Would New Orleans Be Too “Unrealistic” For A Video Game?

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One of the biggest video game franchises in history is the Call of Duty line of games. Currently, their Warzone game is one of the biggest games online every day. Players from all across the globe log in for hours upon hours of gameplay every single day...even on holidays.

Today was a massive day for Warzone, and Call of Duty. The game relaunched their only playable map, which got a lot of fans excited. However the excitement fizzled out quick when players realized it wasn't a new map, but just a redesign of the only map the game has ever offered.

Players had hoped for a brand new map. But instead they were hit with a new paint job on the same thing they've been playing. What fans were looking for was a new location. Since the Warzone map, known as Verdank, is based on the real life city Donetsk. Which had a lot of people hoping for a new city from around the world to be used. Maybe something well known for specific architecture and aesthetics...something like...New Orleans.

New Orleans has been suggested as great settings for major video game franchises like the Fallout series, and has actually been used for other major game franchises like Resident Evil series (technically not New Orleans), Assassin's Creed (the Liberation game, which wasn't their best reviewed), and Tomb Raider (it was a Gameboy Color game), among others.

In fact, there was already a Call of Duty game that featured New Orleans. In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, there was a level called "Parish" that was set in New Orleans.

But none of those were expansive, battle royal style maps. Which is what Warzone asks for. The closest to a battle royal map would have been a Fallout game, but that never happened either. Perhaps the reason these games that would need a big New Orleans map haven't happened, because video game designers wouldn't be able to figure out how it works.

A couple years ago, a video game developer looked over a map of New Orleans, and explained how impossible it would be if it were turned into a game map.

James L. Sutter is one of the most successful game creators of this generation. He's responsible for the role playing games Pathfinder and Starfinder, which have both been runaway successes since their release. He's also been extremely involved in the development of the follow-up games, including the video game releases and expansions.

Additionally he's worked on the award winning, app-driven game series Castle Creeps.

So this guy knows a thing or two about developing a game. Which is why his take on the city of New Orleans is interesting enough to go viral inside the online game community.

Sutter took to Twitter to share his feelings on New Orleans, and what would happen if the map of the city were turned in to him for a video game. Here are his thoughts (with some NSFW points):

OK, he's easing into it a bit. No direct issues, just saying there are things that would "raise my eyebrows". Not too bad yet, let's keep going:

Alright, now we're getting into specifics, and actually this isn't even Nola. We're going much further south, like Port Eads type south. But that's not his only focus, let's see what's next:

Again, very valid point. We know this is real, but if this were a video game, people who aren't familiar with the area would instantly question this. At least this game developer did, so someone else probably would. Lets see what else he's got:

Yeah, that would stick out like a sore thumb in a game map. So he's got us there. But he's not done...

Again, tough to explain, and if we were on the team making this game map, we'd probably want some clarification too. Does Sutter have anymore? Of course he does:

OK, again, this one would raise an eyebrow in the developers room. Imagine seeing a game-map where you had to run across Lake Pontchartrain at it's widest point. If this was a zombie-related game, or a "battle royal" game, you'd hate life.

Like if you were on the graphics team that was asked to make this map, you'd hate life too.

It's all true. If you were the game developer, and your design team turned in a map of New Orleans, you'd have a lot of questions. Even with answers, some of it would just seem too much for a game, unless you knew about the city before. But ultimately, Sutter leaves the conversation with a compliment:

So maybe we won't ever get to see New Orleans get a big, beautiful, expensive video game map. But maybe that's why we all want it so bad, because we know how incredible it could be, if they were able to get it right. Perhaps one day we'll get Call Of Duty: NOLA in a battle royal.

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