Multiplayer design concepts
When I was younger, I played a ton of death match games. I started with Doom. I was enthralled by the experience of its' moody, simple campaign. Eventually I hit the dial-up and played online and was promptly destroyed. I was hooked instantly. Off and on I played Doom and Doom 2 until I was hit with another hook in the form of Quake. I was consumed by death match games, going from Quake to Quake 2, Duke Nukem 3D, Blood, Goldeneye on the Nintendo 64, Q3: Arena, and many others. My first exposure to level design came in the form of Duke Nukem 3D's Build engine, where I tinkered away with small maps featuring all manner of silly ideas and wide, open arenas. Gaming magazines also pumped out DN3D levels by the thousands in the form of .WAD files by way of promotional discs. It was pure, unadulterated bliss. And then Half-Life came along and the rise of gaming websites sullied me with HLDM levels. I ran my computer into the ground downloading and playing Half-Life DM from sun up to sun down, until I was bleary-eyed, exhausted, and completely unprepared to go to school.
For this project, I wanted to recapture some of that lust for fast paced, high octane action, while capturing the essence of what professional Quake 3: Arena player Shane "rapha" Hendrixson talks about when he plays: Level design that encompasses the desire to get into the action as quickly as possible. And a layer of player strategy that rewards skill as much as a cerebral understanding of item placement, timing, anticipation and positioning.
Blood rune : fortress
Fortress is a 1 v 1 Duel and 12 player Free For All death match map.
Design emphasis is a central apex flow with leveled height variation.
OBJECTIVE
DUEL (1 v 1) : Destroy your opponent. 10 minute timer. Ties result in 3 minute overtime until there is a victor at clock stop.
Blood Rune (12 player Free For All) : Capture the central rune and eliminate players. First to 50 frags under the effects of the Blood Rune wins, or most kills after 20 minutes.
BROAD STROKES
Blood Rune (FFA)
Fortress plays as a fast paced, open death match map with a central rune that gives the controlling player health, armor and possible speed advantages.
Duel (1v1)
During 1v1 mode, Fortress maintains all elements with the exception of the central rune, which deals double damage.
Blood Rune and Duel
What both share in common is all other pick-ups; ammo, health and armor. Players all start out with 100 HP and 0 Armor. Players can achieve 150 HP and Armor by picking up the Mega Health and Max Armor when they are already at 100 HP / ARM when they pick up the items. This slowly decays back down to 100 HP / ARM provided they do not take damage.
STRUCTURE
Overview with over and under split.
blood Rune
Blood Rune (FFA)
The rune in Blood Rune gives the controlling player 400 Health and Armor. This health and armor slowly decays by -1 HP / ARM per second. The player in control of the rune has no ability to pick up health or armor, instead turning the pick ups into boosters, increasing their movement speed. Killing enemy players restores all health and armor, but increases the damage to self per second decay to -5 HP / ARM for every player killed to a maximum of -25 HP / ARM per second.
If the player in control of the rune dies, other players can pick up the rune, which resets the decay back to -1 HP / ARM per second.
The Blood Rune spawns after 30 seconds and remains on the map for the duration of the game.
Duel (1v1)
During 1v1 mode, the central rune gives double damage for 10 seconds on a 1 minute cooldown, and spawns after 1 minute of play.
Spawns
There are 12 positions to spawn in on Fortress. Each position is not visible between spawns, preventing instant spawn deaths during the start of the round. No position has direct access to Mega items, with the exception of Corner, which is arguably one of the lesser desired positions. Each spawn is also designed to be roughly equidistant from one another, meaning time to kill and movement to engagements are roughly equal in a full 12 player Blood Rune match. Additionally, no one position has a close Rune spawn, meaning the fight for Rune access is guaranteed to be contested near or on the Rune itself, rather than relying on boundary engagements.
BLOOD
Blood is the lowest spawn on the map, connecting to Green Tech and Dungeon. Blood Drop is also high above the spawn, connecting to Triangle. Blood contains 3 armor shards and is one of the weaker spawns to get, but also one of the safest in terms of proximity to direct combat.
BLUE
Blue spawn is one of the stronger spawns to get. Connecting to Hex, Stairway and easy access to Rune by way of Red Con, there are many options to choose from. Despite this, Blue contains no immediate pick-ups, relying on Stairway for item grabs. Blue's immediate concern is from Hex spawn, and possible delayed pressure from Catwalk spawn.
CATWALK
Catwalk is one of the closer spawns to gain access to the Rune position, allowing the player who spawns here to take immediate high ground in the form of the connecting Circle position. This spawn allows easy access to Lattice as well as Blood by way of Blood Drop. This position also contains few immediate pick-ups, relying on either the longer path of Circle or that of Stairway, and even the longer path to Lattice.
CHURCH
Church is a very safe spawn option. Immediate access to a Medium Ammo and Small Health can be contested by Purple spawn, but otherwise Church spawn has many paths, such as the junction by way of White, or dropping down to Yellow. This is also the position best to perform a skill jump and steal Mega Health from a Window spawn player.
corner
Corner is the most isolated spawn on Fortress. Containing only a Small Health, Corner benefits from having best access to the Max Armor, though a skillful jump from Blue spawn can contest this advantage quickly. Corner spawn connects to Pinch, leading to Purple, as well as Hex, near the Max Armor.
DARK
Dark spawn is right inside of Dungeon nearest the central Rune. However, this sits on the low ground, connecting to Door behind the spawn, and Red Vine. Dark is a solid lurking position, with a few useful items including a Small Ammo, Small Health, a Medium Armor and two Small Ammo pick-ups behind them in Door.
GREEN
Green is a rather 'boxed in' position to spawn into. With only one way out, this position requires an immediate split decision: contest the connecting room in Blood, or take the high ground by Horse and fight it out with the player there. Better access to a Small Health and Small Ammo make the Horse fight more manageable, but the Blood player could very well contest Dungeon, leaving this spawn easier for a back stab on Blood.
HEX
Hex is the most open spawn. The most pressing concern is in the form of Blue spawn. With a Small Health and Small Ammo nearby, a more capable opportunity is to race up Blueway and get to the jump pad and take the high ground, rather than take the jump pad to fight Blue, who is able to retreat up Stairway and take items.
HORSE
Horse is near Green Tech, sandwiched between Lattice and Yellow Hall. Horse spawn takes 2 easy Small Armors, and can contest Mega Health with Window spawn, or take on the Green spawn for the items there. Otherwise, Horse spawn can move up through Lattice, contest with the Catwalk spawn for early Circle control, or simple jump off Lattice to Yellow Gen and take fights in this area.
PURPLE
Purple is quite a luxury spawn. Safe from all but direct conflict from Long Wall, and with enough proximity away from both Church and Corner spawns, Purple can take on early items off of the jump pad here in the form of 2 Small Ammos, a Medium Armor and ample access to a Medium Health for engagements.
ROOF
Roof is the highest spawn on the map. Though their access to Circle and the Rune requires some backpedaling, the high ground offers plenty of vantage points to take vertical dominance and maintain control here. Movement forwards leads to falling down to Blueway, though a better idea is to maintain the high ground, contest movement up Long Wall to Purple Drop and Ivy Drop. Here, Roof spawn can back off into Circle, taking a Small Health, Small Armor, a possible Medium Health and 2 contested Small Armors near Gen Drop. There is possible contest with Triangle, and the possible back stab from Purple, Church, or jump up from Hex that makes for a daunting decision.
WINDOW
Window is another relatively safe position to spawn from. With close, but possibly contested Mega Health grab, quick access to a Medium Ammo, Small Armor and additional safe access to a Medium Health and another Small Ammo, a spawn here gives an early advantage to Window. However, the spawn sits far away from Circle and Rune, and the lower vantage point with only a singular, long pathway in the form of Yellow Hall for height advantage, its' advantage in item pick-ups rapidly deteriorates with a disadvantage in positioning.
Map POSITIONS
A list of all locations and call outs on the map. These names are easy to remember short hand, allowing players to get a sense of where an enemy (or enemies) are and understand their position, proximity to other areas and value in items to that area.
ITEMS
Items are broken down into three typical variants: Health, Armor and Ammo. These each have three variations, Small, Medium and a limited quantity of Mega / Max.
Each player starts out with 100 Health, 0 Armor, and Full Ammo on their respective weapons.
The Mega / Max variations require some special attention, as they can turn the tide of battle, especially for players who have solid map knowledge. The Mega-Health provides an instant +100 to Health, and provides an additional +50 Health that decays by -1 Health per second on full health players. Armor Max provides an additional +25 to Armor, decaying at -1 Armor per second to fully Armored players, and a flat +100 Armor otherwise. Ammo Max is a complete restock of weapon ammo, and has no additional benefits.
There is 1 Max Ammo, 1 Max Armor and 1 Mega Health on the map, 20 Health items [4 Medium and 16 Small], 15 Armor items [4 Medium and 10 Small], and 25 Ammo items [4 Medium and 20 Small]. As with my previous design in Runic Empowerment, management of these items is crucial in getting players invested in the game, creating risk, fear, apprehension and encouragement in battles.
Ammo is maintained on a 6 second respawn timer for all variations except the Ammo Max, which sits at a 15 second respawn. Armor has an 6 second respawn (Armor Max is 15 seconds), and Health respawns at 6 seconds (Mega at 15 seconds). Equal timers between Mega Health, Max Armor and Max Ammo allows players to keep a mental stop watch on respawn of these highly valued items.
The distance between the Max / Mega items is of note: if they are too close together, you risk static flow, as players will naturally gravitate towards an area, rather than roaming around the map to gather up items. Therefore, these Mega / Max items are mostly equidistant from one another, requiring travel time, short cuts through map knowledge, and overall movement mechanics to stay on top of the charts.
Ammo Small gives +25% to ammo counts, Ammo Medium is +50%, Health Small gives +10 HP, Health Medium at +25 Health, Armor Small sits at +10 AP, and Armor Medium is +25 AP.
Jump pads
Jump Pads are used to create cuts in the flow of the level. Optimizing the travel time between areas allows a player to create their own modular flow of movement as they build up their health, armor and ammo, duel players, retreat from fights, or gain height advantage. However, Jump Pads have a constant of vertical movement, meaning skilled players can easily time an opposing player's movement and get a quick frag.
There are 6 total in the map, each gives a different height boost based on the vertical destination of the landing area.
The first is the Blueway to Circle jump pad. The largest vertical pad on the map, this pad allows quick access to Circle, a vital height advantage for Rune grab.
The second is the Generator to Lattice pad. This allows players to quickly move from Yellow, Church or Generator up to Lattice. From here, players can contest Rune from above in Circle.
The third is Hex to Blue. A relatively small jump, its' intent is to create a small bit of risk for players when taking the high ground.
The fourth is Purple to Roof. By Pinch, this jump allows a Corner spawn to hit the high ground quickly.
The fifth is the smaller Purple to Long Wall. This is a simple short pad that gives access to Long Wall, and to Church without taking the low ground stairs approach through Neck.
The sixth is the Window to Yellow Halls jump pad. This area also contains the Mega Health, meaning the jump pad from Window will always be a highly contested choke point.
Skill jumps
I added in two key skill jumps, allowing players to utilize their movement and map knowledge to create some unconventional plays to gain advantages in terms of Max / Mega item grabs.
The first is Church to Mega. By utilizing this jump, the player who spawns in Church, or is there when the Mega Health is up, can bypass Yellow - Window - Jump Pad by jumping at the pillar onto the overhang, hop over the wall, and snag a quick Mega Health.
The second is Blue to Max Armor. Blue spawn, or being in the area, allows the player to bypass a complete route through Blueway - Neck - Purple - Corner - Blue Drop by jumping to the wood floor and hopping onto Blue Drop.
Strategy
Terminology
I'll be referring to some competitive terms that might not be easily understood. Below is a few key terms to remember in terms of strategy.
Control – Maintaining map presence by forcing the enemy player(s) away from major item pick ups on the map. Note that this does not mean killing the other player, but simply removing their ability to have free roam on the map. This is typically associated with forcing players to retreat to areas they've already taken items from, causing them to wait for the items to respawn to top up their armor, ammo and health.
Out of Control – Playing from behind. The player is either in control on the map, or playing out of control. Being out of control causes a player to take on additional risk to wrestle control from the enemy player(s) in control.
Constrictor (Player Style) – A style of play most notably denoted to Cooller by Rapha (Q3 professional players). This is a style of play that emphasizes control of items, as well as forcing players away over taking on risky fights. Combat is not emphasized, but presence and item sync is.
Denial – Despite the obvious term, in FFA and Duel modes, denial is more of a relative term for utilization of player movement to deny someone else the ability to move through the map. Denial is about taking away options from the map and forcing the player to seek out lesser items.
Timing (Running The Items) – This runs in tandem with denial. Running the items is a term for controlling the most powerful items on the map by maintaining a constant flow of movement. This typically ignores engagements, focusing on movement mechanics and map knowledge to gather items in a sequence.
Sync (Item Control) – The actual term for a perfect control scenario. Locking all major items (Mega Health, Large Armor, and Max Ammo) in a row, effectively syncing the timing between the respawn of the major items.
Stacked (Item Disposition) – Having all the major pick-ups. Completely stacked, 150 HP / 150 ARM / Max AMMO.
Risk vs. reward
Generally, the risk vs reward scenarios are very dependent on player style, skill, and map knowledge in death match and duels. Rather than evaluate all the possibilities of player depth in risk or rewards, it's easier to focus on a central apex, the Blood Run. Since each rune is different in game modes, I'll break them down based on some simple player scenarios. I'll focus on a few 30 second snippets from player spawns, and immediate concerns, dangers, a possible player flow, and the end goal of the player within that time frame. Also there's an additional scenario in a perfect movement flow, and decision making processes players could encounter when playing out of control. These are great to visualize when designing a death match level to evaluate whether or not a position holds too much power, or if an area is simply not developed with the right intentions to create meaningful, tense play.
possible player scenarios
Green tech spawn
Time to Completion: 15 seconds.
A Green Tech spawn is an initially underwhelming one. The immediate concern is to ensure there is no flank from a possible Horse spawn. Green Tech gets better access to a Small Health and Small Ammo, making that fight more manageable against Horse, who gets two Small Armors. Horse has competitive access to Mega Health, and might go that way to fight.
After the player checks for Horse, they can swing wide by the stairs and immediately look to Blood spawn. If Blood takes the fight in the stairway up to Green Tech, the player has a natural height and item advantage, as Blood only has access to Small Armors, while Green Tech can take the Small Health and Small Ammo.
If there is no pressure, Green Tech can take Lattice control, watching for the Catwalk spawn and begin movement towards Circle after picking up the Medium Armor and Medium Ammo near the edge. Moving in to Triangle, the left Stairway is of secondary priority to Circle, as the higher value in items is of greater importance to all players.
Contesting Circle, the player moves towards the north wall of the area, sweeping up the items here, taking fights, and generally attempting to move towards big drop for the Medium Armor here and the natural protection of the brick wall on the opposite side of Wood Wall.
At about 15 seconds, the player should have the high ground, or be contesting it, waiting for the Rune spawn.
hex spawn
Time to completion: 12 seconds.
A quick and dangerous route, the Hex spawn movement directly to Circle has many challenges. The immediate concern is Blue spawn. Blue however, does not have access to any immediate items, allowing Hex to at least pick-up a Small Health and Small Ammo if a fight occurs with Blue.
The next concern is Roof. The player who spawns here could very well drop down from Roof onto Blueway and go for the quick frag. However, a more experienced player would realize a lack of Circle control does not bode well for the fight at Rune when it spawns. The Hex spawn should still keep an eye out and make for the jump pad directly into Circle.
This area should be contested by Catwalk spawn and Roof spawn at this point, making arrival by the Blueway jump pad an excellent choice to take care of one or both of the dueling players. Here, the Hex spawn player should be able to get first access to the Medium Armor, or sweep up other items, looping around the Circle to gain control before the rune spawns.
optimal path flow
Time to completion: 25 seconds.
An optimal path makes many assumptions about the player's condition and other players in the area. For this scenario, the player has 100 health and 0 Armor.
However, this path would usually require the player's ability to gain Church control. By performing the skill jump to Mega Health (and thus bypassing Yellow - Window - Jump Pad) the player shaves times and begins the 30 second count down to respawn of the Mega Health.
Running up Yellow Halls, the player gains access to 2x Small Armors (100HP / 20AP).
Moving up to Lattice, the player caps up their ammo with a Medium Ammo and adds to their armor with a Medium Armor (now 100HP / 45AP) and by Triangle and Blood Drop a cap up again of ammo and a Small Health to ensure full (or close to it) health.
Down Stairway the player picks up another Medium Armor (now 100HP / 70AP) and 2x Small Health and 2x Small Ammo pick-ups as well.
The player takes control of Blue and bypasses Hex by way of skill jumping to Max Armor (100HP / 100AP).
Taking on Corner, the player can top up health and take the jump pad to roof, have access to a Medium Health, 2x Small Health, and 3x Small Armors, giving them plenty of encouragement to take on a Rune spawn fully stacked.
Within 5 seconds, the Mega Health will spawn, and the player's height advantage will allow them options to take Gen Drop - Yellow - Window for the Mega Health, take Ivy Drop - White - Church for the skill jump again, or simply snag the rune and take fights.
maintenance (Out of control)
Playing from out of control is a difficult task. Instead of a timed scenario from spawn to engagement of the Rune, let's look at a scenario where a player in a Duel game has lost Rune control. In this instance, the player has moved from the Optimal Path Flow, and thus in 5 seconds, the Mega Health will be on the map again. The player did not obtain control of any items, and their enemy has Full Control.
The thought process begins with some simple questions:
What is coming up? Mega in 5 seconds, most likely Max Armor in 15 seconds, accounting for the enemy's stack.
Where does the enemy go? Arguably, the enemy player would like to keep control with the Rune. The enemy has faster movement speed and thus can beat the player to Mega Health.
How healthy am I? Considering the player has high ground in Circle and did not jump down to Rune for the contest, they should be rather robust in terms of Armor, Health and Ammo, but not enough to contest against the over-healed and over-armored enemy player.
Scenario 01 : Chip Damage [GREEN LINE]
Engage enemy as they approach Generator - Yellow - Window - Mega. Here, the player can chip away at the enemy. With enough damage, the enemy's Mega Health grab will not over-heal them. And with Yellow Hall as the best approach to high ground and the item-stacked Circle, the player can maintain a static position, or re-locate to obtain more items.
Scenario 02 : Lurk [YELLOW LINE]
Immediately the player can further invest in armor and go for the denial at the Max Armor. Either by way of Roof, over the ledge to Corner (which gives less items and a lack of a Medium Armor), or go down Big Drop, up Red Con, and skill jump Blue to Max Armor. The player can even move up Stairway a bit to build a better stack of health and ammo.
Scenario 03: Constrictor [RED LINE]
Knowing the enemy's motivations, the player can immediately deny items to the enemy. Moving through to Lattice, the player can grab the Small Armors in Yellow Halls, and immediately leave by way of Stairway, grabbing the Medium Armor by Lattice, the other Medium Armor in Stairway, the Small Healths in Stairway and either take Red Con or skill jump to Max Armor through Blue. Now the enemy (despite their Rune advantage) must follow in your path, with all meaningful items to maintain their stack being denied. They must either dedicate to a fight and possibly lose to a rather healthy player, or be constricted to a new path.
final thoughts
Fortress is a love of the old, and an inheritance of level design with a central apex design. Everything gravitates to the middle for an all out brawl. This is bread and butter death match with central design focus twist. I desired to create layers of height variation with opportunities for a multitude of styles of play, from a passive, cerebral player to one who always takes the fight. Regardless of a player's skills, their knowledge of the map should easily allow them to compete even out of control and under pressure. Thanks for reading!