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Ben's small bible of realistic multiplayer leveldesign
by Benjamin Bauer
"an article describing how
to make a multiplayer level
from scratch to the end for a realistic setting"
go to 'page 10 of the article "Ben's small bible of realistic multiplayer leveldesign"
Art for Gameplay - Introduction
In this section I don't want talk how to make your
level look beautiful. It is more about how art elements like lighting
(Visibility), textures (Orientation) and architecture (Movement) might
effect your gameplay. It might be that I've already talked about some
of these tricks in some of the earlier examples but now I want to complete
the list and bring some of those ideas together.
Such elements can be in harsh contrast with the art factor which will
make your level look nice and the art will support gameplay. Like in single
player games, discussions between the art department and game designers
or AI programmers can be daily. In general, the gameplay should rule over
aesthetic aspects because fun is more important than "visual brain
wanking". First design your levels and if you are the first time
somehow satisfied with the final playability, start to make the level
look nicer with less important details and color arrangements.
Like I already mentioned above, the main intention
of using light for gameplay is definitely visibility. The brightness of
an area affects the general speed of action and movement.
In a gloomy/stealth part of your level, the player will normally move
more slowly and carefully than in a bright one, except in the case of
quick surprise actions from an ambush or a camper. Also, dark areas give
the player a higher chance to navigate through the area unseen but not
completely unheard. I will talk later about sound for gameplay but, for
now, don't forget that in darker areas, sound become more important then
in strongly illumined ones. So your stealth ways should be generally darker
then the fast ways for rushers. Even in outdoor maps with a day setting,
you can influence the brightness with shadows from hills, buildings or
trees. The darker a section is, the better camouflage works. So even a
little bit of shadow can help a lot in the jungle. In some examples, darkness
can almost completely eliminate cover. Just imagine a bright base which
one team has to assault which is surrounded by pitch black night. The
attackers can move around it almost unnoticed without losing sight of
their goals. They will become big problems as soon as they come closer,
but this offers them a completely different style of tactics than the
normal "running-from-cover-to-cover". Don't forget that such
ideas can become weaker if the game you design for supports nightvision,
flashlights, flares or similar equipment.
I think it is slowly becoming clear that darkness can be used as a tactical
element so let's talk about brightly lit areas. In these areas it is much
harder to hide so a player might move faster. Because he can see the enemy
much better, the action will be generally much cleaner and faster. Visual
detection is much more important than sound detection so these bright
ways are the preferred ones for rushers where reflex and good aiming are
more effective than tactics. For the ambitious tactical hardcore player,
this might seem frightening at first blush. On the other hand, real team
play can now really be the difference. While moving from cover to cover,
other team mates have to be wary of possible spots where the defenders
appear and make quick pop-up attacks. Such quick defending strikes are
much easier in bright areas so while running forward you simple have to
trust your back-up team. Good real-world examples are actually indoor
paintball matches. Camouflage is normally absolutely useless because of
the colorful sports suits and the fact that you can die after one hit.
Fast reflexes are of high importance but you need good support guys to
keep the enemy busy and behind their cover.
The second gameplay factor of light is the help for orientation. If the
player jumps down into a big cellar, he can quickly recognize it by the
lighting. Bright light can lead the player on the main route, and color
shemes can show him on which side of the CTF map he is located.
Textures affect the gameplay completely differently
to lighting because the main purpose is navigation and orientation instead
of visibility. Of course, the textures also affect visibility but first
let's talk about its main intention.
In arcade CTF maps, the bases have normally blue or red textures and not
without good reason. As everybody knows, it helps the player to know exactly
which base he is located in. In maps with a realistic setting, it might
very stupid if the terrorist base has blue stripes and the S.W.A.T. spawn
point has blue ones as well, so lets think about other solutions to use
the textures as an help for orientation. The best way is actually to separate
the maps in clearly different areas like we already did during the strategy
planning phase. For example, a harbor area uses a completely different
texture set to a backyard. Try to make sure that the textures are really
different. For example; red, clean bricks and a gray, dirty concrete are
much easier to recognize as different settings than two standard house
textures with slightly different colors. Additionally, the chosen materials
have to fit to the area; a wooden high-tech industrial complex simply
doesn't look right. Now the player comes into an area which is dominated
by brick textures and knows exactly which area he is in.
Large areas with memorable surfaces are even noticeable in a stressful
fight or hunt because this is what fills most of the player's screen.
Of course these simple hints and only work in maps with a lot of urban
elements. In bigger, complex outdoor maps, where the navigation might
be different due to a low view range, you should try to use your vegetation
as orientation help. Palm trees at the beach, high trees in the big jungle,
and small trees in the mountain are just an example, the same goes for
grass, bushes or even flowers. For a lot of designers (especially if they've
created a lot of SP maps), consistency is very important. In multiplayer,
however, it is overruled by gameplay aspects, especially if it helps the
player to understand the map much easier. Please don't make the borders
between the areas too extreme otherwise it looks cheap. Remember: "In
realistic maps the gameplay elements should be hidden as much as possible
to create a believable scenario."
As I have mentioned above, textures can also affect the visibility of
the player. It is quite obvious that the right surfaces support the camouflage
effect of the player skins. A black player is very well hidden in dark,
night, urban maps, etc. These things don't need a lot of explanation.
If you have a dark cellar and the walls are bright, the stealth effect
becomes much weaker. So if you really want to modify the visibility by
using light, make sure that the textures fit, too.
Art for Gameplay - Architecture
& Geometry
In general, architecture directly affects the movement
of the player and, of course, his visibility. One of the main intentions
of geometry is actually giving the player cover, so let's talk about the
different kinds you can use.
You can create half cover which is only really useful if the player is
crouched or prone. It is harder to use and this decreases the effect of
it. For balancing a defend/attack position this is a better solution than
removing the cover completely because it is better to have weak cover
than no cover at all. The second kind is full cover which protects the
player completely whether he stands or crouches. This is actually the
most powerful and frequently used cover in games; like bigger trees, columns
or edges of houses. Behind such a structure, the player only has to fear
indirect fire like grenades and air strikes so try to make sure that the
enemy has at least a small chance to counter such a position or to shoot
through. For example; a way around, enough cover in front so he can come
very close, sniper and support spots to make sure that he stays behind
the cover while the rest of the team move forward, or sight cover to sneak
close.
Cover doesn't automatically slow down the game flow because here we have
two kinds of cover. The first one has only one way around, like a column
next to a wall or the edge of a big house. If the player hides there,
he is much more predictable for the opposing player. He can only come
out at one spot or stay where he is, so movement in such areas will be
much more careful and therefore slower. For fast attackers, a route with
such cover would become less attractive so move cover next to the walls/borders
or make it bigger if you think that the defenders have a disadvantage.
The other kind is cover where the player has much more possibilities to
surround e.g. a column in the middle of a room, a stone/tree on an open
field or a small house. Here, the hiding the player has many more ways
to surprise the enemy; he can appear at two sides and sometimes he can
jump at the top or even go inside. An area with mainly such cover is an
eldorado for quick tactical players and normally it's harder to defend.
Personally I like such situations with a variety of different possibilities
but be careful regarding the balancing. A good counter against it for
the defending team are some positions from where you have a good view
of almost the whole area like towers, windows, etc. .
I think I have already mentioned this above but please don't always use
the same kind of cover, especially crates! Of course, they are very easy
to build, are very friendly to the performance, and you can get them in
almost every size but just try to be a little bit more innovative. Okay,
even I used it a lot in my harbour and warehouse maps in this article
but only because it is very easy to explain and it is a short word ;-).
I've already tried to build maps intending to use as few crates as possible
just to see if it's feasible. I mainly used stones, trees, edges, columns,
doorways, furniture, big machines, trenches, railings, windows, etc. .
Of course, it was possible and the only crates you can find are more decoration
than part of the gameplay. If I can do it, you can do it too.
Architecture doesn't always mean cover so use your creativity not only
to find different kinds of cover. Try to vary ways to go up and down,
not always stairs or ladders e.g. with slopes/piles of dirt, ramps, broken
pipes, elevator shafts, crates (or other objects) to jump up, cranes,
planks or one way holes to jump down. Then you should think also about
ways through walls, not always doors. Try to use windows where the player
has to jump through, broken holes in ruins, bigger half open gates or
pipes which the player has to crawl through or air ducts. The same counts
for ways over trenches or cliffs. Instead of normal bridges, think about
planks, fallen trees, pipes, cranes or situations where you can only jump
over while running/sprinting.
All of this variety can be easily used to balance the difficulty and speed
of routes and to make areas more different from each other. Orientation
and navigation becomes much harder if you always use crates, ladders,
doors and the same looking bridges. Every time you place such elements,
remember if you've already used something similar in your level think
about something else instead.
Another important factor of placing architecture or other geometry is
the comfortable movement around. Very narrow passages in a battle field
should be avoided. If you make gaps between objects then make sure that
is obvious that you can't go between. A gap where the player is 2cm too
big to fit through is just frustrating. Run around your level and make
sure that even for an inexperienced player, the movement is easy and you
can't get stuck anywhere.
Art for Gameplay - What about Details & Beauty?
I can't stress enough that performance and gameplay
are always more important than the beauty of your map. Of course a nice
looking map will get more attention at the beginning but if people notice
that the bad performance makes the map unplayable with more than four
players, nobody will play it anymore. Obviously the same goes for the
gameplay, especially if all of your small details make the player get
stuck or cause a very uncomfortable movement. So the main intention of
details should be small gameplay elements like a hole/gap in a ruin, curtains
around windows, a branch of a tree to jump on or a thin metal railing.
The next intention of details is to create the right atmosphere. For example,
break walls in ruins and place dirt on the ground, use metal support pieces
in warehouses or clean looking furniture in mansions. If you and the players/testers
are happy with your map and you have a good performance, start to add
unimportant details like broken tiles on the wall/floor, adding a knob
to your cupboard, folds in your carpet or make the pipes even more smooth.
Don't go crazy with adding details in your multiplayer maps, normally
player just runs through your rooms and as soon as the action starts nobody
cares that you wasted 3000 polygons for the picture frame around your
favourite FHM model. If you think that an area has a lack of details then
first try to use textures or shadows. You can easily combine it with gameplay
e.g. a cellar room: Place your lights so that the cover casts a lot of
shadows on the walls/floor, use different wall textures, make the unimportant
and boring areas much darker then the good looking ones, add some simple
structures under the ceiling and throw some dirt on the ground. Normally
that's already enough to make a room prettier using the existing elements
without wasting a lot of time adding scratches in the walls/floor or placing
high poly objects. Of course such hints are very general and I absolutely
don't want you to make your maps ugly. Especially the main areas need
special attention art wise because beauty is also very important for the
first impression but pure art aspects are not part of this article. If
you are interested in beautification, don't forget to check my other article(s)
(more will come in the future) regarding art.
go to 'page 12 of the article "Ben's small bible of realistic multiplayer leveldesign"
