World and levels › Space and combat
Multiplayer maps: balance, lanes and chokepoints
Know first: Encounters: arenas, cover and lines of fire
This lesson is about maps where players fight each other. Such a map has to be fair to both sides, keep many players from getting lost, and stay interesting after hundreds of matches. In the demo you’ll move one team’s start forward and watch where the two teams meet on three lanes.
Why this matters
In a single-player level, the enemies are meant to lose. The Level Design Book, a free online handbook of level design, puts it plainly: the purpose of a computer opponent is to lose in an interesting way. Such games are tilted in the player’s favor on purpose. A map for players against players makes the opposite promise: both sides should have a fair chance. If one team can reach the best spot first every time, the match is decided by the map, not by the players, and players notice quickly.