Sandbox Banzai v.2

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Hello friend, and congratulations! You have just stumbled upon the second version of the map Banzai, updated and improved especially for your liking—so enjoy!

Banzai is the close quarters map designed for more action, less thinking, awesome kills, and repeatedly jumping from the top level for an assassination—banzai!!! Although that’s not to say that Banzai isn’t designed for the thinking man; it is. Just a certain, very violent kind of thinking man.

I’ve made a lot of changes since the first version, including some surprisingly great advice from Forge Hub community members’ feedback, so I hope you will enjoy the new version, which is fully ready for all your favorite kinds of hardcore action.

THE MAP:

Like I said, Banzai is designed for close quarters action. It is very small (but not too small), and it forces you to battle upon every spawn (unless you are playing a 1v1 or match or something, obviously). But battle is easily complicated, due to the fact that Banzai consists of three levels and four gravity lifts (from the bottom to the top). Plus, the variety of battle has been improved in v2.

Here are the main ways in which v2 is an improvement over v1:

- gameplay has been balanced
- aesthetics have been improved (in all but one case… if you start wondering why the new version does not have the awesome purple light on the bottom level, skip ahead to the “Notes and Problems” section before reading the rest of this post… there is an equally updated version that still has the purple light but does not seem to work with guests)
- all gametypes are now supported (crazy as it seems)
- the map is, unless you are a freak genius, unbreakable (to my knowledge)

IMPROVEMENTS:

Let’s look at some pictures that illustrate the improvements from v1 to v2:


v1 TOP




v2 TOP




The lower walls make for better gameplay. The corner walls are lower, so you can chuck grenades over and behind them more easily, but they also still fully conceal a standing Spartan. The bridge being lower allows you to BR battle across the top, which just makes the gameplay SO MUCH better it's amazing. Now, instead of being able to dart behind the bridge or corner walls in v1, you are forced to jump down into the rest of the map if you get into trouble, since there are less places to hide on the top level.


v1 MIDDLE





v2 MIDDLE




All the same, but the Tall Block on top of the Stone Platform has been replaced with a "Gold Box" which holds the purple light (not interlocked) in v2.75, or which just looks nicer in v2.5.


v1 BOTTOM




b2 BOTTOM





All the same here, except for the "Gold Box."


WEAPONS / EQUIPMENT:

The aesthetics have improved from v1, but I think gameplay has really improved most, and a big part of that gameplay improvement is due to different weapon placement. Here I am really in debt to TheRayzerTag for some great advice about how to balance the weapons on Banzai, and he gave me the advice without even playing the map, which is kind of lame… (but not, b/c I think he downloaded it later), but which is also really impressive, so thanks a lot for the tips.

New weapons count:

BR x 4 – 1 spare – 45 sec
AR x 2 – 2 spare – 30 sec
Sniper – 1 spare – 150 sec
Sword – 150 sec
Plasma Rifle – 30 sec
SMG – 1 spare – 30 sec
Pistol – 1 spare – 30 sec

Frag Grenades – 10 sec
Plasma Grenades – 20 sec

Bubble Shield – 90 sec
Power Drain – 90 sec

Let’s look at some pictures that illustrate the new weapons and placements:

v1 TOP





v2 TOP




More big changes here. The only weapon on the bridge is now the Sniper Rifle, replacing the Shotgun as the second power weapon. Another BR has been added and both BR's are on the angled side walls now. Grenades and SMG/Pistol are in the same place.


v1 MIDDLE




v2 MIDDLE




All the same here, and I promise that the Sword is not overpowered. It just isn't, I can't imagine how it would be, as long as you have any experience taking out a Sword guy at all. You can see/hear him coming, especially with the top level opened up more.


v1 BOTTOM




v2 BOTTOM




BR's have been moved closer to the bases, away from the middle (a suggestion from TheRayzerTag, along with a lot of the other changes), and now the equipment is around the Stone Platform in the middle. Grenades and AR's are in the same place.


MOAR PIX:

Here are some additional pics to whet your whistle.


















GAMETYPES:

As you might have noticed my saying, Banzai now supports all gametypes. Yes, even Flag and Assault. What? On this small map, you say? That’s impossible! Fear not my friends, it is indeed possible.

I tried setting up Flag and Assault as best as I could for this map (which meant making it as hard as possible to capture the flag/plant the bomb on such a small map), and I actually think that I came up with about the best solution possible.

Here are some pictures of how I set up these gametypes, so you can try to judge my success for yourself (but really think about what it would involve to take the flag or bomb from their positions to their destinations, with the other team trying to do the same thing. I think this setup could possibly make it complicated enough to work)

v2 FLAG



v2 ASSAULT



The setup is obviously symmetrical for the other side of the map that you can't see.



These new developments aside, all of the other gametypes (including all team gametypes) are also now supported by Banzai. I might try tweaking them all for v3 (i.e. adding more crazy Hills, Territories, or Ball spawn points), but they all work really well right now, so pick your favorite gametype and see what happens. I promise it will be some kind of fun.

CLOSING:

So there you have it. Here are the two main things that I think are really positive about the map

1) You don’t have to learn how to play it like you do with most maps. Due to its size and symmetricality, this is a map that you can truly just jump into and start playing. So do!!

2) It’s crazy like no other map is. Its size and shape is unique, and it leads to unique gameplay that will have you screaming “BANZAI!!!” for days.

I hope you at least partially agree with these statements after you download the map, which I know you will do, because you’re a good person. Aren’t you? I’ve actually been working really hard on this map (thank god it’s summer break—rofl), and I honestly want people to use and enjoy this map, because it is a type of map that Bungie (or anyone else) doesn’t seem to focus on (at least anymore), which I understand but I also think is a bummer. I am no Bungie hater, I love Bungie, and I think Halo 3 is the best Halo yet, but I do like to imagine that Banzai brings back a little more of the frantic feel of multiplayer in Halo 1.

NOTES AND PROBLEMS THAT YOU CAN HELP ME WITH:

Okay, so this is the really painful section of the post. I’m going to list all of the problems or imperfections that I am having with the map, and hopefully you can provide me with some advice or criticism so that I can make an ultimately awesome, all-encompassing destroyer of a v3.

1) The Freaking Lights.

Okay, so you’ve probably noticed that v2.5 does not have the awesome purple light on the bottom level. WTF is up with that, that seems stupid, right? Well, I appear to have broken 2 of the lights by interlocking them, even though they are no longer interlocked.

There is still a version, v2.75, which has all the updates of v2.5 and also has the purple light, and the purple light is no longer interlocked but instead inside the golden box (built out of four walls, not all interlocked). However, the same problem still arises that did when they were interlocked – the lights show up fine, I believe, if you are not playing with any guests. But, bring in a guest, and not only will the purple light not work but the two normal lights on top of the map will start not working correctly also.

I’m afraid that this might be because I played the map with a guest while the lights were interlocked, which I have been told can “break” the lights, and if that is the case then it seems like I might have “broken” the lights irreparably.

So this is really bumming me out. If you have any advice, or if you are equally confused by this problem, you can download the map, look at the problem by spawning a guest in your custom game, and tell me if you can think of any way to fix it.

IF YOU AREN’T PLAYING WITH A GUEST, I RECOMMEND V2.75 BECAUSE THIS IS THE WAY THAT THE MAP IS “SUPPOSED” TO LOOK. I made v2.5 the “main” version since I want the main version to be one that will work in all cases.

Anything you can say on the issue of lighting in this map would be GREATLY appreciated. This is by far my biggest problem, because the bottom level just is not as cool without the purple light in the middle of it.

Here are the 2 versions—v2.5 has only 2 lights, on the tops of the bases, and works fine with guests, v2.75 has all the lights like v1, plus all the updates of v2, but does not seem to work with guests. Otherwise they should be the same.

v2.5

v2.75

2) Weapons/Equipment

This is not so much of a problem, because I am actually pretty happy with the current weapon and equipment placement, but I figure a lot of the comments will be on the weapon type and placement (especially the power weapons), so feel free to leave me your suggestions (however, please DON’T tell me that the power weapons are too powerful unless you have played the map). As I have said, I do not think that either the sword or sniper is too powerful on Banzai due to the way that the map plays, especially in a bigger game, but you can try for yourself.

I am totally happy to receive constructive criticism, I don’t think that this will be the final weapon placement for the map even though I do like the way it is developing, so I do want some advice on how I can really try to perfect it.


3) Respawns and Spawn Times

I will get spawn times, which is related to the previous issue, out of the way first. You can see the spawn times for all of my weapons, grenades, and equipment above. If you think that any of them should be adjusted, please give me your advice, especially if it is based on the way that the map actually plays.

Spawns, on the other hand, are a little more complicated. I am not an expert on spawn points, I only really understand that you respawn there. There are no Start points on Banzai, so all the spawns are as random as the game will let them be (although they are split up into teams). If you think this is a bad idea, or if you have any advice on how I should move or add start/respawn points, please let me know.

4) Team Sides

For some reason, I thought that attacker = Red. However, in the custom games that I have been playing, it seems to be spawning me backwards (i.e. attacker on Blue side). I don’t know if this is normal or not, so if you have a comment on this it is welcome.

5) Finally, Banzai is actually pretty close to the budget limit, and right up against the item limit, so whatever changes I make will not be as drastic as they will be calculated. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to add any more crazy rooms or pipes or stairs, and if you want to edit this map, you won’t be able to either. Just a heads up.

THANKS:

Thanks to TheRayzerTag, whose weapon placement advice I really used (read: stole), and still thanks to all of the people who commented on my original post, I seriously took all of that advice into consideration, and thanks to anyone who dled the v1.

Now dl the v2!!! It’s SO much better than the first one!!!

Hope you guys enjoy, and I hope this post wasn’t too long. Just trying to inform, yo.