Rainbow Six Vegas : The Calypso Casino

As level lead on the iconic Calypso Casino section, I immersed myself in the “Ubisoft Way”, which was to thoroughly plan out our level before touching the tools. We begin exclusively with paper maps without access to Unreal Engine 3 until the layouts were locked down. This forced clear goals, ensuring the map aligned with narrative beats, cutscene placement, and overall tactical flow.

Process and Iteration

- Created multiple paper map iterations over weeks, refining for story integration and player pacing

- Once approved, we moved on to blockouts in UE3 focusing on layout, cover placement, sightlines, and tactical pathways. We had a rule that every tactical space needed to have at least 3 entrances giving players the ability to split up their team and hit the rooms from multiple directions.

- With AI tech still ramping up, we estimated encounter lengths, factored enemy health and types with difficulty in numbers, and matched that to timing runs we did without enemies to estimate the time it would take to complete the level. This rough calculation proved surprisingly accurate against the final result, helping balance the level’s duration.

Collaboration and Polish

As our blockouts were completed, the art team came onboard. We started planning the look and feel of the level as well as what objects gameplay would need for cover, sightline blockers, and game mechanics.

Memorable Moment: The Atrium Fast-Rope Fail

One highlight I had when I was setting up the atrium. We had just gotten the ability for the AI enemies to be able to use the fast rope to enter the space from the ceiling. I got it all hooked up, and triggered the spawns, the glass broke in the ceiling as I awaited their arrival. There was a long pause, and then one after another, they fell to their deaths to the floor missing their fast rope and dying on impact. It was not what I wanted in my design but it was hilarious.

I continued to work on the level, polishing it to shipping quality and helped the team create a very memorable and excellent Rainbow Six game.

NDA Note

Unfortunately, Ubisoft doesn’t let anyone leave the premises with paper maps, layouts, or even development screenshots at that time. If you plugged in a USB stick it would lock your PC and contact IT.

While I may not have the design work that went into creating that level, the experience, planning, and iteration remains core to my principal approach.