FFA maps and gameplay

[duh]

Alright, there are things the needs to be said and applies to, possibly, every DM project that comes from this forum.

#1 - Give a serious attempt at improving your skills for AT LEAST one week.

#2 - Try to learn why the competitive community loves old maps such as ssl2, judas23_, a couple of lazarus and greenwar maps. While d5m1 is a popular map, too, it is not a very good example of a fun map. You will notice that most of them are pretty ACTION INTENSIVE, FAST, but not TOO fast (well ssl2 might be too fast, whatever). The latest DM project Doomkid finished has a few good examples, too, so it is not only the old maps.

#3 - Learn when a specific weapon is at its brightest and when it is absolutely useless. Keep in mind that the autoaim loses effect when the enemy is out of your reach (think of a 1024 radius).

#4 - If you think that a spawn holds too much disadvantage, place an appropriate weapon next to it, let the items and weapons address the necessary balancements.

#5 - The above is a hint that symmetrical maps are a big no-no, but that depends on the game mode too.

#6 - If you want to create a map that fits both for duel and FFAs, keep the rooms bigger, avoid too much map complexity (see omgmaps.wad for a REALLY BAD example). I think this is a good policy because most public FFAs starts with a duel, so keep that in mind I guess. If you manage to pull this sucessfully, it is probably going to be one of the most played FFA map packs and bring the revival of FFA.

#7 - The player has to use something to cover himself with, Doom is not all about dodging, remember about what is written in #1. Make sure that the covers allows witty moves to fool the other player, this adds a lot to the fun and makes every match quite different. Add fast lifts to trap the other player or to lift yourself immediately after a shot.

#8 - BFG9000 and super shotgun are NOT OP, unless there is no cover, see #7.

#9 - Do not add computers in the mid of a forest, unless there it is inside a base in the mid of a forest. No need to be realistic, but dont pull non-sense design choices like that.

#10 - The rest is beauty, which I dont demand too much from maps, since that maps that looks nice and plays well are really fucking rare, but gameplay comes first.

[Combinebobnt]

Good job on nailing a lot of important stuff, let me add to this list with recycled old tips:

Design:
- Your map should be as easy as possible to move through with no detail sticking out of the wall, low ceilings, and stupid crap. Good way to test this is to run around your map backwards and see if you get caught on stuff.
- Try to always have 2 or more ways to get into important areas, or really any area in general. Dead ends = camping, chokepoints = rocket spam
- Don't make your map overly complex or nobody will have any idea where anything is and your map will suck.
- Don't make any important part of the map under brightness 160 really. 128 brightness should be like the minimum for your map. Below that and stuff can get PITCH BLACK very easily. #swproblems
- Make important areas vibrant and pretty, make not so important areas not as pretty
- Difficult bfgs or bfgs accessible to everyone (welfare bfg) are better than obscure bfgs found only with doombuilder. Obscure/secret bfgs just means 1 person finds it and gets a +50 frag spread and then your map is over in a minute.
- Don't make powerup/bfg switches that lower for the enemy across the map, that's stupid.
- Normal-playing maps should heavily outnumber gimmick maps in a pack. (map31 and map32 are mandatory to be gimmicks/funny though)
- It's 2016, you don't need to put exits in, and maybe you should try things like 3d floors so you won't have to outdo the 200000 boom format map packs already in existence.

Spawns:
- Bad spawns can ruin your map so easy it's almost stupid: Nobody should ever spawn more than 128 units from a weapon.
- SG, CG, and SSG spawns are the standard (rocket spawns should be avoided if best.)
- Try and figure out the main areas/hotspots of your map. These spawns should have SSG's because they are spawning right in the front line. The spawns in the less important areas of the map can get SG/CG.
- If you have no idea how to make spawns, give everybody an SSG on spawn. This is a simple trick, but nobody will complain about it! You'll definitely favor this over making a boring ass all SG spawn map that goes straight into the recycle bin.
- Don't make SSGless maps if you don't know what the hell you are doing.
- SSG combat is much funner than slow, boring ass SG combat. Want proof? Go look at how many people play doom1 DM vs doom2 DM.

Items:
- Partial invisibility is no longer an item (wasn't good in singleplayer either), please don't use it ever.
- Invulnerability is best avoided too, even worse when the server allows it to respawn.
- Avoid megaspheres, this gamemode is called DEATHmatch not lifematch.
- Blue armor is generally stronger than the soulsphere, as long as the player picks up some health. Keep this in mind when placing powerups.
- Give health but not too much, this gamemode is called DEATHmatch not lifematch. Stimpacks are ok, but medikits should be conserved.
- All powerups and health should be far away from the bfg. The bfg user has a bfg, he doesn't need more advantages.
- The chainsaw is only a weapon when you load up weapon wads.

Ammo:
- Rockets and Cells should be at a premium because every weapon that uses it is good at spamming and getting 100 frags.
- Please don't put cellpacks near the bfg.
- Please don't put 20 cellpacks near the bfg.
- Please don't put plasma guns near the bfg.
- Your map needs plenty of shells and bullets. Nobody will complain if there is excess of this, but you'll get flak if they are missing.

In general, this list will probably make your map instantly better (esp. spawns). Break rules only if you know what you are doing!

[...]

If I can't find a SSG or better within 2.5 seconds of spawning, then it's a bad map.

^ My general rule for any DM maps.

Also don't add secret bfgs

[Ru5tK1ng]

Your general rule is due to you being SG challenged. I'd advise people to ignore it.

[Marcaek]

Stick to mostly SSG spawns if you're not somewhat experienced at DM mapping for a bit and people will forgive you more for making a "safe" map than they would if your map was all SGs and megaspheres. Play a bit and get a feel for what the weapon balance is actually like after a while, and you'll figure out where to go from there.

You definitely don't need to make a map mostly SSG spawns for it to be fun though, I'd like to refer to Lazarus as a mapset with varied spawns and good gameplay.

[baja blast rd.]

- Avoid megaspheres, this gamemode is called DEATHmatch not lifematch.

Love this.

[Walter confetti]

Interesting list