Black Ops 4
Blackout
I was responsible for the layout of multiple destinations in Call of Duty’s first plunge into the Battle Royale mode – I, along with some amazing art teams at Raven and with the help and direction from Treyarch, designed the launch versions of these spaces. The scale of each of these spaces are massive and gameplay had to be considered both inside the destination and approach the playspace from multiple angles. All terrain work and art was not done by me as I focused on buildings, gameplay cover pieces, and destination layout.
I cannot give enough credit to the other teams I worked with. With out their art, lighting and fx, these spaces would be nothing.
Along with designing the destinations weather it being a brand new space or an homage to a map from a past Black Ops game, I also helped set up the traversal scripting for several of the zombie spawn locations.
Hydro
Hydro is huge and was a ton of fun to work on as it allowed the most creative freedom as it was lightly inspired by the Hoover Dam. I especially enjoyed adding the ATV makeshift ramp along the top of the dam. The space needed to play well from multiple positions and has a lot of vertical gameplay. The hardest part was trying to stay true to a real world dam but also to allow for good gameplay. Large pieces of cover like trucks and containers were used to break up long sight lines allowing players to move up to different positions.
Nuketown – Bunker
Nuketown’s below ground spaces have been a part of Black Ops lore ever since the first Black Ops. I was lucky enough to help inspire the playspace to fit the Blackout theme. The gameplay focus is tight and cramped with limited exits to juxtapose the rest of the Blackout map.
Nuketown – Above Ground
Nuketown’s above ground space had to stay true to the original map. But the original only allowed access to two buildings, so I got to design the interiors for the other buildings in the neighborhood. The goal for each house was to design small combat spaces that worked well for interior fights and fights from building to other buildings, including rooftop to rooftop combat. Something the original Nuketown map didn’t have to account for was players going onto the roofs of the original buildings, so I helped set up the initial geometry for the roofs to stay true to the original but to allow for gameplay.
Lighthouse
The lighthouse space is a throwback to Black Ops 1’s “Call of the Dead” lighthouse. We stayed as true as we could to the original but taking into account Blackout’s metrics. The upper office space was a new addition that I designed and was able to art up myself 🙂
jasonsloandesign 