Making a JB map

[plunkizzle 0]

Since today i realized there are only two good JB map (lego and avalanche) I decided to start working on a new map for our server. What i want from all of you is ideas of what it needs. I know ill need a soccer court and disco and things along those lines but if there is something you always wanted in a JB map let me hear your ideas and ill see what i can do

[Rhododendron 994]

Inflatable jumping thing that's at every carnival.

[DysprosiumJD 0]

The single most important thing for any JB map is a small, concise, well-organized, easy-to-remember layout. The less "dead space" the better, and there should very rarely be any game areas that you have to walk through other game areas to get too. Remember, the harder it would be to get a group of Ts to a place from the cells, the less likely it is that that room will get used.

 

Beyond that? Climb is awesome, a good Race, maybe a Maze if it's well enough done, little crazy minigames like Skate or VIPIntheMix's large diving board, and something unique that no other map has so that there's something in the map that can't be achieved by playing any of the other maps.

[plunkizzle 0]

Thx JD for the input. Trust me control over the Ts is my main goal of this map. Ive seen the downfalls of most maps first hand and it was exactly what you were saying about how easy it is to get Ts somewhere from the cells. I was thinking a surf would be a good idea since everyone always wants to do that as a prisoner. but ive never made surf ramps. does anyone know the dimensions or have a link that could show me how to create them?

[DysprosiumJD 0]

X-Sharks How to Make Smooth Ramps Tutorial

[Vero 0]

Jump rope. A dark circular room, two spinning blades (one on the ground,

the other eye level), with Dark Purple lighting that plays Deep-Bass music.

 

Also, to avoid "dead space" as Dysprosium mentioned,

use a section for teleports to each area rather then long walks.

[Mykhol 1]

I'm making one to, But it will take a long *** time, because I'm extremely new to this, I'm learning from "I hate microsoft" and youtube tutorials, so it will take a while :/

[Colour 0]

I'll tell you what I told to everyone else who has said they were making maps. Get a general layout like blackops, get a disco like lazer, get a hockey/soccer/basketball like lunar. These are the three pinnacles of 3 REALLY good maps. Check them out.

[HighSociety 8]

I agree with all of the above, especially surf, since the only JB map with surf is obviously avalanche. I like silences inflatable bouncy house idea, but maybe it would b anti-grav like the outdoor area on lunar. its cool little gizmos that make the map, like tele tower or that circular thingy on space jail. definitly should hav an LR room if its not too much work. I find myself annoyed on maps that dont hav designated LR areas lol, maybe its just me, but i think that would b a great addition. Cant wait to see the results :D good luck :)

[Selby9409 0]

many of our maps have an lr room lol. also penguin, LOL your learning from microsoft. thats a good one. Just youtube anything your stuck on it helped me when i first started using hammer. Also, dont make teleports instead of walks the ts would hate that since its to hard to rebel, dont make it ct friendly since cts already have the upper hand. The problem is fail cts, not bad mapping most of the time. just make it slightly T friendly and youll be good. not to many teleports and dont compact everything together that makes a map cramped and its annoying as hell.

[DjChosenWon 0]

I almost made an awesome JB map.

Then I got really lazy and never finished it :/

 

My friend and I actually blueprinted it all out down to the last flashbang location.

It was Teachers VS. Students themed.

I think I'm gonna go back to that :p

[DysprosiumJD 0]

many of our maps have an lr room lol. also penguin, LOL your learning from microsoft. thats a good one. Just youtube anything your stuck on it helped me when i first started using hammer. Also, dont make teleports instead of walks the ts would hate that since its to hard to rebel, dont make it ct friendly since cts already have the upper hand. The problem is fail cts, not bad mapping most of the time. just make it slightly T friendly and youll be good. not to many teleports and dont compact everything together that makes a map cramped and its annoying as hell.

 

This isn't necessarily good advice. Rebelling is fun, yes, but only when it requires creativity and sneakiness. That's why vents are popular; it gives you a way to flank the CTs and access armory, but it's also far from the easiest thing to pull off. That difficulty gives you the rush that rebellers like.

 

Having a map with narrow corridors and CT traps everywhere is just frustrating. There is very little fun about "OK everyone shift-walk to soccer" and then two CTs getting knifed and one getting spam-shotted and then everyone running around like crazy while the CT that was carrying the back murders everyone as Last CT. That's bad map design leading to pointless mayhem that probably isn't as much fun as actually playing soccer.

 

Your goal as a map designer ISN'T to screw the CT's over. How much fun do you have when there are bad CT's? Very little, usually. Having lots of tight corridors and long, endless walks that result in the CT's dying pretty much guarantees that playing on your map is a frustrating experience for the CT's, a boring and unrewarding experience for the T's, and a miserably inane experience for those who are dead.

 

As a JB map maker, your goal is essentially to dangle the possibility of rebelling to those who are either creative and talented enough to grab it (such as the invisible hole in Lego's isolation that leads to the armory vent just outside) or given a perfect opportunity to do it (like running to the AK47 on Canyondam while oblivious CT's lead you to climb), but to put a hurdle there that the T's have to overcome. For example, in the Lego example, you're exposed to the world while you knife that vent, and usually if you're in isolation then all the CT's are just outside, or in the Canyondam example you've got a long way to run before you reach the hidden AK, and when you leave that area you're exposed to long-range shots. By creating little hurdles like that and making rebelling difficult yet accessible, you're guaranteeing that a good enough T can manage an interesting rebellion that people can feel good about, rather than just a bunch of pointless and stupid knife kills in some one-person-wide tunnel that results in a boring, one-sided deathmatch.

 

This means that good design is crucial. For one, everything should be as compact and easy to reach as possible. For two, you should try your very hardest to ensure wide areas with multiple entry points. For three, game rooms should pretty much NEVER interconnect; that's just asking for things to get unmanageable. For four, rebelling should always be a possibility that a CT has to worry about -- but it should never be an inevitability that everybody realizes at the start of the round.

 

Remember, if you make fun games, that will almost always be more interesting to do than a rebellion. A good rebellion is fun and even just the possibility of it makes JB as interesting and dynamic as it is, but a stupid rebellion that was uncreatively performed on CT's who are busy fighting with the map to try and get the T's to one of your games is not, and it just makes everybody hate your map, since all that happens are four-minute round where the warden quickly dies and everything degenerates into meaningless chaos shortly thereafter.

 

So, keep in mind that Lego's four corners and block-jumping game never get used because it's hidden in a corner behind tight corridors and a debris-filled circle room that is damn near impossible to keep a large number of people organized in, and even though those games are awesome, a poor decision in map design guarantees that musical chairs or soccer will get chosen a million more times than those games, which just makes your map repetative.