Summary
Escape from Shanty Town is an extraction-type map where the objective is to reach an extraction point.
The reason I chose to create a map for Far Cry is because I wanted to try my hand at creating a map that could support several different styles of play.
Specifications
- Single-player Extraction map
- Created at The Game Assembly
- Development time: 3 weeks, half-time
Tools
- Far Cry 4 – Editor
- Photoshop
Designing the Map
Although Far Cry’s editor has no features to support narrative, I still wanted it to have the feel of a story mission. I wrote a short synopsis of a scenario (player needs to escape after getting captured) and decided on the shanty town-theme after sifting through the games assets.
When it came to sketching the layout, I tried to keep in mind the different playstyles of Far Cry, ranging from no-kill stealth to combat. I also wanted the target destination to be visible from the start, providing the player with a clear objective.
Playtesting and Iteration
Soon after playtesting began, it became clear that the layout needed adjustment to facilitate multi-choice gameplay. A pattern emerged of players getting spotted early, after which they picked off enemies one by one as they ran through the only chokepoint. Not very fun or dynamic.
To counter this I created a new area next to the starting area – as well as adding a connecting path – to allow the AI to flank as well as giving the player more choices earlier in level.
Another pattern I noticed was that players ignored the optional area, where the occupants store weapons and vehicles. When weighing their different options playtesters felt it was too long of a detour from the main area to be worth the effort.
My solution was to move the weapons storage to the main area and completely removing the vehicles since there was no room to drive anymore. Shortening the distance helped motivate players to explore the building, while also integrating it the act of combating the main area scenario.
Moving the Goal Post
Originally, the target objective (an escape helicopter) was placed at the far end of the map. While it could be seen from the players starting location, it was too far away for playtesters to notice and they felt that it was unclear where to go. To solve this, I made a hill in the middle of the settlement and moved the chopper there, making it harder to miss. This also made it a point of reference throughout the level.
AI troubles
While Far Crys editor is very easy to get started in, it also lacks features in terms of controlling AI-behaviors. If you don’t want all enemies to be completely stationary the best you can do is to influence their behavior. In a way it makes sense for the type of game it is, but also resulted in situations that felt unfair for the player.
This resulted in a lot of time spent trying to limit the enemies movement by adding fences, barriers and creating slopes too steep for the nav mesh. I’m not 100% happy with these work-arounds, because it resulted in less interesting behaviors (less patrolling and such) but it was a compromise I made to minimize player frustration.
Conclusion and What I’ve Learned
This’ve been a very organic development-process due to the fast workflow of the editor. Playtesting could begin almost immediately, which helped me learn about the different facets of Far Crys design.
Despite this, I don’t think I quite nailed Far Cry’s design. If I were to redo the map, I’d probably go for a more open-ended layout, that better utilizes the various tools at the players disposal. In any case, it’s been a great learning experience.
Screenshots
