/tg/Station 13

Lately I've had a few ideas for stations in my head. The most fleshed out one would be a sort of... Deep Space Nine inspired station, that would feature 3 larger docking bays, and have the kitchen, bar, and theatre at the heart of the station to reflect an atmosphere of Nanotrasen ships stopping for fuel, supplies, or crew downtime. After getting these ideas in my head, I roughly sketched out they layout on paper and started mapping (for context and disclosure, this was on Unitystation code).

Once the bones were being laid out, things started to bother me- the central hallway had to go around the chef backroom, theatre backroom, plus botany (since I wanted to preserve the kitchen being next to it), and the hallway became extremely long very quickly. Command fit itself into the upper right on the station, but somehow I had filled it with hallways. Getting to the command center took so much longer than normal and it frustrated me without even playing it. Having the docks meant multiple parts of the station needed creative solutions for maintenance access, and it wasn't going to be pleasing.

Now I want to refine these thoughts and try again later after poking the existing maps for a while, but I want to hear from others as well. What makes a map "good" for you? Box has fallen out of favor recently and Metastation is the most played. What parts of maps are appreciated, or what gives frustration? How does one map distinguish itself for you, or have some unique spins that make it feel not dull?

If you want make a good map, edit Meta.

Reinforce ALL command, security and other high risk job airlocks (toxins, virology, xenobiology, SM engine)
Reinforce PERMA - double or triple tile wide reinforced walls

maps should be fallible. subtle but exploitable flaws, like a mass driver being in an isolated room where a traitor can safely space bodies, or a weak wall on an otherwise reinforced room, make rounds waaay more interesting.

maint that is fun to explore, labyrinthine, and full of interesting rooms and useful loot

the right balance between low and high traffic areas

no rooms that are rarely if ever used (e.g. the fitness room)

no rooms that are unnecessarily large

no rooms that are too cramped for the amount of traffic they can get (e.g. cryo, cloning lab)

PKPenguin321 wrote:maps should be fallible. subtle but exploitable flaws, like a mass driver being in an isolated room where a traitor can safely space bodies, or a weak wall on an otherwise reinforced room, make rounds waaay more interesting.

I do get what you mean, but in my humble opinion the secure areas should be completely secure. This forces antags to spend their resources or time in order to get access (x-4 vs thermite vs manually dismantling RI wall). Otherwise instead of making things more interesting you know exactly where the antags or the tiders are going to strike.

how to make a good map?

ignore every single forum poster on anything at all.

oranges wrote:how to make a good map?

ignore every single forum poster on anything at all.

While sarcastic, there is some sad truth this statement.

To give more tangible advice, I would recommend having a vision in mind before you start. When it comes to individual departments that you don't play often, it can be good to consult individual players on the little details, but give preference to the advice of people that you know to respect game balance and share the vision that you're trying to pursue.

oranges wrote:how to make a good map?

ignore every single forum poster on anything at all.

that would include the quoted post and also this post, of course

Yeah but that in a way is also true, because you should still review what people think of your map, you just shouldn't ask them what makes it good.

Farquaar is right, have a vision about how you want your map to play and then make it come true.

Don't rush it.

Use the design principles you want the map based around to direct your approach

Only work on it when you're inspired to do so.

Plan ahead so if you want to change stuff you can do it easily

Fuck atmos.