After missing out on Halo 3's Forge completely I decided to hit Reach's hard and fast. Drainage is a map that I (gamertage = l slicedbread l) co-designed with my friend (gamertag = Yavimayaembrace). Quick overview: The original concept for the level was to do something unlike any level made so far and to push our luck. That combined with theory crafting while taking a shower lead to wanting to make a level inspired by sewers. From there my friend and I worked cooperatively in Forge at the same time, each working on a different end of the level independently, and hammered out what is now "Drainage" in approximately 9 hours. No previsualization was done. The level is completely asymmetrical and is very claustrophobic in nature. The most notable feature, and hopefully not an overbearing novelty, is that 90% of the level is submerged in water anywhere from ankle deep all the way up to your Spartan or Elite's neck. This can really provide some unique ways to stalk, camp and surprise your enemies. This also drastically affects how grenades are used. Edit 1: The juicy filter is also turned on. Originally we tested both Green + Orange and Green + Old time, both of which provided a very eerie and murky feel. However, they both made the vision very dark and difficult to manage when combined with the maze like feel of the map and the trouble of navigating through water. However, if someone 3rd parties wanted to try the level out with them enabled, please let us know what you think! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The following weapons and items are located on the map: Shotgun, Needle Rifle, Concussion Rifle, Rocket Launcher, Energy Sword, Human Sniper Rifle, Human Mounted Turret, DMR, Fragmentation Grenade, Health Pack and overshield. Currently the spawns are setup for free-for-all and Blue and Green teams (because Red and other colors stand out too much) so keep that in mind. The level was made with Free-for-all, Oddball, Juggernaut and Team Slayer in mind, but the attached custom gametype is just my preferred Team Slayer variant for the map. About the designers: Myself and my friend are both Video Game Art and Design majors at the Illinois Institute of Art: Chicago specializing in environment and level design. We want to make as much headway into Reach's Forge as possible and to accomplish that we need as much feedback, both positive and negative, as possible. So please leave all thoughts, notions and ideas you have. Thank you very much ahead of time, and enjoy yourselves! Video walkthrough in Forge: Bungie.net : Halo Reach : File Details Image previews: Please also understand that these images do not do the level real justice as it is very difficult to get images of much of the level all at once. There is plenty in the level that was not mentioned in this description as I don't want to ruin all the fun, so please download this and give it a shot, we'd love to hear anything you have to say!
i'd have to say the light green wasnt the best option seeing that you dont want them sticking out, i'd have used the darker green but i guess people can customise that if they like, nice map looks well designed and i like the different levels of water.
Do you have juicy Filter on? And can we get a pic of someone crouching uner the water? I want to know if I could hide in it. If so, this could make an awesome Infection map.
This looks really nice and is an interesting concept, but if you're really going for the sewage look, you should have used a green filter and placed green lights under the map.
Nice catch! Yes we do have the Juicy filter on, I forgot to mention that. I'll update the OP, thanks so much! Also, yes we can. He just left my place and we're gonna crash for awhile, but tonight I can guarantee you we'll get some more action shots up for you to check out. But just so you know, there are parts where you can crouch and be completely submerged. That combined with the waves (since they still happen through the walls o.0) and the completely underwater crouch only tunnel serves to make some awesome attacks. Thank you so much! We originally came to two lighting conclusions, but then we went with a third: Juicy. While I personally still want to go back to either Green + Orange, the darkest and murkiest but still not too dark option, we also tried Green + Old Time. The problems we ran into with both of those is that it made the level very very dark and it was difficult to see and navigate a level where you already feel obligated to aim up as you feel like you're partially drowning. So for playability's sake, we axed them. However, I highly encourage downloading it and turning them on, then giving us some feedback as to whether or not you feel it's too dark or not. Thanks for the feedback so far guys, keep it coming! Tonight we may also be able to have a drawn up floorplan of it (maybe very crude, depends on how lazy we are, it is finals week afterall).
Great map I just downloaded and walked around for a few games and the idea and execution is stunning. However, their is a game breaking teleporter that takes you outside that map and allows that person to camp the teleport and break the game. I'm not sure if you meant for that to be their but it really seems like it could break the game.
Haha, to be honest with you, that was an inside joke/thing that my friend and I made to screw with our friends. I'm flattered someone found it already /props. Unless the uploaded version is old, there should only be one access point back inside from the top of the map so it shouldn't break the game, but it is a true design concern. In the version you downloaded, did you run through it in forge or a custom game? Additionally how were you able to reenter the inside?
I've just downloaded this map and it's awesome. The juicy filter fits perfectly here. Normally I don't like it at all but now the water looks cooler en fresher. Also the ally to the rocket launcher and the underwater way are very cool. I hope i can find some friend to play with on this map.
I ran through in a custom and just walked around the map. When you are in game and you go to the mounted machine gun you will see a staircase looking thing with a propane tank. If you look just to the right of the propane tank their is a little outcove, jump in and you are teleported to the roof right above you. I reentered at the base of the ramp with the rocket launcher. (If you go straight after you are teleported you should see a little drop down hole)
Wow. Just wow. I mean like....wow! You know there have been a lot of maps being (almost spam) posted lately, and from what I've seen in the casuals, this is by far the best looking water level to date! How in the freaking world can you make us submerged without dying? That itself is architectural genius. Juicy filter is cool looking although I would have done without it. Only thing I really disagree with is the number of explosives and power weapons. This is awesome!
Ok, so it would seem I uploaded the map before I fixed those, sorry about that. There is now a new version uploaded that is marked by a comment by myself in my Fileshare that has the teleporter removed and the hole filled in. It has also been changed to the default "Download Now" link in the OP. Thanks again for catching that, I'll just keep the teleporter version for myself =P There are indeed a lot of explosives, what with the Rocket Launcher, Concussion Rifle and nigh endless grenades here. But the idea was to put them in so that people can experience them in the water as it affects their use dramatically. No longer can you bounce a frag along the ground so that changes the game up completely. As far as how we were able to submerge you without you dying, we simply flew around in the water slowly but surely down into the water until we found the death threshold. From there we placed our lowest piece just above it and simply built up. A very simple idea made very difficult by accidentally dropping pieces into the sea that often times happened because we would rotate around and object that was near the death point and our camera would contact the threshold and we would die resulting in an unrecoverable piece unless we had already changed it to fixed or phased.
To get a overview picture you can delete all the roofs and take a picture from above. Remember not to save before exiting. Have downloaded, will check it out more.