Civility (Testing)

MAP UPDATES ARE FOUND THROUGHOUT THE THREAD.

Update Link: http://www.forgehub.com/forum/halo-reach-forge-discussion/113952-civility-testing-3.html#post1307496
Update Link: http://www.forgehub.com/forum/halo-reach-forge-discussion/113952-civility-testing-3.html#post1316770

Finally nearing the end of my second project. Hopefully it pays off and doesn't flop like Enmity, though. >_>


With this map, the original idea was a warring office complex (lulz). In the center is a 'quad' or 'social area'. Beneath that is the garage and beside it would be the office buildings (bases). I probably won't stick with that story in the end but that's how it spawned nonetheless. x3 The gameplay is designed more for players that like open maps. There is still a decent amount of cover, though. I'm heavily basing it on Team Play and will be focusing most on Team Objectives this time around. It will still support FFA but, due to budget, it won't support a proper custom Infection gametype or Invasion. I'm missing a rather large chunk of what I had planned aesthetically and gameplay-wise since I sucked the budget (and walls... and building blocks... and platforms...) dry.

I looking for people to help me test this map now. I need help determining weapon balance(ammo and spawn times), spawn points for non-team games, kill zones and soft kill zones that aren't immediately apparent to me, and any possible little tweaks that won't effect my lack of budget. Also, if anybody can think up a new -fitting- name for the map, after playing it, that would be much appreciated.

If you can't afford to properly place AA's on a map, do you think it's alright to force players to choose between Spartans and Elites if they want to use certain AA's? Like, say both can use Sprint, evade and Jetpacks... but only Elites get AL and Camo and only Spartans get Bubble Shield and Hologram. ​

Here are some screens of the project so far.

Full-views:

Spoiler

The Quad:

Spoiler

The Offices/Bases:

Spoiler

Garage, Pads and Strip:





So, any testers out there looking to help out?

Current Testers:
SILENTROHAN177 (Lampshade)
hassanq (HarisSales1996)
RodziR (RodziR)
Plasma Blades (Plasma Blades)
Oo iRoNy oO (Oo iRoNy oO)
crypocalypse(Crypto nv)

Test Date:
TBA

Gametypes and overall gameplay will not be tested in this phase. This is just initial testing for minor flaws. The bigger testing won't come until after this period.

 

I'd prefer if you have mics but posting here after testing is just as good.

 

Awesome. I'll start up a list then we'll start testing once we get about 5 to 7 other players.

 

Preliminary testing shows that I need to use soft kill zones instead of some of my hard kills. Question, though. Since I don't want people being able to traverse the small gap, should I surround the hard kill with a soft kill as warning?

 

Currently, it's set up so that players can jump to them directly from their respective bases (of course, they can be reached multiple ways but this is the fastest). After some game play testing, I think I'll make a determination on whether or not they should spawn only in teams games. Before that, though, the idea of putting the Banshee closer to the bases rather than the Falcon has been popping into my head as I set up a few more things. Would be a few more steps to make before half the team ends up in the Falcon, airborne. My Softkill zones are set up to make sure flying players don't get absolute domination, however. They are also restricted from flying underneath the structure and simply hovering there. The available weapons should also prevent such a thing, I'm hoping. Combining the right weapons with the various points of cover should, in theory, allow players to neutralize air threats. The original plan was to have either a Gauss hog or Tank boxed in, so only the turret would work, above each base as an anti-air gun. Sadly, I didn't have the budget for it.

As for what Mr. Becks said; I was actually hoping to keep cover in the Quad area low. I hope it doesn't prove to be too low. I'm pretty excited to test this map for such things. Hopefully this thread gathers enough testers to test it during the week or at least by this coming weekend.

Each side has both Falcon and Banshee. One of the Banshee's in missing in my screens cuz I er... blew it up before screening. xD On both sides, the Falcon is closer to the base than the Banshee, which may prove to be a flaw so this might be fixed before testing.

I'm tweaking the spawns and some extra soft kill zones as well as making a few minor aesthetic and gameplay changes still. I'm having a really hard time thinking up the non-team spawn and respawns with my current layout, though. Hopefully that can be polished out during testing in the team games (this map is mostly being built around that). I believe I've gotten ride of all the planar clipping (I don't like calling it Z-fighting) so that should hopefully keep frame-rates smooth and keep this visually pleasing. After about an hour, I'll have the map thoroughly playable. Hopefully someone can smoosh a team together (like, 10 people total?) today for some early testing.

I'm thinking of drawing out the working routes in this map as well. Should I? Or should I simply leave players to figure out the strategies on their own?

 

Ok, I just sent out some PMs to the testers and the people on my FL (all busy in Halo or playing CoD XD). CTF is ready to be tested. I think I've got things set up for good set of test matches before the weekend ends.

I encourage you to switch between Spartans and Elites. For now, they have different loadouts. The roles all have differing power and somewhat specific uses. At least, it's supposed to seem that way.

I believe I have the killzones properly set. However, if the flight boundary is still too small, be sure to let me know. If anyone outside of the 3 testers posted wants to join, send me a message on XBL.

 

Yea and I sent a friend request. D: The PM is on XBL, not over the forums.

 

For now, still no set time. I'll be setting a time when the tester list hits 9 people, so we can do a 10 player test. Adding you, 4/9 now.

Didn't manage to get tests tonight. Only 2 people got on. Gnappy was the only one to see the map. ;~;