- All - Solo - Co-operative - Every Man for Himself and Tag -
- King of the Hill - Kill the Man With the Ball

All Maps

• Texture Alignment
  This is a must. Your eye should never be drawn to a particular texture because of misalignment.

• Originality
  Maps must be original. They should offer more than or expand on Bungie levels. (Remakes are fine, if they expand upon the original.)

• Level Flow
  The most important part of net play is flow. Getting from one place to another should be possible by several different routes. Dead ends are usually a bad thing. All paths being forced to pass through a single bottleneck is usually a bad thing. (There are, of course, exceptions. The Coffin in Mars Needs Women is a great example of a dead end that serves more than one purpose. In general, though, dead ends and bottlenecks tend to make play more awkward.)

Solo Maps

• Ammo and Weapon Placement
  Ammunition should be placed with some thought. There needs to be enough to finish the level on Total Carnage, but not so much that when you finish (at any difficulty), there is ammo lying all around.

• Monster Placement
  Monsters should be thoughtfully placed and should vary in difficulty over the Kindergarten-Total Carnage spectrum. They should be triggered in a variety of ways, and in ways appropriate to their location. (Dropping them out of the sky just because it looks cool is not appropriate. Dropping them out of the sky because that fits into your plot is appropriate.)

• Plot
  The player should have some motivation or explanation for the mission(s). Bungie has set an extremely high standard here-it is up to third party mapmakers to try to live up to this standard.

• Realistic Puzzles
  Puzzles should not be arbitrary. Making it difficult to figure out how to open a door is fine, but requiring absurd combinations of actions in order to pass from one section to another gets old quickly. Secrets that need to be found to solve a puzzle should be hinted at-a scrap of paper on the floor, a slightly different light on a wall panel... whatever you like. Subtle is fine, but make the puzzle solvable without requiring the player to tab every wall. Bottom line-if you can't justify a series of actions from within your plotline (whether or not you actually spell out that justification in a terminal), you shouldn't be using it. Exception: secret terms. (Since these are basically bonuses for the hardcore, you're free to make these as hard to find as you like.

• Linearity
  Levels shouldn't be completely linear. There should be multiple ways to achieve the level goal, whether that means multiple routes to the final term, or the ability to collect chips in random order, or just the ability to clear sections in random order. Forcing every player to complete every action in exactly the same way is a bad thing.

Co-operative Maps

• Ammo and Weapon Placement
  Ammunition should be placed with some thought and consideration for several players. Multi-level maps should have enough weapons on each level to allow players to start where they like.

• Monster Placement
  Monsters should be challenging for several players. (This means that sometimes good Coop monster placement precludes reasonable Solo play.)

• Savvy Design
  Levels should be large enough on the micro scale to fit two players (e.g. corridors). At a minimum, passing "bulges" should be provided when level design calls for narrow corridors. Levels should also support player reincarnation (e.g. player does not get locked out after dying).

• Adequate Size
  Levels should be generally large enough for more than one player and should keep more than one player interested (e.g. Two goals (uplink chips) on Waterloo Waterpark).

• Plot
  The players should have some motivation or explanation for the mission(s).

COMMENT: Mapmakers should be aware that a good solo map doesn't necessarily make a good coop map, and vice versa. Many characteristics that make one better will make the other worse. (Large quantities of ammo, if not specified as "network only", will degrade the playability of a solo map, while making the coop version more enjoyable. A tag switch that disables a comm term can make the solo level more interesting, but destroys playability as a coop level, since any regenerated players won't be able to read it. (If the term was used to transport the player to a different, later part of the level, that's a fatal problem.) Generally speaking, although most solo levels can be played as coop levels, only those in which the designer planned for coop play will be really appropriate.

Every Man for Himself and Tag Maps

• Ammo and Weapon Placement
  Ammo should not all be concentrated in one spot, and the more powerful weapons should be harder to get. (Of course, this is general, and there are exceptions-levels designed for pure carnage might have enough weapons for everyone, indiscriminately placed, so that a big weapon is always within reach.)

• Monster Placement
  Monsters, if present, should not get in the way of the game.

• Higher Complexity
  Every Man for Himself levels should be generally more complex than King of the Hill, for example. The level should not get repetitive or boring after a while.

King of the Hill Maps

• Ammo and Weapon Placement
  Ammo should not all be concentrated in one spot, the more powerful weapons should be harder to get. The hill ammo regeneration should not provide for all of the players' weapon and ammo needs. (In other words, you should be forced to leave the hill if only for new ammo if your opponents are actually attacking you.)

• Monster Placement
  Monsters, if present, should not get in the way of the game.

• Hill Location and Environs
  Finding the hill should not be a chore (although getting on might be). The hill should not be too easy to attack from a safe position, nor should it be too easy to defend.

Kill the Man With the Ball Maps

• Hiding Places
  The Man With the Ball should be able to hide at least temporarily.

• Balance
  Neither The Man With the Ball nor the other players should have an unfair advantage due to map layout.

• Documentation
  The readme should spell out clearly where the ball can be found initially. (It's quite frustrating to run around for 5 minutes, searching for it.)

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