81 replies to this topic

[l33tworks]

No matter how bad maps are, a large number of bad ones will always be better than a very small amount of good ones imo.

I'm always surprised how f2p game devs always under-develop this part when it so crucial to keeping the game fresh. They could release every battlemech there every existed tomorrow and i mean every, and the game would still feel more stale than if we simply had 5 new maps now.

I'm not even really sure why it takes so long to release new maps anyway?

I was speaking to someone (over the net) and they told me you could basically mock up a map in 2-3 hours. Granted to make a good completely new map from scratch it takes weeks of work, but 99% of that is fine touches and certainly not 4 maps in over a year of development. I'm talking forget about balance, just start spamming it. Out of 20 bad maps 1 guy could make make in a week at least 1 will be ok to play on. Actually who cares if they are not, Cities and planets and landscapes weren't made with battle tech balance in mind. If you spawn in an unfair location this time around, there is a 50/50 chance next time the roles will be reversed.

Make some MW4 style maps. just grids and buildings. Throw a big random lumpy landscapes around, Copy paste some buildings. Then copy paste some more, just throw random junk around. Use the auto-build tools for terrain, enter 9999 in any fields you don't understand. Have a quick internal play of 50 bad maps some people put together around the office, patch the 10 most fun ones next week into the real game. Have 10 new maps in 2 weeks. Done. Or how crazy am I?

Edited by l33tworks, 25 January 2013 - 06:56 PM.

[Buzzkillin]

If Quality maps, they would be different from each other, allowing different plans of attacks

If Quantity maps, Same maps 5 different times, day, dusk, dawn, night, and snow.

[jay35]

Both could use an improvement, imho. Really, if they would start by simply recreating the maps from MW4 Mercs, that would be a great start.

[AC]

There was nothing wrong with Caustic before all those damn pipes and other crap was added. We don't need maps that are spammed with crap. Maps with nice terrain and nothing else have been a staple of MW for as long as I have been a live. I would be fine with multiple simple nature maps.

[eFx]

I agree with less time on mechs and more on maps. Not just small maps like the original crop, but large ones that require maneuvering instead of "lets just rush the base". The game is stale and I'm taking a break until more content is delivered. P.S. making a night version of the same terrain is NOT a new map.

[mekabuser]

quantity.. Because no matter how you try, even if you think what you have created is great, chances are its not as great as you think . Then if it sucks , well your stuck with it.

This is the situation we are heading into... Woe is us if desert and alpine arent great dynamic maps.
Also, you have to remember the "UNIVERSE" we are all supposedly playing in .
mwll had a short... very short lived planetary league.. It was fleshed out by idk, i think it was somewhere around 40 maps... Most of them decent, many great.But the variety brought the whole idea of fighting for territory in the battletech universe alive .

mw4 had a gazillion maps. Some you only got to see a few times, but that was great, it brought the universe to life.
4 doesnt cut it, not even close.. not even 14...
This game needs 30 maps two years from now. Minimum.
and this is a fancy pants game engine.. varying enviroments. Real ones that make a difference.

Listen , at the very least, you have a crap ton of maps, you throw up a poll and take the top half.. discard the rest... rinse and repeat.

[CrashieJ]

we need more maps, quality doesn't matter when we can find bugs and other hiccups at an exponential rate.

user-made and tested maps can be submitted by the community for free to be played and voted on.
contests can be made for potential hirees to see what they've got.

the possibilities are endless, but they're not giving us the tools for our imagination

[Jetfire]

Umm, Quality. Release maps as they are ready, they are coming next month.

Remember these maps will be used for things like CW, they needs to have more things considered than just "make a map". The maps so far strike me as very well designed and I would like to see the trend continue.

[80sGlamRockSensation David Bowie]

The problem is, right now we really don't have much of quality or quantity.

Sure the map details are nice, but lets take Frozen City for instance. That map layout itself is utter frigging garbage!

[miscreant]

l33tworks, on 25 January 2013 - 06:56 PM, said:

No matter how bad maps are, a large number of bad ones will always be better than a very small amount of good ones imo.

I'm always surprised how f2p game devs always under-develop this part when it so crucial to keeping the game fresh. They could release every battlemech there every existed tomorrow and i mean every, and the game would still feel more stale than if we simply had 5 new maps now.

I'm not even really sure why it takes so long to release new maps anyway?

I was speaking to someone (over the net) and they told me you could basically mock up a map in 2-3 hours. Granted to make a good completely new map from scratch it takes weeks of work, but 99% of that is fine touches and certainly not 4 maps in over a year of development. I'm talking forget about balance, just start spamming it. Out of 20 bad maps 1 guy could make make in a week at least 1 will be ok to play on. Actually who cares if they are not, Cities and planets and landscapes weren't made with battle tech balance in mind. If you spawn in an unfair location this time around, there is a 50/50 chance next time the roles will be reversed.

Make some MW4 style maps. just grids and buildings. Throw a big random lumpy landscapes around, Copy paste some buildings. Then copy paste some more, just throw random junk around. Use the auto-build tools for terrain, enter 9999 in any fields you don't understand. Have a quick internal play of 50 bad maps some people put together around the office, patch the 10 most fun ones next week into the real game. Have 10 new maps in 2 weeks. Done. Or how crazy am I?

I want both, and I want them fast. (No Vote)

How come other developers can make maps faster, and better than PGI?...

AC, on 25 January 2013 - 07:48 PM, said:

There was nothing wrong with Caustic before all those damn pipes and other crap was added. We don't need maps that are spammed with crap. Maps with nice terrain and nothing else have been a staple of MW for as long as I have been a live. I would be fine with multiple simple nature maps.

....no spaceports, asteroid battles...no sci-fi?

So you're looking for flat, featureless worlds?

[Team Leader]

I think they should start with basic terrain and shapes and slowly build them up, kind of like forest colony (adding trees, extending cave, adding boat, etc.) so start with a rough sketch, let people decide whats good or not with a vote button, and improve the maps people like!

[Tennex]

at this point in the game's life cycle. i don't think the devs. even know enough themselves about maps and how players would potentially interact with them. to be able to put out quality maps. they are just trial and erroring right now.

for example, through the current 4 maps we have, the devs have learned that the maps they make are too small and probably many other things.


point is theres no point perfecting maps, when all the effort is essentially shots in the dark. you can put the maps out and then over time revise it.

Edited by Tennex, 25 January 2013 - 08:36 PM.

[mekabuser]

you know what though, how could the devs NOT know what makes a good mw map >Theres only 100 to analyze and see what great and why , and what fails.
So many mw4 maps were great its not even funny.. Almost all the vengence maps, many of the mercs maps.. its sad how few maps we have.
They should really open the flood gates and allow community created maps to be submitted to them. Is the process substantially different than what it was for mw4 and mwll? and even if it is, all the map heads out there< i know they exist> Im sure they know what theyre doing..
I mean seriously... can anyone say missing textures still on frozen.. A map since "the beginning. "

[Billygoat]

mwhighlander, on 25 January 2013 - 08:25 PM, said:

The problem is, right now we really don't have much of quality or quantity.

Sure the map details are nice, but lets take Frozen City for instance. That map layout itself is utter frigging garbage!

This is the unfortunate truth right now. We have four maps and while the visual detail on them is nice (except for Forest Colony, which is a blurry and muddy and generally unpleasant, visually), they don't exactly feel like they've had the months of work on balance and gameplay that the glacial release schedule would imply.

I say quantity over quality is what's needed now. Maps are primary content and F2P games rely on frequent, regular content updates to survive or succeed. Mechs at this point are just fluff and need to take a backseat to other content as priority for release.

I don't care if some of the maps end up a little bland - it's not as if plenty of fights in the BT novels didn't take place on "boring" open ground anyway - or if one starting spawn is significantly more likely to win than another (every single map in the game already has this anyway), there just needs to be more.

[Lightfoot]

Quality. Why would you compromise game quality for a quick fix? Crappy maps will come back and bite yer butt because you'll just get half of the players not using them. One day "map" will be a player selection and not auto-selected.

[mekabuser]

Lightfoot, on 25 January 2013 - 08:57 PM, said:

Quality. Why would you compromise game quality for a quick fix? Crappy maps will come back and bite yer butt because you'll just get half of the players not using them. One day "map" will be a player selection and not auto-selected.

quality isnt working for them right now. Its not to hard to have entertainment with mechs.. A wide open square with rolling hills works and would be better than frozen. much. better.
I hate to say it, but frozen is probably top ten worst mw maps ever.

[Ravn]

I'd prefer a ton of maps that are of the low quality type with a few detailed maps mixed in. A random map generator would be nice.

[Mr Mantis]

You have to have both. If you just had one map that was amazing than you would get board quickly. On the other hand if you had thousands of crappy maps, they may as well be the same map it is not worth your time.
Balance is key.

[Eddrick]

Quality over quantity. A quality map will last much longer before people get bored of it then a rushed map.

[darkfall13]

I vote quality over quantity; because 1) Immersion 2) can make "useless" mechs like heavy JJ usage Spiders more viable like in a mountainous map or some such; without actually giving them a stat buff.