Upcoming discussion about FPS level design

[Ross Scott]

I'll be having another interview on August 20th at 5PM UTC at twitch.tv/rossbroadcast, this time with "Sacor", a level designer for first person shooters.  We'll be talking a bunch about FPS level design.  He's also interested in getting player feedback, so feel free to list some of your favorite FPS levels here in the comments.

 

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[ScumCoder]

The best multiplayer FPS maps I've seen were in Unreal Tournament (a.k.a. UT99). Their creators somehow managed to make them both great as a shooting gallery and as a believable place. Fetid looked and felt like a functioning sewer while being an impeccably polished deathmatch map, Condemned looked and felt like an actual urban slum while being an impeccably polished domination map, HiSpeed looked and felt like an actual train while being an impeccably polished assault map, and so on.

 

If making a great FPS map is like acing a physics exam, then making a great FPS map which also looks and feels like an actual place is like acing a physics exam while answering your question in rhymed verses.

[RocketDude]

A small list of ones that come to mind:

-O of Destruction and Dead Simple from Doom 2

-That one map from We've Got Hostiles in Half-Life 1 where you go through it from the "ground level" at first, then come back to through the vents after going aboveground for a bit. I like that kind of "outside looping," seeing where you've been before from a new POV.

-I think the Armacham Offices in F.E.A.R. are one of my favorite environments out of that whole game even though the gameplay can be bit up and down. The last couple of levels in the Auburn slums and the Origin facility are pretty neat, too.

-Everywhere in Bioshock. Say what you will about the original Bioshock, I can't think of a single level in that game that I hated.

[Im_CIA]

Campgrounds

[Veyrdite]

 

 

 

 

More generally are you thinking about singleplayer or multiplayer?  Melee or ranged FPS?

 

(Singleplayer) The original Red Faction levels toyed with the idea of linear progression.  There would be branches in the pathway that then lead to dead ends a bit later, but you wouldn't realise this.  Instead you would get caught in a loop (like a circle drawn at the end of a terminating line), convinced that you must be missing some doorway off the to the side somewhere.  After checking a walkthrough you would find you need to backtrack quite a way and eg jump into a ventilation fan to get back on a path that isn't a dead end.

 

(Multiplayer) Tremulous/Unvaquished had some interesting level design problems because of it asymmetric teams (aliens: mostly melee, humans: ranged).  Big open spaces vs tight corridors favoured one over the other, and it got a lot more complex with the first-person base building mechanics (which interacted in weird an interesting ways with level geometry, esp to form traps with turrets).

 

(Multiplayer) Most modern online first-person shooters give heavy advantage to a person walking around a corner or doorway, due to the inherent problems of ping and player prediction.  Interestingly some gameplay mechanics (eg accuracy of weapons depending on movement speed) can help counteract this.  This is what makes corners in games like Counterstrike so "random" feeling, there is a big advantage given to both the walker and the camper watching the corner, so the outcome is very unstable.

 

 

Specific level of interest in Tremulous (asymmetric aliens vs humans): ATCS.  The small base area with its complex mini-walls and two levels allowed for interesting base building layouts.  You could hide the giant, main central reactor somewhere clever in there but a jumping alien would then be able to get on top and damage it whilst hiding from your turrets.  Big, heavy aliens would have to rush through defences on the floor but nimbler ones could crawl the walls or jump up to the second floor, interacting with defences in interesting ways.

 

The centre room of the map (a big outside building with a ramp to the roof and walkway around both sides) allowed some verticality, but only when the humans and aliens evolved their jetpacks and jumping forms later on.  Entirely new gameplay strats would appear as things progressed, eg to trap or ambush humans from above. 

 

The second path of the map was a kinked tunnel between the bases.  It was a very different kind of combat, not as much fun but it served its purpose as something to prevent one strategy dominating the map.

 

Specific level of interest

Edited August 17, 2023 by Veyrdite (see edit history)

[2muchrubik]

Some of my favorite level designs in FPS games are the ones that stick out in my memory for being so different. A great example of this are the "Abstract" maps created by map maker Nipper for Counter-Strike: Source. The maps commonly feature brightly colored textures, various song snippets, and of course abstract world geometry to create an otherworldly atmosphere. There were full packs of these kinds of levels made for mapping competitions in the late 2000s. These kinds of maps really make for a memorable playing experience, and there are enough of them out there that you could have a server with the whole map rotation being these.

 

My favorite of these maps is the one titled "Zuhh" seen here:
https://youtu.be/2l1nZZ12_Wk?t=437

Edited August 20, 2023 by 2muchrubik (see edit history)

[ScumCoder]

...aaand apparantly "here" meant YouTube "community" page which I keep forgetting exists, while this very post was just a copypaste from there that nobody bothered to check. Oh well.

[Mugnum]

It would be a good idea to add the junk channel to "Channels" tab on your youtube, I see a whole lot of people weren't even aware of it's existance.

[Im_CIA]

Quote

...aaand apparantly "here" meant YouTube "community" page which I keep forgetting exists, while this very post was just a copypaste from there that nobody bothered to check. Oh well.

Mene, Mene, Accursed Farms, Apersine

[kerdios]

Quote

It would be a good idea to add the junk channel to "Channels" tab on your youtube, I see a whole lot of people weren't even aware of it's existance.

I agree, and also the daniel and curtis channel if you are going to keep making videos with them