Spirit v3.3 Spirit v3.3: In times of war, the UNSC often requisitions off-shore civilian estates as listening posts. Even listening posts have seen boarding action on Reach. Welcome to the new and improved Spirit!!! Over the last few months I've been working very hard on improving my first map. Thanks to the help of various members of the Forgehub community and others I've befriended, I think Spirit will play very nicely. Spirit is based on a tower in Forgeworld with a blend of close to medium range combat. It also features dynamic vertical spaces for ambush, top-down control, and intense interior combat. Fans of Gemini from Halo 2 will enjoy the platform layout of this map. Anyhow, here is a good introduction to Spirit: YouTube - Halo Reach: Forged Map: SPIRIT The weapon set of Spirit is as follows: DMR x6 Needle Rifle x3 Needler x2 Spiker x2 Sniper x1 Shotgun x1 Plasma Launcher x1 Plasma Grenade x 6 Assault Rifle x1 Machinegun turret x1 Energy Sword x1 Magnum x2 Plasma Repeater x2 Plasma Pistol x1 Concussion Rifle x1 Images and Commentary: A top down view of Spirit reveals new routes around the exterior and the top courtyard. One can see the various routes up and down along the side of the map. Team spawns are located on the upsidedown landing pad where multiple ramps converge. The new and improved wraparound routes, featuring a shotgun spawn. The concussion rifle replaces the original shotgun spawn on the level below. The backside of the Spirit features the beloved mancannon, shooting players to the top level. New cover and cleaner construction make this area a hotspot on oddball games. This new ramp system is a big improvement over the first version. shallow ramps offer players a clean space to land from the mancannon as well as deliver frag grenades up and down. The top courtyard has recieved some attention as well: steep ramps have been replaced by shallow ramps and offer a more open fighting space. The columns featured between glass sails have also been removed to clean up the space. Views of the front and back of Spirit. Gotta love those floating rocks. Great care has been taken to ensure the symmetry of this map. Hey, come on in side for a minute. Here is the new and improved cover near the backside of the map. Notice the plasma pistol resting atop the center pillar. And speaking of inside, the inner atrium has gotten a major overhaul! Gone is the annoying bridge platforms near the old lift. Now a spiffy new lift awaits to take you up to the courtyard. The sniper still rests at the center of the dish, but has been given new cover to keep it company. The rear needle rifle platform is gone, but has been replaced by two platforms over each side entrance, each sporting a crystal rifle. You can jump on the rock to get to the platform, or take the struts. Each platform allows control over the various sightlines in the interior. Slamm Andrews spawns in to say "Thanks!" Really, I do want to thank Forgehub and its members for the awesome support. Everyone who has given me critiques has been heard, as evidence by this version. I hope you have fun playing Spirit, and give me a shout if you have any idea on how to improve it! Special thanks to my friend, Jak Cryton, who has been invaluable in testing and suggesting new ideas for the map. Thank you! Slamm Andrews
I was nervous about having a rocket launcher on this map, and the grenade launcher didn't seem too effective in play testing. I am open to suggestions, however.
I have only 3 wrds 4 u : w.o.w. I think i really think you should recommend this to bungie or enter it in a contest it is wowtacular! [br][/br]Edited by merge: ...also kinda reminds me of citadel from h3
Thanks, Crown. RodziR: I think I chose it because it would be handy for controlling the platforms and ramps but would be tough to use inside. Thanks for checking out the map!
My impressions: I would suggest you shorten the bridge to the man cannon to at least half its current size and create a second path to it. Isolated sections, such as that area, tend to disrupt the balance of most maps by promoting camping. If you were to decrease the distance from the platform to the rest of the map by 50% and create two paths that came off of the platform at 45 degree angles you could fix this problem. Also, if you plan on submitting this to forgetacular, I strongly advise that you remove the 2x2 steep incline pieces that you use in the top courtyard and create a new pathway that is not angled as severely. Walking up any piece angled over 30 degrees tends to create an unnatural feel that is detrimental to map flow. Judging by the structures you have placed in the backdrop of the map, it seems you have extra pieces/budget. I would suggest using this for creating more unique cover elements on your map, as it seems you have a few spots where you just use a single building block to provide cover. Either merge the lighting effects into a wall or ceiling, create a support, or delete them. Not only can lighting effects block bullets/grenades therefore affecting gameplay, they look ugly just floating in the middle of a map. Suggestions aside, looks like a promising map, which is the only reason I took time to provide my input. I like the floating rock idea, even if it is not yours, along with the way you used the colisseum windows. I have not played it yet, I will try to get to that tomorrow, so I can't provide any input on balance issues, but those are relatively easy to fix on symmetrical maps anyways. If you work on some of the things I suggested I think this could end up being a pretty good map.
Those are all great comments. I did play around with the gameplay mechanics of the long bridge, but I am open to changing this. The idea was to have no cover on a path with a power weapon and a quick way to get to the high ground. I will look into to 2x2 ramps. What cover suggestions do you have? I was worried about cluttering the space, but I'd love to hear your ideas. I will also play with the light as well to get it out of the way. Thanks again! -Slamm
In order to create some unique cover, just play around with pieces until you find something that looks good and flows well with your map. [br][/br]Edited by merge: After running through your map, I noticed a few z-fighting issues. There are not too many, but there are enough that it is noticeable. Also, have you considered coloring all of the pieces in your map? You have some pieces colored red and blue for team games, but coloring all of the pieces helps bring some life into most maps. I would suggests coloring all neutral areas purple, since it is the byproduct of mixing blue and red. I noticed that only area where you should change the cover is the spot that is shown in your second to last picture. I replaced the building block with a large walkway cover and it looked pretty good. I ran around it in forge and changed up a few things, along with pinpointing some areas with z-fighting. You can view the video with my ideas here.
Thanks for the video, I will check it out soon. I see what you mean about more interesting cover choices, and I will see what ideas I can come up with. If anyone else has more feedback, I'd love to hear it as well. Dontshootme has given some good feedback, and I'd like to hear what other people have to say as well. Slamm
Just looked at this in Forge and it looks like a great TS map. I love the center piece, and the layout seems to be well done. I like the outside walkways that circle the map. The walkways should keep people moving and add extra routs for those pesky campers lol. Hopefully i can play this soon. Cool map!
Cash, I'd love it if you could shoot me an invite if you are playing it. I've only been able to get around 4 or 5 people it at a time and it'd be nice to get a "real" game on it. Thanks for the comments!
Hello! This map looks really cool! I like the aerial view, looks like something off final fantasy or something ha! Really makes you want to look at your map! Looks good too, I like the dish with grass and the use of rocks and natural things, gives the map a nice vibe! Plenty of weapons too ...that I like! Great job on this map!
Very nice. Always like checking out map of people who comment on my stuff. But this is fantastic! Looks like it could play well, downloaded... add my gamertag (same name as on here) and I am sure we can get this map into a rotation sometime with the right number of people for maximum carnage.
Wow! Thanks for the feedback! I love your maps, both of you! DeviantsFate, that sounds like a good plan. I am in the thralls of final papers and research projects, but I will try to free up some time to get on. Weekends work out for me. Thanks again for the comments! -Slamm
Hey Slamm, It was a lot of fun being able to play your map with you and some friends last night! Team Slayer/FFA definitely works great with the layout. I know Timmy suggested removing the Sniper Rifle, but I personally wouldn't until maybe testing a few more full games. Where one person can't find a use/area for it many others may. I know the one section in the middle is pretty enclosed, but that doesn't mean someone can't find a good vantage point. Like I said, maybe a few more full games before deciding to remove/replace it. I actually ended up playing a handful of other custom games on another map someone made for MLG I believe. I am pretty unfamiliar with MLG, but for CTF there were instant respawn once you touched your stolen flag (Like we were all talking about). I guess that is a setting for some MLG maps? Either way, it ended up working really well, and with the smaller size of SPIRIT I think that would actually work out good. Beyond that I would say tweaking the respawn points/zones some and it should be good to go. It was a blast and I hope we can play again sometime. I also look forward to more maps you Forge down the road^^
No, you're wrong about the first thing. Adding cover will increase camping rather than decreasing it. Keeping the bridge open and the same size is a good idea. It creates good RvR especially with the Plasma Launcher there and the lift to top mid. I agree with the steep inclines, that is absolutely true. Plus, they screw up grenade tosses. FX don't appear in normal games, only in forge mode.
I never suggested adding cover to the bridge. My only comments about cover were to create more unique cover elements in place of single building blocks. I was talking about the red and blue lights on the map, not the special effects. I guess I could have worded that better.
Jak- It was awesome to get to play some games on Spirit! I am going to work on the spawns this weekend, hopefully. If you are on then, we should get in a few more games. We'll have to try the instant flag respawn as well. I will experiment with the grenade launcher as well. The more I think about it, the more I imagine the grenade launcher working well at the bottom of the side platforms. I'd replace the shotgun there and move it to the sniper spot. I do like the sniper on the map as well. It'd be good to get some more matches in to see what other players say and how the spawn changes are working. I also debating about moving one sided game types 90 degrees... The flag/assault point would be the platform by the man cannon bridge and the offense would spawn near the shotgun opposite the map. LEt me know what you think. I can even make a test map variant for us to try sometime. DONTSHOOTME and Antares... I've done a bit of work to this map in the places Dontshootme described. I'll be posting a version two as soon as we get some more play tests in. I made more interesting cover in the interior room, and expanded the area by the mancannon. There is still only one way there, but it is much more inclusive to gameplay. As for the steep ramps up top, that is my lowest priority in changing this map. Plenty of players in play tests had a lot of fun engaging each other on the top of the level despite these inclines. In fact, I was even considering removing the glass sails and columns to create a more open space. Anyhow, thanks for playing, test team. I'd love to get more matches in soon! Thanks to everyone for downloading and commenting. I will post version 2 as soon as we test it more! Slamm
From the picture's that map looks very well done. Though judging from one of them it looks like its kinda sloppy on the inside and rather cluttered. You could possibly give it a little more space in there maybe? I am not quite sure because I have not downloaded it yet. Though I think I will. Looks good enough to at least play once or twice.