Hello Hubbers! Today we sit down to have a look at Fracture. a BTB map that captures that delicate balance between vehicular carnage and on-foot terrain traversal resulting in delicious, wonderful carnage!

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An original design by Squally DaBeanz, Fracture has been vigorously tested through many custom lobbies and it excels at Objective matches like CTF and Assault. The map has been designed so that players on-foot can traverse through the middle "infantry playground" with a decent amount of cover and movement options, whilst avoiding the threat of vehicles in the outside ring. It's been a hot favourite in testing lobbies, so I caught up with the maps author, Squally DaBeanz, to get the lowdown on how this map came to life and his Forge background in general.

Sikamikanico: So how and when did you get into Halo and how long have you been creating maps in Forge?

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Squally DaBeanz: I got into Halo during the height of Halo 2's lifespan. I didn't have an Xbox at the time, so I got Combat Evolved on PC and became obsessed. Halo 3 was the first game with Forge, but I didn't really dive into it. A friend showed me the mode before I got the game, and I thought it was a neat feature, but never did much with it. Halo Reach is where I really started forging. The new tools and features made perfect sense to me and everything just clicked. I started off just making spaces that I thought looked cool and where interesting to walk through. I tried setting things up for core gameplay from the start, but never really got a grasp on proper level design during Reach. That happened during Halo 4, when I stopped being a lurker and actually got involved with the community. Since then, I've continued to learn, grow, and build better and better maps.

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Sikamikanico: Fracture is pretty unique in using the Mantis in a way that isn't horribly overpowering? How long did that take to balance in the way you wanted?

Squally DaBeanz: You know, that part actually wasn't all that difficult. The Mantis just has to be restricted enough to slightly smaller spaces where infantry can easily take cover and flank around them. The nature of the map and the way the vehicle routes are set up naturally allowed that to happen. The biggest challenge with this map was actually getting the middle structure to function correctly. I wanted it to be a hot spot on the map with lots of creative movement options, but be dangerous to run objectives through. THAT took quite a while to get right.

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Sikamikanico: Is Forge the only map design tool you ever fool around with?

Squally DaBeanz: So far, yes, Forge is the only design tool I use. I'm currently in a "Gaming and Animation" program at my college though, so I should be able to start using things like Unity and Maya within the next couple years. My hope is to be bale to use my experience in Forge to begin working on a career in level design.

Sikamikanico: What do you think makes for a good BTB map in terms of replayability?

Squally DaBeanz: That's an interesting one since my track record with BTB design hasn't been very good up until this point. As a player though, I always enjoy BTB maps that allow both infantry and vehicle players to have fun. I've never been much of a pilot/driver myself, but I love having to work around vehicles and find ways to combat them while moving on foot. That gameplay preference extends to other games with vehicles as well, such as Battlefield. I never enjoyed feeling like getting in a vehicle was necessary for traversing the map or being effective in combat (glares at Blood Gulch), so any map that allows me to effectively play on foot while still fighting vehicles is a win in my book.

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Sikamikanico: What else have you got on the go in terms of Forge designs - what's next for you?

Squally DaBeanz: Well, I just finished the Halo 5 version of my most (in)famous map, Stigma. I figured I would go back to a very familiar design to learn this new Forge before going on to something more original. After that and Fracture, the only other map I have in testing right now is a symmetrical 4V4 Forerunner themed map in a desert canyon called Precursor. I also just started playing around with revisiting an old BTB design from Halo 4 called Cipher, though it's much different this time around. I also have some rough ideas for a few other 4V4 maps and another BTB map. I want to thank anyone who helped test Fracture and mold it into the final product, and specifically Psycho Duck, Fated Fire, Matclan, WyvernZu and Xdemption for some great ideas and revisions to the map's geometry and gameplay elements.

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Thanks for taking the time out to speak to us Squally - you can grab the map from his bookmarks and view his original map submission thread here.