Hello ForgeHub! Core is a map designed for 2v2 Infinity Slayer. When designing the map, I wanted to include a mixture of long and short sightlines, height variation, and a few interesting trick jumps that could give an advantage in combat. After coming up with my initial design and creating it in Forge, I relocated and remade the entire map to try and improve it aesthetically. This is my first Halo Four-ge (haha), with it being my second Forge in total, so I'd appreciate any feedback! I am willing to make changes before 343i enable the File Browser, so I can release an updated version of the map with its official forum thread. Search Kazerra if you'd like to download the map. Thanks for reading! Far-left = Side Room. Centre-front = Blue Spawn. Centre-back (behind Silos) = Main Room. Far-right = Red Spawn. Rocket spawn in the centre, raised platform. Three different height levels in the room. Highest height level (upper-right corner) accessible only with trick jump. Side Room offers another trick jump to the highest height level. Small ramp offers LOS down a raised corridor. Blues spawn on the bridge. From here, they can run through the teleporter for the rocket, or flank the reds by running right. Reds spawn facing the Main Room (the bridge is behind them). They reach the rocket spawn at the same time as Blues. Bridge linking Blue Spawn to Red Spawn - offers an alternative route around the map.
I really can't recognize the layout, but this looks impressive. Maybe you should delete the roof and take an overview screenshot.
First off, I really like the map and the initial spawns. I like the texture created by the railings on the outside along with the the area on the left of picture 2. As for flaws, I would make the radius of the teleporters a little larger, I felt like I entered the left or right half, but ended up going straight through to a soft killzone. Also, it is possible to get in the area the ramp creates in top mid of pic 3 with a jetpack, maybe you could cut that off. As for suggestions, I feel like there should be a sightline between the outside and the main room. Maybe a small window behind the rocket launcher in picture 2? The trick jump from the crate on the blue spawn side I think is much harder than the one on red side, but maybe it's just me. And one nitpick: there are a couple spots you can stand on the roof above the rocket without a soft killzone. But all-in-all good map, I'll let you know how a match goes on it if I play one.
Here's a sketch I drew up in Excel. Done - there is now no way of not going through them when walking through the doorways. Done. Regarding the sightline. If I include it it may damage the look of the map, and it's really easy to access the Main Room from the outside anyway (it only takes a few seconds). I agree with you that Blue's trick jump is slightly harder than Red's, although they're provided with more cover and two ways to get up. Red's only have one, really obvious way they can get shot from. I sorted out the kill boundaries above the Main Room. Thanks for all your suggestions. It was a great help!
Excuse me if I'm wrong but from the pic u posted in the top left corner there appears to be a ram going from level one to level two but level two in that spot is just a little platform. Is there anything up there? Did I read it wrong?
You didn't read it wrong. You're right in saying that it's just a little platform. The purpose of it is so you can see all the way down the long corridor (on Level 3) when you stand on it. It's also used in a trick jump to get to a platform that overlooks the Main Room - I accidentally overlooked this when I drew the sketch so you can't see it. My bad. Apart from those two things, it has no other use, and it doesn't lead to any other areas of the map.
You seem to have many areas where this kind of thing happens (ramp to "nothing"). Are these all jumps/LoS peeking areas?
Thanks for posting the overview, now I can grasp the layout in your pictures. This seems like a simple, yet pretty interesting layout. I kinda like the way you used ramps to gain vantage points, I haven't seen that very often. I really want to get a game on this and see how it plays. Just a few things. 1) What are the gray squares in the overview sketch? Just l.o.s blockers? 2)The size seems more suited for 1v1. Have you tested both 1v1 and 2v2? 3) Since you have the teleporter system out in the open, why not replace them with a lift system. I think that would work much better IMO. The only other thing is that the flow of the map seems a little one-dimensional: players travel in a circle around the central "core." In other words, the different sections of the map seem too closed off from each other. I think if you added a few windows or something along the orange colored areas below, it would make the map more diverse and interesting to play on. Spoiler EDIT: Looking over it again, I take back my 1v1 comment. It definitely looks big enough for 2v2. Also I have to disagree with what hiddengamer said about the teleporters. I really think you should just take out the teles altogether and replace them with grav lifts. Then add a small platform there and add a few windows on the oppositte side. My problem with the "purple area" as it stands, there's no real incentive for going up there. It needs some vantage points, which can be fixed if you do this^ Like I already said I'm really interested in seeing how this turns out If you have any questions just add me on Live and I'd be glad to help out.
I like the looks of this. Like Dax said, simple layouts like this are always a joy to play. I think the problem with these circular designs is the lack of alternative options for players given they are forced to simply move in a circle the whole game. That is, if they choose to move at all. Also, the elevated positions all seem disjointed. I think it's good that players are forced to go to lower ground to avoid risk, but the layout here is pretty flat with several immediately elevated spots placed throughout. I love these kind of small map, invite me if you ever want testing done some time. I'd be glad to do so. Here are a couple of suggestions, feel free to not use them if you don't like them: Spoiler Red: A hard route to keep the flow in a more one-sided direction. It could steadily rise as it wraps around and act as the peeking platform. Yellowish: A lift, like Dax said Purple: An extension of the floor or extra platform. Orange / Pink: teleporters, if they make sense, hahaha.
Auburn, why set up teleporters when they're right next to each other? I would just create the passage through and get another route up to that area..
They weren't meant to be on the same line, hahaha. Just ideas of where to put the sender or reciever if he decides he wants to do so.
Wow, there's quite a response here! I'll try and get through most of it all. I suppose they are. With the style of map it is, there aren't many separate areas partitioned off with ramps - the ramps just supply different height levels. They're crates. Sorry, I missed those off the key. Initially, I did want some sort of man-cannon to be in my map. However, after playing around with them I found out that your trajectory changes depending on how you enter it, which sometimes caused you to fall out the map. I might try and find a way around this (or if anyone has any suggestions, let me know) because I do think man-cannons are cooler than teleporters. I agree with you fully on this one. Something else I had in mind when designing my map was how players could move around it (the best I could do was make sure each room had at least two entrances). I'll fiddle around with the walls and possibly have some connecting bridges. I agree. Will do. Like I mentioned in my OP, I wanted to include different height levels. Unfortunately I couldn't really figure out how I could do this effectively in such a small area without using ramps. If you have an idea of a way around this, I'd love to hear it. Also, what exactly do you mean by disjointed? This is interesting. I'll definitely experiment with this, but I'm worried about my budget - I might not have enough blocks! I'll try. If I make this, where would the sightlines be? It seems as if you are saying I extend the walkway to wrap around the wall, but there'd be nothing to see here. Correct me if I've misunderstood. Maybe. Like with everything else, I'll give it a go. Thanks for all of the suggestions, I really appreciate it! I'll work on a second version of my map that'll include your suggestions and see how it turns out. @Dax and Auburn - I'd love it if you could playtest it. I haven't actually played a 2v2 on it yet. Just let me know when you're both available and I'll try and find time to play.
I'm just hesitant on using teleporters so close together. Let's see if I can explain.. It's best to avoid using them when a grav lift or hard route can be used to get you to the same location. Teleporters in general aren't a good idea when you're able to see where you'll end up as you're entering the tele. It's also incredibly more disorienting as your location instantly changes and you have to quickly adjust, compared to a grav lift where you never lose your orientation. Hopefully that makes sense. Some version of Auburn's idea with the red walkway and yellow lift would work really well here. (Not sure about those other teles though, lol ) I may have a few other small suggestions (minor height changes), I'd have to check it out in forge to see though. Lemme know if you want
Disjointed as in that none of the elevated locations are connected. For the most part, they are all seperate, freestanding platforms. Normally, I imagine those would lead to camping, but you have sightlines thought out pretty well here, so it may not be a problem. Excluding the bottom left platform, that is. Those extra extensions weren't necessarily there to add extra sightlines but to create risk situations to deter players from simply moving in a circle and allow them the chance to break the predetermined flow using a combination of those extensions and teleporters. Goodluck, invite me whenever.
I've made a second version of the map with a few of your suggestions. 1) I deleted the teleporters and added in a man-cannon on the bottom level, with a bridge leading from the Side Room ramp up to the Blue Spawn building. 2) I altered the Blue Spawn building to offer better sightlines, giving players more incentive to go there. 3) I added an outside bridge linking the Main Room and Red Spawn room. 4) The outside bridge can also be jumped to from the existing 'horseshoe' corridor linking the Main Room to the Red Spawn room. The additions are a bit sloppily made aesthetics wise. If we decide the additions are better then I will try and improve them aesthetically. They don't impede gameplay in their current state (at least I think they don't). @Dax and Auburn - I'd love it if you could help me test both versions! I've sent you both a friend request on XBL.
Just found out I have a Final Exam tomorrow (woo) so I'll be on sometime after I finish that, probably later tomorrow night. If you're on just send me an invite and I'll be there.
As for gravlifts versus teleporters, the latter are also sometimes preferable when you want a path to go straight up without making noise, especially when the receiver area is too risky. It doesn't seem like you have enough height variation for that to be necessary, though. The new gravlifts are definitely a plus if you can get them working properly, which it seems you have. I'm sorry, but where are the Red and Blue spawns exactly? I can't find them in the pictures nor in the sketch
The Red Spawn is in the bottom-right corner of the Console room, and the Blue Spawn is in the bottom-left corner of the purple square room. I should have indicated these on the sketch... Oopsie. Also, regarding the man-cannon. I managed to make a fully working one. It now correctly propels you to the raised platform no matter which way you enter it. However, sprinting into it and maintaining sprint while in the air will make you hit off the side. I'm up for playtesting now, if anyone's interested.
As you know, I got a 2v2 and 1v1 on this awhile ago The atmosphere is wonderful and it's a good design overall, but there are some areas that I thought needed improvement. Spoiler This whole area was kinda funky with too many corners and campable areas. It felt really cramped. There also wasn't any change in elevation between the two sides which can lead to stale gameplay. Spoiler When trying to get from red to yellow, I was always hesitant for fear that I wouldn't make the jump. I didn't know exactly where the cutoff was. I would add some type of railing (Green) to let people know where the boundary is. The area under the path from Blue Spawn to grav lift was a little misleading. It looks like you could just keep on walking under it to get somewhere to else on the map. You need something to signify that that's the boundary of the map. Another thing I didn't like was the 2 Steep Ramps leading from the rocky area to the 2 rooms. It's pretty much standard to not use anything steeper than a regular Ramp2x2 for significant changes in elevation. The only thing is, whenever I replaced those with Ramp2x2's, they wouldn't reach the ground floor. So I added more onto them, but that just made the central rocky area too cramped. I hate suggesting this because I know it would be a ***** and a half to do, but I would lower the whole map just enough so that the two rooms can be connected to the central area by 1 Ramp 2x2 each. The map looked really good, but there are a few cracks between some of the walls and floors that kinda stick out. It's not a huge issue by any means but filling those gaps will make your playspace more believable, if that makes sense Another thing that helps make a map believable is by adding thickness to your walls, at least 1 FW unit wide. I went ahead made a few of these changes along with some others that I thought would really benefit the map gameplay-wise. Feel free to grab it off my fileshare if you're interested in using it [br][/br]Edited by merge: Also, you can certainly have the Daxy Slayer gametype we used for the 1v1 that you asked about. I'm still fiddling with the respawn time though. All ordnance drops are disabled as well so be sure to place regular weapon spawns on the map as well as ordnance drops