Reassessment and Map Review

At GDC 2009 in San Francisco, the most valuable thing I got out of it this year was input from developers on my portfolio. There were some good sessions and super nice people, but, as so many more studios are only hiring experienced developers (a symptom of the economy I assume, as even experienced devs are having trouble finding work this time around) the thing I took most from GDC this year was that I simply need more experience, more work in my portfolio, and more recognition.

The best critique I got on my work was from Jim Hughes, one of Valve’s level designers who is credited for having worked on games like Quake 2, Half-Life 2: Ep1, Portal, Left 4 Dead, and more. I shared with him my completed sa_trainyard Team Fortress 2 map and some concept sketches for other maps I have planned. It was great having the opportunity to sit down with an accomplished developer and bounce ideas off of him. A lot of things he said really helped me, and it wouldn’t have been a critique if what he said didn’t make me think of new ways to improve my technique and better develop my portfolio. And so, without further tarry, I wanted to just briefly review some points that have been made about my sniper map in particular as it is crucial to personal development for one to review his mistakes and learn from them.

One of the first things Jim noticed in my map was a harsh, obvious divide between the Red and Blu bases. He is the first person to really point this out to me, and he noted that although it could be seen as “clever” by some, such a clear, straight divide is visually distracting and disrupts the continuity of the map’s design. He mentioned that Valve makes a point of avoiding such harsh edges or sudden changes in color when laying out their map designs, especially for TF2. Also, because of the way the source engine deals with edges, Valve’s level designers sometimes use things like models to break up the continuity and blandness in sharp, straight edges.

As far as gameplay, froggie, from FPSBanana, mentioned that sniping from the ground outside the bases seemed especially difficult because there aren’t as many angles to snipe from as there are on the upper levels of the buildings and because it’s simply hard to get “a clear shot”. I was a little surprised by this, although I did have an inkling about it. I’ve always sort of seen the outside ground area as, definitely, a less secure place to snipe from as there is not much directly available cover. Therefore I’ve seen it as a place most players would often not venture except to surprise their enemy with a new and unexpected location. At first I wasn’t entirely sure why froggie had trouble getting a clear shot. In development and play testing, I had actually gone through the trouble of building solid brushes inside some of the train models whose bounding boxes were too large, so that the players wouldn’t have their bullets stopping in mid-air. Although, what I figure is the problem is that the trains, used to divide the two bases, block a lot of the player’s line of sight. This is why, in reality, most snipers shoot from high windows and towers. But I notice that most TF2 maps have their ground areas open enough so that snipers can remain at ground level and still have little blocking their view of the incoming enemies. In fact, most sniper maps have the ground level open too. Oops.

A common criticism is the map’s class restriction. Despite the fact that some people do seek out maps such as this, the criticism is wholly valid. It may give players a safe environment to hone in their skills and perhaps learn from other snipers, but it’s ultimately very exclusive. I knew this when I decided to make the map. But I chose this map for two simple reasons: there were no attractive sniper maps (which really bugged me!), and, more importantly, I wanted something basic and small to work on so I could focus more on the visual aesthetic rather than on things like class balancing. But what I really didn’t think about was why this exclusivity was really such a bad thing. As Jim pointed out to me, it forces the map to stay in seclusion, away from a large percentage of players who simply couldn’t care less about sniping (and these players needs loves too). Maps that permit the use of all classes gain far more publicity because they’re simply more in demand and, for an aspiring video game artist, wide spread renown for your work is invaluable.

Therefore I think the best direction I could go in from here would be to begin work on a CTF map I have conceptualized for TF2. I will of course release more information as the project begins to take form. Until then, have a great week!