On Map Design

Currently, the zombies need to capture points to win in addition to killing all the survivors. The original purpose of capture points in the first place is to give zombies an alternative way of winning if the survivor finds a glitch in the map, a location zombies can’t reach as a soldier/demoman or just is an annoyance as a cloaked spy.

The result is that the survivors have a hard time winning due to overtime and the zombies have a conflict of interests (kill all survivors or cap the point). This bad game design and there is a solution.

The survivors become the “attackers” and the ones who go capture points. If the survivors don’t capture all the points within the time limit, they lose. This opens up a lot more gameplay options (zombie ambushes), adds suspense, encourages survivors to travel and gives survivors a better chance of winning a round.

To whoever is interested in creating a map for Zombie Fortress, there a few things you need to know:
1. The only fixed win condition is that Zombies win once all the survivors are dead.
2. Disable team switching on round end. Teams are automatically scrambled by the plugin and doing so lets players compare how many times people won as survivors and as zombies.
3. Make sure there are no places where a demoman or soldier can reach that the zombies can’t. There are exceptions if you design such a location well, but avoid it otherwise.
4. Give Zombie Scouts their own routes separate from the other Zombies.
5. Spread out the zombie spawn. Having them spawn in only one general location encourages bad behavior.
6. Keep ammo outside the capture points. Survivors need to be under pressure once they are defending and having ammo outside encourages movement.
7. Have the medpacks spread out and be small or medium varieties only.

I will on occasion post map concepts once I have more time on my hands.