Solution & Kaiketsu
What is the Map:
Solution is a fast-paced Halo Infinite 2v2-4v4 map that was put into Halo Infinite's matchmaking twice, once as Solution, and again as Kaiketsu because of its popularity. Solution is set within a Dieselpunk factory while Kaiketsu is set within a Japanese Monastery.
What was your role on the project:
On Solution I was the Level designer who dabbled a little bit in the lighting alongside the artist for the map Eric Metzler, a dear friend of mine. On Kaiketsu I was the Level designer for any updates I wanted to make and I was an artist under the Lead of Eric Metzler this go round, I wanted to learn more in the art process so I could start expanding my creative muscles more.
Solution
Level Design: George Bandy
Art: Eric Metzler
Lighting: Eric Metzler, George Bandy
Kaiketsu
Level Design: George Bandy
Art: Eric Metzler, George Bandy
Lighting: Eric Metzler, George Bandy
Map Gameplay
Design Philosophy and Goals:
Solution came up originally as a problem I wanted to solve, in Halo, there was 1 map that was always a really cool concept but in every iteration never worked, that map being Boarding Action (or Sword Base). These maps, while solid, were not the best gameplay-wise for me and a lot of my friends. So I started taking the positives of those maps (the divided middle mainly) and then started designing my own iteration of the map. The map ended up being fairly segmented but I wanted to allow players to flow through the map like a jungle gym if they learned it. Thankfully I achieved this pretty well with a lot of readable jumps and paths that had routes up to them and through them that were fairly contained, as in they didn't break the rest of the map's flow. With these core tenets firmly established in the layout, I got to focus on other areas of the map and how they flowed into the rest of the design. This allowed for a very fast-paced design which is what I was going for with the map originally.
Line of Sight Control:
Line of sight was something that I started playing with a lot on this map, both for Solution and Kaiketsu I wanted to make sure players knew where they were being shot from, but also allow for some creative line of sights through locations. There's even a window that allows players to use it as a sneaky across a gap while also allowing players to shoot through it. I retained a general long line of sight throughout all the encounter spaces on the map to help with player navigation as most of the map is interior spaces.
Cover throughout the map.
Art Direction:
As a level designer, we have to work very closely with the artists on our team, both on Solution and Kaiketsu I worked very closely with Eric to maintain the look we both wanted for the map. On Solution the goal was just a dieselpunk factory, while on Kaiketsu 343 Industries asked for the theme to be more Japanese in style to fit alongside their Tenrai event. With Kaiketsu being made after Solution I also cleaned up some shape language and worked with Eric to make certain areas read a lot better than they previously did.
Lighting:
Lighting was extremely important on this map, not only to sell the theme of both versions extremely well but also to make sure players weren't too dark in any location. This we achieved by both wearing darker coatings and turning outlines off to see if we could still clearly see the player or not. This technique was mainly used on Solution and Kaiketsu is a lot brighter than Solution.
Original Top Down
This top-down is very heavy on explaining so in the future I'm going to try and not to make things so complex as ideally a person or player should be able to understand everything without so much explaining. However this worked in the map's favor this time as all of the explaining from the top-down is extremely understandable in-game without any type of explaining, allowing the map to work very well in a matchmaking environment.
