FPS map design is completely dead.

BossLackey

BossLackey

Gold Member
Love or hate BF6, the nearly unanimous sentiment is that the maps are godawful.

In fact, I don't remember the last multiplayer shooter released that had good map design. Maybe Rainbow Six Siege, but that was 10 years ago.

I'm sure they exist, but it really seems like the majority of shooters that release anymore are nearly devoid of good maps.

What happened!? It's like a dead art or something.
 
I feel like maps have become too realistic for their own good. It's awesome that locations look and feel so real, but that doesn't necessarily translate to good video game gameplay opportunities. When maps were simpler and had more flow to them in their basic design, things felt better and more organic.
 
The maps were horrendous in the beta and they made some alterations for the release, but you can't alter something fundamentally broken and hope it'll fix it.

Hopefully with more people playing now they make bigger changes.

The Finals does a good job with its maps for a game with a lot of vertical movement options and almost entirely destructible environment.
 
Loomy said:
The maps were horrendous in the beta and they made some alterations for the release, but you can't alter something fundamentally broken and hope it'll fix it.

Hopefully with more people playing now they make bigger changes.

The Finals does a good job with its maps for a game with a lot of vertical movement options and almost entirely destructible environment.
Click to expand...

Pretty much why I jumped off the hype train.
 
Agreed. Firestorm as example, is a lazy half-assed attempt at the greatness that was the BF4 version. HDR is all blown out, the map is a smaller version. Then you have the vehicles in other maps which shouldn't be there like why tf would they put tanks and other vehicles in CQC maps? Fun game at times but hly crap some odd choices for launch maps. That said. The game can only get better. Bring on the big maps!

big GIF
big brother idk GIF by Big Brother After Dark
 
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That's because maps are focus tested on "engagement". "Enjoyment" doesn't factor into the design - did the player keep playing? Yes? Then the map was good enough.
 
The entire genre is creatively bankrupt and has been for some time. For instance, matchmaking algorithms can't distinguish good players from bad ones, and haven't been modernized for some strange reason. Controls and mechanics are largely the same with only a few minor tweaks here and there since Doom.
 
yeh all the beta maps were dogshit and the remaining retail maps aren't that much better. Even firestorm plays terribly compared to the original and BF4 release. You got like 6 dev teams on the game and nobody across any of them could make competent CQ maps here? Damn.
 
Where's all the people that said:
"Wait for the full release of BF6."
"They held the big maps back."
"They just put those small maps in the beta to entice COD fans."

BF6's maps are as deep as a puddle. No strategy - no tactics. They are already old and stale. Complete junk.
Trash maps makes BF6, and most modern FPS not even worth playing.
Definitely a lost art.
 
Solarstrike said:
Agreed. Firestorm as example, is a lazy half-assed attempt at the greatness that was the BF4 version. HDR is all blown out, the map is a smaller version. Then you have the vehicles in other maps which shouldn't be there like why tf would they put tanks and other vehicles in CQC maps? Fun game at times but hly crap some odd choices for launch maps
Click to expand...
Its not the HDR, the lighting in BF is brooken rn. Its is blown out to the extreme in places, has to be a bug now way can something so bad ve intended.
 
I think everyone will agree that the maps are indeed too small, and if previous BF had smaller maps too the level design was just miles better. I really hope they turn things out quickly and thankfully by November 18 we will have 2 new maps:

VrIANDWcSNkGeb32.png
 
joey Dubs said:
I feel like maps have become too realistic for their own good. It's awesome that locations look and feel so real, but that doesn't necessarily translate to good video game gameplay opportunities. When maps were simpler and had more flow to them in their basic design, things felt better and more organic.
Click to expand...

Great point. I think this is like 80% of the issue.

Increased fidelity and realism is causing all sorts of issues in game design. Facilitating player fun is often about simplicity and readability. The exact opposite trajectory of AAA visuals.
 
BossLackey said:
Love or hate BF6, the nearly unanimous sentiment is that the maps are godawful.

In fact, I don't remember the last multiplayer shooter released that had good map design. Maybe Rainbow Six Siege, but that was 10 years ago.

I'm sure they exist, but it really seems like the majority of shooters that release anymore are nearly devoid of good maps.

What happened!? It's like a dead art or something.
Click to expand...
What is good map design in your opinion? Can you describe good design characteristics without pointing to examples?
 
the issue is not only map design... it's player movement.

in games like CoD, the player speed is so insanely fast now, that maps become just bumper cars with guns.

Spawn - Rush to center of map - kill - get killed - repeat

and due to the speed of the game, this becomes the only viable strategy.

back in Modern Warfare 2 for example, even if you had the fastest loadouts the game allowed, you were slower and had to think about positioning way more than in any modern CoD.
this meant each part of the map had special usecases for specific loadouts, making encounters more interesting.

you had the akimbo 1887 meme loadout to rush through maps, but also the guys running snipers and claymores that took over sniper spots.

now, everyone runs the current meta MP/AR loadouts that have the fastest movement, the quickest ADS speeds, and the fastest TTK... because you won't get kills otherwise.
 
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Men_in_Boxes said:
What is good map design in your opinion? Can you describe good design characteristics without pointing to examples?
Click to expand...

Good flow.
Callable landmarks.
Irregular topography (i.e., not everything is the same building copied and pasted.)
Balanced number of angles in points of interest. (Not having to cover 96 angles).
Unique characteristics.
Either pretty symmetrical or pretty asymmetrical. No in-between bullshit.

Maps that come to mind:

Halo 2: Waterworks, Coagulation, Zanzibar (and a lot more).

Counter-Strike: Dust 2, Inferno, Nuke (and a lot more)

Battlefield: Strike at Karkand, Caspian Border, Siege of Shanghai (and a lot more).
 
BossLackey said:
Great point. I think this is like 80% of the issue.

Increased fidelity and realism is causing all sorts of issues in game design. Facilitating player fun is often about simplicity and readability. The exact opposite trajectory of AAA visuals.
Click to expand...
Art vs realism often crash
that's why I left modern shooter and coming back to boomer shooter.
but it's might be different things for some people.
 
Sobek City in BF6 is pretty baffling. They basically took the construction site area from Gulf Of Oman, turned it into its own map, and somehow made it play and flow 10x worse.
 
lol its been 3 days and this guy is acting like he's mastered these massive maps already. It takes weeks if not months to figure out the most optimal routes and avoid the choke points. Literally no one knows how to play these maps at the moment.

These aren't your closed off tiny cod maps that are the size of half a football field.

The game is phenomenal. Just as good as the legendary beta. Hilarious to see so many write it off after one weekend.
 
Probably bias but for all the modes it has, Overwatch has been putting out tons of banger maps for years. Other than flashpoint maps I can't think of a single one that I can confidently say I hate.
 
Epic probably the only studio still doing good shooter map design with Fortnite, and even their maps aren't as good now as they were in 2018 Fortnite.

The industry has definitely lost most of the talent that worked on Unreal, Quake, Halo 1-3, CoD4, etc. And it shows in todays map design and general game flow.
 
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Men_in_Boxes said:
What is good map design in your opinion? Can you describe good design characteristics without pointing to examples?
Click to expand...
Issue with maps in BF6 - and the last couple BF games, really - is that they're not designed to encourage the kind of gameplay BF is going for.

They're designed for a lot of constant encounters and engagement like they're afraid if you go 15 seconds without running into another squad, you're going to quit the game.

What ends up happening is people play the situation - enemy squad in front of you - instead of playing the objectives.
 
I think Black Ops 7 beta did good job so far but maybe that's just me. Battfield I'm enjoying the maps but maybe we just have to wait for future maps.
 
We peaked at Battlefield 4 in 2013:
  • Siege of Shanghai
  • Hainan Resort
  • Paracel Storm
  • Dawnbreaker
  • Zavod 311
  • Operation Locker
  • Golmud Railway
  • Rogue Transmission
  • Caspian Border 2014
  • Flood Zone
  • Operation Metro 2014
  • Lumphini Garden
  • Propaganda
  • Pearl Market
  • Langang Dam
 
Perrott said:
We peaked at Battlefield 4 in 2013:
  • Siege of Shanghai
  • Hainan Resort
  • Paracel Storm
  • Dawnbreaker
  • Zavod 311
  • Operation Locker
  • Golmud Railway
  • Rogue Transmission
  • Caspian Border 2014
  • Flood Zone
  • Operation Metro 2014
  • Lumphini Garden
  • Propaganda
  • Pearl Market
  • Langang Dam
Click to expand...
Oh yup Battlefield 4 had some good maps in there for sure. Better than 6
 
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