(click for download) Map Description: The imposing towers of this waterlogged installation do little to avert the bloodshed beneath them. 2-8 Players Gametypes: All gametypes except Invasion are supported, but Slayer, Headhunter, Oddball, Crazy King, Stockpile, and Juggernaut are recommend, in roughly that order. Both teams and FFA work well, and testers said multiteam worked well also. I really enjoy Headhunter on this map. Cool Story Bro: Reversal started life as an idea I had just before Reach came out. I started forging on Sept 17 and have been playtesting and tweaking the map since then. Reversal is a medium-small symmetrical map, that, in my opinion, plays a very pure game of slayer. I don't mean that in a pretentious, "all DMRs all the time" way either. I mean that the balance between the snipers, rockets, and sword evokes that particular brand of distilled fun that makes Halo what it is. I hope you agree. Now that I've tooted my own horn, it's PICTURE TIME. A view from offshore. Here is an overview of the map. The layout is pretty simple, and first time players have no trouble finding the good stuff. [mouseoverimage=http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x236/superguh007/Reversal%20v1/Overhead3.jpg]http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x236/superguh007/Reversal%20v1/Overhead.jpg[/mouseoverimage] Mouse over the image for weapon locations. All grenades are x2; the rockets, plasma repeaters, and the dmrs next to the concussion rifle are on the lower level; there are also spare magnums and assault rifles (4 each), but I omitted them because no one cares. Here's the full weapon list: Spoiler [Ordinance, Distribution, Spare Clips, Respawn Rate] Rocket Launcher, x1, 1 spare clip, 180 sec Energy Sword, x1, full charge, 120 sec Sniper Rifle, x2, 1 spare clip, 90 sec Concussion Rifle, x2, 1 spare clip, 60 sec Needler, x2, 2 spare clips, 60 sec Designated Marksman Rifle, x6, 2 spare clips, 45 sec Plasma Repeater, x2, full charge, 30 sec Magnum, x4, 2 spare clips, 30 sec Assault Rifle, x4, 1/2 spare clip(s), 30 sec (2) Plasma Grenades, x3, N/A, 15 sec (2) Fragmentation Grenades, x4, N/A, 15 sec Health Pack, x4, N/A, 15 sec Let's take a tour, shall we? Starting from the outside and working in, our first stop is the back wall. The snipers spawn up here, and it is a popular, but not particularly effective sniping spot. You can also see the needler on its little platform. An overview of blue side. The blue team starts under the sniper catwalk in everything except assault. The "tower, 3 story"s work as makeshift bases, but they are decidedly not the focal point of the map, and they are only used prominently in CTF, Assault, and Stockpile. There's not much in here except a light in the ceiling and a drop down from the top of the base, which gets more traffic. A look at the concussion rifle spawn on red side. The concussion rifle is a useful counter to both snipers and swordsmen, but usually loses to the average joe with a DMR. You can also see the lift from the lower room... ...which serves as one of the primary safe respawn areas, but also provides access to the upper level of the map via gravity lift. There is also a DMR leaning up against the inside of the tunnel. Continuing on the lower level, we come to bottom middle, the home of the beloved rocket launcher. It might look cozy down here... ...but with great power comes great sight lines. For snipers. In smaller games it's often easy to sneak off with the rockets. Once the map fills up, you'll have to earn the magic death machine. Naturally, there is a side path to the rockets. Blue side gets pretty windows, red side gets a landslide. Here are the windows (poor reds): Above the windows is the walkway from needler to top middle. Top middle is home to the dance floor and the sword. Spoiler This screenshot is from an older version of the map. As you can see below, there are ramps to the bridge from both concussion and needler. You'll notice a rather prominent bridge on top of the sword. It has two plasma grenades, above average sight lines, and can be accessed... ...from here. There's a DMR in the little tower. Again, it's the same thing on the other side, but with rocks. Action Shots: for those who love pictures. Spoiler A typical skirmish in the Blue waterpark. A fight on the dance floor. Putting the rockets to work. Jet packs turn drop downs into fly ups. There is another drop down against the back wall, so jet packs are a popular AA for this map. ...as you can see. But spacemen are easy targets for snipers. Speaking of snipers, you might think that with a relatively short respawn time and several elevated positions to pick from that the sniper rifle dominates the map. However, it is extremely difficult to snipe across the map with views like this: Unless, of course, your targets are merrily rocketing into the aether. Changelog: for those that have played older versions. Spoiler Version 1.0: -Tweaked several minor aesthetics. -Added ramps from concussion rifle walkway to center bridge. -Switched DMR and sniper, sniper is now on back catwalk. -Updated spawns to support larger teams when necessary. -Overhauled safe zone / kill barriers: The edges of the map and the two central towers have the same low barrier from before, but everywhere else the height limit has been lifted. This prevents the "Return to battlefield" message from showing when using the lift or jet packs. -Moved neutral initial loadout camera to look better and reveal sword location for newbies. Testers: A huge thanks goes out to tester's guild and everyone else that played my map while it was a work in progress. Stevo King Nibs Patrickcanttype ITwIsTeD LiFeII sleazy grandma Steve 11thSelby dreaddraco2 shoop 2 u Spawn of Saltine Benji Combs53090 ...and of course all of my non-FH friends. Thanks for checking out my map! Click the picture below to download, and tell me what you think!
Dang man, I so wish I could DL this map! The aesthetics are beautiful but I can see the pure Haloness emanating from every spot on this map! I can see just from the shots that this would be one heck of a map to fight on, from the purposely strange sniper lines of sight to the hidden yet exposed rockets to the little paths that don't necessarilly have to be taken but still add to the experience! Props to you, this is what a true Halo map looks like!
maybe i didnt read close enough, but i dont really get why the map is called "reversal." map looks cool, but i just dont get the name.
@blanktester: Alright, you got me. Cool Story Bro Extended Edition: This map actually changed a lot from the original design. When I drew it on paper, it had much more intricate bases. That plan was ultimately foiled because of object limits. It's not that I ran out of budget, but I used every Block, Rock, and Platform that the limits allow. Anyway, in the original design, the bases allowed players to drop down from each story easily, but getting to the upper levels required moving closer to the center and then backtracking. Some of that design was preserved in the way the concussion rifle walkway favors attackers whereas the needler walkway favors defenders, but the spiraling walkways that lead to the name "Reversal" basically didn't make it into the map. So at this point, it's basically just a word that sounds cool and the name of a Pokemon move that I like I didn't admit to the design changing drastically in the main post because most people don't care, and because it is pretty unusual for me to stray from a good design. Luckily, the map I ended up with still plays really well, just for slayer and headhunter instead of CTF.
I can finally Dl your map, but the link doesn't work or you have taken it off of your file share. Just tell me when the problem is fixed so I can Dl and enjoy!
Very good map, the asthetics are great! Here's a working link: Bungie.net : Halo Reach : File Details
This is very impressive forging...the aesthetics are very good and remind me of some of Halo 3's best multiplayer maps...very nice job...however I would sugest being careful with the power weapons on your map...I saw that you have the rockets and the sword very close...
Whoa, thanks for all the comments guys, I didn't think this thread would get resurrected! I also fixed the broken links. I don't know why that happened, I didn't alter the file in any way, but thanks for pointing it out and thanks, moa, for providing a temporary link. First, thanks for the kind comment. Anyway, the overview of the map is deceptive, it is actually nigh impossible for one person to get both the sword and the rockets. A) They are actually on separate levels, and because the dance floor is quite large it takes at least 6 seconds to get to the rockets even if you go for the sword on top first. B) They are both hotly contested power weapons smack dab in the middle of the map, so you will be fighting people to get them.
I did a fly through of your map and a quick 1 v. 1 game on it, and from the initial play through I really like the map! The rockets and sword are in very good positions and the snipers take a little while to get to. The higher section in the middle and the tall towers also help block sniper shots, helping it be less overpowering. The towers you could jump into on the big arc things were a problem though, as they give snipers a possibly overwhelming position. I liked the map and I would like to test it more, but I have a lot of my own maps to test/work on, so I'm going to leave it at that. Great job, hope this one doesn't get buried too far back again. It was by sheer luck that this was back on page 51, the random button I clicked to get to it. 4/5
Does it perform well in split screen? I love how you used the water in the lower level, great design choice.
Thanks for the comment! I have never noticed the engine chugging when I've played it, except of course when you pull back to view the whole map in forge. I've played it with 3 and 4 player split screen and it did fine. As for the water, thanks! I see a lot of maps built around water, so it's not exactly original. However, the area it's built on is the largest flat area of forge world, the most well lit, and also one of the most lag free, so it ended up working well for more reasons than I could have hoped. Besides, everyone likes splashes.
Myself and 7 other members from FH downloaded and played on around 30 random community maps yesterday. This happened to be one of them. We were very confused by the map at first because the design isn't very clean. We spent a good deal of time in the rocket spawn grenading each other and dodging around. Once we found the snipers, it got a little annoying because the snipers would just sit up high and rain down upon everyone else, and there was little we could do about it. The upper areas were uninteresting for combat. My advice is make more open areas like the rocket room, and make your map more of a room to room combat type map, with no dead ends.
Well! Thanks for the comment, I guess. I'm pretty surprised by your feedback because it basically flies in the face of all the other feedback I've received so far. The snipers were typically found pretty early, then changed hands frequently. Also, in our test games the combat tended to be equally distributed between the lower and upper levels. Frankly, I don't know what you mean by a "clean" design, as that's a rather vague term. I think the problems you had were actually caused by the major flaw in this map, which is that the design is too small to support both safe spawning and smooth transitions to the upper areas; for better or worse I chose safe spawning. As you probably know it's very difficult to balance a complex design with a decent framerate, and that dilemma pushes people towards simple, one level room maps like you suggested. Unfortunately, I think room maps are more boring than a sack of cow turds
I actually was suggesting making several interconnected rooms. These were just my suggestions based on the games I had. I wouldn't expect you to drop everything and rebuild to my specifications. I am just moreso suggesting that maybe the map isnt done entirely, and has room for improvement, via balancing more to the center on spawns and smooth transitions.