Ouroboros (which means "a serpent eating its own tail") is a competitive, rotational symmetrical map that takes some raw material from the popular Halo 3 map Narrows and transforms it into something else entirely. In effect, Ouroboros is two smaller and simpler versions of Narrows curved into semi-circles and connected at each end. Thus you have two bridges with an upper and lower level, bases at the ends of the bridges, and even Narrows-esque mancannons with a deadly central meeting point, should two players use them at the same time. The result is something with a vague familiarity to it but a play style that is all its own. The map supports 2-16 players, but the ideal team size is probably 3-6 per side. Weapons and equipment - 2 sniper rifles - 1 sword - 1 shotgun - 1 concussion rifle - 1 grenade launcher - 4 health stations - 2 plasma pistols - 2 needlers - 2 assault rifles - assorted DMRs, magnums, grenades and needle rifles Video YouTube - Ouroboros (Halo: Reach map) Screenshots Spoiler
First of all, thank you for posting the video. Honestly, the pictures did not do the map justice. I was very interested from them but completely blown away after the video. excellent job making the curvature work. I found it interesting how you used those corner pieces to fill in gaps while preventing visual issues like frame rate lag etc. I know you said that it has features similar to narrows but when I was looking through it I got the feeling of an outside version of citadel. But thats just my opinion. Anyway great map. I look forward to actually running some games on it.
Wow, you got this out the door fast! Anyway, it's a great map. It takes what was good about Narrows and implements it in a way that is altogether better. Also, the man cannons were loads of fun to screw around with.
That's how I do everything: fast! (That's what she said) Anyway thanks for the compliment, that's high praise from a tester's guild member and the author of a map as cool as Scimitar is.
I was blown away by this map when the preview came out and I love it more every time I play it. Great map. Need to get more games on this. I'll be doing a fly through on it soon to get a better feel for it.
Looks cool, have downloaded it and will give it a playthrough the next time Im on Reach. Also worth noting, love how the elevator-style music undermines the action going on in the video. ; )
Ha ha, thanks! I was going more for "mysterious and eerie" than elevator, but as long as it got your attention, I guess that's cool.
Very nicely done. Just had a play in your map and I must say, I like the way its put together. It has a really good flow to it, and I like how the terrain is symmetrical, yet not symmetrical at the same time. Just my opinion, but two snipers seems a little excessive to me. I like how youve got the shotty and the sword, then the concussion rifle and the GL, but was surprised to see two snipers. I suppose you put it there to stop people saying that one team had the auto advantage of having a sniper on their side as soon as they start and one side not, though. Just a thought, but its your map, do what you like with it. Apart from that, excellent map, cant wait to have a few games on it next time I LAN it up with some mates. 9/10
Thanks for the feedback! Regarding the snipers, I know it may seem like overkill a little bit, but my logic was this: first, it's a fairly large map so I'd expect the normal team size on it to be 4-6 players. For 10+ people that number of power weapons isn't a problem, especially when some of them are only powerful in the hands of the right player (meaning, many people are terrible with the concussion rifle and grenade launcher). The snipers themselves obviously offset each other, but in addition, I put them in out-of-the-way places on purpose - it takes effort to get them and then further effort to move somewhere that they become useful. I hope that somewhat dampens their power (as opposed to if there was one right in each base, for instance). I know in testing that a couple people said they had a hard time finding the sniper - and actually that's exactly what I was going for. Even once you know where they are, they're in the least-traveled part of the map, and it takes some work to acquire them and get them back up top safely.
Sound reasoning. Like I said, I havent had an actual game on it yet, so I cant say for certain how theyd come into play. But it does look like a fun map to play on. I also like the kill zone in the middle if someone decides theyre going to camp.
This looks quite interesting. In truth, I only clicked on it because ouroboros was used for Lister in red dwarf. I played a game on it, and its pretty good. I like it!
I really want to play this! Ill have to give it a download and hopefully get a game on this map, it looks really fun. The video was very helpful to understand as well, I think this is one of those maps you just have to experience. I do love the design too. From what I can gather, I don't dislike anything! Excellent work!
Thank you! Hope you enjoy playing on it. This map has been a hard one to sell - it's all about the layout rather than the aesthetics (not that those are bad - just secondary). But the layout is hard to get across unless you either play on it for a few minutes, or watch the entire video.
OUROBOROS Ouroboros is a large, circular 4 to 12 player map, supporting just about every gametype out there. This in itself serves to make a map with a large amount of replay value. Not only this, but Ouroboros somehow manages to produce a completely different style of gameplay in each and every gametype. This is not to say that each gametype players perfectly in Ouroboros. The map fails to satisfy most players in the fundamental gametype, slayer. In slayer games, many players will find that it simply does not match their game style, which could well be a custom games night destroyer if playing on Slayer. On the other hand, others will enjoy the flow and movement available on this multi layered, circular map. Other gametypes, such as headhunter, oddball and capture the flag, are thoroughly enjoyable throughout, because Ouroboros’ large but close amount of walkways make for plenty of tactical opportunities, which makes for an incredibly immersive experience. However, Ouroboros can be incredibly cruel and frustrating to players, particularly with regards to those who use the jet pack armour ability. Jet packers can often unintentionally fly into kill zones, several of which are hard zones too close to the map itself and very annoyingly, die. Also, when going over the grav lift and jet packing simultaneously, players will hit the central structure and die, being left with a lower score, and a long respawn timer for the opposition team to capitalise on, which is simply unacceptable in a competitive situation. The grav lifts work fine under any other circumstances, and when working correctly players will love flying through a thin pillar at high speeds, watching the map and battles going on all around them. Also, because it has several close layers, players will often mistake a blink on the radar to be a player behind them, which will often result in a painfully annoying death. More experienced players on Ouroboros on the other hand, over compensate, thinking that the blip on the radar is a player above them, when in fact it is a player standing two feet behind them, walking up to them for an easy assassination. While new players may well not enjoy their first game on Ouroboros, they will still keep coming back for more, as this map encourages players to improve themselves. More experienced players will enjoy taking a step back from their current, skilled form to their earlier Halo days to have something to work and improve upon. When combined with the unique and flavourful range of gameplay on offer, it makes Ouroboros a map that players will want to keep on their hard drive for a good while. This is where Ouroboros shines its light upon the wet and dreary world of poorly placed weapons and spawns. Each section of the map offers an equal opportunity for kills and deaths due to its symmetric nature so area dominance does not occur, and no team can win the game thusly by dominating areas. They must work hard as a team to win. Whilst there is a wide range of power weapons on offer, they have been smartly placed to make them a risk reward feature. For example, the sniper rifle has been placed right at the bottom of the map, so it is useless there. To capitalise upon it, players must move back up to the top of the map in areas that are easy to come under fire. The shotgun, on the other hand, has been placed in a wide, open area where it is very much ineffective. As for less powerful weapons, such as the DMR and assault rifle, they are readily placed in high frequency areas, and have a positive effect on the game. A large range of weapons has also been included, from CQC weapons to mid range weapons to long range weapons like the sniper, each with equal success, giving players more freedom with regard to strategy. Because of the circular layout of the map, a sniper is not able to sit back and camp, and end up with fewer deaths than those getting up close and personal. They are vulnerable from all directions, and players can loop round them, making for a game free of players who sit at the far end of the map sniping away safely. The spawns on Ouroboros all take place on the highest layer of the map. Each team will have a different power weapon readily available at their disposal, but all of them are of equal use an effect, with the exception of the energy sword. The energy sword should probably not have been included in the map. While it is easy to see the reason for putting it in, given the open nature of the map, using it with sprint gives an unfairly large advantage to the wielder of the weapon. Ouroboros has a solid and reliable weighted spawning system, that always puts players with their team upon spawning. Spawn camping is also impossible, due to the circular layout of the map. Although fully exiting the play area is impossible, due to some close kill boundaries. Due to the fact that these are close to the playable area of the map, those using the jet pack will often accidentally kill themselves because of the solid kill boundaries. Moreover, there are still some areas accessible via jetpack or head jumping higher up on the map with a fair advantage. For example, on the pillars by the coliseum windows a player can jetpack up there and have a large overview of the map, particularly useful for those in possession of the sniper rifle. Straight in front of there is a roof easily accessible by head-jumping or even grenade jumping. All of this is very easily achieved during standard gameplay. Ouroboros wastes a lot of potential aesthetic attractiveness. Due to its unusual shape and feel, the creator of this map could have easily gone to town with smaller touches and interesting details. The sobering truth however, is that this is not the case. The only real aesthetic attraction is the centre piece; a sea to sky level tower that looks down upon the map. But even this is poorly developed. It is merely a few walkway covers facing upwards. The map is neatly and smoothly forged, although some of the forge pieces used look incredibly out of place and just thrown in. For example, on the ramps moving upwards, two by one blocks have been placed to cover the gap, even though the blue interlocks very messily with the greys of the rest of the structure. Even though the map in itself is a work of art given the circular layout, and within itself is smooth and clean, the vast amount of interlocking used to create this map is far too easy to come by. On the lower levels, looking up at the ceiling players will easily see the forge pieces interlocked to form the shape of the map. Ouroboros offers a truly unique and interesting twist in the style of its gameplay, all of which is due to the layout, which is unfortunately a seldom seen idea. Although nothing aesthetically or technically speaking has been added, Ouroboros easily breaks the competitive mould, through its shape and very large range of gameplay on offer, not to mention the idea of supporting and encouraging all ranges of weapons. This makes it definatly one to keep and savour. Rating Multipliers [floatleft]Enjoyment: 7 x 3.0 = 21 out of 30 Balance: 9 x 3.0 = 28 out of 30 Durability: 6 x 1.5 = 9 out of 15 Aesthetics : 4 x 1.5 = 6 out of 15 Originality: 7 x 1.0 = 7 out of 10[/floatleft] All in all a very good map. The score has been brought down due to unfulfilled aesthetic potential, and the fact that the game is not enjoyable at all to many players during Slayer matches. Even still, a map that really should end up on a hard drive and played Final Score Understanding the Review Hub's Ratings Have a question about your review? Review Hub Community Feedback
Thanks for the review, I appreciate it! Just a couple of quick comments: 1, the aesthetics are admittedly not my best work, but the map is so large and elaborate that I had to make a lot of concessions just to keep it from being a framerate-laggin' nightmare. (That was also the impetus behind the central structure, which was originally going to be much smaller; I had to expand it to block more lines of sight and prevent all those objects from having to render all the time.) Often it became necessary to use the cheapest available option rather than the prettiest one. The curved and multi-level design also made it tough. 2, I'm sorry to hear that the slayer games were less than enjoyable - I think my testers mostly had fun in that gametype (except for one poor guy who was lagging so hard that every time he went off the mancannon, he flew into the water). But I will say that it was designed first and foremost as an objective map, so anyone who wants maximal enjoyment should look to CTF and assault as the best options. Thanks again for the feedback, you're a credit to the review hub!
thanks a lot for the compliment. I should also thank you. Thats the review that made me purple As unfortunate as it is, even when problems such as interlocking are avoidable, I still have to mention it. At the end of the day, if the map wasn't there that issue would not exist, so that is what I have to go by. I think the size of the central structure is fine. I just think it lacked architecture. As it stands it is just a few walkway covers, when it could be so much more. You could have made some from of triangular structure, you could have made a shape out of individual pieces but you did not, which is a terrible shame. In the short term for your map, I reckon you need to update it by moving the kill boundaries futher away and adding kill zones to the places I mentioned. You should also raise the angle of the grav lifts so jetpackers don't die when going over them.
I think complaining about hitting something while jetpacking in the mancannons isn't really reasonable. You're not supposed to jetpack right after jumping in one. Seems kind of dumb to adjust your map to such a thing. Or maybe that's just me. I hate jetpacks.
What, you didn't like the base made out of the ends of walkway larges? Nah, I hear what you're saying, but I didn't want to try to fix one issue (rendering a hundred objects on the other half of the map) by creating a new one (an elaborate center structure with nearly as many objects). For what I was trying to do, the walkway covers did it best, and without a framerate hit of their own. I actually like the way they look here - if you remove your knowledge of what they actually are from the equation, I think it looks like kind of interesting and weird forerunner architecture. But I understand that anyone who spends a lot of time forging is probably going to find it hard to look at it that way. I could certainly spruce them up just a little more but I probably will not, at this late date. The kill zone thing is something I heard in testing, and I actually moved them out quite a bit before the map was released. I'm surprised people were still running into that - how far out were they flying (and did they really expect to be able to get back again)? I assume that happened on the side facing the island, that's the only place I can think of where a hard kill comes close to the map. There's also some on the sides of the coliseum windows but if you're poking around back there, you deserve what you get. Regarding the lifts, I can't really do that without changing the center structure in some substantial way, because the hole you are flying through is really quite narrow (that's what she said), with not much clearance above or below. I had a huge problem getting those things to work correctly from both sides. My feeling was that it's the kind of mistake you only make once - jetpacking anywhere during the lift will make you crash into an object and drop into the water, or you'll badly overshoot the other side and suffer the same fate. It should only take once to get you stop doing that. Bungie is better about not having things like that on their maps (because they have far greater control over the behavior of their lifts and mancannons) but there is a similar thing at work on The Spire - if you jetpack much when going off the super-mancannons, you'll splatter yourself against the map ceiling. Just gotta learn not to do stupid stuff when you're not really in control of where you're flying to! edit - About the spots you mentioned (tops of the struts, etc.) when I was going through the map I tried to weigh how much of an advantage it would be to be able to perch there. Anything I thought was unfair, I put a soft kill on it. I left a few little spots though because I don't think they give a huge advantage - for instance on top of those struts you're basically on a golf tee, and not that far above the regular playing field either. There were worse spots, IMO, on official maps like Narrows where you were more elevated, more hidden, and had better cover; here you will probably get off one or two shots before DMR fire kills you or drives you back down to the ground. That doesn't concern me. I do have soft kills on the coliseum windows and all over the center tower, among other places.
true dat. During my play sessions people often jet packed over the man cannon. It kills every single time, and for newcomers to the map and in a competitive slayer situation getting -1 point and a 10 second respawn timer unjustly is going to hurt your team a lot, even if it is just the once. Like I said in the review, in a competitive situation it is simply unacceptable. As for the flying, it was normal just going around the map sorta flying. Jetpacking from the top layer anywhere nearly always ends up in a soft kill. I also think that on the way to paradiso you should have a soft kill before a hard kill. I totally understand where you are coming from a lag perspective, but as I said before a problem is a problem, and however unavoidable or difficult I have to mention it. [br][/br]Edited by merge: But many people still would. You;d be suprsied. The map killing you unintentionally should never ever happen. It also happened a couple times when using sprint, or jumping into it. Try just lifting it up a couple of elevations. That should work.