What Makes A Good Woolwars Map?

[ZombieBot1]

Calieco recently made a community poll asking the woolwars playerbase what size maps they like. That post made me ask myself if there were other elements that make maps great. After some thought, community input, and general observation, I’ve realized that almost all maps can be evaluated by just one feature. Sure, there are a lot of small things(which I will address at the end), but I believe this to be the most important feature of all. What is it, you ask?

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Platform Distribution

The rule is simple. Maps with many small platforms are better than maps with a few large platforms.

Obviously these are just general guidelines. There are some maps that don’t use these rules but still manage to be good (okay maybe just coliseum but still).

Obviously 2.0, this post isn’t attacking any map creators. Any comments about maps are separate from the builders who made them. We love our map makers here on woolwars!

High Budget Visual Aids

The community loves maps like galaxy and tartarus because of their many platforms. Maps like these encourage dynamic, fast paced gameplay that never gets old. There are two main reasons for this:

Reason one: fights are more strategic

These visual aids are just stunning aren't they

When fighting on a singular platform, it mostly comes down to gear to determine the winner. Killing your opponent means having a better sword and tougher armour. Being less geared than the player you’re fighting means losing nine out of ten times.

Separate platforms, on the other hand, are much more strategy based. Having multiple platforms encourages creativity in pvp. Players can choose between running in, staying back, towering up to jump down onto their opponent, block trapping, using projectiles, and more. A simple hole in the floor goes a surprisingly long way to freshen up fights that would otherwise be monotonous or boring.

Reason Two: Better chest looting

Gosh that zombie guy sure has an amazing jawline

my subliminal messaging campaign is going exactly to plan. Anyway:

On maps with large platforms, the first player to arrive will usually end up with a sword + some armour within a few seconds. This leads to a lose-lose situation for everyone else: either try to loot the chests and as a result get killed by the player who already has gear, or continue towering upwards in search of other chests. The latter option isn’t any better because near the beginning of the game most players will have only two stacks of wool and maybe a kit item. This divide is exacerbated when you throw in mobility kits. Players using kits like bouncy, teleporter, and vanish will have a large gear advantage over players of different kits. Mobility kits are meant to have an early game advantage, but maps with large platforms heighten this advantage to a level of unfairness. This problem is most prevalent on maps like flag wars castle, hilltop racing, coliseum 2.0, pac man, and minecraft.

Maps with separated platforms, however, distribute gear much more evenly. Bridging between islands takes time, time that the slightly slower players are able to use to get gear for themselves. Suddenly, going for early kills becomes much more risky. Separated platforms punish aggressive tactics early game, and as a result allow all players to become better geared. Maps that excel in this category are tartarus, galaxy, experiment, bathroom, room, and kitchen.

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A few smaller tips that will also improve your map

Don't make a ton of overhangs

Overhangs/side platforms can be good for a map when used in moderation, but having too many makes it frustrating to tower up. Mythical tree and coliseum 2.0 struggle with this the most.

Create smooth walls

Wallrunning is one of the most iconic tactics on woolwars. To preserve this well loved strategy, map creators need to create smooth walls. Maps with messy walls are harder to wallrun on.

So what can I do to make my map better?

The best thing to do when making a map is to always be checking back on your work. Take a step back, and ask if there are any large flat areas that could be spiced up. If done well, I believe the quality of any map will increase tenfold.

I am a talented artist

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Are there any other map making tips you’ve thought of? Have any disagreements with what I’ve said? Want to compliment me on my jawline?(hehe). Share your opinion in the comments below! I don’t pretend to know everything about maps, and I’d love to hear other perspectives!

[cvora]

Thanks zombiebot01

[Beelzebeel]

To be fair, I feel like this would be a useful resource for people who have no clue how to build maps + no experience playing WoolWars.

However I do think the visual aids are very useful and were more helpful than reading the several paragraphs.

[IceBreaker420]

@ZombieBot1

I am a talented artist

oh thank you i understand now

[IceBreaker420]

mm yes these amoeba are very cool

[itslemonnn]

Really interesting post (and the visual aids are amazing btw). But seriously, really cool and works well as a resource for people wanting to build maps :)

[JamieDactyl]

I was thinking about making a post like this! Exactly replicates my thoughts on what makes a good map.
I do, however, have a couple of additions I’d like to make. I have taken the liberty of designing my own visual aids for this, although they are not as perfect as yours.

Building

This point doesn’t need visual aids and kind of ties in with the points made above and below. I think that the most important thing in building a Woolwars map, bar none, is playability. A lot of maps sacrifice playability for looking good and complex, and end up just being horrible to play on because they’re so cramped and full of detail.
I am truly impressed that some maps look as good as they do, however I have noticed a trend in extremely complex maps also not being too fun to play on. I think that keeping it simple is always the way to go.

Movement

Maps should be easy to move around and walls should be runnable. There are some maps on which walls surround the entire outside (apart from maybe a few places). This can be super annoying and make traveling around the map a pain.

Shape & Size

As I said above, walls should be runnable in Woolwars. I’m all for fancy shapes and I think they can be great if executed well. I am, however, against curved and sloped sides to a map as it makes them too difficult to traverse, always having to build sideways. Obviously below is an extreme example but it is still applicable:

I also find that some maps are far too big. I personally much prefer smaller maps where each player is easier to locate. It provides shorter, less boring games.

That’s all I can think of! If I do happen to come up with any other points I’ll edit my post but for now, those are all the things I’d add.

Very cool post zombie very great jawline

[beanep]

this is very very accurate and I agree completely
thank you zombie’s jawline

[calieco]

this is why we need Unspecified Fast Food Chain map in rotation!!!

[ZombieBot1]

Those are some good points! It’s funny because I had actually planned on including your points about less overhangs and smoother walls(to the point where I had drawn aids for them) but I didn’t end up adding them for fear of muddying the post. Apparently they’re important though, so I’ll add them in lol

[itslemonnn]

I definitely agree with keeping maps simple. While a lot of the new maps look amazing visually, I don’t really like playing on them. Not trying to bash the builders of these maps, but it’s definitely more enjoyable to be able to build up without bumping my head, or to wall run with nothing in the way. Some maps are just so difficult to navigate xD