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Riot Games developers recently released another Valorant Dev Diaries on YouTube, where they talked about the long-term possibilities of maps in the game.
Valorant is now in Act III of Episode One, complete with five different maps and a group of unique Agents.
Although the introduction of Icebox in competitive matches has revealed some structural flaws, the devs are confident that this will help them get better with future designs.
Joe Ziegler, game director of Valorant, opened up about various new elements coming to the game. These include the design, utility, and characterization of future maps. Icebox was released way ahead of time, and this was quite an achievement for the developers.
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Valorant developers discuss the idea of map design
Considering the dev team is still working from home, the updates have been flowing in quite regularly. This sort of constant regulation makes Valorant one of the best games out there.
Valorant developers maintain steady communication with their community. This is one of the primary reasons why Skye was added soon after Killjoy. Players were also getting jaded out with the variety of maps, which is why the devs decided to add Icebox early.
Ziegler also spoke extensively about the long-term goals for maps in Valorant. He shared some insight about map utility and design, which would help players select the best Agents depending on the map.
Ziegler said:
"Our top priority is increasing our competitive map pool so that you get a diverse range of strategic experiences and settings every night... I'd say we need at least a couple more maps before we can feel comfortable with out map diversity relative to the need of both competitive or casual play."
Furthermore, Ziegler spoke about how the community wants to test out Valorant maps before they are released. He stated that the developers understand and appreciate community-made maps. In fact, several Valorant artists and designers were recruited from the modding community.
Although building a community-sharing platform is easier said than done, Ziegler mentioned that it would take years for any game developer to get everything in place for community-designed maps. There has to be a specific team allocated for this purpose alone.
He said:
"We want each map we introduce to be fully supported and integrated within the Valorant ecosystem."
Designing and fine-tuning a map is a lengthy process and thus, the developers want to take their time to get it right. This is one of the reasons why the Valorant developers are investing all their resources in making maps.
The future of Valorant maps will integrate new changes that enmesh with the plot. The basic concept of map design will be changed in the future due to the ability-rich Agent pool in Valorant.
The majority of the community might not like Icebox, but it still adds to the variety of maps that are there in Valorant. The truth is the developers are doing their best even during the lockdown. Hopefully, the issues that players faced on Icebox will not be repeated in future Valorant maps.
