Cubeskew 2: Skewed Harder Preview Video: YouTube - Halo Reach Forge Map (Altered Gravity) Cubeskew 2 Preview‏ _________________________________________ Mission Briefing Summary: We’ve recently discovered a singular Forerunner facility. Well, it’s actually not quite so singular since we explored a similar yet smaller facility a little less than a year ago. What makes this facility special is the gravitational anomalies that have been detected throughout the structure, the strongest of which appear to be occurring near the facility’s center. Your mission will be to gain entry and explore the facility. Make your way to the area of greatest gravitational distortion, ascertain the cause and bring that information back to headquarters. Based on intel acquired from the first facility, you’ll be encountering some disorienting effects. Determining up and down will most likely be a difficult task. Mission Update: Based on your situation report, you’ve entered the facility and the path back to your Falcon has been cut off. Continue the mission as planned. We are working on an alternate extraction point, yet to be determined. Watch for waypoints throughout the duration of the mission, the final of which will be your new extraction point. Good luck. _________________________________________ Cubeskew 2: Skewed Harder This map is the big brother of my first Cubeskew map. Bigger in every way, Cubeskew 2 dwarfs the original in both size and difficulty. There are some new surprises awaiting those with enough stamina to make it through the disorienting effects of the cube. Like the first Cubeskew, be prepared for an architectural reward (or curse) once you’ve escaped the cube. Cubeskew 2 has checkpoints, unlike its predecessor, although they probably won’t be as frequent as many players would want. Because escaping from Cubeskew 2 will be very difficult, I’ve set up two separate gametypes for the map. The first, Cubeskew 2 Invasion, is more difficult due to the inclusion of time limits, but offers a more complete experience. The second, Cubeskew 2 Oddball, has no time limits and may be more appropriate for those who aren’t seeking the pressure of a timer breathing down their necks. WARNING: You must use either the Cubeskew 2 Invasion or Cubeskew 2 Oddball gametype when playing this map. While other gametypes may work, you may encounter game-breaking problems that will detract from your enjoyment of the map. If using the Cubeskew 2 Invasion gametype, all players MUST be on the red team. Anyone on the blue team will not be able to play through the map. Also, only Spartans will be able to complete Cubeskew 2. Do not enter this map as an Elite. Cubeskew 2 is a very difficult map to finish. For anyone who can't make it out of the cube(s), feel free to use Forge to play through the map. Just be sure not to use the Basic Editing or Invasion gametypes while in Forge or you'll run into impassable gates. Overall Map Diagram: The following diagram contains minor spoilers. If you prefer to be surprised by the unexpected, you may want to look at this later once you’ve made it through the map. Spoiler Cubeskew 2 Images: Insertion point First view of the cube Inside the cube Checking out the cube’s exterior You’re going to have to open these bars to move on. Cubeskew 2 Spoiler Images: The following images show portions of the final challenge. If you don't want the end spoiled for you, don't look at these images yet. Spoiler The final challenge Extraction point Cubeskew 2 Video Solution: The following video shows a walkthrough of the map. If you haven't played the map yet and don't want anything spoiled for you, don't watch it yet. Spoiler Here is Part 1 of the walkthrough for Cubeskew 2: Skewed Harder. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I9pi-C0amc Here is Part 2 of the walkthrough for Cubeskew 2: Skewed Harder. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KaF19Okr08 DOWNLOAD CUBESKEW 2: SKEWED HARDER DOWNLOAD CUBESKEW 2 INVASION GAMETYPE DOWNLOAD CUBESKEW 2 ODDBALL GAMETYPE Good luck. Don't lose your cool. I cannot be held responsible for any broken controllers.
I am so impressed again. This totally looks like the worst mindfucking ever! You're first map made my eyes almost bleed and i cannot wait to try this one out! You're truly a genius and a revolutionary for making this kind of maps! Without doubt something you will be remembered by inte the Halo Reach Forges!
As soon as I read that this is the "big brother" to your first map shivers went down my spine. I loved the original cubeskew! It was difficult, but not impossible. If this is anything like the original (it looks like it), then I believe this map has found a permanent home on my 360's hard drive. Keep up the great work.
I am ready to have my eyes bleed once more. The first one was so intense my mind felt like it was melting, when you mentioned it was even longer than the first one, i think i abandoned all hope of ever completing it. This puzzle map is both innovative and extremely different. Good job!
In my initial post, I've added a partial walkthrough video showing the path you need to follow to make it through the first section of the map. I'll have the next one posted in a day or so. Thanks for the great positive feedback. I hope everyone's been enjoying the map. I tried to be sure to stick with the first Cubeskew's concept while also adding in some more difficulty, variety and new challenges. Here's an interesting quote from a guy over at the Halo.Bungie.org Forum. "Great map! Really enjoyed playing it! Unfortunately, I can't play it again -- it made me slightly ill. I didn't even know that was possible!" I'm so happy he enjoyed the map, yet at the same time saddened by his sickness. Oh well.
I was wondering where you went. I didn't see your insanly forge coimpetitive maps and I thought you were done, but I'm glad to see you're still here and forging some puzzle maps. This looks crazy, while I'm not the biggest puzzle map lover, this looks like a hell of a lot of fun and really confusing too. Not in a bad way.. You always do a great job when it comes to using forge pieces in creative ways and I've no doubt this will be any different.
@ Eightball, I'm still around. Just been busy at work and with the family. It's tough justifying too much forging when my kids want me to play outside with them now that summer's here. Then when they go to bed, my wife prefers (as do I) that I hang out with her instead of playing video games all night. I still have a few maps floating around in my mind that need to be forged, so you'll see me around sometime. As for Cubeskew 2, I'm glad you like the looks of it. Hopefully you've been able to try it out. Honestly, I'm not a huge puzzle map player either. I just really like the aspects of this type of skewed forging. I'm starting to think I went a little overboard on the difficulty level though. So much so that I doubt most people will be able to make their way through it. For anyone who can't make it out of the cube, feel free to use Forge to play through it. Just be sure not to use the Basic Editing or Invasion gametypes while in Forge or you'll run into impassable gates. Also Eightball, great job on your Elysium map. It's a great mix of functionality and aesthetics.
Me and my two friend's were trying to solve this for at least an hour last night and maybe even another this morning, lol. We go pretty far, I guess, swearing was present at some times...LOL but overall we had a good time.
Nibs and I have been attempting to get out of the first cube for far too long. Far. Too. Long. Regardless, this map is beyond difficult, and I could spend hours attempting to complete it. To be quite honest, I think that this map isn't getting the attention it deserves, and hopefully that will change soon, but who knows. Amazing job with this, lee.
Thanks for the compliments and the very deserved critique about the difficulty level. I really wanted the map to be very challenging but not as challenging as it turned out to be. I imagine it's gone from the fun type of challenge to the frustrating type of challenge for most people. I'll tell you exactly where I made my design mistake. I made sure each of the jumps was a learnable jump, meaning the player would be able to figure out exactly what he needs to do to make the jump. Unfortunately, a few of the jumps will allow for only a 50% or 60% jump success rate (for me at least) regardless of knowing what you need to do. Even some of the simpler jumps I only do correctly 80% or 90% of the time. Once you start multiplying those odds of non-success times the number of jumps in the map, you really end up with an extremely high probability of not making it through. If I had really tested it out better, there are some simple changes I could have made that would've made the map challenging and awe inspiring, yet not so frustrating. I'll put together a slightly altered version with the difficulty of the 3 or 4 hardest jumps knocked down by half and that should ensure that most people will be able to complete the map before they give up due to frustration. If you'd like, I'll let you guys test it out before I submit it to be sure I strike a good balance. Also, I did go through the map in forge to practice the jumps just prior to making my walkthroughs. It helps to really be able to go through a single jump over and over again in quick succession to figure out its nuances. Even I was frustrated by the difficulty of my creation while trying to do the walkthrough video.