Gridlock
Gridlock was first conceptualized during the last half of my second semester at FIEA. I decided I wanted to make a multiplayer map, as my experience mainly revolved around single-player designs. Not only was this a great challenge for me, I upped the ante by inspiring it from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO). CS:GO's maps, along with the other games in the franchise, are masterclass in design and playability. This was a huge undertaking, but that is the name of my game; I wanted to challenge myself and take a jab at multi-player designs since in the future, I could be responsible for constructing such map for players in the real world. Given that CS:GO bases their maps on real-world locations, I decided to base my map on New York City, in the thickest part of Manhattan. I hope my work did the game justice, and I also hope its design offers a potentially compelling gameplay experience.
The Layout
These are the layouts for the map's design. I tend to sketch out my designs before creating the actual layout so I can get a better idea of how my process will go. Some things were changed since the sketch, but the map remains largely the same.
Humble Beginnings
Every design has a start, especially this one. The sketch was a great start to the development of the map, which is why my sketches are an essential part of my level design.
Bird's Eye View
I adjusted the time of day so that no shadows could overcast the paths to the bomb sites. The white paths lead to "A" site while the red paths lead to "B" site.
City Hall
City Hall, or A Site, is the first bomb site I chose to build. Scaling was really the largest (pun intended) issue I was facing and it took a few iterations to shrink it down to an appropriate size. Cover was also a challenge, since I chose to implement an "employee parking lot," but there are plenty of opportunities for using smoke grenades to cover the advance and conceal player movement.
Construction
Construction, or "B" site, was a fun section of the map to construct. I'd like to think of this section being a little brother to the CS:GO map, Vertigo. There's verticality, plenty of cover, and a lot of sightlines to look for. Considerably, there are plenty of flanks to use to assault this bomb site, so smoking out the enemy will be just as easy in this section as it is for "A" site.
Shortcuts
One thing any CS:GO players know about the game is the amount of paths that are available to both teams. Cutting players off or blocking them from advancing to a bomb site is a map killer. Flanks are essential to every map in the game, so I wanted that to reflect in my map as well.
Little Italy
This mid-section of the map is greatly inspired by Dust2. In Dust2, players are able to discern how many of the enemy force are moving to "B" site via a crack in open doors. I took that concept and applied it to my map by using the mid-section as a means of doing the same thing! I'd also like to refer to this mid-section as "No Mans Land." Definitely not an avenue to take when the game initially starts.
Photo Gallery
Take a moment to peer the rest of the photos I took of my map!
