Oppressor
What is the Map:
Oppressor is a small 2v2 map built in Halo 5 Guardians, this map was a map made for a competition within the community that allowed it to be played by players all over the game. The map is set on a Forerunner base that's orbiting this sun with a ton of asteroids that orbit both the sun and the base.
What was your role on the project:
On this project I created everything. Level Design, Art, Scripting, Lighting; all made by me.
Map Walkthrough
(No Commentary)
Design Philosophy and Goals:
Oppressor is a tiny map intended for team doubles (2v2) and 1v1s; however, it supports up to 8 players for those who love wild games. This map was designed with the most competitive players in mind, starting with both teams facing each other off the start, similar to Halo maps of old like Midship. The map plays with close-quarters combat and verticality in a way that keeps players constantly on their toes. The layout allows for many unique and dynamic encounters in each area between verticalities, especially with the scripted floating asteroid platforms that move up and down at a moment's notice.
This map was designed all in one go, there was no top-down drawing for it, it was one of those maps that was just a feeling and I built it type of thing.
Line of Sight Control:
Line of sight on Oppressor is pretty tight, but there are some longer lines of sight across the midpoints of areas to allow for better readability to players and to allow encounters to flow throughout multiple spaces, without feeling stale.
Top-down-image and Art
Art Design:
Originally when I was designing the map, I thought it would just be a really cool "rule of cool" design; a Forerunner structure around a sun with asteroids, so when I was designing the map and it's Art I thought it's be important to look at previous incarnations of Forerunner and it's design in Halo, while also pulling from some Egyptian art designs and color options. The reason I used to pull Egyptian designs in is I just thought of other hot places and the cultures that inhabited those lands and the Egyptians were the first to come to mind. With this comes how to distinguish the sides, and for that I opted to use colored lights, emmissives, and symbols to help players distinguish between the two sides of the map, with the middle being the mostly gold-colored area.
For the skybox I used an existing one within Halo 5 Guardians on their map Tyrant, which I felt was underutilized on their base map.
Line of Sight Control:
Line of sight on Oppressor is pretty tight, but there are some longer lines of sight across the midpoints of areas to allow for better readability to players and to allow encounters to flow throughout multiple spaces, without feeling stale.