For the making of the different maps of Slashers, we used a rather simple process: We took a killer from a movie or game, we tried to convert his behaviour into game mechanics then we choose a suitable environment for those.
- Summer Camp (2016) -
For the Summer Camp map, we took inspiration in the Friday the 13th franchise and used its iconic killer with a hockey mask: Jason Voorhees. He acts like a hunter and stalks his prey one by one. So we conceived an ability that would allow him to see fresh footprints left by players.
Summer Camp map preview
Summer Camp map overview
With the main idea set, we then decided to create a large outdoor level in a summer camp in the middle of a forest nearby a lake. In this way, the foliages would prevent the killer from seeing too far, forcing him to use his ability to find the survivors. On the survivor side, we wanted the players to feel hunted down, forcing them to think twice before moving. In this way they they would be more willing to hide in the foliage and to develop strategies like retracing their own steps or climbing on rocks or trees to cover their tracks.
However, the forest being an environment where it is very easy to get lost, we placed several points of interest as well as signs to guide the players and avoid frustration.
- Lodge (2017) -
For the Lodge map, we took inspiration from the movie You're Next and used one of its killers with a wolf mask and named it The Intruder. In this movie, the killers place numerous traps in a big house. Thus, we conceived an arsenal for the killer made up of various traps with different goals: to locate, to neutralize and to kill survivors.
With the idea set, we then decided to create a dense and rather narrow indoor map set in a mountain lodge. In this way, because of all the corridors, the killer must use his traps as a third eye and place them in strategic places if he wants the best results. On the side of the survivors, we wanted to make the players feel paranoid with the possibility of traps being everywhere and make every encounter with the killer intense. Indeed, considering the narrowness of the map, every encounter between the killer and a survivor are relatively close. This situation then forces the survivors to react quickly and to go through as many different rooms as possible in order to duck the killer while avoiding the traps. All of this results in particularly intense and stressful chases.
Lodge level map preview
Lodge map overview
- Selvage (2016) -
For the Selvage map, we took inspiration in the Halloween movie franchise and used his iconic killer: Michael Myers. He acts like a stalker and patiently observes all the movements of its prey in the shadow before suddenly killing them. So we conceived an ability that would allow him to observe the movements of survivors nearby in order to seize the rith moment to attack them by surprise. However, this skill being too powerful as it is, we decided to take inspiration from another aspect of the movie: Michael Myers never runs. We then limited the movement speed of the killer so that he was forced to take the survivors by surprise.
With the idea set, we decided to create a fairly narrow outdoor level with plenty of hiding spots in a small suburban area. In this way, the killer must observe and analyze the movements of his prey with his ability and hide accordingly so that he can then take them by surprise.
On the survivors side, we wanted to make players feel like they are constantly being watched and push them to be on the move all the time while paying close attention to hiding spots and dark corners around them.
As the different houses look very similar, we placed a taller abandoned building in the middle of the map, acting as a landmark visible in the entire level.
Selvage map video preview
Selvage map overview
