Mapping For Jailbreak/More Mapping Tips

Most important feature of this thread was the following statement in regards to map layout.

I have already quoted various coments from the thread,

Give the teams a reason to leave their base

Shields

Don't put the 100a in the base....

spineblaZe: "Absolutely no shields in the base. None. 0. Zilch. Neither 100's or 50's should be available in your base. You want shields, you should have to go get some."

The_Head: "Personally I believe it is ok to use the 50a near the base, but in a position so that getting it you are moving yourself right to the edge of the base itself, thus leaving yourself vulnreble to damage from oncoming attackers. 'Do not' put loads of armor in a small room at the back of the base."

Keg O'Health + Other 'big' powerups.

....Or the Keg for that matter

For the same reason as the shields they should be kept out of the base, A few vials and healthpacks are fine, and you can adjust the amounts of these for balance on the map. Putting the Keg in the centre of the map works well and is seen in many maps, 100a and the damage amp also fit well in the centre of them map. (to go a little off topic)

No Lightning Gun or Shock Rifle

Be carefull with what weapons are in the base, how to do this can vary quite a lot, different players and different mappers value weapons differently, I personally don't rate the linkgun at all (The_Head)

spineblaZe: "Do not put either of these weapons in the base. I cannot stress this enough. They are arguably the most powerful and useful weapons in the game. If you want one, you should have to go out and get it.

- IMO, Link, Bio and Flak are good weapons to have in the base. They are good enough and versatile enough to get you going. Use your best judgement. "

Birelli: "Now, that having been said putting high-value weapons like the shock rifle and rocket launcher, as well as the high-level power-ups in the middle of the map is still a great idea across-the-board. Mappers should definitely do that, and above all every mapper should at least consider these issues, since in JB they are way more important than in any other gametype."

G.Lecter: "Defending the switches must be possible, so having a powerful weapon in the bases might be a good idea. However, it all depends on the difficulty you want to give the map."

Overall, the last thing you want to do is fill up the bases with lots of ammo for the weapons, argueing over which weapons should go in the base will go on for ever, but it seems to be agreed to seriously limit the ammo in a base.

Spawn Points

Be sure to spread out the pathnodes, everyone spawning in the same place will often lead to linear play, also you will notice the bots will often all group together when this is the case (memories of my early beta's of Egypt come into my mind - The_Head)

Also it will effect the fps at the start of a match, whilst many of us may not have problems with loosing a few fps, it can be quite critical to some players.

Having the playerstarts spread around the base, is an important feature of a good map, whilst the idea of a spawn room might initially seem a good one, but it can only be a bad thing in terms of playability.

spineblaZe: "Mix it up. At the start of the map, don't be afraid to spawn people all over the map. Who said all the spawn points have to be in your base? Make sure to keep 3 or 4 spawns in the base, but spread the rest out. Put some in the middle of the map, and even put some red and blue spawns by eachother. This will start the fighting immediately, and give your team more incentive to leave their base and come to the aid or rescue of their teammates."

This comment got mixed receptions, most people seemed to agree spreading the playerstarts jsut around the base was enough, but in a map that has a problem of lots of camping within the base, a good plan of action is to make sure some players will spawn next to one another, this will almost certainly result in a jailed player. Giving a reason to leave the base and attack.

Birelli: "Putting player starts across the map means newbs will get pounded on before they have a chance to orient themselves, that's discouraging and drives new players away."

This I guess will come down to the maps author!

-depends on whether you want a nice n00b freindly map, or one more aimed at the "pro" players.

Comments

Tarquin: Can we think of a better page title than 'tips'? Or merge into other pages?

Fold into Mapping For Jailbreak/Weapon Availability and rename it /Pickups
not sure where to move that spawning stuff

The_Head: That was the best I could think of at the time, Open to suggestions though.

As to merging into Spoondogs guide, I have left that for now as I wanted to make sure I got the hang of editing in the wiki before I go mess up the order of his guide. ALso it would no longer be "Spoondogs" guide to JB mapping