Placing zones on the map

Placing the map is the one bit of setup unique to a real-world game engine. A game’s zones are authored abstractly; you anchor them to an actual place.

Local meters vs. the real world

Game authors describe zones in a local meters frame — x is east, y is north, both in meters from the layout’s origin. A play area might be authored as a 300 m × 200 m rectangle centered on (0, 0). That’s deliberately location-independent: the same game works in any park.

When you place a placeable zone, the engine projects that meters geometry onto real latitude/longitude at the spot you choose. Resizing scales it; the game’s relative layout (a hill in the middle, two bases at the ends) is preserved.

Placeable and required

• Placeable zones are the ones you position. They get a Place / Re-place control in the console. Most games have exactly one placeable parent.
• Required zones (and points) gate the start: the game refuses to begin until they’re placed and actually have geometry. The pre-flight checklist names any that are missing.

Nested layouts move together

Zones nest. A child zone is positioned relative to its parent, so when you place the parent, the children drop in with it and move/scale rigidly as one unit. This is how most multi-zone games work:

• Capture the Flag — one Play Area; Blue Base, Red Base, and both flag points auto-place inside it. You drop one zone.
• King of the Hill — one Play Area with The Hill nested in the middle.
• Pirate’s Booty — one Treasure Island; the two ships straddle opposite corners and ride along when you move or stretch the island.

So even a rich layout is usually a single drag.

Exclusions (cutouts)

Some zones include exclusion shapes — cutouts that subtract from the zone. Players standing in a cutout count as outside the zone, and item spawns avoid it. Pirate’s Booty, for example, punches the ship footprints out of Treasure Island so loot never spawns on top of a ship. You don’t place exclusions separately; they’re part of the layout.

Points and annotations

• Points are single named spots (a flag spawn, a goal). Many auto-place with their parent zone; a few games may ask you to drop one.
• Annotations are decorations — lines, arrows, labels — you can draw to brief your players (“start here”, “no-go area”). They have no gameplay effect.

Sizing it right

The size of the play space changes how a game feels:

• Bigger areas favor runners and hiders, make tagging harder, and reward stamina. Good for Zombie, Sardines, Assassin.
• Smaller areas create fast, frantic, high-contact games. Good for a quick round of Tag or a tense King of the Hill.
• Some games declare a minimum area and won’t start if you place them too small — the console will say so.

A reasonable default for most games is a soccer-field-ish area; scale up for bigger groups.

Editing rules vs. live play

You can freely reshape and reposition zones before you start (and while paused). Once a game is started, the layout is generally locked so the field doesn’t shift under players’ feet — pause first if you need to adjust.

Common mistakes

• Forgot a required zone. Start is blocked; check the checklist.
• Placed it over a road or a pond. The engine doesn’t know what’s safe — pick sensible ground. (See safety.)
• Too small. Either the game blocks you (min area) or it just plays badly.
• Reshaping after start. Pause first.