The groundwork

Here is the basic layout of my level produced in Photoshop. As you can see a team spawn is set each side of them map (These will be placed inside Skyscrapers). The map is made up of 2 levels, the upper level being all the area filled with the lighter tone of gray, with the lower level filled with the darker shade of gray. A bomb site will be placed on both the upper and lower level of the map, set near equal distance from each spawn (Slightly closer to the defending teams spawn to help minimize advantages). The lower level will be accessible by going downstairs in your respected spawn, taking the stairs from the middle platform at B site, or taking a ladder through the platform. The ladder will most likely be moved to a place that holds less disadvantages, as the current position may hold problems for anyone using it. I also added a few 'Dummy' buildings in, that won't be accessible in the map, they will just be there for visual purposes.

When in Rome.

It's been a while since I've posted anything as I've been knee deep in UDK tutorials, which seems to be the main DevKit of choice providing I can get my head round it. So I don't really have that much to 'Upload', up until now I've just been familiarizing myself with the UI/ controls etc. so I don't have anything pretty to show you. However I do plan on blocking out the bulk of my map (which may be in Google SketchUp, or even Maya as they're both easier for me to work with), and maybe getting a few drawings done over the weekend.

Give it a name.

I've been thinking back to the days I used to play Counter-Strike competitively, and realized that every part of the maps have individual names to help players communicate with their teams. Although these places were originally named by players/ commentators, it's not like these players just plucked something out of the air and labeled that spot something. Each place is usually named something relevant to the look of the area. For example:

This is what established CS 1.6 will recognize as "Pop Dog Train" (For obvious reason), and yes that may be because the map is filled with trains and shouting "There's 1 guy by the train" over mic isn't going to leave anyone any wiser to the situation, but it's a subtle thing that makes that area of the map unique. Now getting to the point... If one map has a lot of unique points, unlike anywhere else on the map, the map becomes very original, authentic, and believable. This is something I really want to consider when building my own.

How I'd take this ingredient and throw it into my own super map mixture:

-Think about giving key points in the map unique features or props to make it more memorable to the player. (Billboards, signposts, posters etc).

-Try to spice up the map a little. I think non-symmetrical maps hold more flavor, and stop the player from feeling like every route is the same, hopefully preventing the player from getting bored as easy.

-Think about heights. The place names that usually spreads between multiple maps are 'Heaven' & 'Sniper Deck'. These are usually given to the highest point on the map, usually found to be vantage points. I need to think of ways to link multiple platforms together without the player feeling  the getting there is going to be a waste of time, potentially to be killed by an enemy player that got there first.