Map design concerns from a UT/Unreal fanatic

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EASY_Target

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Nov 27, 1999
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If the majority of the weapons in UT could can be considered one shot kill weapons against an un-armoured opponnent then the level design is very critical in UT.
The level designer should carefully consider the actual layout of room, corridors, ramps, ledges and open areas and weapon/ammunition placement with extreme care.

Too many powerfull weapons and ammo scattered about raise the element of chance for many random kills ...so by the same token ..the map should have plenty of "real" places to hide for the unarmed player and sufficient armor/health to counterbalance excessive weapons/ammo placement.

The accelerated speed merely creates "chaos".. were no chaos is really needed..(the monitor screen is not like real life..the monitor screen has severe limitations in transmitting visual info of the surrounding environment)..so the the more chaos..the more left to chance...the less skill required.

The speed should be reduced since a large majority of the maps are much too small and area crowded in proportion to the movement speed of the players.

In Unreal, the map sizes were better proportioned with speed of players and since Unreal weapons were not all "one shot kill" weapons, they required more practice and more carefull aiming to succeed.

The solution to the problem as I see it, is the UT level designers have a way to go before we, the players, can see some really well designed and balanced maps with respect to size vs. speed, design flow, weapons and ammo placement .

Because of the shortcomings by Epic in the way UT "physics" was designed..it's up to the map designers out there to take on the challenge of providing some real good UT maps to improve the skill requirements of UT.. time will tell.

I have no idea how to design a map.. and I want to thank all current and future map designers for the time, love and effort put into their creations.
 

Wanderer

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Jul 7, 2000
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Maybe this is just me but I try to design maps for about 8 people (DM anyways). And I want it to be fairly fast. If you've checked out MarcEG's Dm-Marica and play with 8 bots, you'll notice it was fairly mid-paced. Maybe I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time but I thought it could've been a bit faster.

But I like the fast paced speed in DM. In CTF and AS I like to think a bit. I've only really played the AS maps and I find that they almost accomplish that but are still a little faster then preferred. Not to mention funnel you through whereever they want you to go.