What I see now is that the server has sooo many rather bad maps for the server that have insanely bad gameplay, just made around making it as easy as possible to survive on. Here are some things you really should keep in mind when making a map.
Secrets
In general, just don't make secrets, just don't. Secrets don't fit in a survival servers, it's boring for the rest of the players because sometimes they have to wait ages before you are found, there shouldn't be places where you can almost always win, there's just everything wrong with using them. I'm pretty tired of seeing secrets everywhere, we want to motivate players to find and build a good hiding place instead of just going to the same place every time.
Note: If you really, really, really want to add a secret, don't make a random secret somewhere that only a few regular players know about. Instead, make a secret that is rather obvious when thinking.
Adminium
Don't overuse adminium in maps, give the players as much freedom as possible on most maps. Of course there are certain maps that really need it but then it's really a part of the map (I.E. bootcamp - tomb), what I see now is that in every map adminium is used to pretty much restrict the player from going anywhere on the map.
Note: Don't be afraid to use some adminium however, but then do it because it's really necessary to block some things off, don't just use it for the sake of having adminium in your maps. Gradokeep is a good example of good use of adminium.
Note: Jump courses in maps are normally not such a good idea, only when it are runner maps like Rungasm, just making a jump course for no good reason is most of the time not fitting and rather annoying on a map.
Map size
Lately almost every map that is made is a 128^3 map, this is because of:
Note: I can see that people will complains about bear grylls getting too hard, but it's a silly award and nothing more and should not break the gameplay by getting all huge maps.
Linear maps
Lately there have been coming some maps out that have 'a starting point' and 'an end', what I mean with this is that players spawn on one side of the map and there is one (or multiple) paths to an ending point. There are pretty much 2 types of these sort of maps, linear and circle maps. (Examples of linear maps are portal(2) and labyrinth and an example of a circle map are kororina)
I'll use some screenshots to show what I mean:
(of course I'm drawing it very extreme)
And now I'll show a screenshot how a zombie map is supposed to be:
(the player is allowed to freely move around on the map)
The problem with these maps is that they do now work out on the zombie server because there simply should be a start nor and end, you should be placed in a world where you should try to survive and can roam around there freely.
I'm not saying the maps I called above as examples aren't great maps, as example portal2, I really loved to do the map (with teamwork and stuff) but sadly it's not working and not good for the zombie server. Most people don't get how the path work or aren't able to do it and so it leads to a few good people coming to the end and surviving there while the rest are zombified very fast and have to wait until the round is over.
So please keep this in mind when making a map for the zombie server!
Secrets
In general, just don't make secrets, just don't. Secrets don't fit in a survival servers, it's boring for the rest of the players because sometimes they have to wait ages before you are found, there shouldn't be places where you can almost always win, there's just everything wrong with using them. I'm pretty tired of seeing secrets everywhere, we want to motivate players to find and build a good hiding place instead of just going to the same place every time.
Note: If you really, really, really want to add a secret, don't make a random secret somewhere that only a few regular players know about. Instead, make a secret that is rather obvious when thinking.
Adminium
Don't overuse adminium in maps, give the players as much freedom as possible on most maps. Of course there are certain maps that really need it but then it's really a part of the map (I.E. bootcamp - tomb), what I see now is that in every map adminium is used to pretty much restrict the player from going anywhere on the map.
Note: Don't be afraid to use some adminium however, but then do it because it's really necessary to block some things off, don't just use it for the sake of having adminium in your maps. Gradokeep is a good example of good use of adminium.
Note: Jump courses in maps are normally not such a good idea, only when it are runner maps like Rungasm, just making a jump course for no good reason is most of the time not fitting and rather annoying on a map.
Map size
Lately almost every map that is made is a 128^3 map, this is because of:
- The adminium that everyone wants to use everywhere on the map so bigger maps are needed.
- People always want to make pro-human maps so it's easier to survive, keep in mind that surviving should be a challenging thing. A pro-zombie map is always better than a real pro-human map, zombies are supposed to win a little more rounds than humans do, and if humans survive they should only be with 2-4 humans max.
Note: I can see that people will complains about bear grylls getting too hard, but it's a silly award and nothing more and should not break the gameplay by getting all huge maps.
Linear maps
Lately there have been coming some maps out that have 'a starting point' and 'an end', what I mean with this is that players spawn on one side of the map and there is one (or multiple) paths to an ending point. There are pretty much 2 types of these sort of maps, linear and circle maps. (Examples of linear maps are portal(2) and labyrinth and an example of a circle map are kororina)
I'll use some screenshots to show what I mean:
(of course I'm drawing it very extreme)
And now I'll show a screenshot how a zombie map is supposed to be:
(the player is allowed to freely move around on the map)
The problem with these maps is that they do now work out on the zombie server because there simply should be a start nor and end, you should be placed in a world where you should try to survive and can roam around there freely.
I'm not saying the maps I called above as examples aren't great maps, as example portal2, I really loved to do the map (with teamwork and stuff) but sadly it's not working and not good for the zombie server. Most people don't get how the path work or aren't able to do it and so it leads to a few good people coming to the end and surviving there while the rest are zombified very fast and have to wait until the round is over.
So please keep this in mind when making a map for the zombie server!
With kind regards,
Vatumok