UEFN - Team Deathmatch (map) | Afallon

(first post)Hi everyone, this project was developed within UEFN for Afallon as a showcase. Our main reference was the city of New York. Among the many tasks shared with the team, I focused primarily on architecting the map, creating props, building modular structures, set dressing both props and buildings into the map, creating a lore and designing materials.

Architecting the map was a challenge we had been trying to solve for a long time, until we finally reached our last sketch pass. At that stage, we defined the sizes of each team’s headquarters and the main street areas. I moved to a top-down view to decide the placement of every building, the layout of streets and sidewalks, the final scale of the map, and how to make it feel like there’s more city beyond the playable area—blocked off for lore-related reasons. We also discussed what could be placed in the center of the map without blocking the view of each headquarters, while still giving players something interesting to explore, like a fountain. The only 2 buildings I did not worked on was the Sushi and the headquarters of each team.

When it came to set dressing, my main concern was keeping the map fully walkable while still capturing the look and feel of New York City. Since we had cars moving around, we needed clear paths for them, but also enough space for players to walk, take cover, and explore. Like any other setdresser, I know that most of the elements I placed will rarely draw attention, but that’s exactly what makes the environment feel natural.

For example, street names were inspired by trees and avenues by fruits, store names were designed to be easy to pronounce and memorable, streetlights were given synchronized animations to let pedestrians and cars alternate safely, buildings have numbered addresses, ground decals mark crosswalks and street signs, and even the blue bikes without wheels on the red side and red bikes without wheels on the blue side. All these small details help bring the city to life.

When it came to set dressing the buildings within the map, our goal was to make navigation intuitive, we wanted players to move around easily and be able to tell their friends exactly where they were. To achieve that, many buildings were made memorable by giving them unique names or strong visual identities, such as the cinema, bowling alley, and hotel. These key landmarks were placed near the center of the map as unique structures, while the surrounding areas featured secondary buildings with small stores to keep the environment visually engaging.

I also added plenty of subtle references throughout the city, including restaurant props, pizza boxes, coffee cups, and paper bags featuring the names of local restaurants, all to make the world feel more connected and alive.

As for set dressing the buildings themselves, most of what you see on the walls is built from modular pieces, with occasional balconies or staircases added to break up repetition and make each structure feel distinct. All rooftops were designed to let players freely run and hide. Since we were not sure early on whether the map would be released with construction or first person modes, my approach was to make it adaptable for all possibilities, for example allowing players to climb buildings through balcony stairs, with only minor adjustments needed depending on the final mode.

I could speak much more about it, it was a really nice project to work on hahaha :)

Hope you liked it and have read all of it lol.