Sweetwater

Go West

Early in the design process, I knew I wanted a Western setting. Gathering inspiration from games and movies alike, I had a clear idea of the overall layout early on. I wanted a payload track with some slight turns and bends, a saloon, a couple of stores or other buildings and a warehouse.

The map’s name pays homage to Once Upon a Time in the West. It was also the element that inspired the map’s river. Having a fresh water river nearby made the isolated desert outpost make more sense.

Chokepoint Valley

Originally, the map’s signature flowing river was just an off-map decor. After an early feedback session on the first draft of the overview, I decided to go with the idea of letting it cut right through the map. Not only does this give it a powerful divider and a datum, it was also deliberately kept tight as a major chokepoint.

The upper make-shift bridge and the lower rope bridge were added as optional routes. The main route for the payload remained at the central bridge.
I wanted this tight path to force players on the outlaw team to scatter from hugging the payload. Instead, some would have to provide cover from the surrounding area.

Horizons

A map set in the old west could easily lend itself to very long sightlines by association. When you think of a shootout in the old west, you think of two guys in dust coats on opposite ends of a long, open road. This does not lend itself well to a team-based multiplayer setting. Instead of the classic western town, I decided on something more unique. A rich man’s outpost, with his mansion only a mine cart track away from a private mining operation.

The buildings in the map provided ample playroom for me to experiment. I iterated with how to balance the amount of cover vs the sightlines. With a lot of testing, I finally landed on a good balance between the teams.

Post Playtest Iteration

Playtesting was a success. The paths worked as intended and the spaces made for some tight firefights. The template project’s AI bots did seem to favor facing off at the rope bridge, but could easily be lured to the other paths by a human player. This would in turn lead the player team’s bots to come to the player’s defense.

I got very valuable feedback by having classmates play the map. Sightlines were revised, areas got more decorated, and covers were added in some places.

Reflection

Diving into multiplayer map design with a month’s deadline might sound insane to veteran MP level designers. It certainly was a very fun challenge to ensure I got something playable and as balanced as possible. It was a test posed on not only my learnings, but also on personal responsibility. The tight time frame encouraged me to sharpen my workflow and not waste any time. I am very happy with the end result and the road it took to get here. I’m also proud to report that I managed this result with no extra hours to boot.