On game balance through map design
Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2017 5:35 pm
The following post only addresses map design in the 1v1 competitive scene. If team play is more to your taste, this is the best I have to offer: http://resource.openra.net/maps/17971/ 
With the next release looming players are hard at work play testing potential balance changes and lobbying for the changes they want to see.
The big focus here is making the game more fluid, and less likely to devolve into an artillery/v2 spitting contest behind static defense.
While some of these changes are absolutely necessary, (pillboxes), I believe the problem of stale play can largely be addressed through better maps; and the need for better maps is BIG.
First, lets take a look at the season 2 RAGL map pool.
Of the twelve maps listed, there are only two (2!) maps in my opinion that are fluid enough to make the next official release/map pool.
In large part, last season’s maps were limited by either excessive choke points, a lack of viable attack paths, bad eco, or a combination of the three.
With apologies to the map makers, I’m going to rank the season 2 map pool on my experience as a player and spectator.
Smitty’s RAGL Map Pool Power Rankings
* No ranking for Crossfire, as I have yet to play a 1v1 match on it, though I’m sure it has entirely too much eco for a 1v1 map.
1. Sidestep
2. Warwind
3. Northwest Passage
4. Behind the Veil
5. Ore Lord (Spawns are unbalanced)
6. Tournament Island (Needs much less eco for 1v1)
7. Winter Storm
8. Dual Cold Front
9. Desert Rats
10. Keep Off the Grass 2
11. Being Hit by a Car
12. Singles
That leaves my cutoff point at Warwind.
After number 6 there is a huge drop off in mobility, and the chance of a game turning into an artillery duel goes way up.
Fortunately, there are some golden opportunities to address 1v1 maps before the next release:
1. Maps can be made great again!
Chokes can be made wider, new attack paths can be opened up, and ore can be moved to require a more active defense.
Nothing illustrates this point better than what Kyrylo did with his re-imagining of Behind the Veil.
Behind the Veil v2‘s major improvement lies in changes to the expansions in the top right and lower left of the map.
First, the chokes into the expansion have been widened, making it harder to scare off an army with just static defense.
Second, the ores have been split, which adds both a new path of attack and another way to contest eco as an attacking player.
Add in the other improvements that Kyrylo made, including an extra path into the spawn area, and you have a map more than worthy of replacing it’s predecessor.
I took a look at addressing the problems of Dual Cold Front and Desert Rats. Making edits I dubbed ‘Smitty Editions’ I looked to widen chokes and put additional areas of the maps in play.
I’ll be honest, I don’t think my edits bring these maps into a condition where they should be played competitively. (And Desert Rats may not be savable at it’s current size.) However, the edits did have a noticeable impact on player movement.
http://resource.openra.net/maps/17961/
http://resource.openra.net/maps/17937/
Just before I made this post, km sent me his re-imagining of Dual Cold Front without the river:
http://resource.openra.net/maps/18086/
2. There are some good maps already out there!
There are a handful of maps out there that can contend for a spot on Smitty’s Top Twleve list.
My favorite of these so far is Shadow Fiend by Kazu.
http://resource.openra.net/maps/17880/
The most important feature of this map is the center. The center is a large, open space that allows for movement to every key area of the map.
Like every other game, bases will be built in such a key area, but the size makes it hard to lock down without a considerable investment from a turtling player.
The map also has good sized access points for each expansion as well as raiding paths into the spawns and corner oil derricks.
Small maps that only have two viable paths of attack and forsake the middle like Desert Rats and Keep off the Grass 2 are not to my taste, but if you’re into those kind of things I would recommend Green Belt by Christian as a replacement.
Outside of the middle, Green Belt keeps things open, allowing players to find angles of attack around their opponents expansions.
http://resource.openra.net/maps/17256/
3. There’s a map making contest coming up!
The map making contest gives us a golden opportunity to add some new life to the competitive 1v1 pool.
Here are some tricks and tips to add competitive flow to your map:
- Mind the choke point: Choke points are fine, but keep in mind if you want full armies to pass through them or if you just want them to support small raiding parties.
One of the major flaws with Dual Cold Front is that the chokes in the middle, which are clearly intended to have armies pass through them, are only four cells wide. I would aim for 7-12 cells.
- On a similar note, bridges and river crossings can only support two cells of army movement. I you place one, know that only small bands of infantry can reasonably cross.
- Multiple attack paths: Strategic objectives, well okay that’s pretty much just ore, should have multiple points of attack that are not easily locked down by a small amount of static defenses.
Three or more is my target number here.
- Don’t pin ore against an easily defended cliff or the edge of the map to allow for eco raiding.
- Place derricks to add to action in the early game. It’s okay if the chance of them getting destroyed later is above 90%.
Don’t place them in an easily defended corner of the map where they will be forgotten for the rest of the game.
For eco purposes I would place no more than 4 derricks on a map; two for each player.
- Make the line of symmetry something other than 0 or 90 degrees (straight across or straight up and down the map.)
Simple geometry; a line going diagonally across a square or rectangle will be longer than a line straight up or down or left to right.
By making a map orient diagonally the surface area of likely combat will be increased.
- If you don’t want the base crawl to influence an area, use trees and debris to allow passage without allowing structure placement.
Remember that the MCV needs 3x4 cells to set up.
In summary, I feel a robust map pool is the key to the next big leap in the progress of OpenRA. I encourage everyone able to participate in designing, playtesting and lobbying towards better flowing maps.
And once more, apologies to the creators of the maps I've called out. Most of these maps have produced very good games before the meta shifted. I know it's not easy, so I'll be sticking my neck out too in this year's map contest.
With the next release looming players are hard at work play testing potential balance changes and lobbying for the changes they want to see.
The big focus here is making the game more fluid, and less likely to devolve into an artillery/v2 spitting contest behind static defense.
While some of these changes are absolutely necessary, (pillboxes), I believe the problem of stale play can largely be addressed through better maps; and the need for better maps is BIG.
First, lets take a look at the season 2 RAGL map pool.
Of the twelve maps listed, there are only two (2!) maps in my opinion that are fluid enough to make the next official release/map pool.
In large part, last season’s maps were limited by either excessive choke points, a lack of viable attack paths, bad eco, or a combination of the three.
With apologies to the map makers, I’m going to rank the season 2 map pool on my experience as a player and spectator.
Smitty’s RAGL Map Pool Power Rankings
* No ranking for Crossfire, as I have yet to play a 1v1 match on it, though I’m sure it has entirely too much eco for a 1v1 map.
1. Sidestep
2. Warwind
3. Northwest Passage
4. Behind the Veil
5. Ore Lord (Spawns are unbalanced)
6. Tournament Island (Needs much less eco for 1v1)
7. Winter Storm
8. Dual Cold Front
9. Desert Rats
10. Keep Off the Grass 2
11. Being Hit by a Car
12. Singles
That leaves my cutoff point at Warwind.
After number 6 there is a huge drop off in mobility, and the chance of a game turning into an artillery duel goes way up.
Fortunately, there are some golden opportunities to address 1v1 maps before the next release:
1. Maps can be made great again!
Chokes can be made wider, new attack paths can be opened up, and ore can be moved to require a more active defense.
Nothing illustrates this point better than what Kyrylo did with his re-imagining of Behind the Veil.
Behind the Veil v2‘s major improvement lies in changes to the expansions in the top right and lower left of the map.
First, the chokes into the expansion have been widened, making it harder to scare off an army with just static defense.
Second, the ores have been split, which adds both a new path of attack and another way to contest eco as an attacking player.
Add in the other improvements that Kyrylo made, including an extra path into the spawn area, and you have a map more than worthy of replacing it’s predecessor.
I took a look at addressing the problems of Dual Cold Front and Desert Rats. Making edits I dubbed ‘Smitty Editions’ I looked to widen chokes and put additional areas of the maps in play.
I’ll be honest, I don’t think my edits bring these maps into a condition where they should be played competitively. (And Desert Rats may not be savable at it’s current size.) However, the edits did have a noticeable impact on player movement.
http://resource.openra.net/maps/17961/
http://resource.openra.net/maps/17937/
Just before I made this post, km sent me his re-imagining of Dual Cold Front without the river:
http://resource.openra.net/maps/18086/
2. There are some good maps already out there!
There are a handful of maps out there that can contend for a spot on Smitty’s Top Twleve list.
My favorite of these so far is Shadow Fiend by Kazu.
http://resource.openra.net/maps/17880/
The most important feature of this map is the center. The center is a large, open space that allows for movement to every key area of the map.
Like every other game, bases will be built in such a key area, but the size makes it hard to lock down without a considerable investment from a turtling player.
The map also has good sized access points for each expansion as well as raiding paths into the spawns and corner oil derricks.
Small maps that only have two viable paths of attack and forsake the middle like Desert Rats and Keep off the Grass 2 are not to my taste, but if you’re into those kind of things I would recommend Green Belt by Christian as a replacement.
Outside of the middle, Green Belt keeps things open, allowing players to find angles of attack around their opponents expansions.
http://resource.openra.net/maps/17256/
3. There’s a map making contest coming up!
The map making contest gives us a golden opportunity to add some new life to the competitive 1v1 pool.
Here are some tricks and tips to add competitive flow to your map:
- Mind the choke point: Choke points are fine, but keep in mind if you want full armies to pass through them or if you just want them to support small raiding parties.
One of the major flaws with Dual Cold Front is that the chokes in the middle, which are clearly intended to have armies pass through them, are only four cells wide. I would aim for 7-12 cells.
- On a similar note, bridges and river crossings can only support two cells of army movement. I you place one, know that only small bands of infantry can reasonably cross.
- Multiple attack paths: Strategic objectives, well okay that’s pretty much just ore, should have multiple points of attack that are not easily locked down by a small amount of static defenses.
Three or more is my target number here.
- Don’t pin ore against an easily defended cliff or the edge of the map to allow for eco raiding.
- Place derricks to add to action in the early game. It’s okay if the chance of them getting destroyed later is above 90%.
Don’t place them in an easily defended corner of the map where they will be forgotten for the rest of the game.
For eco purposes I would place no more than 4 derricks on a map; two for each player.
- Make the line of symmetry something other than 0 or 90 degrees (straight across or straight up and down the map.)
Simple geometry; a line going diagonally across a square or rectangle will be longer than a line straight up or down or left to right.
By making a map orient diagonally the surface area of likely combat will be increased.
- If you don’t want the base crawl to influence an area, use trees and debris to allow passage without allowing structure placement.
Remember that the MCV needs 3x4 cells to set up.
In summary, I feel a robust map pool is the key to the next big leap in the progress of OpenRA. I encourage everyone able to participate in designing, playtesting and lobbying towards better flowing maps.
And once more, apologies to the creators of the maps I've called out. Most of these maps have produced very good games before the meta shifted. I know it's not easy, so I'll be sticking my neck out too in this year's map contest.