipers can shine. Skill based reward is good.

When some people can not pinpoint the problem of the map but is vocal about their opinion, problems rise. Basically, they say things without backing up with any sound reasons. This is the second reason why sometimes you might not want to disregard some feedbacks.

"Does anybody actually enjoy this map?"

There's nothing much wrong with this statement being said in the playtest. It is good because it indicates that there's a problem with the map.

"..."

What must not happen in any playtest is stopping there because it is as useful as saying nothing throughout the entire playtest. The very reason why I request the playtest is to listen to feedback not hate-speech.

This is actually the second time my map experienced this. I think it really depends on the experience they get in the map but not necessarily the experience they get because of the map's layout. Getting headshot by a good sniper multiple times might be their experience but it might not be because the map has an unfair sightline.

Does anybody actually enjoy being hated for no reason?

TF2 Mapping Episode 5: Red Reigns???

Out of 3 games played in the playtest of cp_hazyfort_a4, red team managed to win two games out of three. One game won by blue is mostly due to the lack of red engineers defending the first point. So what happened?

There are multitude of possible reasons for this but I think a new way of approaching the map caused this.

This playtest is very different from the previous ones because the server was full and players, especially the engineers, tested with the map in various ways. Engineers started to place their sentries at places where I did not expect them to. In the previous playtests, engineers rarely placed their sentries at the first point.

Sentries in the market was the least I was expecting. While the market flank itself only has one small metal, there is another small ammo pack in the room next to it. Combined, it allowed both red and blue team to put down their sentries to control the area.

TF2 Mapping Episode 4: Massive Changes!

In the last episode I talked about how I will change the layout. I have changed it and it was recently tested on TF2maps.net server and I must say, the result was extremely positive. I also saw some interesting gameplay dynamics too which I will get to it at the end.

5 Rounds were played on this map and 4 were won by blue. This is definitely an improvement compared to the 100% win rate of blue at the last playtest. 

These are the changes I have made.

Layout of the version a3. (a2 and a3 have no difference in the layout. Only the capture time for the first point was changed)

As I mentioned, I added a building between the first and the second point to coordinate the fight a bit more.

1. Blue still has the access to the market route but they have another option to drop into the water flank using route 3. 

2. Water flank can now only be accessed by the route 3. I feel that this streamlined the flow of the map more.

3. Connection between the choke and the water flank.

At the end of the market flank, I've made the open ledge into a wall with windows. This location was too powerful for blue team but this definitely helped it reduce the strength of the flank. Blue can no longer access red spawn using the market flank because of the higher ledge.

I did not notice this while I was making these changes but after I made this, it turns out that the second point is starting to turn out like the last point of pl_badwater. 

A ramp and a limited highground advantage.

Both has the ramp blue needs to walk down, and a window that allows blue to shoot down at the point. I guess that it really is true that maps often become an amalgamation of maps the author likes. But I think there are enough differences between my second point and the last point of badwater to differentiate the two maps.

One thing I have noticed is how the entire blue team changed their course according to the location of red sentry. 

I also noticed that a scout using this route.

Using the rock to boost jump up the ledge.

I did not intend this to happen but this opened up a nice flanking option as a scout. Pretty interesting and dynamic which are always good signs.

3 viable sentry spots.

There are about 3 viable sentry nest locations in the second point. Each locations have their own advantages. 

Location 1 is generally safer than other two locations. It can cover the point really well however it can be reached easily from the water flank. Location 2 covers the water flank but it is exposed to the main route. Location 3 has the height advantage over the point. However, the only metal supply is the resupply cabinet and it can not cover the water flank at all. It is also somewhat exposed. Both location 2 and 3 are exposed to the market flank.

Interestingly, the gameplay dynamics changes drastically according to the location of the sentry. In the playtest, engineers started building their sentry in location 1 because it can cover the point well and it is safe. When the sentry was set up, the entire blue team decided to use the water flank as their main route. This is because most of the water flank is out of range from the sentry at location 1. 

Player dynamics I've noticed

Due to the increase in traffic of the water flank, the bottom red spawndoor was more easily denied. While the spawndoor was used to prevent the blue team from concentrating on the sentry nest, it did not last long as there are only one spawndoor in that area which means that there is a minor spawncamping. When blue team managed to destroy the sentry, there was this wave of blue team flooding into the second point. 

Meat Grinder?

The wave of blue team failed to capture the point and one player noted that the point is "deceptively dangerous." There are a lot of highground red can use to defend the push from the water flank. Since most of the blue team was at the water flank, red team was able to use the market flank pretty much on their own. Some red engineers even placed a minisentry at the red square which was quite powerful with the height advantage and the slightly unusual angle that blue players need to turn.

After this happened, red engineer built their sentry at location 2. Not sure if that was an optimal choice but I am guessing that the mindset is the deny the water flank. Obviously, the sentry at location 2 caused the blue team to start using their main route again. 

I really like this shift in dynamics of this map. Although I am not sure how niche this situation was, it is good to see it happening. 

There were number of positive comments on this version as well. Players enjoyed playing this map for 5 rounds. 

I will test the map with some minor changes but without major changes in layout. While the positive comments are great, I should not rely on small group of people for feedbacks.

TF2 Mapping Episode 3: The Results are In!

The map has been playtested on the tf2maps server for the first time and the demo is recorded.

Looks like we have a problem here.

I looked into the demo and in this episode I'll breakdown all the important results from the playtest. Unfortunately, it is not possible to take a screenshot while the demo file is playing so I will go over the features I noticed in the playtest.

1. It was hard for blue to gain advantage after coming out of their spawn. One player noted that "There is no advantage point blue can use after coming out of the spawn point. When we die we are just sent back to the spawn." The area in front of spawn is a small ramp and the blue spawns at the bottom of the small ramp. While it is common for a map to put blue at slight disadvantage due to their easy access to their spawn, often they'll have a route blue players can take to gain small advantage against red. Although blue players can easily penetrate this area in this map due to the small distance to point A, there were times where red was able to completely push blue back to their spawn. It was harder for blue to breakout compared to other maps.

2. The capture time for the first point is exceedingly fast. Because blue only has to walk short distance to their first objective, it is only fair to make the capturing much harder.

3. I've noticed that this area is underused. It was meant to be a sniper perch for blue team, however, it barely saw any use. I suspect this is because snipers can still take relatively easy shot near the gate at similar distance without having to walk to this area.

4. Since area 3 was not used in general, this route was pretty much ignored by the red team. It was meant to be used by red spies but since there are no targets in the area, it was not used at all.

5. This area is very dangerous for red to be in because there are no covers. Also, blue players can easily access this area with the stairs next to it. 

6. Blue players can easily gain height advantage at the second point using this route. This is not always a bad thing because maps like Barnblitz, Gorge and Badwater all allows blue to have high ground without much fighting. It is very easy for blue to control this area too because of the health pack placement. Gorge even gives blue a lot of height advantage to players who managed to get past the last chokepoint. This area is also connected to area 8 which allows extremely easy access to red's final spawn but we'll get to that later.

7. As expected, scouts were able to easily access the second point using this route. However, there were no risk to be taken by the blue players using this route because the lower spawn gate was not used very much by the red players. They all preferred the upper gate due to it giving direct height advantage to the last point.

8. As I mentioned before, blue players were able to access the red gate way too easily. This allowed scouts and pyros to sometimes overrun the recently spawned players from the back. Some players also noted that because of the short respawn timer, it was too hectic for blue. The last point also became a 'meat grinder' as red 'desperately threw their body on the point.' It is not a fun experience for red. Not much strategy was involved either.

In general:

Engineers from both team had nothing to do. Teleporters are meaningless due to the short walk time and there are no sentry placement even for the red engineer. Blue was able to access the second point area way too easily so red barely had time to set up a sentry nest.

The lack of chokepoint in this map disperses the fight all across the map. This leads to unorganized gameplay without much of a team work. During the playtest I saw lots of players usually spending time alone.

1.  I think there should be a chokepoint in this area. This area will need to be extended to accompany the chokepoint.

2. Only the team who gains control of the chokepoint will be able to gain access to the 'market.' Currently, any blue players can walk in and it is not fun as a red player to deal with them.

3. This route will be more open towards the blue team. It connects the river and the chokepoint. 

4. I will block this area. Blue will have harder time penetrating red territory.

Since the lack of chokepoint is the largest problem, I will fix this area first before trying to fix other areas.

In the next episode, I will go over how I changed the area in hammer.

TF2 Mapping Episode 2.5: Waiting for the playtest...

Looks like I'll have to wait quite a long time before I can get my map playtested. In the mean time, I can plan how I will detail the map so that I can be little bit more efficient later on.

I took an overview screenshot of the map and edited it.

The blue line represents the river. Basically, there will be a farmland to the left of the blue spawn which will look quite similar to the reference picture. It's also going to have small medieval style houses, too. There will be a rampart to separate blue courtyard and the next area. Inside the castle wall will be a medieval village. There's the illustration of the market I was talking about in the last episode and I want a long, and large medieval building next to red spawn. The river flows to the right of the map and into the out-of-bounds area.

I think I might have to change the skybox lighting so that it does not cast too much shadow like the current lighting. While I was opposed to the idea, I decided to go with the 'harvest' skybox. The yellow one with hazy lighting.