THE CALL OF DUTY BLOG

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Hate campers? Well, Infinity Ward think they can combat what they see as a problem with Modern Warfare 3′s map design.

“It simplifies it so that the less skilled player has less to think about,” Robert Bowling, creative strategist at Modern Warfare development studio Infinity Ward told Kotaku’s Stephen Totilo yesterday. “What happens when you have more is that the professional guys are using that spot that is either difficult to get to. … There’s fewer places to hide, which discourages the more camper mentality that seemed to emerge in the map design of Modern Warfare 2.”

‘Gun-on-gun’ focused gameplay is what Infinity Ward are aiming for.

“Modern Warfare style is, for me, all about the high-speed, fast-paced—and I’m talking in terms of smooth controls and 60-frames-per-second framerate—infantry-focused combat, and it’s all focused on that gun-on-gun gameplay, especially in Modern Warfare 3. I feel like it’s something we nailed with Call of Duty 4. We moved away from it a little bit with MW2, relying heavily on air support, killstreaks, perks and stuff like that.Modern Warfare 3, very much [is] building up from that Call of Duty 4mentality of gun-on-gun, fast-paced infantry gameplay.”

Modern Warfare 3′s map design philosophies explained.

“There are core design philosophies in map design that stay the same [from one Modern Warfare to the next],” he said. “And what that is is really analyzing very aspect of how we want you to play out the map; how a team should play out a map; and how a lone wolf should play out the map. We’re looking at things like: how many hot spots do you have when you’re coming around the corner? How many angles and locations do you have to check that you need to worry about engaging an enemy from? It’s allowing you to easily envision a map in your head as you’re playing through it. So you’re looking at, ‘Ok, this map is going to be played in X amount of ways.’

“How you play team deathmatch is all about your sightlines, your viewpoints—like I said, the hotspots,” Bowling added. “I’m coming around the corner. I don’t want to have to worry about being shot from 50 different angles. I want to be able to know, ‘OK, I cleared the top floor, I cleared the second floor, I cleared the base, I’m good in this area. OK, now I’m coming through this doorway, I have to watch this doorway, this alleyway and this spot.’ And then, when you’re playing objective [matches], you need to be able to know the routes and break them down in your head as you play the areas. Like Search and Destroy… I know I’ve cleared this area. There’s no way this guy can get there. And then going in an adding the fun secret stuff that people find three months into playing, like ‘Did you know if you run up the tail of the plane in Afghan you can leap to the top of the mountain instead of circling around to the route that everyone is covering?’”

“Call of Duty 4 was much more simplistic in its map design: You have the sight points, you have the routes players will take. It was very flat in terms of where you could go. Modern Warfare 2had a major focus on vertical combat, increasing the multi-floor levels, increasing the number of buildings you go into. There were a lot more places you could go than just the main routes and buildings where you were meant to go. That encourages and discourages a lot of types of gameplay. With Modern Warfare 3, it’s much, much more on allowing you to focus on what’s necessary; it’s making vertical combat when it makes sense but it’s not a blanket rule across every map. You will have some maps that focus on verticality and that are focused on multiple things. And then you have other maps that are very limited on the hotspots. The hotspots are a key thing on Modern Warfare 3. We went into each map wanting you to be able to turn a corner and know very easily that these are the three—no more than five—places I need to check.”

“But for the hardcore guys who have been with us since the beginning, that speaks volumes: the map design, the return to focus on gun-on-gun, all that stuff.” That stuff is for the most dedicated Modern Warfarefans. “I like to always make sure the hardcore players know we’re building it up for them.”