It's been a good three months since I last set out to forge a map, and as is typical of me, rather than starting up a new design, I've gone back to an old design of which I wasn't satisfied. This particular design has been a thorn in my side for many years, having started all the way back in Halo Reach as a room-based "vertical" design for the MLG Forge Forum's room-based or vertical submission. Originally called "Despair", and drawing inspiration from Derelict, I've never been content with the design and decided to revisit it early on in H5 with what went on to become "Luxor Station". What it comes down to is that the map never seemed "interesting". It felt flat, overly simplistic (which in itself isn't a bad thing), and engagements tending to take place between two players on very similar elevation levels. The linchpin here is elevation levels, and I decided that the issue plaguing the map is that it didn't have enough variation in vertical levels that interacted with each other. With this latest iteration, I sought to rectify this irritating element. Currently the map is in blockout form for initial testing. The following are the weapons/timers and screen caps of the map. Rockets: 120 Camo: 120 2x Snipe (no spare clips): 90 2x Light Rifle 60 2x Carbine 45 Screenshots:
I can already see improvements to the design. Looks good. Have you decided on what the aesthetic will be after extensive testing?
I'm gonna be honest, I liked pretty much everything about the old version more than this. I do like what you've done with the closet rooms, but I don't like the rest of the changes. The main thing I wanna point out is that the map really didn't need an upscale. I get it if you wanted to make some of the hallways bigger, but the map just feels flat now.
If I went with the consensus on my maps, all of my maps would be drastically different. Personally, while I didn't think Luxor was a bad map, it definitely wasn't a memorable map. It's verticalilty felt forced, and the map seemed more vertical than it really was because of how condensed it was on a horizontal plane. There was very limited player interaction on a level versus level basis, which resulted in it not playing "vertically". If anything, the original map was flatter, but only won any favor because of the interesting gameplay revolving around the Plasma Caster and Thruster glitch. With this version, the 2nd and 3rd floors have been heavily expanded upon, which should result in more interesting engagements between players, as it promotes more opportunity for players on different levels to interact with each other. While the vertical differentiation seems diminished due to the map being made "wider", resulting in a pancake effect optical illusion of sorts, the map actually has the same (if not greater) vertical differentiation. The biggest difference between the two versions is the upward (or downward) angle a player would have to look to engage other players on different levels.
I completely understand the pancake effect, but I think that's just a side effect of the map being too big. If a map with a lot of verticality feels flat, don't you think that means it might be over scaled? Almost every map in this game is too big, and I thought Luxor station was one of the few that got it right the first go around.
Nah, Luxor Station was pushing the boundaries with how small a map could be, given the game's mechanics. The biggest issue it faces was, given the small center room, it couldn't have much depth to its exterior rooms, which complicates the spawn system unfortunately. There aren't many spawn points that got utilized in game, and they were too often in pocket stairhalls. Worse yet, aside from those, there aren't many good places for spawn placement given the lack of depth in the rooms. By slightly scaling up the map (OG having interior walls of 48+' and new map having 64'), I was able to redesign the exterior rooms that would allow not only better spawning, but more interesting player interaction.
Currently with the block out I'm sitting at 425 objects used, and that's including spawns/weapons/gametypes. I'd wager that for an art pass, there'd be roughly 550-600 objects that could be used (as some geometry would probably need changed). After I'm done with testing and refining the design through play tests, would anyone be up for assisting me in the art pass?
Looking forward to the art pass, an ideal map for ctf / assualt play. Looking to getting it tested this weekend!
I'm thinking an underground missile silo complex of sorts could probably fit, and would be something reasonably different from every other human map we've seen so far.
^ @SecretSchnitzel I don't know how set in stone your aesthetic plans are, but I wanted to suggest that if you didn't go for them, get some inspiration from Marathon's texture and design. I think it would work. Again, just a suggestion.
Got a good bit of testing in last night. Played Slayer, Flag, Bomb, Strongholds, and Bomb again. The following are my takeaways: Jump from Flag to Carbine should be possible without clamber Snipe gameplay was fun, but the ammo too limited "Closet" rooms were too disconnected from rest of map Rockets were boring "Tunnel" was problematic for Bomb "Mid" Stronghold was too exposed To address these issues I am making the following changes moving forward for testing: "Carbine" platform expanded to allow jumping to without Clamber being required Snipe ammo upped to 1 spare clip and 120s timer Wall between "Closet" and "Teleporter ledge" knocked out and replaced with window Rockets replaced with Plasma Caster on 90s timer. Middle Stronghold lowered to bottom, but top extended to cover mid-mid As for the "tunnel" situation, I'm looking to redesign it to include a lift to Snipe room, which should alleviate the issue with the Bomb getting stuck in it. Alternatively, I could work in a "trash shoot" for resetting the bomb.
Too much of a hassle for a block out. Besides, it's not like it's difficult to differentiate the floors from the walls visually with this odd tan color. They'll be different in the arted up build.
I know your stance on this man, but really, it isn't. And it'll help with your testing. Trust me man, it's so much more enjoyable to playtest a map that isn't difficult to learn. It's worth the 15 minutes it'll take you.
Yeah, I'm doing it. Decided to go ahead and give the art pass a try as well, although I'll probably still outsource it.
Art pass is starting to come along and I must say, I'm actually excited about this. Going with an underground missile silo theme. Here's a couple screens of what I've got so far.