DAWID GĄSIOROWSKI LEVEL DESIGN PORTFOLIO
This is a very first map I have ever released and a lot of lessons has been learned through it. Like for example, a lack of plan can be disastrous. Yeah, I had no plans for this map, I just opened TrenchBroom and started mapping. It lead to the layout being pretty much a straight line, not a good thing if you have access to all three dimensions and you end up using them mostly for decoration. The scale also suffered a lot, even though the map looks huge, it really isn't. All it does is wasting space, but at least it looks cool... I think...
Due to the lack of any plans, I tried to implement ideas as I went along, which worked out until the conveyor belt part. After that I couldn't think of anything for a while. At first You were supposed to go via two different routes in order to unlock access to the landing pad, but I scrapped that idea and settled on fully linear experience. Fortunately the pacing isn't as bad as I thought, still not ideal, but considering most of it is ripped straight out of my head it's not that bad. It's not an excuse though.
Another thing that made things difficult and even underwhelming at times is the enemy design of malice. While swat guys, torchers and rioters are fun to play around, probes and hunters (the big mechs at the end) are atrocious. I really thought that hunters will be a formidable opponents. Turns out You can just stay outside of their incredibly short range and since they are slow, they won't be able to do anything to you. At least banshees are ok, but the games AI also renders them useless a lot of the time as they can easily get stuck on simple geometry. Again, that's why you first research things and plan accordingly, Instead of rushing in hoping for the best, but then I remind myself that time wasn't on my side, so I have that going for me.
Anyway, at least I had fun making it, which is a success in my book. A lot of the time I loose interest in projects I'm taking and this pretty much never bored me. I got tired yes, but not bored. And I think that despite it's shortcomings, the map is actually fun to play, but I made it, so it would be weird if I say otherwise. The end verdict I leave up to you, but I hope you'll also find it fun to play.
Side note: Keep in mind that the map was designed with pistol start in mind (starter weapon only). The way the jam is set up, you cary over all equipment from previous maps, which I wasn't aware of. While not that big of a deal, it can lead to frustration due to quite open nature of the map when having access to certain tools.