Remains by AnotherClaymore – Nice structures, including bridges, rock ramps and other natural geometry and trees. Overall layout works well for team games, but lacks some required structure to break up the openness. I felt a bit like I was running through a rat’s maze in the lower areas in front of the bases and along the sides. The center is well done, though a little tight at the bottom. I think you need some more solid, taller structures where the lower areas are to break up the current lines of sight that allow the player to see about 75% of the map from most areas. With this more solid structure, it would also help get rid of the rat’s maze feel of those lower areas. As I said after the game, the flag position needs to be more easily accessible. Currently, with the narrow, steep ramps and narrow upper walkways in the bases, it is too much of a chore to cap the flag. The lifts are a bit of an issue as is due to the 90 degree turn the player must make when exiting. Once one figures it out, it’s not too bad, but I think it should be a smoother transition from the lower to the upper level. Anaconda by Fenix Hulk – I really like the sense of space and architecture of the map. The arched bridges tied it all together. The height variation seems extreme, but I really enjoyed it. If you’re not familiar with the upper areas of the map, those that are will take advantage at first. I guess I’ve been spoiled by ordnance drops telling where and when to find weapons. I don’t think I found a single weapon spawn during the game. This is no fault of Hulk’s since he provided strong cues as to their location. I just didn’t notice them during my first game. The two (I believe two) capture points that were in the water seemed a little too exposed, particularly the one without the fallen tree. I believe you can use normal speed in the water without having players neglecting the upper area and bridges. The water areas are naturally disadvantaged for combat while the upper areas are very advantageous. I think having the trait zone in the water made an already handicapped area into a place that most will not want to ever traverse unless forced to do so by an objective. Standing Reserve Alt by CyborgAnthro – Great map. I found everything to be done well and functional. I was impressed throughout. It has a great layout for objective games and slayer was fun as well. The layout was easy to figure out. It’s simple, yet no so much so that it’s at all boring. The partial symmetry, partial asymmetry is done very well. Natural geometry is integrated well and the architecture is simple yet strong so it really makes an impression. My only critiques are that the grass level makes the overall map seem a bit too flat (not so much that I think it warrants fixing, but you may want to consider ways to address it). The other critique is that the yellow bridge is a little low. It’s not horrible, but it really defies the openness of the rest of the map. There aren’t any other parts of the map that are as constricted as the path under that bridge and it felt like that constriction didn’t belong with the rest of the map. I’d find a way to raise it slightly. I don’t think it’ll involve too much revision work. Great map, otherwise. Neverend by LEE C G – I really like the map I’ve created, but I had intended it to be a good 4v4 or 5v5 map. I think I’ve created a map more suited to 2v2 and 3v3 instead. The paths around the edge are just too narrow for two teams of 4 or 5 to effectively engage in combat. The problem with the map being more suited to smaller teams is that the center area seems a bit too large for smaller teams. I guess I’ve created a map with a 4v4 center and a 2v2 outer path. I still liked seeing how some players were able do engage in effective combat, despite the limitations of the map. I believe the map may seem a bit confusing to some at first, but I’ve provided many visual cues for orientation. With a few games, I think most people should understand the layout pretty well. I do need to address some of the natural geometry in the lower part of the central structure. There are a few narrow openings that I should probably seal up so players aren’t getting hung up. ITZ MAH MAHP by El Trocity – Like Cyborg’s map, Standing Reserve, you’ve done a great job with creating a symmetrical map that has just enough asymmetry to make it easy to differentiate the two sides. I really like that you chose to make one side with more natural geometry. The architecture is very well forged. I think the rocket location at the center is fine, and that it wasn’t the cause of the combat focusing at the center. You need to somehow make the edges more desirable, which may be hard to do because they are quite separated from the center. The edges, as they are, may see more use in objective games than they did in slayer and that may just end up being the nature of the map. One thing I noticed was that a hog can drive completely through the red base, but not the blue base. I think I’d remove one of the ramp barriers you have on the blue side to make the sides more equal. 4v4 TCOJ by Tombo – There’s a lot of fun and interesting forge work/architecture on this map, but it doesn’t seem to tie together completely. The upper area of the center structure seems a bit too removed from the rest of the map, and the stairs to access that area are a bit too long and winding. There didn’t seem to be a lot of incentive to explore or use most of the architecture around the edges of the map except at the flag locations. I’d rework the lifts at the bases. They grab you when you’re walking up the adjacent stairs and throw you awkwardly. I did like the structure and support structure you created under the center area. That area was done pretty well. Gravitas by Juanez Sanchez – There’s a lot of interesting and clean forging in this map. The huge bank of windows and the long curved rock ramp really stand out. There are some really great lines of sight as well as line of sight blockers. I like the overall layout of the map, though I didn’t get any sense of it during the game. It’s actually really simple, but I feel you’ve overdone the ramps and levels. What you have is a nice, strong, simple layout with an overly complicated way of moving through many portions of it. I suggest simplifying the geometry at locations where you have many ramps bunched up. I think it could be quite the epic map with a bit of simplification. I'll get the feedback for the following maps up tomorrow. Esterno by HgT Noise – Hulk Island by Fenix Hulk – Mobilize by CyborgAnthro – Baratrum by HgT Noise – Find God II by LeadingCimera3 – Jerimiah by HgT Noise –
Remains - This had some cool features but also some notable issues. The only major cover on the map was the building in the middle, and everything else was way open. The random short cover didn't help much, and sometimes just got in the way. This needs taller, more substantial cover on the way to the center structure. Anaconda - Neat idea with the mantises and the bridges over the water. The towers were a bit disconnected and thus campy, and the bottom of the map was kind of absurdly vulnerable, especially with some of the extraction points. I know you are heavily inspired by realistic urban environments but the thing about highrises is that they are generally not connected and so make for some fragmented shootouts. You need a little more dance floor in the air between them or lower them a bit so they are more accessible to ascend and descend between buildings. Standing Reserve - Lately I really seem to be viewing my maps with rose-colored glasses. I always think games are going really well (I usually get giddy playing on my new creations) until the end and find out the other team had a lousy time for some reason. I am thinking about either lowering the elevation inside the middle structure, raising the side bases a bit, or both. How were the weapon placements this time? Also, the rocket and snipers on the outside walls were meant to combat the flocking to top mid, but still not enough I guess. Neverend - This had some neat object usage that made it stand out. I think some of the open areas on the outside could use a little more railing or wall to demonstrate they are not part of the map. The outer grass is so close to some areas I almost wanted to jump down there. I enjoyed the aesthetics of bottom mid but some of the holes were a little hard to get into I think. Maybe just block of the parts you can't walk into comfortably? itz mah map - prety nice mixed of infatry and vehicles. This had a similar problem to mine in that top mid was the most exciting place to go, making game play a little repetitive. It didn't break the map or anything, but you might want to make the outer areas more exciting somehow, maybe make them more interconnected up high in the corners of the map, so there is more flow and more defensible positions there. 4v4 tcoj - The top was hard to get to and the rocket generally should not be in such a powerful position. It also seemed to spawn too often, like once a minute maybe? The sniper rifle seemed trapped somewhere in a building but I could not intuitiviely find out how to get to it. The lower areas were a little cluttered and hard to navigate. I think you should lower the top mid and simplify the bottom a bit. At least one of the man cannons didn't work for me after a few tries. jet pack seemed the only fast and reliable way to the top. There were some interesting structures on the low/side areas of the map but people never really had a reason to go down there. Gravitas - It was a little hard to figure out the layout, but at least nice and complex. I forget why you even ended it early, but I can't remember much about the map without a full game. Esterno - This seemed like a cool map for ctf but the flag at home setting kinda ruined it for me. The sniper was placed right by an elevated cubby that was a little too defensible in my tastes. I would put another way in there and maybe think of moving the sniper to a low and vulnerable spot. Hulk island - Pretty cool idea here. The bases were a little painfully far apart for infantry without a little more cover. I like the aesthetics of the main bases. The map was pretty flat overall save for the bases. Maybe have more massive chunks of the ground elevated in some areas? I can't recall any major issues I had and would have to test it again to say more. Mobilize - After weeks of hearing nothing, I got complaints that the warthogs were a little hard to navigate given the high inclines on the map. I had never had much of a problem with them myself but I made the map so obviously I know the contours really well. Is it the general consensus that I should remove the hogs (since I am comfortable with the layout and don't want to change it structurally at this point)? The ghosts and mantis seem to do well enough, right? In order for the mantis to make it down into the rocket area, it has to crouch, which is no big deal. Why would it want to go down there anyway, is mantis camping a big thing? lol Baratrum - Nice layout and aesthetics. I have to say this was a little similar to your other map in terms of the kinds of structures and minimal height variation. Don't get me wrong, neither of them were bad, but I would try to venture out into some different styles of forging. This is hard for me as well so no worries. Find God II - I would explain the game type in advance since I didn't know there were limited lives and never even found the top level. The premise and the aesthetics were great though. I could see this being a pretty unique and fun experience once I get the hang of it. Some of the settings could use some balancing though. The damage boost and OS perks seemed a little too powerful and happened too often IMO.
Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed the map. I meant for that yellow bridge to be a bit of a key pinch point for infantry to trap the hogs, but as it turns out the warthogs are not really OP on this map at all. I thought about opening up the hole under the bridge slightly. Would that help or is it just a matter of height? Also keep in mind I may just scrap the hogs and then I don't think the height there will matter. Either way it's tall enough for a full spartan jump underneath it. Finally I am still thinking about different geometry options for the middle area, so the whole thing might get revamped again anyway. Sometimes I am just lucky and I make a build that just works without any tweaking. This is not one of those times. haha
Esterno by HGT Noise: This played rather well, although I found some lines of sight too open or too long. I would suggest some more structure in these areas, such as the areas around the grass and the long hall by the alleyway. They were just too spacious and with just my DMR, I was able to rack up kills more often than I thought fair. Many times, I or my enemy simply couldn't find cover in time at these parts. The map itself and its design seemed solid, though to get a better sense of it I'd like to play here more. Remains by Another Claymore: I forgot to write down the name of this map, but by looking above, I assume it was Remains. The map played well, although I found some line of sight issues. Similar to HGT's map, I found a few areas far too long viewed. For example, the rock walkway and the bridge that connects it to the center building. Another thing was the bridge pillars. I would lessen teh number of 1x1 tall/thins you used by a lot. I found myself getting stuck on them often and it was just a generally claustrophobic feeling when I was under the center and bridge. Finally, the map felt much like a game of KOTH. The center was the place to be, and with a shotgun I got way to many unbalanced kills. Some over by my spawn felt too much like a series of unorganized walls as well. Otherwise, the map seems to have goo potential. I'd look forward to a version of this with some balancing changes. Hulk Island by Fenix Hulk: This was a nice change in pace, being Dominion, and the map played fairly well, but it showed that it had been made in a day. There were too many vehicles to the point where infantry felt boring and almost useless without a rocket/laser. The land was too flat and building too spaced out. There was no reason to leave a point like A because of that great height and the defenses it got (provided the other bases were not in dire need of help). I feel like this could be a cool idea, but it needs reworking. Mobilize by Cyborg Anthro: This was a nice design, I really do like playing here, but something was extremely bothersome to me. The driving track was a good angle for infantry, but in a hog I was flying at low speeds over to ramps. I couldn't control the darned thing, and my gunner suffered for it, and we died. Ghosts are much better, and the mantis is a terrifying death machine that works well. However, I do feel that the mantis should have a bit more cover at it's spawn. It's just a bit too vulnerable to make me want it. I'm dumb though, so I went for it anyway (and died most times). Otherwise, infantry gameplay seemed spot-on. LCG Neverend by Lee C G: A solid map, but Hushed Behemoth mentioned he got a bad spawn. Otherwise, i haven't noticed any issues. Lots of good long and short sightlines, nice weaponry from what I remember, and a pretty set of textures. I don't want to call it done, but it's getting close. ITZ MAH MAP by Elliot: Too much domination on high mid. I had no reason to go anywhere else. That's pretty much it. I'd suggest keeping the idea, but rebuilding it so that there are counter-positions of equal value to the center. I'd also suggest less severe elevation. 4v4 TCOJ by Tombo: This seemed interesting, but in the game I felt surrounded constantly. I know Forge Island is flat, but don't compensate by having an absurdly tall structure. It felt like too much height and some areas felt sloppily forged, like you were in a rush to finish this. There was also at least one time where two rockets were in play and someone ended up with ammo from both. Bad news. Careful about weapon choice, and with an elevated map like this, rockets are awfully strong. I'd just remove them. Atop all this, I feel like if it were slayer, there wouldn't be much need to leave top. Baratum by HGT Noise: Another nice urban map. Soem issues arose with having to work my way up past teh railings on the center, but we went over that already. If I remember correctly, there wasn't a lot to comment on. It played rather well, and in my first game on it I didnt notice any glaring issues. I preferred the first map to this, perhaps because it was with more interesting geometry. This was very blocky and expectable. Find God II by Wade: I was confused as to what the goal was. "Hell" was really the only place much fighting happened. Some on "Earth", but it was very limited after we all died once, and in "Heaven" I only went once, and found no enemies. I just didnt have a drive to be there. Much of the not-"hell" areas were also far too open for my liking. The map just played oddly and by half wa through I was getting a little bored of the repetitive die, hell, die, hell, die, hell, break out, die, hell.
Hmmm. Even through its been a while since Ive played in a tcoj lobby and I took a month off of halo to re-find forging inspiration Ill post here to. :happy: My name is Russell or J.R. for short. Im 20 years old and have played halo since CE. My friends say that if theres any halo lore out there I know it. Im currently raising my sisters lil' 4 year old girl Isabella. My hobbies are forging and reading sci-fi books. Im a very laid back person who tends to let loose at times. Well thats all that I can think off of my head.
Hey! Hey You! No, Not You.... You! Yeah You! What's Up Guys?!?! My GT is HgT Noise, but you can call me Noise, or Higgit as Nutduster likes to call me. My Real Name is Rather Hard to Pronounce (Tharron Forquer) So I just prefer you call me Noise. Lol. I am married and have No Kids (By Choice) and Live in South Carolina. I have been playing Halo since CE and Forging since Halo 3. I am most likely older than 70% of you. I have probably 400 Maps Under My Belt All Together and I have no Intentions on Slowing Down. I am also an Artist, I Draw Constantly. I am a Graphic Design Artist and Graduated from High School with 3 Majors in Art and One in Business Management. I am a BeatBoxer, (A person who makes music using only their Mouth) and I LOVE LOVE LOVE It! If you play with me in a Lobby, you may hear me Drop a Few Beats! lol I also write Books, long novels to be exact. I have 3 books that I have written that have yet to be published. I recently got Diagnosed with "Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy" about 2 months ago in my Left Leg and have to wear a Medical Walking Boot in order to walk. It is extremely painful and hurts to walk or ever touch my leg. I Forge to keep my mind off of the pain and enjoy playing with other people online as well. I love testing my maps and testing other people's maps just to see what other people can think of. Ermmmm... I think that is everything. Well, Not Everything, But Everything that is worth sharing! Add Me On X-Box Sometime! GT: HgT Noise
Hello there you boys! Heres the ****. Oh and i didn't like/see the point of swapping Nuts for Audi halfway through the lobby. I prefer to have both of my mates in the game, as I firstly missed audience then I missed Nutduster. Don't do it again you nerds. REMAINS This was fun and definitely a different style to your usual stuff. Very competitive over the middle but Still able to use the lower level for movement. I'm don't consider this a really fair test cos there was plainly too many people for the map. I do think that the construction of the los blockers down on the bottom was a little awkward to navigate around, ie. a lot of jumping and hopping to get around them. Add some side routes maybe to add spawning areas other than the base itself, which seemed the prevalent place to spawn. Fun though. ANANCONDA Very unique and typically architecturally sound for you. The lifts worked flawlessly for me- but I will echo previous sentiments that perhaps the verticality was a little awkward. After a few minutes everyone got the layout and was moving around fluently and fighting nicely. No issues other than the water being so slow made me not want to use it, but that might be part of the flow design. More test needed fo shizzle. STANDING RESERVE This is a very different design for you. I like that ppl are trying ouy new styles. I like this map a lot, I do. Top mid is obviously the hot spot but that's not a bad thing. Narrows drew everyone to the top and so did so many other awesome maps. the area behind top mid is a little open- where the long ramp goes down to. I got caught out there a few times by two or more guys from the other team- and it seems a long way to run round to the safety of either side of the map. Can you add gaps into those long walls that folks can get though? This is a great slayer map though- fast, and the fighting is very intense. I actually didn't use top mid that much, I found it a little too hazardous. Don't change too much and try some other gametypes first please. NEVEREND This was too many ppl again. Cos it's a donut shaped map, all you have to do is run across the middle (if you can without getting shot up) so there always seemed to be two ppl in every hill when I arrived there. The hills were a bit of a nade' spam fest for me, the ones in the beautiful looking little cupolas on either side especially. Likely a lot better with 8 peeps. Really well laid out, but still a little busy for me, and the bottom-mid is for me, too campy or closed in. ITZ MAH MAP I was very impressed with the scale of this map. Huge but immediate- infantry separated from vehicles but coming together at crucial places. I was very efficiently shut out of top-mid by that level 130 guy on the other team, but that was cos he was a lot better than me. Yeah the top-mid was busy as **** but that's likely cos ppl enjoyed fighting there, not cos it was badly designed. You have to consider the possibility that an area gets that busy cos you designed it well, not badly. Changing an area like that might wreck the character of a map... 4v4 TCOJ Not sure about this one Tom. The top-mid area was the place to be, but It took a long time to get there, and frustration set in as you died upon reaching it. If you can lower the whole central structure so that you don't have to take three buses and a train to get there, it will help a lot. A marvellous structure but not particularly user-friendly. It sadly made the entire outside redundant. GRAVITAS Mine. I screwed up firstly by not letting everyone know this was one flag, then by allowing the defenders to be able to grab the attackers flag. That finished it effectively, as the whole map flow and object layout was based around one flag. This is why I ended it early. Next week will not have such issues. ESTERNO This was a darn nice map but the flag at home thing ruined it. Aesthetics were great, the static-screen tvs looked like a pre-fab object and the grassy central area added some pretty natural geo. Sorry I had to quit out, I couldn't honestly have feuded over two uncappable flags for another six minutes. However i would love to play a few diifferent gametypes on here to get a feel for how it really plays. HULK ISLAND I don't really get dominion to be honest- it just seems like a massive brawl with all the weapons you can imagine. The map worked but It seemed very flat so that moving from one base to the other was dangerous if you got caught out by a vehicle. The central base looked amazing though, and was fun as hell to fight over. I wish I understood a little more of the pace of dominion and I coulda got more outta this game. Very nice to see a scorpion rolling around owning everything, they seldom get included these days it seems. MOBILIZE I love this map And I am sure it's finished. Your best work since windswept, and in fact I took apart this map to see how you had set up spawning for ctf, thats how well it worked. I copied your zone layout, sorry. Hope we get another game or two on here cos I don't feel like saying goodbye quite yet. Thats all
Well, I've yet to play in a TCOJ lobby, but I'll post here anyway as I'm sure to in the near future. Obviously, you all know (and love) me as Xun, or Xunnn. My IRL name, however, is Benn, which is why my GT has so many N's. I'm also from the Downunderverse, otherwise known as Australia. One of my favourite things to do online is trick Americans into thinking I'm also from America with my flawless imitation of the accent, gleaned from watching too many US movies over the span of my life. It may belie my age, but you gotta have fun sometimes, right? Speaking of my age, as of writing this, I have seen twenty seven full revolutions of this planetoid, since I just moved to another state I am unemployed, and I am engaged to my partner of five years. With the unemployed scenario, that is by choice as a) I have been working pretty much non-stop since I was seventeen and wanted a break, and b) my fiance and I are going back to New Zealand in early May, so there wouldn't be a point in getting a job only to have a holiday pretty much as soon as I started. Pointless excuses for unemployment aside, I have been playing Halo since CE on the original Xbox (which I worked very hard to pay for both myself), but have only been Forging since Reach. I looked once or twice on Halo 3, but didn't find it appealing, then had a go on Reach and made, what I though to be, the greatest map ever devised by man, only to have it pulled to pieces and promptly stomped into dust by the Review Hub. Since then I have learned much about Forge, but still have a long way to go. I have a history of trying to create new things from nothing; playing with Lego since I could walk, drawing fantasy images, creative writing, playing guitar, bass and drums, making electronic music in Fruity Loops since I was sixteen (which I've only just recently purchased a legitimate copy of *blushes*), graphical creation in PSP and Photoshop, creating makeshift tools/objects on the cheap, and recently, Forging. I have a habit of trying to think outside the box when coming up with solutions to problems, which is both a treat and a curse. Sometimes it pays off in dividends, other times it pushes me back further than I already was because I think on it too long. That's why I have about fifty unfinished maps in Reach, and several "works-in-progress" in Halo 4. But that's neither here nor there. Thanks for reading, now the short version. TL;DR: I'm Xun, Xunnn, or Benn. I'm old, I'm Ozzie, I'm here, I Forge. Come at me, bra.
Lobby for Tuesday, April 16th, 7 PM EDT Need to know how this works? Click here to read our FAQ and rules. This lobby will be held on Tuesday April 16th, starting at 7 PM Eastern Daylight Time and ending around 10. Attendees: 1. AnotherClaymore 2. TMR Legend 3. UNSC Fenix Hulk 4. ExTerrestr1al 5. Nutduster 6. El Trocity 7. Xunnn 8. Juanez Sanchez 9. TIKItike 10. HgT Noise Reserves: 1. CyborgAnthro 2. Iznel Wehttam
please add me as well. would love to have you guys check out desalination (the watery map) (ExTerrestr1al)