Hey guys, this is gonna be my next release in Reach. I figured I would throw some pics in here and let everyone see what I got so far. Distance is a symmetric map thats in the Quarry because I was gonna incorperate the grass. It was started as an asym that was gonna be MLG, but due to my unawareness of building an MLG map, the layout wasnt right for MLG so I changed it to a symmetric map and had to move it twice in 5 unit increments just to keep the rocks out of the map. Pretty annoying, but the layout is here and seems solid. Heres some pics fo ya. Layout Middle is purple. You got Rockets at Bottom mid And a Sniper at bottom Green and bottom Orange Red side looks like this And Blue side is symmetric Top mid is the power point and holds the nuetral bomb and flag on the little mini bridge You can see the braces merged in the wall are color coded to guide tyou through the map. Nothing new but still helpful. Extra shots: Weapons for now, are the Rockets as the nuetral power weapon. They are very vulnerable in their position so control of top mid is a key to controling them. There is also the 2 Snipers in bottom Green and Orange. 2 Plasma pistols between Orange and red, and between Blue and Green. You also got 2 stickies at top Green and 2 at top Orange. Theres a Needler on each side of top mid which is open enough for a sick needler battle in the initial rush for Nuetral objectives. Plus you got your DMRs and NRs. I know its not the most eye pleasing map, but you can thank Bungie for that. I had an awesome design for the walls that looked pretty sick but I had to drop them for split screen framerate issues as I want this to be a hopeful for Matchmaking so its back to Colliseum walls and floors. It will be setup for all gametypes and its almost setup already so I will be throwing down some testing this weekend and I will post this in the Testers Guild as well, but no link for you yet, lol. Thoughts, suggestions, disses, or praises?
I like MLG and I like what you've done with this map. It looks and sound pretty balanced but the Needlers might need some more consideration. You might also want to consider the Magnum with Zero Bloom coming out. I also like the look of this map and it seems to have great flow as well. In short, if this map did end up in matchmaking, I would vote for it. BTW, how did you come along making this map anyway? Did free hand it or was there (I bet) some intense planning going on?
From the overview, looks oddly similar to a design I drew down today. Are you stalking me? The only problem I notice from the pics is the bases. If you do plan on spawns being heavily weighed toward the bases, they will need more depth, and more entrances. Make top floor of the base larger, make the bottom of the base larger, and give both at least 1 more entrance. An area that forces you to turn around is almost always bad. Other than that, the map has good connection and more than enough dance floor. Looks solid.
For a map like this full dynamic spawning is the best option. It will definitely take some work to set up well but I think we can trust zombievillan to do a good job. There should be some great dynamic gameplay here and I cant see anything wrong with it at this point. Good luck with spawns as it doesn't look like they will be easy with all those elevation changes.
Pretty sure needlers aren't MLG, Mr. Zombie. Other than that, I loved the look of Distance since you showed it to me the other day and can't wait to play.
One little thing bugging me are the Platform XL's above each flag. I know they give a color boost and help orientation, but that has been done so many times, I have seem at least three maps in the last 24 hours using that. If you want to keep purely MLG then I guess that's fine, but I'd rather see a map that tries for very different gameplay and for a different feel. MLG, while having very good gameplay and aesthetics, looks very similar from map to map, and I don't feel another will make much of a statement. I see a few structures I haven't seen before though, so good job there.
No no no, guys. I "started" making an MLG map. After alot of building though, the layout wasnt right for an MLG map so I just made it a symmetric competetive map. Hence the Needlers. The reason for the plain ol platforms above the flag... I know its severely outdated, but I am hoping to submit this for match making. So I need the least amount of objects on the map to keep it Lag free in splitscreen. Platform XLs have the largest portion of color on one object so I didnt use it to make it pretty, I used it to color code the area with the lowest item limit possible. I know they have been done a million times and I hated using them. Like I said in the OP, I had an awesome wall setup that looked great, Nibbs saw it as well, but I had to change it due to framerate issues. Since I am going for match making, its gameplay and performance over looks and aesthetics. I did some planning in my head, no sketching. It was gonna be asym, but I didnt like one side so I mixed the best parts of each side together and copied it to make it symmetrical.