City Map help

I find that the best way to establish a city map is to have a backdrop. In other words, putting up buildings in the backround will help the players understand the maps theme better than the same map if there were rocks in the back round.

1) Roads are tough, Finding a single piece to make roads could be tough, and could a lot of money, so I would suggest building what you can, and getting back to the roads later.

2) It will be a huge plus for your map, so I'm saying "YUS!" enter-able buildings will make the map a lot better.

3) The budget is your limit.

4) I would be worried about the grass and the rocks being seen in the backround. As I've said, if you have buildings in the backround (even if you cannot get anywhere near them), it helps establish the environment.

 

I had a similar idea, for the one I may build I was going to incorborate the the grass as a terain. That being said, mine would be more of a small town.

Depending on how you approach the rest of your map in terms of roads, as Patrickcnattype said, build the rest of your map first.

For buildings being accessable. Definatley yes, it gives much more realism to your map, but I would not suggest using the preset buildings. Mainly becuase they do not differ as much, and lack the creative feel that you wish your map to have. When creating building, make mutiple entires, and windows. I find building sucsessful rooftops to play on is a challenge, but thats just me.

Again said by patrickcanttype, creating buildings in the background give the players a better sense of area. Even if only they are aesthetic.

It's your map the large planing descions are up to you. But one thing! Please do not make it symmetrical. Those types of maps get borring and reptitive very quickly.

For placement of your map, overall I think the canyon is one of the better places, not in the center however. Otherwise it is too confined and you lose sense of where you are. Perhaps the side by the ocean with beach would be best. Then you can have street fights and boardwalk confrontation as well.

I hope that helps.

 

I honestly never liked city maps. They usually try to be too grand in scope and end up suffering as a whole. What I would like to see in a city map is focus on just 1 city block. Make say 4-5 buildings be fully playable and not very high up, possibly 2-4 floors each. That way those 4-5 buildings can be given a "city" feel while still being fully playable and enjoyable.

Roads are usually stunt ramp pieces but really anything will do as long as it is flat.

 

1) Stunt Ramps turned upside-down make excellent roads.

2) Definitely yes, as it adds the "modern, urban warfare" feel that most city-based maps have.

3) The sky (and budget and item count) is the limit.

4) The location is your choice, though in my opinion, Montana-Alaska is the perfect location for a city.

 

The problem with most of the "city" styled maps is that, like PacMonster said, they try and do too much. Forge 2.0, as much as it has improved since Halo 3, is still not a full map creator. A city map by necessity requires far more resources than, say, Hemmorhage, and by the time you get even a modest 4 or so buildings up to a playable level, Reach's engine will already be struggling. The key is to build a map that feels like a city without actually building the entire city. Your structures need to be simple enough to get the job done efficiently while still suggesting to the player that they're fighting amongst skyscrapers and highways.

If I were building a city map (which is an intriguing possibility), I would choose to have only 2 main buildings and then several smaller side structures. That way I can put an appropriate level of complexity into each main building while saving resources and helping with player orientation and map flow. While an entire city block may seem like an awesome map idea, the reality is that 90% of the gameplay will occur in two places: A.) around the rocket launcher, sniper, or sword and B.) near the best sniper position or the shortest route between team spawns.

In regards to roads, i find upper surface of a Brace, Large to be much nicer looking than the bright blue of the stunt ramps.

 

Heck yes

1.) Roads:
Will they have curbs? Are they there for vehicles to be driven on functionally, or as decoration? Just a few questions you might wanna ask yourself before you get too into your map.

2.)Aesthetics: You'll want your roads to fit the theme of your map (which is hard with Reach's lack of "pleasing" decoration...). Stunt ramps have been promising so far, but don't work too well if you're utilizing curbs (Railings, Large) work well.

Good luck with your map dude! Post pics of your map thus far?

 

Be careful using stunt ramps, as the bottoms of stunt ramps are not actually flat. Using them as floors makes a "Colosseum wall" effect, and using them as roads might not work too well. Of course, you should try them out before dismissing them.

 

I'll warn you right now, in a city map I've noticed you focus on building a big city, or one with enterable buildings.
I've done both, honestly I feel like the one without enterable buildings works better, I did have a construction site and a police building which could be entered so it wasn't completely unenterable.
For me, I used railings to mark the lines of the road, I feel like it worked well.
I haven't posted the map because I want to build a gametype for it, but its beginning to feel hopeless. It would've been so easy with VIP too...I'm thinking I'll just make an invasion gametype for it and post it then....

Just a warning like others have said, don't try to be too grand. Because, well, you will.

 

For roads, use brace large and put them in different directions, as there are arrows on the top and grey edges. They are also wide enough to house 2 warthogs side by side easily.

 

As a beginner Forger, would you kindly explain what a "Colosseum wall" effect is?

 

1: Whats a good piece to make roads?
I'd reccomend coliseum walls as the base ground work. And then use something to mark as curbs to define the road borders. In my map I used blocks for my curbs, but I think using the top bit of the covered walkway is better because it it longer and has beveled edges which is better for pathing. I also used the edge bit of a 5x1 narrow block as a median line, but this can be kinda expensive (in terms of using up your blocks)

2: Should I make buildings enterable with stairs to the roof for open battles?
Definately, enterable buildings is the whole point of a city/urban map. I'd recommend having most of your buildings having at least 2 stories (could be roof access). And then maybe one larger 3+ story building, and maybe some smaller 1 story ones.

3: How big should it be?
Well if you want your buildings to be nice and developed I wouldn't recommend more than 4 buildings as some others have suggested. I made a map with about 7 buildings, but my budget was really stretched thin and the interiors weren't as developed as I wanted them to. I don't think it's possible to have a city with more than maybe 10 buildings or so, and at theat point your building will be pretty bare bones and simple. I think size wise I wouldn't try to make anything larger than the space of alaska or montana.

4: Is the Canyon a good spot to build it?
The only good thing about the canyon is that it has those canyon walls which give a sort of enclosed feeling on 2 sides. Besides that there isn't any big advantages I can think of.

 

It basically means that while it will appear flat on its own, but when you look more closely, it actually is not flat. It becomes more apparent when you put two next to each other, and you can clearly see that they do not match up perfectly.

 

Strangly enough I'm making a ciy map right now. THis thread has really helped my progress.

I would suggest making it compatible for ALL gametypes. Not many maps can do this but a city map is the perfect place to do it.

 

if the streets are easily wide enough cor 2 hogs, a goose can do it, just make rounded corners and roundabouts (now I want to make a city map, I already have an idea revolvig around docks and a roundabout)

 

so far i've found the 5x5 block to be good for making streets, since not only does the large size let you conserve your budget, it also gives you a lot of space to drive on. you can easily fit a scorpion on one and still have some room to spare.

the "colosseum wall effect" isnt horribly noticeable nor does it have any severe effect on gameplay, and it can actually be used to your advantage if you are having problems with z-fighting.

i've been using bridge extra-long pieces turned upside down as sidewalks, since they measure 5 units long, however if you want narrower streets and/or to conserve on your bridge/platform budget, i would not advise using them.