This map was my submission to the 2v2 Throwback Competition. However, due to not being aware that there was a competition, I had to start my map later than what I would have liked. My original map that I submitted suffered from frame rate lag in some parts of the map, most notably where the Incineration Cannon spawns (now a Rocket Launcher). The lag was due to looking through the glass and down to the green room where there was too much lighting being generated. All of that frame rate in this current version has been fixed and now I can properly start to fix other problems my map suffered from. Curcus is a remake of the last map I made way back in Halo 3 called Jilted. It was originally a 4v4 map that was made to cater for the MLG settings. It was a map designed for Slayer, Oddball and King of the Hill. I also made a default settings version that utilised more of the weapons in the sandbox. If you want to check out the original thread way back from 2008 and all of its comments, here it is: http://www.forgehub.com/threads/scarlet.49382/. (I just noticed a comment from Lightout225 RIP buddy). The transition from a 4v4 Halo 3 map, to a 2v2 Halo 5 map has worked extremely well. The spawns and weapon balanced in Halo 3 was perfected, so I've applied a similar weapon layout to the Halo 5 version in order to get the same gameplay from the original. As for the layout of the map I've had to elongate the map's length, width and height to accomodate all of the new Spartan Abilities. I've made the original crouch jumps a jump-crouch-stabilise-clamber and the trickier jumps a sprint-jump-thrust-crouch-stabalise-clamber. With all of that said, the map stays true to the original design. Originally I had made a boring grey layout, with all of the weapons on the map. I tested that layout endlessly to make sure this map would work in Halo 5. Once I was satisfied, I begun creating the Aesthetics side of the map. I planned on creating this map entirely inside an Asteroid, with a precious resource that the scientists had been mining. However, Halo 5 Noob me didn't realise that creating a inside map on the canvas Parallax would cause so much grief. With the lightmap hitting 120%+, I started to get very bad lighting glitches and to counter that I needed more lighting, which started to cause the frame rate drops. I tried everything, but eventually I ran out of time and the 2v2 deadline ended. To check out my original map submission, here is the link: http://www.forgehub.com/maps/curcus.1852/ This updated version of Curcus now uses the Ascendance skybox. The light radiates through the map much better than it had originally. I removed a whole bunch of the rock walls and replaced them with windows to help bring in extra light. With that, my theme now is set on top or near the top of a mountain. Curcus still does suffer from dark areas. These areas were once before lit up, but I'm going through one by one trying to make sure each part of the map has enough lighting. This is where I need the community's help. Some ideas or some tips I could use in order to get the rest of my map properly lit. My GT is: Jayyyyyyyyyydos (That's 10 Y's) This is Top Orange. A Scattershot spawns on that bench. From that first image, here is a picture looking to the right. Here is where one of the Strongholds is placed. This is the Top Catwalk, a Carbine spawns here along with the second Stronghold. The ramp from the last two images takes you here. Looking around the corner, you'll see the Top Deck. The Rocket Launcher spawns here on a 4 Minute timer. This is the Green Room. It has access to Camo Hall, Red Hall and the Pit. This is the area you'll likely be spawning if the opposing team has proper map control. However, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to flank from this position. This is also where the third Stronghold is placed. Finally this is the where the Camo spawns. The hallway is connected to Red Hall (in front), Green Room (left), Bottom Orange (Right) and the Pit (behind). As you can see, the map is suffering from a lack of lighting, which I'm still WIP. However, I have had some people complement to darkness of this hallway. I hope that you get some enjoyment out of this map. In it's current form the map is called Curcus6. However, I will always name the most updated version of the map with the largest number. So make sure to look out for that if you take a look in game. Thanks everyone, it sure has been fun getting back into Forging after a 8 year long hiatus
I think I saw the blockout of this like week one of forge... Looks awesome! Will download and let you know if I have anything to say.
I have had the time to look over this map and i know you wanted mainly some help for the lighting but while testing out the map I noticed some stuff about the flow and a few aesthetics. For the lighting i suggest adding a light to the darker areas and lowering the brightness so it acts more like ambient light rather than a spot light. Feedback Time: Aesthetics: The map looks really good and the setting is cool and unique, the way you place the rock formations makes it feel you are on top of a mountain. There is a few places though that I think need some adjustment to increase the immersivness and realism. At the corner in the pictures below i suggest adding more rocks like you have at the other windows. The reason being In the first picture you are able to see the glass extend out into the sky and also if you get to the corner you can see pieces used to create the green room toxic slime waterfall. In relation to the other side of the map and the way the rock formations are placed and the toxic slime it suggest that geologically there should be more mountain back this way. By adding the rock pieces to this location and extending them out to the left a bit more (maybe even removing the small section of window attaching to the rock) and placing some below it will help reinforce the illusion that you are on the side of a mountain. The second picture is taken from the left of the first and it shows some additional map geometry that can easily be covered up. These are just some simple things that i think can help with the aesthetic and illusion. For the green room it was a bit hard to tell that it was glass over the gap so i instinctively jumped, i realizes the limitations of the forge pieces it is hard to make stuff like that noticeable and not tricky to the eye. For some little added detail and to help portray it is a glass mini bridge I suggest putting some thin forge block like a 4x20x2 primitive block below each piece of the railing where the glass is to make it look like the railing is attached to something but also help show that there is a glass floor rather than a gap. i went into forge to show what i mean better in the pic below. Construction/Flow I wasn't able to play an actual match on the map to see how game play was but i did test a lot of the flow and timing it took to traverse the map to different areas and that sort of thing. The map is very well constructed with the pieces fitting together very well. There was one spot that seemed like an invisible barrier or something was sticking out that a ran into while running around, when i was in forge the problem wasn't there but i could tell there was a little bump when walking over it. It could just be a weird anomaly but i took a video of it to show that i kept hitting something http://xboxdvr.com/gamer/SIR IRON WOLF/video/16085406. There is two spots that i think could benefit from using the spartan clamber abilities and look like they were put there for that purpose (at least when running around the map they looked like intended alternative paths). The first is near blue spawn (first pic) where there is the block below the reticle in the picture that is tall enough to provide cover but just short enough for it to not allow a jump and clamber up the the second floor. I don't know if it was intentional or just an oversight since there is a ramp not to far from the spot but i think it would help add additional versatility to the second level from that area and coming out of the tunnel. The second image shows the location coming from the ramp from red spawn. The block directly in front of me can be used to get to the third level by jumping on the window sill then on to the block then to the hallway opening, but in my opinion i think to help with the flow and speed of the map the block can be lowered some to allow for it to be able to get on top of without having to jump on the window and still have it provide cover and the height for the jump to the third floor. Also in that area there is a big hole in the ceiling near the third floor that i don't know if you are using that as a way in and out of the map for now (that's what my guess is) but if not then i suggest putting a rock there since it looks silly. Placement: Since i was testing this by myself it was a bit tricky to tell how the placements of the weapons work for balance but i was able to time myself from each spawn to see how fast each could get to the power weapons (just sprinting) and i noticed that it takes red team 10 seconds to get to the rocket launcher and it takes blue team 12. For the scatter shot i was able to time both at getting there at 15 seconds. This might play out different in an actual map of couse but from the core resaults with a margin of error of one second it is slightly unbalanced. I did run the time trails a handful of times to get more accurate data the best I could. I hope this feedback and suggestions help, this is a really cool looking map that you have done a great job on and I think it will play very well. If you need any additional clarification on anything I said feel free to ask and ill respond as soon as I am able. I cant wait to see the finished result!
First and foremost, I want to thank you for taking the time to download my map and to give me such detailed feedback. I truely appreciate it. With the glass extending out into the sky that was me rushing to get this map back into a playable state. Originally in that corner it was a rock wall, but since then it now has windows getting in as much natural light as it possibly can. With a bit more care, this is what that corner now looks like: Inside the Green Room you pointed out that there was a little bit of an optic illusion and it made you instinctively jump. I went along with what you recommended, but also added a little bit more to it. Thanks for giving me this idea. I may have to alter the height of the green floor in order to make this stand out even more. I've also added some lighting back into the Camo Hallway. In my original map posting I had more than 5 lights down this hallway. I now have 3 and it perfectly lights it up. So far I haven't noticed any frame rate drops. I'll have to keep an eye out as I add more to the map. With the random block in the middle of the pit, Originally that was a docking station for a mining train. I hadn't got around to changing that block and I will definitely have a look at the rock pieces we have available to see which one will suit the area. Here is a picture of what that area originally looked like. That train track curled around and docked onto that block. While I did mention some trick jumps in my Original Post, I didn't post a video. You mentioned a few jumps like the one in the pit and also the one on top deck. In this video, I go through all of the trick jumps: http://xboxdvr.com/gamer/Jayyyyyyyyyydos/video/16146266 When I was balancing the map's weapons both the Camo and the Rocket Launcher were always the first two key points to be contested. Since you only have 2 people on each team, the first push is one of the most vital in the whole match. With trick jumps in mind, both teams can make it to Camo in the exact same amount of time, while the Red team can make it to Rockets in about 1 second shorter. To combat this, I've given the Blue team easy access to a Splinter Grenade so that they can jump up the the top deck from the Pit and throw it to the Rockets in a way that blocks off the Red team. But at the end of the day, these ideas of opening strategies go out the window when you're versing 2 other players. I like to think of this scenario like Slayer on Plaza. The Red Team can get to the OS first, but the Blue Team can just as easily take out that player on the Red Team trying to get it. It makes for some interesting strategies. In all my play sessions I played with High Diamond - Onyx 2000 Ranked Players. Occasionally with Gold - Diamond Players. In all sessions, I can say that the skill level evened itself out. I did start the blackout during the first week of Forge. However, at that time, I hadn't invested hours and hours into making it a playable map. For quite some time Curcus sat looking like this image below. Is that what you saw during the first week?
I am glad my feedback helped, I always try to treat every map I test as if it were my own. I also think the improvements you made to the athletics based off my feedback look just how I imagined you should make them (the window and rock) or better (the optical illusion). I like how you added the bars coming down which is what you would expect to see in something like that so it helps add to the realism a bit more. Also if it still proves to be an optical illusion problem you might have to re-align the lights at a different angle so it shows up more as a reflection or glare on the glass. Just keep that in mind as a possible fix if that spot still proves as an illusion issue in further testing.