Anatomy of a Forged Map I - The Eight Sacred Rules

[The Cheat]

Anatomy of a Forged Map (Part 1) - The Eight Sacred Rules


Hello XForgery, I would like to start off this little guide with a warning:

*THIS DOES NOT CONTAIN ANY PICTURES!!! LOOK AWAY IF YOU ARE OFFENDED BY SUCH MATERIAL!*

Now that's over with, I would like to say that I've been a member of both XForgery and (before) Forge Hub for a while, and I've seen lots of map submissions. A good amount of these have been decent, but, another equally large chuck of these maps were poor constructed or lacking in proper planning. This part of guide is strictly for those who do not know or fully understand the basics of a good forged map. This is the first in a few guides that I will be writing, in hopes of helping new members and forgers alike.

Now, I'm going to start listing what makes up a good map:



Interlocking (Not really required)
Geomerging (Again, not required)
Smart Weapon Placement
Smart Spawn Placement
Well thought-out Geometry
Correct Objective Placement
Balance
Uniqueness


Now, while most posters manage to get Numbers 1 and 2, they usually fail at Numbers 3 - 8. So, I will define each of these aspects and go into some detail on why their important.

1. Interlocking:

This is the pinnacle of Forge Techniques, and one of the first ones forge cadets learn. Since it has been implemented, the overall look and quality of maps has increased. It also stops grenades from slipping through cracks in the floor or walls. This is important to your map mainly for Aesthetic instances, but it has minor affects on gameplay as well. On Foundry Maps, it's almost a must because it helps gameplay, but with the addition of Sandbox, it's lost some of it's importance.

2. Geomerging:

Another all-star in the Forge Technique line-up. This technique is important for keeping grenades from slipping through the space underneath boxes. This is a relatively difficult technique for new forgers, and it is often overlooked, because of this difficulty.

3. Smart Weapon Placement:

Without this you map WILL fail (assuming it needs weapons). It is important to make sure your weapons have correct spawn times, and have balanced locations. Sure, putting the Rocket Launcher and Sniper on one side of the map may seem like a good idea, but if there is nothing to balance it out on the other side, it will make your map unenjoyable.

4. Smart Spawn Placement:

A worker at bungie once said: "every place we think there should be a spawn point, we put two." This should be everyone's motto when placing spawns. Although some user-made maps have great spawns, Bungie's spawn placement is the most balanced I have ever seen in a FPS.

5. Well Thought-out Geometry:

Another EXTREMELY important feature in a map, is the map itself. This goes hand and hand with Smart Spawn Placement & Smart Weapon Placement, because no one wants to play on a map where one team has a castle and a tank, and the other has a pallet and some pistols. Remember to keep balance as a number one priority, and try to make movement around your map easy and fast, to prevent gameplay from slowing down or stopping.

6. Correct Objective Placement:

Although it does not matter as much in games like Slayer or Infection, Correct Objective Placement is important. Make sure each objective node has the right settings and is placed an equal distance from others. This is pretty straight forward.

7. Balance:

This was touched upon in Numbers 3,4,5 & 6. Balance can make or break your map! Remember that a power weapon should be an equal distance away from each team's starting spawn, OR there should be another weapon that can counter that power weapon, if you map should be Asymmetrical.

8. Uniqueness:

The selling point of your map, you should always endeavor to be different in your map designs than anyone else. Giant Castles may be cool in Infection, but every kid on Xbox Live has done it before! If you can't stay away from these types of maps try to add something to them!! Remember that uniqueness doesn't have to just be adding cool geometry. Try adding a timed map event, or perhaps a few aspects of danger, to keep players on their toes.

Remember these rules, and you're maps quality will improve! In fact, just by reading this your maps have decreased by 20% in PHAIL POINTS*.

*Not likely to be true. Offer not available in all 50 united states. Some side-effects such as aching, dizziness, drowsiness, and explosion of the head may occur. PHAIL POINTS is not for everyone. Ask you doctor if PHAIL POINTS is right for you!

Stay tuned for Part II, which will cover Correct Weapon placement in greater detail!

[GodlyPerfection]

A worker at bungie once said: "every place we think there should be a spawn point, we put two." This should be everyone's motto when placing spawns. Although some user-made maps have great spawns, Bungie's spawn placement is the most balanced I have ever seen in a FPS.

I highly disagree with this statement. Bungie's spawn placement is horrible.. their spawn areas and other mechanics are good, but their individual spawn placement is absolutely horrid. They lack smooth spawning and the Spawn point of views could be SOOO much better. Also their weapon eye catching is absolutely terrible and they know very little about how to setup their maps so that what are seen as useless weapons are more utilized. I mean seriously I saw a spiker against a wall on Valhalla where no one could see it at all... AND it was by itself which is a horrible thing to do with spikers in the first place.

I'm curious to see your weapon placement section and compare our theories and see if I can expand mine more or less...

Hopefully you put as much information as possible into these articles. I would really like to see people's maps improve, and I appreciate the effort. So far based on your categorization of the things that make a forge map I am skeptical about this series, but i will withhold judgement until the rest of the series... expect me to be keeping a close eye on this The Cheat... ;)

[The Cheat]

I highly disagree with this statement. Bungie's spawn placement is horrible.. their spawn areas and other mechanics are good, but their individual spawn placement is absolutely horrid. They lack smooth spawning and the Spawn point of views could be SOOO much better. Also their weapon eye catching is absolutely terrible and they know very little about how to setup their maps so that what are seen as useless weapons are more utilized. I mean seriously I saw a spiker against a wall on Valhalla where no one could see it at all... AND it was by itself which is a horrible thing to do with spikers in the first place.

I'm curious to see your weapon placement section and compare our theories and see if I can expand mine more or less...

Hopefully you put as much information as possible into these articles. I would really like to see people's maps improve, and I appreciate the effort. So far based on your categorization of the things that make a forge map I am skeptical about this series, but i will withhold judgement until the rest of the series... expect me to be keeping a close eye on this The Cheat... ;)


Well, please keep in mind that I did infact say this guide was merely for new forgers. Naturally, as you become better at something, you tend to find your own way of doing things, sometimes these ways are better, sometimes they are worse.

Bungie's spawns are, by no means perfect, and I can see where you're coming by disagreeing, as I personally do not enjoy there spawns as I once did, when I first wrote this guide back in October of last year. (You may find it here. (http://www.forgehub.com/forum/halo-forge-discussion/41913-anatomy-forged-map-eight-sacred-rules-forged-maps.html))

However, Bungie's spawns are nice thing to go off of when you first start out, which is why I used them as an example. Your right about their weapon eye catching, though. There are still times when I pick up a weapon and say "When did this get here?". However, I didn't use Bungie's weapon placement as an example, because it is certain not spectacular.

Weapon placement is not my strong point, either. So, there's a chance my theories will be lacking compared to yours. However, should that be the case, I'll simply learn, and revise the guide to accommodate for better tips and pointers.

[GodlyPerfection]

I fully agree that it is great to start with Bungie's spawns as a beginner. That's how I started. I still use their respawn area placement and objective placement until I truly find a more efficient way of doing it. But yeah, I have my own ways of doing things now and a lot of people have started to learn and teach my ways to others. I'm sending you a VM with some of the links to my articles that I'm working on and I would like your opinion on them...

[Silver0range]

In my opinion, Bungie doesn't need to use "eye catching..." that's pretty much bullcrap. It's quite simple to learn weapon layouts seeing as you play the maps in matchmaking so often.

[The Cheat]

In my opinion, Bungie doesn't need to use "eye catching..." that's pretty much bullcrap. It's quite simple to learn weapon layouts seeing as you play the maps in matchmaking so often.

The problem is that most weapons are in very out-of-the-way places, and thus finding them is a pain in the ass, to put it bluntly. Making weapons eye catching is very important, especially in games like Conquest and Agents, where power weapons play a huge role.

[Null Parameter]

The problem is that most weapons are in very out-of-the-way places, and thus finding them is a pain in the ass, to put it bluntly. Making weapons eye catching is very important, especially in games like Conquest and Agents, where power weapons play a huge role.
But we aren't talking about Agents and Conquest when it comes to Bungie's maps. We're talking about standard, Slayer, CTF, Assault, etc.

I agree with Silver0range here, in the normal cases, I don't feel that it is as big of a deal to have high profile weapons placements. You play the maps, you learn the placement.

[GodlyPerfection]

At this point in time yeah Bungie doesn't need to use eye catching. But the point is to give as much information about the map as possible so that players can enjoy the map to it's fullest since they know where everything is. Maps that aren't played as much as the matchmaking maps need eye catching for their weapons and paths or else players don't judge the map on a complete set of information. They judge it on the little bit that they saw on the first play through. It also helps players that haven't played the map yet have a better chance against players who have played the map... why? Because players new to the map have the chance to learn everything faster and will be able to be on equal ground of those players more experienced with the map allowing them to have fun on that equal level sooner. Not using eye catching for simple equipment like BRs and SMGs in close quarters can really break certain parts of a map cuz then you are left with just an AR against say another BR or maybe even a shotgun. If eye catching would have been used, you would have known about those SMGs sitting in the corner and have been able to kill the shottie player before they got close enough...

Eye catching is one of the most important things about weapon placements on maps. Information Gathering in general is key to giving players a FULL experience the FIRST time they play the map... cuz sometimes they only get that one time to play it.

Again maybe in overplayed maps it isn't as important cuz you have multiple replays to learn the layout... but on custom maps eye catching is very powerful. Not just in Conquest/Agents and what not, but in Conventional gametypes all around.

[.Timothy]

In competitive maps it's good to have some "eye catching" when it comes to the weapons everyone wants (rockets, snipers, etc.) and even for less desired weapons (dual wieldables in pairs is a good example). If you plan on supplying the teams with power weapons at their bases (which I don't really reccomend), then make sure it's out there in plain sight where a player can see it or in a room that's easily accessed. If the weapon is in a neutral area, make sure both teams have the same chance to get that weapon.

The biggest issue with players is that they play a map for the first time and end up complaining about where all the good weapons are at because they can't find them. Yeah you may get that anyways because another inexperienced player got it before them, but putting a sniper rifle in a hall that doesn't experience much player traffic is not promoting good gameplay. Anybody remember the carbine behind the boxes in Halo 2? Yeah there's still people out there that don't know about it to this day, and that game is almost 5 years old!

The ultimate goal for any player is to find the better weapons and set themselves up for a massive killing spree. If you don't give the player that opportunity, then they will complain and not approve of your map. Of course that is only one element. Good spawns and a good map layout are just as important. ;)

[DimmestBread]

I highly disagree with this statement. Bungie's spawn placement is horrible.. their spawn areas and other mechanics are good, but their individual spawn placement is absolutely horrid. They lack smooth spawning and the Spawn point of views could be SOOO much better. Also their weapon eye catching is absolutely terrible and they know very little about how to setup their maps so that what are seen as useless weapons are more utilized. I mean seriously I saw a spiker against a wall on Valhalla where no one could see it at all... AND it was by itself which is a horrible thing to do with spikers in the first place.

I'm curious to see your weapon placement section and compare our theories and see if I can expand mine more or less...

Hopefully you put as much information as possible into these articles. I would really like to see people's maps improve, and I appreciate the effort. So far based on your categorization of the things that make a forge map I am skeptical about this series, but i will withhold judgement until the rest of the series... expect me to be keeping a close eye on this The Cheat... ;)


No, bungies spawn placement is not terrible. I rarely get spawn killed and that is saying something compared to other games I play. I've never had a problem which way their spawns point as it usually points me towards an objective or a power weapon.

A spiker against the wall on valhalla. Thats a terrible example to use. Thats their for people who like to mess around like me. Nobody in their right mind would pick up a spiker or even two on valhalla, even inside the base. Theirs much better weapon options out there.

putting spikers by theirself is not always bad either. It comes down to how powerful do you think that two together will be.

At this point in time yeah Bungie doesn't need to use eye catching. But the point is to give as much information about the map as possible so that players can enjoy the map to it's fullest since they know where everything is. Maps that aren't played as much as the matchmaking maps need eye catching for their weapons and paths or else players don't judge the map on a complete set of information. They judge it on the little bit that they saw on the first play through. It also helps players that haven't played the map yet have a better chance against players who have played the map... why? Because players new to the map have the chance to learn everything faster and will be able to be on equal ground of those players more experienced with the map allowing them to have fun on that equal level sooner. Not using eye catching for simple equipment like BRs and SMGs in close quarters can really break certain parts of a map cuz then you are left with just an AR against say another BR or maybe even a shotgun. If eye catching would have been used, you would have known about those SMGs sitting in the corner and have been able to kill the shottie player before they got close enough...

Eye catching is one of the most important things about weapon placements on maps. Information Gathering in general is key to giving players a FULL experience the FIRST time they play the map... cuz sometimes they only get that one time to play it.

Again maybe in overplayed maps it isn't as important cuz you have multiple replays to learn the layout... but on custom maps eye catching is very powerful. Not just in Conquest/Agents and what not, but in Conventional gametypes all around.

I've never had trouble seeing bungies weapons. The only ones I never see are the ones in the areas I never travel.

[MultiLockOn]

Bit off topic from all of you and your argument, but I think interlocking and geomerging should just be compacted into a single category called aesthetics.

[The Cheat]

Bit off topic from all of you and your argument, but I think interlocking and geomerging should just be compacted into a single category called aesthetics.

Well, if you think about it, both Interlocking and Geomerging have a small impact on gameplay, which is why they are separate sections. Because they're both on the fence, they have their own sections.