The map and game variants have been updated and significantly improved as of April 17, 2011. The update was long overdue. (The screenshots are mostly outdated. I've been busy lately. Apologies.) The Factory by DavidJCobb recommended for 8-12 players play this map with my "Exposed" variant None know for sure what happened to this gloomy little enclosure... ...but once you see them, you won't have a hard time guessing. ...The big, glowing, probably-radioactive structure also gives a pretty good idea. ----- This map is my attempt at making a balanced Infection game/map. It features non-respawning weapons and a layout that makes camping exceedingly difficult. Each part of the map has at least three entrances, making attentiveness and movement essential for survival. Stay in one place too long, and the zombies can rush you from all directions and take you down before you even have time to blink. Soft Kill Zones prevent humans from camping in potentially unfair areas, i.e. on the smokestacks, or on the upper portions of the Antenna that lies atop the building's big radioactive glowing structure. ----- Overview (Second Floor) A single light source illuminates the first and second floors. Though the second floor's entrances are fewer in number and more manageable, there is more cover, making it harder to spot zombies before they're within kill range. Watch your back. Front Entrance One of three entrances to the structure's ground floor. Though this structure's purpose is unknown, it was clearly important -- as evidenced by the easily-accessible weapons that have been mounted on the walls. First Floor The first floor is a fairly open space, and is relatively well-stocked with weapons. However, it is also the most exposed part of the structure, with six points of entry (three doorways and three stairways). Weapon Locker Mounted onto a wall on the second floor, this weapon locker is a valuable resource. Weapons don't respawn, however, so try not to waste its contents. The Pipe A massive boulder leans against a pipe, providing the zombies with a direct route from the ground outside to the second floor. ----- Gametype Information Zombies have slight shields but are weak; they are not constantly one-shot, but can be brought down if they fail to sneak up on you. Zombies and humans both move faster than normal, which helps keep the pace of gameplay. (Humans have 110% speed, 90% jump height.) Weapons are enabled on the map. Vehicles are disabled (though there are no vehicles on the map). Humans start with Magnums, Sprint, weapon pickup enabled, and finite ammo. Zombies start with Energy Swords and Evade (as is typical of Infection). The weapons on the map are Assault Rifles, Magnums, and Shotguns, none of which respawn. Last Man Standing is disabled. Safe Havens are disabled. ----- Tips Zombies start the round in a damaged, semi-sunken hallway and teleport into the map. If they make use of Evade, it takes them roughly seven seconds to get to the structure, so... Don't waste time, humans. Get a weapon and get moving. Zombies have weak shields. Nothing's stopping humans from going on a Magnum rampage, but they would do well to remember that their foes are not one-shot. Zombies, rely on surprise attacks and your strength in numbers. It doesn't even take a full AR clip to bring you down, but if you, say, get a human's attention, lure him to a corner, and lie in wait... ----- More Pics
Seems like a fun map, that fixed weapon is more of a problem than you might realize. Fixed weapons make a platform when they are dropped meaning they could create ways of getting to areas you didn't think people could get to otherwise. Maybe the weapons can be phased into the wall a bit or put on a crate instead?
I am aware of the concerns... I was quite paranoid with Soft Kill Boundaries and am absolutely certain that exploitable spots cannot be reached -- not without the ten-second countdown, that is. As for Phasing the weapons... For movable items, Phased and Fixed both behave like Fixed, so I don't really see what difference it would make... I did consider putting weapons on crates and such, but the FX used (Purple + Next Gen) meant that crates are very dark (pitch black), so the weapons proved to be nearly invisible. Same for leaning them against the bottoms of walls that weren't facing the sun, and for leaning them against rocks in any direction. (And this is on a 52" flat -- I'm quite certain it'd be impossible to spot such weapons on a more typical screen.) In short, I appreciate your concerns and share them myself, but I do believe I safeguarded the map from them. (Bizarrely, during my 11-player test, the Fixed weapon bug did not appear to manifest at all. When a player was killed while holding a Fixed weapon, it fell to the ground in the same manner that Normal weapons do.) EDIT: Would it be unethical for me to rate my own thread as "Good"?
^Of course not! It's only speaking the truth The map itself looks very nice and detailed, and you seem to have safeguarded it against practically every problem found in Infection (I didn't notice the fixed weapons glitching with my group, but then again, it was pretty small) I look forward to your next map!
Why, thank ya kindly. Also: does anyone know why screenshots I take no longer seem to make it into my Bungie.net Recent Screenshots? It's hard to upgrade this thread with a full six-item File Share, no money, and no working Recent Screenshots feature. D:
I just played it with a few friends and the game had a serious balance issue. The zombies were way too tough. Once there were more than a few zombies, it was just about impossible to survive more than a few seconds. You should make the zombies a little bit weaker. Other than that, the map was pretty cool. Nice setting and lighting.
Thank you for trying it out, and for the compliments. Balance is one of my primary concerns, so I'd appreciate it if you could answer some questions, to help me determine exactly how and why the map/gametype is/are unbalanced. How many players were in the game? Did you use standard Infection or my gametype? Were there any areas that were problematic (too safe or too dangerous) in particular? How did you and others tend to play (camping versus defending a position versus constant movement)? How often did you tend to remain in groups with humans, as opposed to going solo? Zombies start each round in a hallway that leads to a teleporter; it takes then about 8 seconds to get to the end and enter the map. When you played as a human, did this feel too short to you? Did you feel as though you had enough time to grab a weapon and start moving? I ask so many questions because zombies are already weak enough (in my gametype) that I could bring one down with less than a full AR clip... So if nerfing the zombies is necessary, I'm going to have to be very careful about how I do it -- hence the need for so much information.
Well, you may think they are weak enough. I felt they were too strong. I played with about 10 to 12 people I think. Start with like 2 or 3 zombies. I usually like when zombies are one or two hit kills. That's just my personal preference. I don't know how else to help you.
IIRC I had nerfed the humans' melee some; I'll probably de-nerf it when I'm next able to get on my 360. The gametype already uses 3 alpha zombies. I'll maybe see if I can weaken the zombies shields somewhat. It's good to know you got several people involved; that means it's an issue with the gametype and not just a lack of suitable humans at the start of the round. (The trick is not only maintaining and rebalancing the map/gametype, but also taking varying "personal preferences" into account... It'd be good to hear multiple opinions on this.) Thanks for your feedback, I appreciate it. The entire selling point of this map was camp-less balancing, so I'm glad that you shared your thoughts. When I'm able to use my 360 again, I'll see what I can do to fix the issues you described.
Hey, from what i can see its a pretty awesome map, have to get on bungie later to dl it. And, just wondering but would you mind collaborating with me to make a Zombie map? I'm trying to aim at a "get the f**k out of here!" kind of scary, with parts that you have to hold up and survive. but yeah dude. nice map. and if your interested send me a message at Tha Metal, i won't be on all the time though.
Thank ya, and please let me know what you think once you've played it. As for helping you with a map, I've never been good at Forging with a partner, and I RAGE whenever I get even the tiniest bit of lag, but I can offer you some tips that I kept in mind when I made this map: It's difficult to convey fear with architecture. Convey it with action, and with things that allow people to predict action. I don't fear your ornate, well-crafted archways, I fear the fact that the hallways are so short and a zombie could be waiting around any corner. Multiple entrances to every area -- at least three. Makes it hard for humans to camp, and also (if they're well-placed) makes people watch their back and strafe a lot more. Zombies love cover and corners. Humans love distances and choke points. Surprise is a zombie's friend, distance and line of sight are a human's friends. Safe Havens with the appropriate traits (nerf outside of a Haven, don't buff inside of one) can make people stay in an area that they'd otherwise avoid. Take advantage of this! Use Havens to force humans into dangerous areas that are difficult to defend.
Hey Cobb, it's NinjasWithDucks from Bnet, thankyou so much for the formatting you did. It made my post comprehensible, and brought much more attention This map looks awesome, really something special and I'll check it out ASAP. Are you EST or GMT cos if you're GMT I'd love to test this out
The sesthetics are ok but I think you make up for it in the gamplay of the map...however with the way you placed those weapons you might end up having floatin weapons...:/
This seems to be nice. I like seeing a working map with a backstory. However, if your weapons don't respawn, put at least 3 clips extra ammunition in them, or put a lot of guns. Also, to ease up flow, I would put a small compound on the edge of the cliff, just to ease up flow in the central area, and encourage long-distance movements. Otherwise, the map has a definite value for a good time. I would love to see safe havens versions of this with a few tweaks. 8/10
Wow, I didn't expect to get more posts! I should check this more often. Well, I am indeed working on a patch, which blocks a few camp spots, perches the weapons on Flag Stands and sets them to Normal physics (thanks, Kittenpaste!), and improves some spawns. (There'll also be a gametype fix: I had forgotten to turn Human-Elite loadouts off before releasing the v1.) I actually decreased the amount of ammo in the patch, but I can consider raising it back up a little bit. Might add one more Shotgun; haven't decided. @Draco: I could try to work on Safe Havens, but that is a very tricky gametype to balance. I'd probably end up having to add a custom Havens gametype to go with the normal Infection one. I'll edit the OP when the patch is up. I don't want to bump my own thread more than necessary; newer maps deserve to get noticed. EDIT: Oh, and you're welcome, NinjasWithDucks. Glad to help out. And I'm EST, but I'm often on Reach at 2 or 3am (my time).