what to do. But you need all this feedback
before you go into a real playtest.”
A wider world
Many of the challenges we’ve discussed so far
apply to single-player titles, but designing a
level that can be explored by multiple players
brings its own difficulties. For traditional
multiplayer levels, where two teams are
dropped into a map and battle for supremacy,
the biggest task is making it feel unique.
“Every level needs to have a design
goal,” explains McCord. “What is it trying to
accomplish? In Titanfall multiplayer, this could
be anything from ‘a great Titan level’ or ‘a level
based on wallrunning’. I try to avoid levels that
are okay at everything but great at nothing.”
But despite McCord’s experience designing
multiplayer maps for the Call Of Duty series,
Titanfall posed a unique problem that few
other titles face.
“Titanfall has always been about designing
two levels on top of each other, each at
a different scale,” he says. “It’s incredibly
complex and level designers would be
iterating on their maps for the entire project.”
Respawn’s latest title, Apex Legends,
trades in contained levels for an island that
“Titanfall has always been about
designing two levels on top of each
other, each at a different scale”
ABOVE Apex
Legends’ huge,
sprawling arena
is a departure
from Titanfall’s
smaller maps.
LEFT Tomb
Raider’s
designers had to
juggle puzzles,
combat and
exploration.More Xbox news at gamesradar.com/oxm THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE 069