Space for
combat & encounters
Space for
combat & encounters
Embedded Files
combat & encounters
While chaotic battle with scramble of 32 players is what ultimately defines Warhaven, our goal was to allow players to make meaningful choices on the battlefield and experience building different strategies. As a result, all battlefields were designed to accommodate multiple battles & events at the same time -- providing minimum number of areas for expanding tactical decisions.
Approaching map design for Warhaven
Approaching map design for Warhaven
Podden (Dominion mode) has three main footholds.
While capturing Foothold A (A) is the only means of increasing the score,
Respawn Foothold (+) provides faster access to Foothold A with closer location and decreased respawn cooltime (foothold ability), and
Cannon Foothold (icon) can directly attack Foothold A.
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MULTIPLE FOOTHOLDS WITH SPECIAL ABILITIES
Building blocks for tactics
MULTIPLE FOOTHOLDS WITH SPECIAL ABILITIES
Building blocks for tactics
All of Warhaven's battlefields were built to have at least 2-3 active footholds at any given time. Each foothold has a special ability, and choosing which foothold to attack or defend leads to different ways of achieving the objectives. Foothold abilities are strongly bound to a game mode, closely affecting each other to create a constant traffic inbetween each foothold.
Big encounters are created at the three footholds (Main, Respawn, Cannon). Small encounters are created at choke points inbetween and relics. Choke points are intentionally placed between each foothold, creating a shorter/limited sightline.
CREATING A WEB OF SMALL & BIG ENCOUNTERS
Keeping players engaged in battles
CREATING A WEB OF SMALL & BIG ENCOUNTERS
Keeping players engaged in battles
Moving is inevitably boring in melee games, since you can't make attacks or get attacked far away from an enemy. In early versions of Warhaven, players easily experienced moving fatigue -- feeling like they're running around all the time doing nothing instead of fighting.
To keep players engaged in battles and minimize moving fatigue, we focused on the location and frequency of enemy encounters. The idea was to activate a web of small & big encounters with each node adjacent to each other. It was an efficient way to utilize large space in sections, for smaller groups of 32 players.
Gella
Gella
MAP INTRO
MAP INTRO
gameplay
gameplay
Key design features
Key design features
TOP Footholds(yellow), main roads(grey), and water(blue) each have different height.
BOTTOM View from the mountains. Water flows from the mountains to the ocean, forming a basin-like landscape.
In dominion mode, stream flows inbetween each foothold.
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BIGGEST OPEN TERRAIN MAP
Stepped landscape with a stream that bends in-between
BIGGEST OPEN TERRAIN MAP
Stepped landscape with a stream that bends in-between
Gella was the third map to be added right before our first Global Beta Test, and had to be finished under a tight schedule with limited resources. Art team strongly wished that there'd be an open-terrain map with minimal structures.
The major challenge with this was path-finding. It was hard to differentiate one point from another in an open terrain -- making it hard build a path and guide players to a destination.
The solution I found was to use the landscape as much as possible, which shaped Gella's two most unique features:
(1) Mountain and stepped landscape
First off, I placed a mountain on one side of the battlefield to create a sense of direction. Then, using the mountain's slope, each POI in Gella was assigned a different height. This created Gella's stepped landscape, making each trip unique with different height gain (less likely to get lost!).
With stepped landscape, main roads and choke points were shaped simply by connecting different heights at different points. This allowed controlled access to certain areas without adding extra props, which made the art team extremely happy!
(2) Stream flowing in-between POIs
Small stream flowing across Gela bends in a specific shape, where players have to cross the stream at least once in moving from a single point of interest to another. This was intentionally done to make each trip easier to trace (I remember crossing that stream!).
LEFT POIs grouped in two.
RIGHT POIs grouped in three.
Before Gella, each map was bound to a single game mode. Level and ruleset were developed concurrently from an early ideation stage, closely referencing each other -- making the process relatively slow.
BUILT FOR MULTIPLE MODES
A map that works for more than one gamemode
BUILT FOR MULTIPLE MODES
A map that works for more than one gamemode
Gella was the first map to consider using multiple modes from the beginning, in order to make the development process more efficient. Gella's POIs were positioned in a way that can be easily grouped in groups of 2 or 3 (as lowest common multiple) in order to be able to easily expand the group into a larger number of POIs.
Vehicle road indicated in pink.
PAVING ROADS WITH UNIQUE PURPOSE
Controlling the effects of heavy artillery
PAVING ROADS WITH UNIQUE PURPOSE
Controlling the effects of heavy artillery
We thought open terrain provides a great geographical condition to drive locomotive artilleries. However, I needed a way to control its effect on the battlefield; with melee battle, it was crucial to minimize long-ranged unpredictabilities as players find them hard to counter.
My solution was to limit the vehicle movement by paving a circular vehicle-only road around the battlefield. Moving artilleries were only allowed to affect the battlefield under a limited condition; from a narrow road (harder to make a run, attacks from predictable angles) adjacent to important footholds (easily reachable by the enemies).
The Hangar
The Hangar
MAP INTRO
MAP INTRO
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Map Hangar was originally designed for a tournament based free-for-all. The session started with smaller areas of the map activated, which becomes progressively larger as the tournament continues and losing team is absorbed by the winning team -- until the final 16 vs 16 battle is held.
When the map was adapted to a new mode Raclamation, the isolated structure (originally designed for activation of different sized areas in tournament mode) was reworked to bring out the shorter sight-lines, encouraging camper play in securing and transporting each team's divine stone.
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