This map has been released! You can find it here: High Ground .... I’m in the Beta stages of this remake of High Ground and would like input on how to improve it (both in accuracy and game play). Since this is a remake I didn’t feel the need to use the tester’s guild but would like to run some different game types if anyone is interested. Some things I’d like feedback on: Lag is a worry Health pack locations Game types people actually played on high ground and want included The accuracy of the remake Items to put in place of things not in reach (equipment, weapons, etc.) The usual things (spawns, weapons, cover, etc., I still want to hear about even though I didn’t design the layout, maybe I can improve the original? Haha jk) I know the spacing and scale are off in some areas, especially the rooms in the base. If I were to extend the depth of the power drain and brute shot rooms, they would be closer to the flag room as they should be, but at this point I do not have the useful pieces or the desire to increase the risk of frame rate issues (since that area of the base uses enough objects as is). If anyone has any ideas or notices anything missing in the map that I have not mentioned, please let me know. Also if anyone would like to test the map with me please friend and message me or leave your gt here. I am planning to have a test session on 11/24/10, Wednesday afternoon (1-3ish EST) and possibly late Tuesday night (after midnight) if there is an interest. Thanks in advance!
i think if you changed cement with the normal grass it would look a lot better in my opinion. but it looks really well made only if u could make grass yourself
This looks awesome and very accurate just like your isolation remake. I would love to test it on tuesday. I will be on probably most of the night. GT Alex10687 No mic though sorry
hey buddy good idea but may i suggest a few things sir... first the trees lol funny and "cute" if you will, but look terrible with the rest of the map lol! please remove. second, im not sure where your map is placed at, maybe inbetween the island and beach. but if you could remove the outside walls surrounding the whole thing (or roof it, depending on budget) i think that will give it a better "feel" as of right now to me it looks awkward and unfinished walls....plus that might help your framerate issue if you have any... snipe cave and lift cave - if you have any sea stacks left i would make those tunnels out of rocks, not walls i think thats it from me! once again i dont know your budget or where you placed the map..(im guessing most of it went to floors and bunker tunnel) but i hope this helps man. GL
I think you should go into the gulch valley beach and use that as the beach for highground. I know it involves remaking the map but itll give more items to work with. Add me on xboxlive dude and ill help you build/test or anything else! Gamertag- grif otaged
@ Keg: initially I tried to build the map into the ground in several spots but the landscape wasn't "cooperating" so I decided to make it all from artificial pieces. @ N33b: thanks, i appreciate that you knew my other map (did the trees give away my "style"? lol). anyway will add you before tomorrow night. @ schleb: thanks for the critique. I disagree about the trees, I know they don't look real but I think they add more to the map than having nothing tree like there at all. The walls actually improve frame rate problems since they block out the background scenery and therefore render fewer objects. This is why I closed off the beach area as well. Unfortunately I don't have enough colosseum walls to roof it but when you're actually on the ground in the map the walls look like the original and don't look unfinished. You really only see those hidden forge objects at the height of a jet pack run. Also, I would have liked to make the tunnels using more rocks but it saved a lot of pieces to just use walls in some places. I know it looks like I dismissed a lot of your advice but I do appreciate it and will keep it in mind. The trees in particular, if more people dislike them maybe I'll toss em. @ grif otage: I wanted to use the beach but since the flatter ground there didn't match with high ground I decided against it. Since I would have had to basically build hills starting right at the beach to make more of a slope, it wouldn't really have saved on the budget. It may have looked better though! I'll add you for tomorrow night or wednesday afternoon, whichever you prefer.
My thought on the trees is this: if you can't find a good natural place to build the map (and understandably, you probably can't), and have to go the mostly-artificial route, why not replace the trees with something equivalent yet blatantly artificial? And the same goes for the rocks. I'd rather see a complete re-imagining that is somewhat close to the original geometry. The hybrid look will remind players of the original but the map might actually be better if you accepted that the general aesthetics are just going to be totally different.
Keep the tree's please A lot of people think remakes should be based on asthetics but those trees are almost vital for gameplay being similar I remember I'd camp it up with the sniper on the tree closest to it for the majority of the match only because no one knew that you could get up there =)
If you see me on, invite me. I'll probably join, but I may be working on my big team map. Looks really nice. I was thinking of building a High Ground remake/reimagination using the actual terrain of Forge World, but the way you did it will probably be more accurate.
My thought is that you could replace them with something more artificial-looking like an antenna structure, that still offers the same gameplay (that being, limited cover and the ability to perch on it). It doesn't have to be a tree, it could be anything of similar size and design.
el megapwn: I understand what you mean about re-imagining, but I tried a couple of different cover options there (including with antennaes) and decided they just looked too weird and different from the original. If you suspend judgment about how the trees look you just forget about it, since it provides such similar cover to the original map. If it makes you feel better I tweaked the trees to make them look a little better or more real. Pain 2 Da Max: now that you mention it the tree i have closest to the rocks you can jump off of are too far apart. I'll see if I can make that work but if not you can always jet pack up to them. Since there are no leaves on the trees they don't provide as much cover when up there though. Reminder: I am trying to get a group together tonight at midnight (EST) and tomorrow, wednesday at 1pm if anyone else is interested, either friend me or leave your gt here. Thanks!
I agree with this. I understand you probably don't want to rebuild the entire map. But to keep in mind for the future, while it's insensible to focus on aesthetics, people do it whether or not they care about gameplay more. And while your map looks great, there's not much contrast between the metal against metal (the main map against the boxy metal walls). While I'm not saying your map is ugly by any means, all the metal tends to mess with my eyes and things start to blend together. Using natural barriers is definitely the way to go 95% of the time. There are rocks to throw the blending off a little, but it doesn't look right to have rock formations building straight onto metal. I understand why you went with using metal rather than just building it in the gulch, which was to keep the map elevated. But there would have been ways to get around that. Sure it would have taken more time in the long run to finish, but it would have worked better for the map. Other than that, your map looks like a good remake. High Ground was my favorite Halo 3 map, and from what I see it looks like you kept it true to the original.
I agree it would have been prettier if I used the real beach but I can't see myself completely remaking it there anytime in the near future. I will keep what you said in mind about the gray ground gray walls contrast though, maybe I can spruce it up in some areas. Thanks!