Grunge Valley
What is the Map:
Grunge Valley is a Battle Royale map in Halo Infinite, set in a dammed river with Forerunner materials, strip-mined by the Banished. They use it as an arena where Spartan prisoners fight to the death. Designed for fast-paced gameplay, it supports 16–24 players, much smaller than typical Battle Royale maps.
What was your role on the project:
I led the project as the Overall Project Lead, Level Designer, and Artist for the map. I also worked on scripting but brought in a skilled scripter to ensure the project’s functionality was top-notch.
Level Design: George Bandy
Art: Geroge Bandy
Lighting: George Bandy
Scripting: Artifice, George Bandy
Design Philosophy and Goals:
The map design was shaped by three main constraints: the budget of the Forge Toolset, Halo Infinite's sandbox, and a maximum player count of 24. These influenced key design choices:
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Sandbox Challenges: Halo Infinite’s mostly hitscan weaponry required careful management of sightlines, encounter design, and weapon placement. To address this, weapons were organized into a tier system, with powerful long-range weapons included but limited by lower spawn rates and different variants that provided different damage values for ranged combat.
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Player Count Limitation: Unlike typical battle royale games with 40–100 players, Halo Infinite’s 24-player cap led to a compact yet dense map design. Research, including insights from a friend who worked on Apex Legends, informed the approach to create a fast-paced map that feels spacious enough to support 12–18 players across 2–3 points of interest without feeling cramped.
This balanced the constraints while maintaining an engaging battle royale experience.
