16 replies to this topic

[Variant1]

we need MAOR MAPS!!!

Spoiler

I know PGI is busy developing more content so i decided to drop some ideas, hope they help

Spoiler

Map name: Courtyard
Preferred tile set: River City
The yellow dots represent the spawn points on the map. In this map 2 teams start on the opposite sides of each other. The middle is open where the sides however have cover, meaning most battles take place on the sides rather than the middle due to it having no cover. The side roads are open so that long range and lrms can also be effective but enough cover to not give them the upper hand.
cons: The meta for this map might devolve into nascar-ing across the sides

Spoiler

Preferred tile set: HPG manifold
This map is more of a maze meaning the combat will be eratic and random as well as making lights very handy to have. This map has an interesting randomized spawn points, meaning each encounter will be different. The walls are as high as the HPG manifold's but the rooms are open enough for all weapons to be effective.
cons: It might take too long for teams to regroup or not be able to fight each other at all due to it being hard to navigate

Spoiler

Preferred tile set: Canyon network
This map is pretty straightforward. Each team start on opposite ends reaching towards the middle to engage. Whats interesting about this map is that each lance is separate from each other and will have to regroup at the center where the combat will take place. It will be up to the designers where to place the cover points on this map
cons: Fast mechs might be too advantageous in this map as they could easily regroup with the main body.

Spoiler

Preferred tile set: River city
This map has a destructible bridge. The assets of buildings from river city should be used but not the gritty colors, instead bright blue and green should be used to make the map look clean and new.
cons: It seems like one team has more ground and cover than the other (the designers can choose to add more cover to the other side to compensate).

Spoiler

Map name: Triskellion
Preferred tile set: HPG manifold
This map has an interested twist, instead of the usual "everyone go to the center" everyone now starts at the center! The different spawn colors indicate that each lane will be in between an enemy as to avoid everyone rushing 1 lance and stomping them. This means battles are more chaotic and frantic as people try to either move out to cover to regroup or engage each other individually. The center walls are taller than the HPG ones.
cons: The fights might always take at the center or brawlers could be too advantageous

Thoughts?

[XtremWarrior]

Ok so:
1st one i see a CPU on a motherboard.
2nd one i see a strange garage-door with black windows and handle on the right
3rd one i see a scanner of a stomach
4th is the easiest, it's an elephant head shaking
5th i see a star! Migh also be some sick and really tight a-hole with those strange coloured dots, not sure.

What, it's not a rorschach test?
Damn...

Edited by XtremWarrior, 25 February 2015 - 09:04 AM.

[Vandul]

While this certainly isnt a new and refreshing thread, I find your artwork flippin' awesome.

+1

[Variant1]

XtremWarrior, on 25 February 2015 - 09:03 AM, said:

Ok so:
1st one i see a CPU on a motherboard.
2nd one i see a strange garage-door with black windows and handle on the right
3rd one i see a scanner of a stomach
4th is the easiest, it's an elephant head shaking
5th i see a star! Migh also be some sick and really tight a-hole with those strange coloured dots, not sure.
What, it's not a rorschach test?
Damn...

I drew these maps from the top down perspective. The tan blocks for the first one are buildings and the light grey is the road. 2nd map has small hole in the walls, those are walls. the 3rd map, think of the brown part as the high up dirt like in canyon. 4th one the white blocks are buildings light grey road and the dark grey is the concrete. The fifth one i tried making it look like HPG manifold textures..... but failed. Hope this clarifies, sorry my ms paint skills are lacking.

edit:

Vandul, on 25 February 2015 - 09:05 AM, said:

While this certainly isnt a new and refreshing thread, I find your artwork flippin' awesome.
+1

I know right? My ms paint skills are L33T!

Edited by Variant1, 25 February 2015 - 09:14 AM.

[XtremWarrior]

Variant1, on 25 February 2015 - 09:12 AM, said:

I drew these maps from the top down perspective. The tan blocks for the first one are buildings and the light grey is the road. 2nd map has small hole in the walls, those are walls. the 3rd map, think of the brown part as the high up dirt like in canyon. 4th one the white blocks are buildings light grey road and the dark grey is the concrete. The fifth one i tried making it look like HPG manifold textures..... but failed. Hope this clarifies, sorry my ms paint skills are lacking.

edit:
I know right? My ms paint skills are L33T!

Don't worry it was only for the joke!
(answering a bit late, internet left me for a couple of days)

[STEF_]

XtremWarrior, on 25 February 2015 - 09:03 AM, said:

Ok so:
1st one i see a CPU on a motherboard.
2nd one i see a strange garage-door with black windows and handle on the right
3rd one i see a scanner of a stomach
4th is the easiest, it's an elephant head shaking
5th i see a star! Migh also be some sick and really tight a-hole with those strange coloured dots, not sure.

What, it's not a rorschach test?
Damn...

ROLF!
your post made my day!

[Sarlic]

We need better quality and design maps. Not a map cycle were each map is poor as we have now.

Edited by Sarlic, 27 February 2015 - 01:17 AM.

[Anjian]

Some of these maps remind me of MW4.

[John1352]

XtremWarrior, on 25 February 2015 - 09:03 AM, said:

Ok so:
1st one i see a CPU on a motherboard.
2nd one i see a strange garage-door with black windows and handle on the right
3rd one i see a scanner of a stomach
4th is the easiest, it's an elephant head shaking
5th i see a star! Migh also be some sick and really tight a-hole with those strange coloured dots, not sure.

What, it's not a rorschach test?
Damn...

All of them look more like maps than Boreal Vault.

[Paigan]

My thought:

You do realize that it's not the idea that poses the effort, but the implementation, right?

Implementation being:
- terrain mesh
- textures
- pathing
- decoration
- special effects (fog and stuff)
- balancing
- testing (cry engine stability issues, *sigh* mining collective *sigh*)

"Helping" PGI by providing "ideas" is like one of those guys in game modding forums who say "I have a GREAT idea for a mod, I just need 5 people working for free to implement it for me."


I bet PGI have a ton of map "ideas" themselves.
The problem is to pay the man-weeks it takes for every idea to become reality.
Maybe if you provide $10000 with each idea, that might work.

Edited by Paigan, 27 February 2015 - 05:12 AM.

[Cyberiad]

MWO's maps are too cluttered as they are. Filling every inch of a map with doodads doesn't make the map look better. It looks especially bad when there's no descructibility and mechs just walk through street lamps and get stuck on little cars and statues (lol).

[Thorn Hallis]

All we need is a balanced rotation. Can't see the bog anymore.

[mekabuser]

who knew that cauldron would be one of their best efforts. ? Lack of destruction and no interaction with the map environment is such a huge immersion killer its sad.
that and the clutter.. god the clutter. So clutter and no collision is just pure garbage.

tourmaline , manifold, crimson all decent but day night? and volume of maps?
THey need to really fix the scale of their urban environments, it just feels all wrong..

[Dawnstealer]

mekabuser, on 27 February 2015 - 08:10 AM, said:

who knew that cauldron would be one of their best efforts. ? Lack of destruction and no interaction with the map environment is such a huge immersion killer its sad.
that and the clutter.. god the clutter. So clutter and no collision is just pure garbage.

tourmaline , manifold, crimson all decent but day night? and volume of maps?
THey need to really fix the scale of their urban environments, it just feels all wrong..

Yeah, something's off with the scale. I think it's too many big buildings in small environments, maybe? I mean...it's big building that are spaced far apart, so it doesn't feel like a city - it feels like something a kid made out of legos. For example, there's Crimson Strait:



All the roads are huge lanes that are mech-scaled, and when they're mech-scaled, it makes everything else seem artificially tiny. Cities aren't laid out this way. Compare this to a similarly-size area of Honolulu:




You DO have some wide lanes, but land is at a premium: you don't see a building sitting on a huge square concrete plot. Also notice the extreme variance in scale. Especially notice the actual houses: if there were a couple houses or small buildings? I think it might help.

It's hard to say. I have a design kicking around in my head for a CW map that I might post later.

[Summon3r]

Sarlic, on 27 February 2015 - 01:16 AM, said:

We need better quality and design maps. Not a map cycle were each map is poor as we have now.

this ^ .,.... and what 2 maps per year isnt enough? lol

[Alistair Winter]

Some feedback:

• The plan is to give us 1 map per month, so 10 more maps are coming in 2015.
  
• Most of the maps will be for CW, at least for the coming months
  
• People have submitting map ideas since 2012. As far as I know, none of the maps we got in 2014 or 2015 have been based on any ideas from the fans.
  
• Map design is very difficult and it's probably better to look at good maps from other games and try to copy those. Now, MWO is different due to relatively slow mechs compared to map size, very long range, higher TTK, etc. But it's not that different. So far, PGI has tried to reinvent the wheel, and there are very few good maps as a result. But the FPS games with multiplayer have been around for over 20 years. There's no need to reinvent the wheel at this point.

For each map specifically:

• Your first map has a big open area in the center, dominating the entire map. This is the major flaw with existing maps, because it leads to NASCAR circling around the center as both teams usually hesitate to abandon cover.
  
• I like the idea of a maze-like map, if there was many alternative routes and a need for scouting.
  
• The canyon network looks far too simplistic, very few routes and little need for scouting.
  
• The river city map doesn't look like it has many good positions to defend. It could easily end up like Crimson Strait or the current River City, which usually turns into a stalemate because both sides rush to the same positions every time.
  
• The star-shaped map is exactly the kind of map I hope we never see in MWO. It makes no sense from a realistic perspective, it's like those Star Craft maps where the terrain is shaped like a big smiley face. It's fun from an e-sports perspective, but I don't like it for a game like MWO. Maybe Team Fortress or other silly FPS games.

[Alistair Winter]

Dawnstealer, on 27 February 2015 - 08:21 AM, said:

Yeah, something's off with the scale. I think it's too many big buildings in small environments, maybe? I mean...it's big building that are spaced far apart, so it doesn't feel like a city - it feels like something a kid made out of legos. For example, there's Crimson Strait:
All the roads are huge lanes that are mech-scaled, and when they're mech-scaled, it makes everything else seem artificially tiny. Cities aren't laid out this way. Compare this to a similarly-size area of Honolulu:
You DO have some wide lanes, but land is at a premium: you don't see a building sitting on a huge square concrete plot. Also notice the extreme variance in scale. Especially notice the actual houses: if there were a couple houses or small buildings? I think it might help.
It's hard to say. I have a design kicking around in my head for a CW map that I might post later.

While I do agree with this, not all worlds in the Inner Sphere (I imagine) have had people live there for centuries. The year is 3050, so there's been a very rapid expansion across the galaxy. For this reason, it may be more useful to look at cities on Earth that have been constructed from scratch, in the middle of nowhere. Cities in China or United Arab Emirates, for example. Skyscrapers being set up in the middle of nowhere, in the hope that a city will grow around them some day. You have cities like that in USA as well, when a large corporation builds a town from scratch around some major mine or industry, far out in the wilderness.

A bigger issue, for me, is the lack of smaller details like cars. There are some areas on River City and Crimson strait that look fantastic, because they really look like they're scaled for humans. And then you have big areas of the map that are plainly scaled for mech combat, with very few cosmetic details in between.