Is it me? Or do reach maps seem a lot less innovative? I remember when I built maps for Halo 3 there were certain things that seemed impossible making everyone want to work towards that goal. The outcomes were crazy! But now with this new system it seems like I've seen the same map 100+ times. There are still those who take time and design their map to make it original, but for the most part, it's another map in the sky. These new waves of maps just don't get me excited. As to when someone made an aesthetically insane competitive map on Halo 3 it was like "What?! How'd they pull that off?" And the layouts were much more complex and complete rather than running walkways thrown together. I don't know. Maybe it is just me. What're your guy's thoughts on this?
I know what you mean. Here are a few things I can think of: In halo 3, people weren't afraid to do completely crazy aesthetics, mainly because there wasn't a fear for framerate lag. Plus, in halo 3, it was soooo much harder to forge, so everything seemed much more impressive. Not to mention that in Reach, tons of gametypes are just ****ed up. So there were way more gametype/minigame possibilities in H3.
It's all about perspective. When you think of Halo 3, you think of everything you've seen throughout it's 3 year lifespan. Reach, you think of all the maps made in the last 6 months. Couple that with the high expectations the populous has leveraged onto Reach, and you can see why it seems like all the maps right now suck. Give it time, I'm sure we'll have people come forth with amazing creations.
Yeah, both of what you guys have said are true. There have already been some pretty crazy creations. Like just barely I saw NeXn's Aqueduct, it looks sick. I just hate all the band-wagoning. Halo 3 does have it's advantages with it's length of existence, but I'm sure if people took time, they could make an awesome map then their "strictly-bridges-and-platforms-connecting-blocks" formula haha. Maybe I'm just missin' the simplicity of Halo 1 maps XD
I've seen some impressive maps, like the newly featured Cargo Port which takes things to a new level. The boring-ness of some maps can also be attributed to the gray pieces we have to work with. At least you got greens and oranges in halo 3. The ability to change the overall color of pieces would probably make a huge difference. Just look at the MLG Sanctuary and tell me it's not the most boring map you've ever seen. If they just took the center of Sanctuary and placed it in Asylum (to prevent sniping across sniper towers) and added those rocks next to them as well, it would be a much better map.
Coordinate snap encourages people to use all 90 degree angles with the occasional 45 degree angle, and the coliseum walls encourage everything to be flat. The first isn't necessarily bad if you pull it off right, but flat maps are just plain boring. Also the plethora of objects encourages people not to use the environment of Forge World. I swear some people would rather Forge World be just a big ocean.
People have taken their experiences in Halo 3 and moved into Reach. When you look back id imagine you are thinking of all the crazes like switches etc.. Many crazes in Halo 3 were great for a bit but then people realised they were not great for gameplay and moved onto more cleaner and more refined maps. Towards the end of Halo 3 there was very little innovation in maps. The overal trend settled into a very simple yet effective way of level design. The reason Reach hasn't had the same wave of innovation is because people havn't started again, they have simply picked up where they left off. I dont see there being much in the way of innovation in how we use Reach's forge engine, partly because there is very little need to change it. What I can see if a shift in the style of maps people create. The current style of maps will not stay the same for Reach's lifespan, people are already bored of seeing the same style of map all the time.