General Map Design Philosophy

We have a general philosophy on what 'good' maps are. We explain this here in this Game/Map Design Document.

Below is our checklist of everything that needs to be done properly:

Limits

Maps larger than 32x32 or 32 in any dimension will not be accepted. Going beyond these dimensions will not be fun to play on, and the engine also will start to struggle with maps larger than 32.

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Basics

1. ‍Heightmap - Full pathability validation needed (ideally finetuned in Springboard)
2. Texture - Clean design on main paths/chokepoints, use edges/cliff-areas to do more wild things
3. Normals map - with proper setup/correct lighting (and highest possible resolution - ideally 1:1 with Texture map)
4. Specular map - make sure it works with terrain and only does subtle lighting/toning - beware of over bright/shiny surfaces
5. Metal map - make sure it is sane with sharp shapes (default hard pen 4px size)
6. Type map - not needed but can be used
7. Grass map - Should be used. (edit in-game with /editgrass)
8. Minimap - sometimes required to lighten in a bit, use pymapconv

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DNTS

1. ‍Splat distribution should be proper/balanced (not too much overlap)
2. Splat/DNTS textures of high quality and correct OpenGL system (1024px minimum)
3. Applied in an organic/natural way (not too strong/present, not visually repetitive, not too distracting)

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Topolines

1. ‍‍Use (subtle) topolines in (gently flowing) terrain, to make elevation instantly visible
2. Topolines are not per se needed on very flat and/or very steep terrain.
3. Topolines should be a combination of texture + normalmap
4. Should not distract or make it look too 'busy' - very subtle yet readable.

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Traversability

1. ‍‍Make sure that the difference between vehicles / bots / all-terrain units is clearly visible and distinct
2. Ideally use 3 layers in your textures-WM-setup:
   1. Vehicles traversability should look the same like flat-area's (f.e. grass)
   2. Bots only should be closer to cliff/hill texture and look distinct from vehicle accessible ramps (f.e. sand/gravel)
   3. All-terrain should be very clearly rocky/steep/non-traversable with bots & vehicles (f.e. rough rocks/cliffs)

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‍Mapinfo.lua

1. ‍‍Validate lighting (sun should be on northern part of map for better shadowing/unit recognition and not too low or too high)
2. Validate unit color lighting (check/reference other good maps for best settings)
3. Validate map-lighting (ambient/diffuse/spec) - maps should not be full bright, but darkened a bit to make units stand out better
4. Check feature lighting , adjust feature textures accordingly (not too dark or often too light/bright features)
5. Check metal values (should be sane and ideally tested for basic/balanced gameplay)
6. Configure wind and tidal (wind between 0-30, tidal between 0-25)
7. Ensure skybox and fog settings are correct (zoom out to check fog density is not too strong, and color matches the map design/theme)
8. Configure good water params (check/reference other good water maps)
9. Add fixed start positions (teams{} should be set properly for max. number of start positions + teams)

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‍Features

1. ‍‍Place trees, rocks, plants, geovents, etc. (make sure geo-vents are buildable with T2 geos)
2. Ensure features have proper energy/metal reclaim
3. Ensure features do not use a fixed Y value, so they will float in the air on water-height changes (use python script to convert Springboard feature-placement.lua file)
4. Ensure features have normal maps, ensure they use the correct shaders
5. Check feature textures for correct blending.

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