The Art of Deathmatch Level Creation

By weasl

What does it take to make a great DM level?

Energy, conflict, creativity, flow, and design are all words that come to mind when I think of a great DM level. But how do you combine these words, and your ideas into a final product that totally kicks ass? Hopefully by the time you’ve finished reading this you will not only be able to recognize and apply these in your level, but make them second nature.

The Plan

First off you need a plan. I don’t mean a diagram of it on graph paper (but this could be good), but a mental image of what the level is going to look like, and what texture selections you are going to use. An example of this would be deciding to build a base like level using the tech textures. Although this may seem a very basic part of the over all structure of your level, it is one of the most important ones. Stick to a certain group of textures and try not to mix and match. Make the textures fit the mood you want to convey in your level, not just some slapped on wallpaper.

Structure, and Flow

Your next step should be to set up the structure of the level, and starting to think about the flow of your level.

The flow of your level is the paths that a player is most likely to take, as influenced by architecture, design, teleporters, and weapon placement.

Now comes into play the conflict portion. Design your level so that these paths intersect at key points. Look for these intersections and plan your level accordingly. Without these players will wander aimlessly around trying to find each other! Make sure that players can get around a level quickly, don’t make them hike from place to place, use teleporters, or centralize certain areas. It’s best to think of your level as a series of boxes (not literally!) interconnect them with hallways, and vary their sizes. Each of these so-called boxes is a battleground (a place were 2 or more players can have a pitched battle). Player’s will use the "hallways" to travel from area to area. All though the concept may sound confusing, if you take the time, and look at some other really good levels, you will understand the theory. Don’t worry its even harder to apply, then to understand. Try to keep this in mind as you set up your level.

Architecture

Once you’ve gotten the very basic layout done, its time to start on you architecture. A lot goes on in this stage, and most of it you need to learn for your self. My only suggestions are to become familiar with your level editor, and look at lots of other levels for inspiration. Don't make your level boring to look at. Quake has a great 3D engine, use it to its fullest. Also try not to make your level repetitive. This can be the downfall of it. Imbed a little bit of chaos into your work, it will keep players from getting bored, and keep them on their toes.

Weapons and Armor Placement

Remember what a said about conflict? Good. Now apply it. Place weapons accordingly. I break them down into two categories. Low-power, (super shotgun, nailgun, and super nailgun) and high-power (rocket launcher, lightning gun, and grenade launcher). The low powers are ok, to have near spawn points, but try to keep the high power ones, a little bit further away. Also try to space out the high power weapons. Make sure not to bunch them up and neglect one half of the level. Remember that hight power weapons will be the ones that players will be after, thus expect conflict in these areas. Another good way to control the use of weapons is by ammo placement. If you keep the RL at one end, and the nearest box of rockets at the other… You now have that RL player on your paths back to the ammo. Which of course brings him back to the conflict. Armor should be placed with Green Armor in easy to reach places, red armor tucked away, and yellow can go either way. Try to keep players on their toes, don’t stick an RL next to a RA, but give the RA to that guy with the SNG. This will intensify your conflicts, and prevent camping. Place an amount of items in proportion to the estimated number of players that will be playing. Power ups should be in out of the way places. Never place them at the center of a conflict! Powerups are there own catalyst, and will build a conflict of their own. Realize this! Instead of sticking it out were everyone could get at it, tuck that quad away in a corner somewhere. The battles for it will be some of the most vicious ones, and its especially fun when there is little space to maneuver. One fun trick is to place powerups in places where the player has some chance of dieing; a tricky jump over lava to get the Pentagram, or a slime bath to get after that quad. This makes powerup placement seem more well thought out, and enhances the fun factor of the level.

Spawn Points, and Traps

Now I’m going to discuss spawn points. Keep them spaced out and low-level weapons around them (no one likes hunting with a SG, but give em an SSG, and they’ll be out looking for fresh meat). Also keep spawn points out of key battle areas; no one likes being spawn killed. When you set your spawn points remember that Quake will spawn you in the order that the points are placed. I suggest that you go out of your way to place spawn points in such a way that sequential points are as far away from each other as possible. Place the first spawn point, then place the second spawn point as far away as from point one as possible, and so on. Traps are something that you should think hard about. In a single player level they are alot more appropriate then in your typical DM level. Most players feel cheated when they are killed by a trap, and in a DM level it can be even worse. My suggestion is this: If your going to make traps make them player activated (like the squishier in DM2.)

The Beta Test

Ah the all mighty beta tests. This is probably one of the most over looked aspect of DM level creation. Yet, it is probably one of the most important things to do to insure that your level is a true piece of art. Get some friends together, and let them point out areas that will be abused, and places where they feel vulnerable from lack of weapons/armor/ammo. If you get the chance to test it out in QW, follow around the person that’s winning; find out what they’re doing, and what type of advantage it gives them. One or two simple weapon and ammo placements can totally alter the way a level is played, from making a level way to unbalanced to the perfect frag fest.

Throughout this all just remember that this is supposed to be FUN!

Release It!

Unless you want your perfectly crafted level to rot on your hard drive till the end of time, you need to release it! Put it up on cdrom.com, and tell the major level review pages about it.

Hope this was helpful to you!

weasl