Posting for Nondual. Download As we rise above the chaos, let us contemplate the meaning of existence. All gametypes. 6-16 Players. By: Nondual Version 6.3 Here is the latest version of Mandala. Over the last year my friends and I have continued to play many, many games on here. Which has led to a continual improvement and adjustment process. And there’s still some pretty big changes I would like to make. But with Reach just around the corner, work is going to have to stop here, especially because I’m going to be remaking this. A big thanks to everyone who downloaded and played the original version. Hopefully you’ll give this a try if you need something to play while your counting the days till 9/14, just like I am. I’ll try and list a few of the changes here from the original version . . . but maybe just take a look at the pictures and the videos. . . And a couple of the changes aren’t so obvious, like a complete overhaul and refinement of the spawning system (huge thanks to Mick for helping me with this.) -Changed center area to be more interesting for combat as well as visually. Plus center manannon is one of the sweetest things ever to jump vehicles off of. -Opened up bases to make it easier to drive onto mancannons, plus geomerging blocks into the sand behind each base gives it much more of a “base” feel. -Improved ramps to bridge to make it easier and more fun to get on top of and fight on. Plus moved carbines up onto bridge and made invisibility easier to get to help increase player traffic. - Refined all mancannons to be easier and more effective to use (and added manncannons to the center and side dune, behind bridge.) - I could probably keep listing things, but you get the general idea. And they’re so small that I just don’t want to really type anything more about them. But that being said, there has been a lot of small changes that result in the map playing WAY better. Plus how many people are really going to read all this bullshit anyway? And I know I’ve already thanked a bunch of people at the bottom of this thread, but I would like to just thank them all again. Games on here have been INSANELY fun. Especially Gift Giver, flying warthogs FTW!! A huge thanks to Noxiw and Ace of Spades for showing me the “up and x” version of ghost merging and therefore making all the changes I’ve made possible. And another especially big thanks to MickRaider for helping me with this thread (and just about everything else.) Now that I’m more comfortable with the community and I know how threads are suppose to look, I’ll have to be doing all my own threads now. Yay! Description Mandala is a symmetrical map on the main level of Sandbox that was designed to have a unique and interesting layout. It supports all gametypes but was primarily designed for 4v4 - 7v7 CTF, Neutral Bomb, and Slayer. 3v3-6v6 KOTH works pretty well on it too. YouTube- Mandala - Halo 3 forged map by: Nondual This map started out much, much differently. But 4 months and around 60 playtests, (along with many hours watching films and redesigning) evolved Mandala to the masterpiece that it is now. Through all this, the core concepts of this map have always been the same; two base structures close enough to each other to inspire intense combat, a “jumping system” that allows skilled players to move around the top layer of the map quickly, and enough cover that vehicles are effective to use but not overpowering. Screenshots I’ve done what I can to create long and interesting sight lines, as well as paths for vehicles to drive through at high speeds. Add five mancannons that shoot you and vehicles almost vertically and you get a map that people say they REALLY enjoy. YouTube- Mandala v6.3 Flyaround.wmv All the pieces are merged to prevent grenades disappearing. I’ve spent a lot of time analyzing spawns and trying to get them just right. Weapons, equipment and vehicles are balanced for fast paced and chaotic gameplay. The word “Mandala” refers to a “concentric diagram having spiritual and ritual significance in both Buddhism and Hinduism.” - Mandala - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia There are tons of cool pictures of mandalas from all over the world on the interwebz. And when I was making this, the central design of the map reminded me of one, as I was looking down. Plus I just think it sounds cool, and I’m kind of into the whole “meditation/enlightenment thing.” Weapons and Equipment, Vehicles: 8 BRs @ 10sec with 2 clips 4 Carbines @ 10 with 2 clips 2 Snipers @ 150 with 1 clip 2 Rockets @ 120 with no clips 1 Shotgun @ 120 with 1 clip 4 Plasma Pistols @ 30 2 Needlers @ 60 with 2 clips 2 Maulers @ 90 with 1 clip 2 Brute Shots @ 60 with 2 clips 1 Laser @ 120 2 Missile Pods @ 90 4 SMGs @ 30 with 2 clips 4 Spikers @ 30 with 2 clips 2 Assault Rifles @ 10 with 2 clips 2 Hammers @ 120 16 Plasma Grenades @ 20sec 4 Frag Grenades @ 20sec 2 Regenerators @ 120 2 Bubble Shields @ 60 2 Grav Lifts @ 60 1 Overshield @ 120 1 Active Camo @ 120 2 Warthogs @ 120 2 Ghosts @ 120 3 Mongooses’ @ 20 (I know it’s a little heavy on the weapons, but I really like the crazy game play that results.) Acknowledgments and Comments I host custom games 1 to 2 times a week and this has provided the opportunity for this map to be played about 80 times with around 100 different people. While playing, people seem to really enjoy it. And the end of a lot of the games people are laughing and having a fun time. That’s a good thing right? This is my first map and I’m sure there are still a few tweaks that could be made to make it play better. I do care what people think about this map, but at the same time, we’ve already played it so many times, and I’ve gotten it to the point where everyone really enjoys it. I don’t know if I would go back and change a whole lot. But still, if someone has a really cool idea, it would be double cool to hear it. I wanted to submit this map to Atlas and get it into matchmaking, but there is no way I have enough time anymore (hence this map’s release being delayed like, 4 months.) And I really don’t care too much now since I’ve played more than my fair share of games on here. That’s enough to make me glad I made it. Forgehub is an AWESOME community. The hundreds (maybe 1700!?! as of Jan,2010) of amazingly fun custom games I’ve played are a result of everyone’s hard work on here. Thank you all so much. Special thanks to what must have been at least one hundred testers and friends who’ve helped out by giving me advice and playing many games. Especially: Arrest Yourself, Atrack, Bloodstained, Bwendon, Dalliant, DJ Official, Ipsykic, Joey, Keaglez, Noxiw, Ott2own, Rawdogg, Short Bizzle, Tighclops, and x BR iz Cold x. And an extra, extra big thanks to Vincent Torre for his expert help with this map and this post. I hope you enjoy the map. Thanks again for your time. Gift giver variant: http://www.bungie.net/Online/Halo3UserContentDetails.aspx?h3fileid=118362549&fset=109586 And the Gift Giver Gametype: http://www.bungie.net/Online/Halo3UserContentDetails.aspx?h3fileid=111990596&fset=109586 Download Mandala
Wow, dude the thread looks great! I should have done it myself, but I knew there was no way I could make it this good. Thanks again!
Good write up (whomever wrote it, vince or nondual?) It really is a fun map, and I often find myself having a great time on there. About time it's gotten posted!
Lol, thanks man. I'm the one who did the write up, Vincent edited it a bit and spliced it in-between the pictures, super awesome style!
OMG this looks amazing! How you spawn, the gridlike structure in the middle and the overall feel of the map is just great. As I was playing, my friends and I had a blast. Even though most of my friends dont like competetive maps, they really liked this one.
It seems most people at forgehub hate on maps that go heavy with weapons. If I wanna play Team Swat Ill Play Team Swat. If I wanna blow some motherf*ckers up with an entire arsenal Ill play a custom map and your map my friend achieves this beautifully. Well downloaded! Way to bring the pain- Good Job
Those warthog jumps look sweeeet! And the idea of land/air based gameplay without the use of skybox is always good. Also, a problem I always experience is the warthogs and other vehicles just destroying but it looks like you have the blocks high up enough to make them move backwards to kill you. Great map.
I’m glad you like it. It’s really cool you took the time to play it with your friends. That’s cool they liked it even though they don’t like competitive maps. I did try to make it appealing for all types of players, casual to hardcore. Thanks man. What’s kind of funny is that the first versions of this map did have way more powerful vehicles and such on it! 2 Gauss hogs, 2 banshees, and even a scorpion tank at one point, but people were not liking it too much so I had to scale it back. I should go back and make a heavier version again . . . we’ll see. It seems really hard to balance really powerful vehicles with the limited tools we’ve been given with sandbox (Some tools are better than no tools though!) And I’m ALWAYS about bringing that pain! LOL Yeah the Warthog jumps are sweet indeed. I’m glad you like the varied levels going on with the map. The top of the map is kind of exposed, but that was done on purpose, to make the swifter routes more risky. Warthogs and other vehicles being too overpowering is always an issue when trying to find the right balance with a map. I think the Hog is pretty balanced on this, if anything there might be too many anti-vehicle weapons on here. Still, I always like getting in the Hog, even if it’s only for a minute. Thanks for the comment and taking the time to look at the map.
Without a doubt, this is hands down my most favorite map to play on. I know how much work you put into this and it definitely payed off. The gameplay is incredibly solid for all the gametypes that I have played on it with my favorite being Multi-Flag. My favorite part of it would have to be the floating cubes. Mainly because 80% of the time, I'll try to be on top of them jumping from cube to cube. Not only is it damn fun, but it can net you a fair amount of kills. I really don't have anything bad to say about this map to be quite honest. The spawns are about as perfect as they can get and the diversity in weapons means you will always find something you can use to your advantages. I've played so many epic games on this masterpiece that I could write a novel of all the incredibly awesome things that happened, like that one game where someone drove a Warthog with the flag carrier in the passenger through the middle cannon right into the base for the capture, or the time I grabbed the Splaser and went through my teams cannon and got a double kill with one shot on two guys going through their man cannon. Congrats on crafting possibly the most amazing map I have ever played, Nondual, and succeeding in making one that delivers epic scenes every single game, which has in turn inspired me into doing the same. Ten out of ****ing ten.
I played this map last night with Nondual and several others and it was fantastic! Neutral flag was definitely a load of fun and the man cannons really mix up the style of play. The gridlike structure in the middle is definitely cool and there is plenty of cover with loads of different angles to shoot people from.
Lol, enthusiastic as always Bwendon, you crack me up man. How about the time you went off a mancannon and stuck someone right below you as THEY were about to go off? I wish I would’ve had you guys send me your epic clips so that could have made a better video montage. Alls good though. I am going to disagree a little with bit you though, on the map being THE best map of all time (lol.) There are a lot of AMAZING maps out there, how about Galaxy Milk? Or Noxiw’s Epitel? How about Multicog and that neutral flag game last night?!? It was tied 4-4 and one team got the flag all the way to their base ONLY to have the other team stop them a couple of feet from their cap spot AND BRING IT ALL THE WAY BACK!! But then again, we had something very similar happen on Mandala last Wednesday, so yeah I guess it has turned out pretty good. There are still some things that I think could make it better, but I’ll wait for Reach and see what new awesomeness awaited us in forge **rubs hands in anticipation** I’m really glad you like the map, thanks for such an awesome review. I look forward to gaming in future with you on this map and many others. Is that you Bumble Bee!? Yeah that game was really good last night, I’m glad you enjoyed it. I need to tweek/ rearrange the Neutral flag spawns or something because the flag didn’t spawn up on the bridge once (I think that’s the best place for it to spawn!) Still though I think multi flag plays best on here, I did after all, design the map around that gametype. Thanks for the review man.
I've only played this a few times, but those times were extremely fun. I wish me and Noxi could've had a more epic laser while we were in the air on the mongoose then we did last night. It was still funny as **** to laser Brendon, but we were looking for something more epic... We gotta play this again on Thursday.
Yeah we'll play this a bunch more times before Reach comes out I'm sure. It's really cool that you've been making it to the games lately, you're definitely a lot of fun. I think that laser was pretty epic man. At least I thought it was, it happened right in front of me. We were running for the flag that had just spawned and you and Noxi came tearing through on a mongoose and went flying off the manncannon, and then blasted Brendon right below you. He was all screaming "it was only splash damage", and I was laughing my ass off. You guys having a laser on the back of a mongoose was one of the last things I expected, rofl. Haha, I just watched the film, this looks like a direct hit to me: Bungie.net : Halo 3 File Details You're hilarious Brendon. Thanks for the review Ace, It'll be a lot of fun gaming on your awesome maps in the near future too.
Well... ****. Still, the games we played on this map last night were fantastic as always despite the fact that it was my first game of Halo in like, three months. Actually, let me take that back. It was fun up until Nox and Ace gangbanged me.
Hahah, nice defense Brendon! But yes, this map really is amazing. I only wish I could write as fantastic of a review as Brendon did. Put it this way, it'll be on my HDD for a long time. (Very long time) you'd better remake this in Reach if at all possible. Looking forward to the next games, Nondual!
ROFL Brendon!! OMG, I'm laughing SO hard! GODDAMN you're funny! Anyway, yeah, I'm already thinking of ways that I could make this map better if I had better map technology >
Umm, holy crap? I am normally a strickly MLG player, and not much into vehicles and power drains, but this map just looks amazing. Btw, the video of it was awesome. Definitely interesting, (not like some other videos I've seen), and is what made me decide that i should download this map. (if only everyone advertized their maps as good as you...) Great job on the map! If you still run customs on it, send me some details!
Very cool man. When I was designing this map I did want a map that would appeal to all kinds of players, casual to hardcore. I've played a bit of MLG myself and its great to hear that this map can appeal to that kind of play style. The great thing about forge is that if people want to change something they can easily do so. I've purposely not budget glitched this and left a little bit of money and items for people to adjust the map to their tastes. I'm glad you liked the video, I kind of rushed it, and I know it could've been a lot better, but it gets the job done the way I need it to. If your looking for more details on the custom games we play, here is a link to an old thread that helped get the games we do, started. http://www.forgehub.com/forum/custo...ayers-who-love-halo-3-customs.html#post991837 (I know it says I'm not accepting anymore friends because both my friends lists are full, but if you still want in after reading all of that, just let me know.) Thanks again for the download and review!
killer diller Ok. I didn't expect to like this map, but you had me at warthog grav lift freaky air so you got my download. We tried it as multiflag, slayer one word AWESOMESAUCE. Also SWAT was pretty cool to of course we toned down the vehicles to mongooses only. The only suggestions I have are to geomerge/smooth out the ramps to the mancannons. Alot of times we would hit the center corner and get stuck, also a more direct line on either end would probably help you build up some speed to hit the jumps. ManRayX LV-426SIETCHHAIL MARYSHADOW-ASSAULT
That's really cool you like the map, it's even more cool you actually got some good games in on it. That's sweet you got some swat in on here too, I was thinking a bit about swat and snipers as I was designing it, but I've never actually played some swat on here, so glad it was fun. I hear you about the ramps to the mancannons needing to be more smooth. I've tried merging the Large corner pieces into the ground but it ends up making the slope too steep, and that actually slows the warthog down a little. And then actually merging the small wedges so their at more of a helpful slant to the large corner piece actually didn't help too much either, because as they are now, they actually help "pop" the warthog up a little right before it goes off the corner. I'm trying to think of another cost effective way to have a corner jump like this and I just haven't been able to think of anything yet. Let me know if you have any ideas. It might just have to wait till Reach comes out, and hopefully we'll have some better tools. And then I am thinking about opening the bases on each end to help with warthog speed and give the warthogs some more angles to hit those jumps. It's funny, you're thinking about some of the same exact things I was. Well, thanks again for your thoughts. When I get an updated version I'll have to send it your way for sure. edit- actually I think I might have just thought of a better way to make those corners smooth! I'll take another corner piece and merge it almost right on top of it - going into the ground. . . hmm should work. . . I'll have to test it. . .