Alex MacDonald
Game/Level Designer
Team Fortress 2 Level Design Project
Project Type
University level design project
Date
December 2021 - On Hold
Designing and building an original map for the class-based shooter Team Fortress 2 from scratch using Valve's Hammer Editor.
Check out some of my process work below!
Getting Started
Once I settled on what game I wanted to make a level for, I started on my GDD. A GDD is always evolving up until the game's design is finalized, so I made sure to setup an organized skeleton first.
I created the narrative behind the level's existence, tying it into the TF2 narrative. I created a list detailing the environment of the level, what objects will be present, themes of the level, etc. I gathered reference images and information to help visualize all of this.
I created level and gameplay requirements as well as a preliminary map. I did some scheduling around my current work at the time as well.
The in progress PDF is attached below if you are interested to check it out!
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Learning a new engine.
Valve's Hammer Editor is certainly not a new editor but is by far one of the best editor's for greyboxing I have used. I figured practicing my ability to start working within a new engine would be useful and I was surprised by how great the editor is. While fairly old (about 20-30 years old at this point), it's ability to quickly create custom geometry is fantastic.
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Below is a screenshot from part of my work in progress level.
Diagramming.
As my level develops I created some diagrams to help visualize aspects of my level important to its playability. A couple examples being this flow diagram and sightlines diagram.
The flow diagram dictates the primary pathing players take through this space. The sightlines diagram dictates what snipers can see when they are sitting in their most advantageous position in the middle of the map to assist me in designing the layout of the map.