OUTSIDER Description: Outsider is an asymmetric map built in the Quarry area of Forge World, where Asylum, Atom, and Cliffside were all built. Surprisingly, Outsider was inspired by bits of Narrows and Construct, two maps that seemingly have nothing in common. This map combines the high elevated area that's easy to access of Construct and the idea that you must move forward to gain line of sight, like in Narrows. When you spawn, you spawn facing a sloped ramp that leads out into the middle. As you move forward, you'll begin to see the other team moving forward. A difference between Outsider's arched ramp and Narrows would be that each teams ramp does not connect to one another. If it did, a team would be able to lock down another team easier in their base by having an elevation advantage and a lot of sight lines. Outsider's top "Construct" level is easily accessed by three ramps and a gravity lift, so camping is not as easy as it seems because it is one of the most accessible places on the map. Grenades and other CQC weapons on the map excel at this tier but none of those weapons spawn in that area. The two Spikers, Shotgun, Plasma Rifle, and 6 Grenades do not spawn at Top Yellow (Construct level). The Sniper Rifle and other precision weapons are also equally powerful at shooting at lower levels. The Gravity Lift landing platform has great line of sight to Blue Base while the back window facing Red Base has great line of sight in that direction. This essentially means that Top Yellow is the place to be, yet it cannot be camped easily and since it attracts all of the power weapons, it ensures that the power weapons will exchange hands frequently when teams lose control of Top Yellow. This was also the case in various test games that I have conducted. Originally, I designed Outsider as a symmetrical map, but as time went on, the budget got smaller and I started to run out of objects, so I decided that I'd make it functionally symmetrical. In V1 (and maybe V2) the map could rightfully be described as a functionally symmetrical map, but now that I've finished and published V3, it's turned completely into an asymmetrical map. All in all, I hope that you guys like this map, I've put more than a month of hard work into it. Weapon's List: Screenshots: ~Download Outsider!~ ~Feedback is greatly appreciated!~
Looked around the map and the only potential problem that I could find was the blue side man cannon room. Only one entrance and its very enclosed. Seems like it could become a potential shotgun camping spot but it also looked like there was plenty of "dancefloor" for a player to potentially work with. All in all a nice map though.
It is possible for that room to be camped, but it won't be. This is because Top Yellow has line of sight everywhere and an elevation advantage and can actually shoot into that room a little bit. I have been able to jump down from the Gravity Lift landing platform back onto the gravity lift in a way so that I pick up the Plasma Grenades that spawn there and throw one before the lift brings me back up. Also, camping in that room will deny you of any other power weapon. It just would be illogical to camp there in my honest opinion. I'd camp there always during Infection games though, but that's different. If I am going to change that room I may add another entrance or something to make camping more difficult, thank you for your feedback and opinion on the matter.
Well, I was fortunate to have some friends on and they we're getting bored of matchmaking so I pulled your map up and we did a FFA. I tried out my little hypothesis and it turns out you were right, the room won't get camped. I was easily dispatched both times I tried to shotgun camp there and none of my friends gave it a second glance while they had it. And on a sidenote: It played quite well
nice...the map has multiple pathways...the forging is proffesional and connects with nice aesthetics...the map has a good city feel while also having the grass somehow...I like it with the combination of the structure and the natural...the weapons seem to be good and the layout of the map is nice and shows good gameplay...
Thank you for the feedback! I'm most interested in how you think the spawns are working for the map, I feel like I got them just about right, but I want to be sure that spawn killing will be reduced more on this map than standard Bungie maps. If you haven't downloaded this map already, I highly recommend that you check it out!
This map has an urban feel to it, which I like. The aesthetics are few, but good from what I can see. The forging is neat and it looks like you put some color into your map, which is good seeing as some maps are boring and bland to look at without color sometimes. There is only one thing that worries me, on your first pic, you have a nice curved bridge, but it seems that you put some small bridges on the sides of it for cover. I personally don't think that it is necessary to put cover on that bridge seeing as there are so many pathways and levels that no one will constantly be aiming in the direction of the bridge. So really the cover there kind of ruins the awesome-ness of the bridge. This is just my opinion though. Really nice map man. PS: I don't care if Awesome-ness isn't a word
Test games proved that whichever team had control of Top Yellow controlled the line of sight almost everywhere. And if they had Sniper too, they could easily spawn kill the other team. The cover was added to give the other team at least a chance to get to the ramp to Top Yellow. I did think that the bridges were a bit ugly so I swapped them out with 2x1 and 2x2 flats accordingly. I don't remember if I said this in the topic, but the images are slightly out of date. Thanks for your feedback!
I like the map enough, it's simple and straightforward, and not overly-flashy. Almost reminds me of something I could play in H3's rumble pit. Like some of the others pointed out, fix up top control and I think the map has some serious potential. Maybe think about lowering the sniper rounds to no spare clips?
Firstly, version 3 is out! Outsider is now compatible with all gametypes except for Invasion and Race, even Speedpile! Not much weapon changes have occurred, though the most notable would be the clip size shrinkage for the Sniper Rifle and Shotgun (the Shotgun now spawns faster as well). Another thing to take note of is that the Plasma Rifle now spawns on the rock outcrop, not Top Yellow. Now nothing spawns Top Yellow, so holding that area will be slightly more difficult. The Sniper Rifle had two spare clips before the update, so it should be fine now that it has one spare clip. Top control is not as powerful as it seems at a first glance. Test games showed that control of that level fluctuated throughout the game a lot (except in some extremely one-sided scenarios). The gameplay is not as dynamic or occurring everywhere like on some other maps, the most notable being symmetrical MLG/Arena styled maps. This map, though it's structure is not simple, offers simple gameplay revolving around Top Yellow. The map was designed so that players gravitated towards Top Yellow while also not being able to effectively camp there. I highly recommend that you play a 4v4 on this map to fully understand how control of that area fluctuates and who has the power weapons fluctuates (players will go for a power weapon first, and then move to Top Yellow. When that team loses control of Top Yellow, which will happen, they usually lose control of the power weapons until they either gain back control of Top Yellow, or pick up new ones once they spawn again). Thanks for your feedback!
It's good to see you continuing to pursue your map and improve it. I like the way the map works and flows, and has a great aesthetic feel as well. Very cleanly forged!
ooooooo I found a keeper! First off is aesthetics, which immediately gets 8/10. The theme is very apparent while all aesthetics compliment each other. The only thing I would want you to consider is the realism of a structure, making it more like a singular structure than just having small platforms. The map does stand out from any other map, but I feel that a map can truly be epic is when someone can make a map with a story behind it as well as a sense of realism. Balance gets a 7/10, in which the balance is good, I feel that the blue lift room can be adjusted so that people do not take too much advantage to it. I would suggest opening it up so you can see clearly straight in but also put some small form of cover. Originality for sure gets 8/10, I can honestly see your forging style through this map but I feel you could really spice it up by changing how you place objects. Try doing a little more curving like you did with your bridge and I believe your map will look far more creative. Gameplay gets 8/10, Everything in the map makes me want to explore it over and over again just to see what sort of strategies I could come up with. AND THAT, is what I like to see in maps. Making the player think of where to go is truly the number one thing that makes a map fun. The only problem I see in this map is actually how complicated it is, I can see some people trying to hide a lot in this map. BUT if you played with 4 v 4 then I don't see this as a huge issue. Grand total of 7.75/10, and according to my friends that's pretty damn good on my rating system. Be mindful, I truly believe you can make some amazing maps that everyone would be excited to see
Thanks for the feedback everyone! I'm not going to lie, hiding on Outsider compared to hiding on some maps in matchmaking is easier. Because Outsider is focused on the small top level, you can just stay far away from that area and will probably be fine. The one bungie map that I played on against HLGers was Unanchored, and I never found them. I was expecting that something like this would happen because of how the map was designed, so I made sure that I had kill zones in the necessary areas to keep everyone in the map, but of course that wasn't enough. I have worked on this map for a long time now, and I'd have to summarize it by saying that you will either like the gameplay of Outsider, or you won't like it.
I got the chance to play this with you last night, and have to say that it was overall quite enjoyable. For the most part, gameplay was pretty smooth if a little high ground heavy. There was quite a few instances where I would get cheap kills from the top level on unsuspecting players below. You might consider making the map a fourth or so shorter. just my opinion though. There were also some issues I had with the aesthetics, like your block pieces on the bridge. They should either go completely, or not be tilted at that angle. I think it looks ugly. But that's just personal preference I suppose. Anyways, cool map bro! and I hope we can play it again sometime.