This was pure wisdom, thanks!! Coincidentally, I used to play a lot of Quake III Arena back in the day, but didn't know it was known for its level design. Some weeks ago I looked a video for one specific map from that game, to study its level design. Today, I was searching for principles for map design, and you based your video on Quake III Arena. Certainly, those dudes knew what they were doing. And you do too, AMAZING video, this was exactly what I was looking for!!!
This is an amazing video, by following those simple yet extremely efficient guidelines I improved my level design by a lot, by finally be able to create good maps for forges, map creators and also aiming at developing maps for my own game! Thanks a lot!
Very wise, sir. Very very wise. You're absolutely right. I would only suggest on change, to the title of the video. I would add "Arena" before FPS. Although some of these rules do apply to any FPS game, such as having good flow, landmarks, etc, most of it really only applies to multiplayer or arena FPS games. Eexample, I don't think we'd be happy if standard play result in single player levels ending in ten seconds! Maybe if you're speed running. And of course sometimes you need to stammy the flow in a level for a reason. IE blocking the players progress until they complete certain actions, like solving puzzles or killing opponents. Maybe they need a key. Something. That is my only critique of this video. Otherwise I think you nailed
Yeah, I wish Nvidia let me use their noise cancelling tools but I need an RTX for that (I have a GTX 1080). But I've managed to find other tools since then that has fixed this issue :)
@@Axolotl720 It's actually an old app called nero wave editor. I use the noise canceling tool. you highlight a part of the audio that only has the part you want to cancel that it needs to analyse, and then when you go to noise canceling, it usually isolates it. but it only works with softer sounds in the background. It's not nearly as effective as more modern apps.
You picked one of the Q3 maps that is actually good and was used. Q3 has bad maps overall, if you go through them.. they aren't very good and many, most, were not played beyond very early days when there were no alternatives - even if your guidelines (which are perfectly fine btw) are followed they do not make the rest of Q3s maps decent. The older quakes, while their DM map selection was much smaller, had better maps over all. All the Q1 maps were ok and only dm1 was "bad", all the Q2 maps that were added in the patch were ok. Q3 on the other hand has a whole slew of maps that are just bad - this was shown by which were actually played. Q3 doesn't even have 6-8 good maps that stood the test of time like its predecessors. Your selection of turbine for ut99 isn't really adding to the argument since it is exactly as you say, more labyrinthine and difficult to navigate, but many, the majority of maps in 99 are not like this. Across the board I would say the ootb ut99 maps are worse than the total of quake maps (including third party) but the ut99 maps are significantly better than the Q3 ootb maps - the evidence? Many were played and are still played today. There were enough options to not play the poorer/gimmicky ones and have a map pool of 5-10 maps for DM/TDM/duel as well as CTF straight out of the box that worked well. Lastly landmarks in arenafps are less important than in other shooters as the areas tend to be known by their respective pickup. On DM6 you would call enemies at red armor, not enemies at the lights/stairs thing. Areas, outside of connections, don't need names and when they do "upper YA corridoor" is more likely to be used than what you get in modern shooters - banans, goat, chicken, etc in CS. The exceptions are when there is no pickup - on DM6 this would be the bridge area directly above RA - and if it were not for bridge to rail jump, an iconic piece of movement, then it may have gone unnamed.
Incorrect, by Quake 3 this accidental movement mechanic had long solidified itself as part of the game and was actively being designed for in level designs. The Railgun here was not only meant to be strafe-jumped to the level designer had actually mapped a small detail element close to the wall to make doing the jump easier if you hugged that wall.
I feel like this is more heavily geared towards multiplayer FPS than FPS in general. For example, you wouldn’t use that 10 second rule in a single player campaign map for obvious reasons. Cool video for sure but I was expecting a bit more general FPS level design rules
You'd be surprised how these rules can help in FPSs that even have more modern mechanics like loadouts and such. Obviously, use your best judgment and adapt the rules to fit the type of sub-genre of multiplayer FPSs. Such as for an example, a more realistic FPS where characters move a quarter of the speed than in an arena shooter, yeah, 10 sec is not enough time.
@@GTXDash Well I’m currently making a retro FPS game and for sure there’s some things in this video that are helpful but you’re totally right it’s about using my best judgement. I think quite fundamentally though the level design can be very different in single player vs multiplayer as you can never truly judge how real people will use the level whereas in single player it’s a lot easier to funnel or ‘force’ the player into areas/traps etc. Nonetheless this was a great video with some good tips
This was pure wisdom, thanks!! Coincidentally, I used to play a lot of Quake III Arena back in the day, but didn't know it was known for its level design. Some weeks ago I looked a video for one specific map from that game, to study its level design. Today, I was searching for principles for map design, and you based your video on Quake III Arena. Certainly, those dudes knew what they were doing. And you do too, AMAZING video, this was exactly what I was looking for!!!
This is an amazing video, by following those simple yet extremely efficient guidelines I improved my level design by a lot, by finally be able to create good maps for forges, map creators and also aiming at developing maps for my own game! Thanks a lot!
Glad you found this useful ^_^
1 reply? Lemme fix it
crazy
Hows it going ?
Very wise, sir. Very very wise. You're absolutely right.
I would only suggest on change, to the title of the video. I would add "Arena" before FPS.
Although some of these rules do apply to any FPS game, such as having good flow, landmarks, etc, most of it really only applies to multiplayer or arena FPS games.
Eexample, I don't think we'd be happy if standard play result in single player levels ending in ten seconds! Maybe if you're speed running. And of course sometimes you need to stammy the flow in a level for a reason. IE blocking the players progress until they complete certain actions, like solving puzzles or killing opponents. Maybe they need a key. Something.
That is my only critique of this video. Otherwise I think you nailed
Hey, those are very good points. I especially like the landmarks one. I would even precise *unique* landmarks.
This has a lot of good information, thank you
having a really good mic isn't synonymous with lacking noise cancelling. I love the crickets however, this is not a jab at you.
Yeah, I wish Nvidia let me use their noise cancelling tools but I need an RTX for that (I have a GTX 1080). But I've managed to find other tools since then that has fixed this issue :)
@@GTXDashwould you be able to tell me what tools those are if you remember?
@@Axolotl720 It's actually an old app called nero wave editor. I use the noise canceling tool. you highlight a part of the audio that only has the part you want to cancel that it needs to analyse, and then when you go to noise canceling, it usually isolates it. but it only works with softer sounds in the background. It's not nearly as effective as more modern apps.
@@GTXDash TSYM!!!!
No one cares about noise cancelation. We live in a world of sound. enjoy it
this is an epic video in 2022, amazed
You picked one of the Q3 maps that is actually good and was used. Q3 has bad maps overall, if you go through them.. they aren't very good and many, most, were not played beyond very early days when there were no alternatives - even if your guidelines (which are perfectly fine btw) are followed they do not make the rest of Q3s maps decent. The older quakes, while their DM map selection was much smaller, had better maps over all. All the Q1 maps were ok and only dm1 was "bad", all the Q2 maps that were added in the patch were ok. Q3 on the other hand has a whole slew of maps that are just bad - this was shown by which were actually played. Q3 doesn't even have 6-8 good maps that stood the test of time like its predecessors.
Your selection of turbine for ut99 isn't really adding to the argument since it is exactly as you say, more labyrinthine and difficult to navigate, but many, the majority of maps in 99 are not like this. Across the board I would say the ootb ut99 maps are worse than the total of quake maps (including third party) but the ut99 maps are significantly better than the Q3 ootb maps - the evidence? Many were played and are still played today. There were enough options to not play the poorer/gimmicky ones and have a map pool of 5-10 maps for DM/TDM/duel as well as CTF straight out of the box that worked well.
Lastly landmarks in arenafps are less important than in other shooters as the areas tend to be known by their respective pickup. On DM6 you would call enemies at red armor, not enemies at the lights/stairs thing. Areas, outside of connections, don't need names and when they do "upper YA corridoor" is more likely to be used than what you get in modern shooters - banans, goat, chicken, etc in CS. The exceptions are when there is no pickup - on DM6 this would be the bridge area directly above RA - and if it were not for bridge to rail jump, an iconic piece of movement, then it may have gone unnamed.
I'm a sucker for 3 lane maps.
Neat thx for making this
Strafing isn't the intended way to move out. its an engine glitch. So that railgun wasn't meant to be strafe-jumped to
Yes, that is true. That is why DM6 is an accidental masterpiece. 😉
Incorrect, by Quake 3 this accidental movement mechanic had long solidified itself as part of the game and was actively being designed for in level designs. The Railgun here was not only meant to be strafe-jumped to the level designer had actually mapped a small detail element close to the wall to make doing the jump easier if you hugged that wall.
is that really crickets? i though it was your monitor or something lol (also nice video)
I feel like this is more heavily geared towards multiplayer FPS than FPS in general.
For example, you wouldn’t use that 10 second rule in a single player campaign map for obvious reasons.
Cool video for sure but I was expecting a bit more general FPS level design rules
You'd be surprised how these rules can help in FPSs that even have more modern mechanics like loadouts and such. Obviously, use your best judgment and adapt the rules to fit the type of sub-genre of multiplayer FPSs. Such as for an example, a more realistic FPS where characters move a quarter of the speed than in an arena shooter, yeah, 10 sec is not enough time.
@@GTXDash Well I’m currently making a retro FPS game and for sure there’s some things in this video that are helpful but you’re totally right it’s about using my best judgement. I think quite fundamentally though the level design can be very different in single player vs multiplayer as you can never truly judge how real people will use the level whereas in single player it’s a lot easier to funnel or ‘force’ the player into areas/traps etc.
Nonetheless this was a great video with some good tips
The video is labeled for Multiplayer FPS games though?
😀😀
You are awesome!! If I was you I would employ P-R-O-M-O-S-M!