The Blood Bowl

YouTube - The Blood Bowl by Prodigious 7k
Thanks to Sir Shazmanoid for the video! Isn't he awesome?
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History of the game
In the spoiler is a quick history of the game going back to the good old pre-sandbox days of Halo 3.

Spoiler

I realise nobody is going to read this block of text, but I felt I needed to do it. You know, just in case someone calls shenanigans.

June 2008 – I had started toying with forge after getting my xbox and made a game called “rats in a on barrel” (like the phrase “Like shooting fish in a barrel!” except they where brown like rats, that’s why I called it rats, not fish) which was a zombie with a sniper in a box, shooting down at humans running wildly in a circle around 3 single box’s across in diameter. Which was kind of cool, and I might remake some time.

June 2008 – A friend fixes the map but I don’t like that I didn’t fix it so I called it “rats in a on barrel CRAQ”, (CRAQ being hidden CRAP!!!!!!!! Hate you!!!).

July/august-ish 2008 – I was randomly in forge with a friend trying to think of an awesome mini game that is awesome when we stuck a person on a platform with a rocket launcher, and another person on a mongoose (I made a mongoose to escape his rockets) it was amazingly fun. So we finished the first “MONGOOSE IN A on BARREL CRAQ VM” (VM meaning version with mongooses). From then on I spent a long, long time playing it, showing it off, fixing it and experimenting with different obstacles, jumps etc.

September 2008 – “MONGOOSE IN A on BARREL CRAQ VM9” was finished along with the series, or so I thought.

April 2009 – After finally being bothered to post my first map on forge hub (after being a member for 10 months) I posted “MONGOOSE IN A on BARREL CRAQ VM9”. To be honest, it went down horribly. Not one good comment, even though everyone outside forums that I had shown it to had loved it.

May 2009 – I discovered “Grifball High” and instantly jumped in and made "Sky Bubble Craq". It was rubbish, the spawning was bad and the area was too small. The only thing worth keeping about the map was the gametype. Up until now the series had only supported a primitive version of the infection gametype you see today. This new map supported a primitive version of the KOTH gametype. Just as the other map, it got flamed and shouted at for “stealing” the Grifball map. I did have permission to use his map by the way.

August 2009 – I begin work on the next sky bubble version called “Bubbly kids” after my Internet went down for an hour, when I showed my friends (who had been playing and following the series since the very first) the base circle because that was all I had done, the comments went as follows:
Rat 437 – “Well it’s not exactly a square is it.”
shooter 517 – “It’s nothing special, it’s just a circle.”
TULLY13 – “This is awesome prod.”

August 2009 – I posted "The Meteor Brothers" A tidied up version of BARREL CRAQ VM9 along with the sky bubble version "Bubbly Kids". This pack got much more good feedback and went down really well. It was a regular play right up until Reach came out.

June-August 2010 – I began work in my mind on the new version. I always knew I would remake the game in Reach but at the time I thought I wouldn't start work on it until months after the release of Reach because of a time to get used to the new way of forging. Well that went out of the window about four or five days after release when I began work on the blood bowl.

September – October 2010 - These last couple of months have been a very intense period of testing a tweaking which leads you to the end product you see here today. Two years in the making and I still play it whenever I get host. Now that's replayability.

If you read that, I take my hat off to you, if you understood it, I respect you even more.

So what is The Blood Bowl?
You're lucky xForgery, because I love you so much and you're my favourite forge site, you get 24 hours exclusivity. Anyway, welcome, to The Blood Bowl. It is in the shape of everyone’s favourite food consummation vessel, the bowl. I started construction of the map about four or five days after Reach came out and I was happy with it a few days ago. I've had a huge number of people during testing that said that they really enjoy the map and gametype combination. I tested this a lot, and I’m not just saying that, it has been in testing for a solid month every day, two or three times a day.


What about gametypes?
The Blood Bowl is the ultimate venue for the long-running game-show, “Monday Night Goosin'” and the brand new spin-off “Tuesday Night Goosin'”. These both run off the same basic principle: One group of people have mongooses and their goal is to survive as long as possible. The other group have to kill the other group as quickly as possible using the wide array of weapons available.

There are two variations of this core game-play mechanic, the first of which is the Infection-based, “Monday Night Goosin'”. It plays best with 10 players. The game starts off with two players (armed with Rockets and either a grenade launcher, plasma pistol or concussion rifle) in the Shooter Boxes and up to fourteen in the bowl. The contestants in the bowl get five points if they're the last one alive and the shooters get one point for each contestant they kill. When a contestant is killed they become a shooter.

The second variation is the new spin-off called “Tuesday Night Goosin'” and is similar to the above variation but is team based and has a different scoring system. It plays best with 12-16 players. In this version the shooters (armed with concussion rifles, later on more powerful weapons spawn) and contestants start each round with equal numbers. The blue team will start as shooters, and the red team will start as contestants. There is a hill that covers the area that the contestants can drive about in. The contestants get a point for every second they are in the hill but they do not respawn, so when they are all killed they will stop getting points and the round will end. The shooters cannot get points but at the end of the round the teams swap over. Each team gets two turns at being contestants and two turns at being shooters.

Weapons


The rocket lawn chair is the staple of this game, a one-shot-kill weapon with a slow arrival time. Timing is key with this baby, but used well it's formidable.



The concussion rifle is the starting weapon of the team variant and a great weapon for barraging and flipping the contestants.



The pro pipe is great for stunning the enemy and dealing lots of damage with direct hits. Its timed detonation is also great for taking people out by surprise.



The plasma launcher is very effective and only spawns on Mondays. This baby has a short range for locking on, but grenades can follow the player for ages without them realising, with devastating results when contact is made.



The fuel rod is great because of it's high damage and fast firing rate. A definite one to use if you get the chance.



The plasma pistol is a very underrated weapon which can stun the contestants for longer than the grenade launcher, but it requires a lot of skill to use effectively.



Frag grenades are good for flipping the enemy and taking down shields. These take the most skill to use, so only the best of the best can use them well.Plasma grenades also take a lot of skill to use but it's worth it for the street cred.


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Armour permutations
If you're a contestant on a mongoose and fancy something a little different you can use your armour ability. You chose these at the start, but you cannot use them unless you are under the influence of a custom power-up. There is a custom power-up which spawns thirty seconds into the game in the centre of the bowl and allows you to use your armour ability unlimitedly for fifteen seconds. In addition it increases your running speed from one hundred percent, to one hundred and fifty.

You will get a choice of either:

• Armour lock – This baby lets you sponge an unlimited amount of damage for fifteen seconds which may be the difference between winning and losing. However you tend to be screwed once the time runs out.
• Evade – Evade is my favourite if the armour abilities, and the most fun. With the extra speed form the CPU you can evade faster and with more agility than your mongoose bound team-mates but you better find someone to pick you up before your speed is cruely taken away and you have the long and agonizing walk to your mongoose with rockets pouring towards your direction.
• Drop Shield – this baby is underused but very useful, if you hold down the button to use it you have unlimited drop shield for fifteen seconds which will not only keep you save but any of your team-mates that come in for cover. It will also save your mongoose, giving you a good chance of escape after your time is up.

Why Danny?
If you take the time to download and play this you'll see that every class is called Danny. This is because I have a friend called Danny who is a huge Halo fanboy, but doesn't have Reach. So a few of my friends decided that every game we make will have Danny as the name of every class so that we confuse him when he finally gets the game. That and i find it funny how almost every game starts with a joke about it. Like "Danny is the best class", "Danny is a terrible class" and "Which class should I pick, Danny or Danny". I have a silly sense of humour, I know. It makes me chuckle though.


Thanks
I have far too many people to thank individually, but I would like to thank everyone who supported the previous versions, all of the testers that gave me so much useful feedback, and the couple of people that helped with the aesthetics of The Blood Bowl. You guys are awesome!


Pictures
You've read a lot, have some pretty pictures to look at.

Overview 1


Overview 2


Overview 3


Spawn camera – Monday Night Goosin'


Contestants spawn camera – Tuesday Night Goosin'


Contestants spawn


Contestants spawn


Shooters spawn camera – Tuesday Night Goosin'


Shooters spawn area


Shooters spawn area


Shooters spawn area


Shooters box


Shooters box


POV 1


POV 2


POV 3


Custom power-up


Armour lock


Evade (John Woo style!!)


Evade (Superman style!!)


Drop shield 1


Drop shield 2











Download
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Thank you!

I see your point, and in theory this should be so, but there are a number of reasons why this isn't the case.

In Tuesday Night Goosin' there is a hill taking up the entire bowl, which gives a more team-based approach and feel to the map. It also gives a player motivation to live longer because he gets more points that way. This KOTH factor also means it's more intense for the Shooters because they have to stop the others at all costs so that they can win. So overall the infection gametype is great fun , but if you get bored of it and want something more competitive then the KOTH variant is a very nice step-up form it. You'll also find that the KOTH one is different because instead of starting out with the powerful weapons and it being the same, you start off with concussion rifles and gradually more powerful weapons spawn. Which really mixes up the gameplay.

You also said all they have to do is drive in circles, however there is the custom power-up which allows them to use the armour ability they chose at the start. Each of these has their own unique advantages and disadvantages. Those who live the longest take odd lines on their mongoose in order to be unpredictable. It's such a large area it's easy to take figure-of-eights and other lines to avoid getting hit and spice things up a little.

Finally you said about it being repetitive for the shooters, but this is not the case because there are so many weapons to choose from. In the infection variant the zombies have a choice of either a plasma pistol, concussion rifle, and pro pipe to go with their rocket launcher. They also have a fuel rod cannon and a plasma launcher that spawn up the top they can use too. I found that people experiment with their own weapons the more they play and they enjoy getting better with them. If anything it gets more fun the more you play it. I personally prefer to use the rocket, i have friends that use the pro pipe and a couple that rape with the plasma pistol believe it or not.

You have to play the map to get a feel for the flaws because I tested this solidly every day for a month to get the game-play absolutely perfect. And i don't mean to brag but i think i achieved it. Give it a go and let me know how repetitive it gets.

 

Thanks for the nice comments guys. I really appreciate the time you're taking to look at my map.

Just a little update on the map. It has been featured on ReachingPerfection.com and is topping the feature vote at xForgery.com. It's also looking good for the October forgery challenge at xForgery. The map is going to be showcased on G0DSR3GR3T's youtube channel and I've also submitted it to be showcased on the youtube channel, "ForgeWorldMaps". So fingers crossed this isn't the last you've heard from The Blood Bowl.

Sorry guys about the thumbnail, it's been a long time since I posted a map here and I was used to the xForgery thumbnail system where any image (within reason) can be submitted as a thumbnail. I didn't know about the rules, had I known and I would have put a different image. It has now been changed to an image of the map as requested.

Thanks again guys, I couldn't have done any of this without you.

 

Thanks buddy. The guy who made the video is a friend of mine called Sir Shazmanoid. He's a very under-appreciated editor and will help anyone with captured and such.

By the way I did get the feature, the thread is up there now. Link.

There IS a KOTH version where a hill occupies the area in which the mongooses drive. This is the team version, "Tuesday Night Goosin'". This variant is in the same file set as the map and other gametype. I didn't explain it very well in the description, my bad.

 

Lol i've had the same experience. Still fun as hell though! xD

We tried that, but thought it was much better to have the custom power-up system. Plus it lead to the introduction of my favourite part of the game... EVADE!!! Lol.

Oh by the way if I hadn't already convinced you to download, The map was eventually showcased on G0DSR3GR3T's YouTube channel. The video is below is it. It's a part of the video on the OP and with a little Q&A later on. Enjoy!

YouTube - Showcase Sunday #2 "Prodigious 7k"

 

YouTube - Halo Reach Epic Maps::Episode 17 "The Blood Bowl"