Halo Infinite multiplayer level design series: BAZAAR
Understanding the level design of a small Halo multiplayer map
The next and third article in this Halo Infinite level design series looks at a personal favorite multiplayer map of mine, BAZAAR, an outdoor map featuring an iconic arena in the center with two bases on either side and several paths weaving in and out of the central arena like a spider web. The arena overall is designed to feel like an open market area in a middle-eastern war torn country.
Like the previous articles in the series, here are top-down images of the map that I found on thegamescabin.com which I will be using in the article to highlight different aspects of the map.
Keeping up with the structure of the articles in this series, let us take a look at the level design goal and layout of this map before we take a deeper look at it map features.
LEVEL DESIGN GOAL: An outdoor symmetrical small team battle map focusing on mostly short range engagements and some long range engagements with opportunities for multiple players from each team to fight together in a single spot.
MAP LAYOUT
Bazaar is a symmetrical map on its vertical axis. At the heart of this map is an iconic central arena which is connected to two bases on either side of the map with three hallway paths on the side and the center of the map. These hallways flow into the central arena on two different levels. There is an indoor hallway on the top of the arena allowing flanking and sniping opportunities. There are quite a few smaller multi level loops usually connected by stairs. There is also an obscure almost secret hallway on the side of the arena at the lowest level of the map connecting the two bases allowing players to flank each other’s bases while avoiding the highly dangerous central arena. The central arena has lower and higher ground areas along with a large cover object in the center.
Let us take a look at some features of the map that allow for small teams to focus on making the most out of the map:
I. Balanced central arena
II. Flanking opportunities
III. Power weapon setup
IV. Bridges
V. Verticality
VI. Mental Map
VII. Refuge and Pseudo-Refuge Spaces
I. Balanced Central Arena
As I have already mentioned before, this map has an open arena in the center of the map. Designing an open arena requires quite a few factors to be taken into account. There are two levels of verticality coming into the arena, which means any player standing in the central lower area will be a sitting duck for any tactical higher level position. So to allow for a fair encounter, there needs to be covers in the lower level. Now there are two options here for the designers, either add one or two large covers or add quite a few small cover objects.
Adding multiple small cover objects means the player will still be exposed a lot while moving between covers which discourages movement and this goes directly against the philosophy of smooth flowing first person combat in Halo Infinite where players are encouraged to keep moving and fighting instead of camping in one spot. So a lot of small covers provide some protection but it is very high risk to use them since the player either has to camp near one cover and get worry about grenades or power weapons or constantly worry about switching covers, never allowing them a good amount of time to engage in a short range battle while feeling safe from at least one side making the lower level of the arena feel unfair.
Now let’s take a look at adding one or two large cover objects. There are a couple of advantages here. Firstly, large cover objects will provide protection to the player on the lower level from at least one of the higher level shooting areas, forcing the players on the higher levels to jump down and fight, thus keeping the player moving and encouraging more short range combat. Secondly, large covers provide a neat third level of verticality between the lower and the upper level. Standing on this middle level is a high risk, high reward situation for players where they are able to see both the levels of the entire arena and are able to target almost anyone in and around the arena while the risk being that they themselves become sitting ducks. Therefore the ideal situation for players will be to get on top of the cover, attack one or two guys and then quickly leave the middle level otherwise it’ll be very easy for other players to kill them with a sniper or power weapon.
After that brief analysis, it looks like one or two large covers would be better to promote fairness in encounters. This gives rise to a problem where large covers are difficult to get around if the player wants to avoid going through the middle level, which is why a small hallway was added in the large cover, while keeping the roof for cover from the players on the higher platforms, to allow players on the lower level to quickly move from one side of the arena to the other.
Along with fair cover opportunities for players on the lower level, there are also opportunities set up for them to quickly get up to the higher level in two jumps using platforms on either side of the arena. They are marked in the image below.
II. Flanking Opportunities
I already briefly mentioned the flanking opportunities above but let’s take a look at their design in detail. There are two major flanking opportunities in the arena, one at the higher level, to travel quickly between different sides of the arena and another one on the lowest level of the map, to allow players to quickly travel between two bases, bypassing the central arena entirely.
There are very limited long range encounters in this map and battle between players on higher ground on different sides of the arena is one of them. If one player runs out of long range ammo, then without a flanking hallway, they will either be forced to jump down to the central arena and become easy targets for players at the top or walk back down to their side of the base, which breaks the idea of “push forward combat” in Halo Infinite’s design. So a pathway for flanking between higher ground areas was necessary to add. This pathway is mostly indoors allowing the flanking player some safety while trying to reach the other side. The flanking hallway also acts as a good refuge space that provides breathing room for players that are looking to get their shields back up and breathe for a few seconds.
Reasons for adding the second hallway that runs between bases are twofold. One, it allows players to slip into the enemy base to ambush any new spawns that happen in the enemy base or kill players retreating to heal back up. Two, it lets players get behind and ambush any higher ground campers or snipers on the enemy’s side without being noticed.
III. Power weapons
Since this is a smaller map, there is only one power weapon setup which is placed in the central arena at an equal distance from both player bases to maintain fairness in acquiring the weapon. The weapon spot is on higher ground and gives the player that acquires the power weapon, an immediate chance to attack anyone on the lower levels of the central arena. It is not easy for players to make their way to this power weapon set up as the path to the weapon includes a flight of stairs that have little to no protection which leaves the players exposed from multiple angles.
IV. Bridges
A lot of halo maps explore verticality to allow players to be able to explore opportunities with different sight lines and flanking positions. The Bazaar map is no exception. There are as many as four bridges in this map, two on each side of the map. One bridge on each side connects the back of the map to the central arena, allowing players that spawn at their base to quickly reach the heat of the battle in the main arena to support their friends and quickly take out their foes.
V. Verticality
If we take a side view of the map, we see the verticality of the map change like a wave where the upper and lower levels have a similar footprint. This makes sure that there is a balance of opportunities for players on lower as well as upper levels. The upper levels are just a short staircase climb away and they can also be reached by a single grapple, giving players more agency to go up and down the levels quickly.
VI. Mental Map
The primary reason why I enjoy the design of this map is the ease with which I can easily remember the map or have a mental model of all the paths, entries and exits in my head. This is a staple of any well designed competitive shooter gameplay map. Being a smaller symmetrical map definitely gives it an advantage, but several well done elements like clear paths, flanking routes and arena transitions (with doors and small covers) is what makes this map a joy to play.
VII. Refuge and Pseudo-Refuge spaces
We have already looked at the importance of refuge space in Halo maps in another article in this series. You can take a look at that article here: Halo Level design series: Behemoth.
For this particular map, there are two types of refuge spaces, both interior, one set of spaces, that truly provide the player with cover and relief for a short period, and their entries/exits are concealed to an extent that most players will not take that route.
The second set of spaces are pseudo-refuge spaces, wherein they are small rooms and do provide cover but they have multiple entry/exit points and these spaces lie on the main paths of the maps. Since these spaces will be frequently visited by players, they hardly provide any relief to the players.
To sum it up, this map features an iconic central arena while carefully balancing verticality and weapon placement. Level designers cleverly set up flanking opportunities with different functions and used bridges to introduce crisscross pathing between upper and lower levels of the map. Perhaps the biggest achievement of this map is that its clean level design helps create a clean mental map of the level which allows for quicker and more engaging multiplayer gameplay.
