COLONY CLASH

Colony Clash was an arena shooter level I made for Core Engine's October 2020 Arenas of Combat contest.

My process was pretty simple: I wanted to mimic the best-in-class level design of the Halo series. So, I started by studying some of my favorite maps from Halo 3: Longshore, Rat's Nest, and Standoff. I paid special attention to the way Halo's maps used color, lighting, and sound to help players orient themselves around the map.

I built a graybox level, placed the power weapons, and tweaked the layout until I liked how it felt. Then, I went in and added all the details. My level was a failed colony, with landmarks like a reactor, a hangar full of aircraft, a hydroponic garden, and a radio tower. Maintenance tunnels connected the Red and Blue bases to the hangar, the cargo area, and each other. I added fences in front of Blue base. Otherwise, Blue could rush the southwest tower too quickly, or be spawn-killed with impunity if Red managed to take the tower back.

Following Halo's example, I turned my attention to light and sound. I put a high cliff on one side of the map, and a low ravine on the other. I positioned the map's cold red sun so that it cast long shadows over Blue's half of the map. Finally, I added chatter from the radio tower, humming from the reactor, the hiss of sprinklers in the garden... auditory landmarks to compliment the the geographic ones.

My friend Oliver and I 1v1'd each other until we felt the movement speed, jump height, and time to kill felt enough like a Halo game, then we said it was good.
In
Colony Clash was a runner up in the contest's Sci-fi Category. The judges praised my attention to detail, particularly the sound design.