Truth By Zaharias Description: Truth is my first map posted to forgehub. It is designed for the Smackdown forge contest. The basic design idea behind Truth was to have a series of curved hallways around the perimeter of the map acting as LoS blockers, with each one containing a power weapon. This encourages a circular flow around the map in a counter-clockwise direction, but many tac jumps allow you to break this flow, if you know where to find them. Truth revolves around a modified double atrium design, with catwalks and bridges connecting the higher areas and allowing for many different tactics. I tried to design the map so that every position has another position to counter it. I built Truth to the Smackdown gametype as much as I could, with long lines of sight connecting the rooms, lots of dance floor, and a competitive weapon set that caters to zero bloom. In the aesthetic department, I incorporated as much natural terrain as I could. Many of the rooms have sandy floors, and rocks that help to alleviate the grayness of the blocks. Nearly every room has windows looking out into a variety of locations; offering great views of the island, the cave, the waterfall, and the ocean. The map is color-coded based mainly on the views from these windows (blue hall looks to the ocean, green hall looks to the island, etc.) A massive skylight in the center atrium looks up at the Alaskan cliffside. Beyond natural landscape, Truth has a very clean look. I chose items that work well together, and I tried to create interesting patterns and shapes that fit with the overall theme. Thanks to cluckinho10 for his feedback on Truth, as well as everyone on XBL who helped test. Pictures A slightly out of date overview showing weapon locations. Thanks for viewing, and I hope you have as much fun playing Truth as I did building it.
Solid map right here. The inclusion of sand is definitely my favorite aspect of this map, and how open-aired it was. Gameplay was fun as well, especially using the sniper. Good luck to you in the contest.
As sexy and amazing and jizztacular and epic and sexy and sexy as this is, maybe you could provide a little more covor (like in the 2nd and 3rd pic)? I know its 1v1 and all, but it looks big enough for maybe 2v2. And also add a couple more tac jumps?
He did say that the max players goes up to 4 so it is probably compatible and would make a great double team... especialy with only one legitimate power weapon (sniper) and another very fun and very explosive weapon (GL) each team would be focused around the powerweapons and leaning the battle to the rigt side. Now unless this map has a good spawning back up the right hand combat could become a problem i would think 1. because no-one loves predictable combat 2. they would not get to see the rest of this jizztacular map I didnt test this map this is all just an asumption by me and a few little spawning fixes (maybe switch the GL for the spiker) nice map tho good luck for the contest
Downloaded this map and checked it out in forge for myself. Right off spawn I noticed the Sniper Rifle a few feet in front of me, near a plasma battery. Snipes shouldn't be given to players off spawn, and the plasma battery can blow the Sniper out the nearby window which puts the weapon out of play until it respawns again, which I did not like. It was okay on Lockout because the Sniper wouldn't always fall off the map after the fusion coils exploded. I liked how you included the sand in some areas, but most of those sandy spaces felt really empty just to accommodate the terrain. I liked the layout and the map flowed well, and you executed your curved walls very efficiently, which is hard to pull off so kudos for that one. The teleporter was not obviously a teleporter which can be bad for players who aren't that perceptive, but that's a preference really. Puuurty cool...
I'd say this map looks beauty. Looking at the layout, it looks the playspaces are separated nicely, with 45 degree turns and even gradual curving walls. One thing I don't like to see is where you have 2x4s as both walls and floors right beside each other. I know it's a nice texture but it's kinda lazy, and looks unnatural in the aesthetic department. I love the use of sand to fill the rooms. It's probably my favorite spot to forge on. I don't think the rooms are too open like Noooooch said, but I haven't tested it. You should invite me for a game on this. Nice forging.
Thank you, and good luck to you as well. The pictures don't show it, but there is a custom power up that spawns under the angled 1x2s in the second and third pictures. I left that area open to add a sort of risk when you're getting the custom, since it's so powerful in the smackdown gametype. It's definitely big enough for 2v2, and doubles is actually quite fun. I'm not sure where else I could add tac jumps without hurting gameplay---hit me up on live if you have any ideas. Combat is pretty spread out---there's a second GL and a custom powerup on the left side to balance the sniper and GL on the right. The sniper isn't really given to either player off start---both spawn an equal distance away, and it's meant to draw you into the blue hall off start and make a quick first engagement. I may close off the center window or modify sniper spawn if the plasma battery starts creating issues. During testing I didn't notice lack of cover to be a problem in those areas. The CPU spawns in the door in the second/third pics, so that was meant to add some risk. If you happen to get a game on it, please let me know if that's an issue. I'll see about replacing those 2x4 walls with something else. I'm out of braces, so if you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them. Thank you for the feedback everyone!
ermahgerd, dat 4th pic is smexy! Map looks awesome, like how you used the sand on this map, looks nice.
I did not notice that both red and blue initial spawns were equidistant from the Sniper. Not really liking that idea either, because of the plasma battery, for a few reasons. One of the players may decide to blow the Sniper off the map right at the start. Another scenario would be that Red decides to bait the Sniper. Red could just wait off spawn for Blue to push forward where Red could lob his grenade to explode the plasma battery, punishing Blue for aggressive behavior. Or, they could both push forward shooting until they reach melee distance where one realizes he's lost and chucks a martydom 'nade, exploding the battery and killing them both. Then, of course, there's the possibility of one player getting straight up 5 shot, allowing the other to safely pick up the Snipe. In my opinion the plasma battery makes the initial engagement sloppy and unrewarding. There's many ways to approach this, should you decide to change it. As for the sandy areas, near the CPU, I never said there was a lack of cover, or that it needed any, I just meant that it felt empty, is all. A few rocks could add a little dynamic to it...
I may make the plasma battery not spawn at start. I want to keep it in the game, though, because it creates some interesting fights later on. Or I might just move the initial spawns somewhere else; I'll have to see which works better. I've been modifying the area around custom to make it play better, so I'm adding some objects to spice up the area. Thanks for the feedback, nooooooooch.