Hello folks. Ever since Halo 3, I've wanted to create a unique big team experience that centers around warthogs. I've made several attempts in Reach, and I finally feel that I have accomplished what I set out to do. S's inspirations and predecessors: Spoiler First is U-turn, to which S is in some ways a spiritual successor. U-turn took the idea of using two parallel vehicle paths to create a circuit. Many ideas used in S came from U-turn. Now onto my failed attempts in Halo Reach. Pioneer was a big team map that used the parallel paths idea I started with in U-turn. Unfortunately, the map played host to numerous issues, and was cancelled. Then there's Illium, a map which wasn't particularly centerred around warthogs, but still had some good ideas. Illium let the vehicles play in the center, and gave infantry decently safe paths around the outside of the map. Illium may be released in the future. Rollcage was another failed map designed around warthogs. vehicle gameplay was great fun, using things like vehicle jumps, but infantry gameplay was mediocre at best. Now I present S to you. The map has a vehicle circuit consisting of two parallel S-shaped tracks. Infantry and vehicles occupy the same space with neither having a huge advantage over the other. Between the two tracks are numerous infantry and vehicle cut-throughs, creating dynamic and fast paced gameplay. Also, infantry can move from base to base in about the exact same amount of time it takes for warthogs to do so by going through the vehicle only sewage tunnels. aside from creating a great, balanced big team experience, I also wanted to make sure the map had a very clean look. So far, S is best played on big team slayer and big team CTF variants. Expect more info and pictures in the coming days. Weapon list: Spoiler As of 7/29/11 DMR x4 Needle Rifle x4 Plasma Rifle x2 Needler x2 Grenade Launcher x2 Spartan Laser x1 Plasma Grenade x2 Health Station x4 Warthog x4 Mongoose x2 One of S's bases: One of S's main pathways: One of the sewage tunnels: Overview: Action Shots as of 8/1/11: Enjoy!
That is a wild idea. I was recently thinking of something somewhat like this (not S-shaped, but a similarly complex design where the warthog has to drive farther just to get from point A to point B) and the difficulty of realizing it discouraged me from really trying it out. Anyway this looks pretty fascinating - I'd like to see how it plays.
I'd love to play this if you're still doing tests when I get back from Montana (two weeks) If you're not releasing this yet I have some ideas this map might benefit from, and if you still have the other maps on your hard drive I have some ideas that could make those work too.
Sorry psycho, but I didn't particularly enjoy the gameplay found on this map. I the gameplay seemed rather stagnant and unoriginal, dont get me wrong the forging is amazing and the execution of the map was good, but in the end you were left with to few decisions regarding gameplay, should I take the long way and die by warthog, our the short way and die by power weapon. I just feel like the map could use a little bit more work.
Wow dude this looks like it could actually work. What Nutbuster...*ahem*...Nutduster said is true, this is a wild idea. I'm definitely looking forward to this and Illium.
Sweet, you kept the name! S hasss been exssstremely interesssting to ssspend my time playing. I hope we can keep improving it through tests, I do agree that while it was fun it was a bit stagnant. Maybe a power weapon by the mongoose? No one is using the plasma grenade mongoose combo anyway. Even a little more cover for the infantry cut through paths would help, as all there is now are a few bars blocking splatters. Very fun for multi-flag though! (besides spawns.)
The concept reminds me of Avalanche and I really like the execution. I'm glad you put those sewers in, though those may become very congested areas on the map. I'd love to get in on some test games.
You ought to use different objects for those sewer-ways, the curved walls look iffy. I think that there are lots of objects that would look quite a bit better. I'd like to get in a few tests as well, invite me if I'm on.
I'll definitely still be testing, as I've only just started and I like to spend multiple months testing. Anyways, I'd love to hear your ideas on this map. for the others I'm not too interested as I know what could be done to fix Pioneer, but don't feel like it's worth pursuing and I'm really not a fan of Rollcage at this point. Of course that's just your opinion, but I actually feel that there is a large amount of choice in the way you traverse the map. The cut-throughs between the tracks keep them from getting stale in my opinion, but I will consider making changes. I'd need to get more opinions first though. I moved the plasma grenades away from the mongeese, but I may move them back which would make mongeese a viable option for taking out warthogs. Once I've gotten more testing done, I'll definitely look into making some more changes, as i said above. Of course the flag spawns will be fixed ASAP as well. Thanks for being so hepful with this map so far man! I don't see the sewers getting congested as they are pretty wide, and for infantry only. Still, I'll watch out for that. You're definitely welcome to join in testing any time,your feedback is always appreciated. The original plan for the sewer was to use block 2x4s, however i didn't have enough. I am almost out of everything except for inclines. Don't worry, there's no screenlag on the map, especially not in the tunnels, and the tunnels actually look pretty nice in game, in my opinion at least. I can see where you're coming from but if you saw them in game, I think you'd change your mind. Thanks for the comments guys. I appreciate the interest shown, and I hope you'll all get to play this (and enjoy it) at some point. I'll be testing this map again tonight if possible. I want to see how 3 plot, and maybe even 5 plots plays and also to continue to refine CTF and Slayer games. Of course race is fun as well. I'll post more screenshots and a weapon list here in the near future.
I love this idea, I use letters and simple shapes to aid in my map ideas as well, and this 'S' with the infantry paths is very interesting. Hit me up for testing this and I'll join you. From what I can tell this map looks stellar, though a few images doesnt justify a map, so I'll not judge it yet.
Today, was awesome playing on this map. Its perfect for a 6v6 and even when it was over-crowded it was really amazing. Proffesio Duck is certainly Professional.
Interesting idea. I can see how you can make a number of variants with this idea and include some things like Scorpions to mix it up with the warthogs...
KEEP THE NAME. I don't care about everyother name besides that. Anyway, This map was awesome for slayer- no one forget my 31 kills. For flag spawns were dynamic aka BROKEN. Then again, I don't think CTF would work well here anyway,after all it is a giant S and it doesn't feel as fun as slayer. (Do I sense flag slayer?)
I myself thought the same thing until I was able to get a game on this tonight. The curved walls actually fit very well, although using 2x4 would have looked better. I think the thing that impressed me most would have to be the layout. It seems that most layouts tend to look/feel the same, but this layout is different. I'm not sure if I have ever played a map that has this shape, which i believe is awesome. I would say my only complaint would be the sheer number of people that played. Fourteen people just seemed a bit much for the size of the match. I think it would be better suited for ten to twelve players, but then again that is just my opinion. Yet I believe the thing that impressed me the most would have to be the warthog battles. I myself am not a big fan of vehicles, because it seems that the good majority of the time they are too overpowered; this is not the case for this map. Because of the narrow passage ways it was easy to flip a warthog with a nade, yet warthogs were not complety useless either. Overall, I would say you did an amazing job with balancing the warthogs! I look fwd to more tests on this map! I forgot to say one more complaint. Do you believe it is necessary to have hard kill zones on all the walls? It is not a huge deal, but it kinda pissed me off when I tried to fly over a wall and was killed instantly. Anyways, just a thought.
I hate to have to say this to you after you've gotten this far on the map, but that's a 2, not an S. Bet you wish this game had a flip feature now, huh? Now you're going to have to start all over again... On a serious, but still off-topic note: when are you going to release Ilium? That map has been sitting around for a long while. And now on-topic: I think the idea of making maps shaped like letters is completely stupid in most cases. As I have not played the map, I don't know if this is the case here. We'll just have to see if it was done right this time.
Flag spawns were not dynamic, they just weren't working properly. The issue would appear to be fixed now. The killzones WILL be fixed. 12 players is certainly the sweet spot on here, but I actually found the organized chaos of the 14 player matches to be quite a bit of fun as well. Thanks for leaving such a thorough post, I appreciate the feedback and I am glad you enjoyed the map. I wasn't just like "hey I'll make an s-shaped map," I actually put a lot of thought into the layout. Ilium will be released if and when I can finish testing it. If there aren't enough people with the Noble map pack for me to test the map, there won't be enough people to play the map. If the Noble maps come with halo: Anniversary, I will certainy release Illium. That's not helpful. if you provided some suggestions, I would consider them, but right now I am happy with the name and most others seem to be as well. To everyone else, I thank you for the feedback. I'll have more images/information up tomorrow.
This map looks like trogdor But seriously, this looks awesome! I love the simple yet complex layout. Good work.
I actually kind of see the resemblance! I felt the hogs were balanced but some of the weapons were not. The best way to kill a hog on the map was to stop it, leaving it vulnerable to grenade spam. For this reason, the grenade launchers felt like the most powerful weapons on the map, being able to quickly get to the hogs and then both stall and explode on them. They also were very powerful in the sewer because of the strange angles and water- I died a lot in there. I wonder what to do there, because I agree they fit the map yet they feel to overpowered at times. The splazor, on the other hand, was perfect. You actually had to be good with the splazor to stop a moving hog, and often times it could break lines of sight to get away. For infantry it also had to be used skillfully, as you were on the same level as everyone else. For flag I see one issue; if you have the flag and want to bring it back fast you have two options- getting the flag out of base fast through the spammy sewers or trying hopelessly to bring it down the long DMR sightline. You can use the vehicle go-betweens well there, but you do have very few options. Lastly, I did end up on a goose once with a plasma grenade (which I missed a hog with) and I think if you could consistently get on one with two p-nades it would work, but sadly that doesn't happen much. Often the driver will pick them up first too. I am excited to try 3 plots though, maybe we can to territory bonanza night and I can get 5 plot territories on Embarcadero. Plus we need to work on ideas for you-know-what. See you on!