Igor9 Posted November 1, 2003 Hi, would like to ask the experienced mappers out there if they go by some sort of rule of thumb for putting medikits (or ammo) in a map so as to balance the difficulty of the map properly. 0 Share this post Link to post
Dunbar Posted November 1, 2003 I'm not too experienced, but in my opinion you should try the map out yourself with varying degrees of health. Lik,e if you wnat a cyber fight, try fighting him yourself under the conditions you made and see what health would be absolutely necessary. For the map I'm making for Lizard's LEgacy I'm going to put health as like a last priority, then play the map and see when I will start needing health and whatnot. Maybe not the best idea, but I'm new at this stuff too. 0 Share this post Link to post
Fredrik Posted November 1, 2003 There's no rule of thumb as far as I know. Just use your intuition and test the map a lot. 0 Share this post Link to post
marky Posted November 1, 2003 For my own maps i've made a list of ammo, health and armor the player needs for every monster. it works well on a medium skill level. Trooper: 1 Ammo, 1 Health, no Armor Seargent: no Ammo, 1 H, 1 A Imp: 1,5 Shells, 1 H, 1 A Demon: 2 Shells, 2 H, 0 A Spectre: 2 Shells, 2 H, 1 A Chaingunner: 3 Ammo, 8 H, 5 A Cacodemon: 4 Shells, 1 Rocket, 10 H, 8 A Hell Knight: 6 Shells, 10 H, 10 A Lost Soul: 2 Shells, 2 Ammo, 5 H, 5 A Revenant: 3 Shells, 15 Ammo, 15 H, 10 A Pain Elemental: 80 Cells, 20 H, 10 A Mancubus: 4 Rockets, 20 H, 20 A Arachnotron: 2 Shells, 1 Rocket, 20 H, 15 A Baron of Hell: 3 Rockets, 50 Cells, 20 H, 20 A Archvile: 5 Rockets, 100 Cells, 30 H, 25 A SpiderMasterMind: 250 Cells, 15 Rockets, 60 H, 60 A Cyberdemon 400 Cells, 100 H, 100 A If there are difficult sectors, like slime pools or corners where monsters are hard to catch, I put some extra health into the sector. Marky. 0 Share this post Link to post
sargebaldy Posted November 1, 2003 Fredrik said:There's no rule of thumb as far as I know. Just use your intuition and test the map a lot. with god mode of course. 0 Share this post Link to post
Fredrik Posted November 1, 2003 sargebaldy said:with god mode of course. Yes, that's why the intuition is necessary. 0 Share this post Link to post
boris Posted November 1, 2003 There's a program called tcount that computes the stuff like that. BTW, anybody got the source/binary for my zcount? 0 Share this post Link to post
Ultraviolet Posted November 1, 2003 boris said:There's a program called tcount that computes the stuff like that. BTW, anybody got the source/binary for my zcount? I'll look when I get home. Have you lost stuff in a crash or something? 0 Share this post Link to post
Igor9 Posted November 2, 2003 Found tcount and loving it. What does zcount do? 0 Share this post Link to post
boris Posted November 2, 2003 Ultraviolet said:I'll look when I get home. Have you lost stuff in a crash or something? I'm not sure when I lost it, it's just gone. Unfortunately Wildman (who I wrote it for back in the days) doesn't have the source either. Igor9 said:What does zcount do? It's just like tcount, but also works with ZDoom (Hexen format) wads. 0 Share this post Link to post
Nanami Posted November 2, 2003 marky said:NumbersYou must put a lot of health in your levels, heh. 0 Share this post Link to post
sargebaldy Posted November 2, 2003 i usually don't put much health, but i don't put many monsters either. 0 Share this post Link to post
Grimm Posted November 2, 2003 I usually put just enough to get people by on UV. Of course, I also give people on UV a little help by adding in extra ammo, and maybe the occaisonal power up or two. 0 Share this post Link to post
exl Posted November 2, 2003 This is a thing I wrote a while back, its purpose being that similar to tcount: http://home.wanadoo.nl/dennis.meuwissen/trc It doesn't support Hexen map formats, nor do I ever plan on adding that since I stopped working on it. 0 Share this post Link to post
The Flange Peddler Posted November 2, 2003 Personally I think a lot of contemporary mappers are too tight on health (and ammo). As has been said already, I would just go with yout intuition. If you go through the map a few times you should be able to see where you need to add or remove some bonuses. Once you get it to a reasonable level for yourself, I would then add just a little bit more (as the level author is always going to be more familiar with a map than those playing it for the first time). And I wouldn't include secrets in your calculations, they're meant to be added bounses after all. 0 Share this post Link to post
Cyb Posted November 2, 2003 test the map... if you die a lot, then you need more health 0 Share this post Link to post
Job Posted November 2, 2003 Cyb said:test the map... if you die a lot, then you need more health Or more skill. 0 Share this post Link to post
Nanami Posted November 2, 2003 Just avoid any hitscan enemies and don't add any health. ;) 0 Share this post Link to post
Fletcher` Posted November 3, 2003 Grimm said:I usually put just enough to get people by on UV. Of course, I also give people on UV a little help by adding in extra ammo, and maybe the occaisonal power up or two. I do the same except that powerups and armor are usually in secrets. 0 Share this post Link to post
SirTimberWolf Posted November 3, 2003 Dude, heres my rule... each enemy has a class that it goes into Zombies, imps and demons go into class A Chainguners, lost souls go into class B Cacos, bonies, hell nights, and pain elementals go into C Barons, Archviles and aracnitrons go into D Spider and cyber go into E now you got a cluster of 3 rooms (2 rooms and a halway) Count the number of monsters (say 10 class A monsters) Take into account the skill level: (I'm too young to die) What weapons the player (should) have upto this point (SSG) Now the distance between enemy encounters (a personal thing, but it helps) I would put 3 stim packs... down.. and a 4 set of shells. Skill: Im too young to die = 5 HP + 1 set of ammo add 10% for each level after that. Class monsters are worth 1-25hp per class (Tottaly upto you) Distance between encounters (Varries, the more open space the less health, it is assumed the player has the intelligence to take advantage of cover) Weapon: Personal Prefrence but if the player wouldnt have the BFG he probably should get more ammo/health for the Shotgun he has. so there are my rules of thumb :) 0 Share this post Link to post
Nanami Posted November 3, 2003 Sounds like you put a lot of work into that. Personally I spend all my time on detail and I'm too lazy to calculate the monsters and ammo, so I just play it a few times until I can refrain from dying and have enough ammo to kill everything. =P 0 Share this post Link to post