Exhibition, recently known as Velocity is a unique asymmetrical competitive map placed on the ground floor of Sandbox. The attacker and defender base fit in perfectly with the sandy atmosphere along with the cover. Exhibition is not your average two base asymmetrical Sandbox map. Exhibition looks and feels like it is another map of it's own. You will feel like it was sitting right next to Epitaph as an option in the pre-game lobby. The neatly geomerged bases make the map feel like it was a full map at one time... But over time was covered in sand. Don't be surprised if the aesthetics catch your eye in the middle of a battle rifle firefight. Just don't focus too much of your attention on the amazing structures though... This is still a serious fight. The attackers might have a slightly less distance to travel in order to reach the rocket launcher, but that doesn't mean they will be the first to get the rocket launcher. The defenders have catwalks to their advantage... The attackers have... Well, the ghost, and a couple less catwalks that lead out of their base. I'm pretty sure that your party will have a hard time letting go of Exhibition... Don't worry though. Exhibition plays out well with every gametype, so you'll be able to keep your party entertained for hours without ever having to switch the map. The creation of Exhibition started about a month ago when we had lost our internet connection due to... Well. Exhibition started out as just another geomerged double box that represented the defender base. And if you have been following Velocity for as long as I've had it hidden on my hard drive, then you would know how much I struggled with coming up with the idea for the attacker base. At first I just started out with a geomerged large block that represented the attacker base, and then, like the defender base, I built on from there. The hand started out as four tear drop merged large blocks symmetrical to each other. From there I geomerged each at a box's height stacked on a tall box. The thumb was added recently when I remembered that hands have four fingers and a thumb. I was also recently told that the pinky finger is smaller than the rest of the fingers... I looked at my hand and realized my mistake. Just pretend it's a monter hand that has four of the same sized fingers and one odd looking thumb. Exhibition has been the toughest map to make because of all the accurate geomerging and interlocking... I'm glad the gameplay is as good as the map looks. A famous aqueduct on Earth located in New Mombasa was the only source of storing water for the civilians that lived there. But on that nightmarish day when the forces of both Covenant and Brute armies rained down on Earth they destroyed everything. However the Brute Chieftain caught sight of this beautiful structure and had to have it. He ordered both Brute and Covenant forces to carry the aqueduct off to a specific location on The Ark. The Brute and Covenant forces did so, but without knowing that specific location was defended by Forerunner forces at the time. The Forerunners saw the aqueduct and recognized it as a structure they built a very long time ago that the Humans on Earth came and stole from them. The Forerunners opened a portal to Sandbox, and the aqueduct slipped through along with the Covenant and Brute forces. Anything living that had traveled with the aqueduct is long dead by now. But something tells us that the aqueduct is still there. Although hidden by the sands of time... It is still there... I recommend playing with 8-12 players. Exhibition plays with all default gametypes. Battle Rifle Starts Are Required! Assault Exhibition works best with one-sided Assault matches due to the fact that it is an asymmetrical map. However Exhibition is set up for every Assault gametype. Teamwork is necessary when playing Assault, as the game plays out just like a VIP match. Each player on the attacker team must stick closely with the bomb carrier but not too close. Each player on the defender team must know the location of every power weapon on the map in order to gain the advantage. The needler, the rocket launcher, and the sniper rifle are the main weapons each player should look out for. Capture The Flag Just like Assault, Exhibition plays best with one-sided Capture The Flag matches. I, and others have found this to be Exhibition's sweet spot. Like most asymmetrical maps Capture The Flag is the favorite gametype among everybody in the crowd. Know your sniper rifle locations and that will make the biggest difference between winning or not. Infection The zombies spawn in the attackers base, and the humans spawn in the defenders base. Being that the defenders base is really huge, I'm sure you will get a kick out of this gametype! Whether it's Save One Bullet, or Hide And Seek. I'm sure you are your party will have a fun time! Juggernaut Exhibition is set up for Juggernaut but hasn't been tested yet. Most likely it will play out like it does on any other map you've played Juggernaut on. But who's to say it plays well on Exhibition? King of The Hill King of The Hill is either your favorite gametype or it's your least favorite. The hill locations are excellent but it all depends on what gametype the players favor the most. King of The Hill isn't my favorite on Exhibition, but it could be yours. Oddball The oddball is located in the middle of the map, and there is no way to get the oddball out of the map. With FFA I would try and keep the maximum amount of people at 6 or 7, but with teams it plays with the regular 8-12. I have found there to be no camping issues on the map, and there really isn't a superior place to keep the Oddball. Slayer The spawn points on Exhibition are set up for both FFA Slayer and Team Slayer. Although like on Guardian some players might spawn closer to a power weapon than others, you will face no spawn killing issues. For FFA I would keep the maximum amount of players at 8, and for team games it plays with the regular 8-12. Battle Rifle starts are highly recommended in every gametype, but for Slayer it matters the most. Territories Every type of Territories gametype works on Exhibition just fine. And I'm pretty sure it will be better than King of The Hill. Like I said, it all depends on what the players enjoy most. Every gametype is fun, but it all depends on each individual player's opinion. VIP Exhibition isn't set up for Rocket Race. But then again who attempts to play Rocket Race on a competitive map anyway? VIP plays out just like Assault but instead of a bomb carrier you have a VIP. And instead of the player picking up the bomb to become the bomb carrier, the player is randomly chosen upon death. 5 Battle Rifles - 30 Second Respawn - 2 Spare Clips Yes, you may be wondering why there are so very few battle rifles on Exhibition. Well it's mainly because of the horrible item limit on Sandbox and the budget. If not for the OLN I could have continued placing battle rifles on Exhibition despite the budget. I was at $0 and yet battle rifles were still a placeable object. But due to the OLN I couldn't place any. So the problem was fixed by telling you Exhibition require battle rifle starts. 2 Shotguns - 90 Second Respawn - 1 Spare Clip Despite the size of Exhibition there are still tight corners and places easy to hide in and pop out just to one shot the enemy without them even knowing it. Every map needs a shotgun, so why not have two of them? 2 Sniper Rifles - 120 Second Respawn - 1 Spare Clip The mistake was not made where the defending team has a sniper rifle in their base. So thank me for that you pathetic attackers. But beware, this only happens in asymmetrical matches, in symmetrical matches each sniper rifle spawns in each base. 2 Brute Spikers - 90 Second Respawn - 1 Spare Clip Every map needs dual wieldable weapons... Right AZN FTW? 2 Plasma Rifles - 90 Second Respawn Like I said before... EVERY normal competitive map needs dual wieldable weapons... Needler - 90 Second Respawn - 1 Spare Clip I have had a needler in every one of my maps so far. So why not my best map? 2 Brute Shots - 120 Second Respawn - 1 Spare Clip I was once told the defenders needed a weapon that would destroy the ghost. Well here you go... It's a shame you didn't notice it before. It's right in front of both bases! Rocket Launcher - 120 Second Respawn - 1 Spare Clip There was this guy who told me the rocket launcher needed to be moved somewhere else because the attackers could reach it before the defenders. I don't remember his name, but I tested his logic and both people who raced for it reached it at the same time. Unless you have a vehicle and the other guy doesn't, this is bound to be the hot spot for a couple minutes at a time. 3 Covenant Carbines - 30 Second Respawn - 2 Spare Clips Their only on Exhibition because I know they are better than battle rifles. Pick it up... It won't bite you. 2 Maulers - 90 Second Respawn - 1 Spare Clip I was almost tempted to rid Exhibition of both maulers when I found out nobody was using them. But then I was afraid the budget wouldn't come back. Nobody disliked them, right? Ghost - 90 Second Respawn This is what seperates an attacker from a defender. The defenders have a large base. The attackers have a ghost... 2 Warthogs - 150 Second Respawn At first I had a ghost spawn at the defender base during asymmetrical games. But I had to get rid of it due to weapons on the map being more important. It's a shame to... It would make the gameplay so much better. 3 Frag Grenades and 4 Plasma Grenades If you read the story the map is based around you would have realized both Covenant and Brute forces were a part of this map. But the Brutes lived longer than the Covenant forces and only their grenades were left behind... All the Covenant forces used their grenades to go kamikaze. Wait... No. A recent update just ruined this entire story. Sorry about that! Bubble Shield - 60 Second Respawn Out of all seriousness I have seen this used in every Capture The Flag match. I have no idea who finds it and throws it out there, but it just happens. Trip Mine - 90 Second Respawn Located nearest the attacker base this usually ends up blowing up their own ghost to tell you the truth... Regenerator - 60 Second Respawn Placed in the same spot it is placed on default Sandbox this will come in handy during every gametype. Just as long as you have a shotgun, mauler, oddbal, flag, etc... Overshield - 120 Second Respawn One of the most recently added gameplay changes to Exhibition is the overshield. The flag carrier picks it up as he's juggling the flag towards his base. The bomb carrier picks it up before planting the bomb, and the purple elite picks it up right before getting smashed by the ghost. Power Drain - 90 Second Respawn This can't effect gameplay much, can it? Well it does... It's placement is most excellent, provided that the attackers are headed the correct direction. 2 Mongooses - 30 Second Respawn I was told that Exhibition needed mongooses, so here they are. Don't worry, nothing was removed from Exhibition to make way for these mongooses. MAP UPDATES Version 1.1 Update Minor spawn issues fixed Every spawn point moved Sniper rifle at attacker base moved Sniper rifle at defender base moved More spike grenades placed around the map Bubble shield moved Second sniper rifle that spawned in asymmetrical games removed Needler placed against cover Shotgun at attacker base moved Version 1.2 Update Spawn points redone King of The Hill hill locations redone Sniper rifle at defender base set to spawn in both asymmetrical and symmetrical games Shotgun at attacker base moved to opposite side Plasma rifles at attacker base moved farther away Version 1.3 Update Spawn points redone again (Thanks Bartoge!) Starting points not overlapping spawn points Tunnel structures redone Overshield structure created Mauler placed where needler was Needler placed where plasma rifles were Plasma rifles placed next to trip mine Rocket launcher placed on weapons holder Power drainer and wall structure added near blue base Regenerator placed underneath the arch by red base Warthogs moved to more convenient places on Exhibition ATLAS LINK
Whoa-This looks like the best competitive map I've ever seen. The walkways are beautiful and the hand looks so awesome and unique. But the most incredible thing looks like the blue base. The walls and wedges are all perfectly geomerged. (from looks)I really am shocked. Yea, uhh-Flawless, Perfection, Epicness. I have never given a map over a perfect 5/5, but this one looks like it could top that. 5.1/5 Remember this is all from looks, I will get back to you on gameplay. Seriously though, everything looks phenominal. Wow, Wow . . . and WOW.
Great job. I saw the little sneak peak you made before, and i must say that this map is really well balanced and looks really fun to play on. All the geo merging must take forever though im sure it wa all worth it, this will be really fun to play on and looks really fun for assault.
Well, it looks like you beat me to using a hand in a map... I'm still going to do mine though, its too far along to change now (don't worry, its a lot smaller than yours) But seriously, this is very well forged. I know I am not patient enough to do that much geomerging, but you are I guess. Good job, I love one sided ctf and king of the hill. Don't forget infection, everyone loves that.
Damn. All the overhead road areas make it feel like hang em high from previous halo games but it looks a hell of a lot better. I really could'nt imagine a gametype that could not work with that map. All of the structures look great. I want to get on it right now and play assault on it but I no longer have gold membership. Overall you presented it great like you usually do, and the map looks like something no one will be deleting soon.
I checked this one out in forge right after i saw this post. The pictures impressed me a lot and I really want to get a game on the map but don't have many people to play it with =(. After looking at this creation of yours though, I thought it would play excellent with One Flag as you said. Everything I saw was almost flawless and I loved the red base a lot. Your geomerging was top notch and there's not much I can complain about. Great map and keep up the good work. It should pay off one day.
My jaw dropped when I saw blue base. I will admit that I didn't reD the whole description but I did catch the weapons section. The map aesthetically looks amazing, and aesthetic maps are the only maps I like to play consistantly. They give you a drive of realism and are attractive to the forger. This map is a keeper 5/5 =D
.....WOW! Simply amazing, this map looks insane. The geomerging and interlocking looks near perfect and some of the ideas are incredible! I dont think I'll ever be able to come even close to this, you are a Pro forger, pure and simple.
This looks brilliant and looks like it would play brilliantly. I love BTB maps that involve geo-merging (I am working on one myself, though I must say yours is much, much smoother) so you have my download. Blue base is fantastic. I forsee this becoming another personal favourite like Celestial did
Very well detailed explanations of game variants. Thanks. I can see that you have put a lot of time and effort not only into the map itself, but the story and all other nice bits that this thread has. Imo, this map deserves a feature. Well done mate.
This map is incredible. When I tested it, the game play was smooth and the layout of the map worked really well for all game types. The interlocking and geomerging is flawless and you can tell that you spent allot of time making in no less than perfect. You can see just from the detail you have in this thread how much time you've spent on it. I have a more in depth review/feedback in the feedback forums for the testers guild. It was really hard to pick something out of this map that was 'bad', you know, something for you to improve on because to be honest, it was all good. You have it down to a tee what it is that good competitive maps need.
i hear you about the good maps getting buried, but i resently made a 12 player map and have enough trouble getting players, but i was on this map today in forge, oh my god the spawns were horendous you had little clusterf***s of spawns in the D base, like literally sets of 4 spawns. i havent played this but i know how spawns work and those dont! i was really impressed with the geomtry of the map, especially the hand good job, but test more and i think youll find flaws
Conker, I am going to ask you again: Was this map inspired by Tetradymite? The layout for the most part is exactly the same idea, except for the addition of middle turf. The Claw = The Hand, The geometric styles of blue and red are direct echoes of Tetradymite, and hell, it seems that the only thing you did to change the map was move some of the in-base paths on red and add lots of pretty geomerges. I don't mean to sound like an asshole here, but some of those geomerges turned out poorly, specifically some of the Huge Blocks at blue. In terms of layout changes, you did move blue back a significant amount, but nearly every other part of the geometry layout screams Tetradymite. I ran a couple of tests in hopes that you perhaps had been able to make a better Tetradymite than the original. Spawns were worse than the spawns that Sage tried to put into Tetradymite, and they turned out pretty terribly. Also, the weapon placement felt very off. In one game, blue team spawned with immediate access to a sniper and a shotgun, while red had nothing to counter. Blue's best player, and absolutely ridiculous sniper, grabbed both of these, and went on a running riot by spawncamping with BOTH. I will give you props though on your Forge skills. It appears that you are getting better as a forger, but your design sense needs improvement. Also, you received a lot of feedback from your sheduled test, but you didn't listen to any of it and just went ahead and posted the map. I am sorry, but you should've at least tried to put some more effort into weapon balance and spawns after the test, if not fixing some of the bad merges at various points around the map.
Well, call me impressed enough to have downloaded it and given it a shot. I thought it looked relatively good from the pictures, though some of it looked better in the shots, it lived up physically in person. I think the map is designed fairly well, so Ill move on to the only things that matter, constructive criticism. Now, I have seen that you arent much for negative feedback, but Im not really a good bullshitter, so Im just gonna be thoroughly honest with you. Spawns | They worked okay, but couldve been improved upon. I found myself spawning in areas i didnt want to be, and occasionally within crossfire. If you want this map to be the best it can be, I advise rethinking some of the spawns. Attackers Base | This base looks all perty n junk, but its quite... unprotected in any manner. I think you were too focused on how it looked [hi chips!] and not enough on how dangerous it is to be there. For example, If I was in red base, I could pick up that pretty little sniper and say... walk right up the giant dune behind me and stand there with a clear open view to 75% of Blue teams spawns. Weapons | My problem wasnt so much with the weapons you chose, but where you put them and how you placed them. Several of them are placed in areas that Id have to travel out of my way to get. Such as the spikers on the "shelf". Really... a shelf? The other major thing is leaning weapons against walls that normally wouldnt be. Plasma Rifles look ridiculous how you've placed them, and the bubble shield couldve been effectively placed laying down in the center of where it is, but you instead chose to lean it up off to the side. This not only looked dumb, but i also have to swerve to grab it, instead of just picking it up on my natural path. I advise you to consider placing the weapons in more traveled areas, and with less detours to grab them. Other than all that, I found it somewhat enjoyable. Im not gonna say I loved it, because I didnt, but I think you're getting somewhat better at designing. Im gonna say ya need to think things through a little more, and learn how to take criticism a little better as well.
The map itself is amazing and it has an amazing presentation. The thing tha caught my eye was how both bases are merged into the sand. I also like the structures you put in such as the Hand and the middle turf. The only thing that i have a problem with on this map is on the red base the double wall is slanted, but thats just my opinion. Great job.
Another Tetradymite? Well damn. I wouldn't be surprised if this map was nominated for a feature as well. There are way too many people amongst forgehub that are captivated by a map's aesthetics; so much so that they do not bother to assess how well the map actually plays. If the layout of this map resembles that of Tetradymite, I could only assume it will play in a similar fashion. Do you know how much I enjoyed playing on Tetradymite? I didn't. The sides were uneven, the weapon placement was bad, and I did not see the function of many aesthetic structures. If this map has the same flaws, then I won't even bother to download. I've seen far too many of these maps work their way to fame due to good aesthetics, and I will no longer be part of these map's successes.
I'm not going to lie, the merging is pretty epic. There's just a few minor bumps. The spawns, however, are place in the most odd way I've ever seen. They are in little groups that are bound to not work good. I have seen maps with spawns like this but none of them that I have seen play good. I'm confused as to why you did this.
The layout is great. Big problem is not enough cover. Add some more over and it will be much better. Thats really the only problem, but it is a big one. The foring is nice and neat though.
MAP UPDATES Version 1.1 Update Minor spawn issues fixed Every spawn point moved Sniper rifle at attacker base moved Sniper rifle at defender base moved More spike grenades placed around the map Bubble shield moved Second sniper rifle that spawned in asymmetrical games removed Needler placed against cover Shotgun at attacker base moved No major structural changes were made. So I have not yet found the need to update the screenshots. I tested Exhibition after the changes were made and it plays a lot better than before. Please download and rate the map... I am still sad about losing the 76% rating because that was the highest I've ever been at, but oh well I guess.
These were things you needed to fix before you posted the map. I talked to a couple of the people that tested the map and almost all the things you fixed for v1.1 were mentioned. Just because you test the map once, does not mean it is ready to be posted, especially if the testers gave you advice on how to update the map so it plays better. Try not to get cocky and think that just because you made a map with a lot of geomerging that it's going to play amazingly the first time you play it. That will almost never happen, especially for a relatively inexperienced forgers like me and you. We both set up tests for our maps on the same day. I had already tested mine before then. You posted yours the next day. I'm still testing and changing mine.