Opal (working title) is a new asymmetrical 2v2/3v3 map I have been working on for the past week. It is amde upon the Erosion canvas and uses natural terrain and a unique circular structure as its main focus in geometry. This is up on my fileshare, if you all wish to take a look, but for now here are some images of the map (special thanks to Saergent Sarcasm for them). All is subject to change, as none of what exists here is in any way a final version. I am more than willing to hear any comments or questions around this map. Thank you for your time. Images: Spoiler
This looks pretty interesting, I'll try to remember to check for it sometime soon. Do you think youll have it up before the fileshare browser?
Absolutely. It and Jade will be up within the hour. I just didnt have time last night. Thank you for the interest, and if you play let me know how it goes! [br][/br]Edited by merge: Opal is now up on my fileshare alongside Jade.
I downloaded this one and buzzed through it in Forge, have you ever given thought to making it into a Flood map? With the asthetics it has, it would look great if it could be sightly darker and spooky!
lol yea it definitely looks like a place I would not want to be without a good arsenal and a team of spartans to survive w/. looks like an eerie place to find oneself in the middle of a zombie attack
Well, while it is currently not intended for flood, it can easily be altered to play with that gametype. feel free to make any adjustments to the initial spawns and weapons for it to function with a flood game. The map was intended for competive matches, and while I will continue to focus and test for that, if it works for flood then that's good too. Also, Shadowcat, I don't know of a way to make this 'darker' or 'more spooky'. I have no fx to adjust this, and if I enclose it all for darkness the skybox will look awful (not to mention lighting. Personally, I'm happy with the level or brightness its at now. Like I said, its not meant to be spooky or flood based.
This map was a blast to play, but I think that is way too small to play 2v2 or 3v3. I played a 1v1 and that was even very fast paced. The whole game was packed with action. The whole map was traversed during the game, and battles took place everywhere so good job there. The map is beautiful aesthetically. The pictures really don't do the map justice. The pipe in the middle looks amazing in game. I don't think you need to keep the Dominion Base or Turret Display (can't remember which is which.) They really don't add anything to the map, but make sure you keep all of the wires. They really add to the realism of the map. Oh, by the way I think I like this one better than Jade now.
You are too kind. Thank you so much, I found this map rather enjoyable as well, but i never expected anyone to have such a strong response. Once again, thank you for the test and the kind words in response. I'll take what you have said about the visuals into consideration (along with everything else on this and Jade), and edit accordingly.
I really enjoyed our game on this. I agree with you regarding the ordnance drops - with the current setup, there are a few too many power weapons in play. This could easily be solved by extending the respawn time of the Random Ordnance (I think that's what it is). Regarding gameplay: we only had a short game but from what we played it was very, very good (that's not an exaggeration). I was really surprised when you said you basically slapped the map together, because you seem to have created a map that supports diverse gameplay where no single position is too overpowering. Of course, further playtests will point out flaws but from our game, nothing negative jumped out at me. The aesthetics are really nice, too. You've done a good job at making each area distinctive. It allows players to orient themselves and take in the lovely Forge pieces. Also, you forged this on Erosion which is known for having awful textures, so kudos to you for making everything look pretty! I think you've struck gold here. Please don't edit the map too much!
So I had the opportunity of playing a game on the map, and I believe I enjoyed it much more than Jade. That being said though the map had one serious issue that needs to be addressed and that was how easy it was to spawn lock and trap the opponent. Just by holding the upper level of the major building we were able to effectively control and spawn lock the opponent. Aside from that individual skirmishes were quite fun and the map was as always very beautiful. Keep up the good work Audience.
Thank you! I am of course going to edit the weapon spawns. There is no way to alter the time of the random drops to my knowledge (the come every 2 mintues I think), but I am going to change what they give so that it will be rare to get anything powerful. The sniper may be getting booted off and replaced by a less devastating scattershot. As for slapping the map together, its a horrible process. Basically I create about 40 maps for every 2 I show off. I don't release anything that I feel is not as you described. I wouldnt describe it so nicely, but the essence remains. Thank you again. Thank you, Sora! Was this a 2v2 game? just curious, there have been a few different sized that came with a response. I'm glad it went so well, although I immediately understood what you meant about the building and spawn trapping. I'll have to look in to that a bit. Thanks for mentioning that, I hadnt noticed it before but I can understand how easy it could be if the team doing it is good. It seems everyone likes this more than Jade. Maybe I should fix that map up a bit.
It was in fact a 2v2. I think the problem is easily fixable if you blocked up some of the major sight lines that the upper room has or your second option is creating a power position adjacent of the building on the other side of the map. While I did enjoy Opal more than Jade both are still great maps. In fact the other people in the party enjoyed Jade more than Opal.
Interesting... well I just spent some time updating and both Jade and Opal are now updated with the newest versions on my file share. For Opal, I have made a protected position to help counter the top floor you described, Sora. I still want to do more to the map though, I just didnt have time tonight. There were also some visual edits and weapon changes. Thank you again to those who have assisted me in testing and writing me feedback. I appreciate it greatly. [br][/br]Edited by merge: The OP has been updated with new images of the updated version. Minor adjustments not shown, though they won't affect anything major. The images currently coincide perfectly with the version on my fileshare at the moment. Thanks to Knight of Order for the images.