Hello, I’m trying to create an FPS shooter styled game but I’m having issues because I’m not sure how large (Stud wise) I should make the maps. I plan for each server to hold 20 players (Maybe a couple more or less). Any advice/tips would be greatly appreciated!
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Completely depends on the style of FPS you’re going for. If you’re going for a more tactical style, I’d keep the map relatively tight for the 20 players. If you want something more similar to Phantom Forces (pretty open map) go for something larger. It’s really a matter of personal preference and the play style you want to force players into.
Do you want the game to be fast paced (CoD, Phantom Forces) or quite slow and methodical (Counter-Strike)
Is this a Team Deathmatch game or a Free For All style?
Do you want it to be cramped with tight spaces or open and large?
How much cover will there be for the player?
Would you want the map to be vertical (running up and down) or horizontal (running on a flat plane surface)
Would this game be more tactical and require more thinking and thought into your strategies? Or is it more arcade like where you jump straight in and start shooting people?
Try challenge yourself with some of these questions (and maybe make up some of your own), It could provide a formula for making your maps.
It really would just depend on the style you make your games and how you want it to play, there is no one defined map setup for First Person Shooters.
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Hmmm I think… 200x400 meter Map Size
If you use terrain, be aware of performance related to map size. You’ll want to squeeze out better numbers by reducing the biome size for example.
Walk around in your map. Be aware of how many seconds a player has to walk before fun stuff happens. There are short attention spans out there and timing should be similar to a modern TV show.
Watch gameplay vids on Youtube. In Halo for example the FPS maps are quite small compared to the mission maps. They appear large through looping walkways that basically lead in circles and send you back into the same areas. Visually the terrain and base design trick you.
The only way you’ll know exactly is to do the above. A 1024 size map may be perfect depending on the layout, terrain, and props.
A COD map is also smaller and the map is maze-like. Walls separate distant players from each other. The map dimensions aren’t enormous.
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If your using streaming enabled then terrain should not be a problem, as its highly optimized.
It’s highly optimized for what it is but it still takes a toll. You can cut your place memory down by hundreds of mb if you do things like trim the biome and paint the underside a single material (if it’s a large map). I only mention because if you have a laggy game at the end you want all the performance you can get.
If you have streaming enabled on it wont even render those biomes unless your close to them.
That’s true but then you have to render either huge piece or nicely optimized piece. It’s still worth it to optimize. Check out the numbers… I promise. Test on low end devices. Performance of a game is affected by many factors, part number, welds, union, sound, light, etc. It’s better to optimize it as much as possible so any extra power can be “spent” on other functions. Less terrain means less data to load even just as a potential.
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@TheCardMechanic I strongly disagree with you on that pacing and other factors are unrelated to a map’s size. The size of a map is tied to gameplay in a way because you have to adapt to the given environment as well as assess the map itself. Different types of games call for different map designs, even for something as fundamental as the size of it.
When considering what kind of map size and style you want, you also need to consider a multitude of factors, such as the type of shooter, the gameplay mechanics and the overall concepts of your game. These factors will all influence an approximate size that you feel you’d like to go for. Remember that size is not only length and width, but height as well.
Other than considering the actual functions of the game itself, design is important as well. It could lie in questions like how quickly you users jumping into action, or how much space you want to put between players, their respective areas and the “center combat zone” (a place where a lot of players converge at for the majority of game battles - present in almost every PvP game).
I would recommend that reviewing the fine print details of your game or get some down before you start thinking about the map size. You could even create a few test maps of varying sizes and get early tests to see how the experience is in different areas. You may even find the perfect size off of constructing your first game map and seeing it fits your needs.
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