Recursive is the 2.0 version of my map for the 5000 budget contest, Curvature (you can find the original here). I am releasing it separately because there's a major geometry change that really alters how the map plays, and in my opinion, makes the gameplay a lot more complex and fun. If you've seen Curvature before you should spot the adjustment immediately, but if not, what is new is an upper deck made of diagonal bridges that wraps in a ring around the central tree, and connects to two side passages. Gameplay now flows freely in many new directions. Just like the original Curvature, Recursive has beautiful aesthetics and striking architecture with mostly curved surfaces instead of a bunch of blocks and 90 degree angles. It's a very atmospheric map that differs greatly from the norm. Weapons and equipment - 2 grenade launchers (150s respawn time, 3 shots) - 1 focus rifle (90s respawn time - replaces shotgun from Curvature) - 1 plasma pistol - 2 needlers - 2 health stations - assorted DMRs, grenades, and magnums - 2 needle rifles (new to this version) Video Recursive (Halo: Reach map) - YouTube Recursive walkthrough - YouTube Screenshots
This is what I get for not being able to attend the testing nights! I wish I had the chance to play on this map, it looks interesting. I miss the more simple design of Curvature, but the new platforms on this look interesting. I hope to get a game on it sometime!
To tell you the truth, this one was tested much less than the original, and not on our regular night. Very little changed from Curvature (including all objective locations and 95% of the spawn points) so I ran a quick handful of games on it yesterday and today to make sure the new additions didn't break the map in some way, and into immediate release it went. We'll play it at some point though, I like the way it plays now a lot. The simpler original version will always have a place on my hard drive - that centerpiece did look really cool, even if the tree thing is a bit overdone - but I love the way this one plays. Going up those curved side hallways and across the top middle (or other way around) added a great wrinkle to the games we tested.
this looks really good just like the original but i think the original was better but this one plays better but the original looks better both are good maps you got yourself a download.
I still think you should try and find something to replace the objects on the upper level with. Getting rid of those railings that stick out on the bottom would be a great improvement. It feels like there's hardly any space to move on the bottom level at the moment.
I noticed that myself. I like the addition of an upper area to diversify the middle combat, but right now it seems to be making things claustrophobic. I honestly never felt this map needed an upper mid area, but if it's playing well, I'd look for a better way to net the same results without sacrificing play-space in an area that's working.
There's another crack in the window...jk. I really like the additions you made, especially the way the bridges connect to the newly opened up high points of the map. I also like the jump-up crates. I agree things are a bit cramped due to the damned railings on the underside of the walkways. If only you could eliminate some of those rocks (the unremovable ones) it wouldn't be such a big deal (and I don't suppose you want to move the map to a tree without rocks nearby). Either way both the new and old version are great.
Dispute my liking of the idea of a new area of play, I agree with this. However I cannot say this from experience, as I have not played on this map
I believe the screenshots makes it look more claustrophobic down there than it actually is. There's plenty of clearance to move and jump underneath the bridges. In any case, I won't be replacing them with anything else - the only thing I can think of that would pull it off would be maybe 3x1 flats, which would look kind of junky and out of place on this map to me. (Not that I value aesthetics over gameplay, but this map looks so pretty! and I seldom pull that off!) The alternative would be to raise them a bit, but I really don't want to do that - the higher they get, the more dominant that position becomes; right now the balance is good. It would also make two jump-ups that I have to the ring more difficult to pull off, if not impossible; again for balance reasons, those need to be easy jumps. (I actually sunk the covenant crates slightly into the floor to make them easier.) If you look at the last screenshot there, you can get a sense of how much head room there actually is. I believe it's plenty. Most of the time, the only way you should hit your head on the bridges would be climbing up on the rocks or jetpacking. [br][/br]Edited by merge: The impetus behind it was actually to provide a third path in and out of the curved outer hallways. From that notion I had the idea to do an entire center ring elevated above the middle. (In fact the idea came up a long time ago, but I couldn't figure out how to make it work until just recently.) I think it really improves flow and adds to the playability of the center, which previously was a somewhat dangerous place to be; now it's both a bit powerful and a bit dangerous, which I like. And bringing it back to the original intent, it makes those curved hallways play great.
Hey I either posted or was partly responsible for some feedback that was posted on the last version of this, it's cool that you changed the weapon set up cause I remember really wanting a grenade launcher to use in those tunnels and now I have one. Well actually I want a grenade launcher to use in every single map I play but that's a whole other story. I'm iffy on that top-mid from the pics but I'll need to know how it plays before judging, I like it in principle because Curvature felt like a map that just needed one more element to think about while playing (overly simple design is becoming a bugbear of mine), however I would echo the sentiment that the bridges you have atm look a little awkward in those screens. I do feel you on not making them too high though, because I know how players love to head for high ground and camp there, half my time on my current project has been trying to balance the highest area.
Thanks sir! Give it a run some time and let me know how you like it. I'd also encourage you to watch the video, if you didn't already - it gives a better feel for how the bridges really fit into the space. It's hard to take a screenshot from an angle that shows it properly, but when the camera moves around it becomes more clear, I think. By the way there was one more change to this version - the skylight is now capped with glass covers. I liked the look of it a little better when it was open air, but I don't want people jetpacking up there and dying in the hard kill zone. The easiest solution was just to create a physical barrier.
Yeah man, sorry I comitted that cardinal sin where people say stuff about your map without having even played it. I just see some pictures and then my posting finger starts to itch and writhe like an injured worm and then I end up saying some words. Downloading it now, will have a 1v1 (im unpopular) and tell you what I think of the cahnges
Fiddling around in forge I had another idea that would still allow this to be opened up. Have you considered a small balcony atop the curved walkways that opens up to the main room? You could have a lift that sends you up to it so it's still accessible from the middle ground area, but you would get rid of the walkway problem. I don't mean to make it out to be a huge problem because I think its not that big a deal, but this is just another idea that would still open up that space.
Funny you should say that - that's the other idea I had all along, and I was going to either use lifts or one way teleporters to the balconies to make it work. I ultimately decided against it because I liked the bridge ring better (it goes beyond just opening up the curved hallways and legitimately changes the gameplay of the entire middle area); and also, I feared the balcony concept would lead to a lot of camping up there and peppering the players down below with DMR fire. Anyway I'd encourage anyone commenting to have a game on the current version and see how it feels to you. Believe me, I'm very sensitive to crowded-feeling maps, and this is not one to me. I spent 15 minutes just running around under the bridges and jumping to see how much clearance there was. In actual game situations I never got hung up there or felt that it was awkward at all. We even played KOTH with a hill spawning down there, and no one had a problem that I could see on film. EDIT - I made a quick little player's-eye walkthrough to take a closer look at the amount of space under center. This has been added to the first post as well. Hopefully this clarifies the issue for anyone who hasn't played the map yet. Personally I feel there's a lot of room down there even with the railings. I also did due diligence in seeing in forge if I could make that centerpiece out of other pieces without railings, but suffice to say I wasn't pleased with the results - everything else I tried looked comparatively sloppy and used a lot more objects. For a few feet of headroom in a few specific places, I don't think it's worth the tradeoff. Recursive walkthrough - YouTube