Tidal

Let me start by personally thanking you for taking time to check out my map.
This is my first post on this forum; after receiving virtually no attention on the b.net, even after joining "community review" groups, I decided I'd come here to get some actual feedback.

Coincidentally, Tidal is also my first serious attempt at a balanced Slayer map. I made it in about 3 hours, and then spent about 5 hours with my friends conducting some limited playtesting and editing. It's tucked into the little cove next to the waterfalls and is perfectly symmetrical - mind you the spawns are on the line of symmetry, not on opposing sides of it. I'm not sure if this creates a problem, I did it to avoid stale gameplay.

In general, Tidal is intended for straight-up 4v4 Team Slayer. I went for balance and performance over gaudiness while still attempting to make it look tasteful and smooth. From my playtesting, gameplay flows very well; camping is nigh impossible, there are few exploitable parts of the map, and weapon control is constantly switching. It makes for fast-paced, frenetic fun that I think Reach could use a healthy injection of.

Note that the suggested player size max is 12. I added spawns to accommodate for 6-team Multi Team matches, but because I have not added any objectives, it can only support Multi Team Slayer. I have not playtested Multi Team as of yet.

Tidal hosts the following items:
-4 DMR
-4 Needle Rifle
-4 Frag Grenade
-4 Plasma Grenade
-2 Needler
-1 Machine Gun
-1 Rocket Launcher
-1 Grenade Launcher
-1 Energy Sword
-5 Health Station

Now onto the screenshots.


The Blue spawn. There's a grenade launcher and a needler there too. While Red doesn't receive similar treatment, I think their closer proximity to the sword makes up for it.


Red spawn. They spawn (marginally) closer to their rifles than Blue does, and they're also closer to the grav lift to access the circular base that hosts the sword, the second Needler, and the machine gun.


Use of the grav lift / one-way shield combo. Entering the circular base from Red spawn.


Combat in the base. The two 2x1 blocks hold Needle Rifle spawns. Machine gun at the top, needler underneath its roost, sword in the back of the bunker.

And though unfortunately not rendered, I have a 10-minute clip of a doubles match between myself and three friends, here.

I used to have more screenshots featuring the man-cannons and rocket launcher spawn, but sadly I don't anymore. That's why the video's there.

Any criticism is welcomed! I've already submitted this to Forgetacular, simply because entrants are allowed as many submissions as they please, assuming they're entered correctly. If you all think you have a way of making this better, I'll adjust it to your tastes and submit that one. Then it's whichever one Bungie thinks is better.
Thanks again!

EDIT: The new thumbnail pic features the rocket launcher spawn and mancannons, but is from an outdated version of the map, for what that's worth.

 

Thanks for that!

I'd add more screenshots, but seeing as I don't have Bungie Pro, my entire fileshare has to hold the submission screenshots until judging or the entry is invalidated.