My CRAZY Splatoon 3 Theory
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- Опубликовано: 7 янв 2024
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The idea of merging map reworks/changes in with in-universe developments is a really cool idea. But man do I feel they flubbed the execution if that's the case. Maps don't have to be bad for over a year to possibly get a good change, they can be good upfront and made better later
Fully agree like it's kinda depressing 😭
Maybe the devs didn’t see them as “bad” just incomplete(like he says in the video.) But the devs don’t understand the game the same way competitive players do. When your playing in a way where you need to use every avenue (which most people should striving for), incompleteness can only be seen as BAD because it limits your options.
I think there's a precident to back this theory up from a design perspective as well as a lore perspective. In version 5.1.0, the devs buffed Wail's damage "to compensate for the fact that many players are now used to dodging it." They could be taking a similar approach with the map design, keeping things simple and streamlined at the start for new players and making things slightly more complex as the new players get used to the game.
Yeah good way to look at it aswell!
Ohh yeahhh that would make a lot of sense. It might just be because you have to make newer weapons more complicated to make them stand out but it feels like they have also trended towards more complexity over time
Wouldnt it be funny if the official splatoon twitter account announced hammerhead was being reverted back to its splatoon 1 layout by saying the bridge collapsed due to an earthquake or some shit and had to be constructed again
6:56 Counterpoint: they added challenges, potentially the most fun, creative and exciting new mode in Splatoon history, and made it available for only three 2-hour time slots, once a week, for 6 months. I feel like you have to hate fun _at least a little bit_ to make a mode like high jump battles and then lock it in the vault of unplayability for 4+ months, lol.
(kidding but only kind of)
🤨
What about salmon run?
@@potato1094 I guess salmon run is up there too, yeah. Though it came out early enough that it almost feels weird to imagine splatoon without it. Even though I did play splatoon 1 I barely consider salmon run a new mode cause it's been around so long.
Sacrificing functional maps and fun just for the sake of symbolism is such a Nintendo moment
I don't know man. I have fun with them. Don't get it twisted, the maps aren't great. In fact "great" is one of the last words I use, but I still enjoy them. Or maybe I just enjoy the gameplay so much that I'm just trying to cope, idk.
Although, now I'm curious, since when does nintendo have a reputation for that?
(OK never mind. I watch longer than 30 seconds, and yeah, that checks out with splatoon specifically. This is why you watch the video before commenting lmao)
@@theclown2257 I mean, the only thing I care when it comes to maps is how they look ngl. I have fun on them, im just a filthy casual lmao
I actually LOVE this theory, and it's supported even more by the fact the stage design has been getting much better as if the devs were instructed to finally go all-out to give a sneak peek of what's to come (ramen is PEAK). Last time we got surprised mid-season with the Mahi rework, and as the halfway point of Chill Season approaches, i can't wait to see which stage is next. This video is packed with enough copium to last an entire year, but i'll keep hoping i'll finally get to play on the real Scorch Gorge one day!
If we have copium for lots of things in splatoon 3, surely at least one will become reality 😁 (hopefully it’s this map theory)
During the splatfest world premiere, undertow used to have that side area to the right of the base that it has during ranked. They honestly had no reason to remove it from turf. Kinda like you said, they are dumbing down the stages. This isnt the greatest piece of evidence, but its still questionable as to why they would remove it from turf in the first place
one of my theories as to why they remove routes like that is to prevent people from sneaking around and gunning straight into the enemy spawn. this is an *okay* idea in theory but because the spawn regions are flat and lacking sneaky routes around the base into mid (routes that museum and splat 1 flounder have) it won’t deter any spawn camping at all
i think you mean undertow, right?
@@RyanSumthn Oh yes thank you, i got my names mixed up
@@Fridgemastersthat makes sense, the devs as of now are being incredibly lazy so to make it so new players don’t have to learn awareness they remove alternate routes
@HeDronHeDronHedron I don't think it's laziness, I think the development of side order is eating up too much dev time
Splatoon 2 suffered from this as well, although to a lesser extent
Always found it weird how the “construction aesthetic” of the stages usually looks like straight-up removal of map geometry as if to signal where terrain should be, rather than looking like barriers that just so happened to exist because of believable construction. That missing terrain that would connect the low and high ground in your Scorch and Hammerhead cutaways are really significant examples. Like, why would they genuinely look that way if this was in-universe construction? At least with Brinewater the decorative tarps and the scaffolding LOOK like it could be proper sectioning for long-term construction.
This theory skyrocketed my copium, it’s fly high or get too close to the sun now
Honestly you did a better job hitting that point home than I did. A lot of the construction, especially the grates on Um'ami are in areas where ground is seemingly supposed to be.
Yeah they feel like they would be unlockable areas in any other game, like you would need to do a sidequest to open them. Though I'm sad museum and flounder don't have any construction on them because the removed routes on those maps are things I've been wishing existed. There are so many times I get spawncamed on flounder and im just thinking "man that ride side route from S1 would be REALLY NICE TO HAVE RIGHT NOW".
The fact this got somewhat confirmed
Great video! I always thought that the construction on the maps was only to dial into the chaos aspect of the game but it makes a lot more sense as to why they're here with this theory.
Just two words to back up this theory.
GOLDEN
DYNAMO
The trailers represented the game in late 2024???? 👀👀👀👀👀
@@thebipedalsquid They sold us the dev kit!!
u might be onto something you cooked with this one
Hope 🤞
In the trailers they showed what they want the game to look like at the end of it’s lifespan instead of what they actually gave us now. More support for this theory being gold dynamo being in the trailers despite not releasing until a couple seasons after the games release
Yeah I really like this idea even if it's a bit far fetched.
At 5:46 you can also see on the lower ground where a ramp might connect. It has the same markings as the removed beta ramp and the fencing doesnt extend past the marking so maybe theyre planning on connecting the low ground and the high ground via a new ramp there
Yeah exactly! It's really interesting
THEY'RE DOING IT THE FUQ
It technically already has happened in the plaza when the first wave of the dlc came out. If I remember correctly, the entrance to the railway station was blocked off by a red ribbon but it was later removed when the dlc released so I also believe in the construction theory
There's also a ton of other blocked off areas in the city aswell
@@thebipedalsquidTrue! They might open up as time passes
This is actually a very creative theory and it really makes sense considering how many maps have construction placed all over them, as well as Umami being shown off in the direct in a final form but then, when it was released months later in the Fresh season it was cut back so much and was put under heavy cannon reworks, almost like the stage wasn't finished yet. 🤔
I pray that this theory is true, because if it is we all have something to hope for and we can praise the dev team for being creative with their approach to canonical changes to stages overtime (even if we were subjected to the hell that is Brinewater, Eeltail, Hammerhead and more prior).
I'm calling this theory "The copium theory" and you can not stop me from doing so.
Huh, this theory is definitely interesting. I like the idea, but I don’t think the construction was ever meant to signify eventual reworks. Mahi never looked incomplete, yet it got a rework first
There could be a lot more to it than just blatant construction which I did a pretty poor job explaining in the video, but you're right, it's good to consider.
Thank you for making sure I didn’t get too high on copium
Maybe because it was a stage so horrible they just changed it
@@loading...948 true lol
Well, you have to remember it's a swimming pool. The stage you fight on is made entirely of pool equipment which has to be easily removable for when it's time for people to swim. There's no construction needed. Therefore, Mahi is canonically the quickest and easiest stage to make structural changes to, and it fits nicely with the construction theory.
Very compelling theory, the umami one is especially weird. The only thing im confused by is the ‘why’ part. I don’t understand why nintendo would risk making most of the stages unplayable only for them to say ‘jk lol’ at the near end point of the games life. Like what do they think that would accomplish
The construction of Eeltail and Brinewater always stood out to me. By the time of Umami I was already used to random construction things I guess lol
There are a few issues I have with this theory, the first being that it gives the dev team too much credit.
Half-jokes aside, I think that the reason we got worse maps really is just as simple as a last minute dev team switch up, with leadership or map designers changing positions out for newer, less experienced devs who either are just new to the trade entirely or just REALLY don't know how to make good maps. That explains everything nicely while also being reasonably well backed by the sudden change pre-launch (around 4-5 months before release judging by the trailers, assuming they were made relatively close to the current version of the game.
(TL:DR for below; The reef's bridge and Hammerhead show how this could be done well, and are perfect examples of what you suggest the devs are doing with in-lore reworks, so why haven't we gotten lore reasons for Mahi's changes, Scorch and Eeltail being entirely different maps from the reveal trailer, and the poles update's additions? If they cared at all about lore we would have gotten some explanations by now, even if it didn't justify the gameplay or map design.)
My other issue is that this has already been the sort of thing we've seen before in a much less convoluted way, S2 has my favorite example of it with the bridge on the Reef. In the reveal trailer, it's shown to be wooden, but later on gets expanded and made into its classic stone state we know and love (and miss) today. The reason I love this change is because it's given an in-universe explanation; Pearl absolutely WRECKED the old bridge by screaming into a mic at a concert, and thus it was replaced by the time of the game's launch. Other good examples of this irl-gameplay change into lore reasoning is with stuff like the Eliter, which had its range nerf between S1 and S2 actually in the lore, and despite its rework not being GOOD, Hammerhead bridge actually had a lore reason baked in for why it was reworked.
Thus we reach the issue: Mahi Mahi resort, and the poles update. Mahi Mahi has NO reason to look like it does in S3, it's just... smaller for no reason. And the stage even rotated a solid 90 degrees, again for no in-game lore reason. Then comes the poles update, adding the Wahoo pole, the Mincemeat car, all that "good" stuff, and guess what? Again, literally no lore reason or in-game explanation for the addition of these features was made. For weapon changes, special rebalancing, all that, I get it, its so frequent and not a big enough deal to make a whole twelve-page essay on the history of the line marker to explain why it deals more damage now than on launch, we know as players that the change log for balance isn't the same as real in-game locations changing.
This theory implies that the devs have, since the beginning (or at least early on) realized that their maps do, in fact, suck after the pre-release changes were made, and instead of just changing them back they decided to call up the singleplayer team for some lore on how they could sell these maps as having been bad all along then getting reworks later on. However, this doesn't even hold up because if they had realized this while designing the maps pre-launch and had already decided to make them look and feel in-construction or unfinished from a gameplay perspective, then why haven't they explained why Scorch and Eeltail look different to that first trailer? They gave us a reason for the change to the Reef for, all things considered, a very minor and unimportant change in the world of the game, so why would they go this long with this massive plan if they just... Haven't explained why much major things changed to begin with?
You make a lot of really good points. It really does seem like most of the time they're just randomly throwing stuff and seeing what works which is disheartening.
@@thebipedalsquid Yeah, this dev team just seems really, I don't wan't to say incompetent, but they're definitely not knowledgeable about FPS or 3rd person shooter games, they also don't seem to have a grasp on just what makes Splatoon 1 and 2 work so well, despite clearly loving and constantly referencing them (or at least S1) they end up treating their concepts without a lot of reverence or care, and its really just sad to see happen to what could have easily been the best Splatoon game, if not the best 3rd person shooter ever if the content we've gotten and will get was in its prime state (S1 mahi and flounder in this game... Imagine...)
ok so i heard the intro of this video and thought you were completely insane but like. then i started listening to your examples. and umami. YEAH this is totally something the devs would do
it makes me really excited for the future, and at the very least umami since that one looked so much cooler in the beta version
glad to see you're pushing the boundaries of what's possible with copium, great stuff
no because this is actually so true theres no way you can make maps this bad on accident, everyone loves a comeback story
I think the umami ruins point was so interesting because the devs had the map right there to use but they decided to completely change it??? I Have hope !!
I feel like also it really fits with the chaos theme of the game with alot of places being rebuilt after being abandoned or broken
The devs seeing this: “Oh dang, that's a good idea” 😂
This is actually a pretty good idea
Interesting idea, something always felt off to me when it came to how much construction was used to theme the game lol.
Although we know Splatoon 3 had quite a different vision back in the day though, for example the old map layouts, but also some random changes like no secondary kits at launch (gold dynamo used in marketing but not being released for a year) and a redesign to how Tri-Stringer worked (its been shown to charge hold before). So if this isn't true, I would just assume the dev team decided to make the game more streamlined and easy to understand.
Technically speaking, this has been done before.
I won't say the exact in-canon reason since it's a very well-known fact, but the Reef between the Testfires and Launch had it's bridge changed with proper in-game lore behind the change. The construction in various maps could be a reasonable evolution of this idea, fusing it with proper in-game reworks.
Hey great point! I totally forgot about that!
More evidence for the pile that this would not be out of character for them!
THANK YOU, SOMEONE FINALLY SAID IT. I’ve been tryna say this on Twitter for months now, because why tf does every stage have construction running in the background 💀, so damn odd
Waittt what if those construction things are actually where tri color takes out. Like where the 3rd team spawns and it opens up only for splatfest (in undertow, brinewater, eeltail)
This is a pretty nice theory! But there is a hole in this idea with Skipper Pavilion in 2 also being under construction still despite the game being finished, to be fair tho it was a Splatoon 2 map
Yeah true, but tbf this is the first game to have construction actually affect layouts. Sturgeon also falls into this category of being a ship under construction that still has somehow had ZERO changes between S2 and 3 💀
I think Nintendo saw everyone online saying the new splatoon game looks identicle to the last two and was worried about the game's lifespan, so decided to "ruin" the maps to keep people talking about the game and maintain the same hype we all had when we saw mahi and hammerhead being revealed to come back for example in the trailer, but delay the hype to when they actually fix the maps (Imo outside of zones mahi still sucks but anyway we were hype for the rework) to keep the playerbase. I think this could absolutely be true as the maps they've released have only improved, like comparing brinewater with robo ramen a year later is like opposite ends of the tier list. So basically, they had a fully complete game at launch, but held back half of the good content to extend the game's lifespan and slowly release it as the end of the planed updates grows closer to kepp the playerbase alive. Either that, or the dev team wanted to test splatoon fans by seeing how shit they could make some of these maps and seeing if we'd put up with it :)
Another hot take is that they made the maps more simplistic so they would work in big run (um'ami and barnacle) then redesign them later
Definitely a plausible theory! (Though so self destructive lmao)
Still doesn’t dismay the fact Nintendo already had these assets in game and made the models for wider map design and then they completely fumbled not delivered on what we saw in the trailers
Yeah either way you look at it it sucks that we've had to deal with such bad layouts for so long
I hope that this theory turns out to be true when side order drops
I never thought of something like this, and I think it's interesting and also just confusing if this was the actual intention of the devs. I mean if it was their intention to make the stages indirectly bad, they could have started making map reworks I'd say maybe around sizzle season and maybe they could have done more than just one, right? What I mean is if your gonna make a worse version of a stage at least make them better at a faster rate.
It's still a really cool and convincing theory though, and it is now my copium for better maps in the future.
Yeah I hope the pace is at least sped up soon unless there's a (likely) content extension
I absolutely believe that they're doing this intentionally. It's not just the stages, it's the weapons too. Trizooka dealing 40 damage with indirects getting "fixed", and suddenly the special actually functions. Tristrike not being able to swim or shoot like Bomb Rush could (expect that in the next patch), Zipcaster dealing exactly 95 damage, all of this stuff feels way too intentional. The dev team has been working on this series for almost a decade, they have years of data and metrics. I find it inkredibly hard to believe that they're unknowingly making the same mistakes multiple times. It's not just a content dripfeed, it's a fix dripfeed too.
To add on to this theory: the game and maps are in a state of chaos because of the lobby designer, the predicted villain of side order, and once we defeat him in the dlc the order will be restored and we’ll have good maps. (This is my last hope for this game to be great)
Yeah I also had a small theory that the original plan was to have all the maps in a destroyed state of chaos to fit with the theme (with Museum's torn up spinners being an example) that they at the end didn't go all the way through with and kept the chaotic layouts without the visuals, though of course there's really no evidence at all to this.
In terms of the world being living, breathing, and ever changing, there is something I wanna point out that's changed! If you go to the lobby, there have recently been little drawings added on the ground of what seems like Scorched Gorge and Eeltail Alley on the ground, as well as a cute little strategy triangle drawn by some battlers. The Gorge drawing is on top of the ramp stack by the stairs, and the Alley drawing is behind the middle block. The strategy drawing is by wall near the copy machine. These weren't present before the 6.0 patch! As for the city itself, I've noticed trash and various objects in new locations, as well as more stickers and posters on the walls and other random places. Some old stickers have also seemingly been torn, like someone tried to remove them and failed.
These are all really small details in the grand scheme of things, but it does point to the developers being aware of things changing around the place and actually implementing them. I've sure there will be stage reworks in the future, maybe not entirely like the trailer maps showed, but something along those lines.
Wsym those drawings were always there? Unless there's new ones they added?
@@thebipedalsquid Turns out I'm blind actually. I just looked it up. Why did I only just notice them after the 6.0 patch.... maybe I hit my head harder a few weeks ago than I thought lol;;;;
I did get a concussion like right after 6.0 dropped... maybe that's it sob
@@Huskie297 aww damn hope you're recovering well! I myself only noticed them during Chill season so don't feel too bad about it lol
With this funky theory in mind, I'd like to think that it was a last-minute idea they fell in love with, and that the, um, questionable execution is thus a result in not having a whole lot of time to think of better "work-in-progress" versions.
And with a Mincemeat Rework being freshly announced, I can't help but wonder if this theory is actually right! Because just like road work ahead, I sure hope it does!
The Mincemeat rework kinda confirmed this theory, since the whole left extension which will be added is for now oh-so-conveniently blocked by junk blocks 🤔
Bro knew more than we thought
omg this makes so much sense… i’m on your side dude. subed
It would be a slap to the face if they made like a "blast to the past" challenge and added actual mahi and hammerhead but for that challenge only
I was wondering about that too 😭 (I mean that wouldn't be the worst thing in the world assuming challenges go to pb's at the end of the game's life or go into a permanent 24/7 rotation????
I don’t think it was intentional tbh. I think management just refused to give map designers the time they wanted and needed to finish the maps
But that would imply we'd just have the beta versions of the maps mostly unchanged, since it would take a lot more dev time to go out of their ways and completely change the layouts of all the stages.
@@thebipedalsquid let me clarify. The map designers wanted and created the beta maps (more open and stuff), then management said to make the maps smaller to have people fight more, and the map designers made the maps smaller, but then didn’t have time to make the smaller versions pretty and completely coherent
The bad thing of the thory is the first rework that didnt remove the weird ballons to zipcaster or whatever purpose has
(TL:DR, theres actually more evidence to this theory than it seems due to weird oddities present in certain maps that dont make sense or line up with pre-release footage)
it seems absolutely bizarre, but i actually really love this theory. its the type of weird backwards logic that just makes sense for nintendo. in scorch gorge especially, the weird indents where it seems a ramp should go are purposefully made so that you can walk straight off the edge, as if somethings supposed to be there. this is also supported by the black and yellow markings near right of spawn that are elevated so that youd have to purposefully jump over them. i found a similar thing in umami, where the edges of mid are also lined with yellow and black tape, but no barrier to prevent you from walking straight off as if there should be something there. near all other edges in these stages, theres barriers preventing you from walking off, but these instances are an exception (besides mahi, which is intentional).
weird oddities like these and the ones you mentioned are present in stages up to where barnacle is in the stage select (excluding splat2 stages because those are basically identical to how they were in 2). flounder and umami were clearly planned before the game released (as seen in the direct), but brinewater was added before umami and with flounder, meaning it was most likely planned before release, just not shown off, and im gonna group manta maria with these stages planned before release as well for simplicity sake. isnt it weird how all these stages that were planned before release have these oddities and out of place objects? umami also fits in with the trend of stages being changed completely before release, all the more reason to think this was intentional. i also find it interesting how some elements of the beta stages were sprinkled into other modes, like how the weird barrier in the middle of beta eeltail is in splat zones, or the original layout of the grates in the middle of beta scorch is somewhat restored in rainmaker
i do think this could be disproven simply by the fact that there really isnt any lore reason, and things we dont know of happened during development and caused the stages to be the way they are, but it doesnt make sense to me why the stages we saw in trailers were purposefully made worse in the final game, along with elements from those early versions appearing in other modes. like why would they go through more work to completely change a stage thats already finished from what we saw? that really just solidifies why this theory has more backing it up to me honestly. ultimately though, i feel like the next stage rework will determine how strong this theory is (copium that beta eeltail returns)
While i dont fully believe that they cut down stages to be completed later, i do think these construction areas were made to fit stage renovations more neatly into lore. I think my biggest fault with this theory is that the first remodeled stage is mahi, which (unless i am misremembering) had no construction in sight. I do firmly believe that renovations are going to be more common going forward, and that they are going to fit well into the year extention that is also a popular theory that i believe in. We will have to see, but if we get a renovation in this mid season update i have reason to suspect that they will be a regular part of these updates moving forward. With how consistently stage design has been improving, i am really hopeful we can get some larger changes!
I didn't include it in the video, but as a side I wanted to include a speculative theory that my friend Str1ke made that Big Run could've originally been planned to cause map reworks aswell in stages without construction, but was scrapped. This would've covered maps without construction or "hints" in them such as Mahi and Barnacle for instance.
I really do believe your theory but I think I know why Eeltail and umami look so drastically different from their beta versions.
When I was inspecting Eeltail after the game launched, I noticed tons of details that weren’t present in the trailer. The buildings didn’t surround Eeltail like in the beta, and Eeltail had no presence of water to be found in the beta. I was wondering why that was the case until umami ruins came out where then the answer was pretty obvious. The maps weren’t finished at all.
Some of the things I’ve noticed in early Eeltail was the water. At some points it wasn’t even visible and they didn’t have anything like the clothes lines, pollution like launch Eeltail. Same goes for the buildings. We never saw the desert that is present in the released version. We don’t see the jellyfish but they were definitely present in museum and that was a ported stage that was already done. Same goes for umami, in the direct we never saw the construction nor the tornado’s or jellies. The biggest flag for me is that the lighting isn’t the same. Umami in its beta compared to release looks widely different in color. It is way more brighter almost like the desert is yellow, meanwhile current umami has complex shadows and darker areas and looks orange. Same goes for Eeltail too. Looking again back at the beginning notice how bright the inklings are compared to how dark they are in the release.
Before you say that duh of course they probably were just figuring out the lighting for the game, look at alterna. In the trailer of alterna when we look through the whole thing, notice how similar that looks to it’s finalized version. The inkling hair physics, the pose the squid sisters do, the backgrounds. It’s pretty clear that before working on multiplayer, the devs focused their energy into the single player campaign just by how finished it is. I mean think of how they’ve BEEN approaching updates. They were 6 months into the games life and already announced not one but two. In the time from the S3 direct to fresh season they had to finish the remaining 3 maps along with brinewater and it’s unique sunrise. Removed museum’s and flounders old sky. Work on inkopolis and side order, and develop new gear for the catalogue. It’s pretty clear that because of the dlc’s, they had to simplify maps so they could easily implement them. I mean they planned on releasing side order last year and delayed it to fresh season of this year. They likely didn’t have enough time to delve into so many things at once and focused on one thing which is why stuff like balance patches, reused content, lack of new weapons are even a thing.
In summary, Nintendo is making s3 a living production circus and now that the devs don’t have anything extra to work on, they can now work on fixing the maps, probably why they left so many markers so they could easily remember what to revert.
If we're all getting high on copium, apparently the layout for S1 Mahi was found in the code by dataminers, along with a couple of other stages (including a nearly finished version of The Reef... next season maybe??). I'm not sure what the S1 Mahi layout being here could mean, but if we're huffing copium then... there could be chance.
I think it means something else more realistically (I've had this other weird theory for a while now that Side Order since it's based in a digital world of memories will include all the old locations from the old days, and that's why the devs wanted to change all the maps so much to make it impactful to go back?)
This theory is complete hope, but I want hope soo…
A theory I have is side order is going to reactivate the statue and destroy hammer head so we can get the original back.
Fun video! As much as I like the theory and want to believe it, realistically I don't think it holds up at all (which is why it's a conspiracy theory but I digress). While I'm obviously not a Splatoon dev, I can speak from experience as a student game designer/artist that might provide a bit of insight. (Please excuse the giant wall of text I'm about to unleash, I just really like the video and want to add onto it because I'm interested in these sorts of things)
To me, the lack of construction details around Um'ami Ruins simply means they were not added yet BECAUSE the layout was not finalised, as we clearly got a different layout.
You usually don't want to put too much effort and resources into those sorts of details if you aren't sure what the final layout of a stage could end up looking like. Sure it was shown off in the direct, but obviously that was only a preview. It's to be expected that the stage looks different from the final release, that's why it wasn't in the base game.
It looks barren compared to the final version because as you mentioned, the layout was still being tinkered with during development. If the sorts of details you see in the final version were added back then, they might never end up being used and will be completely discarded, which is wasted hours of work. In order to work the most efficiently they possibly can, they continuously adjust the layout of the map while the art team makes some textures and models for the designers to work with when things seem finalised, but when it comes time to show off the stage they will only show off the parts of the map they can confidently show with relatively polished models and textures they've already made so far. All the unfinished stuff is very likely to be hidden from the camera's perspective by hiding it behind props or corners or whatever. Even if it looks like there's a lot to see, there's a lot we also don't get to see and for good reason.
When it comes to the metal blocks and scaffholding spread throughout stages like Undertow and Brinewater, I'll admit they can seem suspicious but are also placed with purpose and have the proper polished assets. I can't say it's impossible there used to be terrain there, but it's more likely just a result of reusing certain base assets that are made to fit within a specific area. If they were like the tiny grey blocks you sometimes find within stages on different modes, it would stand out a lot more.
Also it would simply take wayyy too much time and effort to create two versions of a stage JUST to delete the old version and releasing the reworked version at a later date, because "that's canon to the lore". In reality, they don't need to adjust one map, they need to adjust it for 5 completely different game modes and still make it look and feel like the same map. In the case of Mahi, the devs needed to consider about 10 different layouts for this "one" map. 5 layouts for each game mode, and because the water level dropping will also create a unique map layout, that adds another 5 unique layouts.
It's a lot easier to look at the Splatoon 1 version and say the Splatoon 3 version is worse (which is true to be fair), but actually trying to implement the right changes to it, in order to make it more balanced in a game that plays so much differently from Splatoon 1 is a lot more difficult of a task. Which is why, not only is it great to see that they actually managed to improve the map in its rework, I would say it's a relief to see that they are still willing to rework stages AT ALL despite the resources it would take to do so.
I know the Splatoon devs DO definitely care about the little details like the bands who play the in-game music, the fake language, gender neutral toilets in the background of Barnacle & Dime, and tons of other things to make the world feel more alive, but those are things that are guaranteed to STAY there. So the construction theme was very likely planned from the beginning, as with every other base game map. It makes absolutely no sense to create an unfinished stage just to rework it and throw away the original... buuuut they CAN definitely use "reconstruction" as an in-universe explanation as to why stages get reworked as they have already done in the past.
TL;DR, while it's a fun theory that the devs could technically use construction as an excuse to release unfinished stages, it's incredibly unlikely that they genuinely do that on purpose only to release their finished versions later because that's an inefficient use of time and resources and generally a silly thing to do no matter how you look at it.
Edit: clarified I was talking about Um'ami in the second paragraph
I have only just now noticed all the random scaffolding everywhere wtf??? This might be my favorite piece of copium yet
I think the stages are a result of a couple of things.
First, I think the dev team wanted to try a different direction for stage layouts and didn't solidify a direction until late in S3's development. This isn't the first time the series took a different direction with its stages. S1 stages were very tall, cramped, and had many gimmicks while S2 stages were flatter, wider, and typically gimmickless. Since the devs have described the vibe of S3 as being counter culture to counter culture, then the opposite of S2's very wide stages would be S3's very thin stages.
Second, I think it's because the devs had to work on Side Order. We know Side Order was pushed back a fair bit internally. And since Side Order is a roguelike, it needs a lot of level layout variety to stay fresh. So I think S3 had to split its level design team as well to work on both the multiplayer and the DLC. So even if some stages were more "complete" in development, they did not have a full team to make the thinner stage direction changes in a good way. That's why we ended up with barebone stages like launch Mahi, Hammerhead, Brinewater, Umami, and Barnacle. Then one they finished with the level design portion of Side Order, they had their full stage design team again. Which is why we got the major shift of Drizzle Season 2023 with Shipshape, Crableg, rework Mahi, Bluefin, and Robo. These stages are still "thin" compared to S2, but they aren't barebones.
The mirrored scaffolding outside of the stages is odd, but I think it also makes more sense from a perspective of a understaffed stage team running out of time to change the geometry that's typically not interacted with by the players.
I think the scaffolding you pointed out are for stages with a tribattle layout. All the stages you pointed out have tri-battle layouts that utilize those spaces in the area where those scaffolds are.
It's actually pretty cool! However it's not because it's underconstruction..
You know not a bad point! It isn't consistent for all of them tho especially a lot of the newer ones like Barnacle, Manta and Crableg. Maybe it could also have dual meaning aswell.
This video is just a solid brick of copium and im in on it
This world be amazing. I would freakin love this. and it makes so much sense in splatoon low too. I hope to God that this is what happens because this would truly bring back old or players who dropped the game.
Blooper squid: 👍
Blooper squid with octavio scars: 👍👍
Why is this editing style actually PEAK
Thanks bro 😤
This would make so much sense. What they could have done is add random pieces of boards lying about so its not unclimbable areas
Absolutely massive "Secret Good Forth Sherlock Episode" vibes here. Maybe the construction things are just there so they can easily shift things around without having to mess with the art assets too much. You essentially have these design elements designed to be somewhat out of place, so you can make small changes to a map more easily compared to having to rethink the basic geometry of the map.
Even if this idea is true, the idea is dumb. Why wait so long to change these things if changing them was always the plan.
it ended up being true with mincemeat removing giant BLOQS at the side
Holy smokes you actually convinced me, it makes total sense in every aspect of it (or it is just insane copium haha)
Four months later, you slightly got what you wanted! Umami Ruins is even better now and Hammerhead is there I guess, even something like Brinewater or Eeltail got minuscule changes that improve them in at least some modes.
You know what, you got me on that hopium ;)
Great vid btw
Honestly, i really like this theory but its really giving them the benefit of the doubt and saying that it’s planned and it’svv something that they wanted to do but to be honest I feel like this is more of a situation where the dev team just rushed the game. I think between the Xenoblade release date swap, and how weirdly rushed and small the maps felt compared to their beta version, I feel like something had to have happened between September 2021 and May 2022.
Datamining stuff helps this theory as well but i dont wanna get into that cause people dont like datamining.
Just curious what datamines stuff relates to this? I know S1 mahi, hammerhead, and bluefin are in the files but we're clearly not getting those.
@@Cluckenstein all those stages listed before are ones that were probably used as reference for the renovation and stuff. the other datamined stages were kelp and reef.
@@woahitsfranco5286 Fuck help dome. Also iirc the actual mahi and hammerhead were datamined but aren't used and are just splatoon 1 ports. Interesting but probably just for testing while the new hire ruined them. I truly hope this theory is correct and we get the original scorch and eeltail eventually but knowing nintendo they have no reason to. Maybe during the final season to "complete" splatoon 3? Probably not. Its nice to huff copium for a bit but in reality we're probably getting more shit maps, romen was an accidental success, and no third kits. Sad but probably true.
This would be stupidly funny and somehow it would je a genius move and I really hope you're right..
I wholeheartedly believe that the actual map reworks will have something to do with side order. If they end up doing anything related to this at all, it’s gotta be for a reason.
Headcanon theory time:
Order society has decided that the popular 4v4 sports are too chaotic, and thus are putting more regulation on maps. Thankfully, they aren’t booting inklings and octolings out of their favorite battle hangouts but they are putting massive reworks in place to make the locations more “orderly and fair”
This segways into the confusing kits situation, and why I believe we’re getting custom kits after side order drops.
Headcanon theory 2:
Outraged by the ‘regulations’ put in place by the order society, splatlandians looked for a way to upset the order threatening their way of life. They stumble upon an older octoling who seemingly goes by no name, though they do seem to respond to the word “eight” for some reason. What little this octoling would say led many to realize she loved working on and customizing weapons. She used to hang out a lot with Sheldon but now runs her own specialty weapon shop, where her skills combined with Sheldon’s knowledge led her to figure out how to bypass sub and special restrictions on weapons. And who knows, maybe if you spend enough time with her she’ll tell you a bit about her past, and a recent event that helped her change splatlandian lives forever…
This sounds pretty funny imo like "y'all voted for the wrong team lmaoo but we gotchu later on, dw" (I was part of Team Chaos btw)
@@Naito9874 and I think it’s plausible because the dlc needs to answer a few things:
Where was 8
Why did pearl and marina disappear for a hot minute there
What even is side order, and how will that affect the world of splatoon
Considering how the story mode of 2 and 3 along with octo expansion telling us just how much the splatoon universe is changing, i’d definitely expect some massive changes when they introduce the tower of order
@@budderguy2128Oh I'm not saying it's Impossible, and not that my comment is the actual intention, just that it's funny to think about in that way
PLEASE let this theory be true. They better change these maps for the better…
Mincemeat announcement this week watch
You wanna know when this gonna happen? When they shut down splatoon 1's servers! That would the perfect time. It would honor splatoon 1 in the best way possible.
I've been wondering how they're gonna handle that definitely
What if hammerhead bridge somehow gets destroyed canonically in side order LMAO
I've been betting on it since launch especially because of the NILS statue lmaoooo
I think it may have some evidence because in your tail alley there is construction with jelly with construction hats
Anyone else think that the splatoon trailers before release were maybe meant to be a few years into splat 3 because gold dynamo was showcased there. It’s like these maps ‘completed’ layouts only exist some time after the gold dynamo. What I’m saying is that the trailer before splatoon 3s release such as the announcement trailers show a reworked version that will be released for us soon
Maybe these trailers over a year before splatoon 3’s release foreshadow the future of splatoon 😀
That's what I've definitely thought before lol! (Including Splash 07 with zipcaster plz??)
As long as splash gets zipcaster the game will be a success (this is coming from a splash main of course)
@@Mirror_spl zipcaster torpedo would go insane
@@thebipedalsquidI agree but if there are third kits they would probably give it mist-zipcaster to reference the vsplash of s2. torpedo still possible though
I'd like to bring some of my own speculation here, as I do have some stuff for and against this reasoning and logic in the video and wanna add some points, with debateable impact (this will be a long one though, sorry, I'm too observant with these stages. Also this will cover leaked and datamined stuff as well):
First, this spot at 5:51 on Hammerhead, the “imprint of a ramp” is in fact used for a ramp on the Tricolor layout (and sadly ONLY the Tricolour layout). Additionally, if you look on the minimap, you'll see noticable lines/seams where some things change between modes. Keep that last part in mind, it'll be important (also keep in mind the tricolour thing too).
Second, I'm glad you brought up the Brinewater wall thing actually, as I've not really seen many people cover it. Imo I think it and Umami were 100% swapped last minute while they did some reworking to Umami, given the fact we saw it in the direct WITH finished Flounder. Brinewater did always seem incredibly out of nowhere compared to the Direct things, and I think it's further evidence that they shuffled around a lot of the content order (other exhibits include Gold Dynamo and ink storm undercover in the direct, while gold aerospray was present and added in chill season)
Third: Mincemeat tricolour. I know it sounds like a weird tangent, but remember, Mincemeat tricolour was the DEBUT of the car skewer poles before they were added to turf and zones in the Wahoo pole update. Plus the stage's design is significantly different, even more than just the funny sponges on the trucks that get brought up everytime we say Mincemeat bad. And also that seemingly beta Mincemeat image that was found in the Tournament manager just recently, there's a lot of oddities.
Next: Flounder. This will be shorter but it's worth bringing up that Flounder is apparently set to be possibly an upcoming Big Run stage, as well as having unfinished data for a tricolour layout (mostly collision stuff, no actual assets beyond the base model, BUT a good chunk of the added terrain
Scorch next, and I have a weird citation to make, this 11 month old video by Supreme Ball, showcasing Tricolour layouts that were unfinished in 2.1.0 (ruclips.net/video/bk6Tiwa2AaM/видео.htmlsi=PZ1FGe8LRW05Fsqb). It actually gives some alright insight into how these stages look without their mode specific changes, and more specifically at 1:33 where they check out unfinished Tricolour Scorch Gorge (before the funny Zelda doritos), and…well a lot of the terrain is missing. And that's because all the left side terrain is map mode specific. But seeing it without all that as just the base layout of Scorch without the mode specifics…does it remind you of another version of this stage we've seen before? It probably should…and for further stuff, later in the same video they get to Mahi Mahi and almost THE ENTIRE STAGE is missing. Only the parts of spawn consistent everywhere and one island remain.
That last one is part of my big basis that I want to come to. I believe part of the reason stages are all over the place is because the designers are sort of being forced down the path of making all the stages extremely “modular” (i.e. having pieces that swap out between map/modes as opposed to being consistent for every mode). There's nothing wrong with that, given we've seen the approach be a thing somewhat since S2 where they actually weren't just pasting blocks on stages designed for turf war in mind, HOWEVER, I think the stages are, or rather WERE being heavily made with that in mind, but the devs especially with the earlier maps were basically forced into only it. And the culprit? Well, it's our old friend, TRICOLOUR…and uhhhhh also Rainmaker checkpoints, but mostly tricolour. (I'd explain the rainmaker thing but that's a whole different beast). And also a lil bit of Big Run but mostly Tricolour. Hear me out on these points:
- Tricolour has to add and adjust the most on the stages to make them “function” for 3 teams. We've seen stuff like even Splatoon 2 stages be effected, like some weird ink issues happen on the left side of Sturgeon where part of the ground was cut for Tricolour, or the heavily mutilation of Manta Maria (that actually had some good ideas wasted on spots that were made dead ends, like the grates).
- Tricolour upcoming for Flounder seems to be adding defender spawns or terrain in the spaces where stuff was cut out, the metal wall sections. Tricolour Hammerhead with the ramp. Eeltail with the giant addition of two whole ass side spots specifically dug into the ground with unique terrain and textures? Barnacle with the spot at the end used for defender spawns that looks eerily close to lining up with where the defensive high ground ends in the turf/zones layout?
- I'm willing to bet they intend on making Museum a tricolour map if you just look at the mess of seams that is the minimap in mid, it's pure pandemonium of lines.
- Big Run isn’t safe either. Remember the two huge ramps they put on Umami's mid that they pulled out of their asses just to make sure Steel Eels could mess with you? Even subtle stuff like Undertow's…middle…ramp blocks? Of all the things to be modular on Undertow-okay but back to Barnacle again, they used a different snipe in mid in Big Run, one that's a closed stall with an inkable wall.
Where does this lead? Idk fully, but I feel like part of the original intent was to make them more modular so things could be swapped or added easier. Take the Wahoo Pole update, those were all modular changes, even the Eeltail ramp because it's needed for rainmaker. Also same for the massive chunk of undertow's spawn taken off in turf for no reason in like 1.1. So what went wrong? Idk we can only speculate what's stopping them from changing out more pieces of a stage in smaller updates, but I imagine it could PARTIALLY be for saving them for proper full reworks. Reworks have been part of the series identity since S1, with iconic stages usually being first, say for Mahi breaking that tradition (because Starfish was on the box art of S2). I imagine it's 100% a management thing that's stopping them from just making changes unannounced but idk.
Post finally over, sorry for rambling, hope it helped or something, tl;dr modularity is a thing and it's really weird on S3 stages, probably mainly because of tricolour and big run adding 2 big new modes to maps that need big changes to accommodate for all modes, idk.
iirc i asked some splatoon dataminers such as oatmealdome before, and this is very much true; maps in this game basically have "layers" like a photoshop file, which are turned on or off as needed depending on game mode
@@RyanSumthn That does 100% line up with map specific changes, but from there I’m thinking they definitely made stages with the “toggling parts on and off” in mind given just HOW much changes between modes in a lot of cases, especially in the tricolour modes. I imagine they’re somewhat building stages as “foundations” and then just dropping the rest of the stuff on them idk
1:25 This edit threw me so off guard 💀💀
This is actually a really fun idea, I just hope they speed up the process of implementing these reworks
i could very well belive this! good job!
On one hand this seems very possible, though I find it crazy that they would intentionally make so many maps bad for over a year and a half just to "fix" them by releasing the versions they clearly have had finished this whole time. Seems like a really good way to lose potential players who got the game early and disliked how the maps currently are.
On the other hand, they have said that content updates are only planned until what would be sizzle/drizzle season 2024, and with the speed things are coming out I highly doubt they would rework like 4+ stages in that time frame seeing as we've only gotten one major one so far during a mid season patch.
That said if they actually do it I'll be so happy (if a bit confused why they didn't just make it so that in universe the stages just weren't opened until they were finished being built so they could've had the good versions this whole time) because the maps are like 90% of my issue with the game (and the other 10% is the fact I feel like I'm always matched against players far better than me but that's a whole other thing)
Yeah exactly it's really silly, but again these devs in general are really silly.
Finnaly you talk about it!
But hey.... That's just a theory...
A GAME THEORY
W CONTENT KEEP UP THE GOOD WORKK
Thank you 😭
I’ve always held the theory that the Tetris block forced-engagement stage design was an experiment on the devs end, and so yea it would be baller if they had a backup plan they could explore in-universe if the experiment proved unpopular. I wouldn’t put it past these devs at all.
They're gonna fix them when they bring them back to splatoon 4
“Hear me out”
*inserts a mind flayer tube on your face*
I will not make anymore copium theories, I will not make anymore copium theories, I WILL NOT MAKE ANYMORE COPIUM THEORIES
i really wanna cope and hope this is true 😭 however i think it’s less they want to purposefully make the stages bad, more they suddenly wanted the game to be played in a different way for some reason. they thought instead of deleting the terrian, they would just add walls to make the stages more streamlined, perhaps it was easier than removing all the terrian. who knows why they believe having a stage with limited approach options and no inkable walls is good but we’ll never know. to give them credit i believe they saw our response to how bad the stages are and are trying to make them better, with stages like robo and the mahi rework. even after the mahi rework the stage is still bad on rainmaker and tower, but it is better and ill take what we can get😭
Nintendo has without a doubt kept Splatoon 3 consistently alive and well
I also have one CRAZY, but I actually mean CRAZY theory.
A datamines on Twitter said that all main weapons that’ll be added in the next update have second kits already.
What if… just what if… Nintendo adds second kits for all weapons that don’t have one yet in the next update and adds third kits for all in the final one?
Yes I know how crazy I sound but I actually think this may happen.
Not that crazy, tho we do have enough (including the new dualies, brella, tana and stringer) to fill 2 seasons worth unless they decide to almost double the amount.
They might do that to go out with a bang. Imagine watching the trailer and seeing a third kit for every weapon in the game and better maps. It would give a feeling that splatoon 3 is finally complete. We've essentially lived in the world and saw it grow for 2 years, now its time to move onto the next game.
You're cooking frrr
There's so many blatant ways that Splatoon 3 is holding back content that it isn't even funny, and the way it's drip fed leaves a lot of players wanting more, like- a month into a season
As much as it sucks, it definitely seems to support your theory further- if they do it with Salmon Run and even clothing in this game, I'm sure they've definitely got a plan with maps and how to "fix" them
I cannot express how frustrating this way of giving content to the players is though, why must I wait until the game's last update just for them to add all the Salmon Run maps from 2...
Update: Dude, you were totally right.
Continues to be less "cope" every update we get lmao
Please… don’t do this… do not give me *_HOPE_*
PLEASE LET THIS BE TRUE I FREAKING HATE THE CURRENT MAP DESIGN
As we all know, Nogami values a lot about "time".
OMG IVE BEEN SAYING THIS THANK YOUUU!! we are not delusional i promise. great video
Thank you lmao
Surprised this theory actually worked out well. Now that I think about hammerhead bridge was under construction and then got reworked into modern hammerhead bridge we see in Splatoon 3 so I wonder if the developers were inspired by that initial stage. Also crableg is canocially under construction so I wonder if it'll return in a later game since I doubt they'd rework one of the actual GOOD maps. I guess the only weird thing is Mahi as an exception.
I fully agree with this. I have been thinking for a while now that after all the maps get released at the end of the 2nd year, in the 3rd year we will get more updates that ‘fix’ the maps, as well as 3rd kits and such.
with the undertow rework, they didnt do anything here at all. i think this is just a bigggg stretch, the maps are just built like this because they thought it'd be "better"
Feels like a massive copium theory to be honest, but still a really creative one, super cool video! I still hope they'll expand some stages at least a bit though.
bro didnt anybody told u that u need to lick the cartrige 10 times and then the old version of these maps will return
Fake. Don't listen to this person because licking the cartridges will make you addicted to their sugary nicotine laced taste.
I HAD THIS SAME THEORY WOAHH
I will join you in this optimistic belief 😂
It’s kinda sucky that the ONLY true map rework we ever got was mahi. Like compared to 2 this was kinda lackluster
You mean *first? We still have at the very least 3 more mid season patches for reworks including this upcoming week.
i personally think the scaffolding has some purpose in matches and not just construction
eeltail some to block off the roads
Now that I think about it it’s kinda weird that a road would just suddenly end by a wall of scaffolding…
@@AbopSplat i was thinking the scaffolding wall blocks the road so inklings and octolings dont get ran over when playing turf
Well that's different, the wall blocking off the road is obviously a normal barrier for the sake of battling, it's the giant square tarped blocks that are the scaffolding.
INSANE AMOUNT OF COPIUM