Peer Review 1

These are the questions that I asked Lewis and Leon:

I am going to set my map in a steampunk western themed world, at the moment I am working on a block out of two western villages set on two cliff tops that are connected by a wooden bridge.

1. I set my level on two opposing clifftops as I think it is a very interesting setting, its not something that you would really see in the old west, I thought that it would be a very flexible environment in that if I wanted to expand my level I could still simply add more content down the cliff.  What I want to know is do you like the setting that I have gone with for my level or is it simply not that appealing to you?  If so what sort of setting would you suggest that I use instead?
2. Right now my block out is completely however I was thinking that I would have both towns going on a small upward slope or even steps until the player reaches the main part of the town where it would then flatten out.  Again what are your thoughts on this idea?  Do you think I should go ahead with this idea?  I also had the idea of make the opposing cliffs and towns look identical making it like a cool freaky landmark, I also think that this would also be perfect for a capture the flag match, do you prefer this idea or do you think that I should stick with my first one?  Is there anything that you would suggest I do to make these ideas better?
3. Since my map is set in towns I have the idea of have buildings and shops in the towns that will serve a specific purpose.  For example I would have gun store where the player would collect guns and ammo, a food store where players could collect health packs, a clock tower at the top of both towns which could be used for flags if I were to create a CTF map.  What do you think of this idea? Do you think that I should stick to this idea or should I implement it in a different way or maybe even not at all and just scatter weapons, ammo, health, etc. randomly across my map?

Lewis responded:

I like the idea of your setting i just dont think it looks like that, i think it look more like a fantasy skyrim typed town at the moment. I would also change some of the smaller buildings because they look too copy and pasted the player may not know where they are in the level if most of it looks the same.

I think the bridge between the two clifftops would be a good idea especially if it is a capture game this would add a good choke point where they wont want to cross the bridge because they think they will get killed but also they know they have too to go and retrieve the flag. Also i think you should change one of the clifftop bases or at least have one lit a different colour so they player knows exactly where to go.

I think it would be a good idea to have the health and gun shops but only if there are a couple of them scatterered around the map you dont want one player taking all of the health and armor in one pass pickups should be used to encourage the player to move around your map more.

Leon responded:

Your level seems to be coming along nicely. It is not entirely clear at the monent what your buildings are supposed to be as they all kind of look the same. It will probably look a lot better once you have expanded it. The clifftop idea good be a good one, time will tell until the map is completely finished.

The town would probably look better on a slope as it is too flat at the moment so a slope would probably make gameplay a bit more interesting. The town will look better if you did add some sort of landmark as the buildings at the moment are very similar to each other which could be confusing to the player. Having opposite cliffs and towns would probably be a good idea when thinking about a capture the flag map.

I really like your ideas on where to place your pickups such as a gunstore and foodstore, never thought of this myself! Having a clocktower to place your flags is similar to what I was thinking to do with the churches placed on the opposite sides of my own level.