Laws 21

The Forerunners had some interesting notions about fun...
4-6 players.

Background

Since Reach came out, I've spent countless hours in the Forge; with this new wealth of pieces, geography, and gadgets, there has been so much to play with and learn. And I have to say, with all Forgeworld has to offer, I never figured my first public-release Reach map would be, when all was said and done,

A box.

Because, when you look at it, Laws 21 is, at it's very core, a box. Though, I wouldn't judge it too quickly; it's a very interesting box, after all. Click the Spoiler to find out more.

Spoiler

Laws 21 is a tier-based casual map, meaning it has several stages of game-play, and is designed for nothing but fun. Well, fun, and maybe a little bit of strategy. Just a little. Anyways, here is pictured an overview of the map: closest to you is the defending team's spawn, in the centre, the field of play, and on the far end, in the semi-circle, the attacking team's spawn. And yes, this map is symmetrical, so the defending spawn is exactly the same. It's just hidden behind the camera's view.

In this shot, you might also be able to spot Laws 21's central three dynamics. However, if you can't, it's okay. Don't cry, we'll help you out.



First is the lovely holographic blue box. This blue (or, depending on it's mood, red) box is the territory marker for each of Laws 21's three Invasion stages. They're small, with room for two or three people, a timer of ten measly seconds, and a float time of seven. They're really not that unfriendly, and they have no problem letting you stand in them to win the game. They really don't.



Second, the one-way shield doors. You'll find four gigantic ones on Laws, forming the sides of the "box:" one on the left and right to form walls, one across the bottom to form a floor, and one up top to make a ceiling. I know, it's hard. Try and keep up. Now, on most maps, these buddies are used for simple and helpful purposes; y'know, fencing off spawns to help you re-animate in comfort, or slowing you down from a deathly fast Gravity Lift trip. But these ones, they're not like the Holo-boxes. They've got a mean streak:

You see, working with their partner in crime, the safe-area boundary, they like to suck you out of the central playing field and into the great beyond. And I don't mean the realm of Forgeworld. I mean death. But, in doing so, these shield doors are used to craft Laws 21's distinctive game-play: depending on the stage of Invasion, different surfaces will spawn on the floor and ceiling to facilitate different game-play. Like a little Holodeck from Star-Trek. When the surfaces are present, the shield doors have a binding effect, sticking you to the surface. When the surfaces aren't present, though, you will be rather unceremoniously sucked out into your certain doom.

Try to be careful.



Third, and last, the size. Looking at these players here, you can see that Laws 21 really isn't that big of a box. In fact, it's pretty small. That means that you are stuck with that in-your-face, oh-my-god-I-have-no-room-to-breathe close-quarters game-play mechanic. And as we all know, that tends to create very hectic, fast, and hilarious games.

And that's it. Not so hard, huh?

Gameplay:
Two opening notes: first, all three stages have the same loadouts, which consist of a Concussion Rifle paired with your choice of a Jet Pack, Armor Lock, or Evade. Each armor ability is meant for a particular stage, but each one is useful on almost every tier. Second, the game-type included features modified gravity, jumping, shield, and damage mechanics. To make things simple, you'll feel light when airborne, can barely do any damage with your Rifle, but can smack someone to death in three hits.

Have fun out there.

Stage 1:



The Floor stage. You'll find a nice solid floor at the bottom of the playing area for your playing pleasure. Simply capture the territory located underneath that beautiful floating pad, and you're done. Note, however, that once you descend to the floor, the bottom shield door will stick you there, rendering jumping and your Jet Pack useless. Evade excels here.

Stage 2:



The Pad stage. Yes, I used the same gorgeous picture from before. In this stage, you'll find your once-solid floor has eroded a bit: you can now be sucked into oblivion should you stray too close to one of the spawning areas. But, never fear: to compensate, you'll find a great hard ceiling has formed atop the field. And you can stick to it, FYI. Just capture the territory located atop the aforementioned beautiful floating pad, and you're off to the last stage. Due to the small size of the pad, Armor Lock is a must.

Stage 3:



The Ceiling stage. This stage is by far both the hardest, and the funniest; you have the option to either Jet Pack up to the sticky ceiling, or use the Gravity Lift. Either way though, once you're up top, you are entirely exposed to the other team's Concussion Rifle fire. And, because of the way your head slides around on the surface, you can easily be propelled too close to one of the side shield doors, sucked out, and hilariously killed. Here, the best defence is a good offence. To win the game, stay in the territory for, you guessed it, ten seconds. Jet Pack is hands down the best here.

Note: to keep the gravity lifts from propelling players directly into the territory, there are buffers that prevent you from entering from a spawning area. To get into the territory, you have to slide to the side, and enter between the buffers.

Last but certainly not least, a few pictures:


Action Shots



















Cheers,
Moxus
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Thanks very much Titan! I'm glad you like the post.

It was a really tough call for me on spawning: during testing, there were certainly many times when one team or another would get pinned into their spawn point. And when that'd happen, I'd always seriously consider whether things might be better if I popped in a shield door or two so that the spawn areas were safe. Though in the end, my decision not to rested on two thoughts: for one, the map is very small, and so I felt that any protective measures I might put in could disrupt the already delicate flow of the space. If that happened, I thought I might be doing more damage than I might be remedying. And then, throughout testing, I found that even though a team might get trapped with their backs on the invisible wall, it was never long before someone made good use of Armor Lock, or placed a clever Concussion blast, or an enemy got sucked out into oblivion. And whenever any one of these things happened, the game managed to stabilize itself in due course (after all, I really can't stress how easily you can push people on the ceiling through the side shield doors).

I'm really glad you asked about spawning, by-the-way. And if you take the map for a test run and find spawning becomes a problem, please, let me know: I'd be happy to have a go at fixing things up.

Thanks again for the feedback!
Moxus