UPRISING Halo Reach Forges Video A Moment to Reflect Uprising was born a long time ago in a distant solar system on the Planet Earth, in a huge empty Foundry in central Africa. While it was built to completion, I never published it due to the constraints Foundry had forced on my design. The idea was simple: a long, narrow, and steep map ideal for asymmetrical gametypes like One Flag with attackers battling from the ground floor up the hill. The map was named after my favourite Halo 2 Campaign level, though the title is more of a pun (attackers rise up through the map) than due to any resemblance. Bringing this idea to Reach was my number one priority for Forge 2.0, but it's taken until now to find the right place to put it. For me, the wait's paid off. A Long-Winded and Boring Description Uprising totally transforms the shallow side of the island's mountain. Walls cut through Forge World at an angle that compliments the flow of the mountain, but cuts against the natural grain of Forge World, resulting in a couple neat little "natural" diagonals, like the tunnel through the mountain. The attackers' blue base lies at the foot of the newly proportioned mountain, just off the edge of the island in ankle-deep water. Over a short cliff the island takes over, it's rolling hills dotted with trees and rocks and strung together with bridges and platforms carry attackers up the slow, subtle slope. As the mountain begins to loom over these intruders, their options for ascent open up. Directly ahead, a mancannon channels a dangerous route up to the defender's base platform - and their flag. Teleporters link the flanks to create confusion or for a quick change of scenery. Rocks and bridges are all forged together to leave one more option for attackers: mountaineering. The defenders' base is simple, but not well covered. Its advantage is its height alone. A long platform leans out over a fatal drop: an attractive option for suicidal flag runners in a throwback to Halo 2's Relic. A higher platform just short of the mountain's peak takes some climbing, but rewards adventurers with a Focus Rifle. The lines of sight are long from here, but broken by rocks and trees, and the Focus Rifle's own difficulty balances it. Uprising is set up for FFA or Team Games (where applicable), but teams should really conform to Red or Blue if they want decent spawns. But hold on a second. There's more... Or Rather, There's Less If you thought a big-ass steep valley sounded sweet for asymmetric objectives, but rubbish for Slayer, you were right. That's why I made some adjustments to the map that completely alter the Uprising experience for Slayer. The biggest difference is a game-specific wall that disects the map just in front of the mancannon. Game-specific Respawn Zone-Antis and Kill Boundaries keep players in line. Also, the team spawns (Red and Blue only) are rotated 90 degrees to oppose each other across the short hilly section of the map. Ironically, while this makes the gameplay and map more symmetrical, it makes the weapon layout distinctly asymmetrical. Speaking of Weapons This is a teency touch complicated, as there are some weapons that are cut off from Slayer, and then some more weapons that are Slayer-specific to keep things moving. Here's the list: 4x DMRs* 90 seconds & 2 spare clips 4x Needle Rifles 90 seconds & 2 spare clips 3x Assault Rifles 60 seconds & 2 spare clips 2x Concussion Rifles 90 seconds & 1 spare clip 2x Plasma Pistols* 60 seconds 7x Plasma Grenades^ 15 seconds 3x Frag Grenades^ 15 seconds 1x Focus Rifle ^ 150 seconds 1x Plasma Launcher 150 seconds 1x Shotgun 130 seconds & 0 spare clips 1x Sniper Rifle 150 seconds & 2 spare clips 1x Mounted Machine Gun 150 seconds 4x Health Packs^ 90 seconds * Asterisks indicate weapons that have the same number across all gametypes, but are in different positions. A Plasma Pistol and 2 DMRs are blocked off by the wall in Slayer, but have been added within the confines of the gametype and set as game-specific. Either way, there are 4 DMRs and 2 Plasma Pistols. ^ Upward arrow things indicate items the number of which differs between gametypes, if only slightly. 3 Plasma Grenades, 1 Health Pack and the Focus Rifle are off-limits in Slayer, and there's 1 Frag Grenade more in Slayer than in other gametypes. Negligible? Possibly, but I'm writing it in. Pretty Pictures of Things With Dryly Humorous Captions Bam! Overview. Foreground right is the upper defensive platform with Focus Rifle spawn, under that the defensive objective spawn etc. That one-way shield is where mancannoners fly through. It's also a trampoline. Bam! Er, underview? This is looking back up the opposite direction, from just above the offensive base. Middley-section. Bridges and hills. Struts and trees. Yeah, man. Trees. I know you're already hooked. Some of them are even at angles. I did that. (I didn't do that). The offensive base. It's pretty cool, I'm happy with its modern design. Ankle-deep is in this year. Objectives spawn in varying locations, but mostly on the pyramid thing up against the grass. You can almost make out a flag there. Look at that greenery! This part of the map was so pretty (not really thanks to me, I have to admit), that I stuck a couple of respawn points and a Concussion Rifle here. A different angle of the defensive base. Got you shakin' yet? A little further downhill from that previous shot. One of the teleporters can be seen by the lower left corner. And here's the other end to that teleporter system, just inside the tunnel there. In case you can't tell or didn't guess, the tunnel's blocked off right where that node is by a Glass Cover. Another look over the middle battleground, ugly rock bridge in the fore. Damn lighting system. That pair of braces just behind it are the Blue spawn in Team Slayer games. Picturesque. Look at all dem trees! Gives new meaning to the phrase "natural cover". Here's that wall I mentioned. Note also a new grav lift in front of the mancannon tunnel. There are a few more minute game-specific changes to discover in Slayer. That platform sticks through the wall making the Needle Rifle available to anyone daring enough to fly up there with a jetpack. The whole thing is veiled under a soft-kill barrier though, so no pissing around or hiding. Go team Red! Also, 6v6: bad for spawns, great for action shots! (Surprisingly playable for spawns actually, if I do say so myself). At 'em, team Blue! These are the TS starting points. Jetpacks have their upsides. In case you're wondering, that border around the walls is covered with a soft-kill for most of the distance to deter campers or anyone looking for unobstructed access to the blue base. Action! Suspense! Etc.! Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!! Or: He's going Super-Saiyan! Imagine what their holiday hunting trips are like. I found a lump! Oh ****, I found a lu- Real men's rock-painting. More or less screwed. A Spartan Escaped This is a 4-part screenshot series documenting a sweet little encounter I discovered while taking these action shots from a 6v6 game of TS. Part One: Escape? Part Two: Recharged. Part Three: Safe? The Thrilling Conclusion: Melee Battle! --- If you're the kind of guy who skims through the pictures alone to decide if this is worth his download slot, you suck. Read my words. But also, if you load this up in Basic Editing, there's gonna be a big-ass wall in the way and you won't know what the hell is going down. For the first look, load this map in a CTF variant. Well guys, that's it for me and Uprising. Hopefully you like the map, it's taken more work than any previous creation, and I like to think that shows. Finally, a quick thanks to Skisma for being super cool about getting this tested by the tester's guild. You rock. Edit: What's wrong with white text?
Thanks for the fix, the map looks really nice. Good to see people using different areas of forgeworld, I really like how you integrated the buildings and the ground. I will download tomorrow ASAP when I can get on an account that works.
Thanks, I don't know how I managed to accidentally submit the thread midway through writing it. Maybe I did it when I accidentally hit a button (presumably the "Post Thread" one) but clicked "Stop" before anything appeared to have happened.
I'm jealous you got people to test your map out with you, I haven't been able to submit anything because only 3 of my friends have Reach lol. I digress - although Noble Map Pack is coming out tomorrow I'm definitely giving this a download and finding some time to check it out. The looks are great and if you give half a **** how your map plays as you do typing about it then I have all the reason in the world to trust that it's fun. Keep at it!
Yeah, testing is definitely the toughest phase of making a map because it's so hard to get custom games going. You just have to make the most of the opportunities you get I think. "The looks are great and if you give half a **** how your map plays as you do typing about it then I have all the reason in the world to trust that it's fun." Hahah, I'm gonna go right ahead and take this as a compliment.
You did a great job at keeping the scenery of Forge World to make it look like its truly part of your map. It look fantastic. The two things that kind of stand out to me are the defense base and the fact that the play area is extremely narrow. I've never really played on a map where the defense spawn higher than the other team that I've enjoyed. I hope you designed it so it wouldn't be campable, which it does kind of look like it is :S The narrowness of the map also looks iffy. It could either make for an awesome tug-of-war play style, which would be fun; or incredibly easy to camp or even spawn camp a certain part. Regardless, I'm definitely going to give this a download, and maybe get a few games on it later. I hope to see more maps from you.
Never cease to amaze, eh? Another fantastic map by the looks of it. Looks like what high ground should have been. Hopefully it actually plays interesting one sided gametypes, unlike all the default maps. Too bad none of my friends play Reach anymore, I'll have too hope this shows up in a TGIF.
First off let me say you did a great job! I DL'd the map and just explored it for like 30 mins. Then came the real test. I suited up with my jet pack and tried to find any cracks in your defense (walls/boundaries Flawless! Obviously you spent a lot of time on this map and you can really see it when you play for yourself. Thanks for the great map!
I was in the playtest for this one, Played pretty well for objective, but like you said. Slayer sucked. Glad to download and give it another go with the new design though!
The two things that kind of stand out to me are the defense base and the fact that the play area is extremely narrow. I've never really played on a map where the defense spawn higher than the other team that I've enjoyed. I hope you designed it so it wouldn't be campable, which it does kind of look like it is :S The narrowness of the map also looks iffy. It could either make for an awesome tug-of-war play style, which would be fun; or incredibly easy to camp or even spawn camp a certain part. I would probably be saying the same thing if I was looking at this with a fresh perspective, but the narrowness of the map is kind of exaggerated by its length. In truth, it's got enough width and it's sectioned into distinct areas of elevation so that it's not just attackers channelled into a death-trap. Multiple modes of access was one of the key ideas behind the map. First off let me say you did a great job! I DL'd the map and just explored it for like 30 mins. Then came the real test. I suited up with my jet pack and tried to find any cracks in your defense (walls/boundaries Flawless! The death barriers make that kinda thing way easier. There was a way to go from the very end of the defensive platform over the wall with a jetpck but I think it's impossible now, and if not you still get a soft-kill warning and then a hard-kill ending. Thanks for the props! I was in the playtest for this one, Played pretty well for objective, but like you said. Slayer sucked. Glad to download and give it another go with the new design though! It plays completely different now, starting off from side to side. It still tends to sway towards an end to end battle, but it's far more balanced now as the hill doesn't go as high, and the lower level retains its power weapon in the Sniper Rifle.