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Keep Up is inspired by maps in the vein of Quake 3’s Fatal Instinct.

The idea behind Keep Up was to have the strongest strategy to be constant movement, similar to Aerowalk. The way I was able to make that happen, was by careful management of power and exposure. Power by means of how many areas one has power over, and how many ways an area can be escaped from. Exposure by means of how many areas have power over one, and how many ways an area can be approached.

Since the map is very small, and the movement is almost unrestricted, spawning was a challenge. In fact, it was six months later that I scrolled across my top-down of this, and suddenly an idea on how to make the spawning work popped into my head. A small addition to the map that would serve as the primary spawn area, and provide players with a safe spawn even when the other player knows exactly where theyll be. I also had to make sure this area wasnt too comfortable that players wouldn’t move from it, and also that it didn’t become a dead zone when players are cycling the map. A viable flanking route, and a relatively safe/cooldown area for an otherwise very open and fast-paced map.

I also wanted the map to have a less conventional 1v1 experience, having significant verticality, deathpits, forced jumps, mancannons, lifts, teleporters, more power weapons/pickups than usual, and a mechanic that forces players to have to pick up one item (plasma grenades) in order to get another (overshield). People typically have a rough experience their first time around due to the steep learning curve, but they start to appreciate the depth of the map when they learn all the movement options the map allows.

Thanks to everyone that tested and gave feedback.

Thanks to Champ for feedback and doing the art.