Umbrella

Refining a skill

What is Umbrella?

Umbrella is a map for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive I developed from September 2022 to April 2023. Umbrella was the result of many failed attempts at getting a new map idea off the ground following my first finished map Acropolis. The result is some of my best work in Counter-Strike map design.

Setting and Theme

Umbrella came off the heels of me playing Resident Evil 2 and I was inspired by the Umbrella Corporation labs and wanted a similar setting for my next map. Over time, the map’s general aesthetic move away from Resident Evil and more toward a believable laboratory space. Originally the name “Umbrella” was merely a working title but the name stuck during development and I wrote new justification for the name.

Refining for Gameplay

Umbrella’s layout was originally sketched into my notebook while in class and once I got home I immediately made it into a blockout to start testing it. It’s very hard if not impossible to read how a map will play from a paper sketch, so my plan was to see how my original drawn layout would play and make changes either to fix issues or make an improvement. The process is then repeated for every major change. The result was a layout that is similar to the sketch but has a few differences made to improve gameplay. One of the most notable choices I made was moving the objective Bombsite B into the “Green Lab” room from the adjacent landing outside, this was one of the best changes I made to Umbrella as it made the site a lot more fun to fight in and around.