Dropoff Circuit

Dropoff Circuit
By superguh007

Supported Gametypes:
Standard race gametypes (Bungie 500 or 10 Lap Race variant)

Inspiration (Method behind the madness):
Warning: Skip this paragraph if you don't like words.
After looking and playing through several race maps, including my first (failed) attempt at a good race map, I noticed this unfortunate trend: The easier it is to find your way around a racetrack, the more boring the race itself is; and if the racetrack has a large variety of turns, it is often extremely difficult to find the racetrack or the racetrack is cheatable or the racetrack is the ugliest thing in the world. For example, Bungie 500 is amazingly well constructed, but the default game on it is 20 laps, and unless you really are a NASCAR fan (and regularly spend several hours watching cars going in a circle over, and over, and over...) it gets pretty boring by the time you've gone around the circle for the fifteenth time. It seemed to me that variety and ease-of-use were mutually exclusive.
...So I set out to create a racetrack that is complex, smooth, easy to follow, and uncheatable. And the answer I came up with is what you see below.
Okay, I-don't-like-words people!

Map Description:
Racers begin Dropoff Circuit in a ground floor starting box, and this is the only part of the racetrack that sits on the floor of Foundry. After a short straightaway, there is a sharp turn to the right, up a flight of stairs, which leads to the first of two half-circle banked turns, the Fence Turn. The Fence turn is a little bumpy, but the Mongoose's wheels are more than capable of handling it. After the Fence turn racers land on a platform which leads into the second banked turn, the Wall Turn. The Wall Turn is perfectly smooth, and huge. Racers end up in one of the Foundry bases, but make an immediate hairpin turn across a few bridges. The racetrack then curves slightly to hug the wall and elevates up one more flight of stairs. Racers make one last right turn down a steep incline (which most people will probably never touch) and into the finish line, which fires players clear across the map, into the wall, and right back where they started. "A" signs guide the player around the turns that may not be immediately obvious.

So what happens if you fall off the track? A small ramp on the ground floor provides access to the starting box. Players who fall onto the ground floor can follow the "B" signs back to this ramp and get back into the race. For players that lost their mongoose or that prefer not to drive back, teleporters placed around the map send the player back to the starting line where they can grab a new mongoose.

Due to the placement of the track, cheating is impossible (to the best of my knowledge). Just enough space separates each turn that you cannot jump from one section of the track to another. And attempting to do so is foolhardy anyway, because if you miss you have to drive back to the start of the track and try again.

The Starting Line. On the left is the receiver node for people that fall off the track.


The Fence Turn.


The Wall Turn and Fence Turn. The path goes counter-clockwise, and you can see the Starting Line in the back.


From left to right: exit from the Wall Turn, the Hairpin Turn, and the beginning of the Elevated Straightaway.


Victory! The Elevated Straightaway, Final Turn, and Finish Line.


So close... and yet so far. Trying to cheat by jumping off the Wall Turn.


Alas, I've fallen off whilst trying to cheat! Whatever can I do? Oh, right, take the ramp back to the Starting Box.


And this (the Penalty Box) is what happens to those who really try to cheat!




Some credit most go to El Cokeroach, my good friend who helped me out with the first attempt at this map, and playtested this version.
This is my first contribution to Forge Hub, so if there's anything wrong with my post, just let me know and I'll fix it ASAP.

Hope you enjoy many a good race on Dropoff Circuit!

Download Dropoff Circuit
Download Ten Lap Race

 

Thanks for the comment! As for the step by step guide...
No problem:
The fence turn is easier to do, because fences are thinner than walls, so vehicles can drive right over the bumps, whereas with walls you get stuck. For the fence turn just place two stairs (or angle something else, like a bridge), then lay a fence wall on top of it. Use the little rectangle in the center of the fence as your guide- you have to place a tiny bit more than 50% of the fence on the side of the stairs, or it will flip over and fall off. Once the fence wall becomes permanent, just repeat the process by putting another fence wall on top of the first one. The crossbeams on the fence (they make an x shape across the fence) will make a polygon shape with the fence below it. I try to make this shape identical each time I add a new fence to make the turn even.
The wall turn is a lot more difficult. Again, start with the stairs/other angled thing. Now you have to place some sort of guide (I use a double wall) on top of the stairs. The guide should be in the same position where you want the wall to be below it, because now you have to merge a new section of wall with the sections you've already placed, and without the guide it will be nearly impossible to levitate your new wall in the right place. When levitating the new section of wall, slide it underneath the guide, then move above the guide to force the wall right up against it. This will put the new section of wall on the same plane as the rest of the turn. Again, I use the lines in the walls to help me make the turn regular. In the picture of the Wall Turn you can see the triangle I use the make sure I did it right.
Hope that helps, and sorry if it's a little confusing.

 

y ty gud sir =D

 

thanks to everyone for the kind comments

The irony here is that I actually had to dig into my coin jar to buy the Heroic Map Pack because I barely had enough money left after saving up for the 360 and Halo 3 itself.

 

Asked and answered. You can also look at the 6th and 7th pictures to see what it looks like.

Just so you know buddeh, you're in line to playtest the competitive one once I finish it. And, oh, how it will be epic.