i heard a lot of people saying that it seems like lotus was designed for harbor. do you, or have you ever, designed certain maps around a certain agent’s abilities?
We never build a map for any agent specifically, but we do want all the agents to function and play well. That said, some maps lend themselves well to certain agent kits more than others. Funnily/Luckily, Harbor turned out to be pretty good on Lotus.
Not really a question about the maps per se, but I want to know how each of you started out in the industry, and how you developed the necessary skills in order to take on this career path. Thank you in advance for doing this AMA and taking the time to answer people's questions, it truly means a lot.
I actually started out as a QA Tester! I went to college to learn how to make art for games but when I graduated I wasn't really at the skill level needed to land a job as an artist, so I built up some experience learning how games are made in QA while working on my portfolio on the side. Then I landed a job as an artist outside of games (educational/simulation games) and then made my way back into games as an artist and I've been at it ever since :)
What is your favorite map?
Can I say Raindance? For Val, it changes all the time. Currently Lotus though heh
Hello there! It's been awesome running around in Lotus, rushing B with my friends and discovering all the little nods and details. Also awesome to see Split back in the queue! Enjoying the changes so far. Thank you thank you thank you!
With that, I would like to ask three questions:
We see a large relief in the ground of A Lobby. Is there are connection between that and the glass mosaics seen in Ascent and the Range?
The coordinates we got for the map in REVELATION (10°09'60"N 77°03'40"E) are very different from the ones on the map's loading screen (14°07'03.4"N 74°53'21.0"E). Why is that?
Does the "shape language" mentioned in the Lotus article have a meaning we should be looking out for?
Thanks and glad you're enjoying having Split back!
Have you guys ever thought of implementing bulletproof glass as a new gimmick for a map?
It would for example create funny instances where you are standing face to face to an enemy, who is on the other side of the glass, but you can't shoot eachother.
This would create moments where you have direct intel on the location of an enemy but you can't act on it outside of the use of some abilities. It would honestly create really interesting and funny moments.
If you guys went over this idea, I wonder what you guys thought the pros and cons would be.
create funny instances where you are standing face to face to an enemy, who is on the other side of the glass, but you can't shoot eachother.
This would create moments where you have direc
It has been explored in the past but its something we are unlikely to do.
The main con to this would be that we use materials on the map to convey how pennable it is and we use glass on things like radianite crates. Could get confusing if we change the rules and sometimes glass could be pennable but other times it could not.
How are you guys doing overall? Putting out a new map has to be stressful af
Good! Getting a new map finished up and out to players can be a little bit stressful, but its so exciting seeing players checking it out and having fun playing on it :D
First off i want to say a huge thank you for being so engaged and transparent with the player base cause it really means a lot.
as for Lotus, the most interesting thing for me is that pile of sand in C main, it’s probably the most uniquely shaped piece of cover ive ever seen. i wanna know how the team came up with it and please tell me whats under that pile that bullets can’t go through it ? :D
and lastly i want to congratulate all the teams(maps, agents, skins,…) on all the content that you guys make. after almost 2.5 years of playing, we still can’t wait to see what you guys deliver next. we appreciate you. <3
Thanks for the kind words!
For design on Lotus, we wanted to explore some more organic shapes - Mound, B site bowl, Roots and Rubble. In playtesting, we had a lot of fun taking control of mound and working that space on both attack and defend. Glad you're enjoying it.
Are map agent lineups ever considered when designing maps or are they typically unintentionally created and found by the community?
Lineups are, for the most part, happy accidents from when art goes into the map. We do try to put in details to help with gameplay a little bit, such as head-height details...but the crazy lineups are all from the community :D
What's with the secret upside-down rooms underneath Lotus?
They were actually put there for a technical reason! Without going too far into the weeds, we need a space to properly light our rotating doors...so they live down there until the match starts and they get moved into position.
Why there are folks hanging out upside down in there though.....we may never know...
Lotus has a lot of new mechanics (rotating doors, brekable door, silent drop), what is the thought process for adding new mechanics? how do you know if something is competively vaible or if its too crazy? are there other new mechanics coming to new maps in 2023?
thanks for creating such a great game <3
Every mechanic we use needs to fit with our tactical gameplay, meaning it needs to encourage thoughtfulness and/or coordination. We do a ton of playtesting and tuning to refine any of our mechanics and ensure they work well with agent abilities and general strategy.
Nothing to share for new mechanics at the moment, but you'll almost certainly see some new ones at some point heh
Okay I gotta ask, whos putting all the tacibears and other animals everywhere? Is it everyone or a few select people?
Its most artists on the team. We tend to just sneak them in. I enjoy seeing how long it takes for other folks on our team to find them :P
Hello! Thanks for the AMA. I only have one question.
Will we ever get the option to select what maps we want to play when we queue into a comp game?
We're not likely to allow map selection. We want player skill to reflect our whole pool of maps rather than "I'm only good at this one map."
is the site from the spike defuse section in the range ever going to see play or was the map scrapped?
That section already gets a lot of play! This area is a VALORANT made mock up of Ascent's B site.
What kind of ritual is happening in that temple near defender side spawn?????
I have no idea what you are talking about :P
Hey guys can you share how you pick which countries you want to make a map in and what lead you guys to India for Lotus? Is it similar to how the Agents team want to represent many real world cultures in the game
With our global approach in mind, we try to create an authentic representation of a country/culture with each of our maps. For Lotus/India, we saw opportunities for a tie-in to Harbor's backstory and also showcasing a region rich with thousands of years of culture and history.
Hello! This question is for George! First of all, lotus is beautiful! What are some challenges with being creative with the level as an environment artist(and team) while maintaining competitive integrity for Valorant?
Hi! Its always a balancing act! Art and design go hand in hand...its always a balance between what looks pretty and what is readable for gameplay.
In general as an artist, its always easier to add more details, more noise, more stuff...but much more difficult pull back details for the sake of gameplay clarity.
Thats why you generally see a lot more art details above the player in our maps.
Lotus is a really awesome map, definitely my new favorite . What kind of real life inspirations did you guys look at when creating the map?
On the design side, my original inspiration for the doors came from the scene in Indiana Jones where Indy and his dad are tied back to back and light the room on fire, then spin around in the secret-door-fireplace.
For art, we took a ton on inspiration from tradition Indian architecture (Dravidian in particular) - Rock-cut structures, stepwells, etc.
Why did you guys decide to go for a 3 plant site considering u guys already had Haven ?
We've always considered 3 site maps to be more of a format than Haven specific. This was just our first revisiting of that. There will likely be more 3 site maps in the future.
What is your favorite map?
I love all my children
Are the doors turning on Lotus intentionally super loud? Did you have certain interactions in mind when making it so?
We lowered the audio volume in 6.01, but have some follow up changes in 6.02 as well.
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