Dragon's Teeth is an independent level design project developed in Unreal 4. It is designed to present a pair of multiplayer teams with a wide variety of play spaces, and a multitude of engagement ranges in the spirit of classic Halo maps such as Zanzibar and Isolation. The map features two starting positions for both an attacking and defending team. The Attacking team begins on a waterlogged beachfront and must push upwards through the asymmetric map to a given objective. Conversely, the defending team begins on an elevated pavilion above a circular structure, providing them cover while they develop a strategy. By design, the map is highly asymmetrical, with the attacking team naturally able to get to higher ground more easily, and the defending team forced down into the lower areas of the map to fight while retaining more cover. The map’s gameplay takes inspiration from the Halo series, with players spawning with a limited arsenal of weapons and tools and needing to collect equipment on the battlefield. This way I could create more deliberate map flow, with carefully constructed highs and lows of intensity as the battle progresses.
From above, we can see the circular, basin-like structure of the map, offering numerous elevation changes, as well as nooks and crannies for players to explore for more weapons.
The Attacking Team spawns on a waterlogged beachfront and must make their way upward into the more defensible bunkers that overlook the map’s interior.
The Defending Team begins on an elevated pavilion, offering longer sight lines and a more defensible position, but with fewer weapon spawns, forcing them down into the arena to engage the Attacking Team.
This Sniper Overlook allows for an incredible vantage point over the map, but it comes at a cost. The position is extremely indefensible, and once enemy players spot you, making a quick escape can be difficult.
This basin provides some of the most aggressive and lethal combat. The powerful weapons that spawn here, mixed with the tight, claustrophobic ranges, create a very dangerous arena.
This area near the back of the map, flanked on one side by a set of columns, creates a very high-intensity moment. The long sight lines make the area extremely dangerous, but with a power weapon like the shotgun as the reward, it becomes a compelling offer.
The idea behind Dragon's Teeth began after seeing a coastline covered in large concrete breakwater barriers. I instantly fell in love with them aesthetically and felt the urge to develop a map around them. From here I decided to create a map around an abandoned water treatment facility. The rugged industrial architecture worked great for early prototyping in greybox, as well as lending itself to almost military brutalism. In its original phases, the map was imagined to be a series of deep trenches that the attacking team had to traverse from a beachhead. This was interesting conceptually, but felt cramped and I found that large sections of the map were left without an obvious purpose. On top of that, it gave the defending team a huge positional advantage. Ultimately, this design was scrapped in favor of a more naturalistic approach, using sand dunes inside the walls. As it stands, the map is a fairly even split between rolling natural environments and more confined, almost battlement-like upper areas that rely on narrow concrete structures and walkways.
Ancient relics of war like this bunker have begun to sink into the ocean after decades of disuse, providing the backbone of my map’s layout and design.
Imposing brutalist architecture like this plaza informed a great deal of what the architecture of the map would look like. Not only are structures like these straightforward and readable, they are also relatable - designs like these are just as familiar in urban areas as they might be on a battlefield.
These tetrapod wave breakers create a very imposing silhouette, both regular and organized while still feeling part of the natural landscape.
This image of a piano key weir was one of the most inspiring images I found, greatly informing the circular quality of the map, and directly inspiring the pavilion overlook.