I thought it was a fresh approach to forging, to take something with potential and make it into a slayer map by using the tools in forge. I was very suprised and pleased to see a different map canvas in here. DL from me.
Reach's non-forge world maps have a crippling selection of forge pieces. So, as you might imagine, that leaves a lot to be desired in the complexity of the forged aspect of the map. Boneyard only has stunt ramps, shield walls, shields, and one-way shields with which to build with. That being said, this map leaves a lot to be desired, such as effective weapon placement. The plasma grenade/magnum is nowhere near incentive enough to venture onto the bottom floor, with the only way to ascend being the two extremely exposed staircases. This effectively eliminates the bottom floor as a combat zone, as anyone foolish enough to go down there would be instantly DMR'd by everyone else (exaggeration...).
I was just mentioning that the odds are against you when forging on Boneyard when it comes to pieces. As do I, for I have been perfecting a map in this area of Boneyard that has a few significant changes to help it flow much better.
The bottom floor has rockets, I'd say that's a pretty good reason to head down there. Also a back room to run to in battle and trick people, along with the health bottom center. I've played countless 2v2/FFA games on Refinery, it seemed to work just fine for everyone else. Adding ramps and such would simply look and feel out of place in my honest opinion, the map plays decent for what it is. It was an attempt not only to make this area competitive, but to also retain it's "stock" look. I'd suggest watching the above video as it shows a few of the intricacies that make the map pretty fun, things that might slip by having not played on it enough. It's completely balanced and both teams have equal chances to every weapon. That to me is decent weapon placement. The plasma magnum combo can be found on mid floor as well. On the bottom you can also run underneath both mid tier section to eliminate any shot they have on you, thus making them come down or giving you the jump on some nice nade bounces. It is an area to get rockets, thus being dangerous goes hand in hand. Mid tier obviously has tons of options. A multi-tiered corridor, the entire shop on the other side, cover and some nice jumps/trick jumps to get to each side quickly. I'd honestly play the map more with a decent sized room before making judgement. I've done it with many competitive players and we've all had a great time with lots of trickey. Hulter, you come off as pompous and outright void the TOS by advertising in my thread. Not a very good showing nor reasoning. A > B is not a reason, nor does your file share provide any other competitive maps or attempts. Furthermore showing a Breakpoint map in a Boneyard thread hardly helps your case. I too know how to make "proper" 1v1/2v2 competitive maps, Refinery was a unique attempt at something different, not something I made from scratch. Input is accepted, not superiority complexes. Kindly keep away if you have nothing to add. Thank you very much, perhaps we could set up a few games in the near future. Have also been working on some new stuff as of late, along with a friend who has yet to show his set of maps on here. Smaller competitive stuff. Feel free to add.
I may have gotten your map confused with another map of the same name, as I was checking out all current Boneyard maps at the time. Watching the video, I can see that I was wrong in my assumptions and that most, if not all, of my points were unfounded. Edit: Actually, now that I have re-watched your vid again, I noticed that the shotgun has a total of 12 shells in it. In my own experience, 6 is occasionally overpowering on a map similar to this. Seeing as how I haven't played on it, though, it may be balanced. Just an observation I made. Edit: Also, I noticed that you take credit for the idea of blocking off certain areas of the map. I know for a fact that this has been done as early as November of last year. Just thought I would bring that to your attention. That out of the way, I'll be sure to have this map on the roster for my groups CGN this Saturday so I can get a few full games in on it. Overall, I'd have to say that this is definitely one of the better Boneyard maps; good to know that there is some decent competition out there.
No problem Alligator, thanks for taking the time to double check. Appreciate it. You are 100% correct in regards to the shotgun, my current version has a single clip in it. Sadly I can't update the older upload without deleting it. Anyone who downloads it, I'd recommend editing that value for better balance. Kudos on the point out. Also, this map may not have been done as early as November, but it was uploaded on 1.07.2011 and created in December. That is why certain things have since been tweaked. I can definitely give anyone the updated version if we have some play sessions. - - - Somewhat off topic, but just to throw it out there. I've made a ton of maps, but for the sake of the community have only uploaded and shared those that have been thoroughly play tested. By thorough, I sometimes mean months. When I make a map I don't rush to get it out there. I play test it with various people and throw it in the playlist of maps for custom nights. Here is where I can get a feel for the map, tweak it and overall improve settings and such. More so, I can see if it is recommended or enjoyed by various people on a consistent basis. The truth can hurt or feel very good, I've felt both and am usually my own biggest critic. Once they go through vigorous testing and prove their worth (aka are suggested all the time without fail and play 100% smoothly), I enjoy bringing them about and sharing with the community. I hope to have more in due time that reach this mark. Thanks again guys.
I tried out this map with my friends in an FFA, and it was fantastic! What I love about this map is how it seems so simplistic, yet works so well in terms of balance. You clearly put lots of thought into the weapon layout and shield door placement. Kudos to you for creating such an amazing map, and on Boneyard nonetheless!
I really like how you used Boneyard instead of Forgeworld. You make it look original and "un-forged" (if that makes any sense). Do you have a download link for this map? I would really like to try it out.
This map is original and I don't care if anyone says otherwise! People could have just as easy done the same thing, yes, but they most likely would have blocked wrong areas and open up others. Judging your work, I can tell you put a careful amour of consideration in shield doors, spawns, weapons, etc. Great work on setup, and also for having an eye to see this as a great play space. Minor feedback: On the way top area you can jump to these thin rails that lead to a vent (not the window on second floor mind you). From there you can hide on top of the vent where a second vent bends upward. I would put a soft kill up there. Also, you can sit outside the window from second floor ceiling. Even though you put a soft kill and a hard kill after it, you can still sit between those volumes. The thing about kill zones is you have to bring it out about 5 notches farther than you think. Other than those two things, the map is cool-tastic! (-:
Thank you for the excellent feedback, will look into those smaller issues and amend them right away. I'm happy to see the competitive community understands the maps agenda, along with my work in general. It really does makes it all worth it. Nice to see games being played on the map. We usually play Reach's MLG settings, but using Halo 2's scoring set for proper FFA/1v1/2v2/TS settings. Works very well since Reach doesn't have MLG score settings for every game type. Thus FFA is unlimited scoring within a set time, etc. May upload these if anyone needs them. Bungie.net : Halo Reach : File Details
So I ran through it. I disliked the spawns for the two teams. And think there were some additional areas you could have included that would have increased the play size of the map.
Cover on both ends along with even space to each power weapon. The only way to replicate this differently would be to open up both back rooms, which in hand through vigorous play testing added nothing but camp spots to the map. If you would like to edit for your own enjoyment feel free, but I feel the best choices considering competitiveness and balance were made, mainly for the intended party sizes. This is intended for 2v2, for 4v4 I may agree with you.
One simple task of putting weapons down and enclosing a predetermined area with shields has proved that you can take a map that was good and make another map inside of the map that should have been built in to the map itself. Wait, Whut? Bravo. 4/5 I would give you 5/5 but seeing as though this map was simply created by putting weapons down in different places and enclosing an already made part of a map was the standard for this, I have to take away the last star for non creativity.
I've seen better to be honest. It's not exactly an original idea but I think you're the first to post it on FH. The version I saw had a man cannon in one of the hallways and used a lot of stunt ramps to create a few extra hallways
I actually think this map is genious. And it qualifies for the $5000 forge contest *hint hint* And A3LG, it seems that you don't like any map other than your own. Which, in full honesty, I don't think are all that great. I've looked back at your posts, and you do whatever you can to say something bad about a map. Kudos for being original. Its fairly easy to make a competitive map on forge. Youve taken the initiative. And as controversial as this map is, I like it.
You really don't know me if you think I like any of the maps that I build. I hate my maps more than anyone else's. I comment on the bad because nobody else does. Everyone's afraid to do it, and that kind of selfishness is why maps never get better. Turning Boneyard's refinery into a playable space has been done before. I've done it before. Friends of mine have done it before. It's been playable as early as September and most of them have been better versions than this one. I respect that each forger has their variation of Boneyard's refinery as a playable space, but I can't help but grimace at some of the unnecessary praise it's getting here when it's probably the least inventive of the refinery spaces. On top of that, weapon and space placement isn't that good. I'm not here to hurt anybody's feelings, but if you can't take criticism then I'll go to a less hypocritical site. Maps don't get better by praising their aesthetics.
I don't want to boycott this thread. I understand that you can't be positive all the time. But when you do whatever possible to be negative about peoples' maps, thats what annoys me. If you wish to discuss futher, please do so by PM. I will report others as spam. Lets leave the map outta this And also, if this was made with forge pieces, nobody would complain. But when it isn't you do. At the end of the day, its a map. Don't like the map? Don't play it