SOCOM: Confrontation
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SOCOM: Confrontation: a SEAL crouched behind a low wall on the Kasbah map, looking across sandstone ruins, arches and towers
Role Game Designer
Studio Slant Six Games
Period Aug 2006 – April 2012
Released Oct 2008
Platform PS3

SOCOM: Confrontation

Online multiplayer third-person shooter

I was responsible for the Kasbah map, designing and balancing it across all game modes.

01What I owned

  • The Kasbah map, designed and balanced across all game modes
  • Balanced and tuned multiplayer map flow based on iterative playtesting feedback
  • Created technical documentation for the player package and UI systems

02The launch

SOCOM: Confrontation was the first entry for the series on the PS3. It launched on October 14, 2008, as a download from PlayStation Network and at retail, with seven North African environments.

At the time of its release, its popularity took Sony by surprise. It not only took down Sony's servers for the game but for their entire online store front for a couple of days.

03Kasbah

I was responsible for the Kasbah map, one of the most popular maps on release. I focused on designing and balancing the level across all game modes. Kasbah was rated best Confrontation map in multiple community votes.

Overhead layout of Kasbah: a central tower ringed by walls, a smaller tower, a mercenary rooftop base, a snipers' den and grenade alley, a tunnel system, and SEAL and mercenary spawns in opposite corners
Kasbah's overhead layout, with the central tower, the tunnel system and the two teams' spawn points.

Before release, a June 2008 hands-on picked the map, then called Kazbah as a working title, as "our favorite level". The map was described as a connected series of fortresses, with towers scattered throughout that challenged snipers.

04What I learned

My AAA grounding comes from earlier in my career, at Slant Six, where I learned what complex pipelines, large teams, and high production bar actually feel like in practice.

Skills Applied

Level Design Multiplayer Design Map Balancing Playtesting Technical Documentation