Hello everyone, I would like to show what I have been working on lately and currently finishing up for play testing. I was working on a covenant themed map but I ran into issues with the right details and layout. So, with that I decided to make something a bit easier, a map based off the space elevator level in Halo 5 "Evacuation". My map is named Empyrean and I will provide a list below for the weapons I currently have on it in a spoiler tag and some pictures of the map in a separate one. The map is a 4 v 4 and if possible I would like some suggestions and feedback. I also have been working on trying to script the walls to move to simulate the platform moving up but I haven't had any luck getting it to work smoothly, any suggestions for that would also be appreciated. Thank you for your time. GT: Doc1777 Map Name: Empyrean Spoiler: WEAPONS ON THE MAP Weapon Pad Spawns: Saw @ 100 sec. Plasma Caster @ 120 sec. Power ups: Damage Boost x2 @ 110 sec. Grenades: Splinter x 2 @ 45 sec. Plasma x 2 @ 30 sec. Weapons: Carbine x 2 @ 40 sec. [3 spare ammo] Battle Rifle x 2 @ 40 sec. [3 spare ammo] Suppressor x 2 @ 30 sec. [3 spare ammo] SMG x 2 @ 50 sec. [3 spare ammo] Needler x 1 @ 40 sec. [3 spare ammo] ScatterShot x1 @ 60 sec. [3 spare ammo] Spoiler: MAP IMAGES Spoiler: Feedback Notes General: Issue: Hardly any "safe" spawns. Solution: Not sure, maybe redesign box locations and move cover around. Issue: Damage Boost can be really powerful, especially with saw. Solution: Doesn't seem to have a place on the map, might try having one powerup instead near the UNSC crates. Issue: The map flow runs circular, might be a bad thing or a good thing. More testing needed. Solution: Rethink the layout of the map or make it a bit larger. CTF: Issue: Solution: Strongholds: Issue: Stronghold lines of sight. Solution: Adjust the position so they cannot defend a stronghold from another stronghold. Issue: Plasma Caster might be too powerful for strongholds. Solution: Disable it or replace with something else. Assault: Issue: Planting location near base is too safe. Solution: Move the bomb planting location. Issue: Spawn too far to defend base when enemy team is planting. Solution: Adjust spawn location/ move bomb planting location. Infection: Issue: High Areas on outer ring unacceptable place for humans to hold out. Solution: Block them Issue: No hold off areas and incentives to move around. Solution: Redesign Layout of Map and branch the design off to its own personalized design for infection.
Honestly I was going to get around to creating a similar level in Forge but you beat me to it I don't know if anything is already implemented like this, but I would suggest having the outside ring objects lower and then rescan back at the top of the map so it looks as if the entire map is rising upwards. The map looks good so far btw. What's the intended player count though?
Good choice. I haven't even completed the campaign and can't really recall many of the places from it because they just didn't stand out in my addled mind, but this location did. Seems like it could be fun.
Ah yes I forgot to put that in the post. It is intended to be 4v4 but I have the spawns setup to support 8v8 in case I want to really stress test the spawning out. The spawns definitely needs a lot of work still though. Also don't let my map intimidate you from making your own version I would love to see someone else's perspective on it.
Yeah well I may eventually create my own version of it. Spawning seems like it would be one of the hardest aspects to get right with a map like this. Good luck
Played this in Max Extra's lobby on 3/18. My thoughts: This map was a lot of fun to play on. I enjoyed fighting around the ring in the small rooms and among the cargo crates. Weapon distribution seems pretty good. Lighting and texture choices keep the map visually interesting, though I could see some z-fighting going on, particularly on the walkways around the center. We played this with 6v6 (I think) and did notice that at times I went a good 10-15 seconds without seeing an enemy player. It might have been because we were circling the map in the same direction, but thought I mention that. It didn't affect me, but I remember people mentioning that initial spawns were a little wonky. I'm sure it works well with 4v4, but I felt that it worked well with a larger lobby as well.
I have fixed the floors completely and I am working on getting the walls to move constantly down to simulate th platform moving up. Hopefully the lag was only caused by the z-fighting and nothing else. I also renamed the map to Ascension, because the sky box it is on is named ascendance haha. But thanks for getting around to posting feedback on my map.
I LOVE the idea of fighting on a moving elevator! Your use of colors and lighting seems good from the pictures. Hopefully you can create a wall moving down repeating script, I'm still learning how to make a moving train! I'll be sure to download and test out your map and get some better feedback tomorrow, cheers!
I currently have taken out the weapons and all the props because I re-did the floor and ceiling. I haven't placed props back in yet for the new version of the map because I am trying to get the scripting walls to sync well first and not lag behind randomly. I might have to reduce the amount of windows too since they can cause a good amount of lag. (I will test that out in my next play test)
I really loved the concept for this map and enjoyed playing on it, but i dont think it works as a straight from campaign to multiplayer map. you will probably need to adjust the contents of the map to allow for a little better experience. Also z fighting and framrate issues where everywhere on this map i would suggest working on these a bit as well as the intro spawns. Most feed back though you got from playing it through with us so i was just going to touch on this here. Also i cant wait to see how the map looks if you go through with the pieces out side the map falling to make it look like you are ascending.
@Max Extra Thanks for the feedback. As for the campaign part though my map is very different then how it is setup in the campaign (They also have more variety and smaller cargo containers which would be nice to have in forge ). As for the frame rate, that issue should be completely fixed. Now I have been working on scripting walls to move down and have currently run into some frustrating issues because I can't get it to smoothly translate due to some weird glitch in scripting, hopefully I can figure something out.
Testing your map during the Friday lobby was a lot of fun. We did 8v8 so it was a little packed. But I've still got a few things to say. Pros: -I felt like I was back in the campaign. The base map aesthetic was well recreated and looked good. The use of colors was good and gave me enough eye candy without being overwhelming and retaining a modest base palette. Really well done. -Weapon sandbox felt reasonable. 8v8 made it hard to test since it was made for 4v4 but my impressions on the balance were good. Nice to see the SAW. -Cover and Clamber[ability] were nicely interwoven. There was a good blend of mobility and cover. -Spawning seemed to work well, which is always welcome. For the Future. -I really look forward to seeing the walls come down to make it look like an elevator going up, among other things. It's a shame that scripting isn't always the most consistent thing. This isn't your fault and I look forward to seeing how that aesthetic will be met in the future. -Maybe a bit more creativity in the lighting. I personally prefer and enjoy an overall neutral lighting palette, but maybe a couple of different colored lights will add some nice effects and depth to the map. (Nothing too big though, just maybe a couple of dynamic pulsing lights or something.) Overall the map I felt was solid. I felt like I was in campaign, but it functioned well for multiplayer. Even 8v8 almost didn't feel too big, so 4v4 and maybe 5v5 will probably work great. Thank you for sharing the map and I look forward to future updates, excellent work!
Absolutely great changes to the map. I know my feed backs a tad a late again but its here now really love the changes youve made overall with the pathing and the lighting. 8 is still a little packed lol, but thats not on you Im not sure damage boost is the way to go i almost think speed boost would be better, but DB worked out alright I feel like the map needs a bit of direction. I feel likes its a bit difficult to orient because i spawn on the edge or in the middle of a big pit fight and have issues getting around. while i was able to move around to fight i couldnt tell you the location of any weapons i found my self immediately on the the defensive finding cover and looking for someone running by I would love to test this out again with some changes and maybe even smaller teams lol, i would also love to see the movement aesthetics on the out side of the map to help give better immersion
Setting up spawning correctly on this map is proving a challenge in trying to find ideal safe areas to spawn with good orientation. I am trying to implement the wall movement but scripting has been kind of getting me no where since it seems to be some sort of bug with it's jittery movement. I might try doing a weld thing with normal physics to see if that might be smoother later today.
This might have been my favorite map of the night last Friday. It was hectic but not necessarily in a bad way. I think the overall look of the map is excellent, and if feels like something ripped out of a Halo campaign level. I agree that it can be a little difficult to orient yourself on this map, and a few of the spawns leave you feeling exposed. A little fine tuning on the spawn points will help, and maybe adding some sort of color or lopsided lighting scheme would help orient you a little better. If once side was lit darker and/or had a different color palette than the other, that might help clue the player in to what area of the map they're on and what direction they're facing. All in all though, this one's coming along very nicely. Good work so far!
Thanks for the feedback Pat Sounds. I am thinking about taking a break from this map and maybe coming back later and redesign it for better spawning, orientation, and sight lines. I definitely did not put enough thought into the layout, it plays alright but I think I can do better. For now though I am going to work on a BTB map.
I think the foundation you have is solid, and with a bit more work you could make it into something really cool. It's hard to find good spawns sometimes when you commit to a concept that leaves a lot of open space like this, but I think the map could play really well if you spend a bit more time with it. By all means, take some time to think about some other maps, but I wouldn't write this one off. It has a lot of good stuff going on.
Last we played on hear was strongholds and I would have to suggest that you give them a bit of work. they are a bit too exposed from the top. we talked about it a bit on friday but id probably suggest raising one out of sight of the other two and giving them a bit more cover. Probably also want to remove the caster from strongholds. while i like the caster its probably not the best choice. I like the progress and want to try it out some more.
So we did the (honor rules) infection test. My critique as far as gameplay goes is fairly similar to the lobby. The real safe points were crowded around the windows at the top, and that usually isn't an ideal scenario. Some more holdout locations would add diversity to this and allow for more unique survivor/zombie interaction rather than the window game of cat and mouse...or hunter and zombie ducks. Your aesthetics have gotten even better than the last time I played (and they were good to begin with.) I see you added the dynamic pulsing lights to the ceiling that I previously recommended. You implemented them very well. They weren't too obtrusive or misplaced, but rather felt natural and added a nice level of depth to the ceiling. The ceiling and structure as a whole comes together really well, and the lights added that nice final touch to the ceiling. Excellent work! Spawning felt pretty good. Its hard on a 'spotty cover' map to set up a variety of successful spawns, but at least on my end they worked out really well and they were rotated properly. Overall, I really hope 343 optimizes the Scripting system soon. Your map has come so far, and I would love to see your moving wall system outside the elevator come to fruition. I might experiment with scripting on a forge copy to see if I can get a script functioning. Its something I'd love to see come to life. I've been experimenting with a variety of scripts for straight-repetitious movement so maybe I can do something with the walls. Great job Doc!
Thanks Truncate! I have been taking notes on the feedback I have gotten and I think I would like to split the map off to its own version for infection. I am thinking about making the structure abandoned and overgrown with the platform broken apart and partially buried in the ground. As for the 4 v 4 layout for traditional slayer I am still trying to rethink the design while keeping the theme, but I will most likely completely change the maps layout entirely.