Introduction So, I'm bored here looking at some MLG maps and some that were entered in the forge like a pro contest. A lot of them have many things in them that aren't allowed, so I took many guides, combined them into one, and put in my thoughts as well as some helpful links. The Map: Maps should generally flow really well. Maps do not use the unlimited budget glitch as it may cause lag and that is the last thing they want, which means your map must be in the budget. For MLG maps, it is all about gameplay. Sure you want it to look nice, but gameplay is the first and primary concern. There must not be any bumps in the flooring that may disrupt gameplay or stop grenades from bouncing, and there must not be holes in the floor where people can get stuck or fall through, and so grenades won't fall through. To do this, you must know how to interlock and geomerge. If you don't know how to, there are links at the bottom of the page. Emergency Spawns Anyway, as most of you have realised; the new map foundry is great for doing anything you like with a map. The biggest problem I think that we've seen all day is trying to run an FFA on foundry with it being forged and blocked off. Actually any gametype, and you'd see players spawning out of your map design even when all spawns are deleted. These spawns are called emergency spawns, emergency spawns are used in halo 3 when the spawn system has no other alternative. This basically happen when there either aren't enough spawns on the map, the map is too small, or the other team is pushed so far in that the spawns available aren't really possible. There are 8 emergency respawns on foundry. Also, there are 4 emergency spawns in the section of the map that most people are blocking off, and 4 on the main floor, unfortunately because most designs are actually blocking emergency spawns; other spawns are used and the best choice for the map is out back, this is why forge makers are running into issues. Callouts Each area in your map needs to have a callout or be able to be named something obvious and must differ from other parts of the map. Callouts help teams communicate and navigate quickly. The best was of doing this are using the A and B signs and the powerups. The way you make the area to be called out also must be obvious and very easy to see. Tell two bases apart: To tell two bases apart, MLG usually merges the overshield and camo into the boxes in the base to discern from red base and blue base. To do this, all you have to do is interlock like you would normally do, but just do it with the powerups instead. Remember to make it so you can't grab the powerups but can still see them. Drop Spawns: A commonly used technique in MLG, but not necessarily in Forge, are 'Drop Spawns'. Drop spawns cause items to spawn at certain intervals, regardless of whether they've been grabbed by a player or not. It eliminates the H2 system where only one team knows when the spawn is going to occur. It is an emulation of H1 where, for example, rockets will spawn every 2 minutes regardless of when they were grabbed. If you grab them at 1:59 they will still spawn at 2:00. Spawns: Another interesting point to note is that some MLG maps do not use spawn areas. They only use spawn points, because so long as a team sticks together and the points are set up right, they can be more accurate and fair to both sides. Onslaught and Amplified both use spawn areas, but at the same time do not overuse them. You need to find what works best for your map through extensive testing. Here are the basic layouts of MLG maps: 2-based symmetrical – A 2-based symmetrical is where there is two bases. You could cut the map down the middle and everything will be exactly the same. As you can see on torrent the blue and red bases are the same and so are the two side towers. These maps generally support Slayer and Multi-flag. The usual weapon that you will find on these maps is a mauler right in the middle of the map. I will say that you do not have to have a mauler, you decide what weapon goes where. But make sure it is balanced. There isn’t any maps that bungie have made that perfectly suit 2-based symmetrical. But there is a map that is on the MLG circuit that is well known and that is Onslaught made by xSaLoT 2-based asymm symmetric- A 2-based asymm symmetric is very similar to a normal 2-based. But instead of having both side towers exactly the same they are different. As you can see on Lockdown, top A is much different than top B. One feature that is good about Lockdown is that the mauler isn’t in the middle, its under top B. There is many examples of bungie maps. Construct, Narrows and the Pit. 4-based symmetrical 4-based symmetrical maps have four bases and are all exactly the same. The middle must have some sort of symmetry. A mauler is a safe option for this, but you can still use any other weapon. 4-based asymmetrical I couldn’t find any good examples of a foundry version, but you can use Cold Storage as a example of this. Its simply has four rooms, but each room being different. This kind of map is very advanced in map making and it can take many hours of testing to get the right weapons to balance your map. Room based asymmetrical An asymmetrical map is very pleasing if you can pull it off. There are a few types, you can have a room based or a open one. Reverence is a room based map. Choosing weapons on these kind of maps takes a lot of testing and you may not be satisfied by the end. Rocket Lauchers can be a great choice on maps like these. Asymmetrical This is pretty much the same as the Room based version, but its open just like Guardian. Guardian has great gameplay and so do most asymmetrical maps. The only hard thing is making the map. Balance plays a big role on these maps and this is why you don’t see many in MLG. The weapon choice is very fun for these maps, you can almost use any weapon. But still use the weapons that suit your map the best. 3-based No one has made a good 3-based MLG map, now is your time to try this and hopefully get it noticed. 3-based maps have two home bases, a hall that connects the two bases and a third base that connects to the other two. MLG uses the following weapons: Battle RIfle Carbine Rockets Plasma Pistol Mauler Sniper Frag and plasmas Custom powerup Camo Battle Rifle has a 10 second respawn with 2 extra clips. Carbine has a 90 second respawn with 2 extra clips. Rocket Launcher has a 180 second respawn with 1 extra clip. Plasma Pistol has a 90 second respawn Mauler has a 120 second respawn with 1 extra clip Sniper Rifle has a 150 second respawn with 2 extra clips. Both Frag and Plasma Grenades have 30 second respawn. Both power-ups have a 120 second respawn and are based on the pick-up clock. Things the game play must do: (in order of importance) 1. Decide which team of 4 has the better combination of strategy, innovation, and shooting skill 2. Be completely balanced and fair for both teams 3. Move in a timely manner to promote tournament play 4. Be exciting to watch Halo 3's natural strengths 1. When in range, the BR takes a lot of skill to lead and use properly. Out-BR'ing, when in range, exists again. 2. Momentum grenades - putting a grenade where you want it requires more thought than Halo 2 3. Sniping requires more skill, as long as your opponents are close enough to contest your scope 4. Jumps - many different jumps and techniques allow interesting traversal of the level 5. Weapons can be drop-spawned Halo 3's natural weaknesses 1. Melees are unskilled and uninteresting without BLB, BXB BXR, variations but with lunge 2. Long range battles - they don't work like they should 3. Without melee options, close-range weapons run a thin line between too good and worthless 4. Average kill time with a BR is really long - doesn't reflect the skill required to hit all shots (assuming correct range) 5. Power-ups can't be drop-spawned Game play Generalities 1. In 4v4, setups are actually good - as long as there are many interesting ways to break them (Jumps, coordinated grenades, partner jumps), and they are punctuated by grabs for power-ups 2. Power-ups/weapons should come up at a time both teams know about, or should spawn in a place that is easily seen/watched to prevent slippery slope victories 3. 3D level design is inherently better. Levels that require you to think of your opponents movement above and below you in addition to left and right make out-smarting your opponent more skillful. Imagine Midship with no area below the base, or Lockout without sword area - too simple. So with these in mind, let's come up with a set of rules that govern what makes good and bad Halo 3 game play. Halo 3 Golden Rules 1. Starting weapon = BR. To speed up game play, damage and movement should be at 110% to increase kill speed and accuracy requirements. 2. Level design should always promote battles that take place from short-mid to mid-long range. Either extreme doesn't work well under the Halo 3 engine. 3. Power-ups go in easy to see places, power-weapons go in hard to reach places. Both go away from any area you'd consider setting up in. 4. Blind sharp corners must be avoided whenever possible. 5. All levels should have multiple areas where a team can set up. All of these areas must be approachable from many different angles, and ideally there are innovative options for surprise attacks Items that can and can't be used: Double boxes- Yes Open double boxes- Yes Single boxes- Yes Open single boxes- Yes Fence Walls- Yes Fence Boxes- Yes Stairs- Yes Walls- Yes Double walls- Yes Wall corners- Yes Bridges- Yes Dumpsters- Yes Doors- Yes Forklifts- No Trucks- No Crates- Yes, but you must make it Immovable* Wire Spools- Yes, but you must make it Immovable* Sign A- Yes Sign B- Yes Window Panels- Yes Fusion Coils- No Barrels- Yes, but you must make it Immovable* Small Barrels- Yes, but you must make it Immovable* Barriers- Yes, but you must make it Immovable* Small barriers- Yes, but must make it Immovable* Pallets- No Road Blocks- No Street Cones- No Propane tank- No Weapons Holders- Yes Grav Lifts- Yes Man Cannons- Yes Shield Doors- No Soccer Balls- No Here are some helpful links: Advanced guide to respawns - http://www.forgehub.com/forum/forging-101/14285-advanced-guide-respawns.html Guide to power weapons - http://www.forgehub.com/forum/halo-forge-discussion/16560-chrstphrbrnnns-guide-power-weapons.html Guide to grenades - http://www.forgehub.com/forum/halo-...-guide-effective-grenade-placement-usage.html Weapon times - MLG H3 V5 Weapon Times - MLG Forums Advanced Merging techniques - http://www.forgehub.com/forum/forging-101/45944-advanced-merging-techniques.html Advanced Interlocking and merging - http://www.forgehub.com/forum/forging-101/36128-advanced-interlocking-merging.html Geo merging - http://www.forgehub.com/forum/forging-101/1722-merging-immovable-objects-map-geometry.html Interlocking - http://www.forgehub.com/forum/forging-101/973-interlocking-objects.html Immovable objects - http://www.forgehub.com/forum/forging-101/22-immovable-objects.html Forge tutorial master index - http://www.forgehub.com/forum/halo-forge-discussion/22831-forge-tutorial-master-index.html IB u IN N ii callout guide - http://www.forgehub.com/forum/halo-3-mlg-discussion/47015-mlg-major-map-callouts.html Nasty's tips on good map design - http://www.forgehub.com/forum/halo-forge-discussion/45539-nastys-tips-good-map-design.html MLG gametypes - Official MLG Halo 3 Settings v5 | Major League Gaming Bibliography: Glitches, tricks, and tips - Glitches, Tricks, and Tips. **ASK QUESTIONS HERE** - MLG Forums Emergency spawns info - Huge EMERGENCY Spawn Information For Forge Users. - MLG Forums Jay's guide - http://www.forgehub.com/forum/halo-forge-discussion/18878-jays-guide-mlg-weapons.html Jay's second guide - http://www.forgehub.com/forum/halo-forge-discussion/28479-jays-guide-mlg-layouts-scenery.html MLG standards - http://www.forgehub.com/forum/mlg-maps/29563-mlg-standards-posting-rules.html Conclusion So tell me if I should add anything or tell me if you disagree with anything. Hope you like it and i'm going to go do something productive now.