Atlas

Atlas

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Items on map:

• DMR (Traditionally placed)
• Light Rifle (Traditionally placed)
• Plasma & Frag Grenades (Traditionally placed)
• Suppressor (Random Ordnance)
• Needler (Random Ordnance)
• Plasma Pistol (Random Ordnance)
• Rockets (Initial Ordnance to begin the game. Traditional placement afterwards.) - Spawns every 3 minutes in Gold.
• Sniper (Initial Ordnance to begin the game. Traditional placement afterwards.) - Spawns every 2 1/2 Minutes in Green.
• Overshield (Initial Ordnance) - Spawns every 2 minutes in purple.

Background Info:
I've attempted Chill Out inspired designs in the past, but couldn't come up with anything I was satisfied with. This was my attempt to finally get it right. After numerous tests and revisions, I feel I can finally call it complete.
I want to thank The Fated Fire, A Haunted Army, and Obama on KFC in particular for playtesting and providing feedback. Thanks, as well, to everyone else who has participated in playtesting sessions.

So, without further ado, after 7 months...I present to you my first official Halo 4 release.

Walkthrough Video:


Pics:
Overview (Boxes=Initial Spawns, Purple Circle=OS, Gold Circle=Rocket Launcher, Green Circle=Sniper Rifle)


Blue room


Purple room


Green room


Red room


Gold room


Download Atlas

 

It's not set up for CTF simply because I can't come up with a way to make it a fair game. Regardless of where I position the flags, one team is going to have a distinct advantage, and while that team will probably have an awful lot of fun, it makes it pretty miserable for the other team. Team Slayer, KOTH, and Extraction play particularly well, so I recommend trying out one of those gametypes.
The rocks are there for a combination of reasons. They are there partially because I wanted to implement a different texture. Also, limitations on the number of pieces you can use in each category played a part in the choice to use them.

I began planning/sketching the map in February and began building it in March. I had the basic structure put together probably by late March. It's been pretty heavily playtested, and has undergone many, many updates/refinements in the last few months. So, it's been about a 4 month process from beginning to end. And of course there's always the possibility of future updates. I'm still working on refining some stuff that I started before Halo 4 was even released because I'm not easily satisfied. This is a map that I am truly proud of.
Here's a link to the preview thread I posted a few months ago. It will give you some idea of how the map has changed during that time period, both structurally and aesthetically.

Atlas Preview Thread

 

Finally got a gameplay video of the finalized version of this map.

 

I apologize for bumping this, but it's currently impossible to include more than one video in a post so my only option is to add a new post.
Junior and Redemption were kind enough to run games on this and give some in-depth feedback. I'm going to post the gameplay video here, then post the feedback video in the following post along with my feedback on their feedback, lol.

 

^Jump to 22 Minutes and 37 Seconds, or Click Here.


Regarding the feedback...
The map was designed to play Slayer as its primary gametype.
As blasphemous as this may seem to some people, I did not design this map for competitive play, and didn't expect it to play nearly as good as it does. This style of map does not generally play well with the mechanics of this game. I quite often design maps with a particular goal in mind, and that goal rarely includes having the map play well at high levels of competition. I don't ever design a map to purposely play badly, but I also don't avoid building styles of maps that don't work particularly well for ultra competitive play.
Having said that, I completely agree with the sentiment that some of the rooms are very segregated. I also think opening up more sightlines to reduce the segregation would result in a map that plays far worse than the current version. The areas of the map that are segregated right now are blue and purple, which are 2 of the weaker areas on the map, and also very common respawn locations. Opening up lines of sight into and out of those areas resolves the segregation issues. However, it negatively affects gameplay because players become much more likely to be spawn killed, and flanking through those areas becomes much more difficult, thereby defeating the whole purpose those areas are meant to serve. Opening up the lines of sight discourages map movement. It makes the powerful rooms more powerful, and the weaker rooms even weaker. If anyone can propose a way to open up additional lines of sight without the negative results I've mentioned, I'm all ears...

This map was designed to play similarly to Chill Out!, which is excellent for FFA and 2v2. While the scaling of this map makes it less than perfect for 2v2, it works well when players move together with their teammates. A game played on this by players who are familiar with the map results in a very different, more organized, better flowing game. As mentioned by Fyrecide, this map has a learning curve. Having watched hours of gameplay on it, I can tell immediately whether the players in the game have played on it previously. Trying to play this map the same way you would play an arena map will be disastrous and make the map seem like a piece of trash. On the other hand, if you are able to adjust your playstyle to fit this style of map, I think you will have a far more enjoyable experience.