map: DRYDOCK
For Drydock, I was in charge of refining the design based upon a napkin sketch provided to me. Our Creative Director wanted a figure eight style map - from there I flushed out the layout and themed it around an under-construction warship to tie the long corridor layout to a narrative and account for players being able to transition into combat both inside and outside of the ship.
From the initial concept, I took the map into a greybox design. There I setup all the walls and used BSP to block out the exterior of the ship for the artists to use as reference. Finally, we worked heavily on performance - as the two long corridors made it a nightmare to reach our 60 FPS goal. We ended up having to minimize prop use in the exterior and cut down on a lot of the bells and whistles we had wanted to put in - but ultimately it was for the best and the map turned out ot be a crowd favorite.
The crossover paths - one at each spawn point at either end of the map and one in the middle - allow players to move between the interior portions and exterior portions of the map quickly. The exterior corridor was open and provided players with ample room to boost, strafe and maneuver while avoiding sniper fire from across the way. The interior was a close quarters battle area that favored shotguns and small arms that could get off rounds quickly. The result was a chaotic and fun mix of players using strategy and various weapons types to push forward into the center and attempt to hold it to gain map superiority.
As level designer for Drydock, I was in charge of the design, greybox, navigation mesh creation, sound implementation and assisted in performance optimizations.
For Drydock, I was in charge of refining the design based upon a napkin sketch provided to me. Our Creative Director wanted a figure eight style map - from there I flushed out the layout and themed it around an under-construction warship to tie the long corridor layout to a narrative and account for players being able to transition into combat both inside and outside of the ship.
From the initial concept, I took the map into a greybox design. There I setup all the walls and used BSP to block out the exterior of the ship for the artists to use as reference. Finally, we worked heavily on performance - as the two long corridors made it a nightmare to reach our 60 FPS goal. We ended up having to minimize prop use in the exterior and cut down on a lot of the bells and whistles we had wanted to put in - but ultimately it was for the best and the map turned out ot be a crowd favorite.
The crossover paths - one at each spawn point at either end of the map and one in the middle - allow players to move between the interior portions and exterior portions of the map quickly. The exterior corridor was open and provided players with ample room to boost, strafe and maneuver while avoiding sniper fire from across the way. The interior was a close quarters battle area that favored shotguns and small arms that could get off rounds quickly. The result was a chaotic and fun mix of players using strategy and various weapons types to push forward into the center and attempt to hold it to gain map superiority.
As level designer for Drydock, I was in charge of the design, greybox, navigation mesh creation, sound implementation and assisted in performance optimizations.
map: PAYLOAD
Payload was an original design themed along the interior of a ship similar to that seen in Drydock - however this ship was actively dropping ordinance upon the Earth below. I wanted to make a corkscrew style design that made use of our jetpack combat in a way we had not done in previous maps. The over-under design ended up making for fast paced and exciting battles for fans of shotguns and close quarters weapons while still providing enough corridors to give long ranged weapon lovers a place to play.
As level designer, I was in charge of the initial design, greybox, navigation mesh creation, effects scripting, audio implementation and assisted in performance optimizations working alongside the art team to hit our 60FPS goal. However, similar to Drydock, getting Payload to a full 60FPS was a bit of a challenge. The map was essentially one long corridor split up by small structural supports - making it difficult to get vvis to not draw props from across the way. We also had much more effects designed for this map - the bombs dropping to the Earth below and the various cannons on the front end of the ship firing outward all made it that much tougher.
Payload was an original design themed along the interior of a ship similar to that seen in Drydock - however this ship was actively dropping ordinance upon the Earth below. I wanted to make a corkscrew style design that made use of our jetpack combat in a way we had not done in previous maps. The over-under design ended up making for fast paced and exciting battles for fans of shotguns and close quarters weapons while still providing enough corridors to give long ranged weapon lovers a place to play.
As level designer, I was in charge of the initial design, greybox, navigation mesh creation, effects scripting, audio implementation and assisted in performance optimizations working alongside the art team to hit our 60FPS goal. However, similar to Drydock, getting Payload to a full 60FPS was a bit of a challenge. The map was essentially one long corridor split up by small structural supports - making it difficult to get vvis to not draw props from across the way. We also had much more effects designed for this map - the bombs dropping to the Earth below and the various cannons on the front end of the ship firing outward all made it that much tougher.
map: STRONGHOLD
Stronghold is a "U" design where players from opposing teams start on the same side of the map and meet for combat in the center. Themed around a Paladin base under siege by Variant forces, each side is separated by a barrier that players can shoot through until they are able to cross over to the other side in the middle. Stronghold was designed to be very open with small offshoot paths along the outside to facilitate flanking - as it favors long range weapons such as sniper rifles.
As level designer, I was in charge of the initial design, greybox, navigation mesh creation, effects scripting, audio implementation and assisted in performance optimizations.
Stronghold is a "U" design where players from opposing teams start on the same side of the map and meet for combat in the center. Themed around a Paladin base under siege by Variant forces, each side is separated by a barrier that players can shoot through until they are able to cross over to the other side in the middle. Stronghold was designed to be very open with small offshoot paths along the outside to facilitate flanking - as it favors long range weapons such as sniper rifles.
As level designer, I was in charge of the initial design, greybox, navigation mesh creation, effects scripting, audio implementation and assisted in performance optimizations.
maps: FINANCIAL
Financial is themed around a Paladin government building under siege from Variant forces. Players start on opposite sides of the arena and meet up in either the upper corridor or the lower arena which favors close quarters combat. Unlike previous maps, Financial had no ceiling or wall cover making the transitions from upper to lower areas of the map quicker and encounters more numerous.
As level designer, I was in charge of the initial design, greybox, navigation mesh creation, effects scripting, audio implementation and assisted in performance optimizations.
Financial is themed around a Paladin government building under siege from Variant forces. Players start on opposite sides of the arena and meet up in either the upper corridor or the lower arena which favors close quarters combat. Unlike previous maps, Financial had no ceiling or wall cover making the transitions from upper to lower areas of the map quicker and encounters more numerous.
As level designer, I was in charge of the initial design, greybox, navigation mesh creation, effects scripting, audio implementation and assisted in performance optimizations.
