march 2017
Armory was my first CS:GO map I have created from scratch till a finished product. Before I got to this point I have created many concepts, done alot of playtests and learned alot over time to finally reach a point I had enough understanding of the game mechanics and the rules that belongs to Level Design.
So first things first I started to draw a layout on paper and later decided to draw the layout in a digital way. A basic rule is not to have too many pathways leading into the bombsite but also not make it too restrictive and give enough dynamic to both teams for (re)taking the bombsites.
Afther that I started blocking out the map in Hammer SDK and created this overview ingame. I choose to create one main path into B with more options on the actual bombsite area and add two main paths leading to A. One of the paths is a harder additional path for T's but if they succeed they get a nice height advantage. I love to work with different height variations to make things more interesting and did this for both bombsites and the midle of the map.
It was one of the first itterations of the map which is very plain and had alot of logical problems I didn't realised this at that point but learned about it later on. I have done many playtests, recieved feedback and learned alot from that. Some main issues were long straight tight corridors/seightlines, too many angles to watch on mid and some weird feet peeks. Here is a video of one of the playtests when the map was called 'de_lab'. The feedback starts at 33:50
Its not my best work but its a big part of my learning curve as being a Level Designer. I really enjoyed doing each project and each project yet to come because I always learn new things, improve myself, work quicker, more functional and enjoying it more each time. This project learned me alot about basic Level Design mechanics like seightlines, chokepoints, path flow and balancing. I wasn't that happy with the visuals, but still proud I made it into a finished product.
I decided to use this existing layout for a new project which end up to be 'Invade'. If you look carefully you will find out the layout is very similair, but difference magnificently in style. Also I decided to make a few layout changes like repositioning B bombsite and making areas less cramped and add more space.