YouTube - Halo Reach Skyline Fly Through SKYLINE Nestled within a valley, this airborne communication station is still the site of bloody conflict. SKYLINE was my third created map, and along with LABYRINTH was submitted in FORGETACULAR for BTB. The map works really well with CTF and Assault. I think these, along with Team Slayer (and possibly Team Snipers?), will be the maps strong points. Multiple pathways allow for travel between the two bases to reach the center of the map. After some play testing, I decided to put in man cannons to allow another way to access the middle of the map at a much faster pace. My original idea was to make a small symmetrical 4v4 map with 2 bases and then the middle point (more so fully symmetrical than VEXIS). As designing the map continued, it seemed it would be too big for that and so I thought I would try to focus on building an Invasion map. I attempted to grasp how to set up an objective Invasion map, but it was beyond me. I decided to just make SKYLINE another BTB map. I felt this one would be a lot more appealing to most, compared to LABYRINTH, for competitive play. I have a habit of saying there is a rear and front base on each team. The rear bases are the initial spawns per team and where the Falcons spawn. Falcons only spawn in Team game types. The front base houses a majority of the weapons available per team (symmetrically placed on each side). Each team has a mounted machine gun turret on the rear and front bases. VEHICLE/WEAPON/MISC LIST: 2x Falcons (Team Only) (180s) 4x Mounted Machineguns (180s) 2x Plasma Turrets (180s) 4x DMRs (45s/2sc) 2x Sniper Rifles (120s/1sc) 2x Shotguns (120s/1sc) 2x Needle Rifles (45s/2sc) 2x Needlers (30s/2sc) 2x Plasma Pistols (30s) 2x Assault Rifles (30s/2sc) 1x Rocket Launcher (180s/1sc) 1x Spartan Laser (180s) 1x Fuel Rod Gun (180s) 1x Grenade Launcher (90s/5sc) 1x Concussion Rifle (90s/2sc) 5x Plasma Grenades (45s) 3x Frag Grenades (45s) 6x Health Stations (15s) I would like to note that being this was made for BTB and entered in a contest, I assumed if ever placed in Match Making, the preset DMR load outs would be administered. I originally had a Gravity Hammer and Energy Sword on the map and no Spartan Laser/Fuel Rod Gun. After reading through the forums some, and finally accepting they had no place on the map, I removed them. I think replacing them with the Spartan Laser and Fuel Rod Gun improved the map a lot. Especially with having the Falcons on the map (originally Banshees). Like mentioned earlier, the map runs CTF and Assault great, but is set up for most game types. I personally have yet to try much more beyond CTF/Assault/FFA/TS so if anyone tries any of the other game types please feel free to comment and leave feedback. I think this became the favorite of the 3 maps I made over these past 2 months. Download it and give it a try. All feedback is appreciated, and I look forward to more time spent Forging and hopefully play testing other maps within the community here at Forge Hub! Download SKYLINE Thanks for your time!
Wow! This looks interesting. I checked this out because I liked the ODSTs area where Skyline played. Any how. The design of this map seems interesting and I'd like to give it a shot. Can you list the weapons on the map? That would help people understand what sort of gameplay might happen here. I'll get back to you. -Slamm
Thanks for checking out the map Slamm. Actually when seeing your signature I remember seeing Spirit and talking about it with my gf cause I thought it looked awesome. I hadn't DL'd any maps as I was working on my own for the contest, but now I will be doing so and Spirit is one I will be definitely grabbing. I had listed the weapon list above, and while I can't get too fancy with an overhead pic and photoshop where they are exactly (like some people have been good at doing) I can maybe list it out. The Rear Base per team consists of a Triple Room, Staircase and Landing Pad. Inside the Rear Bases are a health pack and DMR. The Falcon spawns on the pad on top of the Rear Base. On the left path towards the Front Base is the Plasma Pistol; the right path bears the Assault Rifle. The Path in the middle has the first Man Cannon butted against the Triple Room. and launches you to the top of the Front Base. This path also follows below and between the 2 3-Story Towers which makes up the main Front Base framework. This "tunnel" origianlly existed as I planned on having warthogs, and then Mongooses, for faster travel between the two bases. I learned fast however that the layout was very unsuportive of this type of vehicle as movability was very limited. I kept the path in as another route to the central construct on the map. Along this path, about midway down will be a Concussion Rifle or Grenade Launcher depending on which side. The Front Base's left 3 3 Story Tower houses the Sniper Rifle on the first floor and Needle Rifle on the top. The Right 3 Story Tower houses the Shotgun on the first floor and Needler on the top. As writing this I almost wish I had swapped Needle Rifle and Needler locations lol but the 3 Story Towers are interconnected in various places so shouldn't be a big deal. There is a Ramp in the middle front of the Front Base. Behind this ramp is a 2 Way Teleporter (these were the main component of the map I was very skeptical of using as I have never liked them in general). This leads to and upper room of the Front Base and gives access to the second Man Cannon which launches you into the top middle of the map. This room is just under where the first Man Cannon launches you so essentially you can use the one on the Rear Base and then drop down into the Man Cannon at the Front Base and be right in the middle of the map. This ended up balancing well with Objective games like CTF and Assault. The main bases are set up symmetrically, so the weapon layout is the same per side. One the very bottom of the Middle Construct is the Fuel Rod Gun. To each side of the Middle Construct are the mini bases (for Green and Orange teams) also constructed of 2 3 Story Towers. The path way leading to the mini bases has another DMR per side. On the back side of each mini base is a pathway leading to the top where the Sniper Nests are. On one side is the Rocker Launcher and a Spartan Laser on the other. Each spot where one of these power weapons are is also a Health Pack. Hmmm I will note also along the pathway between the two 3 Story Towers making up the mini bases are the other 2 Way Teleporters. These ones bring you back and forth between there and the bottom pathway of the Middle Construct. That in general is a very wordy explained layout for the weapons. I will have to learn how to get a bit fancier and do the overhead photoshopping some have done. Hopefully this didn't bore you too much which I am sure it has for some lol. Let me know what you think if you playtest/check out the map. I will do the same with Spirit. Thanks!
Oh man, I feel dumb! I totally didn't see the weapons listing... still, I can get a good sense of the weapons from your description. I will get on this weekend to check it out. Do you mind if I send you a friend request so we can test maps sometime? And thanks for the word on Spirit, I appreciate it. I also understand about not having the time/patience to do a crazy photoshopped overview. My signature is probably the only advertising I've done for my forge work ever, but it fills the space I guess. I have some mixed opinions about how formatting/layout determines a map's popularity. For newcomers like us, it makes it tough for a map to get noticed. Rest assured, this is on the top of my list to look through when I get on! -Slamm
I added you on the forums and my XBox Live is Jak Cryton VII feel free to add me. I am always open to play testing and am contemplating joining the play testing here if able to eventually. I am sure a maps layout both in paths/weapons/spawns plays some part in a maps popularity. I have disagreements/difference of opinion of some of the "guides" I have looked over. I have a strong issue with "controlling" a players supposed path lol Not sure if that makes sense but in my mind I know what I mean As for advertising and showing pretty pics for a map to get noticed there isn't a whole lot some can do but to hope people will give it a try and then spread word of mouth. The hardest I would say would be that being newcomers (like in any scenario) there are already clicks/friends/etc so odds already stacked against them some.
I agree Jak. The sandbox nature of Halo seems to go against the idea of controlling where a player goes. My favorite reach map, Boardwalk, seems to encapsulate this sandbox idea because there are so many options and ways the map can work. and yeah, being new can be tough. I joined a month ago or so and I've been talking to a few people since. We'll have to test Skyline out soon.
Sounds good man. Add me when able. I just checked out Spirit quick and it is sweet. I have a group of friends that are usually cool with play testing and custom games so we should be able to play a handful if enough people are around. I noticed you put a lot of detail into non playable areas of the map too which was awesome. I think I missed that in the pics posted. I rarely even have the piece count available to do that lol It adds a lot to the map a lot, though, in my opinion.
Jak- I got a chance to look through this map last night. I have to say, I am impressed with how much space this map takes up without exhausting the budget! There is so much to work with here, it is a bit mind boggling. Anyhow, I wanted to say a few things from my walk through: 1. The first thing I did when I spawned was grab a DMR laying across the room in plain view. That is awesome. Very few maps take the time to make sure weapons and spawns work together for a player to figure out what to do first. 2. There are so many bridges and huge sight lines. There are place where lag is ocurring, and it is a shame because I love those huge sight lines in some place! 3. I am concerned the gameplay, even with 10-16 players, will center around stationary DMR fighting. The length of the map and how open many of these connections to parts of the map make me think players will find it difficult to move through the map without using the man cannons. It seems the way you've set up mancannons benefits the team spawning on that side of the map. This is good because it keeps enemies from working into the spawn areas, but I am concerned the middle areas of the map will be the sole focus of the map, or be lost due to long range fighting. 4. There are few places for players to "dance," ie, move around in an open space. There was a recent article posted on Bungie.net about giving players space to move around. For a big team battle with 10-16 players, I think this is especially important. Because this BTB map doesn't have vehicles, I am worried players will feel trapped on the bridges when they try to get to different places around the map. 5. I am really impressed with the kinds of platforms and structures you've made. I think if you found your favorite structures around the map and tried to bring them in closer to the center of the map (which is awesome, btw, awesome multi-level design), you'll remove some of that lag and domination of long sight lines. That said, I can't wait to test this out with you. I'm confident we can make this an awesome big team map! Keep up the good work. Slamm
At first glance, I thought I could give accurate feedback on this map, but there is so much going on I need to DL this and observe in Forge. I'll do that by Saturday for you, probably (hopefully lol).
Thanks for getting back to me Slamm^^ I am not too familiar with the lag, but I am sure if we did some play testing it would be easy to point out. I have been overly concerned about the Line of Site/Lack of Cover deal that I notice a lot of people just in the forums talk about. Beyond the front bases per side there is very little cover in route to the center of the map. I wish there was no object limit lol being I had planned sides for some of the bridges and other features of that sort. More cover would have been available to place. I am really curious about where the lag occurs, so I will keep it in mind when next play testing it. Also I will try to mind where battles concentrate.. I have a few videos I am hoping to get posted soonish. They are in File Share but I guess require Bungie Pro. The only vehicles are the Falcons, one per base. These only spawn in team setting games. I had never used a Falcon before, but I found that I like them a lot now. It is a shame that there is no seat for someone with a flag/bomb to jump into though, which was the original thinking. They ended up working really well and so were left in. Someone with a flag/bomb can still ride on top! Each main base also has identical man cannons for getting to the Front Base and then if desired the middle of the map (well the upper level of it). Hmmm I understand the dancing thing... from my own experience, though, with even places like Countdown or Reflection is... 1. Either I can't "dance" or 2. "Dancing" doesn't help a whole lot against an experienced player lol I am sure it is number 1 but yeah. I would like to read the article if you happen to have a link. I am glad you had a chance to check it out and play testing with a handful will better give a feel for the map and also this lag issue. Perhaps this weekend something can be set up. [br][/br]Edited by merge: Thanks, that would be much appreciated. I was thinking, as well, possibly from the screen shots, but again without the fly through video it is hard to get a full picture. I hope you get your XBox fixed asap lol