Map Title: The canals A 2-level playing field. Distance up top, close range below. This is a symetrical map. 4-12 players, supports Slayer, Team Slayer, and Capture the flag. Download Map There isn't a specific gametype save for those bungie created themselves. Description: This map entitled the canals 001 is a mostly-2-level playing field. On the main level, it is a fairly open field of play that supports distance gameplay. There are mancannons at either end of the level to shorten said playing field, but generally the name of the game is distance. Underneath the primary battle field is an intricate canal system that actually has a symetry to it. It supports close-combat as one could tell by the weapon placement. In the middle of the top playing field is a central "base" as it were that hosts the rocket launcher on one level and invisibility on the other. (you cannot get rockets then invisibility immediately the way the level is designed.) This level supports capture the flag and slayer. There are respawn areas preset in Capture the flag, so you shouldn't respawn next to the enemy's flag. For slayer, the power weapons are spaced out evenly and are nerfed in at least one way. The power weapons are as follows: Rocket launcher (nerfed by invisibility and power drains), beam rifels (nerfed by the general openness of the area around where you get them), Gravity hammer (nerfed by maulers and an explosive canister under the actual hammer), Shotgun (nerfed by their conspicuous lack of ammo). Other weapons include needler x2 BR x4 Maulers x4(high respawn time), brute shot x4, various grenades, bubble shield x2, gravity lift x2, power drain x2. [img width=800 height=600]http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/6438/canalsimg1ez0.jpg[/img] [img width=800 height=600]http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/6439/canalsimg2qy1.jpg[/img] [img width=800 height=600]http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/1589/canalsimg4nc8.jpg[/img] The canal part of this level is pretty close-quarters, so I couldn't get a screen shot of it.
Re: The canals ditto, like look of your map, hard to gauge the complexity of the canal's without pics, any chance of a pic?? please feel free to check my map
Re: The canals Yeah, there are a lot of maps coming out right now, so it's hard to get to them all. Still, you shouldn't double post. In the future, if no one replies at all in your thread, send me a PM with a link. I'll at least look at the pics and give you my opinion based on those. The map sounds good from your description. It sounds like you put a lot of thought into the weapon placement. But I don't think the gravity hammer could possibly be nerfed by the mauler. Every try to shoot and then melee someone before they can smack you with the hammer? Still, I'll download this and fly through it in Forge. EDIT: I think I ignored this earlier because Canals is the name of a Gears of War map, which was fun for Gears of War but would probably suck as a Halo map. I assumed you did a remake of that.
Re: The canals You know, you're not the first person to say that, I've never played gears online, so I wouldn't know. I assure you, though, it isn't a remake. @ostembor I tried to get some good pics of the canals, but couldn't manage to, they're pretty tight, organized and logical, but tight. @furious D, thank you for the advice, I'll make sure I do that in the future. Also, I was thinking of putting a power drain on one side where maulers are and keep the mauler on the other side. That might be a little more wise, I think.
It looks kind've bland. You might want to add some scenery or make some cover for those out in the open.
Actually, I was completely out of budget when I finished the base of the level and I couldn't add decoration or cover. Also, adding more cover than there is on the top would make the whole point of this level obsolete. I purposefully made the top open so the top could be a completely different battlefield than the bottom. Close range versus long range. A very unique vertical balance.
And I think it turned out very nicely. I think this map has a great layout, and openness is something that most Foundry maps have too little of. I'm tired of cramped maps with endless corners and corridors. Yes, this map has those, but it also has the open area for contrast, so I like it. There are a few spots that could be neater. If you don't already know about the interlocking technique you should check out the Forging 101 section. Interlocking would make this map look a little nicer, and it's often those little touches that differentiate the good maps from the great maps. I noticed that there are no screenshots from actual gameplay, just Forge. That's usually an indication that the map has not been tested yet. I know you put a lot of thought into weapon balance, so I'm sure it isn't too bad, but I'm curious if it has been tested yet. One concern I had about CTF games is that one base has a nearby shield door (great for camping next to if you happen to be holding the flag) while the other base doesn't. Then I noticed how the other base has a nearby bubble shield. I don't know if that's a coincidence or not, but I think that's a good way to help offset the advantage of the shield door. Overall, I think this is a very good map. With some polishing, it could be a great map. I'm looking forward to playing a game here. Nice work. P.S. I'm usually pretty militant about map thread titles being the map name only. But I'm gonna let this one get by with those parentheses because I think it's a good map with a bad name.
Well, you've got my DL with this one. I'll let you know what I think if I can ever get a sizeable game together on it.
It actually has been playtested on slayer many times before, but only once on capture the flag, I'd like to have gotten more capture the flag playtests in, but I couldn't ever find a big enough group. In all actuality, I meant to have both bases with a shield door and bubble shield, I should look into that, I never noticed it during the playtests. Thank you very much for the advice and criticism, I really appreciate it. I'll look into interlocking. I think, if it's what I think it is, that I picked it up with some of my latter forge maps, but I'll still check in to it. I appreciate you not chastising me for the title, I honestly had no clue there was a gears map with the same name. @Cosmic Rick, I can't wait for your feedback if you can get a game on it.
Your map will love you back if you fill it up with lots of forging goodness, like scenery. Fill the empty spaces and it'all look a lot better.
Yeah, this map was made shortly after foundry came out and I didn't know about interlocking back then, but now that I know, I'm thinking of starting from scratch and redoing this whole map with interlocking and an unlimited budget and all. Thank you for the suggestion, though. @shadowsnipe Yeah, about that, I ran out of budget and I think that the top works well as an open playing field.