Brace is a beautiful collaboration between Nillapuddin626 (myself) and Rian Ultima, with Ollieorch and Lodex helping at the birth of the map and more than a few times along the way. Rian and I are the main forgers so to speak on this map with god only knows probably a week of forging time, but that in no way means credit isnt deserved by everyone, this map wouldn't be what it is without our collective brainstorming Rian did a great job setting up this map idea and being a constant source of great ideas and solid design choices, Lodex contributed invaluably with base design, I am mainly responsible for the aesthetics and flow of the map (constantly tweaking and triple checking everyones work lol) while Ollie gave us a fresh pair of eyes and in a few instances helped us break our hold on old designs that didn't work with our map. The map had a simplistic beginning, Rian had an idea for a very simple layout with a diamond based structure with an Unreal Tournament-ish feel gameplay wise. We went into forge and using the most basic objects he and I constructed his idea and tried to get an idea for the position and size we wanted it to be inside of Forge World, this is a picture from the first few minutes of Brace. and after many, many, many hours it transformed into this... Spoiler What is now Brace is defined by its suspension bridge in the middle, tri-layered bases, multiple walkways and intense combat. Designed (for anything from 2v2 up to 6v6 if your crazy) as a 4v4 map with objective gameplay in mind. CTF, Assault, Territories are givens but I must say Stockpile is an absolute blast with some incredibly fast paced and arcade style feel. (For an apologetically convuluted weapon layout click here) Spoiler From the get-go my one wish for the bases were to be "similar in function but different in design" and I must say Lodex did a great job fleshing out the bottom levels of the bases and giving our team a good foundation to build from. So as you see here the Red Base is a more vertically inclined base.. while the Blue Base is dominated by horiztonal and blunt angles One of Rian's desires for the base structure was a "Bunker", that would give the advantage of height and line of sight, but it held the extreme disadvantage of only one way in, and this idea was executed wonderfully The Mid-level is a transitionally important area aswell as a great starting point for the player, it is on level with the main bridge walkway and has access to almost all methods of traversing the map This picture shows in that in greater detail, this staircase winds from the bottom to mid and vice versa This is a great shot showcasing the bridge's aesthetic awesomeness and functional qualities Not only does it act as a main pathway it also holds one of the few critical neutral weapon spawns, the Grenade Launcher ..While simulatenously giving any player who finds themselves on the bridge in big trouble 1. an escape route 2. a direct path to the only true "power weapon" on the map, the Sniper Rifle The upper walkways ascending from both bases bottom floors also serve a dual purpose 1. Giving the player a high ground and sight lines on most of the map 2. Access to the grav-lift sending the player to the highest point of the map which is home to the old faithful Shotgun These vent shafts give the player a safe and quick route from the bottom level of the base to the top These sometimes overlooked shafts serve a very sneaky and incredibly tactical purpose, when the player enters the shaft.. he falls to a lower cave area... that flows into a water scraping rock pathway which connects both bases. In Slayer gametypes it might not seem that significant but if you can escape with the bomb or flag you just might score yourself an easy route home Well I certainly hope that you find Brace awesome, the reason that this is still just a "preview" although we've tested many many times and have literally tweaked everything to perfection as we see it, surely something will get altered (and I'd love for you to help) if youd be interested in helping us test it out a few more times feel free to send me a xbl friend request or message
Lovely write-up. You really know how to make people feel loved That can be arranged... Hopefully other people will also want to have intercourse with this map.
I've actually tested this map, and I rather enjoyed it. It supported 4v4 rather well despite how small the map is. I'm guessing since the test I had on it there's been some extensive changes (as it was a few weeks ago) and I hope you've fixed all the killbarrier issues. I look forward to it's release guys. Good job
Played a few games on this last night and it was a blast. There were some minor screen lag issues, but should be easily fixable. Over all I really enjoyed the layout of the map and how it played. And merking with the needle rifle from blue base was sweet.
Well Stevo is pretty good when it comes to forging, so I'm going to have to take his word for it. (And I was left in awe after looking at the pictures.) I will definitely leave one of the few 955 slots that I have left on my harddrive for this map lolz. But seriously I will be anticipating the release of this map.
This looks amazing! It's been a while since I played on this (back when the spawns were randomly thrown in so that a playthrough would be possible). How's the framerate while traversing the bridge? I remember that it was bad enough for me, that I avoided that path altogether.
This map looks really, really cool and well done. Looks not only to be a blast to play, but also very easy on the eyes. Well done!
All that has been fixed, when we brought the external wall coliseums closer in and blocked off all the sight lines out of the map it decreased it dramatically. Although it isnt perfect, because it is a smaller map if someone turns around really fast up the middle staircase and goes from looking at a wall to the opposing base they will get frames because its to close to use impostering so the whole map renders at once, but like always were working on it [br][/br]Edited by merge: If your referring to the smaller diagonal bridges underneath.. I can tell you right now thats not going to happen. 1. because we are at object and money count lol 2. Because when I developed the underneath walkways a little birdie in my ear (ollie) wanted there to be a risk vs reward, so they became treacherous, for a few reasons They provide the quickest way into each base while most of the time not being seen, like you said they hold the one true power weapon, and they look awesome lol Basically in terms of weapon layout everything is meant to give the player a superior weapon without giving the player a superior position. Shotgun is on the highest point of the map Sniper on the lowest DMR and pistol is on the bottom level Needler and PP are on the mid level Needle rifle is on the top level (which might seem like a crazy advantage but if someone comes up from behind the bunker and you cant get out you are helpless to their grenade spamming and close quarters weapons) [br][/br]Edited by merge: Your gunna make me blush I was so into the aesthetics of the map that it was a running joke if there was ever a budget surplus at any time I would instantly try and spawn as many decoratives as possible and then they would have to work around my spending lol But in all seriousness, it is a good looking map and that is possible because of the solid design, great idea of potential flow of combat and smart usage of forge. When gameplay is taken care of just by the design in itself it really gave me the freedom to make the little things really shine, The suspension bridge is my crowning achievement, (at first Rian didnt like it cause it was to much money lol) But after working with it and as it evolved while our whole map was evolving it really came to be a defining part of the map and literally it was my inspiration when naming the map The support beams for the bases (not really pictured) are on similarly constructed but ofcourse visually different braces, the bridge is being braced, the map had such an intense feel that you had to Brace yourself, it was a no brainer in my mind and the map went from "wipday3" to Brace. Im so glad that everyone is so positive on it as of now. Yall are getting me even more excited for a full release soon [br][/br]Edited by merge: derpety derp derp
This has been making it's rounds around, and I got to be a part of some of the games. Here is my uncensored opinions on the map, try not to view them as being harsh. The layout works fine, but the bases are overly complicated and have so many levels that players become confused and disoriented constantly. The rock area at the bottom seemed pointless, and never really once got used other than by accident. The weapons work fine, no real problems there. The spawns are okay, not amazing, but not unplayable. I had an occasional spawn that was questionable. There was really no reason to ever leave the bases for me or several of my teammates. We played CTF, so I don't know if that matters at all. I really just walked into their bases, took their flag and aside from that, I sat in my base. Even if I had been playing slayer, I kinda felt the central area to be half assed, and I didn't feel much attraction to the area. Basically, the map feels like a pretty good bungie map that one of us took and remade with a shrunken scale due to budget. It could be a great map, but it's too condensed, and the middle was bland.
I can't really give any help on the spawns necessarily. They just felt like we spawned in the bases 24/7, unless they were in our base, so then we spawned right next to the base. Felt like I never really spawned in the rest of the map at all. There were members of either team that were on storm the enemy duty, but a good portion of the game was just us holding down our bases and not letting anything get by. My main problem with the map, is that the bases, while nicely designed, are really too small in scale, therefore harder to navigate and orient yourself. Every time I spawned, it was always just a small room with a really low ceiling at first, and it always took me awhile to figure out which level of the base i was in. The bunker part where you can shoot from up high, that is really cool... except you are in such a tiny room, you can't really escape any danger. the ceiling doesn't allow for even little jumps, and the ramps are small and narrow corridors all around. It just asked for camping and death.
I loved playing on Brace. The map has a gorgeous look to it, and is well crafted. I never felt that either side was particularly dominant. (Well, unless you count my epic non-skill with the Sniper.) I love the placement the Sniper had. Easy to reach for either team, but you have to put yourself out there to nab it. It's a gorgeous map, and I hope to see a lot more of it.
..... [br][/br]Edited by merge: Although I need criticism... doesnt mean I sure dont love some praise, lol. I appreciate it Jovial, that sniper location is such an achievement I love it to, its just the right amount of risk vs reward for that thing. Not to mention Ill take his chance to gloat, the map is pretty beautiful imHo
Nilla actually moved the roofs up in one of our previous forge sessions but when I saw what it looked like I quickly moved it back. The bunker boxes ceilings are low because of the nature of the pieces we used. You see, we made the ceilings low because the front cover itself is meant to be to tight to jump from, if me raised the ceilings people would just be hopping out all over the place and would defeat the purpose of the entire concept. As for jumping inside a bunker I merely say; what. Also as Nilla said earlier, spawning has been addressed and there are now about 102 spawn points throughout the entirety of the map.
I wouldn't think you'd need 102 spawn points just spawn hives, with 3 or 4 points at each one. Anyways, you submitted the map for review, but since it isn't a published map it won't be getting any scores or adherence to rating criteria. I'll offer my critique on the map though. I want to say that I'm in full agreement with everything silence said and I'm just going to go through some feedback I wrote down to cover anything silence may have missed. The walkways transitioning from the bases were too narrow for proper competitive play. They need to be a bit wider for strafing and map movement. The bases are too cramped and I can't decide if the three floors are a good or a bad thing. The shotgun inside the bases are devastating and it's quick to get to the bases given the size of the map. You're on respawn and now I'm in your base with a shotgun, you're more than likely going to be on respawn again and then again. That's easily two flag caps. The flag placement needs to go up or down, it cannot stay on the middle floor. It's way too easy to grab it and walk back across the bridge. The bridge needs to be longer so that more fights will occur contesting it, it's the middle ground and there's nearly no game play focused on it. I like the dropdown in the middle of the bridge onto the lower walkways. Basically, the main problem with the map is that it's half scaled. It's not quite a miniature, but it's not beg enough either. I didn't find anything wrong with the design though, although it would be nice if the tops of the bases were opened up to provide less cover for those up top.
As always, we love getting constructive criticism on our maps and we thank you for taking the time to thoughtfully and intelligently break our map down and show us how it can be improved.