I have millions of ideas, or at least once i start to think about my next map i will come up with millions of ideas, but for the first time there isn't a single one that stands out that i really want to make. So, for the first time ever i'm gonna listen to the players themselves Maps i made before, in chronological order: emp_vehicletraining (oldest- was my first map ever) emp_arid emp_bush (newest) I'm working on a dark city map atm, but i'm hoping i can finish it in less than a month. For the map i'll start working on next i'd like to know what you all want most. To summarize my skills: I'm pretty good with displacements I'm not so good with brushes (best attempts are the middle and south bunker in bush, and the 3 different buildings/bunkers and the bases in arid) Time i spend on adding details or improving stuff usually all goes to the hills/cliffs. My buildings are just about detailed enough so they don't ruin the map, but that's where my interest in concrete stops. I can't model or make textures, but i do like to make new vmt files so i can blend already existing textures and have a new material that way. I like to keep things simple. I'm no optimization expert (though i've certainly seen worse) and i try to use as few entities as possible (shields in VT, random spawns in bush, mines and moving doors and their display in arid) Whatever the new map will be, i really want to: have random stuff in it again. I really like the random starting base locations and resource spots in bush, and i certainly want to do something similar in my next map. I suppose every entity that casts dynamic shadows can be made to randomly spawn at mapstart (doesn't even have to be at mapstart probably). It doesn't have to be resource spots or the spawn locations, but at least something that makes a difference every time you play the map. keep it simple (think arid/bush) stick to my personal opinion that a good empires map is a huge commander map (all my maps are the same size) avoid water, as i'm getting tired of it not showing up when creating the minimap have both infantry and vehicle areas, but as it is my opinion that vehicles are too strong against infantry i want a map with lots of infantry cover without having tiny crowded places (think bush) have the smart layout solve all fps/lag issues, IF necessary, by giving the map a decent open feeling while actually restricting visibility a lot (think bush). This is because if the layout can't fix performance issues, i won't be able to either. If you know of another simple way to deal with it or prevent it, ... also good. So, what map does the empires community want? I promise i'll at least read any suggestion. **UPDATE** Most interesting suggestion so far: ========================================================================= That's doable, although it would need a detailed "covers everything" layout before i even think about starting it. - The buildings wouldn't look better than those in the screenshot, but there would be a lot of them. - Open market areas and even the paved and none paved roads would be the nature parts i love so much, together with gardens and stuff i''d use after looking through images on the internet. - With 2 main levels of building heights, i can have about 1/3 of the rooftops accessible and use the others to block visibility even for those on the lower rooftops. - With a good layout there'd be enough room for multiple spawn areas, and i could randomly block off some roads at mapspawn so vehicles wouldn't be able to take the same routes everytime (but plan it so that it's always fun and balanced). I could restrict access to rooftops and the inside of buildings randomly as well so it would play out entirely different each time you'd play it. - It would have no need for special entities, the map would be quite simpel, not much water or none ... =========================================================================
A dam or water treatment facility connected to tunnels, an aquaduct, or whatever you want. Vehicles would be forced to drive along this waterway to get between the bases. Upon the push of a certain button, a tidal wave of water would rush down and flood the passage. The front of the water could be modeled with brushes to look like a tidal wave. White fog (mist) would slightly mask an unrealistic appearance. The leading edge of the water would also hold some trigger_hurt and/or trigger_push entities to cause damage and/or move things it hits. There would also be some kind of waterfall audio clip attached, so players could hear the sound of their impending doom. The whole thing would be on a func_tracktrain, moving along the passageway.
I think a better version of crossroads would be good. Simple and linear but with more room for fighting in the middle/less gayness/better fps. IMO empires needs more 1-2 lane maps that usually have good epic battles and are good for new players because there isn't a whole fucking lot you need to do other than go one way and mouse1 the enemy.
If it has to stay only 2 lanes, having more room won't help much as this would make it even easier for turrets to slaughter everyone. I have no objections against making something similar to crossroads (though the buildings will be a big step above my current skills), but isn't it the core of what crossroads IS that leads to limited vehicle space and turret rape?
A map in a dessert city durring a sunset. Make a spralling moss eisly like map with random starts and everything. Add destruct able walls to allys and stuff.
If the underlined words mean something important than i'm afraid you'll have to clarify those for me If they they don't mean much, isn't there anything specific you're looking for, like flat terrain/hills/cliffs, open/close terrain, chokepoints, variation in height, etc ... ? I tried that with emp_volcano years ago. It failed horribly. Whatever i did, i never succeeded in making it playable with all those trees and bushes. There was this one big hill with lots of trees, the rest of the map wasn't as covered with foliage as the hill was. I was trying to have gas and smoke coming from the earth (volcano) hide that quarter of the map so visibility was limited to 40 meters, which would have made the map playable performance wise. Unfortunately after trying every smoke/fog/dust entities i had to give up. One time i had fog that didn't suck, but it reduced fps more than all the trees ever did.
Like the kind you see in those WWII movies, where a bunch of infantry are running around with one tank and an MG opens up on all of them, the tank kills the MGer, the tank commander opens the hatch and gets shot by a sniper in a tower and he gets killed by artillery. Think: Money, but instead of two bridges and a dumb moat, it's a huge city with limited tank room.
Decide the gameplay first, then design the map around the gameplay. I think that a map that incorporates both an infantry area with flags and tank areas that are wide and open is something this mod needs more of (Chris' map is the best example out there atm.)
Basikly make a empires map in a city like this Low non com obstructing buildings with plenty of roof access points and some open market or park areas for the random staring points.
play deathmach. linear maps suck, they're just boring. 90% of the time they end in a huge stalemate. thats why you cant fix crossroads or money. they are made of fail and cant be improved. thats like trying to heal a genetic disease. @topic: a map like cyclopean would be nice: several chokepoints, enough space for vehicle combat, some "infantry only" areas (like a small forest or a city).
That's doable, although it would need a detailed "covers everything" layout before i even think about starting it. - The buildings wouldn't look better than those in the screenshot, but there would be a lot of them. - Open market areas and even the paved and none paved roads would be the nature parts i love so much, together with gardens and stuff i''d use after looking through images on the internet. - With 2 main levels of building heights, i can have about 1/3 of the rooftops accessible and use the others to block visibility even for those on the lower rooftops. - With a good layout there'd be enough room for multiple spawn areas, and i could randomly block off some roads at mapspawn so vehicles wouldn't be able to take the same routes everytime (but plan it so that it's always fun and balanced). I could restrict access to rooftops and the inside of buildings randomly as well so it would play out entirely different each time you'd play it. - It would have no need for special entities, the map would be quite simpel, not much water or none ... Yeah i kinda like this idea I'd want at least 2 areas for tank battles (the roads would be broad etc but still). I'm not quite sure how i'd do that.
Well even if I hate to agree with simon in the public hes 100% right, empires maps need chokepoints or fail. Dont make maps in a way you imagine empires is played make maps for the real empires game that is out there and be played.
most ppl hate maps like crossroads, money and district402! just read the chat at map start: "omg, not this map", "failmap", "rtv", "votemap", etc. they just play it because its in mapcycle and votemap is not available or fails because too many votes are needed. ofc maps need chokepoints, but more than 1. when you have only 1 chokepoint, like on linear maps, its basically stupid deathmath. no need for a strategy.
Depends on your definition of chokepoint. Are you just looking for defendable areas, or real chokepoints like one bridge seperating side A from side B. - In bush you have 3x3 areas, all of them connected by rather small passageways that are very easily defendable. But because there are so many of them they're not chokepoints. - In frost one long bridge has to be crossed in the middle of the map, so that's a real chokepoint Frost was a mistake of mine. At the time i thought i wanted chokepoints because of the action. It turned out that that's just boring. I do want lots of people at one place because of the chaos, but not because it's a chokepoint so everybody has to turn up there as the mapper wanted them to. With bush i finally managed to get it like i want it: often people are fighting over an area defending/attacking a route. Then they try to take that same area from another route. 10 minnutes later both teams are in control of other areas all together. Often many people are fighting together, but the gameplay does not get stuck at one place. On the contrary, because of the many routes things change quite fast and commanders have a hard time trying to catch up all the time. It's this goal that i want to reach again: - have people fight together for a common goal(s) - have nothing slow down the war, so no 'real' chokepoints
I always thought a mine would be cool. A map set in some heavily industrialised mountains, with the open areas connected and undermined by lots a lots of tunnels, both infantry and vehicle with a smattering of bottomless pits. Cappable flags in the tunnels could make up for ref points. Cue mayama saying tunnels don't work in Empires. I think it will work, since the supposed layout of the map would force people into them, with perhaps a single easily defended overground route between open areas to provide extra incentive, or a kick up the ass if you commit all your forces there.
