Beach

Beach was the very last map developed for the Last of Us. Hometown was the smallest map in the game, so I made a goal to make Beach the largest. Beach started as a different level entirely called Sewers. Initially, the entire map took place in the sewers and was a network of tunnels and man-sized pipes.

After the first playtest, it became apparent no one had a sense of direction and couldn’t tell where they were after multiple matches. The development of this map also hit our winter break, which gave me more time to try and figure out a solution. I was about the scrap the level entirely and start something else when I cut the map in half and replaced the missing half with the beach section.

That solved the problem of landmarking and player’s understanding of space. I also scripted a mechanic where there were flood lights in the sewer section connected to a gas generator. I scripted it so if you shot the generators the lights would cut out for a time. It was a cool effect and combined my love for lighting, FXs, and design, but in the end, my lead couldn’t buy why the lights would ever come back on after being shot. So it got reduced to a timer where the lights would sometimes cut out.