Cypher Level- Gardens of Eden

So just to recap my previous post, I took inspiration from a lot of popular symmetrical maps with some interesting map elements in order to make my map a little interesting. Those maps included Ilios from Overwatch, Pantheon from Destiny and Double Cross from Team Fortress 2!

Originally, I decided to use Pantheon as a heavy source of inspiration but for me, the one directionality of that map made it feel like it read (and from player experience as well) too left to right. So I decided to start with Pantheon and make my map based on what I like about it. Admittedly, my fairly big lack of experience with level design kicked in and I was forced to rethink some things based on some feedback I got from friends. Here is the old map:

So about the level a little first- the general idea was to divide the page into two spawns and then a north side and a south side towards the center. I wanted the aesthetic to be a sort of combination between Blood Gulch in Halo and Pantheon from Destiny. The north side has a horseshoe elevated area with a spire and great vantage points and the south side has a warehouse meant to encourage more fast-paced CQC engagements and pushes into the console (since that’s where I want the majority of team fights and engagements happening).

Spire is interesting actually because of how its constructed. The inside back half can be entered from horseshoe on the 2F, but the real estate there is very small- it’s just basically continuing the horseshoe bridge. The advantage here though is the verticality and also the vantage point you get from here. You will technically be able to shoot out of spire top via windows. Spire bot plays an interesting role given its an enclose space very close to console. I want players to use this as a way of ganking, hiding, and also to counter the vantage point that is spire top! I want a player to be able to lob a grenade while sitting in spire bot to spire top to get a frag!

Based on some feedback I realized this level, while it does have some interesting points to it, it doesn’t think about sightlines and chokepoints at all! For example, in terms of balance, you won’t have a good grip on where a sniper or a long-range character can shoot from due to how low risk their positioning is. Giving a sniper a vantage point that covers the entire map would not be a good idea. On a similar vein (although not shown in the above example) having too many tight spaces and too much-closed cover can give a CQC player a hefty advantage when it comes to engagements because of how fast they can get in your face and deal damage.

In this map, horseshoe essentially became that vantage point that could see everywhere- if you sat on the stairs of horseshoe, you can see practically everywhere including the spawn. Sitting in spire top gives you sights down into the back of the warehouse as well. Another example of a poor sightline would be the doors near the warehouse. The warehouse was supposed to serve as a CQC alley/engagement arena that allowed players to have interactions that funneled into console eventually. What I didn’t realize is, with the way it is above, sitting outside double doors with a sniper gives you a complete lane lock to practically the other spawn.

Now spawn killing and bad sightlines aside(since its fairly obvious how bad those are), the other issue with this is how poorly we felt space was utilized. The warehouse is one big room with tunnels attached to it that funnel players in from spawn. Being inside warehouse doesn’t give us a very interesting interaction either- its just two boxes on either side used for cover. So with these in mind, I remade the map to look a little more like this.

Here the biggest effort I put in was trying to visualize those sight lines a little better. The vantage point from horseshoe is now blocked by the spire building itself so a player cannot sit on horseshoe stairs and pick people of in their spawn. Extending the spire building also gave spire bot some more real estate to work with rather than just being a kill box area- now I can use that area to make it something interesting if it required it. The increase real estate also means more people can be in it at once without being body blocked making it a great for pinching the enemy.

The obvious change is how the spawns were reworked- I made it more enclosed so there’s less chances for players to get picked off directly from spawn. The corridors/tunnels not only make it easy to get to a specific destination quick, but the curvature also gives you a little bit of padding coming out and peeking from spawn. This is important since I want the player to have their spawn on lock down and have a definite advantage on home turf. From the opposite way, it’s hard to look into the enemy spawn via the tunnels since they’re curved.

The last part of this is the warehouse. I shrunk the initial design for warehouse and still kept it as the central room, however I also compartmentalized the entire space and make it so that CQC players would have a field day here and could capitalize on their optimal range. Not only does it give CQC players a place to hide and be powerful, it’s also a powerful entrance into console since there’s a hefty bit of cover leading there.

One thing to note however, I did leave the sight line from spire top to back of warehouse in because I felt that it is a really good scouting point. I see a couple scenarios- Two of the team members are fighting in warehouse with enemies. A well positioned splinter sniper could prove the difference and I wanted that to be a viable strategy. The other- there is cover in warehouse but just seeing action as a sniper sometimes helps the game feel fast paced even if you aren’t always taking pot shots. It helps the gameplay for the camping sniper feel interesting because at least he/she can narrate information. To make the map, I used Unity’s ProBuilder plugin to model these assets in engine. All in all, I had a harder time with this than expected and it’s nowhere near perfect just yet since I haven’t played the game on it to fully test it! It’s still a work in progress and I am always open to feedback! Here’s a quick preview

-Kshaya