I was throwing around some ideas today and this one hit me. Forge World has a lot of sheer vertical cliff faces. You could build a map (either competitive or some kind of minigame) against one of those cliffs in such a way that the gameplay would be almost entirely vertical. I've seen some multi-level maps somewhat along those lines (Requiem Fiasco did one called Suspension) but they were still fundamentally built for regular gameplay, just with more levels than usual; this would be something different where you'd continuously be fighting above and below you, though perhaps not in a straight line. There would have to be a lot of ways up and down, and jetpack would probably be by far the most useful armor ability. I imagine grav lifts (& lots of them) would be involved. The most interesting part, and what I'm still mulling over, is that each level would have to have lots of open space in its floor and ceiling, to promote up-and-down fighting rather than a more traditional approach where you move up or down a level and then fight people on the same level as you. That's not too interesting to me. Questions - has anyone done anything like this? Does it sound feasible or do you think it would simply annoy you too much to play on it? I have some specific features in mind for such a build but I don't want to spoil them, in case I do decide to go through with it.
Definitely seems like an interesting concept and could go either way as far as being good or bad. Depending on how its made. I think you should disable jetpacks for it to force the use of the map rather than letting people fly around it. Making the only way up or down via grav lifts and drops. Also grenades would become a very important resource on it.
Actually for what I'm thinking of, it could be the best possible use of jetpacks - there would be specific places where the jet pack would give a person an extra way to go up, but they would be limited (so nothing like what happens on, say, a remake of Damnation, where a person with a jetpack can move from the main level to the 2nd floor/green room level at whim and from anywhere). Basically they would add to the map flow but not interrupt or circumvent it. Not sure if that would mean enclosing the entire thing from the side, or just key sections of it. I have a great idea for a top-to-bottom drop though. Let's call it the Super Fun Happy Slide.
That makes sense. If you make it so you can only use the JP in those areas that would be ideal. Kind of enclosed so people can't fly anywhere and everywhere. And totally digging the name hahaha
I started one, but I found the cliff faces a little too vertical to build a good map. I might go back and try again, but it's more difficult than you think. Currently I'm working on a map where a significant part takes place on the cliffs near the island because those actually have some flat spaces to work with.
So what else is new? No, I fully expect it will be a huge pain in the ass. Just kind of wanted to try something very different from the norm. Maybe I'll sketch up some ideas and start working on it this weekend, after I get some other stuff off my plate.
It sounds to me like you're trying to design a map that focuses on intense vertical action, while still allowing small ground firefights to happen as players vie for control of several floating platforms. Ideally, you could just build a few platforms with holes placed in them to allow passage from one level to the next. If you want to promote this kind of level-to-level transit, keep the map open on the sides so that players can still take the long way around to another floor (ie. an enemy is controlling one of the few "transit holes" on a level; You opt to take the long way around and simply fly around the platform itself. Designing the map around a large central structure seems like an ideal way to block of LoS on individual levels. In my mind, I'm picturing a massive "plus" design that goes right through the floating platforms. It should stop players from fighting enemies on the other sides of a platform, and if you make it so the plus loses a "face" or two at certain platforms, it can give players a reason to travel from level to level in the form of being able to travel around the map in a predetermined manner. I'll edit this post with pictures when I get the chance. Picture time: Spoiler
something like boarding action from halo 1 that was on of my favorites except with man aimed up at the next level instead of tele-porters