Brand Themed FPS Level
Academic
Greybox of a capture the flag level for the game Unreal Tournament, using the Unreal Editor. Specifically, it was themed to fit one of four chosen mass media franchises to (in addition to the level design work) introduce students to the nuances of working for an existing IP.
Brand Choice:
Given that my professor at the time had worked on The Simpsons Hit and Run game, and as a bit of a challenge to myself, I choose the Simpsons. The map is based on the episode Lemon of Troy (in which Bart and an assortment of friends venture into the eerily mirrored neighboring town of Shelbyville to retrieve a stolen lemon tree), in order to justify the highly symmetrical, or more specifically; precisely balanced, nature of the map required for a capture the flag level. One side of the map represents Shelbyville, the other Springfield.
Considerations and More Details on the Map:
Considerations were taken to calculate the optimal amount of entrances and exits on any given area of the map, dependent on team size, to allow for a variety of escape routes once the enemy team had the flag in hand. Steps were taken to minimize the chance of 0-0 games, or situations in which team re-spawns are poorly placed in comparison to the flag, creating dead lock gameplay within the immediate area of the flag. The weapon, health, and armor spawns are (of course) all semi-symmetrically or systemically balanced, and entice players to explore different routes throughout the map, without prioritizing one meta/route to or from the flag. The aggregate of the map layout was careful considered, so as not to bottle neck any particular area without reason (i.e. sight lines + cover in that area promoting an intentionally likely area a fight to break out).
I feel I achieved a strong balance between suggesting how the level was meant to look, (given that the project was only a grey box), and most importantly, not eating up copious time fussing over the art and visuals to the determent of the rest of the project. Both teacher and student reactions to the level were enthusiastic and positive. I really did have an absolute blast with this project.
