Hello again, feels like a millenium since I last updated this. I'm still sick, but thankfully nearing the end of it now. I've been rather exhausted both physically and emotionally, so the past few weeks have been an exercise in forced recovery and downtime. I would be lying if I said i wasn't enjoying sleeping so much and getting to wake up in the golden hour of the afternoon after going to bed during the early morning light, there's something very serene in it.

So, the title, yes-- I've been working on the same maps as I was last time, still tinkering with layouts and renders and such, and this time I'd like to show off a couple that are newly finished since the last post. I'm quite proud of them both in terms of layout, but also aesthetics. I hope you'll enjoy them as much as I do.

Render for the stage Babylon Falls.

This one is Babylon Falls, a completely original design created by me in December 2024, which sat unfinished and untextured until mere days after my last post. I have had a teal and pink Babylon-inspired map design in my inspiration folder for quite some time, and this one had no obvious place to draw from, so I decided to just smash the ideas together. I consider this one a sister map to another map of mine, Neo Vesuivus, which I'll include an image of below for comparison.

Render for the stage Neo Vesuvius.

I have no idea how obvious it'll appear to a viewer without any technical knowledge, but they are incredibly similar. Neither are radially symmetric like most other maps, both are made of cascading sets of blocks on 3, 5, or 7 scales, and both have the aesthetic of a ruinous former civiilzation. Neo Vesuvius is set on the water, as if its inhabitants were wiped out in the death of the large dead tree at the top of the map. (Which you cannot see particularly well in the render, but it's there!) Babylon Falls is floating in the sky with water draining out of specific canals into the void, as if to descend forever to a spot in space we cannot perceive.

If it isn't clear I love both of them dearly. Vesuvius is what I consider to be the pinnacle of my design work, as it is incredibly thoroughly playtested and has so many routes and approach options it's frankly staggering. Babylon by comparison is much more simplistic, but I think it occupies a similar niche. What fun maps to design!

Render for the stage Walleye Warehouse.

So this one and the next are the reason for the title, as they are both based on Splatoon maps with fish names. I originally only intended this post to contain the two of them, and then I realized that would leave poor Babylon Falls out for no reason, so pardon the scattershot nature of this. This one is Walleye Warehouse, a very flat and narrow map from Splatoon 1, later featured in Splatoon 2 as well. My version is minimally edited-- it's mostly wider, and has 3rd and 4th player spawns to accommodate my use cases for it, but for the most part, it is a thoroughly faithful rendition with only the most necessary of changes. The proportions made its design a bit of a hassle, and its skybox work was a pain, but I'm quite proud of how it turned out! I think it has quite the unique aesthetic for a map in my format, I hope you like it too.

Render for the stage Ancho-V Games.

Last but certainly not least, this is the most recently completed one as of posting: Ancho-V Games. Another Splatoon-1-to-Splatoon-2 upport, this map has always been a favorite of mine, but I felt the more radically altered Splatoon 2 rendition was always lacking some of the beauty and charm of the original-- both in terms of layout and aesthetics.. Thus, I set out to reinterpret the original with aspects of both to make the best possible version, and I think I succeeded. This one is much older than the other two however, as said before Babylon was started in December 2024, and Walleye was started mere days ago, but this one dates all the way back to April 2024! I ended up designing the entirety of it-- sans 3rd and 4th player spawns-- in one go then, and then sat on it for upwards of two years as I could not figure out how to cohere the visual aesthetics into something presentable. It was "playable" then, but lacked so much identity that I doubt anyone would've recognized it had I taken it in front of them and not told them the source. I'm extremely happy with its visual styling, it took hours of work and it emulates the original in all the best ways, while elaborating and diverting in places where it could take new, more exciting directions. I can't wait to play on this one with others.

Well, that's it for now! Truthfully, I can't wait to play on any of these! It's been a while since I've properly run a playable version with friends, and I'm hoping to arrange one within the coming months. I probably won't be dragging every playable map in front of the playerbase as of yet, but I definitely will be debuting these three. I hope you enjoy and for those in my social circles, if you ever wish to know more or get involved in the play events, feel free to contact me! Thank you all for reading. :)