DEFERENCE CITY "A center of trade and commerce, this waterborne city harbors valuable assets to all sides in war." "We shall begin the interrogation of the captured human, identified as Sergeant Remy Yeltsin of the United Nations Space Command. My name is Ramo' Randjamee, proud member of the Sangheili forces here at the Harbinger of Glass. The prisoner has undergone intense methods of torture in order to break his resolve. He is now ready to answer any and all questions directed at him. I hope this is to your satisfaction, noble hierarchs. "Now, human. What was the goal of your mission?" "...We...we were assigned to take the city. It was a vital point at which to control trade routes across the ocean, and its resources would enable our forces to bolster their firepower and armaments. The city's dam also didn't allow the high tides to affect docking and trading." "What was your plan to take the city?" "We had to take the city before the storm hit. The forecasts said that this storm would force the waters to rise higher than the dam, bringing it underwater. We had to get to the city and take control of it before this happened. You Covenant scum were littered all over the territory, and the beachhead was the safest place for us to land. "After we landed, we had to go on foot. We cut down your Covenant forces ruthlessly. Oh, it felt good to pump those squidheads full of bullets. We managed to get to the terminal that controlled the dam's access gates. "After holding the position long enough for the terminal to run through its procedures, the dam's gates lifted. We could go on through. A Warthog was dropped onto the beachhead, along with a rocket launcher. Only two rockets, unfortunately. The Elites fell back to the city, where they received new weaponry, including two Shade turrets. We had to travel across the dam with the help of our freshly delivered armaments and escort a bomb carrier. The bomb was to be planted on the city gates to allow us access to the metropolis itself. "After the bomb was planted, we held the position long enough for the timer to run its course. We managed to hold, and the gates exploded. What a wonderful show of lights and fire. "Another Warthog was dropped onto the beachhead, making two in total. Along with our rocket launcher, a sniper rifle was made available to us, also located on the beachhead. The sniper had a total of eight shots. With a good sniper on our team, it was more than enough to buy us enough time against the unrelenting Covenant horde. "Command gave us a birds-eye view of the city before this entire operation, just to make sure that we were familiar with the layout. The city was separated into color-coded zones. Red Zone, Blue Zone, Green Zone, Orange Zone, and all that. "Our objective was to take the Red Zone, the keystone of the city. It was also at the dead center, with Covenant forces coming in from all sides. It was one of the toughest operations to pull off, even for our best military strategists. The fact that the Covies had access to a Plasma Launcher and a Gravity Hammer, hidden in the buildings and alleyways of the city, didn't make it any easier. "Nevertheless, we held the position. We fought back against those Covie scumbags. And best of all, we won. We won against impossible odds, against impossible firepower. Nothing I say here will hurt any of my teammates, because we captured the city before the storm hit. Once your forces were weakened by our control of the city center, our aircraft soared in and blew you guys away. Nature helped too, what with the storm and all. We won, and you lost." "Shut your mouth, human. Your time to talk is gone now. We've heard all we want to hear. We will get that city back. And when that happens, your species will be the one lying on the sidewalks and on the alleys, dead. "Get this human out of here. Execute him if you wish." __________________ Thanks for reading this rather unorthodox explanation of how Deference City plays. I know it's a rather long read. And if you didn't read, then whatever. I had fun writing it anyway. Deference City is my first serious Reach map, and my first map tailored for Invasion. I tried to uphold my principles of immersion, where the player has to be absolutely immersed in the experience. I believe that a good map allows a player to think, "Hey, this is [insert map name]," instead of thinking, "Hey, this is Forge World." But you guys don't really come here to listen about mapmaking philosophies anyway, so I'll move on. Deference City, as evidenced by its name, takes inspiration from several sources, mainly Halo 3: ODST and Venice, Italy. I tried to emulate certain aspects of ODST into the second and third phases. For example, the push for the city gates across the dam is supposed to take inspiration from the beginning of ODST's ONI Alpha Site campaign level. The presence of the Spartan Laser also draws from ODST in that way. The architecture of the city also takes inspiration from ODST, not to mention Venice as the streets are replaced by waterways, which are able to be fully walked on. Don't be afraid to step in! Here's a gameplay video to break up the monotony of this lengthy explanation: Gameplay Video I would say more, but I really don't want to bore anyone. With that, thanks again for reading all this, and enjoy the map!
Ramen, I really like your story presentation. It was a creative way to explain the map. The gameplay video is entertaining as well (lol at the Warthog death @ 2:55, I enjoyed the synchronized ragdolls ). As for the map itself, it has a very solid campaign-like feel to it. There's a good sense of progression for the attacking team. I can definitely see your ODST inspirations. The first phase feels a little uncoordinated compared to other two. This might be because the attackers are coming at the objective from the side, whereas the rest of the mission follows a straight path. Maybe have the attackers move in the same line the entire game. Also, the Elites spawn really close to the objective. You didn't have too much trouble in the gameplay video, but I think any half-coordinated Elite team could probably shut out the Spartans pretty easily. The two Shade turrets in the second phase were a really nice touch. Very few maps implement them well, but you appeared to do a great job with them here. Smart use of the Covenant Barriers to block the Warthog from getting to the bomb area. It's too bad we didn't get to see much of the third phase in your video, but from what I saw it looked like it was Territories. Generally, Territories isn't the most exciting objective to finish an Invasion game with, and the Spartans took it rather quickly. However, what I think would be cool is if you made the entire "Red Zone" a territory. Add some more cover pieces there, and it would act as a neat "Hold this area" sort of objective, with Elites coming from all angles. It would fit with your story a bit more that way too. Just an idea. Anyways, that's just my (lengthy) $.02. Overall it looks like a solid Invasion map. Good luck with your future Forge projects!
Excellent presentation for what looks like an excellent map. I love ODST inspired maps and well, therefore look forward to seeing this one myself. I'll be sure to give it a DL hopefully a match shortly afterward! Another objective spot in the first phase looks like it might help, as a coordinated elite team could easily shut down one objective right next to their spawn.
After phase 2, you should make a teleporter from the initial spawn to one of the buildings on the bridge. It looks like you have to walk a loooooong way to get to the city area if you decide to spawn at the initial area.
bad DMR day? lol anyways this map looks sick! I havn't seen an invasion map with gameplay this intense and balanced in a long time. Great job bro!
I'm actually thinking about adding another objective for the first phase. Now that I think about it, several early playtests had the Spartans being unable to take the first objective. Perhaps a spreading out of the Elites would help them in that aspect. The entire Red Zone is a capturable territory in the latest version of the map. Strangely enough, what you just suggested is what something one of the playtesters a few days ago suggested. Nice coincidence there. Thanks a lot for your feedback! [br][/br]Edited by merge: The Spartans actually have a spawn point on one of the buildings on the dam in the second phase, along with their original beachhead spawn.
Yes, I know, but if someone spawns all the way back there, it will take around a minute for them just to get to the action. Maybe put the teleporter I little bit behind from where the spartans usually spawn on the bridge.
Interesting idea, actually. It'll speed up the pace of the second phase, not to mention that it'll help stop the Elites from progressing too far across the dam. I'll take this into serious consideration for the next version.
Yeah, I'm thinking about doing that. In the next version, I'm probably going to have two objectives for the first phase, a teleporter for the Spartans in the second phase, and some other minor details added in. Thanks for the feedback!
Wow, looks like an invasion map that someone actually put some time into, I don't see those very often. I agree with scorch, an second objective spot might be a good idea. You guys didn't seem to have trouble capping just that one though. I didn't see from the video as you were respawning. What was the last phase? A capture point, or taking the usual power core? Also, from what I did see near the end, it looked like the framerate dropped a bit in the last phase. Any plans to fix it or was that just me?
Great invasion map, the aesthetics are really great, and very immersive. The series of phases are logical and well thought out. The layout and gameplay is varied from phase to phase, each feeling cohesive but unique. My only concern is the respawning. Too often elites seem to spawn behind the spartans (or maybe the spartans spawn in front of the elites). This seems to happen most often near the objective. Keep up the good work.
Territories. The Spartans had to capture the city center. My fault for not showing it in the video. Sorry. :/ Yeah, I noticed that too. I'm currently working on a new version where I'm trying to reduce the amount of pieces used in the third phase. Hopefully, that'll get rid of most of the framerate drop. Still, framerate gets better once everyone's in the city itself; it's only when you enter it that framerate drops a bit.
My experience with invasion maps that are large is that people don't like the distance. but I think this would work fine.. going to down load and take a closer look...
Having run around in the updated version (after playing on a previous version) I see some major improvements have taken place. I'm very glad to see the additional objective in Phase 1 and I can imagine the teleporters will work nicely, aiding map movment during Phase 2. My only underlying concern is with the object usage in the city area. There's still some z-fighting around the circular courtyard, which will not help framerate and I'd also consider either replacing the large walkway covers or lowering them and covering their inside areas with large braces or something similar. Also; the inclines inside the circular fountain are not quite aligned. Little things like this could just do with neatening up. I should point out I still view this as one of my favourite Invasion maps of all time in terms of gameplay and vibe/feel.
Not had chance to play yet, but I've had a forge through. Tier one seems pretty solid and I really like the way the city looms in the distance. It really avoids the annoying trait of most invasion maps where you are constantly wondering which way to go. No doubt at all here. I'm concerned about tier 2. That arm point seems really small and really exposed to grenade spam by the defenders. It seems the attackers lack options in this phase. I could be wrong though, cos like I say I have not played yet. City part looks nice. Feels very invasioney. Invite me in next time you test.
Yeah, I think we covered all of the minor performance problems in our Forge session the other day. v4.5 Changelist: - Walkway Covers on the bridge have been replaced with Brace Larges to lessen framerate lag. - Receiver node on the dam has been moved to provide better player orientation. - Window has been placed on one of the dam buildings to prevent Elite plasma grenades from coming in when someone's going through the teleporter. - Deleted one of the redundant Spartan spawns in Phase 2. - Deleted one overpowering Elite spawn in Phase 1. - Moved the center fountain in the city for better alignment. - Sniper rifle now spawns in the second phase, not the third. Rockets now spawn in the third phase, not the second. Hopefully, this would give the Spartans more of a chance to push up in the second phase. - Deleted extraneous area in the back of the city. - The far end of the city now houses a series of vertical Colisseum Walls with Colisseum Windows behind them to give the city a more "grand" feel. - Other assortments of fixes that optimize performance. - Splitscreen capability has been tested and shown to be extremely good. Little to no framerate lag on v4. Since it's updated to v4.5 (which focuses on optimizing performance), I expect splitscreen on this to be even better. - Updated to v4.5 with a new download link. This will most likely be the final update for this map. Thanks to everyone who helped playtest this and/or gave feedback! Special thanks to III Tribal (for his help in making the performance and aesthetics better) and UnexpectedBang (for his help in determining the proper objectives for the map).
Nice map, and I really liked the appearance and detail of the city. Splitscreen also went well. One thing I didn't like was how long the walk across the dam was. Just seemed a bit too linear. 7/10
This is awesome! As mostly an invasion creator myself this looks really well balanced and made. I love the city, although a little grey, but that cant be helped. Kinda reminds me of Coastal Highway from ODST in the second phase. Also the rocks in the first phase look so natural. I actually thought they were part of the map itself (I know some were map geometry). Great work. Got my DL.