Demonball

VERSION 2 COMING SOON
Changes to the map are: Raised the entire floor to about halfway the depth of where it was before - this should improve gameplay with the grenade launchers, got rid of some aesthetic parts and improved aesthetics on the bases, removed the bottom mid platform and bottom mid man cannons because cross map skirmishes at the start of the round are cooler. Got rid of the light on the demon, I'm sure it would cause framerate lag with spitscreen and/or large parties. Just a better looking, cleaner map in general, I've added a little bit of cover at key locations and on certain gametypes there is a ceiling so that the jetpack can be used. Using the Insane gametypes, I was able to create some new gametypes to fulfil my original plan of having the map be a multigametype map and having different set ups in the map for different gametypes using the the gametype label system. One of the new gametypes is the main reason I've made the new map,
I've been able to play it twice (no XBL) and I thought it took what made demonball fun and took it to another level, and that's called Demonball: Flagrush. That and the original Demonball gametype are the two main gametypes of the map and then just for action sacky fun there's Demonball 3-Flag, Demonball: KOTH and I'm thinking of a powerslayer gametype aswell. All these new gametypes are still in testing phase and I'm going to start testing this week, I'll be putting it up on forgehub soon after.


Demonball is a Halo sport I've created that started off as an attempt to make a different kind of grifball map that was more than just a square box and was also not too complicated or confusing. I also wanted to make a revved-up grifball gametype which made good use of all of the new custom game options in Reach. Over time the game got it's own flavour and became less like grifball and I called it Demonball after one of the loadouts. I've really enjoyed making this, my testers and I have had alot of fun with this game. It's a fast-paced, frenzied, over-the-top, non-stop action sort of a game that goes for the fun factor and good gameplay. Over a few games you can get the hang of the game and this is game that rewards skill, team play and tactics. I’ve tried to keep it simple but there is a deeper level of tactics to the gameplay if you want to get into it more. I hope this map/gametype shows that more can be done with the mechanics of the Grifball/ Neutral Assault gametype and inspires others to experiment with grifball, which I like but it gets repetitive. I've put months into designing, forging, testing and revising the map and gametype and I think this is the best thing I've ever done in forge. With this one I tried to incorporate everything I've learned about forge and more: I read up on forge design here and on Reaching Perfection and went through the whole forge process starting with pen and paper and finishing with lots of testing and polishing. Now, I know you want pics and videos so all other info is at the bottom of the post.

BTW: I think I should have posted this in the casual maps section, it's not a mini-game exactly, how would I go about having it moved there? Is that even possible? Could I get an admin to do it for me?

GAMEPLAY VIDEOS


YouTube - Demonball Gameplay II (Halo Reach)
3v3 on final version of map and gametype

YouTube - Demonball gameplay (Halo Reach)
6v6 on a slightly earlier version of Demonball with less aesthetics and no bomb disarm, from TGIF.

OVERVIEW PICTURES

OVERVIEW


FROM BLUESIDE TO REDSIDE


BLUESIDE


MIDDLE PLATFORM


BOTTOM MID


ONE-WAY SHIELD LIFT ( 1 one-way shield = the same lift as a man cannon, how? DL and see )


EVADE RAMPS ( an extra short-cut for the evade load outs )


SPAWN BOXES (with one way shields, no more spawn killing bitches!)


THE DEMONBALL MASCOT


ACTION SHOTS

TOUGH GUYS DON'T LOOK AT EXPLOSIONS

made by ScalpelTechniqe​

THE MAP

The map functions like a grifball map except the teams spawn on opposite platforms and the bomb spawns in the middle of a large oval bowl. Each team has their own spawnbox with a one way shield door to stop spawn killing (these should be on every grifball map in my opinion), EDIT: plus as suggested I've put a softkill zone in them so that you cant defensively camp your capture plate. You have to get the bomb out of the bowl using man cannons and one way shield lifts. One way shield lifts are a really cool alternative to the man cannon that I came up with, they can cover a much larger area and are made by having a slight angle between a one way shield door and an incline (they might actually be able to work the same as man cannon without having to slide up an incline - I'll have to try that out). There’s a thin rim around the bowl with four diagonal walkways to a platform in the middle that has heavy man cannons which point to the capture plate. In mid-rim and mid-platform there’s a couple of cool little "evade-ramps" that only the evade loadouts can use. I’ve tried to keep the map simple, I found that sometimes less is more. All Grifball gametypes should work on the map in theory, but you'll have to change the gravity to 75% or the lifts and man cannons won't work they won't be strong enough, but the massive size of the map is made for a fast-paced game, so speed might have to be increased. In forging the map, I took my time to make the map as perfectly symmetrical as possible, which it is in the geometry, in aesthetics it is assymetrical for orientation purpouses.

THE GAMETYPE:

You choose from four load outs:

Demon: Grenade launcher, Hammer and Evade
Allrounder: a balanced loadout, good for hunting the bomb carrier and defense

Warrior: Grenade launcher, Hammer and Sprint
Allrounder: a balanced loadout, good for bomb carrying and offense

Bersersker: Hammer, Sword and Evade
Defensive: good for defense, excellent for defending your capture plate

Demolitions: Hammer, Sword and Sprint
Offensive: good for bomb carrying, excellent for arming the bomb

The grenade launcher is what makes this game, with the massive size of the map the fact that you can delay the explosion works well. It can be quite a skillshot over distance, this doesn't have no shields like grifball, it has normal shields. You have to actually hit the opposing players with the Grav Hammer, they don't have a slightly longer kill range like in grifball. Because of this the Energy Sword, with its longer range is a bit of a CQB power weapon, there's two on the map at bottom mid. Every player has unlimited ammo and unlimited armor ability, with normal speed, 110% jump height and 75% gravity. Plant the bomb on the enemy's capture plate, the bomb is instantly armed and has a 15 second fuse time, the enemy can disarm the bomb and it has a 10 second disarm time, so you've got to keep killing when you arm the bomb and use teamwork. It's much easier if you attack as a team and protect the bomb after planting it. If you can keep them off of disarming it for five or six seconds you can make your way back to the middle. On reset, the bomb drops from the bottom of top mid and lands in the center of bottom mid, ready to go again - there are no rounds in this game. The bomb carrier should always be someone with sprint if possible, because they can use limited sprint for a massive speed boost, no armor ability for evade whilst holding the bomb is possible (I know there's a trick that advanced grifball players can do). So evade can move quicker without the bomb and sprint can move quicker with the bomb. The bomb carrier is faster with 150% speed and 125% jump height and of course is yellow and has more shields and damage resistance. I've tried this gametype on another large grifball map and it played pretty good on that map too. With the size of the map large parties can play each other without the game getting too crazy, maybe even 8v8, the most I've tried is 6v6 but I've had enjoyable games on it with 2v2 and 3v3. I added the aesthetic touches last and haven't had a chance to test if there is screen lag with large parties since I added the Demon mascot. It is for decoration only so it might have to be deleted (or just delete the light in it's chin) for the map to support larger parties and/or split screen. To date I've had no screen lag whatsoever, let me know if you find any.

TACTICS

# Your team should always have a few people choosing sprint loadouts, get them to be the bomb runners because they have a limited amount of super fast sprint with the bomb in hand. The Warrior loadout is a good offensive/defensive allrounder and the Demonlitions loadout is great for capping bombs because you can use your sword to stop the bomb from being disarmed.

# The Demon loadout is the best all-round loadout, lead from the front, try to lead your shots on the grenade launcher for long range kills, get the grenade to explode close and you can get a one shot kill or a few near miss grenades will kill also, and then move in quickly to use the hammer. Go ahead of your team to kill the other team and clear the way for them on the bomb spawn and the bomb capture plate. Go first on the heavy man cannon on the centre platform, get some kills and clear the way for the bomb carrier. Evade loadouts can always use the evade ramps as a shortcut to the centre platform and to cut off the bomb runner. Try to pick up a sword and ditch the hammer to be a killing machine.

# Once you've armed a bomb, keep the enemy from disarming it for a good six seconds, then they will be unable to disarm the bomb since the fuse time is 15 seconds and it takes 10 seconds to disarm. Now you've got about 8-9 seconds till the bomb explodes and respawns and drops back down to bottom mid, get back there and hold down the area to regain the bomb.

# By using the man cannons at the sides of bottom mid, you can watch the bomb timer and man cannon across and catch the bomb mid-flight before it falls to bottom mid, you have to time it like 1-2 seconds before the explosion. There's an example of this in the run through rendered video linked below.

# As you can see in one of the action shots, you can use the heavy man cannons on the middle platform to launch grenade launcher shots at the enemy's capture plate. This is great if you have a few people there with the bomb carrier. Send over a barrage of grenades, then you all man cannon over pulling out your hammers and swords, get some kills, clear the way and then have the bomb carrier come across and arm the bomb.

# Dont move too far forward in defense, you can always let them come to you. If too many of you are too far forward and not defending the capture plate, it can be easy for a bomb carrier to get through with a fast sprint run and get an easy bomb arm.

# Dont be a lone wolf with the bomb and try to arm it on your own, you might get it armed easily enough, but you probably wont keep them from disarming it. Attack in numbers and keep killing the enemy to stop them disarming the bomb, if all your team is killed, fall back and wait for them to respawn.

# If you're bomb carrier with sprint you can use the "evade-ramps" by sprinting over them.

# The bomb carrier can jump high enough to get on top of the glass covers on the rim and you can jump over the enemies heads.


For a better look at the map, here's a link to a rendered film of me having a run through the map:
Bungie.net : Halo Reach : File Details

If anyone quite likes the gametype I've created they can make a demonball map themselves if they want to, though I would want to have some input/advice and would want it to still be called demonball (I might do a map pack one day). I've thought of other designs for maps and I think that there could be lots of different variations possible. There would have to be some design elements from my map included otherwise it wouldn't be demonball, eg. man cannons, spawn boxes, one way shield lifts, evade ramps, not too much cover on the map, not too complicated in the geometry.

 

Hey I'm glad you liked it guys, I actually think that's a great idea, a soft kill zone. I wonder why I didn't think of that, they still get ten seconds to get out of the spawn box, I might go change it now.

 

Big update on the original post: added gameplay videos, rewrote alot of it and added a tactics section.

No man the evades aren't able to be picked up, they are there on the ramps to show what the ramps are for, like a sign or something, you get unlimited evade in two out of the four loadouts.

 

First of all, no need to be hating on Grifball guys, Demonball is a homage to grifball and started off as a grifball game. What I hope this map shows is that you can mix it up a bit with the mechanics of neutral assault and after that imagination is the limit. I'm really keen on seeing what this blargball is, sounds interesting. I wasn't expecting to see this on page 1, but since it is I suppose I cant get done for thread bumping lol. Its cool that people are still liking this game, not everone rage quits when you try playing something different, I like people who take their casual gaming seriously. I've had a few people message me recently about Demonball and I don't have internet on so anyways, I've done a big overhaul on the map and made a version two. I've put a fair bit of time into it over the past 3 weeks and I'm happy with the results.

Changes to the map are: Raised the entire floor to about halfway the depth of where it was before - this should improve gameplay with the grenade launchers, got rid of some aesthetic parts and improved aesthetics on the bases, removed the bottom mid platform and bottom mid man cannons because cross map skirmishes at the start of the round are cooler. Got rid of the light on the demon, I'm sure it would cause framerate lag with spitscreen and/or large parties. Just a better looking, cleaner map in general, I've added a little bit of cover at key locations and on certain gametypes there is a ceiling so that the jetpack can be used. Using the Insane gametypes, I was able to create some new gametypes to fulfil my original plan of having the map be a multigametype map and having different set ups in the map for different gametypes using the the gametype label system. One of the new gametypes is the main reason I've made the new map,
I've been able to play it twice (no XBL) and I thought it took what made demonball fun and took it to another level, and that's called Demonball: Flagrush. That and the original Demonball gametype are the two main gametypes of the map and then just for action sacky fun there's Demonball 3-Flag, Demonball: KOTH and I'm thinking of a powerslayer gametype aswell. All these new gametypes are still in testing phase and I'm going to start testing this week, I'll be putting it up on forgehub soon after,