The Mantle Created by MetaWaddleDee The Mantle is a Symmetrical Competitive map that is pretty small (about the size of Guardian or Blackout) Its mainly geared for 4-8 players, and features Slayer as it's primary gametype, Flag, Assault, Oddball, and Hill are all setup to work on here. It has a very unconventional flow to it, the top level reigns supreme over the bottom, but the bottom is the safer route, as it is more closed in, and the paths give a very unique feel to this map, its hard to explain though. It is requested to have BR starts and Radar on. This map has evolved so much from its original form, it used to have un-fun weapons, un-fun spawning, and un-fun gameplay. But I made some drastic layout changes, added fun weapons and got rid of the Seven respawn areas...don't ask, I'll address my failure later in the thread. But that's enough from me, I'll get to the pictures, I know some of you are getting impatient, or just skipped this text all together. But first I'll show you a video of a Walkthrough, and a Flythrough of the map, as it might be confusing to the unfamiliar. [bungievid]108957892[/bungievid] The Flythrough [bungievid]108957780[/bungievid] The Walkthrough (The -3 is from my jumping off of the edge to reshoot the clip...) I had a bunch of pictures, but Photobucket cut me off, so the bungie pro videos should be enough to see if you want to download it... How the map used to be. Spoiler The map was horrible, people would constantly fall off, Spawns were atrocious, and there was no flow. [bungievid]108964256[/bungievid] This video of the OLD Mantle it had significantly less railings, no entrance from the base to the center, the center structure was hard to jump on, and there was so much wrong, but I kept working, only thanks to AceofSpades, Urban Myth, Noxiw, and Nick the Ratman otherwise I would have given up. And about the Seven respawn areas, I imagined that the respawn areas would give a higher weight on spawning people away from enemies rather than next to teammates, so I placed respawn areas at the line of sights and thought if an enemy was able to see the spawn area people wouldn't spawn there, but I was wrong and it failed. Again, thanks to AceofSpades, Urban Myth, Noxiw, and Nick the Ratman Hope you like it! Download The Mantle
Basically put... ...I love you. This map is a masterpiece, and it needs to be featured on every single forge website on Continental Wide Web. (Although, more realistically, it'll be featured on the WWW, being that the CWW doesn't actually exist ... YET) But seriously, post this everywhere, people will love it, and if they don't, they need to have a Computerized Axial Tomography Scan. (Cat scan) (Yes I googled that) Hell, I will make a forge website and feature it! (Probably not) ... (1% chance of me actually doing that). Okay, all word fluff (...others would consider spam) aside, this map is one of the most unique, fun, and innovative skybubble maps to date. Every single game I have played on it, has been fun. Even the old version, while it wasn't perfect, I knew it had a shirt-load of potential. And during the developement you've done all the right things with it, listening to people's responces, rather than ignore them, watching and analyzing how players moved, (I don't actually know that you did this, but I assume you have) and being open to new improvements to the map that innitially you did not plan on having, you did it all, and over the course of the last, what? Four months, you've achieved what many map makers can only dream of, an amazing map. The aesthetics are simply amazing, from the concave ramp center structure/wall/thingamagig, to the perfect symmetry, you've definetely mastered that aspect of this map. And how you had the patience to make all of the walls for the floor not be a giant bump-fest, is beyond me. You have to have immense amounts of patience. (We all know that though, you built Fronk and "Project S.L.U.G.".) Where you get that much patience though, I'll never know, I'd love to have half of it. I seriously suspect that we'll be seeing this on the front page of FH soon, without a doubt. This map, will be remaining on my harddrive, far past the life cycle of Halo 3.
Fantastic stuff. I really like the multiple routes around and through the awesome central structure. Maybe a sentinel beam would work well, given all of the straight lines? Either way, i'mma download this and replace Solarium on my hard drive if it plays well.
Hey Meta, I know I already told you, but I think this map is awesome. At first glance the aesthetics blew me away, and as I looked closer it continued to amaze me. All your pieces are merged so smoothly, and every piece on here seems perfect. I really enjoyed the 4-5 games we've played on here, and I look forward to doing some more extensive testing on this. Once again, I just think the design and gameplay of this map is very solid. Thanks for making this.
YouTube- Turbonegro - I Got Erection So Unique. So Clean. So ****ing beautiful! <3 This is by far the best map I have seen over the last months, I have wished someone like you would come and built a map like this, but Mantle is beyond all my expectations. Do you want to marry me? And this ...
This is FOR SURE Feature worthy! The whole map is a masterpeice. The Middle is very complex and balanced. Im always sure that symmetrical maps are balanced. The weapons seem like a good choice... The bottom section was just a great idea. I like all the different areas the team could strike from. One team could flank from many different ways!
I still remember when this was on Forge Discussion about four or five months ago. That's when you only knew it as '18'. Now that it's released... I'm in love. This is the kind of map I love, with the circles and everything. I'm dling. Soon as I can. Spectacular job, Meta. I wouldn't be surprised if this is featured. EDIT: after looking over the map thread seven times, I still have nothing to critisize. Basically, I'm gonna play the map and post my final review (may not happen, I tend to procrastinate).
WOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL (in the words of AOE2) in modern text holy ****ing **** can i have sex with this map? If i do remember this was posted in the forums months ago and it looks meh. never dreamed of it becoming this! I need to play this! I love the circular feel of it and the multiple paths and levels. and thank god for the railings i wont play sky bubble maps with them. the center looks fanfuckingtastic with the curved arches and 2 levels. and in picture i love the idea of being able to jump down a level. i liked it
Thanks for the mention Meta, I was happy to provide some idealogical help for this map. The many tests I've done would become exponetially better for every fix you've made and that's why I'm glad this map's release was prolonged. It surpasses the expectations I had (which was plenty) and has become a hell of a map.
I saw this so long ago in forge discussion and it looks even more epic than I expected. You even added railings!!! Have you tested it with swords yet? I really think that would be good Simply put: ooooooooooooooooooh shiny
I really wish you hadn't released a round skybubble map right before mine. Is that selfish? Or just normal? Oh, and Im making a map with curving bridges and upside down fins already. I swear I didnt copy- I know some ppl on here who can vouch Nice job, but some beef: -Is gameplay really that great with two skinny paths around the main room that do not connect much and are over-under? -Dont people fall off in the middle where there are no railings? -I feel like the entire map is really a big aesthetic circle. Please tell me why Im wrong...
Lol I only meant it to be a joke, Meta knows what's going on lol. Ok here's my serious comment. The centre is kind of original but I think the back of the bases do look plain and lazily forged, as do the circular walkways. My guess at what happened is Meta started forging the inner circular part well and in desperation to finish quickly just blagged through the rest of the map.
I actually did go back to theater and watch every single players camera to know what people were doing and where people were falling off. I will be sure to try this! It does sound like it would be pretty good! Don't worry, the gameplay flows well when there are so many ways to go up and down between each level, just play it if you worry that much. And people do fall off in the middle section but its a very rare occasion (but not impossible). People hardly fall off there because you normally fall off when you walk backwards and there is no railing, but walking backwards in the center just brings you over the hill. I've never seen a big problem of people falling off in the center... And I don't have enough money to add railings. I actually don't know whats going on... And The center actually came last out of the entire map, the bases used to be very aesthetic and budget consuming, but I needed money to finish the map, and since no one looks back at the bases they were easily removed. NOTHING in this map was rushed, it took me Five months to finish it. And regardless of how plain the bases look, they make excellent spawn locations. I assure you, nothing was Blagged.
Looks like an amazing map. If it plays half as good, I'd bet you have a winner here. Ever think of putting something on the arch in the middle? With nothing there, what is the motivation for a player to go up there? It would seem like a good place to die, and not a shortcut to anywhere. In playtests, do people go there for any other reason than to be there? What about a bubble shield there? Or a deployable cover? Or shotgun? I'm interested to hear your thoughts.
I downloaded this map and quite like it the centre circle IS the main attraction and you should use this far more than you currently are doing. I like the walk ways around the outside very fun in dropping down to kill someone below. I did find that going into the circle paid little benefit as you've ultimately got few routes to take. Its understandable you have serious budget issue's with the size of this map so maybe consider some of the following. - Remove outside walkways and replace inside higher above. (You'll use far less pieces and allow for fun gameplay.) - Floor most/all of the inside circle. - Add some cover in there. You certainly have something here, but I feel its just not all there yet.
There is a Rocket launcher under the arch in the middle, and on the top arch there actually is something there, but its just the neutral bomb and the Oddball spawn, I actually CREATED the top arch for the Oddball/Bomb spawn because there was no neutral location between the two bases aside from Rocket spawn. I just didn't want people to try to grab the Rockets/Bomb and pick up the one they didn't want... Not sure how this would go... but I have all spring break, I'll forge these suggestions and see how it rolls out.
My oh my, where do I begin... First off, testing this map was really a treat. The games we played (doubles) always felt right and balanced. The map really puts your team work to the test and ultimately displays the team with the best coordination. The smoothness of the interlocks and the overall symmetrical layout are stunningly awesome. I can't wait to witness your next map, you always seem to surprise me.
I've got one question for you Meta, and one question only. How did you make your double walls flat!? Besides that, I loved playing FFA on The Mantle with my friends because they were all like "THIS IS SO AWESOME!" but at the same time I knew they were thinking "I WANNA PLAY INFECTION!" But anyways, the center of The Mantle is awesome, the symmetry is awesome, the forging is awesome, the gameplay... Omg it's awesome. Thanks Meta, you just made me feel bad about my maps... D:
I got all of the walls to go up and down together to look like they were flat, then to tie up the ends I used Double Blocks to cover the seams where both sides meet, and would create a bump. Like this... / \ / \ / \ / \ ___ / \ / \ / \ / \ / & \ = Walls ___ = Block