Boarding Party v1.1

Boarding Party 2.0! This map has taken me hours. I never counted, but it's at least 10, probably around 20 or more. Throughout, I've had to deal with an Xbox that works only half the time, freezes often, and a tight budget, as well as picky items that refused to do what I wanted.

And after all that, here it is. My masterpiece. Not entirely perfect, but looking back, it was a fun map to make, and hopefully you will enjoy playing it.

Download can be found at the bottom. To skip the description, scroll down.

[img width=800 height=450]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v461/codymccourtstratics/17806164-Full.png[/img]

What is Boarding Party? Boarding Party is a re-imagination of Boarding Action. I liked the concept of 2 "ships" having a shootout across a gap. While finishing the first base, I was still searching for a catch, something creative that no other Boarding Action map would have. That's when I noticed that the gap between the 2 bases seemed off. So I built a 3rd ship. That's right, there's 2 ships. each base, plus a neutral ground for either team to fight on.

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One of the Bases

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Inner Deck of the Midship

Each base is 4 levels tall, and includes a Light Bridge for the Mongoose to bounce across. This is the quickest and most direct route to the enemy base. The Sword also spawns in the center of the Light Bridge(on a pit stop in neutral ship) but only on asymmetrical games.

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Launch an Assault! Perfect for attacking the enemy's base to capture their flag or deliver a bomb!

[img width=800 height=450]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v461/codymccourtstratics/17800384-Full.jpg[/img]
Each team has a Mongoose on the 3rd Deck


This map is compatible with every default, and some custom, gametypes, but it best suited for team games like Assault and Capture the Flag.

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CTF
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King of the Hill

The Midship is unique, as it has 2 side, split down the middle. You can cross at certain points. Grab some medium-ranged weapons, and aim at your enemy's base! But watch out, close range weapons dominate if you're on the same ship.

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Inner Deck of Midship, a King of the Hill game.

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The Aftermath

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Each ship has an Inner Deck on the first floor. On the side ships, this acts as the home of the flag and bomb spawns and drop offs.

[img width=800 height=450]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v461/codymccourtstratics/17797748-Full.jpg[/img]

There is also a Sniper Rifle at each base and a Rocket Launcher at the top level of the Midship, similar to the Sword on Construct. Two Miniguns lie at the end of each side base. They have a large field of fire, but are open to attack from just about anywhere.

[img width=800 height=450]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v461/codymccourtstratics/17797122-Full.jpg[/img]

[img width=800 height=450]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v461/codymccourtstratics/17799591-Full.jpg[/img]

Just a note, some spots get a little bumpy. I tried my best, but some places just refused to work out properly. The Midship is probably the bumpiest, followed by the A ship. There's not much I can do, and even if I tore them down and remade them, there's no promise that they would turn out an better. I also ran out of Walls and Double Walls, and eventually also ran low on Fence Walls, and eventually Money, which held back weapon placement, as well as scenery and objects to hide behind.

To simulate the falling to your death of the original, I added teleporters(what I could spare) to the floor. If you fall off, which I've made the map to help you prevent that, the only way to get back up is to go through the Teleporters and directly into a cage with a respawning fusion coil. Shoot it or melee is, or throw a grenade until you die. It counts as a suicide about as often as if you fell of into a real bottomless pit. It also removes your weapons from play. I kinda stole this system from the penalty system in the Bungie 500 racing map, but it's an awesome system.

Some notes: I could add more weapons if I delete the 2 standing teleporters, but I'm not sure if everyone will realize they can go through the 2 at the front end of each base and respawn. If it's obvious to everyone, I can delete those, and maybe one of the cages, get some more money added to the budget, and make the map feel a whole lot more fun.

Download:
Test
2.0 Map
[/u]Stable[/u]
1.1 Map


*BONUS*

As an added bonus, I've included one of my Gametypes, which will work on any may that does not require a special gametype.

Spartan II vs Spartan III

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One team starts out as members of the Spartan II program. They are slightly stronger than average multiplayer Spartans.

The others are all members of the Spartan III program. They have no shields, but have Active Camo in it's place. To win, the Spartan III group must use tactics and remain unseen, because in direct confrontation, they stand no chance, and will be dead in seconds.

Download: Gametype

 

I considered interlocking after it was posted.

Short Story: If I want to make a 2.0, I may start over. But interlocking might work for the first floor. That's about it. What I did for the second base worked a lot smoother, but the top floor turned out bumpier, because whatever luck gave me an amazing 5th floor on the other base went away and made me build the other decks better.

Since I need to "stack" using Double Boxes, interlocking doesn't do much good, because then I really have nothing to support them, and S&Q doesn't work with Walls for some reason. I can try it with the double boxes next time, but I can't say for sure they'll turn out better.

Hippo, I'm not sure if by territories you mean my map or my gametype. But no, both are universal maps that will work with any map/gametype.

 

Changes for v1.3

-Homosapian Propulsifiers replace 2nd Deck Teleportation system
-Boxes that make up the Inner Decks of the side ship have been tweaked, which also removed a spot you could fall and get stuck in
-More weapons, including a Needler and 2 Maulers(one at each base)
-Added more equipment, a bubble shield at each base(near the Maulers) and Portable Cover at the center of the map
-One staircase was facing the wrong way, so I corrected the other one. Now they both face the same way
-Added 2 BRs, one to each base, on the 3rd floor
-Placed 2 Incendiary Grenades next to the Sniper spawn at each base
-Removed the 2 teleporters leading to death box. 2 remain, one at the lift system of each base.
-Removed one of the death boxes. One will have to be enough.

Considered changes to 1.4 and/or 1.5

-Changing territories, from small plots to 3 large plots, one covering each base
-Moving the lift closer to the base, and removing a fence wall from each
-Removing the "return" mancannons going from Midship Deck 2 to Side Ships Deck 2. This means to board an enemy ship you need to go to the 3rd Deck
-Remove 3rd Level teleporter system in favor of a one way Man Cannon from Midship to Sideship

Note: As it currently is, you HAVE to jump to enter the Mancannons. Does this seem like it'll be a problem to everyone? It's certainly working much better and much closer to my original plan than the teleporter set up I had, which was taking too much budget and was ultimately a crappy system. But for some reason Bungie made the item weird, so it only works right if you want into it straight or drop from above.

EDIT: Full version 1.5 notes. These changes are made on top of the Version 1.3 notes. I'm working in increments of 2's here, counting level design tweaks and bug fixes and 1 and weapon changes and object placement as another 1.

-all mancannons now lead the the 3rd deck of the opposite ship
-Teleporters going from decks 3 to 4 are left in
-Needler from 1.3 replaced with Flamethrower.
-Flamethrower only spawns on symmetrical gametypes, and is a counterpart to the sword, which only spawns on asymetrical ones.
-Maulers have longer respawn time and now have 2 extra clips instead of one
-Mancannons no longer require you to jump up, over, and into them
-Light bridge on A Base tweaked.
-Shield Door between the two light bridges has been removed. It was there to prevent players driving it down the stairs and finding a way into the base, where they could potentially splatter people or make them jump off the ship. The time an effort that it would take to get it to any other level of any ship is tremendous, so if anyone tries it, it'll be suicide.
-Added fence walls around the stairs to allow for walking across without hugging the stairs. This was removed from the 1.0 release to save the budget, skipped in 1.1, and added back in during 1.3

Not as many changes as from 1.3, but the last 2 updates will change gameplay considerably. I'll make some final tweaks, reach 1.6, save it, and upload it. I'm debating if I should keep the old one in my fileshare, or delete it.

 

Hmm...I hate double posting. So my apologies to everyone.

I'm working on v2.0 and am so far short of idea. I'd like to make a change that would impact gameplay enough that makes it worth of 2.0, but without making it a completely different map.

I'd also like feedback on the balance of the map. Is everyone fine with placement? Is there any clear issue with locations? How about spawns? I realize my map doesn't seem nearly as uber 1337 as some maps like the Citadel or any of that, but they mine and those are created with the same purpose in mind.

With that said, I'm running short on creative ideas here. Not much I can do with an established map.

 

That wouldn't work.

It's fine for offering a disadvantage for sneaking out of an arena of some sort. But it won't work on this map for the following reasons:

1: There's 3 areas, and one Hill at a time.
2: Losing points isn't too much of a problem. Killing someone is still possible and there's no rush to get back aboard the ships.
3: People should be penalized for falling off, but if they fall off far from one of the 2 teleporters, their team will take a heavy loss. Plus, to save money there's only one fusion coil in the death box, meaning that unless you use a grenade, you have to blow it up twice. Which means penalties for the team.

I'd recommend playing the map before suggesting features I can't use. No offense, it's a good idea, but if I can't use it, there's not much of a point.

 

I'm just going to re-align a couple stuff to make sure it's more symmetrical and upping it to 2.0. I don't see how much more it can evolve without more money to use.

I'll update in a bit with some fancy new graphics and a new download link.

 

I'll look into the shotgun thing. If I had enough budget I'd probably put a wall or something there, making you run back across. I'll figure something out, possibly involving moving both weapons and a teleporter, but I'll make it work...