Fall of The Inheritors

Wow man, you've come far at forging indeed. I don't know how the game will play yet but I don't expect too many problems. Great job on the aesthetics as well! It does seem kind of blank at some points but that's undoubtely due to the Inheritor theme, and I'm sure you used all the budget you could for the theme and aesthetics on the map.
I'll recommend it to my BIOC buddies to check it out for themselves!

 

WUT

Spoiler

(There is no 08.)

This looks really nice for a forger like yourself. The aesthetics are clean, pleasing, and definitely present a Forerunner atmosphere. Good job.

 

Maybe they found another one of those nuclear hula hoops.

But for the map, it looks awesome, especially the hallway in the first pic, the aesthetics are great and covenant, but like Remkings said, I'm not so sure about the gameplay.

 

the story does no make no sence. map looks good though downloading now

 

First off, your understanding of the Halo fiction relative to this map is so warped and inaccurate I don't even...

There was a Installation 08, there were 12 originally. derp

In the first room, do you have to bash down the crate in order to get to the grav lift room? I am a bit concerned about the final holdout. Is the only entrance for zombies that door? There should be another entrance I would suggest from the ceiling. I also think the third room might present a problem from what I can see but I am going to download for any further feedback. It does look nice though, gives off a very good forerunner vibe that many maps attempt and fail at.

 

With 10+ zombies coming at you, I don't think it'll be too much of an issue. However, I haven't played it yet either so I'll check it out myself sometime soon too.

 

Even if there are 10+ zombies coming at you, it's more fun if there is more than one way for the infected to reach you. I'm not talking about balance here, as I think that part is fine. What I'm talking about is play value. Think about it, if there is only one entrance then all you have to do is watch the door, doesn't matter how many infected are coming at you or how difficult it is, all you have to focus on is THAT door. nothing else. And I have come to learn that this bores a player, whether they know it or not.

(as an example I'll use L4D. Imagine just opening the saferoom door and never leaving. All you do is watch the door. Sure it's hard sometimes and special infected might hurt/kill you, but again you just focus on THAT door. Eventually it gets boring)

So my advice is to just simply put a ceiling entrance right above the door or somewhere else in the room, so that the infected can drop down. It doesn't have to be on the other side of the room, seeing as you want the survivors to have a "back against the wall feel." It can literally be right infront of the entrance so that you can watch both but not shoot both. But what this does is it makes it so that 1: there are now at least TWO entrances making the survivors more alert. 2: it keeps the survivors from camping at a corner near the entrance. (if you placed it were I suggested) and 3: it gives the infected like they have a choice as to how they rush the humans and gives them a chance at developing an ambush.

Forgive me if this is TL;DR but I just felt like going in depth on my reply for once. Again this is just a suggestion and you don't even have to consider it if you don't want to.

 

How's about I test this for you? I love the theme and the way it looks. I got a little sneak peek at this map too. It's come a long way since then. Want me to play it at my next BIOC? I'll give you the feedback.

 

I never think anything is TL;DR, don't worry about that. I hope you won't either:

I would have to disagree with you. Not when it comes to whether more entrances are more fun, but if they are better suited for the final holdout room, and this one in particular.
With these kinds of Linear Progression maps, where the humans will die immediately after getting hit by a zombie, you want to keep an eye on what the map will play like.
In the first room, there will be 14 humans and 2 zombies (at a rough estimate). This means, that you have to take care of a few things:
1) Making clear where the humans have to go to.
2) Making clear how the zombies can attack the humans.
3) Giving the zombies the illusion that they can take out some humans.
The humans must grow confident that they can survive this madness, and thus you want to give them a reason to work together so they can easily keep off the zombie horde. It cannot be too easy though, like I said, the zombies must believe that they have a chance, and humans must use teamwork in order to survive this first round. It's usually a good thing to make the first section relatively easy for the majority of the time, and make it a little bit more difficult when time progresses and humans have to move on at some point.
Then, the second area. In this second section, you can implement multiple entrances for the zombies. After all, there a still so many humans and so few zombies around, that if the humans do it right, they should even be able to survive when guarding all possible zombie approaches.
Now I'm going to skip to the final room. (Usually the fourth when using this kind of gameplay (one-hit-infection).) There are only a few humans left, and they start to run out of ammo. The undead are becoming overwhelming. The game is starting to reach its climax. Believe me when I tell you that it will still be fun if there's only one entrance for the zombies, since the humans are so outnumbered and can't even afford to keep an eye on multiple directions anymore. For the zombies though, it'll be straight up running to the humans in an unending stampede, trying to be the lucky ones to kill them and win the round. Other than this stress aspect, it will be fun because there's no time to lose. The humans will most likely die in a matter of seconds, and if you're concerned about getting bored, then you've played unbalanced maps where the humans had too much of an easy time so they could get bored. I've played maps where things get extremely crazy in the final room and all I heard was people laughing, screaming and sighing when finally dying.
Even though I haven't played this map yet (I will in my BIOC lobby if I get around to it), I predict that the fun factor won't be an issue whatsoever in this final room. What's more, I think that it'll be more fun to stick with one entrance.
So, to sum things up, I agree with you that more entrances are more fun in most sections of a Linear map (although not always necessary), and usually also in the final room, but in the final room it's definitely okay to stick with one entrance as long as you balance it out. (Like the creator did in his map, I'm sure of that.) I do understand what you mean with multiple entrances in this case, and I agree that it can be more fun indeed and that it'll make the map even better, but I'm saying that it's okay the way it is, since he balanced it out.

 

It is also about where you place the entrances. For the first area, it is a good idea to have only one entrance for the infected but give that entrance a hight advantage. It gives the infected that false sense that they can do well as you said REMkings. If the survivors are on their toes they can easily take them out, but if they are not on the ball and not concentrating they can really get ****ed on.

For the 2nd and 3rd areas it is a good idea to have more than one entrance. This can be mixed up a bit. You could maybe have only one entrance for when they enter the area but then have another teleporter spawn which takes the infected to a stronger position, thus forcing the survivors to move on. Despite this it is possible to make use of a single teleporter with two exits close to each other. This should probably only be used for smaller areas. It is similar to one entrance because the survivors are looking in one direction but more teamwork is needed. Maybe have a turret covering one entrance and other people covering the other.

For the final room, there is probably only going to be 4-6 survivors left so you should only have one entrance. The infected will be pouring though it, kind of in large waves. This creates an amazing atmosphere. In most cases if there is more than one entrance, it will be incredibly difficult for the survivors to hold out until the end of the round. Of course this all depends on the design of the final room but is often a good idea.

One room can be a very good idea and still work incredibly well.

 

Elliot, you basically summed up what I tried to say, but put it in better words. lol
I should improve my English anyway.

 

We played that map twice yesterday. It was a blast, aesthetics were great, only problem that we encountered was that on the third part after the grav lift spawns, it is very hard to get into the third corridor. The zombie spawn is too close to the corridor and the gravlift hole for us to get past the shields. I suggest you move it back a few paces so we can have a chance to get to the corridor.

Great map, though.

 

OMG wow this map looks great and amazing and really captures that forerunner theme, i can't make out any clear problems but from some of the pictures it was sort of hard to tell what was going on, like it the human spawn why is there a oneway shield sort of just floating there if the humans are supposed to move through the doorway into the next room? other than really that the map looks good and the weapon placement is superb great job

 

I don't really enjoy how the map ends with a holdout point. Allow me to elaborate:

The main concept behind linear progression infection is that it has an endpoint - a final goal/objective. This goal/objective is reached by progressing through the map in a linear fashion (thus the name). During this progression, as more humans become infected, the challenge to reach safety (the end) becomes ever more difficult. Now this increasing difficulty is contributed to by many things like zombie spawns, the amount of infected, the map terrain itself, and weaponry. This increasing challenge should therefore find its peak at the end of the map, where zombie count is high, and ammo is low.

Now, what a holdout finish does well is the epic grinding-out victory, but it completely throws out all purpose of the map being a linear progression. It does this because humans would have in many cases, actually have been better off just holding out anywhere on the map such as right at the beginning or an easy to hold point along the way. So, instead of working towards survival(the ultimate goal), the humans jeopardize their lives and safer places just to reach a finish that all in all rewards them very little.

I personally would say that a linear progression needs some form of room or area that is actually the only safe place on the map, so the survivors are only rewarded with survival if the work together and get through the difficulty. One thing I find is that though letting out a war cry after a successful holdout is enjoyable, tediously working against the clock herding some final bros into the room, with a massive horde in tow, and shutting the final door, watching the crate fall down to seal the final victory, is true satisfaction. The few men who have made it let out a universal sigh of "Yes..." as a million droplets of sweat evaporate from their brows in one. Victory.​

 

Haha I always enjoy reading your elucidations.

I agree, the final area could be, or at least look, like the ultimate and safe stronghold... or at least for the time being, in case you want to make a campaign.
To embroider further on this, that temporary aspect is actually pretty important, because sometimes you want to have the next map in the series continue right away after the preceding map, in which case it would be kind of random to add an isolating crate door to block off the area. However, it's definitely not a bad thing if you do so nonetheless, because your next map could also take place some time after the first map ended, say, a few minutes later, after the zombies left, or a few hours or days later, once the remaining survivors started to run out of food and supplies.

All in all, just like you, I believe that a Linear Progression map can indeed greatly conclude using a holdout location, as it suits the theme and growth of the map very well in most cases. But it can also function just fine if you don't, as long as you work it out. Because Infection is not a fairy tale: It doesn't always come to a good end. Example: The Abandoned Mill by Mr Pokephile. In the final area, surrounded by all those doors and desperately taking hold of those final bullets you have left, the ending will usually remain the same: All humans dead.
In the end, it's all a matter of either personal taste or narration belonging conclusions. Or of course just a question of how much budget you have left lol.

TL;DR: I both agree and disagree. It comes down to what fits the story behind your map the best.

 

First of all, I just need to clear this up; Installation 08 - 12 did not make it to full function. It is unclear whether or not they were built and just not synched with the rest of the rings to the Ark or if they were even fully constructed at all so making a map based around them would not be a very good idea. But it's your map and not mine, i'm just making a suggestion. Secondly, the name "Fall of the Inheritors" doesn't make much sense to me. Is it supposed to imply that people of this rank will struggle or fail at this map while people of other ranks will prevail? However, I do like the aethetic style in the first picture. That being said, the rest of the map seems a bit unattractive though. And what does look fine feels a bit lazily put together because of the lack of colour. I'm not sure whether or not you intended this or just didn't take the time to add colour. Furthermore, I get the feeling that this took inspiration from another map by a rather famous forger who created a map using an extremely similar progression system. Finally, the whole thing doesn't have something to make it stick out from the crowd. I do not mean to be hateful against your map, but it feels like one of those maps that I see some of my younger (late primary school) friends playing because they think it is the best thing in the world although there is so many broken elements which just dissapoint me because the next generation of forgers will not take a blind eye of notice to the more fun and more Halo side of the game. Though I understand that not everyone feels the same way and you obviously care very much about the map at hand, it just doesn't have that thing that all of those infant maps lack soo much.

However, I see potential in this map. I can tell that you really care for developing this type of map into something that makes sense and that is not broken as a map. I think that, with a bit more time and effort, it may just be possible. Thanks to those infection-obsessed infant children, I may actually be able to test this map with a pretty massive lobby. Hopefully, I can pin down a whole load of points about the map and get some feedback on it. I might take a while though. I have a shitty one-port wired modem and as a result of my laziness, I don't usually come on Xbox Live very often. I look forward to getting back to you on it.