QUIDDITCH CTF MAP

February - March 2024| College Project

A 3v4 capture the flag map made for Fortnite set in a Quidditch pitch from the Harry Potter universe. This project was made over a 2 month period at Sheridan College.

I was the sole developer on this project. The focus of the project was level design.

Background

This level was developed for my design class at Sheridan College. The goal of this assignment was to create a CTF map using the Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN) based on a pool of existing franchises. This was also one of my first times using Unreal Engine for a big project.

LEVEL DESIGN

Picking A Franchise

We were given a pool of existing franchises to adapt for this project including:

Star Wars
Harry Potter
Lord of the Rings
The Simpsons

I opted to adapt Harry Potter for 3 reasons. For one, it is a franchise that has very strong iconography and memorable locations. Second, even though Star Wars would arguably be a better fit for a shooter such as Fortnite (look at all the Star Wars shooters, and multiple Fortnite collabs), the choice felt too obvious, so I wanted to challenge myself by picking a franchise that may not be as well suited to this sort of adaptation. Finally, Harry Potter is simply a franchise I am more familiar with that Lord of the Rings and The Simpsons, so I could more easily begin work without dedicating a large portion of my time to research.

Adapting Recognizable Settings

When looking at locations from the Harry Potter series, the Quidditch pitch immediately stood out to me. I'm not the most talented artist, but I knew that I could capture the essence of Quidditch with only a few basic shapes (the tall stands, hoops, and oval shape) and colors (house colors).

TL;DR

Note the shape of the pitch, the colored stands, and the tall hoops

This setting is also particularly well suited for a team based game mode such as capture the flag because it is easily contextualized within the rules of the Quidditch game, which is also a team sport. To more easily distinguish the 2 teams in Fortnite, I made the choice to only include stands representing Gryffindor (red and gold), and Slytherin (green and silver). This creates a clear divide in the map for players to know when they are on enemy territory.

Quidditch pitch can be recognized from simple shapes and color

Objectives

The objective for both teams, just as any other capture the flag map, is to gain access to the enemy team's base, steal their flag, and successfully carry it back to your base to score a point for your team. The flags are placed in a mirrored manner, meaning players must cross the entire field vertically and horizontally to score.

A potential path players can take to capturing the flag

It's also worth noting that the flag position is marked with a Quidditch hoop on both ends, an immediately recognizable signifier for those familiar with the franchise. Even if they're not, the signifier is placed on both sides, making the connection easy to understand.

PAGE UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Sorry for the inconvenience, but the page for this project is currently being worked on.

Plan: Dive deeper into how I limited sightlines in open areas, alternative paths, weapon and pickup placements, how primitives were used to construct the level, and more!

Come back later.