MAP: Shift CANVAS: Impact DOWNLOAD LINK: XBL Gamertag "Crimson Flux" PLAYER COUNT: 8-16 GAMETYPES: Team Slayer, Flag, King, Ball (see fileshare) This is my attempt at combining interesting vehicle movement with competitive gameplay. "Shift" is semi-symmetric with lots of elevation, cover, LoS, lifts, Gauss Hogs, and MLG-ish ordnance. If you don't want to/can't play test it with friends, at least download it to race around a bit. Just testing the ramps and pits with the hog made 12 min solo customs melt. Much thanks for any feedback! I'm rather new to advanced forging, so any tips would be appreciated. Current Version: 1.1 (BETA) ORANGE: Initial YELLOW: Random (See SCREENSHOTS->Ordnance Map) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SCREENSHOTS: Thanks to levelsave.com for extraction guide! Spoiler - Spawn/Ordnance/Terrain Maps Spoiler SPAWNING: - Respawn zones split map into red and blue side - CTF flag away respawns are white zones (respective to RvB side) - Bases have vehicle pads (1 min. Mongoose, 1.5 min. Gauss Hog) - Each team has 2 base turrets and one center turret opposite their base side. ORDNANCE: - Orange drops are initial (railgun/saw on 5 min respawn, PP on 90 sec., grenades on 1 min.) - Yellow drops are random (one every 2 min) - Can be played with no personal ordnance or very restricted drops (see my fileshare) TERRAIN: - Lots of ramps and pits for warthog / mongoose - Plenty of elevation and cover for avoiding gauss - Many tunnels and lifts for moving unpredictably - Zones and Bases Spoiler RED: Spoiler Base Side BLUE: Spoiler Base Side CENTER: Spoiler Bottom Top Turrets - Aesthetics Spoiler DRIVING: Spoiler Turrets Spoiler Jumps/Drifts Spoiler PLAYER: Spoiler NOTABLE FEATURES: Spoiler - Large, semi-symmetric RvB map - A slight merge of race and competitive team gameplay - Designed to balance gauss hog use - Monster-truck arena style vehicle paths (ramps, pits, strait-aways) - Lots of elevation, tunnels, and cover - Supports a variety of engagements (Long LOS rifle battles to CQC automatic battles) - Turrets at bases and center - Balanced travel times to weapons - Variety of ordnance drops (initial and random) - Specialized grenade uses (frag-player, sticky-vehicle, pulse-turrets) DESIGN: Spoiler A NOTE ON BETA RELEASE: I have a used budget of $9975. I realize this is high and may lead to framerate issues, but because the map has a forged base and walls, my budget was limited from the start. Aside from the Station Corridor flooring, I tried to follow the ForgeHub dynamic lighting guide as closely as possible, not just for the sake of dynamic lighting (which this map still has), but also to cut down on loading lighting/polygon info. If there are any experienced forgers who have tricks to cut the budget down without breaking the map (substitutions, not eliminations), please let me know! If the framerate does suck, my top priority will fixing it. While I've made a few maps in Halo 3, Reach, and 4, this is my first real "forge" project taking full advantage of merging objects or taking objects "outside the box". As such, I am very much open to criticism and suggestions. GOAL: Slight Race/Competitive Hybrid with Gauss Hog Focus I really enjoyed using the warthog on Halo 3's "Standoff", and I wanted to make a map that made the warthog a real threat again. While the standard warthog in Halo 4 had its health increased, I feel it's still too weak to counter players spawning with a plasma pistol and 3 plasma grenades. To make the warthog a vehicle to be feared once again, I traded in the chain gun for a Gauss cannon of death. When doing so, I realized that players can park the Gauss hog on a far corner of a map and go 30-0. In other words, the Gauss hog is a vehicle that is very difficult to balance. BALANCE: Player vs. Vehicle Terrain Design While it has what I consider to be some of the best driving tracks in any map I've ever seen, it also has an abundance of cover and elevation. Yes, it was designed to drive, launch, drift, and do all the other fun things a good race map should do, but it had an equal amount of thought, maybe even more so, devoted to interesting and safe player movement and weapons that could counter, but not overpower, the Gauss hog. There are plenty of pits, ramps, and strait-aways that reward good drivers. There are also lifts, narrow tunnels, and elevated towers that encourage players to move out on their own. Players can get from base to base without touching the ground, and the bases themselves, unlike "Standoff", are very open, allowing the Gauss to make an assault, especially in CTF. TURRETS: More Depth to Gameplay, TF2 Style I've added turrets to make up for the openness of the bases and the power of the Gauss hog. They provide more variation on offensive or defensive strategies. It's hard to run into either base with both turrets up and retain more than half shields. While the turrets do little damage to a moving hog, they do put out force that makes driving more difficult. They're like the Promethean Crawlers; easy to focus down, but can be fatal if ignored. A good PP shot in front of both base turrets can get a hog smoking on their own. My hope was that the turrets, in combination with PP and PG spawns in base, would keep the Gauss Hog from camping out. There are also turrets in the center of the map, one for each team, that help players control the lanes to their base. I have added pulse grenades on the maps specifically to allow players to deal with turrets without the Gauss Hog. One PG can catch a turret on fire. ORDNANCE: Map Control Without Overpowering the Gauss Hog I think the right weapons can overpower the hog to the point of making it useless once again. Get it in a tight space with Rockets and it stands no chance. I've added the weapons on this map to give players definite control over areas but allow the Gauss Hog to reign supreme. The Railgun is a good one-shot, all-range weapon that's worth fighting for in a push. The SAWs can be picked up at the expense of a Railgun push, but can hold the tight elevated areas very well. The shotgun is the CQC master and should outshine the SAW if used correctly. The Snipers help control the lanes and make good use of the elevation, but they don't necessarily straight counter the Gauss's ability to make a good push, as a Gauss gunner can kill a sniper at range. The SpLaser is a straight counter to the Gauss Hog, but it's charge time in combination with "Shift"'s limited LOS and danger of the Gauss Hog make every hog kill one that was hard-earned. CONCLUSION: I think vehicles are one of Halo's defining characteristics and I wanted to make a map that made them fun for players both in and out of them. Some say only time will tell if your project succeeds. I say that only you can tell me if I did well. If you cared to playtest this map, first off, thanks, and second off, let me know if some aspect of gameplay was consistently broken. I have tried to walk many tightropes while making this map, and could have definitely lost my balance. My hope, though, is that you find it a fun and entertaining addition to your custom game nights. Thanks! GAMETYPES: Spoiler I have uploaded custom game variants for Team Slayer, Flag, Hill, and Ball to my file share that are tailored to the map's features. -SLAYER: Customized personal ordnance drops to fit with the map. Left: Needler, Grav. Hammer Bottom: Concussion Rifle Right: Speed Boost, Overshields No kill cam and friendly fire is enabled. First team to 700 points wins! -FLAG: 5 flag at home caps to win and 15 second player flag returns (35 second standard returns). The vehicles and terrain allow flag carriers to move either quickly or without much resistance. To give flag on this map a little more depth, I thought flag at home and flag return where justified. Friendly fire is on. -KING: Hills are set to progressive spawning and are on timers instead of scoring. Each hill lasts two minutes for a total of ten minutes with five hills in strategic areas. In Team King, not only is friendly fire on, but I have also added team difference scoring; the more players in the hill, the more time the team gets. I think this is an interesting mechanic because it can reward greed or get your entire team overkilled. -BALL: Standard ball, friendly fire. VERSIONS: Spoiler Note: Map variant titled "Shift" on file share will be the most current version... 1.1 - Soft kill zone added to invisa-ceiling 1.0 - Public Release (BETA) EXTERNAL SHOWCASES: Spoiler Shift: HaloCustoms