Arca [mouseoverimage=http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd425/Hippiefisk/reach_25809541_Thumbnail.jpg]http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd425/Hippiefisk/reach_25799598_Thumbnail.jpg[/mouseoverimage] Halo: Arca anniversary. You might have heard of this map before, and you might have seen it before. If you have, it is probably because you at some point encountered Levvi's version from the early days of Reach. It is based on a design made by the eminent map designer (=]) and former forger NeXn, who let my pal Levvi adopt it. Basically, this old one just looked pretty dirty, was sort of cluttered with different forge pieces and there were loads of holes in walls and floors. =S That's not because Levvi is a bad forger, though. He really isn't. He's way more creative and has got much more original structure and layouts than me, but anyway, the old Arca simply doesn't look good because all of the modern forging techniques and tricks hadn't been discovered at the time it was made. For its time though, it was really good. However, as I felt it was outdated and didn't meet the aesthetic standards of modern forging, I decided I'd try to remaster it myself. I believe myself to have a decent grasp at how to make stuff look nice, but I'd still say the new one is pretty generic in terms of objects palette and usage, but I don't really care. My initial goal, and my only goal with the entire project, was simply to make Arca cleaner, and that's what I've done. I know it's self complimenting, but it doesn't matter. It is cleaner and I'm happy. Period. Right here, I've actually opened up another hole in the wall because I felt it plays better. Mouseover comparison images. [mouseoverimage=http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd425/Hippiefisk/reach_24656616_Medium1.jpg]http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd425/Hippiefisk/reach_24656787_Medium.jpg[/mouseoverimage] [mouseoverimage=http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd425/Hippiefisk/reach_25809548_Medium.jpg]http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd425/Hippiefisk/reach_25799593_Medium.jpg[/mouseoverimage] [mouseoverimage=http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd425/Hippiefisk/reach_25809549_Medium.jpg]http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd425/Hippiefisk/reach_25440949_Medium-1.jpg[/mouseoverimage] [mouseoverimage=http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd425/Hippiefisk/reach_25809547_Medium.jpg]http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd425/Hippiefisk/reach_25799586_Medium.jpg[/mouseoverimage] Weapon and powerup list: Sniper - 58 sec. 0 spare clips. Gl 1 - 73 sec. o spare clips. Gl 2 - 88 sec. 1 spare clip. OS - 75 sec. and some DMRs and stuff. That'll be all. Download
It's odd that you claim that you added that extra route to the center. You know I'm cool with you, but it's as if you forgot that I made my own variant of the map.
Some weird respawn times, huh? Anyway, it looks nice, I'd Dl but my HDD is full, and I'm not home, but I'll get somebody else to to play it.
Max, I had about sixteen earlier versions with that opening. even my original version did, but it looked like ****. However, I didn't really start testing the map a lot until like a week before you made that version of yours, so I was still considering it when I saw it. I suppose you kind of helped convince me it would be better though, so yeah, thanks Max. Drop spawns. technically, they still spawn every 60, 75 and 90 seconds.
Well, it certainly looks prettier the Levi's original... But then again, we didn't know all the tricks back then that we do now. I'm not a fan of 1x wide walk ways though. Solitary 3x1s and 5x1s annoy the piss out of me.
Without a doubt, the designs are some of the best I've seen and it looks like it ill play very well too. I especially love the sand part( its pretty creative). 1v1 maps are cool, but please consider making this for bigger gameplay. I think if it was bigger it would be versitle for different slayer options.
Very nice and clean,love the aesthetics and what you did with the sand its very original adding something like that and love how you made it your own by adding the hole in the wall great job Hulter
I actually got the idea when Longshot was showing me his progress on caia. It has that pretty big sand bank area on it. And it's not really my own just because of that. That's just a slight improvement to Nexn's original sketchup design. But yeah, this version is more based off of Levvi's version, geometrically, than by The original sketchup, actually.
Pretty much you took two other individual's work and prettied it up a bit more. Congrats on that. How much ingenuity flourishes in Finland btw?
That is exactly what I did, yes. I also changded the flow slightly and mixed up the proportions. The map is about 1,2 units longer and 0,3 units wider than Levvi's version, and the mid platform has been raised by 0,2 units and made nearly square, the room below has been made slightly wider etc. In Finland? Their 1000 lakes are probably full of it. Why? You sound as if you thought I hadn't even checked with NeXn and Levvi before I made this, and as if remaking things was a bad thing. Please don't derail the thread.
Got a game on this last night when my lobby dropped down to just me and one other guy. And I must say that this is the most confusing map I have played in quite some time. Every room is colored the exact same, making it difficult to learn your way around. There weren't really any landmarks to help guide us through the map. I recognized each room individually, but could never really wrap my head around how it all came together. I felt like I HAD to have an existing knowledge of this map in order to fully enjoy it. I was actually quite surprised by this, because everything else about the map was just extraordinary. The weapons all played nicely against each other, I always spawned in what appeared to be safe areas. The forging was clean, and every battle was satisfying. Even if I had no idea where I was going, or why. I really feel like going through this map and color coding each room, just so I can play it again without feeling like I was in a maze. I WANT to love this map, it's just playing hard to get lol
I want the map to have a consistent theme, but I have made the rooms look different by using different combinations and positioning of objects, plus some rooms just have really special attributes layout wise. I don't think the problem is lack of landmarks, but rather just that the map has a slightly confusing layout. I was a little confused at first as well, and it was even worse back then, because it took longer before you would figure out the map is essentially square, that the big atrium was right beside the platform room, because you couldn't really see, usually, as there was no hole in the wall in that one corner back then. It just takes a few games before you know exactly how it works though. The Green telporter leads from OS lift to Snipe lift, right accross the entire map, the Purple one goes from sandbar to top platform, from the lowest point of the map to the highest. I think that might help you keep from getting disorientated, if you know where the telporters go.
Obviously your just not that good at Halo then. Didn't you know that learning a map is a skill you need to possess to be good at Halo? Like duh dude. If your having problems, you need to run around and study the map. Har har har har. In all seriousness though, giving rooms slightly different aesthetic looks from the use of different textures isn't the most blatantly obvious way to differentiate rooms from one another. It might look prettier, but a little bit more color coordination is probably in call for. A combination of texture and color mapping is ideal though, and should be relatively easy enough to accomplish on such a small map. One of the primary issues with appeal in regards to forge maps with many individuals is the lack of orientation. A player should be able to learn to navigate a map fairly well from the first game... When you fail to address this issue, you loose out on your fan/support base and most likely the only people who will enjoy the map are the hard core supporters. If your forging for a selective audience like that though, that's your own call. And yes I know some of the best maps such as Dammy are actually considered "complex" designs and hard to learn, and I know this is the sort of retort you want to post, but Dammy "complex" to Forged gray "complex" is like comparing apples to oranges. Its not the same thing.
Damnation barely has any colour coordination either. It shines of red right in the upper end of the lower teleporter room, and it's a bit green in the high ramp room in the same way. The rest is purple, purple and purple. It really relies on geometrical differences and different textures, like rocks floor and snipe hallway to upper ramp room, and things like that one room has a couple of pipes in the cieling, That it's really vertical, or that there's a bottomless deathpit down below, mainly. In the same way, I've got the sand bar, a room with Platform XL walling and low cieling, a room with sideways braces, high cieling and a big pit and the snipe ledge, A big open room with Sideways ramp bridges and 1x2 for walling, a lot of entrances to other rooms and the OS ledge up high. Some feel more enclosed, others feel wide open. Really, it is obvious enough. If you don't get the layout after an entire game, you're just not paying attention. It wouldn't be faster to learn where every single colour had it's area than it would be start recognising the rooms on the atmospherical combinations But whatever. It's not like this map is particularly complex anyway. I just share my maps here because I know some people like them and appreciate that I do it, but I forge them for myself and my pals, not for the community. Damnation barely has any colour coordination either. It shines of red right in the upper end of the lower teleporter room, and it's a bit green in the high ramp room in the same way. The rest is purple, purple and purple. It really relies on geometrical differences and different textures, like rocks floor and snipe hallway to upper ramp room, and things like that one room has a couple of pipes in the cieling, That it's really vertical, or that there's a bottomless deathpit down below, mainly. In the same way, I've got the sand bar, a room with Platform XL walling and low cieling, a room with sideways braces, high cieling and a big pit and the snipe ledge, A big open room with Sideways ramp bridges and 1x2 for walling, a lot of entrances to other rooms and the OS ledge up high. Some feel more enclosed, others feel wide open. Really, it is obvious enough. If you don't get the layout after an entire game, you're just not paying attention. It wouldn't be faster to learn where every single colour had it's area than it would be start recognising the rooms on the atmospherical combinations But whatever. It's not like this map is particularly complex anyway. I just share my maps here because I know some people like them and appreciate that I do it, but I forge them for myself and my pals, not for the community.
I really like this map, got a 1v1 in the other day and 15-1 my friend I enjoyd playing this map reall nicely forge. I might make a map review video so more people can see it. Nice job on it bro.
I have to disagree with you here. While each room certainly does have its share of unique features, they all look relatively the same. I understand your desire to have a unified aesthetic, but dozens of other maps have shown that it is quite possible do so without sacrificing color coded areas. Honestly, you have so many colored pieces already, it's hard for me to understand why you didn't do so in the first place. To me, it just seems like bad map design sense. But hey, it's your map do with it what you like. You've clearly got an audience, and if they go for this kind of stuff then so be it. But stubbornly denying yourself a wider fanbase is selling yourself short IMO Especially when you could so easily make this map more widely appealing.
Well, his fanbase consists of the best forgers out there sooo... If they like his work, then obviously the general population that ignores it must be wrong. That is so last year.
Not sure if that's sarcasm, but if not that is a very arrogant point of view. @ 4shot I might actually vomit is I see another map with a tree lol. But seriously, all I want from this map is easier navigation and orientation. Color coding is a technique that has been used since the dawn of FPS's, and for good reason. IT WORKS.
Nah, its me trolling. I don't get along with him or his forge buddies too well. But yes, seriously, color coding would really benefit this map. Big time.
Colour coding is only neccesary for maps that are either symmetrical or asymetrical but with rooms similar to their counterparts on the other side, functional syms. Like on Element or warlock. On those maps, you wouldn't be able to tell what side of the map you were on, if they didn't have colours, but you don't use the colours for learning the layout. In that case, the main thing that separates the rooms from each other is the colouring, but on asyms like Dammy or Arca, each room is different from the others and uniqe anyway, so they don't need colours to separate the different parts from eachother. Having colours doesn't neccesarliy make it easier to understand how the rooms connect. You can see huge differences between the different rooms, and simply do have to learn the layout by figuring out how the rooms connect and how they are positioned. "But stubbornly denying yourself a wider fanbase is selling yourself short IMO Especially when you could so easily make this map more widely appealing." I simply think they are wrong and that it in fact wouldn't help at all. They would still have just as much trouble figuring the layout out. It's like giving people chewing gum because they're hungry.