Valorant recently released a video on YouTube in which, Joe Ziegler, Design Director at Riot Games gives viewers a peek into the future of maps in the game.
In the video, Ziegler talks about the new maps and Valorant's long term goal regarding those maps. The Riot Design Director explains that every map change that the developers implement into Valorant is well thought out and is expected to challenge players as to how they "explore the space."
Ziegler also pointed out that the four original maps were designed to help players understand the complexity of Valorant. Regarding the same, he went on to admit that the initial maps in Valorant were designed to help players get a better understanding of the unique agent-based utilities as well.
Let's dive in and take a look at what else Ziegler had to say about the new map designs and how they would affect Valorant.
Future of Maps in Valorant
Regarding the future of Maps in Valorant, according to Ziegler's own words, the developers at Riot Games are looking to "continue challenging the basic concepts of map design in order to promote more diverse, strategic play."
Citing an example, Ziegler talked about the latest map that was introduced to Valorant, Icebox. He talked about how Icebox was designed to emphasize a player's close-ranged combat skills, sharper aiming skills, and quicker decision making. He also went on to point how Icebox is way more interconnected and complex in comparison to other maps.
In conclusion to the video, Ziegler stated that these features on Icebox were added with the sole purpose of challenging players to execute new strategic plans as well as perform more tactically, especially with weapons and agent-utilities.
However, the final goal for every new map in Valorant is to challenge players with enhanced skills and new strategies both as an individual as well as a team.
This video was, however, met with a bunch of mixed reactions from the community as many fans are upset with Icebox.
A major part of the community also applauded Riot Games for their repeated response to the community's issues.
With all being said and heard, the real news that can be taken away from this video and also that has the entire community excited is that Valorant may soon get to see a few new maps.