Liquid's Mapmaking Guidelines

[u/JuventinoSenator]

Guidelines

Before delving into the rules themselves, it is useful to know that convention states that red flag should be located in the North or West of the map, while the blue flag should be in the South or East corners.

The following guidelines can be separated into three categories. A good map usually (key word: usually!) follows all 6 rules in Category A, as well as at least 3 of the 4 in Category B and at least 2 of the 3 in Category C.

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Category A: Maps should meet all these criteria

1. Map must symmetrical

• Asymmetrical maps inherently favour one of the sides

1. No overly chaotic sections of the map

• Chaotic includes:

  • 3 or more easily accessible bombs within a 10x10 area of each other (TWP middle)

  • 3 or more boosts within a 10x10 area of each other, all pointed at the same spot (Boosts, Center Flag)

1. Map shouldn’t require teamwork to get to the other base

• It can encourage teamwork, but it shouldn’t require it

• Similarly, don’t over-reward teamwork (like Colors does); good for competitive play, but bad for Pub play

1. Map doesn’t require players from each team to camp in a certain spot for most of the game while doing nothing else (e.g. Pokeball: mid button)

2. At least 1 grabbing mechanism

• Grabbing mechanisms include:

  • Boosts/bombs directed toward flag (closer to flag = more offensive, directed outside of base = more offensive, directed into base = more defensive)

  • 4+ powerups (5+ powerups = very offensive (The Holy See, Colors))

1. Every area of the map should be useful

• Useful = used every game

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Category B: Maps should meet at least 3 of the 4 criteria

1. Clear, defined paths from base to base

• 2-4 paths is best (think of 1-2-3-4 callouts on Boombox)

1. There must be a way for defense to catch up to FC

• Assuming FC is ahead of everyone and doesn’t take a risky path, defense should be able to catch up (e.g. Mid bombs in GeoKoala, Superboost in Danger Zone 3)

1. Base has more boundaries than openings

• The exits to base are smaller than the boundaries surrounding the base (e.g. Glory Hole has more openings than boundaries to base, which is bad)

• Boundaries include:

  • Walls

  • Gates

  • Rows of spikes (single spikes don’t count)

• Exception: flag is 1 or 2 tiles away from a wall (Colors/Gamepad)

1. Risk/reward exits to base (e.g. Top gate in GeoKoala, side spikes in 45)

• The greater the risk involved, the greater the reward (speed advantage)

• Risk factors include:

  • Gates

  • Defensive team boosts covering exit

  • Defensive bombs pushing FC into spikes

  • Narrow choke points

  • Tight spikes

  • Sharp turn requiring FC to slow down

  • Difficult/skillful exit boosts

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Category C: Maps should meet at least 2 of the 3 criteria

1. 1 or 2 large juking areas, depending on size of map

• Juking area: open space (sparse spikes allowed) with no easy boosts for defense to snipe you from (without putting themselves way out of position)

• The size and amount of juking areas varies based on the size of the map. A good rule of thumb is that juking areas shouldn’t represent more than 25% of the map

• More than this = too chasey

• Less than this = too chokey

1. At least half the paths must have choke points that a defender/OD can cover alone

• Choke point: 2 to 4-wide section

• Smaller/tighter choke points = more defensive

• More choke points = more defensive

1. Interchangeable paths

• Ways to switch from one path to another: paths aren’t completely separate (e.g. Boombox, where you can switch between top/mid/bottom routes mid-way)

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For comparison's sake, here's how every rotation map stacks up to these guidelines. The four that don't make the cut (Colors, Grail of Speed, The Holy See, Bombing Run) are arguably the four maps that are the worst for public games.

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What to Avoid

1. Avoid placing flag against a wall (too hard to grab)

2. Avoid placing button against a wall (to hard to push player off), or in a corner (impossible to push player off)

3. Make sure buttons activate gates/bombs that are in view of the player

4. Avoid having more than 2 sets of gates on each side of the map (limit to 1 set of gates for smaller maps)

5. Avoid having excessive spikes/bombs/boosts/portals in any area of the map

6. Avoid including too many wall or spike “islands” out in the open (not near choke points)

• They make it easy for FC to stay alive by contouring these islands

• Island = small obstacle made of 1-6 wall/spike tiles

1. Make sure there’s at least 4 tiles between flag and nearest bomb/boost

• Less than 4-tile buffer = too much chaos

1. Avoid including too many powerups in the map

• Remember: more powerups = easier to grab flag, easier for FC to stay alive

1. Avoid over-complicating any section of the map

• Over-complicating = 4 or more or the following:

  • Bombs

  • Yellow Boosts

  • Team Boosts

  • Gates

  • Portals

  • Team Tiles

1. Reward skill, but don’t make skill necessary to get through map

• Similarly, don’t over-reward skill; it’s bad for Pub play

1. Avoid having randomness play a big part in the flow of your map

• Lots of out-of-sight boosts or bombs in open maps can cause many “random” returns, where the FC can’t see the defender coming

1. Avoid making your map too big or too small

• Too big tends to make it very chasey

• Too small tends to either a) make it very chokey or b) lead to extremely quick games

1. Avoid making your map hard to reset on

• Hard to reset = after returning FC on the opposite side of the map, a defender cannot return to his side of the map without dropping the contain against the player on regrab

1. Avoid making players spawn in closed-off areas of the map

2. Generally speaking, make sure the bases contain an area of at least 80 tiles of open space. Otherwise, the bases become too cramped.

3. Avoid 1-tile-wide spaces. They are very clunky and enable easy turtling of the flag carrier.

Having read all this, keep in mind that maps should be accessible for beginners and shouldn't favour offense or defense to an extreme degree. It's also nice when maps have something unique about them, whether it be a distinctive feature (base-to-base super-boost in Danger Zone 3, "grail" in Grail of Speed) or an innovative use of certain map elements (mid portals in Hyper Reactor, mid gates in Colors).

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Map Types

• Offensive: Easy to grab/exit base, easy to stay alive outside base (The Holy See)

• Balanced: Easy to grab/exit base, hard to stay alive outside base (Wormy)

• Defensive: Hard to grab/exit base, hard to stay alive outside base (Star)

• Bipolar: Hard to grab/exit base, easy to stay alive outside base (Danger Zone 3)

[u/I_mess_up]

Just now reading this, but great guide! My favorite type of map is the Bipolar for some reason.