Enclave Layout Update​
Enclave is a level that has been overdue for changes for about a decade. The southern, or right side route (from Rebel perspective) has always been too long, too straight, and with too much of an uphill battle at the end. While the northern, or left side route (from Rebel perspective) had a large issue with getting past an easily camped elevator close to Imperial spawn. These two spots in Enclave are what this update attempts to do some things to address.
The first and probably largest change is the complete removal and reworking of the elevator route as seen in the image above. The area is now much more wide open and has a more gradual slope to the upper landing pad area of the level. It also enters the upper area in between both access doors, rather than right by the mechanic shop. Rocks and trees are strewn across the grass for cover, while having some hazards along the edges. The overall goal being to reduce the choke point on that side of the map, giving rebels better routes to attack from, while also still requiring imperials to at least push out a little bit from spawn for a proper defense.
The second change with the long right/south side route is that overall it is now a much faster and more direct route, with more cover but wider hallways, a more unique design, and it spreads out the height increase along the route rather than lumping it all right at the end. This new route is based on the lower area of the enclave in Knights of the Old Republic 2 and features the usual halls, and the garden from when you first enter. The hope is that this route can no longer be completely locked down by a sniper or Droideka and thus allowing Rebels more opportunities to complete their objective.
Some may notice some changes/upgrades were made to the general design of the textures in this route over KotOR 2. I felt that in this case with the KotOR 2 location being a worn and run down version of the Jedi Enclave, and this being an opportunity to prepare for updates with Rend2 that I would take the time and upgrade some of the general design of the texture work. A good chunk of the designs featured in this area are based on their The Old Republic counter parts.
In addition to changing up these layouts, some general cross map changes were made, mostly to increase performance. Since this map was made, we have learned a lot about how to make levels perform better and some of this knowledge has now been transferred into many sections of Enclave. Brushwork and texture counts for previously existing assets were optimized/reduced. The core central structure of the level was also completely reworked in order to have better control over area visibility, and just be less of a mess for us internally.
With that, I hope that this sneak peak gets everyone excited to play Enclave again. If you haven't already, please check out our previous Developer Diary on the new Mandalorian abilities. Like those new abilities, this update for Enclave will be coming in the next update for Movie Battles 2.
