14 DAY TRIAL // Certain Affinity, the studio responsible for the upcoming Halo 4 Castle Map Pack DLC that will appear on the Xbox 360 next week, has talked about map making and how constantly iterating designs based on user feedback is crucial to making a great level.
Halo 4 delivered a pretty varied set of maps in its Infinity multiplayer mode and the roster of levels has been increased through two distinct downloadable add-ons: the Crimson and Majestic packs.
Now, Halo 4 dev 343 Industries is working closely with Certain Affinity for the third and last expansion – the Castle Map Pack.
The add-on will come out next week and Certain Affinity's Map Lead, Tom Patter, revealed that it's not easy to create a great level for a multiplayer mode.
"There’s really no one key to making a good map," Mansfield told VG247.
"The trick is that we do a lot of testing, and we’re fans of all the games we’ve worked on, like Halo. When creating the Castle Map we sat down to discuss it and in the end our finished project was nowhere close to what we started with."
"That’s because we constantly banged on our ideas – and I don’t mean the same five people – but the whole company. No matter who you are or where you’re at, you get to come in and play the game, then all ideas are accepted."
Mansfield exemplified this statement by saying that Daybreak, a map that features a lot of elevation changes and rocks, was initially set on a flat piece of land, but the addition of a Banshee mech forced the team to make lots of modifications.
"So there really is no one thing. It’s just a matter of listening to people’s feedback, playing the map, and letting people know if they enjoyed it or not. With designers, they subscribe to the idea of ‘Don’t fall in love with your idea’, because it could change on a dime."
Halo 4 will receive the Castle DLC next week, on April 8.