For the most part when talking about Spartan Abilities, I am not a fan of spartan charge. It always seems to work 100% for the other guy and it really grinds my gears as much as the spartan lock.. Either way if there were talks of removing Spartan Charge specifically for 1v1's, would that be something that everyone supports? I haven't had much experience with designing 1v1's in the past, but there have been some great 1v1 maps in the past (halo reach) that I just wish were made again today. I think this is going to be a challenge for me, but something I look forward participating in. Now, I don't mind people who dislike H5 judging the map itself. Because it falls back on how the forger created this level to make the player fall in love with it. Whether it's beautiful or simple aesthetics, the general flow of the map layout, or how did the forger just wow me. You don't have to enjoy Halo 5 to be impressed by a level. We all are starting with the same tools in our toolbox, so when it comes down to who can make a better looking, better playing, and most of all - best use of Halo 5's forge with regards to the sandbox (player movement, spartan abilities, etc.). Take all of that into account, I want to be judged by someone who cares about level design and environment creation more than someone who loves Halo 5 more than someone else. I can understand that the sandbox could muddle with the judging ("I hate sprint!" or "ughhh, Halo 5 sucks because they added spartan charge..."). So for that I would prefer if the judge is judging the contest and has issues with Halo 5 mechanics, either take that into consideration when judging or don't judge in this contest. TL;DR - I want to be judged by veteran level designers.
The key words I used were "in forge". Forge shouldn't be the standard for level design, and that is why your view of what is creative is skewed. Like when you said the drop down tele and hill on Oblivion were unique. Perfect examples, to be honest.
As far as I'm concerned, these maps are the standard to beat. https://www.forgehub.com/maps/bioshift.2198/ https://www.forgehub.com/maps/devotion.4727/
I don't know about 'good', but there are a few philosophies I employ frequently on 1v1's. My general recommendation is something I referenced earlier...skew towards the side of imbalance. If you're able to land right on the edge of being broken without going over that edge, the result is often fantastic. I personally tend to start out going slightly beyond what I think is reasonable (for layout, weaponry, and spawning), and then scale it back as needed. I don't do this all the time by any means, but I like to use what I'd call 'triangulation'. It consists of utilizing 3 main weapon/item pickups, and setting them up so that they're either in direct view of the others, or require players to pass through your view to get to the others. Another thing I like doing is placing my main pickups in vulnerable places that are in direct line of sight from power positions. This creates a lot of situations where a player has a tough decision to make about whether or not they should abandon their position and go for the pickup, try to bait it, or maybe move to a third position to take advantage of spawning. I honestly think it's best not to follow any of these as 'guidelines' though. They're not meant to be guidelines. 1v1 separates itself from other player counts in that it allows much more opportunity for a player to win by out-thinking their opponent. There needs to be ample room for this to happen, and there are innumerable way to do that. People should approach this with the attitude that they're going to out-think all the design philosophies that have been used before, and come up with something truly unique. --- Double Post Merged, Aug 15, 2017 --- That's a pretty neat video.
So, it should be the standard? Why? Because that's what you're limited to? Once again: Big fish, small pond. Who gives a **** about what's unique 'to forge'? Edit: Was a bit harsh.
Great stuff and I agree, but I don't know how we can make something truly unique in Forge considering some other random game might have even uniquer maps. I mean it's all been done already.
Probably, but the safest bet imo would be to make maps that emphasize Halo 5-specific mechanics. I would say that a safe bet would be to focus on movement speed, jump height, boost, and clamber, since these are pretty core to the Halo 5 experience (jk do all ground-pound and spartan charging). Other games have similar type deals, but they all work a little differently than Halo 5's. I'm pretty sure you're not a fan of all that extra jazz, so I would say two things. One: you can design a map that gets people to use (or not use) those mechanics in a different way--one that you think is cooler. Or, two: just man up and design for what's available, not what you want to be available. There's some netflix documentary where some apparently famous designer said, "The more you have a design style, the less you have solved a design problem." As far as separating your map from other Halo 5 maps, uh, don't be a puss.
wat That post was in jest for the record. But you can definitely do cool stuff with 1v1s like designing a map around thrusting off of curved surfaces. Make no mistake, I don't dislike the abilities and I'm not opposed to that in 1v1 where it really doesn't hurt the gameplay. I just think they break the game in the other player counts.
Takes a real man to o-pun up like that --- Double Post Merged, Aug 16, 2017 --- Hey guys, look what I found trolling around the Internet. It's waywos manual