WIP - "Concentric"

Hey all,

Just felt like posting up something I've got in the works. Currently titled "Concentric", but that may change. Going for a somewhat forerunner-y vibe, with a little bit of the Vex design style from Destiny. It's an alien power station with a stargate / portal at one end of it.

This is a pretty early draft - at this point I've mostly just got the geometry down and I've got some sorta temporary weapons / spawn points set up.

I'm really happy with the aesthetic direction of this one so far, but I'm gonna invest some more time into altering the layout. At this point I think the main courtyard is a bit bare in terms of cover. I'd also like to set up the spiral piece hovering above the center platform to rotate indefinitely. If anyone has tips on how to scrip that, I'd appreciate it!

If you have any other suggestions for design changes / improvements lemme know what you think! I'm new to Forging so I'd love to hear feedback on this or any of my other maps.

I have a lot of images so I'll post more in response to this. Sorry if it's too much.

 

Here are some more images....

 

Cool, thanks for the feedback! I've been thinking about making the portal go somewhere, or at the very least having some sort of interesting lighting / power core effect with the portal. I'll experiment with some different ideas.

 

Hmm that could be a cool idea, I like that.

 

Here's an update on the level.

My current working title is "Infinity Gate"...cool? Stupid? Let me know hah

There are a LOT of changes layout wise, while retaining the bigger aesthetic items in the map. My work process so far has been to do a concept build of the general vibe / look for a map with the intention of tearing it down, and then going back in and designing a new layout that incorporates what key visual elements work from my concept build...Maybe it's a crazy work method but whatever.

With this map, I wanted to create a 'stargate' structure with an ancient alien vibe. Perhaps it's a forerunner portal or even some sort of other alien civilization that hasn't been discovered in the Halo universe. In terms of layout, I wanted to create an asymmetrical map with multiple vertical levels and an open air feel that encourages players to fight for control over the upper level.

In order to create map, I started with a mostly symmetrical version (which the previous images in this thread are of) and then basically cascaded it down a hillside. The level has one circular upper path, and then a few looping routes in the bottom level that encourage movement back up to the top.

I also included a teleporter that lets out in the center of the stargate structure. The stargate seemed to call for some sort of teleportation mechanic, although I'm still a bit unsure if this the right way to implement it.

Anyways, check out the pictures. I'll keep working on this one and probably have it ready to release sometime in the near future.

 

Thanks for checking it out and giving some feedback! I've actually been hard at work modifying this level and I'm almost ready to post it / call it a legit map. I've been really tinkering with the layout, so this latest version has some big changes. I've made a middle floor, and set that as the spawn point for both teams. Now there's a little confrontation that happens at the start of the match. I've slightly altered the position of the center platform, and added an extra pathway. There's only one teleporter now on the red side that goes from the basement to the top level. On the blue side, there are several staircases that take you up from middle level to top level. There also used to be a secret energy sword or scattershot in the basement, but it was basically never found in playtests. Putting it on a weapon pad made people come down after it, but it still didn't really encourage movement to the basement level in the way I wanted. In this version I've placed a teleporter where the sword was that leads up to a hallway on the cliff side of the top floor. This serves as an extra escape or assault point for the main platform.

In an effort to balance the weapons, I've placed the "rockets" (in this version, it's a fuel rod) in the center platform. As you said, it was a little bit stacked for the red team in previous versions. Moving it to the center platform has improved gameplay, but the only drawback is that there's a lot less incentive to go towards the large stargate. I’m quite happy with the location of the beam rife, which I think is the best part of the layout currently. I’d like to move players towards the stargate a bit more because when that happens there are some cool standoffs between that position and the hillside on the other side of the beam rifle spawn. I’ve been experimenting with placing a third weapon pad or a power up where the rockets used to be, but I haven’t settled on the layout I want yet. Another option I’ve thought of is moving the gravity lift closer to the stargate, so that players are dumped onto that side of the map when they use the lift.

As you can see in these pictures, I've also changed the color of the map and taken it into a Covenant / Forerunner direction. Some of the structures reminded me of the level "Assembly" from Halo 3, so I made the map purple and changed a little bit of the look to make it covenant themed. Visually I tried to make a little bit like a Halo CE covenant level.

Your point about the incineration cannon is well taken - I've been sorta alternating between the fuel rod and the incineration cannon when play testing, and I agree that it adds a bit more variety. I'll probably go with the IC in the finished layout. I really appreciate the feedback! I'lll post more updates here as they come.

 

The map has been posted!

http://www.forgehub.com/maps/infinity-gate.1702/

Feel free to download and let me know what you'd do to improve it! Although version 1.0 is live now, I'm expecting I will be making some more modifications down the line so drop me a line if you've got some feedback.

Thanks