The perfect addition to your next Halo 3 LAN or On-Line tournament. These maps were designed to be challenging, competitive, balanced, unique, and above all else, FUN! The games are set up so players adapt quickly with little or no instruction as the goals are simple and very obvious. These maps contain tricks that reward an astute player's chance of winning, without making it any less fun for beginners. The Forge Notes are at the bottom of the article. Heaven and Hell click on the above pic to see the slideshow click on the first image of the slideshow to see the captions Will you spawn in Heaven, or will you spawn in Hell? Angels shall take up arms and descend from Heaven to battle for Earth, while Devils shall die a fiery death. Sounds ominous doesn't it? Actually it is a very clever King of the Hill game with a unique funnel spawning system designed to allow for extremely fierce one-on-one battles even if there are 12 players in the game. The game can be confusing to players who join late, but they will figure out what to do the second they spawn in Heaven. You have 10 seconds of invincibility at spawn (prevents Heaven campers) to give you time to make your weapon/equipment selection and descend to the Hill. If you successfully take the Hill you will have to re-group quickly as the next player is only a few seconds behind. Points for Hill Control only. Strategy: Try to have other players kill you with melee while in Hell. It is the only way to get out early. Finally, a good use for Isolation. 3 to 12 Players. HEAVEN & HELL map ANGELS & DEVILS game Camp Spawn click on the above pic to see the slideshow click on the first image of the slideshow to see the captions The game where Spawn Camping is required to win. Move straight forward to the next Portal, facing 7 trials, until you reach Camp Spawn. This is a unique skill/challenge map with a very cool (sick and twisted) reward at the end of the challenge. The reward: you get to kill everyone else while they attempt the challenges. Each of the 7 trials has an easy way, and a hard way to complete them. The only weapon that can kill is the Sniper Rifle, and only while you are on Camp Spawn. 3 to 12 Players. Camp Spawn map Gone Campin' game CONFINEMENT click on the above pic to see the slideshow click on the first image of the slideshow to see the captions WARNING: May cause Cleisiophobia. After playing the above games it's time for a massacre. This is a very small, compact Halo CE inspired map yet it plays well with large parties. Designed for Slayer and Team Slayer, Confinement finds you locked into the central building of Last Resort. Cleisiophobia: The fear of being locked in an enclosed place. Slayer or Team Slayer, 1 to 12 players, although 1 would be extremely boring. Confinement map only ________________________________ Forge Notes: LAN PACK ONE: Fists off, yes, these are my first, early attempts at forging. They were made before the Heroic Map Pack was available. The other members of the crew said i should polish them up and publish them before they were forgotten in the sands of time. That does not make them any less fun. I have newer, more 'modern' maps coming in the next weeks/months, but i wanted to get these out there first. Let me be absolutely clear on this - the "LAN PACKs" are designed for LANs, On-Line tournaments or XBL parties - they are meant to be played with close friends for fun competition, not serious play. I have 2 more LAN PACKs in production, plus several 'serious' maps which will be released individually. Heaven and Hell My goal was to make a game that seemed like a One-on-One game, even if there were 12 Players on the field. I tried to make it on every map but each had it's flaws and constraints. At the time i would never have considered making it on Isolation ... until i looked up at the sky and thought "This must be what the view from Heaven looks like". And then it came to me; The blue room would be Heaven, and the red room would be Hell. Hell contains nothing but Receiver Nodes, dozens of spawn points, Firebomb Grenades and Fusion Cores (sorry, but necessary for effect, i tried to use as few as possible) and is meant to represent the fires of Hell. Heaven contains only one spawn ... and ALL the weapons and equipment. It also uses the weapon holders for an 'angelic' sound contrast when you spawn there from Hell. You spawn with 10 seconds of invincibility, 150% speed, 50% gravity to get you safely to Earth. All of the weapons/equipment in the game are found in Heaven, on generous timers and re-spawns. You go to Earth to do battle by passing through either the OS Portal or the Invisibility Portal, and come out above the invisi-barrier, above the central structure, and are guided to Earth by angled grav-lifts so you can get there quickly, even if you choose to carry a Missile-Pod. In testing at several LAN parties and On-Line tournaments i found there to be more carnage at the hill than i expected, and the battles lasted an average of about 5 seconds, with a 10 second break between battles. Rarely were there more than 3 combatants at the Hill. Camp Spawn Play this one with some friends first, then come back to read this...go ahead...i will wait... Good, you are back. I made this map before i learned how to float objects. Everything, including the spawn camp was erected by stacking Radio Towers. I got the inspiration from a B.net post complaining about the #&$% spawn campers in Halo 3 and i thought to myself "They have camps for everything these days; Computer, Guitar, Chess, Writing... i wonder if there is a camp for Spawn Camping?" yes, i get strange thoughts. I originally had 11 tests planned but settled for 7 to make it easier. These tests reward smart players, as each has a trick to completing it safely. The success rate is around 50% for each test and jumps to about 75% - 80% with a bit of brain work. 1 Fire - Early tests proved that no one was using the Firebomb Grenades and preferred shooting, so i made guns useless except while on the Camping Platform. Now it is a test to see if you can get to the Portal without someone smacking you on the back. 2 Velocity - There is actually a safe path to the Portal, if you can find it. The Fusion Cores make good targets from the Camping Platform because all you have to do to kill someone is to knock them over or slow them down, the Guardians take care of the rest. 3 Gravity - It's simple, get to the Portal, with bullets zinging around your head. 4 Leap of Faith - Yes, they were playing Crash Bandicoot on the other TV at the time. This area gave me the most grief on the early versions. Trying to line up the boxes so they each required the same jump distance, while being different elevations and distances (without floating) was a nightmare. Then we found it was too easy to snipe the jumpers so i had to provide cover that was not obvious, so players would still have a sense of panic while jumping. The cover only shields you while you re standing on the boxes, not while in the air. They do not realize that they were safe on the boxes until it is their turn to snipe. 5 Courage and Restraint - I had to find a spot where the ceiling was steep enough to wedge a Portal under it. The 'Restraint' is a hint to not jump and get stuck in the ceiling, which is difficult after the last two stages. 6 Balance - One of my goals as a Forger is to "create fun and interesting games based on the underused areas of all maps". The next tests do exactly that. 7 Focus, Timing and Momentum - We are all tired of exploding Fusion Cores. I know i certainly am. I decided to keep these, even though considered passé, because they provide a difficult challenge. I programed them to pound out a driving 'rhythm' that adds to the ambiance, and ramps up the excitement level as you approach the Camp Portal. While standing on Camp Spawn you regain your ability to actually shoot someone (but not if you fall off) without the fear of them shooting back. You get infinite ammo and but nothing else is different ... except that you have absolutely no defense against the next person who gets to the hill (Power Up at the Portal), so you HAVE to kill them before they reach you. Confinement As stated above, this 'Slayer Only' map was originally built as a request by Thunderfiners. He stated that he missed the close-quarters battles provided by some of the Halo CE maps and requested 2 Sniper Rifles, 1 Rocket launcher and 2 Swords on a 2 minute delay, and hidden weapons on the small map ... "Why?", he said "Just because, that's why". The challenge was to totally enclose the central building on Last Resort to create a crazy, frenzied, insane kill-fest ... without the luxury of using locking objects other than Portals, Weapon Holders and bubble gum. The overhangs under the windows holding the Open Boxes made this structure possible. This is an old pic, it looks much better now using fewer Portals. All this required was 2 Boxes, 1 Portal, 2 Scorpions to push, and some Vaseline®. The map actually plays very well with large parties as there is more cover provided than with the standard layout. The Line-of-Sight is well thought out, using upright barriers as cover in the upper hallways and annex area. Weapon spawns may seem sparse, but all human weapons are provided with 2 each of the main weapons. The Rockets and Swords delay-spawn well into the game (90 and 120 seconds) and will (intentionally) surprise new players. There are even a few hidden Power Weapons (look up). For no apparent reason, there is a Mongoose. This map forms the basis of an upcoming Tactical Assault game that features usable indoor turrets (once again, look up) and a sniper/guard tower mounted above the central building...coming soon. I encourage you to 'steal this map' and create your own game types. I hope you enjoy these relics. Please do not comment until you have played them with at least 4 friends as they are designed for larger parties - if you go into Forge and just poke around without experiencing the fun of actually playing the games with friends, you are missing the point. cheers NOKYARD