Placing PlayerStart

Getting the placement of the PlayerStart actors marking player starting points on a map right can be a tricky affair. If there are not enough starting points you will get players being killed by spawning players when the map first starts. If the start points are too exposed players will complain about spawn camping. Adding start positions too close to powerful weapons or power-ups will also lead to complaints from some players. In addition to this the considerations required for effective player start placement are different for each game type.

In order to avoid spawn-fragging it’s generally a good idea to add twice as many player starts as the map is designed for when possible. You might think that no-one is going to try and play your 8 player CTF map with 16 players, but you’d be wrong.

Before we get into the game specific constraints and considerations there are a few things worth remembering.

Never place a player start point next to the edge of a cliff (or other near terminal position). Sometimes momentum from a death is carried through to the spawning player. It’s annoying to spawn only to immediately fall to a messy end.
Check the orientation of your player start positions and ensure that they face sensible directions, don't make them spawn and have a wall in their face.
In team games always check the owning team of your player start. Set the team number in the PlayerStart → TeamNumber property

Deathmatch and TeamDeathmatch

Placing the playerstarts in Deathmatch is the easiest out of the other team based gametypes to do, but you have to, like the other gametypes, place them carefully. You should make the playerstart points approxamently equidistant from any power-ups in the level, like the damage amp or the big keg o' helth, as you can. Also avoid placing the playerstart points in areas of the map that see a lot of action, because that will lead to spawn killing. Try to place the playerstart points in cover, such as girders, if you can. The more playerstart positions you have, the better as this makes spawn camping that much harder. Also it adds more diversity to the level.

Capture the Flag

Start positions for CTF games must be placed carefully, and, if at all possible, symmetrically for each team. It is important that respawning players can get back into the action quickly, especially if they have just been killed defending the flag. Be wary of putting player start positions too close to the middle of the map. It can make escaping with the flag incredibly difficult if you have to kill any given defender three times before you reach the center of the map. As a general rule of thumb it's a good idea to keep the central area clear of player start points. It's also worth only placing start points in the "back" 3/4 of a base.

Possibly the best examples of poor start point placement in CTF games come from the "Face" series. Face placed players in full view of enemy snipers, miles away from any real weapons or ammo. Face][ has a number of start points at the bottom of not one but two very slow lifts. Not only does it make getting back into the game extremely slow, but it also means that other spawning players can "steal" the lift from players already waiting. Face3 (of UT2003 fame) has players respawn in "Pods". The problem with this is that if you get killed after the enemy team has grabbed your flag you are effectively out of the game. You will find it extremely hard to catch up to the enemy flag carrier. In the unlikely event that you do manage to catch the flag carrier you'll have not had time to collect anything to help you dispose of them.

Double Domination

The Double Domination game type is perhaps the hardest gametype to place player starts for. The nature of the game type inherently encourages spawn camping - it's way easier to hold control points if you can kill the enemy team when they are vulnerable (ie. have no weapons after respawning). There needs to be enough start points that spawn camping is difficult, but not so many that the map becomes unbalanced.

All start points must be equidistant (as much as the map structure allows) from the control points. It is reasonable to place one set of player starts near one control point, and another set of player starts near another. However, if you do this, make sure that both sets are the same distance away from their closest control point.

How close you place the start points to the control points will very much determine the pace of the game. If you want a fast paced game where it's very hard to score then move the player start points closer to the control points. If you want a slower paced game with more scoring then move the player starts away from the control points. It is suggested that it should take a minimum of 3 seconds to reach a control point from a player start, and a maximum of 9 seconds.

Bombing Run

The Bombing Run game type is one of the easier game types to place player starts for. This is because the spawn point use is more consistent due to the player reset after each round. The spawn points for each of the teams should be equidistant from the ball starting position. Giving one team an advantage by having them able to get to the ball faster (or get more players to the ball faster) will dramatically unbalance the gameplay.

Never place player start points next to a bombing run goal. Instead place them a little way away or off to one side. You should try and avoid an attacker coming under fire immediately from a player they have just killed should they be in sight of the goal. Having said that, there should be a couple of player start points reasonably close to the goal mouth to allow the goal keepers to get back into position reasonably quickly.

Player start positions should also be placed reasonably close to mid and low power weapons. It's fine to make players do a bit of extra work to get to the rocket launcher (or other powerful weapons) but don't force them to run around with the Assault Rifle for an age.

Try not to place start points along the main routes to the goal mouth. It will make scoring very difficult. Sometimes this is unavoidable, simply because of the structure of the map, but if it can be avoided it's worth doing. Consider starting players in side rooms away from the main areas of conflict.

Domination