Dust on the Horizon The UNSC Storm on the Horizon was once the most powerful ship in the human fleet, their greatest weapon in any engagement. The ship garnered a reputation as untouchable, as the ship that would lead humankind to victory and reunite the scattered colonies. As can be seen here, this was not to be so, as nothing remains of the once mighty cruiser besides rubble and a thick haze of dust. The source of a recent set of attacks on the nearby populace of the planet has led back to these sad remains. Your team must enter the eroding ship and set the still burning fusion reactor to go critical, then run to the last working escape pod before the explosion wipes out the ship and the deadly infestation inside it's hull. Tread carefully, and remember, never take your eyes off the ventilation shafts. Dust on the Horizon is a linear-progressive infection map designed for the Hub of the Dead 3 contest designed and built by MockKnizzle008 and myself, designed for large player counts, preferably 16. If you haven't read above, the map tasks humans with entering the last remains of the UNSC cruiser Storm on the Horizon to clear out a rampantly growing alien hive. The aliens, however, have been evolving and are more than ready for the human squad. The map has 2 holdouts before reaching a final safe room, where humans must reach to get points for the round. Because of this, the best way to win as a human is to stick with your team, as you will all do better as a group and you gain no points for killing aliens. Aliens have 4 teleports as well as 2 other exits from their hive spawn, with the final tele turning the first alien through into an alien queen (tank zombie) who is then able to grab a turret and an overshield to bring to the fight. Here are a few details on the game type. • Humans are 3 hits to kill as a zombie, but with no regenerating health. Assassinations are allowed and encouraged. • No head shots. • Aliens take around a half AR clip to kill, so team fire is essential, as are pickup weapons. • The final door closes at 10 seconds left of the 3 minute round, killing and black-screening anyone outside the escape pod until the next round. • Humans get 5 points for a survival. Aliens gain 1 point per kill. No points for killing aliens, you have to survive. • Humans forced Red, Aliens forced Black. You know who is who easily. There are a few features that set Dust on the Horizon apart from other linear infection maps that add to both the gameplay and the atmosphere. First, the entire map is tilted on a slight downward slope. Every floor, wall, ceiling or any other piece you can think of, it is angled to simulate the feel of a real crashed ship. This angle is slight however and does not interfere with gameplay. Second, instead of using a regular tank zombie Mock and I came up with the idea of one that was meant to play a bit more of a support class. This tank is still fairly hard to kill, but is equipped with a machine gun turret instead of a sword, making it a more ranged support class instead of a rush in quick to get kills/ quick to be killed type of tank. There are numerous other unique ideas within the map that will be shown below in the pictures, which continue the journey down further into the depths of the ship. Humans pouring deeper into the ship from the first overgrown part of the hull. Humans gather together for the first holdout near the reactor core's control panels. Looking down the reactor tube towards the desperate human squad. Humans and aliens have direct access to the broken elevator shaft. That's a long fall. Might be a good idea to jump. Or at least keep walking forward. The Armory is a critical room in the map, as it can resupply a human team and give them that boost needed to get to the end. On the other hand, it is a death trap for humans as aliens come in on all sides. What will you do I wonder? Hanging in there in the final holdout. No, you cannot has the vehicles. They are, er, broken. #&%*@#!!! Out of the explosion the Queen comes as one final push to kill the humans, opening one last zombie spawn in the process. Have fun! Special Thanks MockKnizzle008 - My broski who co-forged the map with me and has taught me the way of the starting zombie. I'm glad we did this co-forge, it has been a great time and you've done a great job telling me when my ideas are dumb, a favor I have gladly returned. I can't wait to forge some awesome stuff with you in Halo 4 and to cook burgers in Seattle. The Psycho Duck - while you didn't jump in till much later in production, you were still a bro through the whole process and helped with some important decisions, not to mention testing. Confused Flamingo and Berb - While neither of you guys have actually been on the map before, you helped a lot with the pre-planning and inspired us to make an awesome lin-prog map. Hopefully you can both see it sometime before the end of Reach. And last of course all a da testers/ people that helped us, including Minister Muffin, Silentraine, Spades N AZ and his crew of customneers, pyro and his sense of humor, and other infection enthusiasts/ people who somehow ended up in a game. Thanks to everyone for helping make this a reality, now seriously, go play the map, you have like 2 weeks. And in case you missed it above, be sure to play Dust on The Horizon today!
Gentlemen, this is the best lin-prog map I have played in a long time. I was instantly submerged in a whole new experience (like a whole new Halo game) thanks to the haunting atmosphere given by the amazing aesthetics. The last holdout becomes so insane, the first time I played it I my jaw was through the floor. First hearing the explosion and thinking, "dafu... OH ****." The queen looks so awesome on her perch. You guys did an amazing job on this. Trans-cont high five to you both.
Very well done. This has a great chance of placing in Hub of the Dead. I love the aesthetics, and the whole map being on an angle is a nice touch, and must have been quite difficult to do.
Glad you got ahead and posted this. This map feels as if you really are on an infested, crashed ship. I always was terrified of entering the weapon room. Every time, a zombie falls down the chute and murders me. I have awful timing. Another oh-**** moment was when you hear that explosion in the second holdout. I'm guessing you guys had no trouble with anyone getting around that turret. Love the map, and I hope the best for you two in Hub of the Dead!
I must say bros, the three of us have now collectively tackled basically every map type in Reach. I had been meaning to try my hand at infection for a while now, but you guys beat me to it, which means that you get to help me with whatever infection attempt I make in Halo 4. Our forging triumvirate has really led to some awesome products like this, Meteora, and Port Authority, so I can't wait until we make more awesome maps in Halo 4. Anyway, this map is great. It's one of the better playing linear infection maps I've played. The micro aesthetics aren't spectacular, but on the macro side the map pulls off its theme fabulously. I'm still not in love with the filter but I don't mind it at this point. The elevator shaft is what initially impressed me the most about the map from an aesthetic standpoint. The initial explosion from the tank zombie also creates an awesome "oh ****!" moment. Like with any good map though the aesthetics on here take a back seat while still remaining impressive. The zombies have a lot of player choice in the ways they can attack and the humans have some cool options at their disposal as well. Everything's in perfect balance too. Good work guys, good luck in the contest. P.S. I still can't get over the fact that, like on all of Shoe's maps, no one knows where the sniper rifle is. Also, the escape pod is a boat, right? Right? Needz moar freehanding, needz more backwards, needz moar humdinger, needz less inside joke.
Thanks for the support guys, and yes Duck, definitely needz mor free handing. As a note to players I have heard from in the past week or so, this map is not designed to be easy for the humans. If you expect to run through as a human not paying much attention to your team and killing a few zombies along the way you are sadly mistaken. We designed this map to be balanced for a coordinated team watching each other's backs and watching the zombie spawns. If you have strong teamwork and a bit of luck and you don't leave people behind or run way ahead you have a good chance of making it, if not you have little chance. Not no chance, but little. If you are ever surprised to become last man standing you messed up quite a while back by not defending your teammates. Point is, don't blame the map when you're losing all the time, it is designed to be hard and to encourage teams to keep each other alive.
This is really a fantastic project you guys came up with, I was glad to get to see it change and progress as a design and play area. It would be nice to get to play it more often as it has become one of my favorite Infection maps. Good job on this guys, hopefully will get to come up with some nice projects in Halo 4.