(WIP) Nowhere

As I'm getting this map out in the wild, tested and whatnot - I wanted to create a WIP thread for feedback from anyone who has been able to play it, so that hopefully I can get it polished and made into the "release" version that I'll post in the maps section in a week or so (ideally).



Nowhere is an asymmetrical map inspired by Lockout - designed to handle from 6 to 16 players, with the sweet spot between 8 and 12. The map is characterized by four buildings connected with seven catwalks - and a fairly extensive set of tactical jumps, shortcuts, and hiding places that give it that classic Lockout feel.

Style-wise, the map is set on an abandoned Insurrectionist base on a misty mountaintop in a backwoods Outer Colony planet. Basically, when the Covenant showed up on this particular planet, the rebels got the hell out of dodge and left the base intact. The communication tower, crane, and helipad all remain functional - as though they were left in a moment's notice.

The design itself is intended to "reverse" the classical Lockout map's flow - with the upper level funneling players to a central area, and the lower levels moving players in a cyclical fashion. The connectivity pattern was actually inspired by the Seven Bridges of Königsberg, which is notable in that it contains no Hamiltonian cycles. In practice, this means that players who stick to the main paths are subtly directed toward one another by design - making the map play smaller than it actually is.

Two power positions on the map are the focal points of the upper level - DMR tower and BR tower. As in Lockout, these positions are very powerful, but also very attackable. The gameplay I'm looking to foster involves teams trading possession of each tower relatively frequently, with cooperating teams being able to "set up" somewhat but always dealing with the risk of being flanked or otherwise dislodged. To that end, both towers have "sneaky" jump-up accesses behind each; these allow the "down" team to come from unexpected angles and break the other team's setup if used properly.

The upper level has three covered catwalks that provide a suitable means of attacking any of the positions on the map. The central Helipad area spawns an Overshield. A second BR spawns in the top level of Hotel, which also has a convenient drop-down to the Shotgun spawn on the lower level.

The lower level of the map emphasizes room-based combat, and is the location of the SAW and Sniper Rifle spawns. An SMG and two Frags spawn in Turbine room, a Shotgun and two Frags spawn in Hotel, a Needler spawns in Security, two Plasmas spawn in Cargo, and two Plasmas spawn in Cafe.

Red Team starts on the lower Hotel platform, and Blue Team starts in the lower Turbine area. At game's outset, both teams collide quickly in Cargo to fight over the SAW - which is evenly spaced between the two teams. The winners of that battle usually press their advantage upward and try to grab Overshield, or make the risky bottom mid jump to Sniper to try to get their hands on that as well.

I made a walkthrough video for anyone who hasn't played the map, showcasing the layout, weapon spawns, and some awesome tactical jumps that really make this map enjoyable when you get a super sweaty and tactical game going on it.



That's about it - I'm at roughly version 0.8 currently. Going to do a couple more iterations of polishing and tweaking, and then I'll post this bad boy in the Maps section as my first Halo 5 submission. If you have any feedback - please post it in this thread!

Cheers,

-Debo

 

Thanks so much man! I went through late yesterday and added some really subtle detailing - changed the colors of the crates to match the cargo boxes, added light fixtures above the lower catwalk doors (which also serve to add a TON more trick jumps), added struts to the blocks where they connect to the rocks below, and hopefully made it a little less bare bones.

I still have quite a few (300 or so) objects left - so what else would you recommend I do to spruce things up aesthetically? Any particular parts you remember that looked empty or uninteresting? Any objects you would recommend I use?

Right now Overshield spawns smack in the middle of it, plus there's also a Stronghold that spawns there when that gametype is played (and the annoying terminal thingy actually provides a bit of cover as well). My goal is that you should only be exposed for 2 seconds when traversing between DMR and BR tower, 2 seconds from Hotel to DMR tower, and 4 seconds from anywhere else to Hotel. The idea is to make Hotel easy to come from on the top, but not easy to go to, so that it can serve as a good spawning area for a team without control of a tower (similar to Library in Lockout).