Is your life lacking excitement? Azula may be right for you. Azula is a 1v1 map designed to help counter prolonged periods of boredom. Do not play Azula if you are nursing, pregnant, or may become pregnant. Do not play Azula if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. Talk to your doctor to see if Azula is right for you. If your doctor knows what he's talking about, it will be. Weapons List Spoiler 1 Sniper Rifle / 0 Spare Clips / 90s 1 Grenade Launcher / 1 Spare Clip / 60s 1 Active Camo / - / 100s 1 Custom PowerUp / - / 60s 1 Health Pack / - / 30s The design concept for Azula started with the simple idea of a central atrium with three differently heightened openings into that atrium. It should be noted that most of these openings, in their fruition, can be sprint-jumped between. I originally wanted the bottom of that central area to be a teleporter sender that you could fall into and be sent to different receivers around the map. Early on, I deemed that concept to be a tad too radical and just went with the three-opening bottom-mid. While we're talking about bottom mid, you should know that it houses the grenade launcher. On a quick respawn time (60 seconds), the two-shot grenade launcher repeatedly gives players the choice of giving up their height advantage if they wish to nab the handy launcher. This poses a great risk versus reward factor that is balanced so that a player isn't always choosing one option over another. Timing the grenade launcher, along with timing your run for it, is a key factor in triumphing on Azula. Another one of those key factors is a player's utilization of the two power-ups. The active camo and custom powerup are on relatively long respawn times, 100 and 60 seconds respectively. They, like the grenade launcher, force the player to give up an advantage and involve some risk to acquire them. The custom power up is placed on the ground, in a corner, in sight from one of the power positions on the map. Set to MLG settings, the custom powerup gives you 200% damage resistance and 50% shield recharge for 30 seconds, acting almost like temporary armor. Active camo is placed quite literally out on a limb. Accesible from only two point on the map, this "limb" is out in the open, very much in the sight lines of the two higher central platforms. Time your run for the camo carefully to ensure your opponent has no idea you have it. The last main power weapon on Azula is the hometown favorite sniper rifle. A threat on most maps, the sniper doesn't pose as much of a threat on Azula as you would expect. Housed in the overhang corner of the map, the sniper almost acts as a support weapon on a map as small as Azula. Using it to get body shots on your opponent and then finishing them off with your DMR has proven to be a more efficient use of the sniper on Azula. Don't underestimate it though, it definitely is still a threat in the right hands. The last aspect of the map I'd like to discuss is that of player movement. You will probably be surprised to learn that there are zero ramps from the bottom of the map to higher elevations of the map. The main modes of vertical transportation revolve around pretty much everything but ramps on Azula. Lifts, the teleporter, and jump-ups are the avenues of choice for people who want to get higher. The scarcity of ramps makes player movement very unconventional on Azula, which makes gameplay rather interesting and different from the norm of Halo. Special Thanks Rorak Kuroda Obviously at the top of the list is this cool cat who partnered with me on the Iridescence project. Without him this map, along with the other two maps in the map pack, would be no where near as developed as they are now, even though he beat me 99 times out of 100 in our 1v1 games. Erupt This awesome possum helped test Azula with me many-a-time and was a great help in the development of the layout of the map. Rho Fs This bum doesn't play much Reach anymore, but when he did, Rho was one of my top testers for Azula. Noxiw Even though he probably doesn't know it, this rad giraffe was the one who basically told me the that the whole teleporter concept I mentioned earlier was stupid. He didn't say that exactly, but I know what he meant. Solo XIII Again, even though he probably doesn't know it, Solo helped a ton with the weapon layout on Azula, with most of the suggestions he made making it on to the final version of the map. iTs NeXn The creator of many fabled 1v1 maps, NeXn's map Luca provided a lot of inspiration for Azula. Longshot I ask for fancy threads, you give me threads that look as if they were formed by the hands of some sort of demi-god. I ask for them to be finished whenever you feel like it, you finish them almost as quickly as I asked for them. And you've got a big ***** to boot. Thanks man, for everything. Especially the super awesome threads. Bloo Jay I just edited myself in your post to see if anyone would notice. Azula Iridescence 1v1
After looking at all three, this might seem to be my favorite. All three maps are very well made, but this is the best in my opinion. +1 DL and +1 Nom.
I don't think I've played on this one, despite having played on the others. I'll make sure to get on that and get you some feedback. Looks solid from the screens.
Ace, when I was active in Reach you appeared to be working on a different map everyday, so please don't be offended when I say this: I do not remember this map. That being said, I trust your map design knowledge. I trust that you have incorporated those teleporters, that I apparently had distaste for, well. It may just be the lack of an overview shot that is leaving me from remembering this...
I'll give this map some lovin. I'll get to the other 2 eventually. Really nice map. I think I played this one the most out of the others. Out of all those games, i don't think I won once....I need to get on more so you(ace) and I can play this map again. Great job broski.
I forged through this and though I have not had a game here yet I have one complaint. It's more personal than anything, but I saw you had a silent 1-way shield lift on what looked like the back of a 2x2 steep ramp? Anyway I found it on accident, had no idea there was anything there. I would suggest putting some sort of object signifying it is in fact a lift. After forging through Opal and Azula (I have seen Lux before at an earlier date) I have to say these maps are beautifully crafted and each are very different from the last. Im going to try and get some games on them and when/if I manage to I'll let you know what I thought. Typically I thought little of 1v1 maps, but these three (and Anent) have convinced me otherwise, excellent work.
I have to agree, that lift surprised me too when I touched it. I recognized it was a jump up, but didn't expect the lift.
You're doing it wrong. Much better. Hmm, it seems like all the good maps these days are 1v1 maps. Will hopefully get a game on this soon. For now, I really don't have any feedback to give.
First of all, I'm not a bum. (ok maybe) I remember going crazy when I saw this the first time. I was all "Dude OMG THIS REMINDS ME OF NEXN...herp derp derp" and you were all "Nope." Good times The other memorable moment was the match in which you got a (pardon my memory) 7? kill lead while my connection had a stroke and you wouldn't believe me. ♥ These three maps are all incredible works of art, and I have fond memories of all three. Great job guys.
Okay, I got a game on these maps. As for Azula I thought that it was very well made. there were a few questionable spawns, but it wasnt anything too bad. I really cant say anything bad about it, other than my dislike for the strange lift (as I mentioned earlier). Good work, I really enjoyed my game here.
Azula took mw quite a while to warm up to as well when playing (though I have loved the look of all three from the beginning.) However, after 5 minutes of falling to the lower level and getting destroyed by DMR fire and nades I was soon sprint jumping around the corners and pulling surprises out of my sleeves. I liked how Azula made you trade position for movement, as to get to other parts you often needed to make a noisy sprint jump or take a lift or you would risk standing still and having a plan set up around you. Azula had one of the best flows of any map I have played, and tied Opal for second in the pack in my opinion. BTW Killing Frenzy on Psycho Duck.
...because that had nothing to do with lag, right? As far as aesthetics go, I would place Azula somewhere between Lux and Opal. However, as far as gameplay goes, this is my favorite of the pack. I found myself slipping right into the flow, which just worked well for me. The battles on here were quite interesting, my favorite of which ended with me throwing a plasma grenade while shooting out of a man cannon, and then landing directly on top of said grenade and killing myself. However, there were two times in our game that I spawned directly in Shoe's line of sight. this really isn't acceptable in a 1v1. My other complaint is one regarding the whole pack, and 1v1 maps in general. Just about every 1v1 I see has some variation of a sniper rifle, grenade launcher, spiker, and plasma pistol on it. I know there are limits, as you wouldn't exactly want a rocket launcher in a 1v1, but it would be nice to see some more variation between the maps in this regard. i feel like a focus rifle, and maybe even a spartan laser could work in a 1v1 setting. I was happy to see the plasma rifle on Lux, but it's still disappointing to see a central grenade launcher, and a sniper on every map. Anyways, Kuroda, i'm still up for 1v1-ing you on all of these.
Anyone can get a Killing Frenzy on Psycho Duck...Except for you. I am in disbelief. Tried to get a game on here, but unfortunately the host was so bad that I had to end it right there. Will try again tomorrow and hopefully give some feedback by then.
Yeah I think Azula kind of hid in the shadows for a while. I never really did consistent testing on it; it was all spread out for the few months it was playable. Looking forward to what you have to say. Haha, not offended at all. I do work on so many maps at a time and even though they're distinctive to me (usually), I'm sure for everyone else, they kind of mesh together into one giant Ace-map. I actually didn't incorporate the teleporter(s) I mentioned in the post. There's just a single sender/receiver system now. 1x1 Talls > 1x4s. And trust me, this is the only 1v1 map I'm good on. Thanks dude. Like I said, I'm only good at this map, so you'd probably destroy me on anything else, including the other two maps from this pack. And again, **** tons of thanks for photoshopping the threads. They're absolutely beautiful. I had gotten mixed feelings about whether or not to put any sort of indicator there and decided to keep it out. Sure it's not the greatest decision for first-time players, but that adds a little bit to the learning curve. And hey, there originally wasn't going to be a lift there at all, just a difficult jump. Thanks for the comments though. You are a bum. No question. And I still don't believe you. I think I just happened to have an awesome DMR for the first few minutes and you just decided to suck. But I'm pretty sure you ended up beating me that game so don't complain. Thanks for all your help on this whole map pack... bum. Thanks for playing it. I could never quite get the spawns working exactly how I wanted them to. It was rather difficult to find spawns that weren't susceptible to rape from higher levels. Yeah the learning curve on Azula is somewhat steep since you really have to move a ton to beat your opponent. Like you said, if you stand still, you're screwed, and learning how to move around the map quickly without giving up your position or your height advantage too much really adds to that learning curve. I'd definitely agree this is the fastest-playing map of the three. Like I said above, the spawns were really tricky on this. If you could perhaps show me where the unacceptable spawns were, I could try and fix them. As far as weapons go, I'd agree that the same combinations do get a little stale after a while. Reach's weapon sandbox really isn't that versatile, especially considering the fact that you can't adjust spare clips on most covenant weapons, which really lowers your choices for 1v1 maps. I do however have another 1v1 in production now that features a concussion rifle as the main power weapon and the whole weapon palette is covenant.
Twas a joke dear shotty, no need to get ones panties in a bunch. I agree with Duck though, the layout is sheer genius. I'm hoping to learn a lot from each of these maps in order to apply it to some less 2-4 player map styles. I like the amount of decisions you have to make in these maps, something I think would be great in larger maps as well, which often have surprisingly few possible routes/ outcomes when played, though still fun. Great job once again!
Just goosed a kid 4 straight times on LAN on this map. Great job, Ace. The biggest thing I like about this map is that it gets you into the 1 on 1 battles quickly without causing any real spawn problems. That's something hard to find in any 1v1 map, and I'm glad I finally found one that could fix this problem. Definitely what I'd call forging perfection, and I'll be sure to nominate this once FHF comes around.
This is a great 1v1. I appreciate that no LOS is too powerful, and the RVR weapon placement is solid. I also like how each path you take on the top floor gives you limits, so no one can just go in an infinite circle wrecking people without some serious sprint-jumping-while-fighting skill. I also love how its built into one of the quarry walls, it looks quite natural. My only complaint is that some of the jumps from the bottom are a little too hard. I understand why you wouldn't want them to be too easy, but some of them I'd probably get killed trying to perform midgame. I'd expect this sort upward movement to be easier rather than harder since the top already has the upper hand. One I am thinking of in particular is the jump on the smokestack rock just to the left of the cave tunnel. You can use it to jump up to a man cannon but it's really unlikely to actually pull off in game. Btw, is this by chance named after the avatar character?
Just want to say I'm a big fan of Premise (i use it a lot for 2v2s) and I can see myself playig an equal amount of 1v1 on this map. There's not much I can say that hasn't already been mentioned, just that I really like the structure and how the entire map focuses on the hexagonal central room with the GL. I learned the layout really easily but I'm still finding myself in new situations after several heated 1v1s which I think is the sign of great map design. Well done.
One of the best looking maps I've seen... I love how you used the rocks and grass in you map. No complaints