Level Design Critique
So, I've recently been designing a small close quarters level, suitable for small team play and neutral Capture the Flag. The Level is very symmetrical, and features automatic doors, elevated platforms and a central flag.
Here is the Top Down plan for the level, which was created in UE4. As you can see the level consists of a central area with elevated platforms, with one surrounding corridor area on the outside. this provides multiple ways to access enemy spawns.
here is the level blockout, with the flag in the centre. The "!" actor is used for a placeholder of an enemy player or AI.
I Have already collated these notes about what I feel could be improved upon:
Level Layout
· Small Size
o There is a lack of varied elevation, the raised platforms don’t have a reason to be there other than to give the option to go up there, they barely provide an advantage for players, other than a basic height advantage, which is lost when other players are on the same level plane.
o Alongside this, there needs to be a reason for using existing elevation.
o This could be done by creating an extra floor above the existing elevation as a stepping stone to a higher ground.
o This higher ground must have a reason to be used, like a way to access all areas of the map, adding a whole new flow to the level.
o Corridors are potentially too narrow, my suggestion would be to widen the existing corridors to allow them to hold more players in the same vicinity and have more space to move. This would slow the pace a little and reduces the ability to exploit the narrowness of the corridors, and players can have the ability to move out of enemy fire.
o Requires external testing for feedback on how the level is perceived. Conjure an improvement to the map based on internal and external feedback.
· Player Camera
o FOV is too narrow, should be changed from 65 to 90
o This gives a wider view of map for the player to see more potential targets better.
o The heightened FOV also provides an artificial way to speed up gameplay for players, widening the FOV gives the illusion of moving faster.
Game-mode
· CTF doesn’t fit with the size of the map, the discussed lack of size in the map impacts the team based mechanics of CTF, therefore the game-mode should be changed to a free for all objective mode, like oddball or juggernaut, allowing for a faster and more chaotic experience.
Lighting
· Lighting should be implemented to give a darker feel to the level, this compliments the theme of a night-time paintball arena. The lighting will be provided by small dim lights, one colour-coded light (Red/Blue) on either side of the map, and one overarching light, which flickers in the centre.
However, I would greatly appreciate your feedback, you can help taking a look at the video link and images provided, filling out this survey (https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/MY8NMCC) and/or commenting on this post.
https://youtu.be/FFLDX3VZ6PA
Many thanks
Jake Loughlen (Jloughlen)
Replies
- Spawns, you never want direct sightlines from one spawn area to the next.
- Flow: there really isn't any for this map and the ramps that lead up to the second level (that are currently pretty useless) mostly all point away from the spawn areas. These ramps should be like off-ramps for players to decide to take or stay on their current path. (yours don't do that).
- Having four rocketlauncher spawns devalues them each instance, and doesn't add value in terms of difficulty to get or risk/reward for obtaining. (doesn't seem to be much thought about it's placement or possible gameplay surrounding it).
- You need to get an understanding of your tools, if your serious about this as a profession, you'll need to spend more time than you did blocking this out, and making 100's of these that you can run around in. I'd suggest finding an active on-line community for quake/unreal and testing the waters there, making block-out levels that you can get real feedback on your designs. (I have the full understanding that the cost of entry for that will be enormous, yet if you can't beat that barrier of entry you'll have no hope of getting a job in this industry so it's sort of sink or swim).
- The distance between the ramps doesn't take into account player movement or bullet/rocket travel, it's most likely going to be a bloodbath with that many rocket launchers and spawns that close together.
- Lighting does nothing to tell me what side of the map I'm on.
- Symmetrical layout is fine (if not a bit lazy and boring...but that will improve with time/failures), yet again...I have no idea what side of the map I'm on...even in block-out you'll need to make this clear to the player.
Get comfortable failing, and making really awful stuff for awhile. You need to get into a community you can get actual players to see what they do in the spaces you create. You can make your best guesses on level layouts, but until you have actual data from real players; your going to be spinning your wheels and creating designs that are ill informed and not very good.