Before you can even THINK about raising your architectural masterpiece into a voxel combat simulator, you must first place the edges of your walls to create a planning foundation. This allows you to think about other objects in relation to the building, which is important if you plan to carefully orchestrate combat into how you need it.


Without this, anything else you do is a matter of estimates, not solid planning.

Small doors to buildings may seem cool asthetically, but in reality most people don't just just barge down a door, they treat it as a solid block. Those that do open doors are equally likely to cut into a wall to get to where they're going. As a promising map maker you (ought to) find that unacceptable. No one will appreciate the work you spent on interior if they don't go inside.

A simple thing to do is, instead, provide them with open entrances without doors. Open entrances entice people to go inside.

A nice big door entices people in, but now they're stuck in a deathtrap building with only one way out. Since the building can not be used to direct the flow of players, it becomes useless anyway because it doesn't lead anywhere.

Placing multiple entrances and exits in a building allows a corridor of useful navigation, thus giving basic integration into the map.


Now the building can be accessed from multiple points, simutaneously providing conventional exits as well.

Note that an exit doesn't nessicarily mean an entrance too (conventionally). For instance, a balcony or even an artificial crater in the wall can give interesting ways out.

Most players won't take the narrow cluttered route if they could help it. This limits their speed and mobility in combat. So unless this clutter is integral in combat (I.E. a makeshift piece of cover) do not allow it to get in players' ways.

Nice 3 wide halls can suffice, but this is where creative architecture comes in.


In this example the pillars provide natural cover while giving sufficient room to move, while the stone cover sets are placed in strategic areas that don't take much from the combat. Give a balance of mobility and cover in your buildings; this is what seperates a good map from a bad one.

The only sure way to get people to use every bit of your building is to give every bit purpose.

Not every room in your building will be made up of halls leading to exits, in fact you'll have some rooms that don't really lead anywhere. Why use those rooms?

The obvious answer here is to make them defensive points. Give these rooms places to fire outwards outside for maximum effectiveness.

Remember the top-right room that seemed to serve no purpose? I gave it purpose.


It now serves as a fire port from within the structure, and the balcony gives a sniping spot as well as an exit (Check Code 3) making it a pretty useful room. (Windows subsequently provide lighting in the room, too!)

The building itself isn't the complete solution to under-utilization. People need reason to be in there.


Here's the complete structure that followed all the Codes. But Codes alone won't solve all the problems. It needs purpose, to be strategically placed in an area that could use it.

For instance, this could be great for a plantation style map as the focal point to take, due to its defensive capabilities. Or it could be placed by a crossroads that itself has minimal cover. The rest is up to you.

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=307872929

This map is an example of buildings with strategic purpose: to avoid the openness of the roads.

You are now hereby educated with the Building Codes. Use this newfound knowledge to to create maps with useful structures. I look foward to a time of maps that properly utilize an otherwise under-utilized element.

Block and Load.