Simpsons Mall Brawl

For my map, I chose The Simpsons out of the possible IPs we were given. Specifically, I decided to base my level off of the Springfield Mall present in the show. I looked at a documented map of the show’s mall that I found online, and used it to create my own version suitable for gameplay.

The map I created is almost entirely indoors, aside from the parking lot and balconies, with spawn points in different stores in the mall. I had the weapon, ammo, and health pick-ups be located in different stores as well, to emulate the idea that the player is taking the store’s products. I also had the rather powerful pick-ups in more dangerous locations, like a rocket launcher at the centre fountain, where the player would be surrounded by other players from all sides. The map was also two stories, and I had the flag drop-offs and pick-ups on separate floors to force players to use both, as well as forcing them to be more careful when in areas where they can be targeted by a player on another floor.

Over the course of designing the level, I kept lots of documentation of my changes and diagrams of how I wanted the design to look, as well as documenting things like the Fortnite player metrics to make sure my design fit all the mechanics. In order to help my final design, I utilized playtesting sessions with groups of people on Fortnite as well, taking all their feedback into consideration as I iterated on the map. The visual design of the level was very fun to work on as well; I enjoyed using both Fortnite’s and my own assets in order to create a map that resembled The Simpsons style. Eventually, I had a fully working Fortnite map published and ready to play, which many of my peers and playtesters found very charming and enjoyable!