Narrows By Paranoia UK & Syphon Octane Narrows is a map which needs no introduction. We all know or love this Halo 3 legend for various different reasons. Whether it’s the stunning aesthetics or the unique gameplay experience, Narrows was a firm favorite amongst many Halo 3 veterans. It is for these reasons that me and Syphon Octane decided a true remake was needed. Having downloaded various different remakes we decided there was definite room for improvement in all of them. No offense intended to anyone who has already remade the map but we saw flaws in all the maps and decided that we could bring a new map to table. Our new remake would correct all of these flaws whilst staying true to most of what the original map had to offer. Narrows was a first for both me and Syphon Octane. For me it was the first remake I have created and also the first Co-Forge I have done too. For Syphon it is the first map he has finished and also his first foray into Reach’s Forge in general. Having played together since Halo 3’s release me and Syphon have always made a good team in all things multiplayer. We now seem to have stumbled across a good partnership for forge projects too. Mixing my forge know-how with Syphon’s undeniable raw talent we feel we have hit upon a great deal of potential for future maps. We have plans to remake some other timeless classics with some preliminary sketches already in place. Designing and Building Initially very little design work went into this remake. We decided to proceed by first forging the general bridge layout by memory. We then checked scale by going into Halo 3 and loading up Narrows. We were surprised with the level of accuracy we had managed by memory and decided to continue how we started. The original plan was for Syphon to build the two sniper spawns and the lower level connecting the two. Whilst this was going on I forged the remainder of the upper bridge and the two base areas. Eventually we both branched out and co forged parts of all areas. It is nice that we adopted the latter technique as we have both had a hand in all areas of the map. Attempting to forge a true remake of Narrows posed many problems to us both. There were some issues which were obvious right from the start. These included budget and object limits and frame rate issues. Having seen many remakes so far these issues were evident with them all. This gave us a good indication of what was to come. Fortunately these two issues are remedied with the same medicine. We tried as hard we could to be as economical as possible with the number and type of objects we used. Keeping these figures low meant the two issues would hopefully resolve themselves. Another issue with making a true remake was the inevitable gameplay changes it would induce. Fall damage, armor abilities, different weapons and the reduction of jump height all meant that our Narrows would not play identical to the original Narrows. To combat this we have made a number of changes in order to keep up a good level of gameplay, equality and accuracy whilst trying to keep the aesthetics as accurate as we can. Naturally Gameplay beats Aesthetics in this map so there are some cosmetic changes which we had no choice but to include. For those who are interested I have categorized all changes later on in this thread. Finished Map Unfortunately after all of the above, it soon became apparent that the map would not be suitable for playing on. The dreaded frame rate drop hit us hard. Having finished placing spawns and weapons the screen lag was quite bad. Having used most objects available and almost all the budget it was obvious that the map was not salvageable. Hence why the map is now in the Aesthetic section with no weapons or objective points placed. If anyone wishes to download the map and attempt to fix the frame rate lag they are free to do so. All we ask is for it to be clear who originally made the map if it is reposted to any forums etc.
this is really great! I playd another remake that was a huge disappointment. this one looks clean, smooth and just seem to be a really good remake. Pure Awesomness. . . . in a jar
Played Elite Slayer on this yesterday I think, this one actually has the waterfall next to it right? The framerate wasn't too bad, but it did have parts that lagged considerably. It is definitely one of my favorite remakes. You two should try some more maps, like Sandtrap, or maybe Avalanche.
No its only been posted about an hour, and its unplayable which is why its in the aesthetics section Thanks guys.
I loved this map in Halo 3 and it looks like I'll love it in Reach. The aesthetics are amazing and the map itself is great. The only problem I had with it though was the block things that go up the bent part of Narrows, you seemed to make them with ramps so you can walk straight up them, and that was not how they were built in the original... You also said that your map wasn't playable, which I find incredibly disappointing for such an amazing map. Well anyways, you've got a download from me, and I would love to see more remakes from you two.
This map looks awesome except for the pyramids in the second picture. One is igher than the other by a lot, making it look sloppy.
Nice remake, everything almost looks exactly to scale, try fixing that pyramid soon it will make the map look more like halo 3's narrows, but other than that the map does look smooth and neat. Its too bad it cant be played on slayer.
LOL no, the Mancannon is correct. Standing at spawn on either side, one side you must turn left to it and the other side you have to turn right to it. If I swapped them around it would make no difference, left on one side and right on the other.
Excellent job with the aesthetics and playability. It's perfect because it reminisces of H3 a lot, but plays great with the new physics and settings in this game. And it's still perfectly playable, you know? SWAT and Team Snipers don't need weapons and such, so you still have that, maybe make some gametypes and move it to competitive?