Parkway - Small-Scale Multiplayer FPS Map
Project Length: 1 Month | Team Size: Solo Project | Tools Used: Unreal Engine 5, UE Multiplayer-FPS template 5 | Role: Level Design
Overview: a small-scale multiplayer PvP map, made in Unreal Engine 5, inspired by maps from Call of Duty.
Level Showcase:
Project Goal: My goal with this project was to initially spend 2 weeks doing a design study of a bunch of Call of Duty maps and then combine my research with some real-world references that I gathered beforehand to rapidly prototype a small-scale CoD map. I did spend the 2 weeks on the initial blockout and first few iterations, but I took some time to reflect on what I learned from the project and I made small adjustments over the following 2 weeks based on my own judgement as well as some feedback from others
Map Tour
Parkway_Demo.mp4Design Goals
- Adapting a design from real-world reference:
When I decided I wanted to create a small, 3-lane Call of Duty-style map, I started by writing up a list of interesting settings where a map could take place in, I then began looking across Google Maps for areas in those settings that I could use for reference. At some point, I came across a highway on-ramp (See Figure 03 below) and the roads it overlaps, and for some reason, I was fascinated by it and wanted to try taking that small piece of something larger and adapting it into a map. I made it one of my design goals to not only try to extrapolate whatever I could from that reference but also to focus not on a 1:1 recreation but how to take that reference and apply it to something that puts gameplay first instead of how close it looks to the real thing.
- Create a small-scale, fast-paced, action-oriented map:
The best maps in all Call of Duty games tend to be the more chaotic, small maps that focus on funnelling the action into specific points and designing the rest of the map to lead players to those points while breaking up the paths with diverse routes and cover to make any engagement on any part of the map interesting. I wanted to capture that and apply it to my map by creating a map that has key focal points where all the action is driven but also has enough spacing, routes and cover to make any part of the map, capable of having an interesting gunfight.
- Learn more about the 3-lane map design and how to add variety to it:
After so many years of playing Call of Duty, it was easy to see how well the 3-lane works as long as the focus of the map's design is on how to add innovation and variety to that design theory. Throughout the franchise's history, fans have been back and forth on the general consensus on 3-lane design, but generally speaking, it always turns out well in the maps that make it somewhat of an afterthought to the unique twist that makes a map stand out. I wanted to try my hand at doing this by designing with 3-lanes in mind from the beginning to the final iteration while also putting emphasis on how I can make things stand out without feeling too simple and straightforward. It was my first attempt so I don't think I've quite got the hang of it, but I learned a lot from making this a design goal.
Level Design Process:
Map Pre-Production:
As mentioned in my design goals, I started this project with real-world reference research using Google Maps. I found a part of Downtown Toronto that has overlapping highways over water that for some reason, really interested me, and so I sectioned it off and decided to try and make a compelling map with a spur-of-the-moment reference.
I started sketching my ideas for the three lanes and the general flow of the map, which can be seen in Figure 01 and in Figure 02, you can see my second, more planned-out sketch that has some labels and is a bit more cohesive.
I tried some different methods for the pre-production of this project by writing out multiple different ideas I had for the setting of the map and gathering tons of real-world references of interesting buildings and locations before sketching things out. I've never tried putting this much research into the pre-production of a map/level before but doing that research and writing out my ideas beforehand is definitely something I'll be doing for every project moving forward.
Takeaways:
Designing a map with the intention of making it both detailed and close-quarters is quite a challenge. If you put too many details, it makes the make awkward or cluttered but if you make it too simple, then it's the same as many other old-school small-scale maps that have been made before. I think the use of verticality is what allowed me to make a chaotic small map while still retaining a level of detail to make it stand out.
It's not always part of a level designer's responsibilities, but knowing how to lay out the environment art and turn a greybox/blockout into a visually compelling but still functional map/level is a very good skill to practice and hone.
Proper research and writing things out, saves time on the chaos of designing the level/map. While this is a pretty obvious thing, it was cool to see the cause and effect in action of how proper preparation allowed me to jump straight into making the map and feeling things out without worrying too much about the small details because I prepared for them in advance.
Early Prototyping & Testing:
In the pictures on the left, you can see the different iterations and changes that were made to the map as it went through development. I started by plotting out the basic shapes required to get the idea down, and doing that allowed me to move around the map in first-person and get a sense of scale in the level and what needed to be changed.
The first thing I noticed that I changed between the first and second iterations is that by focusing on having more verticality above the standard plane of the map, the actual ground floor was pretty boring and needed more variety, so I added a trench to have three levels of varying verticality.
While it wasn't one of my design goals or original plans for the project after the blockout was finalized, I decided to try doing an art pass with some assets that I had purchased and forgotten about. I'm glad I decided to do this because it allowed me to express a much closer version of my original vision of the map, and when I had testers move around the map and visualize it as a Call of Duty map, many said that the use of that initial art pass was what helped them get a clearer understanding of what I was trying to make.