Alpha 4 was released and has already seen some playing time in a public server. The server, which just test custom levels, provided a recorded demo file of the game for me to watch and get an idea of how other players play the level. It is a wonderful tool to analyze what exactly is happening with the level.
Playtest Results
Have you ever watched a sporting event and found yourself yelling "WHY!?!?" over some mistake they made? Well I have. First and foremost I noticed that people tend to "follow the leader" and the start of a game round. Of the two paths to take from the spawnroom, literally the entire team chose only one. The Blu team chose correctly and were patiently waiting for the gates to open and the round to start. The red team on the other hand chose incorrectly. Instead they all ran out toward the control point and spent the entire time wondering around like a lost child. Eventually they found it.
The other major problem was the lack of obvious changes made by capturing the middle CP. People just didn't understand what happens when they capture it or when time runs out. I think I'm going to have to add an extra layer of minor tweaks, hopefully to the extent so that it clicks with people. I do have the suspicion that it will likely never click with a player on the first play through. It might take 1 or 2 extra play sessions for players to figure it out.
Changes made for the Alpha 5 Release
The idea of level design and alpha releases is to improve the gameplay from release to release and to also add basic improvements to the map. Whether it be a whole new stage added in, tweaks of health and ammo locations, added or improved art assets, or redesigning of sections, the changes made from release to release are a crucial part of the design process.
My goal is to at least add the final stage (stage 3) to the A5 release of the map. This stage has honestly been troublesome during the initial design phases. I struggled with its overall design concept. It was a case of wanting to do something different than Valve, but keeping it similar enough that it kept with the 3rd stage design norms of Payload race. Valve's "plr_pipeline" 3rd stage is a very simple and straight forward map. Both carts run along parallel tracks, two massive hills sit between the starting position and the final goal at the very top and far end of the map. The matches go quite quickly and generally the first to make it up the first hill has a massive advantage and usually wins. Possibly the biggest characteristic of the map is that it is wide open and nearly the entire cart path can be seen from the vast majority of locations in the map.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Download Available. and screens
This week saw stage two evolve into a working level. It is amazing how the level comes to life with a little lighting and proper construction.
First off an overhead look at stage two.
The design prinicle of this map was to have a larger common and shared middle area. In contrast the middle of stage 1 is divided into several smaller and distinct areas.
The carts start at the top of the small cliff face along the edges of the walls. They are pushed downhill until they meet in the center. This area needs alot of work. I added the trees in fairly late simply because I needed something in the middle to break up the openness of the space.
Each team base is built as a simple courtyard with accessory buildings lining the area. The buildings on the northern end are built into the rock walls. The extruded part of the building in the center of the screenshot provides for an excellent spot to place a sentry gun to defend the final control point of the stage in the foreground.
The building in the background is one of the major chokepoints that exists in the level.
If you have Team Fortress 2 and would like to play the level. You can get the download link here
First off an overhead look at stage two.
The design prinicle of this map was to have a larger common and shared middle area. In contrast the middle of stage 1 is divided into several smaller and distinct areas.
The carts start at the top of the small cliff face along the edges of the walls. They are pushed downhill until they meet in the center. This area needs alot of work. I added the trees in fairly late simply because I needed something in the middle to break up the openness of the space.
Each team base is built as a simple courtyard with accessory buildings lining the area. The buildings on the northern end are built into the rock walls. The extruded part of the building in the center of the screenshot provides for an excellent spot to place a sentry gun to defend the final control point of the stage in the foreground.
The building in the background is one of the major chokepoints that exists in the level.
If you have Team Fortress 2 and would like to play the level. You can get the download link here
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Goals
Tonight I completed everything that is required for stage 1 to be fully playable. However I am not publicly releasing it until stage 2 is also playable, which is a pretty straight forward task. All I need to add on stage two are:
-Setup Gates
-Adjust cart paths (so the cart appears to roll along the track)
-Add Ammo and Health
-Add lighting for interiors
-Create team specific spawn doors
-Create "no-build" area to prevent engineers from building in the spawn
-Finish the skybox
-Unique Stage logic
Stage Logic
Like the first stage the 2nd stage is going to give a team a slight advantage over a set time. On the first stage I kept things pretty simple, the only change made is that off the rollback speed of the cart when it is on a rollback hill and isn't being touched by friendly players. On the 2nd stage I could easily apply the same variables to the cart as the first stage, but that wouldn't be any fun now would it? While testing the first stage I discovered that a 15% or 25% speed difference really isn't all that noticeable. At first I made the advantage be a 25% reduced rollback speed. For a team without the advantage their cart would rollback at 100% speed, the team with it, rolled back at 75% max speed.
My current thinking of the stage 2 advantage is to change the cart speed on all surfaces. Overall it will have a 15% speed increase on flat terrain and perhaps utilize the same sort of logic as the previous stage. The latest iteration of stage 2 features 1 large uphill and 3 small ones. I am conflicted on whether I want to allow the this hill to be a rollback or not, or to have the cart roll up it at a slower speed than normal. I cannot ignore the fact that this hill is such a natural chokepoint. It is painfully obvious even before playtesting. It is one of those areas where the first one to the top will likely push on to victory. Perhaps a playtester might have quality input.
-Setup Gates
-Adjust cart paths (so the cart appears to roll along the track)
-Add Ammo and Health
-Add lighting for interiors
-Create team specific spawn doors
-Create "no-build" area to prevent engineers from building in the spawn
-Finish the skybox
-Unique Stage logic
Stage Logic
Like the first stage the 2nd stage is going to give a team a slight advantage over a set time. On the first stage I kept things pretty simple, the only change made is that off the rollback speed of the cart when it is on a rollback hill and isn't being touched by friendly players. On the 2nd stage I could easily apply the same variables to the cart as the first stage, but that wouldn't be any fun now would it? While testing the first stage I discovered that a 15% or 25% speed difference really isn't all that noticeable. At first I made the advantage be a 25% reduced rollback speed. For a team without the advantage their cart would rollback at 100% speed, the team with it, rolled back at 75% max speed.
My current thinking of the stage 2 advantage is to change the cart speed on all surfaces. Overall it will have a 15% speed increase on flat terrain and perhaps utilize the same sort of logic as the previous stage. The latest iteration of stage 2 features 1 large uphill and 3 small ones. I am conflicted on whether I want to allow the this hill to be a rollback or not, or to have the cart roll up it at a slower speed than normal. I cannot ignore the fact that this hill is such a natural chokepoint. It is painfully obvious even before playtesting. It is one of those areas where the first one to the top will likely push on to victory. Perhaps a playtester might have quality input.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
End of the week screens
This week saw great strides toward my goal of having a multiplayer capable level. The first stage is 95% ready for multiplayer action while the second stage is probably around 60% there. At the start of the week I was making changes to the second stage, at which point I realized I probably shouldn't be changing it up until I get actual playtest data telling me that I need to change it. Thankfully through saving a new file pretty much every day I can go back and build off those changes made.
Screenshots
This week I revitalized and rethought out the middle section of the first stage. Honestly it was boring, unimaginative, and didn't make much sense.
As you can see the main area here is pretty simple. It literally is a "boxed canyon"
I liked the shaping and the design of the natural ramps that provide a secondary route to the top.
This area was the source of many problems. I just hadn't thought it out much and it is directly part of the middle control point area that I wasn't all that happy with either. In this iteration of the level I wanted it to be a naturally enclosed area (a tunnel), then I changed my mind for it be a open courtyard with both teams buildings and the canyon walls defining the space. Eventually I decided to go back to my original idea, which was to make it an interior. But I decided on making it a neutral building that shares the architecture of neither side.
The new building has a dominating presence about it over the middle section.
Part of the renovation was completely removing the rock wall that divided the area before. Now the building and a fence divides the the two spaces. A added benefit of using a fence is that a portion of the middle area and more importantly the control point is now visible from each teams upper spawn exit. Also the pathway to the top is now man made as the natural walkway no longer looked.... for lack of a better word, natural.
Overall you can see how much this area is now changed. The area in the far right of the screenshot was also enlarged and opened up more due to the size of the building vs the original plan.
The interior of the building with temporary lighting. I wanted the building to feel open and large enough to hold a fight. I added several windows in an attempt to light the building with just the skylight however more interior lights will be needed to properly light the building.
That is the screenshot update for this week. Tune in next week where I might actually show screenshots of the second stage.
Screenshots
This week I revitalized and rethought out the middle section of the first stage. Honestly it was boring, unimaginative, and didn't make much sense.
As you can see the main area here is pretty simple. It literally is a "boxed canyon"
I liked the shaping and the design of the natural ramps that provide a secondary route to the top.
This area was the source of many problems. I just hadn't thought it out much and it is directly part of the middle control point area that I wasn't all that happy with either. In this iteration of the level I wanted it to be a naturally enclosed area (a tunnel), then I changed my mind for it be a open courtyard with both teams buildings and the canyon walls defining the space. Eventually I decided to go back to my original idea, which was to make it an interior. But I decided on making it a neutral building that shares the architecture of neither side.
The new building has a dominating presence about it over the middle section.
Part of the renovation was completely removing the rock wall that divided the area before. Now the building and a fence divides the the two spaces. A added benefit of using a fence is that a portion of the middle area and more importantly the control point is now visible from each teams upper spawn exit. Also the pathway to the top is now man made as the natural walkway no longer looked.... for lack of a better word, natural.
Overall you can see how much this area is now changed. The area in the far right of the screenshot was also enlarged and opened up more due to the size of the building vs the original plan.
The interior of the building with temporary lighting. I wanted the building to feel open and large enough to hold a fight. I added several windows in an attempt to light the building with just the skylight however more interior lights will be needed to properly light the building.
That is the screenshot update for this week. Tune in next week where I might actually show screenshots of the second stage.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
The Monday Update: This time on Tuesday.
The goal of this week is to tie up loose ends on the level and to start getting playtests going. It seems much of my time has been spent experimenting with ideas and making changes to the design and layout of the level without any actual playtesting occurring. Hopefully by the end of the week I will have 2 fully functional stages capable of hosting up to 32 players.
I'll be a little more talkative regarding progress in next weeks post.
I'll be a little more talkative regarding progress in next weeks post.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Friday Screens. Now with lighting!
This is quite literally the 4th or so compile of the level with lighting. After some tweaking I am starting to get the hang of real time lighting.
Click images for full quality.
Blu Base. Note some of the changes made.
Click images for full quality.
Blu Base. Note some of the changes made.
Red Base. The back wall area has gone under the knife quite alot.
Monday, July 27, 2009
The Monday Update: Always Evolving
While working towards my goal of a multiplayer capable level, I finally hit that point where you can no longer look at something without having to fix it. Chief among the fixes required was an overhaul of the Stage 1 bases and the much needed consideration of how my level is to be themed. The geometry making up parts of the Stage 1 bases was hastily assembled and build more as a visual "This is what I want it to look like" reference to the level design. Part of this reconstruction was a full design change made to key areas of the level. The area where the "back" entrance to each base, the raised path in the 2nd screen shot of my previous post, received the brunt of the changes. Initially a staircase on the interior of a 2 level building was the access point to that upper section. The problem with it was the size of the building limited the width of the stairwell. Thus this has been changed so the stairs are a single stairway on the exterior of the building. Other changes to the perimeter walls were made to expand the size of the platforms.
Other changes were made to help apply the very crucial theme element of the level. I realized I had forgotten to give a reason to "where the cart came from." Most payload levels simply don't have a stopping point for the carts tracks, they continue or start from a location extended "through" the level. While you never see the cart on these track pieces you can assume that's where the cart would go from there. I've also decided to focus on creating the feel that the first stage is in a rocky canyon with man-made construction being build on and inside of the canyon walls.
On Sunday I finally got the inspiration to construct one of my 3rd (and final) stage ideas out. Throughout this process I've been conflicted on the design of this stage. Do I do it like Valve did it by focusing the fighting over two massive hills? Do I tie the design in with my other two stages? Do I try something completely different?
My current design solution is kinda a mix of all 3 depending on how you look at it. It features
-Two smaller hills that equal the same size of the last larger hill.
-First small hill is skip if a team wins the first 2 stages.
-Tracks run parallel and are mirrored in the entire stage.
-For the vast majority of the time your teams cart will be on the opposite side of center from your base.
-Out and Back Design. The carts start at one end and work their way toward the other and then turn around and head back toward the center of the map.
-To simplify the amount of track in the area a small section of track will be shared when traveling "out" and "back".
-At the far end is a turnaround section for the cart to head back towards center.
-At the center of the map is the final hill.
-A raised platform connects the top of the hill and the two bases. The carts will be pushed toward each teams respective enemies base (Red toward Blu, Blu toward Red) where the final CP of the game will be located at.
-Upon victory the cart will roll into the enemy base and explode.
This design affords me a great deal of flexibly and accomplishes an overall goal from the start of design. By having the cart explode in the enemy base I bring a degree of reasoning that is missing in Valve's official Payload Race level where the cart simply explodes at the same spot regardless of the victor. The flexibility is achieved through the track design. If it is discovered that the match pace is too slow or its too difficult to win changes can easily be made to fix this problem. Furthermore I can easily add a middle control point that governs a gameplay variable thus keeping a design feature of the first two stages intact in the 3rd.
This concludes a rather lengthy post. I'm hoping to get into a regular schedule of posting on this blog with screenshots posted around midweek and a post (I'll try to keep it not as lengthy) at the start of the week.
Cheers.
Other changes were made to help apply the very crucial theme element of the level. I realized I had forgotten to give a reason to "where the cart came from." Most payload levels simply don't have a stopping point for the carts tracks, they continue or start from a location extended "through" the level. While you never see the cart on these track pieces you can assume that's where the cart would go from there. I've also decided to focus on creating the feel that the first stage is in a rocky canyon with man-made construction being build on and inside of the canyon walls.
On Sunday I finally got the inspiration to construct one of my 3rd (and final) stage ideas out. Throughout this process I've been conflicted on the design of this stage. Do I do it like Valve did it by focusing the fighting over two massive hills? Do I tie the design in with my other two stages? Do I try something completely different?
My current design solution is kinda a mix of all 3 depending on how you look at it. It features
-Two smaller hills that equal the same size of the last larger hill.
-First small hill is skip if a team wins the first 2 stages.
-Tracks run parallel and are mirrored in the entire stage.
-For the vast majority of the time your teams cart will be on the opposite side of center from your base.
-Out and Back Design. The carts start at one end and work their way toward the other and then turn around and head back toward the center of the map.
-To simplify the amount of track in the area a small section of track will be shared when traveling "out" and "back".
-At the far end is a turnaround section for the cart to head back towards center.
-At the center of the map is the final hill.
-A raised platform connects the top of the hill and the two bases. The carts will be pushed toward each teams respective enemies base (Red toward Blu, Blu toward Red) where the final CP of the game will be located at.
-Upon victory the cart will roll into the enemy base and explode.
This design affords me a great deal of flexibly and accomplishes an overall goal from the start of design. By having the cart explode in the enemy base I bring a degree of reasoning that is missing in Valve's official Payload Race level where the cart simply explodes at the same spot regardless of the victor. The flexibility is achieved through the track design. If it is discovered that the match pace is too slow or its too difficult to win changes can easily be made to fix this problem. Furthermore I can easily add a middle control point that governs a gameplay variable thus keeping a design feature of the first two stages intact in the 3rd.
This concludes a rather lengthy post. I'm hoping to get into a regular schedule of posting on this blog with screenshots posted around midweek and a post (I'll try to keep it not as lengthy) at the start of the week.
Cheers.
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