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Mapping Guidelines


Chris

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EDIT - these guidelines are deprecated since Aaron took over the official mapping duties from me. He plays by different rules.

If you want to make maps that fit in with the official Goldhawk maps (and possibly have a chance of being included in the game), then please follow the guidelines below. Non-compliant maps won't be included in the game for obvious reasons. If you're just mapping for fun, though, feel free to do whatever you like.

Goldhawk Mapping Guidelines - Crash Sites

  • Crash Site maps use the following tilesets: Arctic, Farm, Desert, Middle East
  • To function in the game, they must include both a dropship spawn point (Chinook / Shrike / Valkyrie) and a UFO spawn area.
  • Map size is defined by the UFO in the map. Do not mix UFOs from different categories in a map (so don't put a Scout and Light Scout in the same map):
    • Light Scout - Light Scout (~60x60)
    • Small - Scout / Corvette (~60x60)
    • Medium - Landing Ship / Cruiser (~70x70)
    • Large - Carrier / Battleship (as required)

    [*]You should only place one UFO crash position for each UFO type in each map, and one dropship spawn position for each dropship type. This allows more intelligent placement of alien spawn points, as you know where both the dropship and UFO will be.

    [*]UFOs at present always face to the SE, which means that they should be placed on the upper edge or sides of the map rather than on the bottom edge. UFO hulls are not destructible (and often behave a bit strangely) so the doors should be immediately accessible.

    [*]Where possible, maps should be divided into at least three "sections" by objects that block line of sight through them (a wall, a building, a thick forest etc). Without this, units can see their full sight range so the maps are dominated by long range sniping, and there's no chance of those X-Com moment where you walk around a corner and find yourself face-to-face with an alien. If you're unsure, look at our maps for examples of how that can be done.

Goldhawk Mapping Guidelines - Terror Sites

  • Terror Sites use the following tilesets: Town, Soviet Town
  • The map size is defined by the UFO that spawns the terror site, but the UFO itself does not actually appear on the terror map.
  • The following UFOs spawn terror maps, and the map size to use is as follows:
    • Corvette (60x60)
    • Landing Ship (60x60)
    • Cruiser (70x70)
    • Carrier (70x70)
    • Battleship (70x70)
    • You can therefore share maps between the Corvette / Landingship and the Cruiser / Carrier / Battleship.

    [*]These maps do not need the "sections" like the crash sites. Rather, they are more about urban warfare.

    [*]The buildings should mostly be around the outside of the map, with a central open area (perhaps containing one building if needed) and roads dividing the areas.

    [*]These maps need a lot of cover. The flowerbeds are excellent for this.

    [*]The lamp posts and traffic lights are excellent for visually filling up open areas beside the road without actually filling it, which makes the maps less cramped. Cars, buses and newspaper stands are good for more meaningful cover.

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  • 4 months later...

Map size is defined by the UFO in the map. Do not mix UFOs from different categories in a map (so don't put a Scout and Light Scout in the same map):

  • Light Scout - Light Scout (~60x60)

  • Small - Scout / Corvette (~60x60)

  • Medium - Landing Ship / Cruiser (~70x70)

  • Large - Carrier / Battleship (as required)

just to be make sure that i completely understand these guidelines...

i think this means that i should have maps set up like this?

  • Desert_LightScout (just for light scouts) (~60x60)

  • Desert_small (Just for Scouts AND Corvettes) (~60x60)

  • Desert_Medium (Just for LandingShip AND Cruisers) (~70x70)

  • Desert_Large (just for Carrier And BattleShips) (As Req)

or does Not Mix UFO's mean maps should be like this?

  • Desert_LightScout (~60x60)

  • Desert_Scout (~60x60)

  • Desert_Corvettes (~60x60)

  • Desert_LandingShip (~70x70)

  • Desert_Cruiser (~70x70)

  • Desert_Carrier (As Req)

  • Desert_BattleShips (As Req)


is there Requirment on how Full a map can be i like to make mine pretty full like this full

↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2612[/ATTACH]

i ported grass tiles from farm.. this screenshot is old i sense changed

the desertgrass to be more brown. to fit better in a desert environment

↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑

i do this to allow more situations for grenades(for xenonauts and hopefull aliens if then end up using grenades) and to make the levels more... interesting( hidy holes, impending doom, etc)

would that be acceptable for summision?


Randomisation - I have tried in all the maps to define a set of at least 2, sometimes 3, positions that the UFOs and dropships can spawn at. The hope is that even playing on the same map repeatedly should not be the same experience if both the player and the UFO start in different relative positions from each other. This means some spawn configurations might encourage quick missions, while some longer. How do you guys find this? Is it effective?

Aaron has been experimenting with random ufo and DropShip Placements are we also allowed to do this with summitted levels?

Edited by Falidell
just cleaning the post up make it more presentable
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Also interested in knowing if there any modifications to these guidelines since posted. (I would really like to make a suburban non-middle-east-but-rather-generic crash site using "city" tiles, and at the very least know if multiple UFO landing areas should be defined now)

Also don't we have industrial crash site tiles of some sort now? The one with the parking gate areas. Are there other sets available as well? I only just saw the Middle East one for the first time today in-game, and it's probably my favorite of the bunch.

Edited by GlyphGryph
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just to be make sure that i completely understand these guidelines...

i think this means that i should have maps set up like this?

  • Desert_LightScout (just for light scouts) (~60x60)

  • Desert_small (Just for Scouts AND Corvettes) (~60x60)

  • Desert_Medium (Just for LandingShip AND Cruisers) (~70x70)

  • Desert_Large (just for Carrier And BattleShips) (As Req)

This is how it is in their own maps, but as you said, Aaron's experimenting. It looks like it might end up being

  • LScts/Scts/Corvs

  • Corvs/LShip/Cru

  • Cru/Car/Bship.

I wouldn't worry too much about getting your maps officially accepted right now since as you say, the map development's in flux. I'm going to stick with the current guidelines for UFO types on a map while adding randomised aircraft placement, myself.

Also interested in knowing if there any modifications to these guidelines since posted. (I would really like to make a suburban non-middle-east-but-rather-generic crash site using "city" tiles, and at the very least know if multiple UFO landing areas should be defined now)

Also don't we have industrial crash site tiles of some sort now? The one with the parking gate areas. Are there other sets available as well? I only just saw the Middle East one for the first time today in-game, and it's probably my favorite of the bunch.

Currently:

UFO mission tilesets:

  • Arctic

  • Desert

  • Farm

  • Middle-east

  • Industrial

Terror tilesets:

  • Soviet town

  • Town

Alien bases and Xenonaut bases have their own tileset, too. Pinching the rather lovely assets from the Xenonaut bases is commonplace for someone using the submap editor.

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  • LScts/Scts/Corvs

  • Corvs/LShip/Cru

  • Cru/Car/Bship.

makes sense if it went that way...

corvettes and cruisers can go in 2 categories sense they're the in between ships.

  • small

  • medium

  • large

I wouldn't worry too much about getting your maps officially accepted right now since as you say' date=' the map development's in flux. I'm going to stick with the current guidelines for UFO types on a map while adding randomized aircraft placement, myself.

[/quote']

Correct submitting levels for official use would be too early ATM i agree. what i am looking for isn't a final product for the guidelines merely a more up to date one. i'm sure the team has a clearer image of how they want the levels for this game to be now, compared to five months ago. Now that the game is at the point were it's less changes and more tweaking. i feel comfortable that taking the time to make good levels now is safer.. where as before it was merely to add some variety through testing phases.

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  • 4 months later...

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