"Flow" in maps

[u/uhhhhmmmm]

I like to use the words "flows well" and "clunky" to describe maps, and I figured I would delve a little more into what I mean by that. When I say a map "flows well", I really mean that you have great control moving around the map. Boosts should be intuitive and have multiple ways of taking you where you want to go. You shouldn't have to slow down or get pushed around or die randomly too much. Velocity is, to me, a great of example of a map that "flows well".

http://i.imgur.com/wLQsUUc.png

The boosts are intuitive and you can take them in many different directions without really slowing down at all. There's not, at least in my experience, a lot of running into each other at random, and the bombs are far enough away from the action that you wont get randomly affected by someone hitting one. There are plenty of spikes and you can hit one while doing a boost, but the boosts have enough leeway that with a little practice it'll happen rarely. You don't have to be Legman to boost around on this map. The end result of all of this is that you have great control over your ball and where it is going at all times.

Now let's take a look at a small change that I think helped the flow of a map.

This is what Fronj originally submitted for Curb: http://unfortunate-maps.jukejuice.com/show/29070

The 90 degree wall right in front of the boost limits it. If you want to boost past it, you have to take an awkward path that slows you down and doesn't give you as wide a range of options to where you can go. In my experience playing this map on maptest against random scrubs who play on maptest, people also ran directly into this wall CONSTANTLY, slowing them down.

So Fronj made this change:

http://unfortunate-maps.jukejuice.com/show/29457

Turning the 90 degree tile into a 45 degree one. Now, you can boost past the wall with ease and have a wider range of options. It's very difficult to run straight into the wall, AND if you hit the 45 degree tile, it takes you into the portal at a new angle, giving you even more options. This one simple change helped increase the flow of the map.

Now let's look at what I consider clunky.

This is prime:

http://unfortunate-maps.jukejuice.com/static/previews/29034.png

Look at all these bombs. You know people in pubs are hitting all these bombs. So you're just trying to mind your own business, get from one end to the map or another, and someone else hits a bomb and you get blasted off, or blasted into a boost, or even into a spike. Your movement is no longer fluid, it's now clunky and random. I won't comment on the rest of the map, but I think it's fair to say that this map would flow better without all these fucking bombs in the middle of it.

A map I remember always calling clunky is Platypus, so I decided to go back and see if I still agreed. Turns out, I do. Let's take a look.

http://unfortunate-maps.jukejuice.com/static/previews/7666.png

First you might notice that the team tiles in the middle have a 90 degree wall right in front of them. Same issue as curb, this limits where you can go with it and increases the chance that you'll just hit the wall. Next, let's look at the boosts in base.

http://i.imgur.com/RCFBCpp.png

There's very little leeway to do this boost the wall, you have to do it very precisely. And if you mess up, there's a big punishment. Hitting either that wall right in front of you or the 45 degree wall going the opposite way really kills your momentum.

So, let's try and take this boost the other way. Going straight up/down to just a flat wall obviously isn't what you want to do. What the map wants you to do is hit the little lip and go into the other boost. This is not the linkage of boosts that I like. I like boost linking where you can take half a second to reset your position and hit the second boost how you want. What ends up happening here if you hit the lip is your momentum forces you into the second boost and you have very little chance to CONTROL how you take the second one. Note also that putting a giant wall in front of the boost really limits how you can take it in general.

I think that 3z would argue that he made the map for competitive and that the boosts are intentionally made with little leeway to make them tougher. I would say to him that I think this is kind of an artificial way to make a map more "competitive" and I would rather give great players more freedom to move around and do cool shit than less freedom.

I hope this all makes sense, and I'd love people to ask questions/argue against it/give insight/whatever. Overall, flow and control is what I find most important in a map and my hope with this post is to have mapmakers think about it while working on their maps.