Project Info
I was happy to get back into the BATTLETECH saddle to work as the primary combat environment creator for the Urban Warfare expansion. The process of urban map creation used a variety of tools and steps, and involved tight collaboration with the environment art team, technical artists, and engineers.
This expansion changed up the combat gameplay in a big way with highly destructible city environments to really bring home the fantasy of massive ‘Mechs rampaging their way over and through buildings and infrastructure in an urban setting. Taking this idea even further, I also helped develop the new utility buildings that dynamically apply environmental effects if destroyed (or purpose or by accident!). Additionally, I lent support to the design and evaluation of the new sensor warfare gameplay and balancing. This also gave me greater insight into the gameplay systems and allowed me to better design my play spaces to emphasize the new features of the DLC.
The overall effect was a superb release that dramatically improved upon the depth of the base game and gave many fans a great excuse to roll up a new mercenary company!
ABOVE: An in-editor shot of a map called “Power Structure”, built around the concept of three distinct districts and a heavy industrial theme.
ABOVE: This shows the process of designing “Power Structure”, from left-to-right. I laid out the initial roadwork in our custom tool as this was the most fundamental component that the rest of the map would need to be built around. Next, I filled in the broad green spaces and water areas which was then hand-populated with buildings to remove empty spaces and create routes. Finally, procedural elements were added that could be controlled by the selected mission and notated for the art team for set dressing and QA for testing.
I really enjoyed the process of blocking out these environments, playtesting them against encounters, and revising based on play experience – some alleys might be too narrow, sightlines might be too narrow (or too open), there might not be enough variety in approaches to an objective, etc. Likewise, the close collaboration that was required between myself, environment artists, and QA tester was very rewarding and served to enhance the overall outcome.
ABOVE: Another in-editor shot, this one of “Metro Green”. I designed this map both for procedural encounters and also as the dedicated multiplayer arena locale for BATTLETECH’s skirmish mode.
ABOVE: Another process set, showing the creation of a map entitled “Grid Lock”. As before, it was laid out in a custom road connection tool and then blocked in to increasing levels of detail. An environment artist completed the set dressing and playtest iteration resulted in finer tunings, building additions/removals, etc.