Hello Halo Customs! For the past 7 months now, The Psycho Duck and I have been working on a project that has been pretty massive in scope. Up until now only a few select people have played or heard about it, but that is about to change! Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you Conversion, a new game mode in Halo 4 designed by the community, for the community!
Conversion is an asymmetrical, progressive-objective based game mode. It has many similarities to modes such as Invasion and Territories in Halo: Reach alongside a balanced weapon setup and the smooth gameplay of Halo 4. It is a blend of some of the best features from the Halo series and it will fill the void many feel in the series after the removal of asymmetric game modes with Halo 4.
While many people have tried to make similar modes to try to recapture Invasion in Halo 4, The Psycho duck and I decided we wanted to create a standardized mode and map type so that many people could become involved not just in playing Conversion, but in making their own maps for it. Because the mode is standardized and the maps designed around it, anyone who has played the game mode could potentially make their own Conversion map. There are 2 completed Conversion maps fully tested and ready to be played right now, both created by Duck and myself, but there are also many more in the works or in the planning stages by other members of the Halo community. The game type is not modded, so for those of you who prefer to shy away from modding this mode is completely legitimate.
Much of how the mode works is described in the video above, but I will run you briefly through how the game is played. Conversion is played with 2 teams of 6 people each over 2 rounds, allowing each team to play an offense round and a defense round. The Blue team always runs offense first and the Red team always starts out on defense. In each round there are 3 objectives, the first of which starts out on the map and the others unlock as objectives are captured. Offense team must plant an Extraction node and defend it for 45 seconds in order to score a point and move on to the next objective. Defense team may attempt to convert the node and intercept the point. Defense team can score on the offense round, but they cannot activate the objective until offense team first plants it. After either team scores the first objective a number of things will happen. Both teams will start respawning further along in the map, and weapons and vehicles will start to unlock for each team. After the second objective is captured or intercepted, all weapons and vehicles unlock, making the fight for the final objective all out war. After one team scores 3 objectives in a round or the timer runs out, the teams switch sides and the next round begins back at the first objective.
Players are offered 3 load outs to spawn with that allow them to play different roles in the fight: A quick and CQC focussed medic class, a standard Battle Rifle Class, or a more ranged DMR class. A good team will want to have all 3 classes in play if they can, though sometimes one class may be more appropriate than another. Teamwork is essential in Conversion, as is communicating and putting together a strategy, as there are many factors into who comes out on top. There will be 2 maps released with the game mode at launch that were designed from the ground up for Conversion. These maps have been tested for months on end and are highly polished. These are shown below and will be posted on HC in the following days.
The first of those maps is Firebase, a medium sized Conversion map set on Ravine. Firebase uses Ravine's terrain in new and interesting ways in order to feel like a completely different place, yet still feel rooted in the Halo universe. Firebase features a Rocket Warthog for the attackers and plenty of power weapons for both teams. Gameplay is fast paced but strategic, and positions of power on the map are often as important to hold as the objective itself.
The second map is Colony, a large scale Conversion map set on Impact. This map is much larger than Firebase and more vehicle heavy, with a Rocket Hog, Ghost, and Mantis roaming the map and more power weapons at the player's disposal. Colony flows very differently from Firebase but still follows the same formula, and teamwork and communication are still the keys to victory.
While no game mode will please every part of the community, we know there has been a serious want for asymmetrical modes and strategic gameplay in Halo 4. Conversion is our answer to that want, and those who have played it tell us that it fills the gap beautifully. In order to get members of HC into lobbies playing this new mode, Halo Customs will be adding the option to list your custom game lobby as playing Conversion. Duck and I will be hosting lobbies over the next week to help get players into Conversion games as well, but feel free to start your own Conversion lobby all the same! I hope you all enjoy this exciting new addition to the Halo 4 sandbox and help make many more maps for this mode in the future! There are already a lot of maps just getting started all around the community, and maybe a few even further along. 
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
:remkings: 
