Vincent Charland

DESCRIPTION:

​

• First person shooter.

• Multiplayer (PVP) game

• Made using the Valve Hammer Editor.

​

RESTRICTIONS:

​

• Solo Project

• Design an assymetrical Team Fortress 2 Map with 6v6 player combat.

• Create a map with the Capture the Flag mode in mind.

• Create a theme around the map that follows the Team Fortress universe.

• Line of sight restricted to a maximum of 50m.

• Production time allowed: 6 weeks (3 weeks in Sketchup, 3 weeks in Valve Hammer Editor)

• Development time: around 70 hrs 

​

CHALLENGES:

​

• As the first project I've done in the Valve Hammer Editor, learning the engine at the same time as making the map made me research more about how to optimise my workflow and ways to analyze how I approach things when I designed my map.

• After playtesting the map with other players, I made sure to listen to feedback to be able to adapt my map and make it more enjoyable to play.

• Maintaining a balanced gameplay while having a assymetrical map. To overcome this challenge, I gave each team advantages and disadvantages to counter what the other team had or didn't have.

• Respecting the line of sight restriction given to me when starting this project lead to be a good puzzle while trying to design a believable layout while managing room sizes and cover placement.

​​

DESIGN INTENTIONS:

​

• Play on the verticality to creative unique gameplay opportunities. Having to do an assymetrical map, I wanted to not only apply this horizontally, but also vertically. One side of the map is lower and mostly underground, while the other is higher and outside.

• In order to balance the overall verticality of the map, I gave the Blue team access to shorter and faster routes to the more important points of interest and despite their disadvantage in verticality, this will allow them to apply pressure more quickly than the Red team can.

• When designing the map, I made sure to provide opportunities for the multiple characters of the game to match their abilities:

  • Adding water areas to help counter Pyro.​

  • Exclusive shortcuts for the Scout.

  • Flank Routes for the Spy.

  • Sniping tower and windows for the Sniper.

• Inspired by western forts, farms and villages, the objective of my design was also to go well with the Team Fortress 2 universe. From the architecture to the props and decals placed on the map, these details improve the player experience.

• Respecting the line of sights restriction by adding objects to cut certain line of sights was an important aspect of my design, to make sure the player couldn't exploit any part of the layout and gain an unfair advantage. 

​

WHAT I WOULD CHANGE:

​

• If I had the opportunity to work on this project again, I would most likely change the room sizes of the blue team side of the map to avoid excessive cqc. That side of the map is a bit too chaotic in my opinion. While I do like what i came up with, I feel like the gameplay would benefit from this change and it would lead to a better player experience.