Design readings

The first place i went was to http://www.worldofleveldesign.com/. This is an excellent site offering tips on the whole process of creating your own level. I'll come back to this site and where it helped me out later. The page i was interested in at the start of the project though, was this;

http://www.worldofleveldesign.com/categories/level_design_tutorials/how_to_plan_your_next_map/how_to_plan_your_next_map.php.

This goes through the basic workflow of a level/map creation pipeline. It details steps such as generating ideas, and gathering reference photos, steps which i had already been through.It also highlighted to importance of generating top down views and sketching locations from your map. Before i could do this though, i needed to analyse my previous greybox and decide what was wrong, and what needed to be improved. For this i went over my floorplans, and found readings on map design principles and hints and tips on how to set up the flow of your level. Again, worldofleveldesign.com came in very handy here. Here are a few very useful pages which i used when thinking about my new layout.

https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/TF2_Design_Theory#CTF_-_Capture_The_Flag
http://praliedutzel.wordpress.com/2010/07/28/tips-tricks-making-ctf-maps/
http://bit7.org/quake/mirrors/team3/CTFMapGuide.html

Of particualar interest was the last link, although talking about Quake and some of its unique gameplay features, it discussed and listed several compenents which he tries to stick to while designing his levels;

• Distinct bases.  A wide open field with 2 flags in it may be considered (by some) a CTF map, but it won't be much fun to play.  Having two separate areas for each base normally works the best.
• Flag rooms.  While there are some maps that really don't have a flag room per say, most maps have something they consider to be a flag room.  The goal is to have something for defenders to defend -- instead of a huge base they concentrate on a smaller flag room.
• Choke point(s).  The best maps being played right now have at least 1 choke point.  Simply put a choke point is like a funnel -- players coming from various rooms are "funneled" through a specific area of the map.  There can be several of these, but it's best to not have too many.  Having 10 distinct, separate hallways between bases will frustrate defenders and after a while there will be nobody left but flag runners.  If you want a lot of action, limit the choke points.
• Alternating paths.  One popular technique is to inter-link the paths out of a base -- that is have 2 paths out of a base join together at some point.  This doesn't have to be a choke point, but rather a hall or hole in roof/floor etc.  This offers both flag carriers and defenders a way to change their path in/out of a base (useful to lose defenders, or intercept the FC).   Be careful to not have too many or you'll end up with a maze.
• 3-D.  Quake2 is a 3d game so take advantage of this and go vertical as well as horizontal in your map designs.

So, with these articles in mind i started work on drawing floor plans!