Aperture "No exit, no hope. 2-4 players" Backstory What do you get when you have three different ideas and mash them up into one diverse asymm? Well, you get Aperture of course. It's a funny story really. One day I was sitting around looking at some drawings of some map ideas, as I am one to do, and I figured I could knock out three of them at once; that was a year ago. As the end of Halo: Reach approached, I decided that this project would be my last. I tried something different for once. No, not doing something other than a small asymm. I wanted to try improvising a map. Of course, if this was going to be my last map, I wasn't going to squander it on something I have very little experience on. So I carefully picked three of my most promising designs and come up with the connections as I go. After what I thought was a finished map, I submitted to 1v1 tournament, only to find problems. Since then, the map has gone through many changes. Every part of this map wasn't left untouched. Description Aperture has the distinction of being three ideas that weren't big enough to be their own map. So there is some "iffy" movement that it simply inherent's. The map itself consists of an off-set atrium, a very small hub, high room that provides most of the movement options, the CPU atrium, and an alcove that completes the circuit. Let's talk about the crowning jewel, the atrium. With the most room, combat tends to start and end here. If it weren't for the other rooms, combat would be pretty brief. However, my favorite thing about this room are the long, albeit useful, lines of sight. One for the CPU platform which makes teleporting safer, a very nice LoS cutting through the 3-way ramp(aka "the hub"), and of course the one peeking into the top room making for narrow escapes. Speaking of the top room, it's responsible for most of the movement being the map's pivot. It bleeds into red alcove and main atrium with a teleporter going to CPU atrium; it esstentionaly goes everywhere. On some maps, you would call that overpowered, but this isn't just one map. Where the main atrium is the crowning jewel, the CPU atrium is the circlet(get it, because it's a circle... I-I'll stop now). This atrium makes the rest of the map what it is now. It's always interesting to have a battle start somewhere else, and end it fighting on top of these small planks. Platform-to-platform combat has always been an interest to me and it would only make sense to include it in my last Halo: Reach map. Now this description is running to long for my liking, so red alcove and "the hub" will be combined into one. A lot of movement ends up here, and for good reason. It's the bottom of this odd spiral and a good way to wrap up the map as a whole. Since it was the bottom, there's a 3-way ramp that pretty much functions as a hub and the quintessential center of the map. It's not necessarily a bad place to start and takeover. Being adjacent to the top room, it's a good strategic point. I think that covers up the map well enough. With a further ado, Aperture! Weapons 3x DMRs 1x Needler 1x Plasma Pistol 1x CPU 1x Sniper Rifle (Drop-Spawn) 1x Grenade Launcher (Drop-Spawn) 2x Frag Grenades 2x Plasma Grenades Pictures LoS I was talking about, ain't it grand. An unwanted, but necessary, digression going into CPU atrium. The stage for blue spawn. Platform holding the invaluable sniper and teleporter to CPU. As you can see by now, main atrium has a lot interaction with most parts of the map as a main atrium should. Not much of anything, just thought it would be important. Teleporter becomes that much more predictable with LoS's like these heightening the risk vs. reward. Speaking of Teleporter. There's also a lift for easy access anywhere in CPU atrium, which isn't much to begin with. And now we arrive to red alcove. Red spawn and a grenade launcher, good deal. "The Hub" The highest room but not the highest point.(BTW. this teleporter is a two-way). >>DOWNLOAD<<
I feel like the asthetics are a bit jumpy maybe. compare the last picture to the rock wall in the 2nd picture, or the red alcove. Cant COMPLETLEY grasp the layout from the pics but i guess thats sortof hard to do in an enclosed map
Yay, I remember playing this back when it was in Cluck's feedback thread. The aspect I most liked about it then was the use of varying terrain to spice up the look and provide extra means for callouts. The only problem I can remember from then that still seems apparant now is the gravity lift. As it's at a ninety degree angle, landing on the preferred platform was difficult at times if you weren't prepared beforehand. Not a huge deal, but it annoyed the hell out of me. I'll try to test it some time soon mang.
I like most of the aesthetics - the notable exception being the red area. It just seems messy with all of those different shades of gray in the textures. What's your reasoning behind the two way? I'm not sure why people would go back down through it..
That's the thing, no one would go back the other way. It works like a one-way teleporter. dyb Everyone else, thank you!
The chances of you going through the teleporter the other way aren't as small as you think. I previously tried making it one-way but it simply wasn't as useful anymore.
At first I was confused of the layout, then I looked through the pics again and tried to piece it together, and you weren't kidding about starting a battle in one area and ending in another. A real good looking map, though the many colossal walls, overlapped at the same hieght would probably give off a wavy mirage when moving around (7th pic), no big deal really. Over all, it's great!
Great looking map here Muppet, clean forging, unique design, I'll DL and give it a play or two. I agree with the grav lift being a problem. Unless you use it from a certain angle, it would be risky to try to use it. Maybe put two of them at 5 degree angles to give players an option and easier chance of reaching the upper platforms. Just a thought, and again great map for your last release. See you in Halo 4, can't wait to see what you can do with the new forging system
Played a couple games on this with Caughtsword and later Hulter. The lift is quite annoying.. it almost never takes you to the custom platform, and when it doesn't, it's basically a death sentence. Not really a fan of the teleporter system either, Caughtsword repeatedly was backsmacked while coming through (the entrance to the teleporter is visible) although that may have to do with our skill gap (The ending score was something insane)
The lift is annoying but there was nothing I could do about it. Sometimes I wish the grav lift was like it was back Halo 3. As for the teleporters, I'm sorry you feel that way. In my tests, the two-way wasn't so bad. The window(the one with camping stool) benefited greatly from the two-way. You could see someone on the other side. Initially, you would have only two options, but the teleporter offered a third. Thanks for all the feedback, more than most people who have commented on any of my other maps. Unfortunately, I won't be applying any of it to this map. However, it will help when designing maps for Halo 4. So thanks!
Going out with a bang, like a beast. This map is a pretty huge step from Altar in terms of risky design. Varying LoS, crazy height variation, unique geometry, use of grass AND water, and curved staircases? This map has no problem standing out of the crowd. Great job, Career.
Muppet, I'm talking about the shield door teleporter. It's placed in a manner conducive to backsmacking. Not the two way one, that was fine.
I have to say, this is my favorite map by you, Career. I never found the lift to be a problem in the games we had, or the teleporter system, to be honest. I guess we all have different styles of play and some people choose to camp behind teles sometimes. The custom is nicely placed, and it looks purty. Also, grass and water? You know I like that. Can't wait to see what you cook up for Halo 4.