3d level design

for this unit I designed and created a 3d CTF (Capture the flag) map for the game Counter strike
source. After researching AAA CTF maps I listed the main features of successful and replay able maps:

Balanced – this is the most important thing about a CTF map, if one team is exposed to more cover,
space, resources, or anything that cant be used against the enemy would make the game unfair
amongst the two teams and ultimately fail.
Symmetrical – Not as important as general balance, but symmetry is seen as an important factor in
displaying the balance of a map.
Equal resources – Spawn points, ammo and health packs, weapon spawns etc.
Teamwork vs. one man army – as CTF maps are a team effort, there needs to be facilities for
teamwork to be implemented AS WELL AS parts of the map that can/need to be defended/assaulted
single handily (think sniper points). Too much or not enough of either can limit replay ability and
shorten the play-time of a map.
Alternate routes – for games and maps that refrain from having a single choke point map. This can
bored players especially if teams and unbalanced. Alternate routes stops this from occurring as 2 or
more locations need to be defended to completely halt an enemy charge.

Initial metal ideas

 There needs to be two of the same location copied almost identically.

 The two sides need to be connected by at least two points.
 There needs to be limits to where the player can go (map edges).
 Both teams must spawn in opposing sides and be the same distance from the connecting
points.
 The two spawn locations must not be in attack range of each other (even from projectiles i.e
grenades).
 The two sides should have some kind of base that shields them from the other team’s fire
(until breached by opposing team).
 The Flags of the teams should be inside these “bases”.
 The flags need to be close (in proximity) to the corresponding teams spawn points (but not
directly adjacent)

1st paper designs.

Using rudimentary shapes; walls, boundaries and structures must be planned to get an idea of
symmetry and balance for the two sides.
SDK

With the paper designs completed, using Valve’s SDK (Source Development Kit) “Hammer” I began
creating the basic structures and platforms for the level to start taking shape. In separate documents
I compiled the following shapes in Hammer

Document 1 – Stairs/Slopes

Simple in designer, each stair well consists of flat plains that slop upward to a level surface before
connecting to another slope that leads to the next floor. The slopes connect each level of the building
from the bottom arena, top arena and the top rim.
Document 2 – Bottom Arena

Like the top arena, the bottom arena consists of a single, hollowed out block primitive, however this
arena has kept its roof. Different from the top arena, the lower has only 4 doorways for the stairwells
(as the players can only go “up”). But in addition, there are two holes in the floor (see screen print).
These holes are parallel and connect the buildings to the underground tunnel system via ladders.
This is also the floor that the spike tower ends. There is no direct access to the courtyard from this
room.
Document 3 – Top Arena and sniper rim

The top rim is used mainly as a sniper point between the two buildings. Simply comprises of 4 flat,
block primitives connected at right angels at each end. They are interconnected by the spike tower
and its wedge primitives.

The top arena is the spawn point for each team. The doorways seen in the screen print are entrances
and exits for the stair wells. However, in the second screen print another 2 doorways are visible.
These extra door ways and entrances and exits to the courtyard areas that connect to the teams
buildings. The structure consists of a single hollowed out block primitive with a removed roof and
carved blocks for each of the door ways
This is the image that shows the 4 doorways instead of the 3 for the stair well. The outer doors
(slightly separated from the stair wells) connect to the sides of the courtyard.
Document 4 – Court yard
Being the largest of all structures in the map, the courtyard connects the to teams buildings to each
other via a single bridge. In the design view, the structure is in the shape of two pincers that clamp
down around the two building. The second image (annotated) labels the individual blocks and areas
of the structure.

Annotated enlarged image of the courtyard area.

Document 5 – Spike tower

The spike tower is used primarily to link the edges of the top rim of each tower. The structure is
visible from all floors of the tower and is also used to break up empty space in the arenas and act as
cover during fire fights.

The shape itself is a simple cylinder primitive with 8 sides. This octagonal structure is framed between
the top arena and the top rims by 4 symmetrical wedge primitives that act as the bridges between the
4 sides of the top rim.
Document 6 – Underground tunnel and ladders

This is a view of one side of the underground tunnel with the roof removed (for a clearer spectacle).
The ladders that connect the tunnels with the bottom arenas are visible at the back of the perspective
view. They lead down into a foyer area before the tunnels begin. In the very centre of the
underground area is an open arena-type location that will be filled with props for cover etc.

The building is made up of a hollowed out block, and the tunnels are elongated archways that I inter-
webbed the vertices of to form a solid block. This also stops players from getting stuck in between
the arches and making them very vulnerable in-game.
Bridge/Maze

The area on the bridge between the two teams courtyards was too open and one sided to snipers.
Because of this, instead of simply putting cover between the two points, a maze of crates will both
add to the protection of players from snipers (but not make them immune) and make for an addition
duelling area for players. As you can see from side views of the design sheet, the crates offer
protection from snipers but a crack shot can still pull off a headshot to players that don’t move fast
enough or crouch.
Compiled map

View from one tower, over the crate maze and at the opposing tower
Once all individual documents had been created I compiled them into another document named
“Half”. In this document, I sized up and moved all pieces of the map into place with each other,
resizing and reshaping where necessary. I then selected all the parts of the “Half” document and
pasted them, using the flip tool I made the map perfectly symmetrical on both sides.

Props

In the paper based designs; I didn’t include any implementation of props (except for the boundaries of
the map in the form of fencing). Using a play test method for working out the positioning of props
(mostly for the maze part of the map). I was able to effectively implement props into the map.

Lighting

As I was going for a dark map; lighting was very important for controlling immersion and cinematic
effects. An environmental light will be places to add general light to bounce off the skybox of the
map. This light, although present, is minimal and flashlights should still be used in unlighted areas.
Spike tower lighting

Stairwell lights
At the flat, level section of each stairwell floor, a single spotlight with a large flare angel will be
positioned to light the walls and floor for the players. Between the bottom arena and the top arena
and the top rim level, these lights will be present

Spike tower lighting

On each of the sides of the spike tower lanterns will give off a small amount of light (collectively will
make it the brightest places on the map). This will occur on both floors of the tower but not on the top
rim (skybox is sufficient)

Underground lighting
As this area is underground, no light can penetrate the structure. this means that the only light
source available for the players are fluorescent lighting on the ceiling of the tunnel and their
flashlights.