I consider each genmat type to be a test of the player's mastery of that subject.
And I try to build my outposts accordingly.
I've built 2 of each so far. My first five (my "early work") are one of each, and my second five (my "later work") are also one of each. I'll put the earlier one first and the more recent one second.
Guard
I consider a Test of Guard to be a test of the player's ability to engage in combat with guards and outplay them. I typically build battle arenas and make you run-and-gun until you win.
- Tega Cay (The first I ever built, and still one of my favorites.)
- Lava Hot Springs (This one sucks because I was experimenting with making guards patrol around, which I usually don't do. A lot of players get lost once they killed the guards though!)
Weapon
I consider a Test of Weapon to be a test of your ability to shoot stuff and kill things. Similar to a Test of Guard, I typically make a battle arena. But with Guard, I tend to make you run and gun, whereas with Weapon, I tend to send waves at you and make you kill them before they get you.
- Flat Rock (just sends waves at you and even lets you camp the outside. And yet weirdly has the highest kills and KDR I've ever gotten: 525 and 4.3, when the game was more active.)
- Fox Lake (I intended to make this another wave survival, but it wound up being just a good solid battle arena that gets lots of kills.)
(Both of these are among my favorites.)
Trap
I consider a Test of Trap to be a test of the player's ability to react to surprise situations. In a Test of Trap, I don't just put a bunch of sneaky traps in it. I put encounters that get sprung on them, and they have to survive it.
- Sandwich (One of my favorites. Has some of the best encounters I've made so far.)
- Horn Lake
Suit
I consider a Test of Suit to be a test of the player's mobility/agility, and maybe even their knowledge and awareness. For this, I like to build obstacle courses and test their ability to keep active and moving during a stressful situation.
- Joshua Tree (One of my favorites. A real test of your awareness and ability to keep moving!)
- Lehighton (This one wound up becoming a more traditional "just get through this place without dying", but players always wind up trying to scale the tower using their grapples while the enforcers are shooting at them, which accidentally fits this theme really well!)
Gear
So far I haven't actually built anything I consider a "Test of Gear". I consider a Test of Gear to be a test of the player's ability to remember that their equipment exists, and use the right gear for the job, at the right time. I imagine this will be clumping stuff up to make a good place to throw a grenade, but I don't really have any other ideas.
My two maps that generated Gear genmat just wound up being traditional "go through this place without dying" types of maps.
- Sandpoint
- Wheatfields (I may have subconsciously made this a Test of Gear without realizing it, because once you know what will get you, a grenade toss will save you in later runs.)
Also: 99% of the time, I incorporate the Tombs into the design. The only one I didn't was Wheatfields because it's right out front anyway.
You can see all of them by searching up my name: Amaroq64
I just bought 5 more maps of the new DLC area, and I will be designing those according to these themes too. :)
Comments
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I like your mindset and dedication to genmat types. Looking forward to your new maps/challenges! I find your description of guard and Weapon to be the most fun at least for me
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