Overview

Welcome to a brief insight into the map-making process on Company of Heroes 3. For those of you who know your real-time strategy titles, you’ll know how important a robust, varied and balanced map pool can be; on CoH3 we are striving for a strong map pool at release that can cater to all of our audiences, with plenty of room to grow post-launch. In this article, we’ll briefly cover how our maps are made, how our community has helped shape map design thus far, the features to expect in multiplayer maps, and which players we are specifically targeting.

How are maps made?

Map design on Company of Heroes 3 is a long, collaborative process that allows as many eyes as possible pass over it, before it even reaches the hands of an artist. From the offset, our map designers (including yours truly) will design a collection of paper maps – usually drawings or digital designs that show the basic premise of a map, with images and research to show its theater, locale and potential features. With these, a committee of designers and artists will vote for which design they would like to progress with; in some cases, multiple designs might be worth exploring, which leads to several being built in-editor (but usually only one carried through).

It is then down to the map designer themselves to convert the diagram into the editor. This stage is usually done using placeholder assets (cubes, blockers and temporary map objects) to help play-testers get a feel for how the map will play, before we commit to anything. It is usually at this stage that the territory layout for a map is designed – the earlier we decide on a layout, usually the more competitive a map will be.

By designing a territory layout early, we are shaping the map around the territory, rather than trying to fit a territory layout into an existing map. Earlier territory layouts also allow us to playtest a lot earlier too, which can easily influence the design of a map and its cover layout.

Once the map designer has everything blocked in and gameplay designers have had a chance to play the map over enough to provide feedback on potential changes, it’s ready to pass over to an artist. However, if in this process a problem arises with a map, there is always the chance it will revert to a paper design. In some cases, we’ve had maps be completely rescaled or resized, major road layouts changed, or some designs scrapped entirely once we playtested them.

Being the archaic Brit that I am, I use a “Mark” system on my maps. If I want to make a major change to one of my maps, I will create a MkII version and test it out, which allows me to go back and try the original at any point. These allow me to experiment with new ideas during the early or mid-stages of a map’s design without committing – it even allows us to play several versions of the same map back-to-back, so see how they compare.

Once in the hands of an artist, they will apply the approved theme, usually working on basic ground textures (or tiles) and swapping out placeholder map entities with something more appropriate. They might even choose to experiment with new themes or color palettes here – just as with Design, this early stage of Art is experimental.

From here, map design is a constant back and forth between the artist and the designer. Once artists have had a chance to finish a pass, it then returns to the designer to continue iterating upon it, playtesting it, and ultimately, improving it. The further a map becomes “arted up”, the harder it becomes for changes to be made, so we ideally want to make any major layout changes early while we can. However, once a map has had its second or third trip to an artist, usually the only changes that are required as simple, such as a territory adjustment, some cover changes, or pathfinding improvements.

How has the community impacted map design?

Since the COH-Development Closed Group was first involved in helping design Company of Heroes 3, they were also helping to design maps. Among the closed group were a number of competitive players and map-designers with vital insight into what makes a strong map pool.

Since joining Relic, I too have been reaching out to members of the Closed Group to get their insights, as well as encouraging them to playtest our maps, regardless of how early into development they might be. This has gone back even before COH3 was in-engine! Some of our early map designs were actually made in Company of Heroes 2’s Worldbuilder software, to see how they would look.

Outside of our Closed Group, we are always on the lookout for map feedback, whether in missions or in multiplayer, across the whole Company of Heroes franchise, so don’t be afraid to give feedback on anything you see!

What new features are being added to multiplayer maps?

Many of the features within our multiplayer maps have already been covered in previous posts and gameplay, but here’s a brief look into a few particular ones we’re excited for:

• Height Gameplay
  • Varying height in Italy is commonplace, so we wanted to ensure it is appropriately portrayed. When designing our maps, we have looked for key locations where height can play a factor. In some maps, the inclusion of height is subtle, such as (2) Twin Beaches, where our lighthouse platform triggers height combat – this is only one of the areas of this map where height gameplay occurs, but triggering and solidifying your control of the southern beach is very satisfying. However, in other maps, such as (8) Mignano Gap, players will encounter huge cliffs overlooking the battlefields below, dramatically changing the way you might approach or defend the area.

• Return to Company of Heroes 1’s Territory Points
  • You might have already noticed a return to the original style of Territory points, in which Fuel and Munitions points come in Low (+5), Medium (+10) and High variants (+16). This was a request specifically made by many of our Closed Group, in order to promote a better variety of maps. Now, map designers can easily increase or decrease the number of territory points in a map without increasing or decreasing the amount of income available to players; it has also allowed us to return emphasis to key areas of our maps again – the subtly named “Mount Bacon” on (2) Twin Beaches is worth +16 Fuel, but the collecting worth of the southern beach is +20 across two points. We can’t wait to see what strategies you devise on each of our maps to best take advantage of these differing values.

• Building Destruction
  • Previously, buildings in Company of Heroes would collapse when destroyed, creating a permanent blocker than could be neither garrisoned, nor destroyed any further. In order to add more variety and tactical play to our urban environments, we have completely overhauled building destruction. Buildings now have a chance to be completely blown apart (clearing the way for infantry to clamber through their ruins), or to collapse in on themselves (creating a blocker), allowing our maps to drastically change as the battle unfolds. Need to punch a hole through a row of buildings? Plant a demolition charge and clear the way. See a building that the enemy could use against you? Burn it down before they get a chance. On maps like (4) Torrente, urban environments can shift and change depending on how you play, creating exciting, unique areas to engage your enemy.

There is still so much more to discuss regarding the maps of Company of Heroes 3, but we’d rather wait until you get to see some of them for yourselves. As usual, please feel free to ask questions and leave feedback in the comments sections or over on our Discord channel, and keep in mind that every image you can see within this article is of pre-alpha maps – everything you see is subject to change and is far from complete!

Hi @Will_RE ,

I was looking forward to this thread topic. I'm glad you mentioned some specific maps like Twin Beaches and Mignano Gap, I look forward to checking them out. With maps, I always enjoyed looking at the overview shot showing the map layout with fuel and ammo and roadways/bridges etc. I hope there is a feature to let us communicate with our peers drawing on the map during load times. Even if it's preset X's and O's or defend here stamps I feel like that would be helpful pre-game strategy. I also enjoy reading the historical summary for each map so i hope that is an element that isn't glossed over. Even if it's not a historical true location, those paragraphs can still speak to the layout and the options for the player with it's design. I also like how you gave us some background to just how much work every single map goes through. There are so many versions of the map design itself before being ready for launch. It's daunting to realize how much effort goes into just creating just a single map. I am excited to play COH 3 and multiplayer maps are a big part of it, I like exploring new maps and experiencing new battlefields especially with these new features.

Height Gameplay - I know this one of the big added features to COH 3 outside the dynamic campaign. I really liked how you mentioned some maps it's subtle advantages. My fear is every map high ground is king therefore same strategy applies with everyone going to a specific spot on the map that has high ground for the inherent advantage. I also liked how you mentioned some maps it's subtle but others maybe more significant but height doesn't rule all, as that would take away some of the map design or gameplay value. That's good to hear that height isn't always going to be the right go-to play every match.

Return to Company of Heroes 1's Territory Points - I think this will make matches get that more tug-of-war feeling I always struggled to describe that engagements were more impactful in specific territory control than previously in coh 2. I like this but at the same time hope it doesn't create lopsided victories/losses but actually makes the matches feel more competitive.

Building Destruction - Same as height, a big added feature in COH 3 that differs from prior COH's. I really like the idea, now, I never thought about this until your paragraph but a concern popped up was that I hope that destruction remains as a secondary feature, almost a byproduct of the actual engagement. Hear me out on this, I think most players like the idea it causes damage and can change the landscape every.single.match in a way that can change the same map depending upon the destruction. Back to my concern was if destruction becomes such an advantage I can see players abusing it by blowing up buildings in certain sections EVERY match, destroying buildings for the sake of destroying buildings should be very time consuming and if unoccupied cost ammo or something to avoid abuse. Case in point, I hope maps dont' become just destruction ruins every single match opposed to now some buildings do get messed up and change landscape but the battle is always at the forefront> I hope you do whatever you can to maintain building destruction as a wild card feature but not as a weapon in map control from players if that makes sense.

I can't wait to play it's been too long since that first taste, let us play the MP slice, even if you break it down to MP Pre-Alpha Slice 1 and then Slice 2 as you receive initial feedback and updates are made. I think there is value in getting immediate feedback before as you said with the artists it gets too far along that it's a sunk cost and you cannot invest in redirecting the map design. 

That last sentence in your Overview you mentioned it but I wasn't able to locate which players you are specifically targeting in your post. I suppose it's the closed group with entire COH franchise community you referenced or if I just missed it. I can't wait to storm "Mount Bacon" with my flamethrower pioneers, I prefer my bacon crispy!

- Art of War