Parallelism

Well, this is officially my first post on Forgehub. I will admit, whenever I sit down to forge a map, I always end up relying on some gimmick or underlying theme for each of my levels. I've never been good at creating a purely competitive, well-playable map. This particular map's gimmick is that of the concept of dual worlds, or parallelism.

In this map, there are two rooms, each fairly small (but that could change), and each exactly identical to each other. They are also each completely enclosed, with no way of getting outside or across to the other room. What is the point of this? I have placed three teleporter fields in each room, directly linked to each other, in pairs. For example, the one under the triangular arc in the middle of the rooms leads to it's pair in the opposite room. It works the same for each one. The cool thing about it is that the fields are invisible. More honestly, the teleporters themselves are under the floor, and their fields extend directly upwards through the floor, thus rendering the area they encompass imperceptible.

The only difference to the rooms are in the colors of the structures, and the sounds in each room. The colors obviously are not much of an indicator as to which room you are in, since all they are are just a bunch of little inconspicuous glowing lights stuck inside some of the buildings. But what I did do was in one room, place a cannon vehicle underneath the floor of one room, and some fusion coils underneath the other. If you know your Forging, you know that the sound effects that these two objects make when in proximity to you is very obvious and familiar. The interesting thing about it is that they only sound very faint while you are in the room, but when you first enter one of the rooms, the sound flares up loudly for a few seconds before becoming quiet again.

The only other difference between the rooms is that of weapon placement. In one room, there is a Focus Rifle instead of a Sniper Rifle. In another, there is a plasma launcher instead of a Rocket Launcher. Things like that.
So, the real meat of the game comes down to when you actually get into the thick of it. With six different people all running around in two identical rooms that they don't know which is which, the chaos quickly becomes overwhelming. You'll often find yourself using the dimensional barriers as cover from enemy fire, waiting just beyond one of the borders, completely out of range. But make sure you watch the other gateways too. A popular technique me and my friends use is grabbing the shotgun, evading through the middle gateway, blasting anyone near, and then evading right back through.

The map supports Slayer and Team Slayer, but only with Blue and Orange teams. I tried to get Capture the Flag to work, but I cannot for the LIFE of me find a way to make it work on any map I make. Slayer is still fun, though.

Weapons: Sniper Rifle, Focus Rifle, Rocket Launcher, Plasma Launcher, Gravity Hammer, Energy Sword, Needler, Shotgun, DMR, Needle Rifle. One of each.

The new combat techniques and possibilities that open up because of this new physical dynamic are wide and varied indeed. So have fun and don't get confused!

Also, feedback would be appreciated. My main concern with the level is that the rooms are two small and cramped. The reason I didn't make them any bigger was because of time constraints and the fact that it's really difficult to make two rooms COMPLETELY identical. But, if it is or isn't a problem, let me know.


SCREENSHOTS:

The first room:





The other room:




The first Gateway, right through the triangle:





The second gateway, through the cramped little mini-tunnel:





And the third gateway, just over the hill:





Some hidden treats:

























ACTION SHOTS:




The shotgun corner:





Gate Sniping:





Hilltop Stalker:





Can't.............reach it!!!!:





Quick, get to the portal!!!:





YOU DIDN'T PAY THE TOLL, YOU BAD BOY!!!:

 

Yeah, the awkwardness was the biggest issue I had to deal with. At the time I had the idea, I really didn't have the mental fortitude to craft a very intricate level that I would have to duplicate exactly.

What do you mean about weapons are too hard to reach with normal gravity? If you're referring to the melee weapons on the ceiling of the triangle gateway and the plasma and rocket launchers on top, that's what the hidden jetpack is for in each room (as shown in one of the "special treats" pics).

I'm definitely going to put some more work into making it more lively and appealing, and easier to traverse. And perhaps a bit bigger. Thanks for the feedback, though.

 

The rockets on top? No. If you're speed is set high enough, you can evade up one of the mini ramps on the actual sniper's nest. The best way to get there, however, is to grab the jetpack hidden in the triangular arch. There's one in each room



Oh, as an update, I did a massive overhaul of the map yesterday and basically made it look a little nicer than just a plain sheet of paper.

Now, the rooms are much more identifiable. Each one has a unique design/mosaic on the floor underneath the arch, on the wall in front of the arch, and a light inside the floor design that sheds it's light on most of the rest of the room. One is purple, the other green. Also, I added two stunt ramps that meet together on the floor right against the wall opposite the mosaic wall, facing the short little tunnel. Speaking of which, I also did away with the large brace and replaced it with a doorway that you walk through now, with a double window on the side and two columns stacked on top of each other, with an antenna on top of it for decoration. AND, on one of the sides of the bunkers, there are a bunch of sideways teleporter frames that stack up to make a mini staircase to the top of the bunker, and a floating one upside down right next to it as the final platform, and has grenades inside it (plus it makes for a pretty good camping spot). And finally, In the little dull corner of the map behind the bunkers, I put a stunt ramp sticking out of the ground so it creates a little bending corridor in that corner, and a platform to jump across from the bunker tops. And there's a strut in the corner of the ramp sticking out the top, so you have to go around it, and there's a window blocking direct travel from bunker to bunker, forcing you to jump around the ramp platform. And I added a spiker on the platform in one room, and a grenade launcher in the other. Though, I should probably swap out the spiker for a concussion rifle now that I think about it......

Well, that's basically it. I'm going to put up some pictures in a little while, hopefully later today to see what you guys think. It seriously looks WAY better than this first attempt.

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Edited by merge:

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Okay, so, as promised, here are some screens from my updated version. Behold, the Drew Carrey of Parallelism!!!


First Room:



Other room:



New Gateway (cage/corner):



New Corridor/Platform area:



New Mini Stairway:



New Ramp:



Snake Mosaic:



Butterfly Mosaic:

Yeah, I know it looks really dumb with the ceiling popped up. Accidental. Won't be in the final copy. Also, the weird looking parts on the bottom of the curve.....I dunno why they're their. they weren't the first time I finished positioning it.


Purple Room Symbol:



Green Room Symbol:





All that you see before you is only what I have promised. Except I forgot to swap the spiker for the concussion rifle . But that will change in the final version. There also might be a few little details here and there that I forgot to mention, but that's okay. You'll see 'em.

Once again, feedback is much appreciated. If these new screens sell (figuratively speaking), then I'll post a new update, perhaps a Parallelism Mk. II.