MLG CrossFire

LOVE IT, this map is legit as fuc*! You are the first person ive seen to successfully make an amp/ons successor in reach. Great job and keep up the good work.

 

RH review by alreadyRogue - 6 June 2011

MLG CROSSFIRE – 6 June 2011
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This is my application review, so I have not yet been accepted into the review hub, take that for what it is.

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MLG maps are usually saturated with grays, bland structures, and little aesthetic devotion, so playing on an MLG map where color was abundantly used was quite refreshing, and it is appreciated, especially by the forgers of forgehub. Unfortunately this dense piece use took a toll on framerate, and in split screen, the LoS across the middle diagonally caused devastating drops. Even in single player that one LoS, which is found by looking from one corner across the center of the map towards the other, caused minor drops. Though for a standard competitive map small and infrequent drops in framerate are not detrimental to the map’s success and acceptance by the community, the MLG community takes a firm stand on the issue, stating that no drop in framerate is allowed, even in split screen. Fortunately for the map, much of these framerate drops can me fixed without much difficulty from a forging point of view, but from a map-builders point of view, may prove somewhat difficult.

Many forgers on this site have become absolutely absorbed in aesthetics, whether it be a fancy centerpiece with beautiful rock structures, lights, a tree, and many objects with lights, colors, and glass; and this attitude is exactly what strict MLG players and forgers frown upon. The essence of MLG is gameplay, and every MLG map should feature gameplay over aesthetics. MLG as a community has proposed and begun enforcing several rules that help preserve this style of playing and forging, most notably the $5000 budget use cap and the no framerate requirement. As a forger myself, it is tough to let go of those aesthetic pieces which ‘make the map,’ but which also make the map LAG. For this MLG map a complete piece overhaul may need to ensue. This of course is not an obligation, just a suggestion to improve the overall framerate problem with the map, as well as the professional look of the map. I ask you to keep this in mind as you read the rest of this review.

Something I like to call piece clashing is abundant on this map, but I will go into that in depth in a later section.

This map has several instances of poor piece use, for example, the use of three bunker box’s above each corner of the map. While this does provide a nice aesthetic front when looking across the map, and a nice ceiling while looking up from those areas, those pieces are widely known to cause noticeable amounts of screen lag, and the map features several interlocked, along with other glass pieces and screen lag causing pieces in that area. This is a huge contributor to that cross map framerate issue I discussed earlier, but this is just one instance. Many other areas on the map can afford to have several pieces deleted, whether it be the arch’s above the initial spawns made of bank 2x2 steeps (along with other occurrences of this motif in other areas of the map), or the heavily interlocked center structure, piece use could definitely be worked on in this map.

Organite noticed some bumpiness on the map near the spawn, I was however never able to find it, but a quick look over would not hurt.

Overall, despite the block of improvements stated above, I actually quite enjoyed the layout and the structure of the map, and no area stood out as a bad area of the map, but just a few small fixed concerning object density and piece choice needed to be made.

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Well, well, well, balance. This map is perfectly symmetrical, so balance between sides is fine. But among each side there are definitely some balance issues, but don’t worry, most won’t be too hard to fix.

The first and most glaring problem, but also the easiest to fix, is the sniper rifles, which have WAY too much ammo, especially since there is two on the map. A move from two extra clips to one, or zero even, would greatly improve the playability of the map, and not let the map fall into the monotonous power struggle for the overpowered sniper rifle with essentially infinite ammo. Having a sniper with zero extra clips would still promote map movement to those areas, and then to the most advantageous area for a sniper, but the sniper’s paradise ends quickly, forcing him to continue movement throughout the map, picking up weapons and moving to the area where they are most advantageous. Try to keep this type of movement in mind when placing the spawn times and clip sizes for a map, especially a MLG map which has player movement and strategy at its core.

Second is the spawning. The map has only team respawn points, which is again consistent with standard MLG practices, but it lacks respawn zones, which on a map this open, can be a huge problem. Dynamic spawning, which is spawning done with respawn points only, not using respawn zones, is fine for small maps with low numbers of players, because it will always spawn a player in the furthest away spawn point. But on this map with the team respawn points and no respawn zones, it can become fairly easy to set up a simple and effective spawn trap, utilizing the large clip size of the sniper as well. If your are unfamiliar with respawn zones I will provide a link at the bottom of this post for your convenience. The addition of respawn zones will not only remove the threat of spawn trapping, but it will also spawn teammates in more advantageous positions regarding flag placement and teammate placement, so if the implementation of a spawn method is possible, it would be highly suggested for this map. You may even need to splurge and use neutral respawn points throughout the map to make predicting spawns even harder. Lastly for this point, is that the map could use a few more respawn points, and in different areas. The current respawn points seemed to be concentrated in a few areas throughout the map, and this, in combination with the lack of respawn zones, makes spawn killing a breeze for those with the sniper.

Please don't feel too bad about the four, as this is primarily to motivate you to put in a proper spawning system, which will better all aspects of the map tenfold!

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This map is completely enclosed so there is no way to escape the actual domain of the map, although, within the map there are some dead end areas, and some areas that promote camping and detract from map movement, which is a major aspect of MLG gameplay.

The most obvious and blatant dead end in the map is under the ramp that extends from the center structure to the yellow and green bases, which features a tunnel underneath with a window double blocking it. Any player that is able to secure a moderately close range weapon would have a helluva good time camping in there, as it is somewhat deep enough to make bouncing grenades all the way to the window double almost impossible. Some will say that it forms a trap for whatever unlucky player decides to camp in that room with a close range weapon, and that grenades can easily counter that spot, but crossfire could use a revamp on flow around and THROUGH the map, and the map could afford to have the window double removed to promote movement.

I did not notice any areas or ledges that could be stood on that did not have killzones covering them, but I am in no way as good as those HLG pros who could find a hiding spot on octagon, so a more comprehensive look around in forge as well as a game would be necessary. I do plan to do this soon, but right now I am, unfortunately, swamped with final exams at school.

Lastly, some areas of the map had pieces that could easily be caught on, im not quite sure if that belongs in this area, but I just thought I would throw that in. The only time I really got caught was in this little niche found on the sides of the bases, where the ramp 2x2 didn’t quite make it all the way to the strut to close off that area (Figure 1 in LINKS section), I found myself trapped in that area with an angry invisible Organite crawling towards me, the whole experience was quite traumatizing!

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The asthetics on this map combined subtle color with interesting shapes, but unfortunately some pieces caused a cramped feel overall, and others caused you to leave your budget window. All across the map colored struts are used to add aesthetic value, which they do, but struts also cost $50 a piece and that really adds up when you are using 4 on one base, and there is six of them, not including the middle. Removing some of the struts fromt the map would not only decrease the framerate issues (they have lots of polygons, lights, glass, and lights shining through glass) but they would also increase the professional look of the map, because in some places their use seems forced.

Some parts of your map feature major texture clashing. For example, this picture features many different textures smashed right next to each other, budget permitting you should be able to clean up the look of the map and increase the overall professionalism of the map by replacing several structures by more of the same piece to increase aesthetic uniformity (Figure 2 in LINKS section)
Pieces 1, and 2 have clashing textures, and could easily be replaced by a vertical brace large, which could also cover up 3.
A brace large could also cover up the face of 4 to increase aesthetic uniformity in this area. Some map makers feature different pieces in different areas to make it easier for players to identify the area off spawn and remember the area for callouts and reference points. This would also decrease piece use overall, as well as use of pieces with glass on them, which would in turn decrease framerate issues

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Crossfire sticks to the basic MLG four base design, with two bases with spawns and two bases which have advantageous weapons/positions. Immediately off spawn a clear LoS connects you to the enemy, which is also consistent with many MLG maps. This map, however, was not built to be an original map, as posted in your thread, it was designed to be a straight up competitive MLG map, which it does well. Though it is common MLG map rules that maps must have at least half budget ($5000) available when the map is finished, I would hate to see some of your aesthetic pieces be removed from the map, but the somewhat lacking use of pieces combined with many decorative pieces have really sucked up your budget, and when it comes down to it, Crossfire was designed as a diehard MLG map, so some will say that for it to be a successful MLG map, it needs an appropriate budget window. With a little fixing and some respawn zones this map can definitely see some great improvements in game play and overall enjoyment.

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Enjoyment: 7 x 3.0 = 21 out of 30
Balance: 4 x 3.0 = 10 out of 30
Durability: 7 x 1.5 = 10.5 out of 15
Aesthetics: 5 x 1.5 = 7.5 out of 15
Originality: 5 x 1.0 = 5 out of 10

Final Score



Understanding the Review Hubs Ratings​

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LINKS:

Halo 3 spawning guide, but still very relevent to Halo: Reach

Figure 1:

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Figure 2:

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I really cannot wait to see the new version, i really hope you do increase the professionalism on the map though, as that was probably my biggest concern, aside the spawning , i wouldnt mind taking a look at it with you though, we have played together before and im sure we will again.

happy forging