Making An Arena Mode Map

[Michael_Russell]

An updated and corrected version of this post is now available in the Wiki!

http://www.ritualediting.com/wiki/?title=SE_Making_Your_First_Arena_Mode_Map

[Sui]

It's as if up until this moment the world has been covered in maple syrup, and just as you made this post, a beautiful woman descended from the heavens and licked it all off in one luscious swoop.

[UTWarden]

hhmm I'm forming an Idea. Considering I've Never made a map in my life..... :(

[ssj3fox]

Can wait to make a map!

[PleaseMYOB]

We're getting closer to releasing the SDK

Dare I ask how much closer?... or am I gonna get one of those replies that basically tells me to refer to my username... lol

[CommanderZx2]

Would that only be for spawning grunts with pistols and to spawn different enemies you would need to create a different entity for it, Like npc_druglab_grunt_shotgun.

Or does it automatically change the enemy to spawn depending on the current challenege?

[Michael_Russell]

Would that only be for spawning grunts with pistols and to spawn different enemies you would need to create a different entity for it, Like npc_druglab_grunt_shotgun.

Or does it automatically change the enemy to spawn depending on the current challenege?

For arena mode, it shifts pistol grunts as far as necessary...even up to elites.

[Xenogenetic]

I was going to ask that question Commander, and to add to it, is there any manipulation of the dynamic difficulty (ie only spawn enemies with this exact gun) that mappers can use?

[IcemanSimo]

can you design a second level for the arena map.

I have this mad idea to make a map from the library, reception, classroom and canteen area from school it could work as a good map with the right moddifications to make it larger so it isnt boxed in.

[Michael_Russell]

can you design a second level for the arena map.

I have this mad idea to make a map from the library, reception, classroom and canteen area from school it could work as a good map with the right moddifications to make it larger so it isnt boxed in.

I made the bare minimum arena mode map: one room. Aside from the limits of the Source engine, you can make your arena maps as large and complex as you want, but try to keep a decent flow to it.

[wisecode]

A few notes:
Make sure Snap to Grid is always on and try to keep the 1024 grid in mind, make your individual areas in 16 unit increments within those 1024 sectors.
Decrease the size of your grid for detail work but leave it at 16 units most of the time.
Not everything needs to be at least 16 units but radiosity in the Source Engine will behave better.
Where light bleed and weapons fire aren't a concern floors and walls can safely be 8 units thick.
Try to never make any brush thinner than 1.0 units, other than in special cases like illusionary glass for layered viewing effects.

[ertertwert]

I dabbled in the SDK for HL2 but quickly grew bored. I'm going to try to make a few maps for SiN Eps though.

[Xpiredperson]

Im gonna learn to use SDK properly just so i can make maps for Sin:E

[JoelF]

I'm completely ignorant when it comes to this sort of thing, but I'm curious: Is that an intuitive mapbuilding solution, relatively speaking? It seems to require its own syntax and I hope it's not too finicky. It seems reasonable, but it may be a bit deterring for the person whose only experiments making maps was on his cousin's Tony Hawk game years ago? More specifically... me.

[Michael_Russell]

I'm completely ignorant when it comes to this sort of thing, but I'm curious: Is that an intuitive mapbuilding solution, relatively speaking? It seems to require its own syntax and I hope it's not too finicky. It seems reasonable, but it may be a bit deterring for the person whose only experiments making maps was on his cousin's Tony Hawk game years ago? More specifically... me.

This was written assuming you have knowledge of Source and Hammer.

The Valve Developer Community (http://developer.valvesoftware.com) has a lot of resources and tutorials to get you to where you'll be able to understand this, and you can expect a community to grow here as well.

[Xenogenetic]

Or you could be real awesome and not even open Hammer. Real mappers use notepad and compile the old school way.
versioninfo
{
"editorversion" "400"
"editorbuild" "2933"
"mapversion" "79"
"formatversion" "100"
"prefab" "0"
}
visgroups
{
visgroup
{
"name" "Auto"
"visgroupid" "1"
"color" "93 194 155"
visgroup
{
"name" "Entities"
"visgroupid" "3"
"color" "123 120 249"
}
visgroup
{
"name" "Detail Brushes"
"visgroupid" "2"
"color" "243 224 97"
}
}
}

[IcemanSimo]

i might give it a shot when its released and see what i can do if it does look like i can get anywhere well at least i tried.:)

ill go back to building websites.

[levelord]

It's as if up until this moment the world has been covered in maple syrup, and just as you made this post, a beautiful woman descended from the heavens and licked it all off in one luscious swoop.

You're a true poet!

[levelord]

I was going to ask that question Commander, and to add to it, is there any manipulation of the dynamic difficulty (ie only spawn enemies with this exact gun) that mappers can use?

I believe you can, but it would subvert the Personal Challenge System.

I made a map (just playing around) with Mutants and even a Quad, but it turns into a simple Bot Match.

[wisecode]

SUYT

Made the Urban Dict:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=SUYT

[PleaseMYOB]

Since the maps are compiled into bsp's, are there any plans to include one of the stock maps or such with the SDK for reference?

I found them very useful learning to map for Q3...

[Michael_Russell]

We're going to be including three map files.

[ertertwert]

Hey Michael. I just followed your steps to make an arena map and everything works aside from the fact that the grunt doesn't respawn. He spawns the first time and then never disappears and no more respawn. And yes I have "fade corpse" checked.

[wisecode]

1) Open arena_office.vmf in Hammer.
2) Click on Map, Entity Report.
3) Scroll down to npc_template_maker.
a. Double-click to goto the location.
b. Click on the Properties button to open the entity dialog.
4) Look at the Flags and Properties.
...Should make sense after that.

[ertertwert]

Yeah, I was just about to come back and post about it. You gotta enable "infinite spawn" under the template.

[Jin]

Kind of reminds me of the SDK on Serious Sam Co-oP map!

[ripper_hugme]

What prefix do we use for single-player maps? if any?

[BloodShed]

The game crashes if you are playing a custom arena map with "upload states" checked.

Edit:
Forgot to say the dynamic challenge system makes it very easy for me to make arena maps, since the enemy's does'nt need anymore then what was mentioned on the first page ^_^

[Deathstalker]

What prefix do we use for single-player maps? if any?
It doesn't matter. :D

[NodroG]

It doesn't matter. :D

But surely you have a "best practise" for this - something like arena_* for arena maps and sp_* for single player...

And of course mp_* for multi-player when available :D

[ripper_hugme]

But surely you have a "best practise" for this - something like arena_* for arena maps and sp_* for single player...

And of course mp_* for multi-player when available :D

I found out what ritual used (SE1_*), but as he said it doesn't matter.

[JoelF]

I need an idiot-proof explanation, since I don't know where to start, how to use Hammer, etc.

Is there a book I can get somewhere, maybe? I glanced at the sites recommended to me, and I'm frankly kinda lost.

[Shallow]

The main reason for not knowing where to start with a tool like Hammer or Radiant (Radiant is basically the same sort of tool as Hammer but for Quake 3, Wolf: ET etc.) is not knowing what the principles of construction are. This is a shame because it's actually pretty easy.

It's like building with Lego.

You use the block tool to make 'brushes' which are literally 3D building blocks used to make up the world. You drag their shapes out with the mouse and move them around in the viewports to get them in the right place in the world. A simple room has a block for each wall, one for the floor, and one for the ceiling. They all meet at the corners so with no gaps so that the map can be compiled correctly. Even if there's sky up there it's just a brush with a special texture on it that tells the engine to draw the skybox in that space.

If that makes sense you should probably go work through the first map stuff on Valve's developer site. (http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Your_First_Map) Work through what each page is saying in Hammer while you're reading, don't move on until you're happy you understand, and don't be afraid of going back when you've forgotten how to do something - not everything will stick first time. After a while things will start to make sense quicker.

There are sample maps included in the SDK, once you have an idea of how you navigate maps in Hammer and how to create stuff, you can look at those to see how this stuff all fits together. It will all look pretty baffling and complicated at first because there's so much stuff in them but bear in mind the stuff in those maps has been built up gradually in a number of stages, each of which is quite straightforward.

Don't be deterred if the first things you make look like ass, almost everyone ends up making a few clunkers as they get the hang of things.

[Muskie]

Hey all,

I'm just having a little problem with this map i'm building. I've followed all the instructions to the letter, compiled my test map, and i've got the filename right, but the map just won't appear in the arena map list. Anyone able to help?

Muskie