:pancakes:
Inkling
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2024
- Messages
- 14
it's no secret that splatoon 3's stage design is not great. things are definitely better now than at launch, but not great. i think i've figured out why, and to explain i need to talk about tf2.
in tf2, there's a thing that happens in most matches collectively called "the pub push", where during the final minute of the game, most of the players will suddenly start focusing on the objective and progress will start to be made. in a video i watched the other day, the youtuber talked about how this is emblamatic of how tf2 is designed to trick players into being good team mates for doing selfish things. tf2 players can be surprisingly decent at teamwork despite the fact that tf2's voice chat is rarely used, and it's even rarer for it to be used for the match.
i think the map design in splatoon 3 is a poor attempt at the same thing. i think what the developers were trying to do is create that unintentional teamwork. by funneling every player into the singular path forward, the devs have done their best to ensure that you'll probably be near your team mates. this creates more opportunities for you to be a good teammate without even trying. the problem is that this approach doesn't work.
the first problem is that in enviroments where intentional, communicated teamwork is possible such as in competitive matches, these invisible guidelines should ideally have no effect. but the limited map design does have an effect, it hinders players. the second problem is that the map design doesn't actually do a very good job of forcing players into being good teammates to begin with. an important part of team play is engaging an enemy from multiple angles, which you cant really do in these maps. so while everyone is crammed into the same area and should hypothetically be helping their teammates, there still isn't really a good way to engage in team play intentionally or not.
what do yall think of this? agree, disagree? id especially like to hear from people who disagree so i can refine my theory!
in tf2, there's a thing that happens in most matches collectively called "the pub push", where during the final minute of the game, most of the players will suddenly start focusing on the objective and progress will start to be made. in a video i watched the other day, the youtuber talked about how this is emblamatic of how tf2 is designed to trick players into being good team mates for doing selfish things. tf2 players can be surprisingly decent at teamwork despite the fact that tf2's voice chat is rarely used, and it's even rarer for it to be used for the match.
i think the map design in splatoon 3 is a poor attempt at the same thing. i think what the developers were trying to do is create that unintentional teamwork. by funneling every player into the singular path forward, the devs have done their best to ensure that you'll probably be near your team mates. this creates more opportunities for you to be a good teammate without even trying. the problem is that this approach doesn't work.
the first problem is that in enviroments where intentional, communicated teamwork is possible such as in competitive matches, these invisible guidelines should ideally have no effect. but the limited map design does have an effect, it hinders players. the second problem is that the map design doesn't actually do a very good job of forcing players into being good teammates to begin with. an important part of team play is engaging an enemy from multiple angles, which you cant really do in these maps. so while everyone is crammed into the same area and should hypothetically be helping their teammates, there still isn't really a good way to engage in team play intentionally or not.
what do yall think of this? agree, disagree? id especially like to hear from people who disagree so i can refine my theory!