Map Preview Mirage

[Zandril]

It was said that the Great Anvils held a lot of secrets. I do believe we stumbled upon one. After reporting the discovery to HQ, Commander Mirage received orders to set up a base by the doors. This was a mistake. Now, I'm in charge and she is nowhere to be found.

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I haven't made a 1v1 map in a while. Figured it's time for another. That's how Mirage came to life. Mirage is asymmetric and is built on the lovely Forge Island.

https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/.../details/f1137c29-793f-4207-b693-44d5e54dea72
Mirage boasts great aesthetics which I'm very proud of. Her smooth curves and tasteful textures make her a pleasant sight to the eyes. You can feel like you're in actual place instead of just some random arena. I really tried to make her believable. I do hope I succeeded.

I also thought about where I was going to build her and I think I hit the sweet spot. The windows are placed in a way where they actually show Forge Island's great scenery instead of an empty grassland. I also placed the map in an area where the sun hits it just right.

Power weapons/powerups

Sniper Rifle - 0 spare clips - 90s respawn
Speed Boost - 120s respawn

The map is very fast paced. Due to it's size, there are few moments where players spend a lot of time just trying to find each other. Mirage seems like it's gameplay would be donut-ish but this isn't the case. Fights happen everywhere and not just in the outskirts. This is because of the way the middle building is merged with the edges. It's a very quick way to get from one side of the map to the other and is also fairly protected.

Dat teleporter doe. This teleporter design was drawn from Dax's Ciela.

The teleporter is quite useful in this map. It can be used as a means to escape. However, a smart player would be able to cut off the player escaping when he comes out of the receiver.

The teleporter also takes players close to the sniper. These advantages are balanced out by the location of the receiver. It's in a very open spot.

Dem curves

 

[Dax]

Hot damn, Zanny. She's prettier than the girl I brought home last night.

For real though, your maps just keep looking better and better. I don't want to say anything about the design yet since I've only looked through the pics. I only spotted two smaaaall small aesthetic things that bug me. And by small, I mean like, really small.

1) You're not the only one to do this, in fact I've noticed that around 99% of forgers who use 3x3 blocks to make curved paths do this, so it may just be a personal pet peeve of mine, but it still bugs the hell out of me. When overlapping the 3x3s, you go from highest block to lowest block, leaving edges poking out on the same side of every block. (Referring to your first pic here) Instead of using 4 blocks with little filler objects inbetween, try using either 3 blocks with filler pieces, or 5 blocks that alternate between high and low. If this doesn't make sense, fear not, for I have pretty pictures for you!

Spoiler

2) Not much 'splainin to do here:

Spoiler

I told you they were minor things! Looking over the pics again though, I guess my only real concern is that the map might play too much like a donut. It might be a little too comfortable to just circle around those outside pathways. But yea, I haven't played it, so yea.


P.s. that teleporter looks awful.

 

[Psychoduck]

This looks pretty sexy with all the curves and such, but how does it play? Your write-up only focuses on the aesthetics of the map. What sort of experiences were you trying to create with the design? Is there any interesting multi-purpose geometry? What's the rationale behind the teleporter placement and what sort of encounters can we expect to have as a result? I suppose I could figure this all out from taking a closer look at the map, but it's silly for your write-up to focus so exclusively on aesthetics. Either way, I'll be interested to play this some time.

Also:

Spoiler

 

[Zandril]

The reason why that is, Duck, is because I didn't play it enough to have a solid view on it's gameplay. That's why I posted it as a preview and even provided a BETA link in case people wanted to try it and give some feedback.

I'll be editing the post with more gameplay details when I play the map enough times. Also, the teleporters are placed where a player will have to think about using it. The receiver is placed very near the sniper rifle spawn but is also in a very open spot.

 

[RegrettedKarma6]

This is the purdiest map I've ever seen from you. Also, pls add a ledge over in that teleporter room for incessant trolling like Ciela

 

[Zandril]

This is the purdiest map I've ever seen from you. Also, pls add a ledge over in that teleporter room for incessant trolling like Ciela

I remember. *shudders*

 

[RogerDodger]

Aesthetics and unique geometry draw people into untested maps. If it doesn't look interesting to people, they tend to think it doesn't/won't feel interesting when the play it. Luckily Zan knows how to make good maps from a gameplay point as well.

My only speculative concern at this point would be repetition. The north-east and north-west catwalk/ramp things appear functionally the same. Especially with so little play area to work with, it might be best to consider a different connection.