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