The Evolution of Linear Infection Maps I know, this title seems to sound very highfaluting and anticipating. Likewise it comes from a guy that doesn't even count to the well-known Infection forgers. The only thing I designed with said mode were minigames. Well, nonetheless I want to share this new idea with you of which I am very excited about. Even though it might look obvious that I've come up with this idea after the Halo 5 Forge teaser, I had this idea awhile back. Seeing as the new iteration of Forge will allow almost everything and break many barriers this is actually a fortunate coincidence, as it will hopefully support my idea even more. So, let me get to the point: I want you to take a look at the following footage that shows a walkthrough of a linear Infection map I made. Please consider that Theater mode ignores the lighting process at every following round after the first one. Furthermore this is not the updated map and gametype. No big effort put into this video, just a plane walkthrough: So... You might have already seen what's different to other linear Infection maps. The basic idea is that I want to get away from the stale seeming concept of letting things spawn in after a certain amount of time. I think it is time to upgrade LI maps both in design and realism. Thus far humans would always wait for something to spawn in or open. But what if they had to complete "tasks" or conquer obstacles in order to move on; and all that because of a realistic cause? This is where my idea changes everything, because now it's up to the humans to do those tasks as quick as possible, so they don't run out of ammo and/or get infected, since a holdout point is never too comfortable. A time limit is not needed, because once again it's up to the players to determine the time. It's basically a self controlled experience which makes it way more immersive and realistic than ever before. Since the players are left to themselves, no round is like the other. Coordination is more important than before, because the humans have to stay safe while doing those tasks. With Scripting you can do so much more nowadays, we don't have to stay on a restrictive concept. We can change the spawnzone of the zombies without using teleporters that spawn in according to where the humans are at the moment. We can make realistic places that feel immersive and give us an unique experience. The challenge will be to craft those tasks, but in such a way so they still count as a holdout point. The humans shouldn't be able to rush through just because they already know what to do. With Halo 5 not far away from now, I wanted to show you guys this new idea, so you keep it in mind when forging a Halo 5 Linear Infection map. Who knows, maybe by then this concept will be stale again, because somebody finds another idea to increase the quality of experience. "Let the humans do something in a realistic and senseful manner, not the system." That could be one core phrase of this idea. Let me thank you for reading this, it got longer than expected. Share you opinions and thoughts down below. I'm excited what you guys think. Ideas could be: Activate a target designator hence the airforce can destroy a strong gate Make a leg-up with like four people, so the one guy that gets up can stick a corded ladder for the others A canyon is right in front of the humans. They have to build up a mechanical bridge in order to get to the other side etc. etc. The BETA versions of the "Autochthon" map and gametype are on my fileshare. Don't worry, the stats of both humans and zombies have changed aswell as the initial weapon loadouts and some minor things on the map. I appreciate every single feedback as this is my first linear Infection map.
The combination between linear Infection and Puzzle maps is very interesting and could very well work (for in a way, it's practically running similar techniques that are used in campaigns) it's just going to take a LOT of tweaking to balance and make work flawlessly. I love the innovation mindset though.
Thanks man, I appreciate it. You're right, it is going to be hard to include and balance puzzle parts, but that's actually not what I am going for. The primary thing should be that the humans have to do something in order to move on, not wait until something happens; and if it's just pressing a button in front of a door.
I've messed around with this in a couple of my LI maps in Reach, the problem back then was budget constraints. Even just a simple switch to make a closing safe room door at the end costed a decent number of resources and you don't wanna sacrifice map scale for gimmicks if possible. That, and they were generally just a ***** to set up because everything needs to be destroyed and respawned at perfect times and such. I don't think this'll be a problem anymore in H5, I've already got lots of ideas for "challenges" on some LI maps I have planned
I actually had the same exact thought about two weeks ago and have been working on a sketch in forge for an ocean boardwalk themed infection map with objectives that force the players to move around on the map in more of a free roam style. It can be done in Halo MCC even now to spawn the zombies in areas where the players are at currently. It requires building the map player zones so that when they enter a certain area / zone it activates a trigger to despawn a block that is covering the zombie spawn. Zombies would have initial spawns that are open, but as soon as they die it would allow them to respawn in the active area. If they continued to respawn at the default spawn for some reason, a timer could be set on the default spawn area to spawn a block over that initial spawn to block it. It does require quite a bit of extra budget for pieces to be done, but if they don't add other options in Halo 5, this would work there as well. I have a sketch of the boardwalk, but it's a work in progress and I want to build the actual boardwalk portion with a curve to it to help reduce lines of sight. The initial spawn for the humans would be on the beach and the zombie would spawn at the ferris wheel looking straight towards the humans. There would be multiple options for the humans on start, they could run up the first boardwalk ramp, under the boardwalk close to them to a tunnel ramp that led into one of the store fronts, run under the pier to the other tunnel ramp access to a different store or all the way across the beach to the farthest ramp. With the zombie spawning overlooking them, this would allow for the zombie to choose who to chase first as it's always difficult for the alpha zombie to get kills otherwise. The other stores would be initially closed and would require going to the ferris wheel to unlock some of the stores, another switch at the far end of the beach from initial spawn would open other doors including the pier gift shop / atrium. Certain rooms would only be open for a short time until the switch resets and if players were stuck in the stores they could open the door from the inside. The Atrium would have another switch that would open up a weapon supply / specialty weapon at the back side of the stores that would only be accessible for a short time (If players got locked in the zombies would spawn in that room with the players, so they wouldn't want to get stuck in there). Certain items would be available in each shop such as an overshield, grenades and portable shields (to block an entrance off from a zombie for a short time). Zombies could also get perks such as overshield or speed boost once every five minutes or so as difficulty rounds or even have a triggered explosion of barrels on the map or color change on the walls to indicate a difficulty to kill zombies has increased. This could be down by spawning in a player trait zone for zombies to increase their shields perhaps? I think it would be a really neat and fun thing to focus on some super solid infection maps with objective based adventures to increase the complexity and replayability of the maps. This may also lead to a solid infection matchmaking gametype. I feel it may be good to include the waypoint markers in the game to show humans a few clues maybe or let them struggle and learn it on their own? I haven't decided on that yet.