Map layout & research

 Destiny 2 Map layouts -

These images were taken from the Destiny 2 community page and were created by user R3likt https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1888977410

- Generally somewhat symmetrical or with two distinct sectors

- Open space or POI in the center

- Maze like layout with bottlenecks, corners and blind spots

- Enclosed spaces that may be harder to traverse/easy to get cornered

- Enemies are placed in groups in specific areas

- Emperors Respite has a lookout

GoldenAxe Maps -

- Side scroller

-Detailed backgrounds, flat foreground

- Enemies approach from the right, the player must progress forward to meet them

- I think I will be looking more at Destiny 2's and Looter shooters in general approach to map layouts, focusing on beat 'em ups more in the sense of gameplay and character selection. I am choosing this route as this style of map layouts is quite restrictive for my game's assets and mechanics.

My Map layout -

Using my findings I put together a map design that I will later use to draw my final piece. I used the 5 models i made for this project [the watchtower, the cargo container, the auction house, main gate, and the hogg and swine] as well as making some extra assets such as fences, lights, platforms, walls, other shipping containers, and utilized my jeep model from building alliances to build this scene. I took inspiration from the relatively symmetrical layouts of destiny maps coupled with the main POI being placed in the centre. Although you will only see a small part of this in my final piece, i thought it would be a nice way to visualize how the game might look. Below are screenshots of my scene.

A top down look at my model

Here is my model from the side

And here is a rough flythrough of my scene.

This is the link incase the embed doesn't work - https://youtu.be/dIv7orJPmJ8

I also annotated my top down view to get a better understanding of the key elements of this layout. The player would enter from the bottom [where it says persp-Y], and walk past the watchtowers to get to the various cargo bays where they will release enemies. The pink and green areas will also be were some enemies will spawn, chasing the player away from their objectives. In the center, there is the main auction house building which will contain the boss of this area, I have also drawn in the routes the boss could take around this compound. I tried to include a lot of areas to hide and get vantage points from in this area, those being the walls, cargo containers, buildings and vehicles. This aspect also mimics Destiny 2's map designs in the sense there are bottlenecks and blind spots that the player could use to their advantage. My next steps from here are to take some screenshots of different compositions, get some feedback, and begin my final piece.