I just wrapped up a little reforge project of mine, a revision of my map Despair from last year. Having no contests or anything to forge this one for, I did it purely for the enjoyment of revisiting my favorite map. There's something about the fast pace in-your-face action this map brings that speaks to my heart. I simply enjoy playing on it. This is a straight up, high skill gap, arena map meant to put you to the test. Period. *Edit* Map updated and restored to its original name: Despair. Also fixed that coli. wall in the first screen shot below, so please stop your whining you aesthetic nazis. And I definitely mean you Sky! Weapon Set: Rockets x1 178s* Sniper x2 118s* DMR x 4 10s Needle Rifle x2 30s Needler x2 30s Plasma Rifle x2 30s Plasma Pistol x2 30s Healthpack x2 15s Screenshots: Download Despair
Wow everything is so smooth and Nice looking. I really need to check this out with my freinds. I sure hope one day I see this map in matchmakeing. So this is a team slayer map do I have that right because you have health packes. I sure like how you fushed the grave lift in to it looks like it is in the map it's self. Again this is an awsome Job. Your Aquatint, Charles J. Stoot. "It is luck that you Failed"
I don't see any pics of the central atrium, or is it really that different now? EDIT: I see it, sorry. The 4x4 with the rockets on it. I usually don't like that piece mainly because of the way it looks. You sure you want to place it in the middle of your map?
I'm sure your familiar enough with my forging by now to know that I can't stand the piece, but unfortunately its better than having four 2x2s as an alternative, as far as framerate goes anyhow. I've scaled this down to support split screen, which unfortunately included swapping out a couple of pieces I didn't want to. @Charles Stoot: Thanks a ton man. Hope you enjoy playing one it.
This would be the 2nd time you've remade Despair...there's really no feedback to give since I've already done so on the original map and (to an extent) the HeH variant.
the map looks great but some of the blocks feel randomly place other than that the contrast of gray is balanced well and it do feel sort of decommisioned even though the map is called comissioned, overall nice job
This is definitely fast paced and I enjoy playing on the map too. The initial skirmish is also nice, and it's full throttle from the start. The only thing I don't like is that pretty much all engagements are medium to long range. There's not much close quarters involved. Good competitive map, Schnitz.
hmmmm its a very nice map but i dont know it looks very samy :/ i will download and have a closer look cos it might just be the pics but from here it doesnt look like anything special :/
what mean't by random is in the third picture where that 2x2 block appears to be floating, did i say it was? no! i said it was a god map and you kind of freaked out. i wasn't able to give you helpful advice because (1) i couldn't go on reach and try the map and (2) i'm only saying this from looking at pictures and (3) i was really impressed with the map and i thought it really did need any advice, it was just one thing i saw, so sorry for making you mad and sorry about my bad advice, i'm more of an infection person anyway, i just wanted to look though some slayer maps and that's all, i posted not good advice because the maps were already good in my eyes
@Nooooooooooch: Thanks man. Its the style of gameplay I enjoy, even though I'm terrible at it... Not a fan of CQC styled spaces, they always feel so cramped and yuck. I feel that gameplay gets a little sloppy and slow when you have areas where CQC excels. I really wanted a Derelict styled arena map with this ya know. The map is all about positioning and control. @Sawtooth: Yeah, I understand what you mean about the block appearing to "float". Unfortunately, its something that can't be changed due to the limitations of forge. I had to use that 2x2-tall because it was the most optimal choice that would impact frame rate the least. Forging a map to support split screen forces severe limitations on the designer. @Robster: Uh, what? And what makes a map special may I ask? I'm sorry if its not "pretty" enough for you. The map was designed for gameplay. High end gameplay. And frankly, it doesn't play like anything currently available in MM which technically does make it "special". Add to the fact that it supports split screen gameplay and you have a map that does in fact stand out above the crowd. But I'm sure if I cluttered it with useless aesthetics to the point where the map suffers from severe frame drops, you'd enjoy it a lot more. Typical forgehubber. Let me be blunt here, this map has been in the works for nearly a year. The gameplay is spot on how I desired it to be. Its previous incarnation was very popular in the MLG community during the Forge Open tournament, however it looked ugly as balls. I merely cleaned it up and made some slight tweaks to the design. I didn't post it so you can "help" me make it better, I posted it because it is a FINISHED product.
The only issue I had while playing this was the callout complexity. The two rooms that feature rocks could use a different color to give more indication of where you are. This is only minor, spawning was also odd in areas but more or less it was just spawning fairly close to the oppenent or near combat. I did however enjoy the maps overall flow, where there were several positions to hold and various cover choices. I did notice one area was very grenade happy, the one connecting the rock area to the health pack area. This could have been just fate of the gameplay or an unlucky day for me and grenades, but I would consider minor cover there but by no means do I deem it to be needed.
@Redemption: Thanks for the feedback. TBH, I was anticipating you to give some really negative critiques considering my stance in regards to Imago. Guess I misjudged you. The two rooms have different colors dude... Its pretty obviously and in your face with all the braces and the two struts. One room is red, the other is blue. I can see where it might be somewhat confusing if your on the bottom inside that room, but honestly... The design of the map is so damn simple, I can't imagine how any one could possibly get lost. The map is small and we were playing with sprint. Sprint alone wrecks havoc on spawns. Some one is going to be around the corner and ready to get in your face off the spawn every time, so long as your playing with a bunch of casuals that run around all willy nilly. It becomes less an issue with higher level gameplay where players actually set up and vie for map control. Grenade spam is an issue on almost anymore... Which is why I didn't place any of this one. Grenades are horribly OP in Reach. Honestly, the spawns and pacing are quite similar to older Halo maps like Derelict and Wizard. Its a fast paced, in-your-face arena. If such a game style isn't one you prefer, you shouldn't play it. It doesn't make the map "good" or "bad", its simply a map intended for a particular audiance.
theres a bit of glitching I noticed and in the first pic you need to merge slightly better so that the Colosseum wall is below the corner piece. other then that cool.
That's such an easy fix, besides as it doesn't actually impact the gameplay and is barely noticeable in game, I'm not sure its even worth making an update for. If something comes up that I need to make a serious change to the map to address, I'll make sure to fix that as well. As it stands, the map is in its final version. Soooo... What is it exactly that you liked about the map? Aside from bringing up a piece looking bad, you pretty much made a "cool map bro" post...
Map looks like another boring arena. Can't you forge anything else dude? If you like maps like Derelict so much, why don't you go play Halo 2. These maps suck in Reach. Learn to adapt to the game.
Jrop yur baws, kid. These kind of maps play very fine in Reach and Halo in general. Maps with a simpler layout play much more fluently and organized. Overly complex maps commonly play slower and people get lost. It's not that I don't support complex maps, but you have to forge them right. Btw, ZB reach plays closer to halo 2 than any other halo
This map looks like it would be fun as hell to play on competitively, but aesthetically it is a bit bland. I would like to have seen a little more unique use of Forge objects for ramps, walls, trick paths, etc. A little more color would be nice to, it doesn't look like there is much of a stand out in color which would make call outs a bit more complicated. I know its tough to create a map with high performance in mind without making it mostly grey so I can't completely fault you here. Maybe just find ways to implement unique structures to define each room in the future. People like to play on maps that are visually appealing just as much as they enjoy the competitive aspect of a map. If you only have one half of that then you'll always have a few people feeling disappointed. Overall the layout mixed with the low and high ground and LOS seems to blend together very well. I can see that this would be a very competitive map to play on and I personally would enjoy it purely for the gameplay. But I know deep down inside I would grow tired of the gameplay and want something more refreshing. IMO a map should be visually appealing and leave players wanting to come back simply to enjoy being on the map. If you couple that with excellent gameplay, which I'm sure this map has, then you got yourself a winner. Overall you did a very nice job keeping everything clean and well forged. I really like how you've set up the paths to give the players multiple route options. That's a very important aspect of map making that many people fail to incorporate or just don't do well at in general. Hopefully I'll catch you in the lobbies and we can get a couple games in on the map. I know how much you enjoy making a competitive map so I'd love to see how this map plays.
Arena maps aren't really my style, but I know a good one when I see it. My only complaint about this map is the LoS from the corners of each base to bottom mid. This probably isn't a problem on TS, but in KotH I found it very frustrating when someone would sit back there and be able to pick off anyone in the hill without having to push forward whatsoever. I don't think you'd don't need to block the whole thing, but perhaps make it so that you can only get body shots from that vantage point instead of having a perfect view.
Obvious troll is obvious... Thanks for calling him out though RiP. In regards to the aesthetic blandness, I really disagree. Of course this map suffers from FW gray just as much as any other, but incorporating aesthetic gimicks for structure (satellite stations, power generators, etc) would be ill advised considering the limitations of FW and how objects impact frame rate. While I could use pieces more "uniquely" to create ramps, is that really a necessity? That critique seems more akin to Forge snobbery to me than anything... Anyhow, remember the maps in HCE and H2? Remember how aesthetically bland many of them were? Personally, I enjoyed the more simplistic aesthethics of those maps... Wraith, I really don't even know how to respond to your post. You seem to be trying to say the map is good, but are attempting to put it down at the same time because it doesn't meet your aesthetic standards. My hands are simply tied on the manner. If you want a map to support splitscreen, you really have to keep the aesthetics dumbed down. And besides, gameplay is far more important than aesthetics. So long as aesthetics are incorporated enough to give the map some sense of atmosphere and aid player orientation, a map is in good standing if it has solid gameplay. No one plays a map just because it's pretty. Lynx, I addressed that issue in the final version. There was a large 2x4 block that was supposed to be bisecting the entrance to the central atrium from the starting spawns. It significantly cuts down on the LoS to bottom mid from the corner you referenced. Managed to get a game of Oddball on this the other night in the lobby with DeeJ for his "Ride Along" segment he has on Bnet. The map played surprisingly well for Oddball, but I'm sure some tryhards out there would cry about the lack of option to "play ball" on the map though. Anyhow, thanks for the support guys. Glad y'all like it.
I'm just trying to give you some honest feedback. I didn't mean to come off as snobby or offensive, sorry if I did. My main point about the aesthetics is that all the walls are either grey or glass. Noooooch's map Crypt is a great example of adding some detail to the walls and floor. For the most part the map looks excellent. Very clean forging and everything fits together tight and precisely. The windows are a good example of detail in the map, more small details like that would really make the map pop. Its already a great map and adding on really isn't necessary, but if you planned on making updates, that would be my two cents. It really is a nice map man, don't get me wrong. I'm just trying to give feedback in any way I can think of.