Yard
July 2024 // Season 5 // Original

“The battle turns to a small section of a junkyard set in the Sonoran Desert, colors popping in its cel-shaded design. A towering crane stands in the middle of the Yard, in and around which Operators will immediately collide at the start of the match.“

Yard was a project in blending Shipment and Shoot House gameplay. I started with tight, compact spaces but the design felt too chaotic, and I eventually found a balance by lengthening the map, reducing the verticality, and redesigning the central area from a 360° open space to a 180° hairpin, creating tense moments where players can decide between cautiously ADS'ing or an aggressive shotgun breach. This marked my first map involving focus group playtesters, and it was incredibly rewarding to see them enjoy the map while exchanging the usual in-game banter, which left me confident that the design hit the mark.

Fun Fact: The original layout for Yard was blocked out in one day during the development of Call of Duty: Vanguard as an observatory. This taught me that while themes set the tone, a great blockout can work with nearly any concept. This toon-themed map is a perfect example, and I like to keep multiple adaptable blockouts in my backpocket ready.

Growhouse
April 2024 // Season 3 // Remake

“Prepare for a strong aroma when descending upon the Growhouse facility in Humboldt County, California.“

I used to say that having your work remade is the highest compliment a Level Designer can get. Growhouse is essentially a rework of Sphere, though reworking my own design probably doesn't count... I ported over the geometry from the Call of Duty: Vanguard version in my spare time, guided by the original idea of a 4/20 growhouse. I prototyped new elements like zip wires, ascenders, and swimming to create additional gameplay options. There was no confirmation of a 4/20 event, but I wanted to be ready when the opportunity came. Working on Growhouse while also developing 6 Star meant many long nights, but I’m proud of the final outcome: both maps were well-polished, minimal in bugs, and had strong community approval – all thanks to the collaborative spirit of the Sledgehammer Games team in Australia.

Fun Fact: I worked closely with Pat Stoddart from systems to develop a player “high” effect triggered by weed set alight. Although that feature was eventually cut due to external events, it was a hook we were excited about which deepened the growhouse theme.

6 Star
April 2024 // Season 3 // Original

“Ascend to the height of luxury in a skyrise hotel towering over a shoreside metropolis. From the Infinity Pool to the Helicopter Lounge and Skybridge, opulence abounds, a site made to appeal to only the wealthiest of clientele.“

For 6 Star, my aim was to create a competitive 3-lane Call of Duty League map that paid tribute to the classic Treyarch maps from Black Ops 1 & 2. In my spare time I began experimenting in-editor by abstractly blocking out lanes and shapes after our Design Director casually mentioned an opulent hotel theme (which I took as a solid yes to make the map). When leadership caught wind and wanted the map for live ops, I had to finalise the design sooner than planned – which led to a few tweaks that simplified and improved the final layout. Collaborating with Donald Madsen on lookdev, with Stephen Honneger’s direction, and drawing on David Karis’ arch viz experience, made it a true team effort. Okan Beyit suggested the roof serve as part of the tower – a neat solution that balanced killstreak needs while keeping the tower’s form. Many more talented artists contributed to this map, and their work never ceases to impress me.

Seeing CDL adopt and enjoy the map remains a surreal experience, one where I still pinch myself. And for any CDL players reading, rest assured... no water will be added to any of my future competitive maps!

Fun Fact: Activision celebrated the launch of this map, and Season 3, by dropping influencers onto some of the very rooftops we used for reference to play 6 Star. It was at this point I questioned to myself what even is this job.

Estate
November 2023 // Launch // Remake

“Head to Makarov’s safehouse and garrison in the Caucasus Mountains, where a pristine Lodge overlooks an expansive woodland property. Fight from the main living quarters or utilize the various outbuildings and fields to engage enemies from the perimeter.“

Estate was a challenging and interesting remake of the Modern Warfare 2 map. The art was handled by two outsource teams and felt almost like developing two maps in one. It was selected for the open beta, so early completion was critical. A major challenge was preserving tree and foliage placement for critical sightlines on older hardware (I almost felt like a gamedev environmentalist at one point). Swimmable water was implemented in the lake with the original barge still in place – I’d often imagined swimming and sniping from that position, and it was awesome to bring that idea to life (particularly for the Infected mode). The minimap was created as the first test case after ownership shifted from the UI team to level design.

Fun Fact: Early concept art had military armored vehicles in the playspace, which I felt perfectly captured the feel of Makarov's garrison instead of civilian vehicles. To add another layer to the story, I incorporated a white and gold trim SUV parked outside the lodge hinting that it might be Makarov's very own vehicle.

Favela
November 2023 // Launch // Remake

“Drop into a compact corner of Rio de Janeiro as bystanders scramble to escape the scene of the oncoming battle. Brave the tightly clustered center, fire down on enemies from the rooftops, or stick to the perimeter and eliminate enemies from afar.“

I was excited to remake Favela from Modern Warfare 2 – a map I still believe is one of Call of Duty’s best multiplayer experiences. The art was once again handled by two outsource teams, which nearly meant redeveloping the map from scratch, but their attention to detail was phenomenal. My challenge was to merge that intricate level of detail with the franchise's smooth movement, keeping players free of snags while preserving the original’s classic secret spots for advanced movement, and updating the old metrics to work with the modern versions (with some clever geo alterations) in the map’s tight, twisty spaces. Being selected for the open beta meant I needed to complete this map as soon as possible, even while everything continued to roll in rapidly.

Fun Fact: Reflecting its setting as a dense civilian neighborhood, I added storytelling to the in-game infils; KorTac speeds through a street, narrowly dodging burning vehicles, while SpecGru maneuvers around cramped traffic as civilians scatter. These infils even adjust depending on the game mode in order to balance start spawns.

Highrise
November 2023 // Launch // Remake

“Whatever you do, don’t look down. Positioned atop a wind-whipped skyscraper, Highrise forces Operators to face their fear of heights while skirmishing around the building’s ongoing construction.“

Highrise was another fan-favorite Modern Warfare 2 map I had the pleasure of remaking. With its beloved status came some pressure, especially since I wasn’t sure how some of the unique overwatch positions and secret spots would perform. In the end, it turned out to be one of the smoother remakes I worked on – a true testament to our talented Australian team. The map was also part of the open beta.

Fun Fact: A design intern and I decorated the Actibase office's desks with framed photos of our own and co-workers’ pets, a subtle personal touch to the map.

Skidrow
November 2023 // Launch // Remake

“Deploy to a midsized urban landscape dominated by the central block. Smaller buildings around the perimeter provide additional vantage points, and the streets throughout give savvy Operators the means to flank and outmaneuver their enemies.“

Skidrow was the first Modern Warfare III map I took on. I inherited the map from another Level Designer and rebooted many of the design elements from start to finish in a very short time. With art nearly finalised I focused on enhancing player visibility, providing visual affordances for mantling, integrating game modes, and perfecting collision. Being selected for the open beta added extra pressure to deliver high quality. While the original map was often considered underrated, modern movement and weapons really elevated Skidrow into a fan favorite.

Fun Fact: One of our artists included a graffiti tag featuring my gaming username in the map, a neat signature touch. But don't let that fool you, I am not a cool person.