Sandbox Fifle Dunes

Map: Fifle Dunes

Gametype: Crash Events


Wide shot




The idea behind this map is to have suspenseful fights in an atmospheric environment. The map is pitch black, aside from the middle, which we've done everything we could think of to turn people away from, and four camps which are scattered around the large map. The camps hold an assortment of weapons and equipment, as well as defensive barricades.


Communications Camp (with Hornet Camp dimly in the background)




Hornet Camp (with Fortified Camp dimly in the background)




Fortified Camp






Excavation Site






Communications Camp and Hornet Camp -- the shortest distance between two camps.




The instinct of everyone playing, we assume, will be to flock to whichever camp is closest to them due to its wealth of supplies, and because you really cannot see anything when you are out in the middle of the dunes. The danger in this, though, is that once you get to the camp, you cannot see anything outside of the camp itself, whereas everyone outside the camp can see you. This does not make the camps suicidal, considering the size of the map and the low probability that anyone will be close enough to kill you at the exact moment which you enter the camp, but it would be dangerous to hang around in one for too long. For this reason, the majority of the fighting will likely be done in either the dunes, where the combatants will be blind and the pauses between fights very tense, or in the camps, when two or more combatants enter at the same time.


A third person view of me. The camera is fairly close to me, but I am only faintly visible. If I were to back up another foot, I would be invisible.




A first person view in the same spot.




Approaching Hornet Camp.




Approaching Communications Camp.



There are a few other sources of light in the level -- flares, fire grenades, and a flamethrower -- and there is a transport hornet, which we felt comfortable with including since the pilot is as blind as everyone else, and the missile pod in one of the camps does not need sight to be effective. There are two snipers, both with very little ammo, as the size of the map lends a huge advantage to long range weaponry, regardless of how well you can see.

As the middle is unavoidably bathed in light, we've done everything we could to push people away from it (we placed kill balls and fusion coils all around it), but it is still not really dangerous enough to stop everyone from just jumping into the middle and playing the whole game out in there, in a very boring and ordinary fashion. We could build a wall around it, but that would be a pain, so instead we'd just ask that you just don't go in it, except to take a shortcut or to temporarily seek cover behind the dunes which enclose the middle.

You'll need to be open-minded to like this map, as fights play out uniquely, and there is an entirely new element to cope with. We plan to make a series of maps with this theme -- that being, dark and in the dunes of Sandbox -- suited for different gametypes. As for the darkness of the map, in case anyone would like to make a dark map of their own: it was made by combining the "Pen and Ink" and "Juicy" effects.

I mentioned building a wall around the middle before. If anyone would like to do this, or make any other alterations to the map, feel free. If someone does make a wall, I'd like to be notified so I could download that version.


Map creators were Gargutoid and Arthur Poopenstein.

 

Well, obviously you didn't get it. The allure in the map is not how the camps are constructed, but how their lighting and presentation fit with the darkness of the map. In the second screenshot, if I were to take off the effect, all you would see is a radio antennae, a barricade, and a couple of weapons on the ground, plus a useless blue light in the middle. Would it heighten the appeal of the map if you were able to see that? Not likely, because the contents of the camp are not what make it significant. What makes it significant is that it is a source of light in what is otherwise a completely dark level. Now, being that its significance rests entirely on the effects, what good would it do to lose the effects? If it is my skills in construction that you want to rate, I will save you the trouble: nothing in this map was remotely hard to build, and if it is the difficulty of making something which determines its worth, I will readily rate this map a 2/10.

I would also like to clarify that my above justification was not made in the hopes of persuading you to rate my map, which is an action you have held hostage pending my adherence to your demands. To this, I would tell you to pick a better hostage, because I can't imagine anything I care less about in the entire world than whether you rate my map or not. If you want so badly to see the map without the effects, then you can download it and remove them yourself.

Don't worry, I don't hate you, mainly because all of your suggestions rested on the assumption that I made the map for it to be a rowdy bit of fun. I made it because I liked the mood it presented, and I like to fight on it because of the tension that knowing someone is out there in the dark with the intention to kill you produces. I posted it to introduce the idea of maps in darkness, so that hopefully others would make more traditional "fun" maps with the same idea in mind, while mine was primarily for atmospheric purposes, and to create as close to a cinematic gaming experience as I could.

That being said, I'd like to address this:

Factoring in my above explanation, you can see how this is absurd, as the darkness and the scale are the only things which distinguish the map and provide its merit.




EDIT:

I just looked at your games, and as far as I can tell, you didn't even play the map. Everything I said before was said under the assumption that you had tested the map, and your impressions of its pace were set in stone, rather than just theory. I'll enlighten you, then. Something which you didn't consider, and neither did we when we were making the map, is that the feature of a name appearing above someone when you are aiming at them is very forgiving. You can aim at them from a very large distance, and not even be aiming directly at them, and their name will appear (the binoculars also assist in this, and it is very satisfying to actually be able to put those to use). We tested the map after making it, and this is always how we found each other, aside from when we used the "flashlights" (flares, fire grenades, and flamethrower), which also deserve recognition for altering the pace -- they do not just illuminate the immediate area. If you throw a fire grenade or a flare down, then stand directly beside it, Bungie's poor lighting engine allows you to see the entire level as if it had no lighting effect. You could be standing on one side of the circle, throw down a fire grenade, and see across to the opposite side very clearly.

To give a concrete value to the pace, I will tell you about the game we played after completing the map. It was 54 minutes long, of which were only fighting for about 15 of. In that 15 minutes, the two of us, on what is by far the largest map in the game, were able to get 19 kills altogether (10-9). That is over one kill per minute, which is not far off from an average head to head on Guardian. I imagine that with 16 players, there would be plenty of action, especially considering the attitude of most, which would compel them to find fights as easily as possible by focusing around the camps, which my friend and I did not do -- we mostly just circled the map, which is not a good way to find fights quickly, since we would often be going in the same direction, or pass each other without knowing.


EDIT:


The Flashlights


On the Perch




With a Flare




With a Fire Grenade




At the Obelisks




With a Flare

 

Moxus, you have clearly somehow taken offense to what I thought was a reasonable, plain, and fair response. I don't know how this was done, as I never delivered an insult, aside from the insult that is inevitably delivered by any disagreement, and if that is what offended you, then that was unavoidable. Not to say that if I had delivered an insult, it wouldn't be unsolicited, as your first post could not be described as anything but hellishly condescending.

As for the map's category, Casual is the closest matching of the ones provided. The only other one it could possibly be is Aesthetic, which has this description: "Submissions usually recreate scenes or objects from everyday life or works of fiction. This category also supports Machinima movie sets." My map matched none of those.

Now, you said you had played on maps like this one before. You mean ones that simulate night-time? If that is what you mean, I'd like to be directed to them -- not because I think you are lying, but because I would like to play them. I made my map because I searched for a map with the same effect, and couldn't find one.

You also suggested that my screenshots were not optimal in presenting the map, because they did not reveal every facet of gameplay. Well, that would be impossible, so big deal. I say that you suggested it because you said that a good presentation would leave the player familiar enough with the makeup of the map to feel confident in downloading it. I assume by "makeup" you mean composition or layout, which would refer to the physical attributes of the map, not their results when combined with the game's engine and basic components. My screenshots accurately conveyed all the physical attributes of the map -- a middle, and four camps scattered among vast spaces of darkness. Since it is incontestable that my screenshots conveyed all this, you must have meant the "every facet of gameplay" thing which is, as I said, impossible.

The rest of your post was meant to give weight to your earlier theorizing, which is unnecessary given the evidence I provided before -- that is, 19 kills in 15 minutes.

What I am referring to is passing each other due to taking laps with radically different radii, so that we pass each other while one person is doing a small lap around the very middle, and another is doing a large lap around the perimeter of the map. We would never pass right by each other, since we were constantly scanning our field of vision so that the name would pop up if an opponent was in view.

 

Ah, fantastic.

The rest of the post consisted of assertions that had very little foundation in evidence, and even went against in a few cases, for the purpose of offending. I assume that you wanted to offend because you didn't like my attitude, since it was not properly reverent of the forum hierarchy and customs, or was somehow a threat to your dominance; or maybe I have a quality that you don't, or am capable of something that you aren't. Any number of things could have set you off, but it doesn't much matter which, as I've drawn the attack out for what it was, and feel that I've rendered it adequately ineffective.


EDIT: I take back my "Ah, fantastic." None of those are as dark as I wanted.