Bending Arena Design Guide

[Chaoz]

Link to Google Doc

 

[Gamzee]

Nice write-up! Finding a good balance of water sources is always a challenge, especially when trying to blend it into a natural looking landscape. I'll have to try out making a more prominent river.

Any specific advice you have for 1v1 arenas? That's mostly what I get into nowadays on my server

 

[Chaoz]

Nice write-up! Finding a good balance of water sources is always a challenge, especially when trying to blend it into a natural looking landscape. I'll have to try out making a more prominent river.

Any specific advice you have for 1v1 arenas? That's mostly what I get into nowadays on my server

Thank you!
Where rivers and ponds don't suffice, alternative sources such as plants, bushes, snow, etc. does.

Good question in regards to 1v1 arenas. If you take a look at the way most servers do them, they're usually a square shape. In my experience this has some flaws when it comes to increasing engagement in a fight, as it allows players for more leeway than if the arena was a rectangle. Leeway is good when you're making a big main arena for large FFAs, that's where squares and circles aren't bad at all. But, when it comes to 1v1 arenas, you want the shape to be uneven to lessen the amount of leeway. I'll explain why in a bit.

Here's a 1v1 arena I made long ago for Air vs Air


The arena is a 62x95 rectangle. Why specifically those numbers?
... -Well, on my config 1 airblast = 30 blocks. So for example if a player chooses to go to the right from where they spawn, they can only go 1 blast to the side. If they then try to go from that side to the opposite side on the left from their spawnpoint, they'll need to do 2 blasts. If instead of going to the sides they go forwards, it'll take them 2 blasts to slightly beyond the center, and 3 blasts to their opponent's spawn point. Here's a visual: (the two dotted arrows are the length of 2 blasts. They're both the same length)

There's a natural inclination to go where there is more space ahead. If that space is in front of you, you will find yourself naturally being gravitated to that area. 1 blast will take them just to the start of the center area marked in blue, from there they're just barely out of each other's reach. A further blast transgressing that indicates aggression/hostility. If any one of them goes to the center, they will be well within the reach of their opponent at the side of the blue area. Notice the area is also given a distinct pattern which aids in being able to tell the distance apart from oneself and the opponent.


Earlier I mentioned leeway. What's that? Leeway is essentially spots that give the players free space to recollect themselves away from the center of the fight. But if you go too far from the center and past the leeway area, you go into different danger zones where you're limiting yourself and giving your opponent more options. I.e a corner for example is a "Red zone" which means it's dangerous. Any side of an arena would be a "Yellow zone" which means risky. Here's a visual of that:

I've also added blue for "Leeway zone" and green for "Center/Main Fighting zone".
Here's where the arena's shape comes into play. If it were a square or a circle, the leeway zone would be exactly identical (which means more options for the player to stall), whereas here the leeway zone isn't. Here the leeway zone is longer horizontally than it's vertically. This further encourages the player to play on the horizontal plane (which is longer) rather than the vertical one (which is shorter) and since the player's back will be to a risky zone, it means there's a pull towards the center of the arena. An even square or circle leeway zone encourages the player to play there, and then it becomes a race of going around in circles ad nauseum. Prolonging the fight, worsening its depth, and gets more tiring in the long-run over the course of many fights - over the alternative which is quick, higher quality fight, more fruitful & hence fun.

And finally, where the broader leeway zone intersects with the slimmer leeway zone, you can see a darker blue zone. That is where players tend to go to the most to recollect themselves. If it were a square and the leeway zone all equal, this darker blue zone wouldn't be born. But by it being there, the players can use it to their advantage; predicting where their opponent will go and then attacking them there before they reach it once they know that the opponent is about to retreat and recollect themselves.


I hope you and other server owners may be able to extract out of this information to help in future arena making.

If you've got any more questions I'm easier to contact thru discord @shaozard

 

[Chaoz]

Here's the blueprint I made for Ethereal's 2v2 tournament arena a couple of months ago. This was a very basic, rough design put together in a matter of minutes, but the principles applied in it makes it work better than most arenas, and this is for all elements.