a while ago, i reached a level of comfort and confidence in the direction i was going with a few new map concepts. i decided to start a series of development videos to reaffirm those feelings and potentially motivate me to see them through completion (the last time i finished a map, bungie was in charge of halo). this also helps to give players a peak into my design process; oh i'm just another forger so i wont sign your codpiece. but i like to push the limits of what can be accomplished in forge geometrically, so i figure it'll be interesting to at least one person. what follows is entirely conceptual. everything is subject to sudden, radical and inexplicable changes, not limited to: overpopulating the map with lifts, a dramatic increase in trees, completely unnecessary easter eggs and the potential (inevitable) deletion of the entire map. anyway, chronos (that's a codename) is a map i'd like to build for 2-8 players. i do intend for this to be submitted to the 1v1 contest, but i don't want to limit its potential to just one gametype. therefore, guardia, prisoner, narrows and damnation, as well as quake's aerowalk are big inspirations as far as supporting that gameplay goes. i'm currently attempting to push the verticality in the map in a meaningful way. purely fat's "america" map and short circuit from chronmeister have been influences in that regard. i like cozy feeling arena maps with very interesting geometry, interwoven in ways that make structural sense and don't impose on the player. at the same time, i like maps that employ the usage of terrain. so it's been a challenge of mine to balance these things and create an interesting gameplay hook (something i'll talk about in the next episode, whenever that goes up). i should also mention that this was during a live stream, so it lags a bit and it cut off 8 minutes where i forged some really badass stuff. if you have anything to say about the video or the map concept, please don't hold your tongue.
Cool, glad to see you taking the time to share the development process of your map. I have the same trouble in completing projects. I think the most fun for me is to design and come up with ideas. Equally appreciate that you invest and dedicate so much time on single designs. This and testing is paramount to building something great. Looking forward to episode 2!
I think you should move the Sniper. You can be at the highest point 1 second after grabbing it. I like the breakdown of the map. It's always cool to see how much thought goes into people's' designs. And the structure is very nice. The steepness of the ramps really looks like it would be a nuisance in gameplay. I understand how overlap will make this hard to address, but having the ramps at a more shallow angle would make encounters much less awkward.
Regarding the sniper, I assume you mean that you can take the lift right after it? Cause Goat said in the video that the lift won't be in the final map, it's just there for convenience now. Also he has changed a lot from this design that he will show in the next episode.
For an unfinished map, I really like the look of this. It's got a lovely build to it, nice height variance on all "levels" and it looks unique. I couldn't really say an 8 player game would work well on it, judging by the size. It seems like in it's current state there'd be a lot of spawning issues since there are no actual walls present just columns that block sightlines. I'm looking forward to seeing this improve and see how you evolve it through continuous testing.
appreciate the comments. the lift was there so i didn't need to switch back into forge to get up there every time. as for the ramps, i never tilt them passed 25 degrees. but i should stress once again that nothing in that particular design was to scale or final. it was primarily a flow chart to see how players would move and what different kinds of things i could put in certain areas. it occurred to my while recording how unusual it was to even be showing off a pathing layout, but i figured that the earlier i got some feedback, the sooner i'd be able to make course corrections so i don't end up with final geometry and have to fix a glaring oversight. rebuilding maps takes a long time. next look at the map should be more representative of actual gameplay spaces, but even then everything is subject to changes.
to add, ive decided to expand this series to focus more on my map design process and less on an actual map. so every video isnt necessarily going to be a 20 minute walkthrough of a concept piece. i might highlight my concerns with maps ive made or with others and address those case by case; i can show concept drawings as well and even hold bite sized tuts on some of my forerunner stuff. itll still be centered around and anchored to the map im building, but just in a broader sense. this in turn will let me create more videos on a regular basis (daily even) because i wont be pressured to having a completed map all the time. the only downside is my subscribers watch me for destiny videos and im not playing that atm... lol dont leave me guise
I finally got a chance to watch this. I really enjoyed the video. I think this will turn into a valuable resource for less experienced forgers. The map itself is coming along quite nicely. The placement of Sniper at the lowest point is interesting. I would generally put Camo at the lowest part of the map, but geometrically the Sniper and Camo fit well where you have them I think. I really like the fact that the geometry flows clockwise, while the power items spawn in order counter-clockwise. Conflicting influences usually make interesting gameplay. I'm looking forward to the next episode.