Carbide

Created this for the Forgetacular contest and recently wrapped it up. I wanted to create an entirely new space around the pillar that focused on the core aspects of the gametype. This took me a while to balance in concept, as I feel that maps with a lot of flat planes or lack of terrain suffer in terms of the dynamic potential the gametype allows, and this section of Forgeworld definitely fits that bill. In that regard it was necessary to provide large banked surfaces with the majority of the structural components, and a series of concentric rings seemed to be the most logical choice.



Although in no way a remake, I would feel remiss failing to mention the liberal inspiration from my experiences with Mario Kart Battle tracks, particularly Skyscraper and Big Donut. While it can be a fun exercise to replicate geometry from other titles, neither would have provided adequate design considerations for the gametype at hand if ported in a strictly vanilla manner.



I feel that perceiving these design considerations in the context of the gametype throughout development also played into the structure of the map as a singular experience that attempts to reflect on the exciting parts of the gametype in a concise manner, while maintaining gameplay at a good pace and keeping things lively regardless of your position on the scoreboard.



Throughout half a dozen playtests and many more file iterations it has arrived at the final state, something I feel reflects well on the experience offered by the gametype while deviating enough to maintain a unique identity.

As you can imagine framerate was a constant consideration throughout the build and I attempted to remain as spartan as possible in regards to superfluous decoration. If it did not perform well with full teams I wouldn't have released it, and to that end I was fortunate enough to get a full playtest in on the final version.

[bungievid]10358472[/bungievid]

In closing I would like to give a big thanks to ao6Adam and all the work he has done in the Rotation In Forge thread. His spreadsheet was exactly what I needed to execute the structure, and without it I frankly wouldn't have been interested in spending the time required to take it off the sketchpad and into Forgeworld. I can't imagine I will build another map that doesn't utilize his tools in some way, and we should all be quite grateful for such dedication to the game and community.

 

Thanks for the comments!

I'd like to experiment with that but the current budget is pretty exhausted on the building block components, so I'd have to look elsewhere for some nice symmetrical pieces. The framerate also took a while to stabilize with anything that's highly visible past the second banked layer as it tends to render from any playing position on the map.



I ended up using the coliseum windows to play into the theme of a carbide tipped bit, as well as the points for elevated spawn areas that would be low traffic, but it would certainly be interesting to revisit and work into different iterations.

Edit: fixed the inline player video link, should play fine now, thanks for letting me know.

Thanks again for all the positive comments and downloads!

 

Wow thanks, appreciate the high regards mrcleanup! Glad you watched the whole round, I had a slight advantage as I was used to the driving patterns, but it was also the first game we had played with full teams on that version and it was suitably crazy. It's also nice to have a rendered gameplay video, without it you'd have to round up 11 other people for a custom to see just how chaotic the map can get!

The teleporters help keep the game going at a good clip though, especially after fantastic rolls off the map, without them we found you spent a lot of downtime respawning after making only minor errors in judgment. Glad to see everyone is having fun with it, as that's the most important thing at the end of the day!

 

Awesome, the more I hear about players enjoying the map with their friends the easier it is for me to justify the time spent on it. As far as customs being few and far between, and there not being a current category in Reach for Rocket Race, anyways.

Glad you think it worked well, it was the last major addition to the overall execution. Once you got another team in there boxing you around with rockets, as well as the "downtime" you spent paying out for driving errors, it really became unbearable dying so consistently. I attempted to position the teleporter boundaries so you spent 1-2 seconds in free-fall, then had to make a quick choice to either drive off into the center bowl or take the riskier route back to the outside ring straight from the top. I remember timing the events from the proceeding playtest film, the average team spent 12 seconds out of the game before respawning after leaving the playable space, it really was unacceptable.

Thanks, I appreciate that as I honestly didn't think it would turn out to be visually engaging whatsoever. If you ever think of any other gametype applications be sure to let me know, I would certainly be interested in seeing those play out.

Thanks for taking the time to drop in and leave your comments, I really appreciate them. Glad you guys had fun with it, that's not only consistently paramount to the Rocket Race experience, but something I attempted to keep in mind throughout development.

If it's fun keep it, if it sucks take it out - my own personal taste or preferences had to be thrown out the window quite frequently during the various build iterations, and the end product is only better because of that.

Here's to more Rocket Race in the new year, cheers!