For Halo 5 GrifballHUB is supporting two types of Grifball courts, Halo 5 Grifball and Legendary Grifball.

Legendary Grifball emulates classic (Vanilla) Grifball with NO Spartan Abilities or Sprint. It is played on a Foundry-sized court (256 x 218) with static on-court Initial Spawns and Respawns. Legendary Grifball has fallen out of favour recently but some players still play customs with these settings.

The current Matchmaking Playlist features Halo 5 Grifball so the remainder of this tutorial will cover the current technical specifications for constructing Matchmaking, and Grifball League courts.

Halo 5 Grifball is played on Halo 4 style courts (approx 310 x 260/280) with, or without, Breakout starts. The game type, which is presently in Matchmaking, features Spartan Abilities which are balanced for the fun and competitive experience Halo 5 players expect. The courts are 6 sided to be wider in the center and feature a Clamber Ledge on the side walls, and a Wall Hop Ledge on the end walls.



There are several ways to construct a Halo 5 Grifball court: Build it yourself from scratch or download an existing court and rip it apart. The simplest method is to grab a template on your canvas of choice and place the Prefab, or Prefabs, you require to complete your map.

If you are building your court from scratch you should still read these instructions and download the Template/Prefab to familiarize yourself with the layout and finer details. Grifball respawns and game elements are set to very specific coordinates and team labeling so even if you decide to place them yourself please download the Grifball 4v4 Respawns prefab to get you started.

Even if you have constructed Grifball courts in previous games, and are proficient with Halo 5 Forge, please read and understand this complete tutorial before proceeding. You may ask questions in this thread and I will answer promptly.

Templates



Templates are a solid foundation which is ready to accept the necessary Prefabs. You may start your build with a template if you wish but these are completely optional. These save you the time and hassle of constructing a perfectly smooth floor which are very difficult to produce since improper techniques will introduce loss of precision with repeated saves.

Templates, which have always been complex and highly detailed in this and and all previous games, are now simply the floor, with an Invisible Blocker floor slightly above the structural floor, and an Alignment Block high above the floor. These can not be constructed of Prefabs due to large groups losing the precision necessary for perfect floors. Smooth floors are a requirement in Grifball due to bumpy floors knocking players out of a Slide.

It is highly advised to NEVER grab or adjust the Forge pieces which make up these templates as they WILL shift out of position with the slightest touch.

Tidal, Parallax, Alpine, Glacier, Barrens, Molten, Depths, Eden (use at own risk).

Prefabs

Prefabs contain the complete game play and structural elements required to get your court working, featuring the latest technology. In fact, you are able construct a fully functional Matchmaking-ready court in mere seconds using these prefabs.

Grifball 4v4 Respawns

Contains: Respawns, JiP (Join-in-Progress) Initial Spawn, Ball Spawn, Goals, Respawn Zones, Measuring tool (Named Location Volume used for measuring), Safe Volume Timed, Alignment Block (explained below).

Grifball 4v4 Running Starts

Contains: 4 Team Initial Spawns set for Running Starts, 4 Gravity Lift Invisible, Team Labeled One-Way Invisible Blocker, Grifball Starting Script (more on that below), Scripted Launch Platform (drops out of sight after round starts), Extended Safe Volume Timed, Goal End Invisible Blocker Walls, Alignment Block.

Grifball Camera, Rings, and Walls

Contains: Default Cameras, Clamber & Wall Hop Ledges, Example Key Rings, Off-court rings (allows you to change the ring colours/texture without removing floor), Alignment Block.

Grifball 4v4 Containment

Contains: Invisible Blocker for the side walls, Invisible Ceiling, Enclosing Kill Volumes Instant, Alignment Block.

Grifball Live Elements, replaces Grifball 4v4 Running Starts for LIVE Streaming courts.

Contains: 6 Team Initial Spawns (4 Players, 1 Camera, 1 Commentator per side) set for Static Starts (Players must Sprint forward), 6 Gravity Lift Invisible, Team Labeled One-Way Invisible Blocker, Grifball Starting Script (more on that below), Scripted Launch Platform (drops out of sight after round starts), Extended Safe Volume Timed, Goal End Invisible Blocker Walls, Camera & Commentator Booth, Prophet's Bane for Invisibility of Cameraman, Alignment Block.

Grifball LIVE Containment, replaces Grifball 4v4 Containment for LIVE Streaming courts.

Contains: Invisible Blocker for the side walls adjusted to fit the Camera/Commentator Booth, Invisible Ceiling, Enclosing Kill Volumes Instant, Alignment Block.





Template/Prefab Instructions:

These instructions are for constructing your court entirely out of the provided Templates and Prefabs, then decorating the court as you see fit. You do not need to use all of the prefabs but it is advisable to first place them to become acquainted with the court dimensions and game element labeling.

First, this is the Alignment Block.



This 8x8 Invisible Blocker is the key to aligning every Prefab to each other, and to the template. It is Locked on the Templates and should remain locked for the entirety of the construction phase. There is no need to delete the Alignment Block, ever.

Always make sure it is the Parent Object of your Prefab prior to placing it into position.


Step 1: Select your Template.

The Template floor is embedded in perfectly smooth Invisible Blockers which are Locked and should NEVER be unlocked. Never do a Select All and Group on the floor or Invisible Blocker floor. This will cause the Earthquake Glitch to shift the floor pieces and damage the look and smoothness of the floor. You might be wondering how to change the Colour & Texture of the floor if it's encased in blockers. I have provided a spare 64x64x64 Block Simple under the court. You may select it (Unlock it first), then {Select All Of...} the blocks in order to alter their Colour & Texture. Or, simply change the Floor Reference Color since all items in this tutorial use Reference Colors.




Step 2: Place the Prefabs.

Select the Prefabs which you require for your build. These are very large so you may receive the "Cannot place object" message if you are too close to other structures. When the Prefab spawns verify the Parent Object is the Blocker Block [8x8x8], if not scroll through the Parent numbers until it shows the correct item in the Forge Items menu box.



Caution: Do not Ungroup Prefabs in the blocking-out phase of the build. You may have to move, delete, and replace them later in your build cycle. The Invisible Blocker walls tend to get in the way when building so maintaining the original group allows you to temporarily move them from the construction site.

Step 3: Turn Magnets ON.

M

Step 4: Drag the Alignment Block on the Prefab and Magnetize it to the corresponding block on the Template. They should Z-Fight when complete.




Step 5, 6, & 7: Repeat for all Required Prefabs.



The resulting court is 100% up to Matchmaking Ready Specification. It just needs your creative design to bring it alive.







Note: If you do not plan to use Launch Starts the instructions for making your court work with On-Court Initial Spawns may be found in this Spoiler.

Spoiler

Select the JiP Initial Spawn. Change it's Order to "0"



Use magnets to apply a copy of the Initial Spawn to respawns on positions 1,3,4,& 6. Set Rotational Snap to 5 degrees and rotate each to match the respawn point.



This is how it should appear when complete.

Basic Grifball Guidelines.

Wall Hop Ledge /Clamber Ledge. The Clamber Ledge runs along the side walls of the court. Be sure that players are able to clamber along the entire length of the ledge since overlapping Forge items bay cause dead zones. Test in Custom Games, not in Forge Mode.

The Wall Hop Ledge is the (16' high) ledge running behind the Goal/Spawn wall. It is intended to provide a ledge so the Ball Runner may hop over defenders. This wall should be thin enough to NOT allow players to clamber along it's entire length. This is very important as clambering momentarily takes control away from the player.

Perches. There should be no high ledges outside of normal Hammer strike range. Players are able to reach astounding heights using the Hammer physics so any perches above 2x the height of the Clamber Wall should be avoided, or made inaccessible with Invisible Blockers. The ball should not be able to get caught on a high ledge.

Obstructions. The map's geometry should never impede player or ball movement. Players should be able to navigate the perimeter of the court while running backwards without getting stuck on the geometry.

Cover. Simply put, there is no cover in Grifball. Any standing player must be able to locate all standing active opposing players, at all times, from all locations on the court. There may be exceptions depending on the court layout, for example an undulating floor may hide a crouching player, but may never hide a standing player.

Containment. In most cases players and the ball should not be able to leave the play space. The map should be totally enclosed (i like to use the term water-tight) using solid, or invisible walls. The upper walls and ceiling must be completely enclosed.

There are examples of open courts, like Skylark, where players are able to fall off the walls at the goal ends of the court. For this type of court the rules are: 1. Players must not be able to stand on any surface out side of the playable space (keeping in mind the Hammer dynamics). 2. The ball must not be able to land on any surface outside of the playable space, or be able to leave the court from under the height of the top of the Clamber Wall. 3. There must be a Kill Volume Instant directly under the level of the floor so falling players respawn as soon as possible. 4. The court must be contained completely within Kill Volumes Instant, but you may leave a bit of a buffer zone so players do not accidentally die while walking on the Clamber Wall.

Smooth Floor. Grifball players like to use the Slide so any imperfections in the floor surface can kick you out of a slide. There should be zero visible bumps (it's allowed for the Ball Spawn and Goals but they should be as low as possible).

Hazards. The court should never hurt the player or obstruct normal game play. For instance a player should never see the 10 second countdown of a soft kill volume, or encounter a hard kill volume, within the normal play space of the court (this includes the Running Start room). Normal Physics items like Traffic Cones and other decorative items should be avoided since a Hammer strike will turn them into projectiles. Grifball players have no Shields/Low Damage Resistance and are very easy to kill with unsecured items.

Performance. Your map should feature solid frame rate performance, little to no Z-Fighting, and not be too visually distracting to players.

You may deviate from this spec as you wish but keep in mind that altering the layout may lessen your chances of your court being used for official Grifball League play. However, don't let that stop you from being creative and coming up with fresh new ideas. We've had very popular Half-Pipe and Low-Gravity courts in Matchmaking, so don't let this tutorial restrict your fresh and original ideas.


Also. THERE'S NO KILLBALLS IN GRIFBALL!!!
[edit] we now allow the small Killballs as decoration but keep them to a minimum.

Special note for Live Streaming Courts: In order to allow your court to be featured in a Grifball Live Stream you must use the above Template/Prefab system. Replace "Grifball 4v4 Run Starts" with "Grifball LIVE Elements", and replace "Grifball 4v4 Containment" with "GrifballLIVE Containment". You should Save As... a new version of your court and apply the Live Stream Prefabs so you have two versions of the court.

Once your court is complete go to the Map Submission tool and select Halo 5 Grifball.

You may also submit your court to the GrifballHUB Map Forum where there is a good chance Grifball League players will download and actually play on your court. Go to the Submit Maps and Gametypes Here thread and follow the posting instructions. Shortly after Taco will then make a thread for your court in the map forum so others may download and test your court.

The next post will describe how to use Prefabs on existing courts.

[edit] Added descriptions for Cover and Hazards on Dec 31, 2016.