Hello there! As you may have guessed, I’m applying for a Level Design internship for my 2019 Summer! Blizzard, who I have been a fan of for a LONG time, recently put up two positions for their Overwatch summer internships; Game Design and Level Design. This is my last year to become a “Blizztern”, since you have to be returning to school once the summer ends. And as much as I want the internship, I’m not going to hold myself back a year to try and get it!
For the Game Design Internship, I plan on showing off my games, and their various systems and mechanics that I’m proud of. But for Level design, it’s a little trickier. I took a course in Level design last year, but I wasn’t too happy with my map, mostly because I didn’t have an in-depth knowledge of how Unreal Tournament worked. But for Overwatch, I’ve had a ton of experience with it, and its one of my all time favorite games. Therefor, I want to make a map for Overwatch to show off in my application. Also, since I have other school work to do, and Blizzard gets tons of applications, I want to get this done by October 20th, which is in 9 days. Thankfully, I’ve already started.
As soon as I saw the internship, I was filled with inspiration. So I sat down and made this document:
BlizzardInternshipLevelDesignIdeaDocI knew that I needed to make a map which followed the same style of play as the rest of the maps. So, first, I made a list of all the maps in the Quick Play/Competitive rotation and their location. After that, I made a list of the heroes, also writing down their roles and their base of operations. My goal in doing this was to make sure I wouldn’t make a level which was near or part of another’s location, and to try and make a map based off of a hero’s base of operation.
After doing that, I challenged myself to come up with 5 new map locations. I edited a map of the world to place all the current maps on, and from there I was able to see the underrepresented areas. I came up with:
- Utopaea, India (Which only exists in the game lore)
- Montreal, Canada
- Tövkhön Monastery, Mongolia
- Madagascar
- Salvador, Brazil
You can read about my reasons for each in the document above. After some debate, I chose to make a map off of Montreal, Canada. This was because I am currently in Montreal as part of my school’s Study Abroad program, and as such, it would be very easy to collect reference images for the map. I compiled all of my reference images to date in a Google Photos album. I took pictures of Chinatown, metro stations (Lionel-Groulx, Atwater, Square-Victoria-OACI), Atwater Mall, other interesting buildings, and various skyline images. I also gathered 21 images from my trip to Quebec City to help with some of the architecture. Feel free to check them out here.
Afterwards, I got on my computer and made a rough sketch of what I think the layout of my level would be like, seen below. The map is a Hybrid type, and it’s working name is St. Lawrence, named after the surrounding river.
While making the map, I took a lot of inspiration from Kings Row, Volskaya Industries, and Numbani. The map starts in an outdoors area, where a snowstorm has recently hit. After taking the first point, the attacking team takes the payload and moves it down into the metro. From there, they move the payload into a connected underground mall, where the first checkpoint lies. After taking the checkpoint, the attackers move back outside, pushing the payload in front of an official looking building, ending the round.
The next step in this project for me is to remake my sketch with proper dimensions. You’ll also notice that towards the end of the map my sketch got rushed and messy. I want to remake this area and add more detail so it feels fleshed out. But to remake my sketch with proper dimensions, I need to have dimensions to begin with. That’s why I went into an Overwatch custom game and collected the following data:
Data from Kings Row, all measurements approximate:
Using Mei’s Wall as a reference, measured 8 meters long, ~5 meters tall
- Point Size: 15×15 m
- Payload Checkpoint: 10×5 m
- Standard Room Size: 8x8x8 m
- Minimum Hallway Size: 5 m wide
- Minimum Ceiling Height: 5 m
- Standard Doorway: 3 m long, 4 m high
- Good Distance Around Doors: 5 m
- Standard High Ground Height: 8 m
- Standard Outcrop Size: 3.2×4.8 (or 3.5×5) m
- Standard Cover Height: 2.5-3 m
- Wide Areas: 13 m
With this data, I can make my map as accurate to Overwatch as possible. After making the map, I’m going to finish fleshing out the lore for the map, making sure everything fits canonically. Last, I’m going to make a grey block of the level in Unreal Engine. I really want this internship, but even if I don’t get it, I’m going to have an awesome portfolio piece.
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