Edit: Screenshots and Video updated. This is my first time posting on an actual forge forum with my first map that I feel confident in. Here goes! Greetings, this is TruncateComb6 and I am currently working on a map called 'Cartographer.' Cartographer is a 4v4 arena style map that is almost perfectly symmetrical (slight terrain variations = almost.) The idea behind Cartographer was inspired by the layout of Truth with two initial spawn points with two side areas giving the map a 'four corners' setup with an open-ish center. The layout was then modified to fit a Forerunner/Human theme more akin to the terrain of Halo CE updated to fit the Halo 5 play style. This map supports teams of Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow (4 max) and is designed for arena 4v4. Neutral spawns also welcome FFA as well. The map supports all gamemodes, but Slayer, Strongholds, and Neutral Objective gamemodes work best from initial beta play tests. The map armament is currently (of this post) as follows: 1 Incineration Cannon (Weapon Pad) 1 Scattershot (1 spare mag) 2 Halo 5 Battle Rifles 2 SMG's 2 Lightrifles 2 Boltshots 2 Suppressors 4 Plasma Grenades 2 Scatter Grenades 2 Frag Grenades Current version is V0.13 as of April 19, 2016. These new screenshots and Video are up to date for the April 7, 2016 patch. Enjoy!
Patch notes: V0.02 (March 18, 2016) *Added Detail to walls and floors of bases, in addition to increased lighting and team coloration. *Optimized Named Volumes for significant increases in accuracy and responsiveness. *Optimized and added respawn points *Separated respawn points into Slayer/Strongholds and CTF/Assault *Slightly optimized and modified lighting for more fluid results.
Patch Notes (V0.04) March 22,2016 -Respawn points updated -DMRs replaced with Lightrifles to emphasize Forerunner influence and to add importance to Control of Towers 1 and 2 -Lighting slightly adjusted on stairs for smoother aesthetics -Small lens flares added to most lights. Intentionally kept small and will be adjusted if map focus is affected. -Players can no longer walk on the outer backside of Towers 1 and 2, as the space was filled in to prevent camping 'exploit'. -Adjusted metallic values in certain blocks to add variation.
Patch Notes V0.06 (Updated Screenshots coming to thread soon!) March 28, 2016. - Updated lighting. Most rooms are lit brighter and more consistently. - Red and Blue bases color adjustment. More team color along railings and accents. - Tower One and Two changed to Green Tower and Yellow Tower respectively. - Green Tower and Yellow Tower have metallic blocks and accents matching their namesake. Dynamic colored Lights also added to the lifts under each tower for quick reference. - SMG and Boltshot locations switched. Boltshot now spawns on the shelves in Red base and Blue base. SMG spawns on middle floor of Green Tower and Yellow Tower to compliment stronghold location. - Base weapon spawns (BR and Boltshot) moved to front of initial spawn room and re angled to increase visibility. Spawn time increased to discourage overuse. - Outside map Tree amount reduced by 25% to increase resolution and reduce Minor frame rate issues from Yellow Tower View. - Name volumes fully optimized. All locations on map are named and perform fluidly in current tests. Also means that map call outs should be consistent and accurate. - Cinema Stairs now renamed to 'Tower Stairs.' - Strongholds now only occupy the middle floor of Green and Yellow towers. Despite a unique gameplay experience with a 'two floor' stronghold, such a design resulted in intended chaos, but unpredictability in capturing bases (i.e. Mild camping opportunities.) The single floor design shall now be implemented for testing for a more traditional Stronghold gameplay experience. - Slightly increased cover in the Yard and Courtyard areas to encourage usage.
Play tested 3/25/16 on Max Extra's Forge Friday Pros: First of all, had a great time playing on it. I thought the aesthetic and simplicity of this map made it really great. Weapon placement was solid. Cons: Multi-leveled Strongholds led to chaotic player interactions. Additionally, the stronghold boundaries (red and blue) made seeing into the buildings difficult, especially for players crouched along the rear wall.
Im glad you liked it! Thanks for imput! I have patched the multi-leveled Strongholds into just a single floor (middle) and chose middle since it felt reasonable and consistent to access. I am also fixing the Stronghold barrier outline fighting with the wall (bless the Z fight adjustment tool.) Plus I've also adjusted the lighting so the interiors are more consistently lit. I'll probably do a forge lobby retest in the same lobby thread someday. Thanks for the feedback! I appreciate it since this is my first publicly submitted map and it is helping me learn what to do and not to do when forging maps in the future. Hopefully you'll get to retest in the lobby, I look forward to seeing how my adjustments corresponded to feedback!
So for being so tardy on this, but here is some belated feedback. Truth remakes have been done, but I feel like you where able to capture a unique feel on the map as your design does not strictly follow truth the trees and possibly some lighting caused some frame drop multi level strongholds are not implemented super well and are not always the best idea. While I think the location is great the size need attention. Also their borders make visibility difficult. Loved the scattershot room but I feel like the coils are doing enough work to clear it out. Perhaps find a more explosive coil or add more or a new room cleaner technique i really enjoyed the light bridge and the human take on a traditionally covenant themed map. while the function is there, i think the aesthetic needs a bit of refining. You got a great look and head start. I just think what you have needs to be more polished. And just tidied up a tad to look cleaner i think after some or all of these changes the map will be ready for another go at testing. I would love to have this in my lobby again. Thanks for submitting it and helping out.
I too am posting a little bit later than I would've liked. Hopefully some of this is still relevant. The things that stood out to me during our pretty hectic play test: * The 2 strongholds on the sides, tower 1 and tower 2 (which sounds like you renamed green and yellow tower) were pretty hectic being multi-leveled. It looks like you already made the stronghold a single level, which I was going to suggest. But another thing is I think the room needs to be a bit wider. The hole for the grav lift had people falling through it alot. If you make the room a bigger rectangle and then make an alcove for the lift I think that would really improve player movement. The top floors drop downs can be on the side of the room, so you don't fall down the grav lift shaft. You may need to create stairs or jump ups to the 3rd level for this. I can't recall. * Maybe you've already done it but there are a lot of trees and they impact performance in some areas. You might need to reduce them further especially since they're outside the map and only serve aesthetic purpose. You're probably already on it though * I'd need to take a tour in forge to pick it apart any more, seemed pretty solid overall. Also need to see the most current version, I'll be sure to add you and check it out before Friday. Good stuff my man, peace.
Map Layout / Flow It is a simple layout but still works well because of it. The map's combat was well distributed because of the stronghold locations. I would like to try it with just Team Slayer sometime to see what areas are being used the most. The sides definitely have a good height advantage while the middle area gives the option for some nice close quarter engagements. Objective Locations I agree with the others that having a two story stronghold can kind of be a bit frustrating. Maybe a way to design that might be to add a glass/ shield spots to the floor so the player can see what is happening down there or if someone is trying to just hide. Spawns They worked well but sometimes when I spawned in near the walkway to tower I was not sure which side of the map I was on. I think a game of Team Slayer would probably give me a better idea on how well the spawns work. Weapons / Power-ups I really like the location of the scattershot, the area it spawns in really go well together. The Incineration cannon didn't see as much use during the play test until closer to the end but I think it was more because people were focused on the strongholds. I am not sure if this might work but have you considered adding a power weapon on opposite corners of the map just before the walkway. Maybe a binary rifle (might be pushing it) or some Tier 2 power weapon. Aesthetics / Lighting Lighting seemed fine for me and the map felt very forerunner. I really like the blue beams of light that cut through the center of the map. Really draws the players towards them which is good since that is basically where the power weapons are at.
Thanks for your imput, it's much appreciated! - I am working on a way to expand the tower horizontally (width wise) to add a bit more depth to their design, but it is kind of difficult since I need to consider light bridge length and map distribution. However, the two floor stronghold mayhem has been patched to the middle floor only. -Trees on the outside have been reduced by 40%, resulting in more object count. Some of the trees were less noticeable anyway. The number may go up to 50% based on needs and performance. Strangely when playing solo I saw no frame drop with all the trees, but that should be fixed. -Sure thing! I am changing up a few things as I go along. The colors on the map are different to differentiate Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, and middle (Forerunner grey with cyan lights). I'll keep up with patch notes to keep an overall progression log of changes, I combine every other patch in the notes so I don't end up bumping my post rather than providing a consistent, but reasonable depth to the change log.
Objective Locations: I have patched them to be single floor to provide a more traditional experience. They are on the middle floor of each tower to be fairly accessible and defendable rather than the craziness and/or mild camping or a dual floor system. Spawns: I am still learning about the spawn system, but I tried to set up spawn points in a variety of covered locations for slayer/strongholds, and team base spawns are used for CTF and Assault. Weapons: I try not to stick too many power weapons on a map, instead placing the in locations that leave them equally accessible to the teams and their base spawns. I also didn't want to throw off the symmetrical nature of the map or just provide a power weapon on spawn (welcome to the match, here's your sniper rifle!) I am adjusting the BRs and Boltshots in the bases to be more noticeable (Red and Blue bases have a BR and a Boltshot.) Lighting: Glad you like it, it was really hard to get down the tones I needed. My newer updates are refining the bases and towers to be Red, Blue, Green, Yellow affiliated and the middle is a cold, metallic Forerunner grey with cyan highlights (instead of the play tested tan and eggshell with a few grey accents.) Thanks for your feedback! Looking forward to testing this again fairly soon! I'm also looking forward to your map Ascension/Empyrean!
Patch Notes V0.08 (It's a doozy!)(Addressing some feedback!) - Readjusted Green and Yellow Tower color schemes to be more orderly. - Red and Blue bases have slightly more color. - Z-Fighting reduced significantly. - Removed colored dynamic lights from near the lifts (lifts still output dynamic light.) - Terminal, Underbridge, and Stage (entire middle building) has been completely recolored from tan and eggshell to a cold Forerunner grey. Metallic values universally increased, and cyan lights intensified. - (Here's a doozy!) Strongholds are now well adjusted and only occupy the middle of each tower and the Terminal section without clipping as of current tests. The vertical Lift tunnel has been narrowed down, and a railings has been placed around the (reduced) hole in the middle floor to prevent falling. (Doozy Incoming!) The third/floor of each tower floor now has two small drop downs, one in each corner. This combined with the lift port allows for smoother and more varied tower access and floor interaction! (Currently Experimental, testing required.) -Furthermore, the stronghold terminals in the towers leave a pit in other gamemodes. Since the towers are not objective spawns in non-Stronghold gametypes, this small gap instead allows the storm rifles to be quickly relocated stealthily, and allows more dynamic access to the middle floor in each tower in Non-Stronghold gametypes. -Weapon placement has been adjusted. A BR and SMG spawn on shelves in front of the initial spawns in Red and Blue bases and are much more visible. The Boltshots are now on crates in the Yard and Courtyard. - (Another Doozy?!) Storm rifles have been added to the middle floor of Green and Yellow towers. These are set to respawn only on Death/Deletion to prevent stocking up, and respawn 60 seconds after death to keep them in a niche, modest role. - Forerunner coils in the Terminal replaced with stronger explosives. Moved out slightly from wall for further increased effective explosive radius. - Trees outside map have been reduced by about 50% since launch. Should yield increased performance.
April Fool's Day Update! -There are now two Easter eggs on the map in honor of April Fool's. There is one grunt toy (hidden) and one Timmy the whale (slightly less hidden.) Can you find them? (hint: They are all observable within the maps bounds in Spartan mode.) - Removed Herobrine - adjusted Flux Capacitors - Scolded Master Chief
Patch Notes (V0.10) April 5, 2016. - Removed Storm Rifles, It was just too many weapons for a 4v4 map in my opinion. - SMGs are moved from Red and Blue bases to the Green and Yellow Towers. - Lighting adjusted. Lights are more intense, and baked lights are used in Red Base, Blue Base, and Yellow Tower for smoother aesthetics and stronger lighting. - Trees reduced slightly (this is becoming almost a gag.) - Spawns slightly tuned. - The middle building now has dynamic cyan lights that stream along the ceiling in a straight line. This is an experimental script but works smoothly and adds a pulsating forerunner power moving along the ceiling. Be sure to keep an eye out! - Optimized Timmy the Whale easter egg script. Thursday's upcoming patch will remove the easter eggs in preparation for @Max Extra 's testing lobby. Find the grunt and whale if you dare! If you can't don't fear, updated screenshots should arrive on Thursday along with the patch, and the Easter eggs shall be revealed. Plus, maybe another, well hidden easter egg will find its place in the map... >_> <_<
Patch Notes V.0.11. April 7, 2016. Getting ready for 2nd Playtest! - Screenshots and video updated! Be sure to take a look! These represent the newest patch aside from the Easter Eggs still being in at time of filming. - Timmy the Whale Easter Egg has been removed. Former Location in Spoiler Tag. Spoiler: Timmy Location - Grunt Toy Easter Egg moved to be less noticeable. Former Location in Spoiler Tag. Spoiler: Grunt Toy Location - Despite New Foliage Additions, all trees currently shall remain Pine trees in honor of Halo: CE. Grass added to Grav Lifts. Spoiler: Halo CE: Vibes - Lighting Changes in GoM Patch. Lighting is currently being overhauled, brightness is slightly higher than desired on map. Will be adjusted soon. Current adjustments include reduction in Baked lights, currently all lights are dynamic to maintain desired effects and brightness. - Metallic Values adjusted slightly. - Weapon Spawn times adjusted slightly. - Removed Herobrine.
Patch notes V0.12. April 14 2016. - Strongholds moved from tower to Red elbow and Blue bend. They are located diagonally symmetrically for the furthest possible distance and map interaction. - Spawn points slightly updated. - Dynamic moving cyan lights in Underbridge script accelerated. - slightly reduced non-power weapon respawn times. WIP/Upcoming shortly - Windows less transparent/more noticeable Edit: Done, window colors changed. Test will be performed soon. - Lighting adjustments. Edit: Baked lights returned to Red and Blue bases.
Damn. Love the middle structure. I will have a fly through of this map soon. Let me know if you want any specific feedback.
Thanks! It was hard to get down the whole forerunner deal in the middle. I'm still editing the map and it has undergone tests via @Max Extra 's testing lobby. I'll resubmit it next week (I do every other week since my schedule is rather tight and I can't always stick around till midnight EST when the lobby tends to move to the 4v4 maps.) If you see any problems or anything sticks out as good to you feel free to let me know! I'm always looking for ways to make this map better so I know more about how to handle future projects!
Im really interested to play with these new strong hold locations in mind. I think it will help balance out the map as far as flow and setup goes along with keeping the map competitive. the past few games I have played here have been pretty fun
Patch Notes V0.13. April 19, 2016. "Did'ja miss me?" Preparations for upcoming test Friday. - Stronghold barriers adjusted slightly. - Window coloration and brightness increased for visibility purposes. - Baked lights returned to Yellow Tower. This should give a rather realistic appearance as far as light rendering to all 4 main areas (Red Base, Blue Base, Green Tower, Yellow Tower) being lit from any location on the map. - Reduced Tree count slightly outside map to ensure maximum performance. - Dynamic Moving Cyan Light Script accelerated and light distance increased. - Power Coils in Terminal moved slightly out from wall. Damage increased. Lethal when entering side doors. Nearly lethal even when hugging mid Scattershot structure. Time shooting them right to punish hasty attackers in the Terminal! - Most lights on map brightened with slightly reduced range to help compete with the adjustments made to 'Sunset' Alpine lighting in GoM patch. - Invisible Barriers Optimized. - Light Bake adjusted on a few unseen pieces to keep budget below 100% for best appearance. - Respawn points added for a bit more variety. - Name Volume heights increased for consistency when leaping off of Tower Balconies.