Nathanaël DUSSAUD
Level Designer Junior
MW2 Map
The game
Genre : FPS
Developer : Alone
Time to do it : 1 month
Pitch :
This map is a multiplayer map for the game MW2, who take place in a shopping center between the Task 141 and the Spetsnaz. This map will be available in all the mode.
General Informations
Unity
Visio
Word
Premiere
C#
Probuilder
Softwares used
What I have done
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Create the 2D layout
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Create the entire LD in 3D
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Make the LDD
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Programming some feature to test the map (fire, switch between characters, Spawn, Ladder)
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Test it and change it
Preparation
I started by taking three maps in reference, to help me to realize my map
Highrise
Favela
Terminal
Then I made some diagram to show the zone most in conflict or less. With the safe spot. To show in the COD franchise, you need to feel the conflict everywhere in the map. Because the maps are smaller compare to the battlefield map for example
Case Study
I made a case study to prove that I know the game very well but also to show that there are some codes for the Call of duty' maps. Here is some examples from my case study.
In all the COD' maps, there are some corridors in straight line, to provoke duels at any distance. There are also useful as shortcut, to go from a point A to a point B.
I also show some metrics to play with when I created the verticality of my Level. Because it's really important to take in count when the character will take fall damages for example.
Because the COD' map work with the verticality, we have to think about how can we reach each floor quick. Sometime to go up they will use stairs, ladder. And it's the same to go down, you can take ladder, stairs. But sometime, you have a "platform" to go faster between floor and decrease/avoid the fall damages.
Here is just the part of my document which talk about the case study.
The beginning of the map
After that I made the metrics of my wall. Furthermore, in my version the windows aren't breakable but if a final version will exist, they will be breakable.
I made a list of the places we saw in the COD franchise. More on MW2 of course, but I had the chance to have several opus behind this one.
For my map I want to make a medium map not already done. I wanted to also use a visited place because the visited places aren’t so accurate in MW2. I didn’t want to do an industrial area (a factory for example or a construction site) or an urban area (not necessarily a residential area but more an abandoned place) because it was done again and again. With the study of all the map in the different COD, I had the choice between a jail, a residential area (not really done in the different COD) or a shopping mall.
I choose the shopping mall because we already saw some residential zone, the prison was already use for the zombie mode in COD BO2, with Alcatraz. Even if Arkaden (MW3) is considering like a shopping mall, I consider it more like an AREA shopping than a shopping mall, because of the fact that a lot of shops are in the outside
My intentions
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Made a map not already done
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Respect the code in the COD franchise map
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Made a map for the long and close range, to please to every player
My inspiration
Then I found some inspiration and a way to introduce my map in the universe. My two inspirations were the Southdale Center and the Confluence shopping mall.
Confluence shopping mall
Ma main inspiration was the confluence shopping mall, for the fact this place is modern but also open for the killstreaks. But contrary to the confluence shopping mall, I choose to do something with some more straight lines
The Southdale Center
Mainly for the corridors, but also for the architecture who can give a lot of point of view on a point specially in altitude.
To introduce my map in the universe : it was devastated because of a military operation lead by the Task Force 141 against the Russians soldiers of Makarov.
So to describe a little more the place, the shopping mall (Washington D.C) is devastated and abandoned, a place with some scraps who can give a lot of point of view different. Like Carnival.
My map
First I started by making my map in 2D on data sheet.
After the 2D version I directly start to make the parking because I was sur of myself the parking won't move a lot or just a little. And then the entire mall.
And after 3 weeks of blockout I made an entire LDD to explain my point of my map and why I made that.
I put all the possible point of view from a position or from a specific point.
The different corridors horizontal and vertical that I spoke about in my case study.
Some hidden spots that the player can find in the map.
Here is just the part of my doc which speaks about the LD of my map.
Coding part
For the character I used the character controller from the standard assets of unity. I needed to change a line for my mechanics of switch.
Fire
For the firing part, I used some raycast (by following a little tutorial because it's was new for me), to not take in count the force of a object (bullet). And when the hit of the raycast detect one of the two tag (Player1 or Player2), a coroutine start to make appeared a blood VFX and the hitmarker
Switch
For the switch I just search the different scripts I need to disabled in a specific gameObject (here the two character), then I call them and disabled them in function of the button I pressed.
Crouch
For this feature, I resize the capsule collider of the character but also the Capsule because, to study the point of view by being crouch.
Disabled Spawn
The color in the map can be annoying for the player who is testing my map, so I create a script to disabled them just by calling SetActive (false) or SetActive(true) the different color or the spawn.