"This forerunner energy processor has been abandoned for centuries. 1v1 map by AceOfSpades." I think every forger knows exactly how each of their maps was started, almost down to the very piece that they first placed. You see the blue ring around the central death pit? That's where I started Ether. I saw an opportunity to use a subtle aesthetic that I've never seen before through the use of Block 2x2, Shorts. The interesting shapes you see encompassing the blue of the Platform XLs are the sides of Block 2x2, Shorts. The rest of the map quite literally grew around that central death pit, it being the focal point of much of the map. Character was the main focus of Ether. Where you see the camo presiding over the middle atrium, there used to be a boring ramp leading out of the bottom floor to a platform that would boringly ramp back up to the receiver area. Boring. To combat the hold of boring that was threatening to take over my map, I smacked it in the face. I smacked it in the face with rocks. I created the looming rock arch that presides over the camo platform and coupled that with a curving rock hallway next to it and a sizable rock section on the opposite side of the map. The addition of natural pieces to Ether gave it a feel that could not have been accomplished with a plethora of grey. Another defining aesthetic of Ether has to be the windows. I don't remember how the idea for them came to me, but I placed one to either side of the central atrium and they gave that central atrium a very "Star Wars-esque" feel. Along with the presence they give, the windows also provide a different, albeit risky, way to traverse the map. The window perched above the main death pit allows players to jump between the camo platform and the receiver room, which can prove to be a very useful shortcut. For a long time during the map's production, there were only those two windows on the map. I was showing the map to Nibs one day, and he suggested to make a sort of series of windows throughout the map. I took his wonderful suggestion and added two more windows. Not only did they add a sense of consistency throughout the map, but they helped mold the rest of the map and provided even more of a different way to traverse the map. You can traverse the entire upper area of the map through the windows, and I'll leave that to you to figure out how to utilize them. Another feature Ether that helps tie it all together are the "energy reactors" and the power line stretching along most of the map. The power line starts at the receiver node, flows down to the main death pit and the energy reactor in it, follows the series of windows, and dips down into the other death pit to connect the smaller energy reactors under the grenade launcher, and back up to the sender node. The little blue line can be seen from pretty much anywhere on the map and it, along with the energy reactors, definitely give Ether a unique aesthetic that has reminded more than one person of Star Wars. All in all, Ether's layout is not very complicated at all. It's the character of the map that I like to think defines the map. I wanted to break out of my comfort zone with Ether, and I really think I accomplished that to make a 1v1 map that breaks the mold of maps being produced today. Weapons and Equipment Spoiler DMR - x3 - 30 sec - 2 spare clips Needle Rifle - x2 - 45 sec - 1 spare clip Grenade Launcher - x1 - 90 sec - 1 spare clip Plasma Pistol - x1 - 60 sec Active Camo - x1 - 90 sec - doesn't spawn at start Spiker - x1 - 30 sec - 2 spare clips Plasma Grenade - x2 - 45 sec Health Pack - x1 - 15 sec Special thanks to Nibs, Erupt, Kuroda, Hulter, Xzamplez, and anyone else who helped me along the way and with testing. Ether would not be what it is today without your support and advice. Download Ether Download Gametype
Lol thats gonna be hard to beat. Glad to see a different forging style for once. The natural looks about as natural as can be. Ill be releasing a map soon and this comes out Besides Ill have to give this map a download, loving the blue all throughout the map. Keep up the good work
Chalk another one up for Ace. Seriously guys, this is what a 1 v. 1 map should be. The theme is obvious without being distracting and plays into the geometry of the map. You are immersed in the play space so you actually feel like you are somewhere else, somewhere real instead of pretty block room #468 (hm, used the same reference for Iridescence. Coincidence?) The feel of the map extends to every corner instead of being one very nice looking spot in the middle of a set of gray halls. And all of this in a map that is meant to be played, not just looked at. At least once a week I hear that forge is done; that all we can do is copy the same old principles and get lucky to even have one part of our map be original. I'm glad there is still someone out there trying to break the mold. I hope this map reminds forgers that something of this level of beauty and originality is not unattainable. Final Verdict: Job well done, and thank you.
I couldn't agree more. Not nearly enough forgers are willing to break out of their comfort zones. This results in any one persons maps all being very similar to each other, and maps made by others. The amount of Sequence wanna-bes and maps made to emulate Quake-style gameplay is absurd. If a map's been made a hundred times before, why make it again? This is what makes Ether great. Rather than being in the same grey box with a slight re-work of the same textures we've seen a million times over, you're inside the frickin' Death Star. Some 1v1 forgers have considered their maps unique enough simply because they used a slightly different texture-set than others, and this really bothers me. This map actually creates a clear theme, there are objects in the map with implied function (the power conduit, reactor, and windows), and the map creates a cleaner, cooler look than most other 1v1s on top of this. While the Iridescense maps may have set a standard in 1v1 gameplay, this map sets a standard in map-theming. Hopefully other forgers can take a hint before too many more generic, grey maps are made. I'll have trouble going back to Pretty Block Room #468 after this. Now I just hope that this theme won't end up being copied a million times over... Great work Ace, great work. I'd love to get a game on here with you sometime.
I'm not really much of an aesthetic forger, and I doubt I ever will be. I try to focus on original map structures and gameplay. However, you've reminded me how important the way a map looks is. This isn't just a map, it's a sexy map. Nice job, definitely downloading.
That looks pretty sick. I, like everyone else, loves the idea, err... ill come up with a better word later. But, i was thinking the same thing, like, yesterday. So, the map i am making is kind of like yours. but only in theme. slightly. but it looks nothing like it. but i like your map btw, it kind of reminds me of the Death STar map from Star Wars Battlefront 2, which is probably the best shooter ever, other than halo. It has the same hallways, deaath pit where the giant laser is, and i even found a secret part, like the underground part on your map, that leads to the trash compactor from Star Wars IV.
man you really changed up the way a 1v1 map looks and it sure looks like you tried something different with the blue theme, im loving the incline floor/ whatever block that is thing you have going. great map
Well, definitly raised the bar with this one Ace. I think you are the most undercompinsated forger on this site. It seems like you do not get even half of the recognition you deserve. Now though this looks sick, I am sick of 1v1s popping up everywhere, lol. I wish this could be accomplished with a 4v4 though I know it cant because of the lag and item amount and all that great stuff. But, great job once again. I can only repeat what has already been posted so I wont bother. Good job.
amazing, there is so much little details that break up the walls nd such. nd it does break out of the box, nice job will download nd tell ya how it plays
I got to run around on it today. It is definitely a beautiful map. Design-wise, my only issue is how close-quartered it feels, though it probably won't be as bad for 1v1. Still though, I can imagine everybody changing their nominations. @Bold: I agree for sure, but breaking out of a comfort zone when it comes to forge is pretty difficult because of the standards people have for their map. @Italicized: I'll agree with the idea of a quake-like gametype being absurd, but the maps? I hope that's not the direction you're taking. @Underlined: There are 3 main reasons. For one, there are still diverse layouts you can try. And the follow-up reason is that the previous map can have a design flaw that you want to address on the next map. Lastly, Some kinds of maps are more enjoyable than others.
hey checked it out, i love the grav lifts, some places where a lil confusing at 1st and i fell off the map a few times lol i like it, the asthetics are great, the lifts are awsome, nd I love the size and the way it looks like it plays, im keepin this and playin with a friend on it when i have sumone 2 play against on it. nice work man,.
Well, now that I have seen it in person... I hate it. JKJKJK, I still love it. It looks even more awesome in person than in the thread. My one and only complaint for the map itself is the lack of long range batt;e as stated in someone elses post in here. I understand its 1v1 and we want to take people out of their DMR only comfort zone, but I still think there should be sometype of wider, slightly more open areas even in a 1v1 map. I like CQC alot, but I like for it to open up a bit to level the playing field some. Its funny, cuz I will get out DMRd almost everytime since I suck, but I dont think it fair to close the DMR pros out, lol. I still stand with my opinion that I wish this type of work could be applied to a 4v4 or even a 2v2. I know you are just the guy to do it too. One more thing about aesthetics. Are all of you guys building 1v1s doing this together? I noticed a huge trend of having the 2x1 ramps circling the map walls. Its a cool, color adding design, but it seems to be in every single 1v1 map in here and in the map preview section. Not hating, just noticing.
As I already messaged you on xbl about this, I recently played a game on this map. To be honest, I came to the came with a negative bias because I dislike 1v1s in general, and I thought the map looked claustrophobic to all hell. Needless to say, it didn't feel that way when I played it. Actually, it was a very enjoyable game. I still dislike 1v1s and would rather not play them, but I did like this. For the most part, movement in my game flowed in a counter clockwise pattern along the outsides of the map. Occasionally myself or Noooch would cut through the center or back track when we hear each other use a lift, which were dead give aways on player location. I imagine this could get boring to play over time, but I suppose that's why we have a variety of maps to choose from. Anyhow, nice work on this one. Solid map all round I'd say.
Ether makes my PP go up. This map looks really pretty and I've downloaded. Interesting write-up by the way. I imagined you as the Godfather reading it to me while petting your cat (Garfield). When I get a game on it I'll let you know what I think- whether you want me to or not because dammit it's just gonna' happen. Jub Jub. [br][/br]Edited by merge: I'm back! And I have myself some words for you! The game I played here was fun, but 2 things showed some very disturbing problems. I couldnt sleep afterwards. [/lie] The spiker was nice to use, but the clip size is huge and having more than one clip seems like a bad idea. With one clip you can easily pop about 5 shields and having multiple clips is just not good. I would look in to removing the spiker or bringing it down to 0 spare clips. Also, I like how you used the 2-way shield doors, but a few were close enough to jump to and just stand in the window. This wouldn't be an issue, but the shield door prevented me from hitting me foe and that's just majorly game- breaking. Theoretically one could stand up there and not die for the whole round while the other tries hopelessly to kill the one standing in the window. Just putting a soft kill zone in the ones you can jump in (the only one I noticed was the one over the death pit, but you should try each once more to be sure- I suck at tac jumping.) The map is nice and I really like how you punched in in the skins with rocks, the colors were so much nicer than if it were just grey with blue lights. Nice work, if you edit these two things it should be fantastic.
Sorry. This map deserves to be on the front page for a little while longer. You know I could state all the positive aspects of the map, but I never do. I will instead focus on some of the hindrances, which can be conditional, and vary between each person. First is the los on the map. Though the brace, shield door looks nice, it forces the map to sport cqc very often. Cqc is not necessarily a bad thing, but it usually comes hand in hand with random encounters, rather than strategic movement and map control. Another quirk on the map, is the lack of dance floor. I often found myself falling off the map because I did not have enough room to maneuver. This would be fine in a few areas, but I found that the map consistently lacked dance floor overall. Lastly, is the lack of direct connections. The nature of the map forces players to jump, lift, and teleport constantly to maintain flow. So CQB+lack of maneuverability+lack of direct connections=a lot of very awkward fighting situations. One of these problems alone does not ruin a map, but together, they magnify each other. Let me say again, these points stated above can be positive to some people, so do not take this as bashing. I think you are a creative forger with salot to offer, and your new project looked sick.
I agree completely about everything you've said. Was almost going to bother writing a post like yours up, so think you for beating me to it. I found this one pretty sick although restricted LoS from almost one end of the map to the other, through those shield doors, and opening that up by removing the shields would be a huge improvement. I actually did make a version where I deleted it, and I highly preferred it that way.
It's posts like these when people witness balls dropping. I agree with these points, though Ether is one of the top aesthetic 1v1's in my book.
I played this map right around the time of its release and, like everyone else, found the aesthetics to be amazing. Besides the windows, I enjoyed the little things like the Plat Y's that sort of guided you to areas of interest. The game-plays pacing also felt just right- at times it would be hide-and-seek, and at others kills would happen fast and frequently. A couple problems I had with the map were the shield doors, the spiker, and one "dead end" of sorts. During a 1v1, I was able to abuse the shield door above the death pit by moving from one side to the other, preventing my opponent from shooting me. When he tried to jump at me, I simply melee'd him, forcing him to fall back into the death pit. I didn't abuse it after that, but only because I didn't want to be a ****. Having a soft-kill zone in those windows might be a little awkward, but it would discourage any notions of camping. My gripe with the spiker is that it has too much ammo. On a 1v1 or 2v2, I typically stick with 0 spare clips. It only takes 4 (or is it 5?) spikes to drop shields, and on a relatively CQC map like this it can be devastating. That thing has enough ammo in 1 clip to drop plenty of shields- I would treat it like a semi-power weapon and tone it down a bit. The last bit I had a problem with was the lift landing zone with the receiver node on it. From this point, you could either exit through the 1 hard-route to the left or turn around and tac- jump back the way you came by way of the shield-door window. I felt sort of trapped here if they knew I was heading that way, with no other choice than to fight. This wasn't a particularly large issue in the grand scheme of things, but another route out of there, perhaps to the right of the landing and leading back down to camo, would be awesome.
Really impressive work, ace. This is the kind of map that frustrates me as a forger because it is so detailed yet it does not have noticeable lag. I'm assuming this is because of the shortish sightlines. In terms of layout, the only thing I didn’t like was that perch at the highest point on the map. I’m sure it’s not too advantageous since it doesn’t have any weapons and only limited LOS of the map, but it seems to promote camping with only one way up there and it's also awkward to shoot at someone up there. As others have said, the theme is just superb. I can’t wait to see what you do next. I do hope you venture out into larger maps sometime.
Well, this was a really cool map, but I can't really see where the "Death Star - fell" is. Correct me if I am wrong, but this is "just" another great map, but now revolutionary idea.