Rhen Var Necropolis

Rhen Var Necropolis was my first real map. I had previously completed a tiny map for a 24-hour mapping competition, which pushed me to go beyond dabbling in level design, and finish a project, but Necropolis was the map that earned widespread and enduring acceptance within the online community. Being unable to 3D model at the time, I had accrued an enyclopedic knowledge of the stock game assets available to me. For this project, I used a library of assets from the first Battlefront game, as they were unused in the second one, and spent a very long time agonizing over how best to recombine them into a novel arrangement that would satisfy. I took inspiration from the level design of the more popular stock maps in my sketches, and eventually, I hit upon the right sequence of creative decisions. I sketched my plan, and then in nine days I created the 1.0 version in full. This version proved popular, and while it increased my confidence, I knew after observing the map in online play that it would need a second iteration to feel right. And for this, I had to learn at least the basics of 3D modeling.

The first edition of Rhen Var Necropolis was cramped, being just too short. This also contributed to it feeling claustrophobic, needing more breathing room. I had previously solicted feedback from the SWBF2 online community for my minor excursions in map-making, and for the development of Necropolis 2.0, I catalogued the most frequent complaints and pain points before I put together a plan. I corrected both minor inconveniences, such as uneven floor spots which caused player movement to halt unexpectedly, and I also tackled the more structural issue of space. To this end, I learned just enough 3D modeling, using CAD-like software to create an interior room for the central building. This was a request that had often been voiced by players, and by rightly listening to them I opened up the middle of the map fantastically. Then I moved back elements on one side of the map, thereby "stretching" it around 20%. With prop infill in the new real estate, and the raising up of certain buildings to create more interesting vertical elements, the second version went on to be a big hit.