These are the maps that brought me out of forge-hiatus. Both are in the testing and refining phase right now. Feedback welcome, testing volunteers also welcome (though I will be out of commission for the holidays probably at least for the next week or so). Division Station is a smallish map made for up to 8 players. It's symmetrical, it's extremely budget-minded (I think I have about 3400 left right now), and it has a very distinctive design of multiple levels and lots of unusual lines of sight and means of getting from place to place. Screenshots: The "basement": This bi-level lift will take you to the top level of each base from either the 1st or 2nd level below. Part of the basement level. Be careful on those narrow ninja ledges. Inside one base. This is the second level and first level (with a tunnel down to the basement). -- The Beast is much larger, a BTB-style map made for 12-16 players. It is asymmetrical but a lot of focus was placed on balance so that it should hopefully work for multi-flag and multi-bomb gametypes. The idea of the map was a huge carcass of some kind of mechanically-augmented war beast that you can fight around, inside of, and on top of. That may remind you of Burial Mounds from Halo 2 (not intentional on my part, though perhaps subconscious - I certainly played that map enough back in the day). The overall design of this one is quite different however. Screenshots: Blue team's base. Red team's base. One of the side walkways. The small building to the left is an outpost for blue team and holds a power weapon.
The beast is coming along quite nicely and I look forward to seeing this division station. Is this another countdown-type map since you dropped that last one? Either way it looks nifty. Does that bottom lift send you into the second or above it? Also there seem to be a lot of railings, how's that old lady frame rate?
It has a little Countdown in its DNA but really it wasn't inspired by any particular map - I had a specific idea I wanted to build where there was a large gap in the center of the ground floor that you had to go around (or over via bridges/walkways) and the map was built on the fly starting with just that notion. Basically into it. You end up a few feet above it, but in its stream, which pushes you on up to the third level. In the 3v3 games we played last night and in a non-combat splitscreen test, great. No problems at all. There actually aren't a lot of railings - I think two smalls in each base (at the top of the lift), three of mixed sizes on each of the raised platforms you see in screen #2, and two as part of the door frame in the basement. That's all I can think of at the moment. I tried to stay away from problem objects and keep the design simple, which is how I ended up with a lot of available budget left. I may actually be adding an aesthetic feature soon if I can do it without affecting performance any - that's got to be a first for me. I usually build the map of my dreams to start with, and then start stripping it down mercilessly.
From the images its hard to get any idea of the first map, but the second looks interesting to say the least. The 'beast' in the center is something that I have never seen in forge before and I like the idea of it. I hope to play customs with you next time and look forward to seeing these maps.
I want to see the Beast in forge. It looks very potentially interesting, but it's hard to tell from the screenshots. I don't think i really like the bases in it though.
Sure the bases are relatively generic but they clearly aren't the focus of the map [br][/br]Edited by merge: And I'm disappointed that I didn't get to play Division Station. Maybe we can get something going Friday night? I make no promises though
Agreed. The roof on the cave side one looks too empty. Almost every roof in halo is meant to be used and has cover and ways up to it and stuff. Also warthogs go on the right side of a base so players don't have to walk around to get in the driver seat. It's just a pet peeve of mine.
I've heard this from another guy (ahem... Overdoziz), but I'm satisfied with them. Bear in mind that budget and performance were big concerns - I plan to never again release a map that doesn't support 2 player splitscreen with as little framerate drops as possible. So The Beast has a budget of a little less than 7000, and the bases are more intended to be functional than anything else. That said, I actually quite like the design of blue team's base (2nd screenshot). It has multiple entrances, windows, an interesting interior shape, an internal and external means of getting to the roof... for the relatively small amount of budget and space used to make it, I'm pretty proud of it as a work of forge-engineering. Red team's base is not as great, but it serves its purpose and looks different from the other, which I wanted. It has a good interior layout for objective games (with 5 entrances) and a better roof layout than blue base; plus a deck in back that is actually cool-looking. Naturally, I didn't take a screenshot of it. I'll be out of town until next Tuesday or so, alas. You'll be seeing it soon enough though, and probably a lot, so don't get too eager to play it now. In about a month you'll be sick as hell of it. There are three ways up: two ramps and a jump-up. Plus limited cover (just sandbags) and a turret. It's not the roof of Hemorrhage's bases, but I don't think it's completely unfunctional either. Pending further playtesting though, I might be talked into adding some more structural cover up there, if it's warranted. My first thought is that I could make the two 1x1 pillars that bracket the turret taller (extend them past the roof line) without affecting budget or object count at all. That is indeed a quibble of microscopic proportions.
Ah, I remember playing The Beast. There was a lot of creativity in that map and it definitely stands out aesthetics wise. I can't play Division Station, unfortunately due to not having Tempest, but I'm sure it's a solid map. Also, on "The Beast", do you see that window piece in the fourth picture next to the reciever node? I think you should remove that. It really serves little to no purpose. I'd like to play on The Beast again, so hit me up anytime.
Thanks for your comments on The Beast. I'll be trying to get together a BTB test of it soon - will definitely attempt to rope you in. Division Station is a Forge World map - it's built above the very end of the valley (so sort of adjacent to, but well above, the cave). Ah, young Jedi, so much about the Force have you to learn. Er, that is, there's a purpose to it but one which is perhaps not extremely obvious. The window faces the base and sender node that directs to that receiver; it's there so you can see if someone is camping the receiver, while still providing a little cover and enclosure to that spot which would otherwise be badly exposed. It's more necessary on the red team's side than blue, but I put it on both for symmetry purposes.
Oh, relax. The screenshots made it look like it was made on Tempest. MY BAD. Still, I'd like to see it.
I like The Beast better, but I am sure that after a few more tests Division Station will grow on me. The bases on The Beast while certainly not beautiful get the job done and are a blessing to framerate so I would keep it as is. My only feedback for the map that I didn't mention earlier (I forgot) was that rock mound next to the beast's head. It always flips over vehicles trying to go through that path and it hardly blocks LOS. I would replace it with a smaller and taller rock structure. If you ever do host a BTB testing lobby for The Beast feel free to invite me. I would be able to give better and more accurate feedback.
Made some updates to Division Station. The top of the lift was entirely reconfigured to work more smoothly, and I learned the hard way that it's the very little details that count. Just moving a piece literally an inch one way or another would dramatically change how the lift worked. And I don't mean moving the grav lifts themselves, I mean slightly adjusting one of the several blocks up above that gently deflect the player forward and down to their landing point. Anyway that is working smoothly (I think). I also widened the gap in the mid-center a bit to prevent sprint-jumping across, and also hopefully decrease the feeling of separation between the two levels. And finally, I removed a few key bits of wall on both halves of the map so that the areas are a little more integrated and less divided (despite the map name!). Sora - good feedback on the rock mound on The Beast. I will try some other configuration. That's actually a holdover from the original design which didn't have those big outside walkways. I needed a maximally-large rock for infantry to walk safely behind for a bit. Now that there's a walkway over there a little further out, that rock could easily be smaller. Oh and also, on the blue team base for The Beast, I did extend those pillars in front up a bit, and add another piece of cover at one end as well. The roof should be pretty damn useful at this point. [br][/br]Edited by merge: Preview video that does a quick tour of both maps: Halo: Reach map previews: Division Station/The Beast - YouTube