Gaian Fury Creator: THE Fuglystick Track Name: Gaian Fury Map Name: Forge World Average lap time: 1:38 Description: This map features an obstacle on a race track that I haven't seen in a while. Exploding fusion coils. They are set up to launch or drop onto the course at various intervals so you never know when they drop. With the exception of the lone shortcut path on the course(the "blue" path), which has a few coils to make the path riskier, the main bulk of the fusion coils are set to launch on the final stretch of the track. Keep an eye out for the couple of landmines along the rest of the track as well. Now for the pics. As a heads up, these pictures are from a just slightly older version of the map. There is a redone ramp at the start to help racer's transition to the rest of the track(you can still just get on the track from the start too if you want) and only two aesthetic changes have been made. The only significant change was the addition of kill zones to keep people from falling off the track and landing farther ahead on the course. They would usually wind up having to do another full lap to get back to the checkpoint. - The Start From the start you head down the track and hit the gap jump over the entrance to the cave After you land follow the track up the big turn. Hit the man cannons to save some time. You can use the either of the two lower ones to hit the highest one for an extra boost if you know what you're doing At the top of the turn there are two paths. the bridge path is the main path. The "blue" path acts as a shortcut. Another shot of the two paths. The two paths meet up at the top of the cliff. Be careful on the blue path, however, as fusion coils will drop periodically that can potentially knock you off the track. Continue up the now-merged path to the next skytrack section You'll need speed to make it over the crest of this hill, but it makes for a cool stall at the apex, as well as the occasional wheelie down The uneven surface can make this part trickier than the rest of the track. You'll want to maintain control here... ...So you don't mess up heading into the drop At the bottom you move to the beach. Notice the sunken ship to your left Take a right into the cave. Here be landmines Exit the cave and head up the ramp to the final stretch of track. Almost there... Except you have to deal with an angry mountain god throwing "fireballs"(i.e.fusion coils) at you before you can make it to the finish Once you get past the angry diety, you're home free on your way to the finish. What inspired your creation? I was looking around forge world for possible places to make a track, and i noticed that the area opposite the island and adjacent to the cave had a really steep slope. I decided I wanted to make a racetrack taking people down that slope. How long did it take you to create this track? The track took me about 11 hours to make. It took another 4 or so for testing and tweaking over the course of about 5 days. What aspect of the track took you the longest to make? Getting the fusion coils to drop frequently enough to the point that it can be a challenge going through the "gods wrath" section, while at the same time not making it totally implausible to do so without getting hit.
One of my favorite race maps now. Like the idea of the shortcut with fusion coils, outstanding. 6/5, great map.
Enjoyment Having playtested this map, the experience proved to be one of the more enjoyable experiences of race I have had, including Halo 3 maps. I view myself as an average racer and this map was not so hard and narrow that it was impossible but challenging enough that I found enjoyment through making a particularly tight corner or fast lap time. This is a keeper, and any race fan should at the very least try this out. The changes from area to area kept my eyes away from the track, and occasioned in a landmine or fusion coil aided flip. After that I attempted to keep my eyes on the track which was easy enough given its pleasing veneer. My friends are unanimous in their agreement that they had fun on Gaian Fury.9/10 Balance Gaian Fury is a fair, undiscriminating map that allows multiple racers to blitz along and overtake easily on wide stretches and difficult turns that slow the leader down engaing all players with a hope to win. The split path allows for a different route to be taken with the narrow route being more difficult to race along but ranting a faster time than the easier, slightly longer route. The occasional congestion at tight locations like the beginning of the big descent were understandably unavoidable but occasionally a nuisance. Not often, but on one occasion I had a minor pile-up and several lanes closed off, leading to bumper to bumper traffic all the way to the city. 8/10 Durability In Halo 3 it would have been possible to break this map due to the overlapping sections, however this is not possible due to the numerous checkpoints that the Race gametype offers and have been placed. There are no map exploits that I have noticed and this serves as an example for the durability that race maps will now be constructed with. However, i found no mechanism for returning to the map if one fell out. In a v2, if there is one, teleporters to the track at a couple of locations could be useful. Also, the start was a little underwhelming and a spectacualar start could've created a great first impression. 8/10 Aesthetics The race itself is bump free and traverses several areas of Forge World enjoying vast differences in light and dark from the cave to the outside and speeding past trees and splashing through the coast line water. The juicy effect creates a more vivid experience and the varied use of objects creates noticeable differences on the track itself. I especially liked the narrow, alternate path. It simply looked stunning. I suspect that in other, future race maps there will be what I term 'major' aesthetic pieces that exist purely as eye candy. I suggest you jump on that bandwagon for any future maps although this in no way detracts from any map. 8/10 Originality As this is early days of Reach, any map that is sufficiently progressive or uses new areas of Forge World is effectively original. The use of a "new" area like the slope is nice, yet the map offers the same experience as H3 albeit longer due to expanded budget. This is the only area where this map falls down in. It does not provide an extraordinary and wacky experience in terms of an original idea. Original ideas are rare and hard to come by, however, this is not something that one should moan about as Gaian Fury remains a well crafted map. 7/10 I have to repeat my recommendation to any and all people. Seriously, well done. Overall: 8/10 N.B I am not a review hub member, nor is this a official review. I have simply borrowed their style.
http://www.forgehub.com/forum/reach-race-maps/106274-hogz-slaughter.html for the record. nice track tho. i like the hnad holding the kill ball on the high cliff. very nice bit of aesthetic flare.
i didn't read that thread, since I tend to focus moreso on the mongoose side of races, but I also have to mention that I left that forging/halotracks community around 2008, so I've probably missed quite a few things. Also,@ noklu, thanks for the review. In response to the aspect of falling out of the map and not having a way back in, I tried to design the map so that places where you fell off tended to land you in a kill zone or into the water, that way you would die and get respawned at the last checkpoint. Was there a particular place where you kept getting stuck off the track that I missed? As for aesthetics, I would have added more that can be seen from the track, but my budget by the end was under $100, so I was limited with the few aesthetic pieces I already had(god's hand, sunken ship, hill at the top, the occasional building on the side) I will definitely try to keep that in mind for the future though.
There was only one location where I fell off the map and there was no kill barrier there. It was a really unusual place, too, buT I can't remember where. I wouldn't worry about it though, I only did it once and I haven't seen anyone else do it since, so I wouldn't worry about it. In reference to the aesthetics, I can't say I noticed the things you did put in. There were there, sure, but they didn't stick out. Having aesthetics is different from having aesthetics, if you get what I mean. Others may pay more attention to those aesthetics, but I guess I only see uber awesome aesthetics. No biggie though, I'm terrible at aesthetics myself...
True, none of the aesthetics really stand out, except for maybe the sunken ship or the "god's hand." I tend to focus more on aesthetics after the track layout is finished, so I have less to work with/ideas to use.
Mmm, I see what you mean. It was really an afterthought suggestion on my part as well, so make of it what you will. Oh, and in terms of aesthetics, try to have the player facing an aesthetic piece rather than having it to the side or beneath, like the hand thingy you have.