How does one do it? Especially for stuff like invasion, how do you guys make it apparent what people have to do? That seems to be the biggest issues with my map at the moment; despite the waypoints and cameras I've set up, people seem almost mystified about what to do, and get locked into a pattern without trying to find a way out of it.
Generally maps should be self-explanatory. Some tricks may no be apparent but players should be able to easily figure out where they are and how to get around the map. If you have it set up as such then the waypoints on objectives will do fine.
Well, my map, which is, surprise surprise, an invasion map, always seems to get a little hairy at the last stage. I [heavily] suspect it's at least partially because of my spawning, but from what I've seen, players just mess around instead of going for the core. It is, in theory, a pretty simple layout, much more so than my second phase, but the attackers keep launching themselves into a very open area despite many other spawn possibilities available to them. Are there any drawbacks to making invasion spawns open to every fireteam? Or someway to organize the order they appear in during the spawn selection part after you die? I truly am at my wits end to try and figure out what it could be, hence the topic. Any advice would be great!
I think the best thing to do is assume everyone is a moron when it comes to invasion. Most people aren't going to even remember they can choose different spawn locations and will either spawn on a teammate or wherever the first option available is. Make sure all spawn zones are pointing them toward the objective so they can't miss the waypoint. Another thing I notice many Invasion maps get wrong is not having a consistent flow. Be sure to keep players going in a direction that makes sense; do not have the core spawn somewhere back where another phase already took place. Players will expect that once they capture an objective the next objective will be laid out for them in a way that continues the path they've been on. On Boneyard, you're always moving forward. The core spawns in the same area as the 2nd phase. Spire is the same way. Just keep players moving is all I can say. The core/bomb should be the only objective where players may move backward. Keep in mind, this is just my opinion based on my Invasion preferences and the layout of most successful Invasion maps. Take it for what you will.
How does one make an invasion game that has an obvious story line so that objectives are not game pieces, but part of the story itself? In other words, I don't want someone capturing a game piece because it has a waypoint over it. I want them to immerse into a story, a theme, a place, a situation, a combat arena. And I want them to feel like they know intuitively what needs to be done. This makes going after an objective playing the story rather than playing a game piece. I wrote a case study on an invasion game I began to build and it describes an attempt at this. The result has two catastrophic problems, however. The elite base was non playable. (It was just one huge room for a fire fight. It was fun seeing the warthog come flying in, but it really is not a competitive play environment.) And the taking of the beach head made it very much no fun for the elites who were being slaughtered.
This is true for all gametypes pretty much. Not trying to say everyone's morons just have to accommodate for morons so everyone is accommodated for, If you get what I mean everyone has flaws some people might not know certain things about invasion or the map or Halo in general but if it's accommodated for "morons" it will accommodate for anyone's flaws. If you can make it so you can walk strait forwards and eventually find enemy's to fight or get to the objective and still be on par with the other team if they mindlessly walking forwards. (Though anyone who has planning or is strategic will win just as long as two "moronic" teams will be evenly matched and have a obvious path.)
Sounds like people were seeking combat. So rebuild the area so that combat happens naturally at the objective, rather than on the way there.
My strategy is to design around the assumption that everyone is an idiot and is as lazy as humanly possible. Your map (at it's most basic level, at least) shouldn't require any sort of intelligence whatsoever to play. Spawns should face the objective and any power weapons should be easily accessible and extremely obvious. Studying Bungie-made invasion maps is a good idea - is there any question what the objective is on Spire? The more heavy-handed you are in orienting and directing the player, the better.
(This one is eeeeeeeeeeeasy...) Ah, yes there is... Bungie maps make you play the game piece rather than the story line. I have to look for the game pieces to know what to do.
I remember reading that several times; it was a mix of that, looking at other well regarded invasion/other gametype maps, the campaign, human/cove architecture/art, and my own blueprints to make the end map. And then having the file get deleted one day and having to start all over again about halfway into it >_< Here's to hoping that's what happens on my newest version. I quadrupled the entrances to the core in P3, but a bunch of them are inaccessible once you're there/have picked it up. Now, it's just a matter of testing, easily the hardest part, and tweaking dem spawns.
Hmm...there's an idea... Also, as long as I've here: -Any way to spawn normal physics structure objects at the end of a phase? I tried a 1sec res/normal/spawnsec2/inv_wep platform on top of a p1/inv_gate, but it just floated there as though it was fixed at the start of p2 -Any reason as to why portable shields are breakable in forge, but not in live testing?
Any object under structures locks into position wherever it is when you save the map. There is simply no way to have structural objects set to normal physics in a custom game. This is simply for performance reasons. Try setting the portable shields to different physics.
If people are just goofing around in phase 3, see exactly what they are doing. If they keep shooting at their teammates who spawn right there, add more spawn points. If you did and they keep doing that, forget them and go to the tester's guild. If it's where the elites are shooting at spawning humans, though, make it so they can't. Whether it be a barrier or a shield, prevent them from spawn camping. What exactly are the people doing when you say they aren't going for the 3rd objective? If you've tried everything listed on this thread and they still do it, go to the tester's guild.