(First post on these forums!) Hey guys, when H5 forge drops this week the first thing I want to do is start working on a city map. This is what I want to do: - Asymmetrical space - Ridiculous verticality -Vehicle play in the streets That's all I have right now. If I could get a few suggestions on what could work and what couldn't, that would be cool. I'm always taking notes!
Welcome! Excuse me if you already thought and planned for a lot of these things. These are just some initial questions that come to mind: I would look at headlong and decide what you like and dislike about that map. How would it be different than headlong? Also, although I'm not a battlefield player it sounds like battlefield city maps might be a good place to draw inspiration from. if the goal is to make a map that would play BTB well, what are the ways people get up high in the buildings without making getting to the highest point too easy? How are these really high places balanced? Check out @MultiLockOn 's video series. He has an episode on verticality. Also, as infantry why would players want to traverse the vehicle dominant streets of the map? What is the incentive? How do players interact with the vehicles in a positive way? Is there interplay between the high buildings and the street below? Can vehicles make it to the higher points of the map? How does the map flow? Where will infantry want to go when they spawn? Will vehicles be forced to move in tight streets or will they freely roam open areas? How will you imply a large city while maintaining a manageable play space that doesn't feel overly managed?
All very good questions to ask. I've come to the realization that vehicle play in the streets may not be such a good idea. Players would traverse upwards via conveniently placed debris and ramps. I want to take full advantage of clamber. I want the map to be focused around one or two high rise buildings. I'm thinking about making it look like one collapsed into the other. For vehicles maybe I'll place a single Banshee on the way up. There would of course be more than one way up. I'm thinking about using the new cranes as a second option. I'll make a damaged ship out of blocks and place it right in the side of one of the structures. To effectively combat the Banshee I might put down a rocket launcher on one of the rooftops. Everything sound OK so far?
I wouldn't be so quick to give up on vehicle play, but it sounds good to me. My questions weren't meant to be discouraging, just thought provoking. I've never made a BTB map myself, so I can only give so much input. what kind of stuff have you made in the past? What's your normal process? Do you draw stuff first? Maybe map it out in 3D software? Or do you prefer to brainstorm in forge itself? My suggestion would be to do a few drafts however you are comfortable and post them here or in WAYWO for feedback. As experienced as many people here are, seeing geometry goes a long way in giving good feedback.
Don't worry about your reply being discouraging. Back in the Halo: Reach days I used to just go onto Forge and wing it. Now I draw an overview of the map beforehand and plan it out with the Forge pieces available to me. I was never really all that great at building competitive maps. I built a couple of race tracks and obstacle courses in my day but that's about it. What I could do is give both teams a Gungoose... Hmmm...
I like it. I can see where you may think it loos to symmetrical but let's be honest- all city streets are pretty much just large hallways so you can only get so creative with that.
Thanks! I'm designing the map with the mindset that maybe they will accept user created maps for matchmaking. Therefore it needs to be perfect in almost every way.
The DMR spawn seems tacked on like there's no real purpose other than a route for vehicles so its predictable where enemies will come from unless the main building has some sort of scripting that opens a third passage way then nvm or its just open and the building is the center field allowing vehicle and infantry movement.
Depending on how this turns out, I may have interest in using this in a machinima...that is, if it's cool with you. IS IT cool with you?
Of course! I LOVE machinima and to me it would be the coolest thing to have my map featured! Also, I'm doing a functionality test on a different map I built tonight at 7:00pm EST. Who's in?
I love an urban map. I created a concept called War City in Halo 4 (sadly saved no media on that). I remade it in H2A and put together a YT vid about it. Since it appears we're kindred spirits of sorts, here's my thoughts based on your rough sketch and my general design. While it's logical for people to think of Halo's official urban areas; I know you're thinking 'city blocks' make-up when you say you wanna make a city map. With buildings encompassed in roads rather than structures surrounding one or two single roads like usual Halo urban themed maps. Your road layout gives me slight vibes of that Battlefield Hardline city map with the crane. Seems like the south team may have longer to get to battle? You're a better man than me going for a parking garage. While I could have done something like that, I couldn't justify its gameplay thesis. In context of Halo, I think a structure like that is either a center piece or a dead zone due to its inherent multilevel design. Aesthetically I totally get it. And it may just simply work better on your city vision. Will the roads have some way to be a full track or are you married to the dead ends in the east side? Also; very curious to see if you use rails on the roads. The wacky vehicle physics (which seems worst for Jeep/ATV) made me reconsider initial plans for an overpass/highway addition. Hope they patch that. This is something I thought about since the first War City on Halo 4: How do you feel about the inevitable sight lines on the actual street? It's tricky; on one hand streets are basically long stretches so it's accurate, on the other hand people may have issues on foot in the street. Unless all your buildings have interiors? I won't be doing my remake quite yet but it's cool to see others going for the urban theme. Edit: Turns out I did have pics for the first version in Halo 4.
You gave me a lot to think about here. Although, the parking garage is better refered to as an underground parking area like you see at some grocery stores. That's where I was going with it so by naming it the parking garage I was pretty misleading. I'm going to be shifting my design around a bit next time I work on this. I'll have more info later on after I've finished Permafrost.
Underground? Interesting. I live in Miami and... we don't really have underground structures normally. Not even basements really. So I grew up with a sort of fascination with anything remotely subterranean. It's funny because I did consider an actual sewer area for War City, but I was hitting Halo 4's item limit. And I just didn't feel like it in H2A the map was big enough. If you're gonna rock an underground parking garage I would consider incentives and flow (depending on how deep we're talking). I'm gonna take a wild guess and assume there will be underground/sewer/maintenance pathways that lead to the east grass area or even the main building? Should be rockin.