The planning phase is an elementary part of Due Process. It's the start of every round and lasts 80 seconds. This might sound like a lot but when you have to analyze the new map, create a plan with your teammates, and grab your gear, 80 seconds can fly past very quickly. This can make the planning phase very intense. Not only do you have to be quick, but the plan you create must also be a good one. If your opponents have a superior one, you are at a severe disadvantage even before the first shot has been fired.
The Tools
Since the planning phase is so important to Due Process, we want to make sure you have the best tools available to you:
Different Views
You can view the map in two different modes:
In the planning-view, you can see a gray-scale blueprint of the map. Doors and objectives have vibrant colors and are thus easy to spot. It's easy to identify the different paths through the building.
The satellite-view is a fully colored 3D presentation of the map. It shows more details than the planning-view and thus makes it easy to imagine how the rooms will look in first-person.
Drawing
Every player can draw lines on the map that only members of their team can see. While this is useful just to have in map view, it gets even better: These drawings are also visible in first-person, where they appear as bright lines on the ground. If you draw clear paths during the planning phase, you can easily follow them during execution and don't have to look at the map every time you are unsure about which path to take. They are also useful to highlight dangerous areas or prompt equipment usage.
Pucks
Every player on your team is represented on the map as a little puck. Below a puck is a nameplate and little icons showing what gear the player has equipped. Each player can only move their own puck, and they have different meanings for the two teams:
For the attackers, the pucks act as waypoints. You put them where you want to go, and during the execution phase your puck will create a bright yellow beacon only visible for you.
For the defenders, the pucks are even more important. While the attackers always spawn out of their truck, the defenders spawn wherever they put their puck. Do you want to hold storefront? Put your puck in the teller room. Do you want to hide in a toilet stall? Put your puck in the bathroom.
Other Ideas
We have more ideas for useful tools that may make an appearance in the future. Which of these do you think would be the most useful? Do you have other ideas?
More Colors
Right now all players on one team use the same color (blue for attackers, red for defenders). This makes it difficult to tell which of your teammates just drew that line leading to certain death. We could give every player their own tint of their respective team-color. I.e. the attackers would get 5 different shades of blue, while the defenders paint the map in different tones of red. We will have to carefully balance the colors in such that they are easy to tell apart but don't conflict with any other colors used in the map view.
Equipment Icons
In an older build, we had icons you could place on the map to indicate where to use equipment. Instead of say, drawing an F on the map to show where you want a flash-bang, you could just place the flash-bang icon. This makes it easier and faster to communicate your ideas to your allies.
Pings
A lot of times we find ourselves drawing circles or lines on the part of the map we are talking about. “You see this choke point? This is the perfect place for an ambush.” To not clutter the map with pointless drawings, we usually erase them mere seconds later. Wouldn't it be nice to have a ping instead? It draws attention to the exact point you are talking about and disappears all by itself. Neat.
Your Turn!
Excited for planning? Good, let's get to it! Here is a map for you to draw on:
You are on the attacking team and can bring whatever equipment you like. So grab your favorite drawing tool and get to it! You can approach this in different ways: you could use a single color just to make a rough plan on the fly, as if in-game (maybe even set yourself a timer). Alternatively, go full detail, use different colors and icons, and come up with the most elaborate plan possible. Or do anything in between, whatever seems the most fun to you!
I want to see your creations, so share them with the community either on reddit in the comments below this post or in the Discord-channel #the-map. I will highlight some of the results in the next blog post.
Looking forward to your creations,
th_pion