So this is the Herodium, or what’s left of it.. The circular enclosure with four circular towers and the ramp down plus the colonnade section in front of the main tower are all the shapes, sense of scale and directional flow that I have tried to incorporate within Forge. It’s really now down to testing and refining it, to see if it is a miserable pile of secrets or a miserable pile of crap.. Setup for Team, FFA and all Objective modes (except Race/Invasion) best suited as a 4v4 map but it is setup for 16 players as well as all teams. Download here: http://www.bungie.net/Stats/Reach/FileDetails.aspx?fid=9875057&player=ACA3156 Weapons: Rockets 178s drop spawn Sniper 118s drop spawn Shotgun 90s Grenade Launcher 90s 6x DMRs 4x Needle Rifle 1x Concussion Rifle 2x Needlers 4x Plasma Pistols 1x Magnum Plenty of Plasma and Frag grenades Here is the Herodium rebuilt, Forge style(and my first ever Map Preview!).. -This is rounding the first corner from red initial spawn into the colonnade main hall -Blue side other end of the main hall -From the centre looking along the central ramp down into the colonnade main hall also looking at the two way teleporter which takes you to the top of that central main tower where the rockets are drop spawned on 178s timer. -Down the central ramp to Main Hall, most of the objective modes make use of the central podium in the hall -Shotgun at the back of the map which comes off the main hall, two teleporters(two-way) will quickly take to you up to the level above. -Looking up out of the main hall to the rest of the map -Ground level now looking over the colonnade hall Now there are a few more surprises or nice vistas but it has taken me ages to get this many pictures up so you will just have to download and play on it to see for yourself.. So there you have it, love to hear your thoughts and suggestions and hopefully get some testers so I can refine it, or dump it!.. cheers
Maps based off of historical structures are always neat, and it looks like you did a pretty good job here with Forge World's object set (If only Reach had a Sanbox equivalent ). Is this map meant to be more aesthetic or for gameplay? If the latter, I suggest maybe removing half of the columns in the main hall. It's kind of clustered in that area and might be difficult to move around easily. Some of the higher walkways are a little long too. Players don't like to be committed to a single path for too long, and if a team holds that area (especially the platform with the Covie stationary shield), it might be difficult for a team to combat them with only two ways up. See if you can't add more paths to that effect. Good luck!
The basic outline of the map seems sound, but there are a few hiccups I can see emerging. Namely the ability of players to move around easily and combat certain positions on the map. As mentioned above, the covie shield place appears easily defensible and the lower floor feels clustered from the images. There is also a couple of features which don't harm gameplay but could be spruced up a little bit with some improved aesthetics. Might I ask as few questions? First, how much budget is remaining? Second, what gametypes do you presuppose will play best i.e. what have you designed it for? And third, what times are you available for a forge through and/or testing?
Cheers for the feedback guys, it’s really appreciated. Whilst trying to retain the features and shapes of the Herodium, I have tried to keep gameplay as the main point of this map and not just aesthetics. Already last night when I went to sleep and again when I woke up I have been running various ideas through my head to clear up the congestion in the map that you point out and I totally agree with, got a few ideas I will tinker with tonight when I get home from work. I have included another photo, this one facing back to the main central tower, this view wasn’t included in the pictures in the OP and it shows the two man cannons which also take you onto the bridge structure. I think that the Covenant shields should go as both of you have picked up on that straight away as a point that is to easy to defend and fully take onboard about players committing to lines for to long, hopefully this will open it up a bit. As for routes up to those points there are of course the two ramps, the two man cannons at the other end of the map plus the jump in the centre of the map onto the central section of the bridge. Including a jet pack that’s 6 points to access those platforms, should I need more? Noklu, the budget is maxed out, I have not credit glitched it either(not even sure how to), this is mainly because I have used my entire quota of decorative pieces. (with some of the ideas to clean it up I think I could recoup 500 to 1000 back) With regards to gametypes, I have set it up for all but I think CTF and Assualt would be the weaker modes due to how close red/blue bases are and it’s a continous circle map, whereas Headhunter, KOTH, Oddball and the like should play a treat as they flow around the circle. Originally it was a straight Slayer/FFA map but that has been extended on. Lastly, times avail to for a forge through, no longer living in Oz mate, I’m on GMT time as opposed to EST but I would certainly make myself available for your help even if I had to get up at 3am to fit in with Oz time!
Meh... Just decoration/colour, I take it you don't like? They can come out easily enough, something I have toyed with already to reclaim some credits to spend elsewhere..
You need to mix it up more because i believe they look stupid just sat there, and it that numbers. They are just lazy cover and that means you have some structual redisigning to do.
From the pictures, I was really expecting a large open BTB map, but what I see is a bit disappointing. Not to knock your map, it looks well forged and all, but I was hoping to see something different.
cartoonwolf, I agree with you in that I too wanted a large BTB map when I started the project, but somewhere along the way is the huge collision of ambition and forge budget. The idea in the start was to have outside of the circular enclosure using the natural pieces and also on the top of the walls to be able to run around the enclosure with ramps in and also out, but it just wasn't feasible so I had to stick with just the interior of the circle. Damn you Bungie, I want more objects and more budgets! Size wise and scale, the pictures do not give it justice, blame that on poor photography skills.. Taken onboard the intiall feedback from all and have revised the map last night with still more work to go, perhaps I was a bit early with a map preview or should have labelled incomplete, chalk that up to inexperience. I have completely reworked the basement level at the back of the map to open it right up, there are no more Mickey Mouse ears either!! Covie shields are gone and I have also balanced out the weapons a bit. It's been re-uploaded to the file share Bungie.net : Halo Reach : File Details If I could steal 5 minutes of your time, could you download and just have a run through on Slayer and let me know your thoughts?