A few weeks ago I posted that I had finished working on a map called asteroid… a map which sadly needed more work… so I did work on it… using the materials I had I was able to add an extra pathway which leads to an arena style path… sadly I don’t know much about making arena maps. Does anyone have any tips I can use for making arena maps? I know basic stuff but I need help with balance… and symmetry because making a tubular map with the materials in Impact is easy… but making an arena is hard.
When it comes to arena maps, there are a few rules I consider important.
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Have multiple routes into areas. A base will require more than one or two entrances into the base and should have lines of sight to around about half the map.
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Lines of sights. As I said earlier, bases should have lines of sight to about half the map. While some maps (eg Midship) allow players to spawn immediately with a line of sight on their opponents, I do not believe that a map should have this as it forces the player to react immediately, and usually the players with little to no map knowledge would lose the initial shoot out. Always have line of sight blockers to prevent overpowered cross mapping.
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Weapons. It’s tempting for many people to place loads of power weapons all over their map and can result in there being too much chaos. Power weapons should be chosen based on the map, ie don’t place an Incineration Canon on a small map. I also feel that the DMR is a great replacement for the sniper on smaller maps.
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Weapon placement. Similar to the above point, place your weapons appropriately. Specifically power weapons. Power weapons should spawn in areas that are not overpowered for them, but are useful for the weapons. Put CQC weapons like the sword or the shotgun in tight areas with short lines of sight etc, where the weapon will be good at. Similarly longer range weapons such as the sniper should be placed in places with longer lines of sight.
Those are a few suggestions, I could go on for hours on how arena maps should be designed but these four points should keep you on the right track.