Featured Lobby Monday Map Testing

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Psychoduck

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Dec 23, 2012
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This thread will be a place to exchange feedback for maps tested in my testing lobbies.

The following maps were played on 12/29/15.

Luxor Station by SecretSchnitzel - Slayer, CTF - tight, inversely symmetrical space station map with central atrium

Simulation by Berserk on XBL & Lil Black BUBBA - Breakout - mirror symmetrical map inspired by The Pit

Skyport by Psychoduck - Strongholds, CTF - asymmetrical urban map

Squidship by Flying Shoe - CTF - inversely symmetrical Covenant map with banshees

Mystic by Sgt x Slaphead - Strongholds - asymmetrical interior Forerunner map

Betrayal by SecretSchnitzel - Slayer - asymmetrical vertical snowy Forerunner map

Desert Tower by Dr Sammy D - Slayer - inversely symmetrical map with two large towers

Glory by MartianMallCop - Slayer - asymmetrical map with 'hogs

Stigma by Squally DaBeanz - Slayer - asymmetrical bridgeworks/platform map

Longbridge by alex quit - CTF - inversely symmetrical bridge map

Precursor by Squally DaBeanz - Slayer - mirror symmetrical Forerunner map with a floating platform

I think that's all of them. I encourage everyone who participated in the lobby to leave feedback. I'll leave mine tomorrow.
 
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Luxor Station
A cool map with some excellent jumps. A lot of fun with sectioned off battles. I find H5 to be a bit to reliant on team kills some times, this gave me a bit more breathing room to have a battle 1-2 v 1-2.
Maybe a bit too much death from above without warning. Sometimes I just missed that there was a hole in the wall above my head that somebody could pop through.

Simulation
I haven't played enough breakout to criticize this map that much, but I enjoyed myself playing it. Imagine if the pit had the middle cut off the top. Not sure if I like the ability to go over the top of the middle. I'll have to think about that some more.

Skyport

A well thought out map. Weapons were in logical places that were easy to find.
Pathways should be telegraphed a bit more. The large stairway behind the wall (near one of the strongholds) should have some sort of decal on the wall indicating there's a stairwell behind it or something. I initially thought that it was part of the decor due to it's height, not knowing I could be flanked from on top.

Squidship
Really intense game of CTF. Went down 2-0 and managed to pull it out anyway. Not sure I like running around in those curved half pipes, but I think some pressure plate activated bridges could help with that... :)

Mystic
Strongholds was fun on here, though I have to say, the only weapon I found was a carbine that entire game, and somebody had a light rifle somewhere. Felt a little out classed. Also I jumped into a hole and committed suicide, thinking I was going to enter a stronghold. Also also, maybe I'm a bit salty, but could you remove the hard corners from the ramp hallways. I was backing away and shooting at people and got caught on a corner as I was about to leave the hallway to safety.

Betrayal
This map probably made me the most angry. Felt really campy, and never safe to move out of the buildings not knowing where I'm getting shot from. Also portals are really disorienting but also too easy an escape route. This review too might also be salt.

Desert Tower
Noticed not many people found the DMR, so I moved it to a more obvious place on the 3rd floor. Also changed around some lighting to show the weapons more. Let me know if there need to be railings on top of the map. It is the place I wanted to be most unsafe though, so I don't really want too much cover up there. Maybe bar railings.

Glory
I think this map could use a bit more... Isolation. heh. This map actually did remind me of Isolation, but I think the under ground parts should play a more prominent roll on this map, maybe more connected with paths that the warthogs can take.

I left after Glory to go watch the theater mode of my map being played, only to realize that it couldn't be done. It has to be immediately after you play. GAH!
 

Psychoduck

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Luxor Station: This is a really solid map which I particularly enjoy for CTF. The tight corridors really allow the plasma caster and splinter grenades to excel. Camo is difficult to watch, but it is extremely important to do so. The segmentation and composition of positions and lines of sight really keep players on the move, so using some of the map's weapons to deter opponents from using specific routes at a given time is very interesting. In flag, the sneaky hallways empower carriers to groundpound down the stairs when attacked during standoffs. The attractiveness of the sneakies does make me question why a carrier would ever want to hide out anywhere else during a standoff, though. Also in flag, I find that this map suffers from the same issue many circular maps do: it's hard to draw the line between one team's spawning territory should end and the other's should begin. One team's vat, for example, is directly across from the other team's flag room, making spawning there somewhat questionable. The tightness of the map's geometry combined with its segmentation empowers players who are overly reliant on spartan charge and ARs as well, though I think that is at least as much a fault of the game as it is the map. I am also a bit concerned about the lighting. There is a bit too much contrast from light areas to darker ones for my taste. I think softer transitions which kept as much of the map lit as possible would be preferable. The closets and some areas in mid could arguably use a bit more light. Toning down the falloff ratio on light sources is a good way to make lit areas blend more naturally with unlit ones and create those softer transitions I mentioned. Overall, the geometry and layout here are great for CTF and Slayer.

Simulation: This adaptation of The Pit works very nicely for Breakout. The initial rush for hydra is very exciting and very intuitive to anyone who's spent much time on the map's inspiration. Pre-nading long hall is super rewarding. The exposed top mid position is, I think, a good addition to the map in order to house the neutral flag. The map works surprisingly well for Breakout, and that is mostly to do with the scaling and weapon set. One game, we encountered an issue where the energy barriers which spawn mid-round in the window where players launch into the map spawned early, killing every player on each team. These barriers may not be necessary in the first place, so removing them altogether may be an option. Something certainly needs to be done about this as it is game-breaking.

Skyport: Strongholds played as I expected. It was interesting to try CTF on here. I'm curious to see if Blue Team holds a consistent advantage in this mode given the less exposed nature of their flag area and the ease with which red flag can be taken into Cargo. Still, for something which was really an afterthought, flag seemed to play fairly well on here. I've already made some subtle spawning adjustments since the test and I intend to begin another art pass soon now that I am fairly confident in most of the map's geometry.

Squidship: We already spent a lot of time last night making adjustments to the bases and other geometry as well as the weapon set and lighting. I look forward to seeing how play on this map develops as more players become used to the experimental concepts the map explores. Players must remember that the hydras are primarily anti infantry weapons and that the plasma pistols are arguably the best tool to use against banshees. The abundance of soft vehicle counters gives teams a lot of freedom in how they counter opposing banshees, but also take some getting used to. The banshees are extremely powerful in the right hands and can play an interesting role in ending flag standoffs.

That's all for now. I'll finish up later.
 

MythicFritz

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Jun 9, 2013
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It was good to play with you guys last night and I apologize for any saltiness. When my game chat wasn't working I first thought you were giving me the cold shoulder for some reason but I should've known that 343 was up to no good again. :|

I also forgot the formula that you guys follow when testing. Do you still not let people discuss the map while in game? :) While I prefer in game or lobby discussion for various reasons I understand why you guys don't.

As for feedback I don't recall having feedback for every map I played (my bad memory) but did have some thoughts on Squidship and I think it was Mystic.

Mystic
-First time on the map
-That was a really fun game. Such a close one too! One point to win. Enjoyed the beam rifle on it. Each room had different player interactions, very nice.
-Having each room's geometry different helped with learning the layout but visually they all still felt the same, maybe you can push their differences a little further to help new players? Or maybe the transitions room to room visually a little more distinct. Just to aid in learning the map. It felt a little Chiron-ish at first.
-Really enjoyed strongholds, spacing and pathing between capture points feel good for just playing one game. Is there a reason the zones are so low though? There was one instance in the room with the cantilevered platform with the zone on top of it that I almost had it captured and tried to time it so after my shields popped I was jumping to safety but I didn't cap it because I left the zone when I jumped. So bummed.

Squidship
-First time on the map
-I love the concept of this map! I really enjoy seeing unique features incorporated into maps and I think you've got something cool here that doesn't feel covered in cheese.
-Visually the geometry is great and again something unique. Well done.
-I got to fly the banshee a bit and had a blast. It's a little cramped for flipping. Didn't try crossing the map but just got a few kills defending. My streak was only ended when I hit a hard kill barrier. I wasn't high or low and I didn't feel I was far away from the map enough to warrant a hard kill so I'd check those and maybe add invisible barriers to protect the banshee pilots.
-Banshee/infantry interaction was pretty good. Banshee will take some skill to get streaks but not too hard to still have fun. I only came across/saw a plasma pistol once FYI. Good or bad you decide, just providing info since videos are hard to get right now.
-I mostly played defense trying to learn the map but crossing the map on foot was interesting. Dropping down into the curved section was difficult to get out of at first. After doing it a bunch I bet I would get better at it, but learning the map learning the jump and being shot at while trying to figure it out was darn frustrating. Something to keep an eye on.
-I know you know this but just to put my next comments in context, think about your audience. I don't know who you're making this for but as a new player to the map I was having a very hard time at first. If this is for your squad buddies I don't imagine my suggestions will be needed, they're smarter than your average bear. But if you want this to fit into a matchmaking environment or be more accessible I had some thoughts. Most of my issue was traversing the map. While on foot on my side of the map the terrain felt clunky and not intuitive. Like I had to jump constantly to get anywhere. I know you've got some color variation already but I think the map would benefit from a little more. Maybe some dark purple/blues? If you don't think geometry is difficult having played more than me, differentiating the horizontal surfaces from the vertical more with color might help new comers learn it faster.

Also played slayer on a dust themed map that I didn't catch the name of but nothing jumped out as a major issue with just one play through. New to the map, I picked up on the layout fairly quickly.
 

Skyward Shoe

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Luxor Station
I've been enjoying our CFT games on this map. There are some really excellent stabilize-jumps required in the flag rooms and the vats, and I love the way each level connects to the middle atrium differently. The top-middle platforms especially are enjoyable to use both for controlling center/vat and for juking players out. I got an exceptionally enjoyable flag run stabilize-jumping from bottom vat up to this window, thrusting to opposite flag room, then stabilize-jumping up to cap. I'm a little dubious about camo still because of how strong the invisibility is, but it does open up an interesting way to break standoffs.

Simulation
I don't usually enjoy breakout, but this has been my best experience with the game mode consistently. You have a lot of options as to how to approach the other team. I know Duck usually pre-nades and then caps hydra, then using it across center, while I tend to push shotgun with SMG out then snipe up the mid with my pistol. I think the flag is currently fairly well balanced. It is quite difficult to cap, but this is due to the fact that a good team can set up to prevent head-on rushes.

Skyport
I thoroughly enjoyed our flag game on Skyport, though I'm not sure whether my team's side had an advantage or not as of yet. I actually preferred movement through the map being a little more our side-their side, as lines of sight are a little more broken up between the flags than they are between the normal spawns. Strongholds still plays very strong, and as I learn the lines of sight better I've been able to take greater advantage of little nooks and sniping spots. One thing I'm wondering is if there is any way to get up to the little platforms above cargo/ the forklift from middle bridge side? I find myself getting a little bottlenecked pushing cargo objective from that side and would like to be able to use those upper platforms more.

Mystic
Mystic played pretty much like Cryptic used to. While I wouldn't say 4 v 4 played poorly on the map, I did find it occasionally a little cramped, and I would like to try 3 v 3 some time to compare. The yellow corner stronghold had a confusing element to it, as the stronghold itself and the objective were below the staircase. I'm not sure if it would be possible to do so, but it would be nice to have the waypoint appear higher up so as not to confuse people.

Betrayal
Sorry, wasn't there for this one. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Desert Tower
Desert Tower was definitely an early-career map. Being able to shoot across the map on multiple levels, à la Boarding Action, was interesting, as was some of the ramped geometry towards the top of the map, but much of the rest of the playing field was fairly stale and unenjoyable. The backs of the bases were pretty much for your team only, as they were incredibly safe and segmented from the rest of the play space. The bridges were death traps to walk out on, as both bases could shoot down on them from multiple levels. Generally the levels couldn't easily interact with one another on each side as well, as they were all in line. I think a terraced-style layout would work better than having two buildings shooting across a gap at one another, think Sword Base from Halo Reach potentially.

Glory
Glory just doesn't feel like a Halo 5 map to me. Blockus was great in H2A, but the H5 version doesn't feel designed for this game. Rather, it feels like a reconstruction of the old geometry that looks prettier at times but that doesn't really account for just how differently this game plays. The shade turret felt utterly useless on the map, as it was easily picked off with magnum, BR, or carbine fire from well outside of its effective range and couldn't hurt the warthog enough in the short time it could hit it as it rolled by. Personally, I'd advise you to design a new map for CTF or strongholds that takes inspiration from Blockus but which is not bound by its old geometry.

Squigma
Felt like Stigma. I liked the aesthetic simplifications from last time and it played fairly well. My main issue with the map right now is how flat the entire second floor is on sniper side.Yes there are cool jumps around, but there is a huge area of floor space that stretches on for quite a while that is fairly boring to fight on. I would prefer to see more actual verticality in this space instead of two floors that are disconnected from one another with some jumps that let you switch between them.

Longbridge
Longbridge had some cool Narrows inspired geometry but it had some Pitfalls as well. The areas 9n the bases that led to the man cannons were so disconnected from the rest of the map that few fights ever took place over there. Most of the action on the map took place around the flags, on top bridge, or at bottom mid. I would make it a goal to bring more of the map in and connect it with these higher traffic areas, which will help alleviate how congested and dangerous they were while allowing the entire map to be played on. This will also help with the flag routes, which right now have no choice but to go right through the middle. Having longer routes that do not require going through mid is important, and right now your longest routes still cross the dead center of the map. Finally, I would move the flags up a bit to allow spawning behind them. Right now players are dying and respawning near their flags, making it difficult for a team to make a pull even if they are successfully slaying the opposite team.

Precursor
This map was over-segmented in several areas. The central rooms probably could be combined into a single central atrium, which would allow for more vertical movement, slow movement across mid in flag, and get rid of a few hiding places. The windows at the top on either side could also be opened up to be shot/ jumped out of, increasing access to those rooms and giving players more reason to go up there. I was a little unsure about the central floating platform. It's a risky spot to be in, and the light rifle isn't exactly a strong reason to want to move up there. The line of sight is also no better than sniping from near the bases, which are a lot safer. The Binary Rifles were by far the most desirable weapons on the map, yet they were spawning in the bases in relative safety and with no cross-map line of sight. I would try to make these a but riskier to pick up, and I would force the initial rush to have a sniper dual off the bat.


Squidship
I made some changes to my map last night after the lobby:

• Plasma Caster is now a Railgun.
• Plasma Pistol is now behind each teams flag, Plasma Grenades moved near Banshee, BR moved to old plasma grenade location.
• Light Rifles moved closer to bases, second BR set moved to old LR position.
• Flag spawns have been reworked with far greater aerial cover, a cool light bridge that provides cover down below, a more protected initial spawn location, and a more covered lower tunnel.
• Mid has a more open platform for easier movement.
• Many new lights have been added to the map to add color and to differentiate surfaces.
• Snow has been added to the trenches to better show where the floor slopes into walls.
• Top soft kill zone has been lowered slightly to push banshees lower and to prevent accidental contact with hard-kills.
• Lots of pretty rocks and snow and glitter everywhere.
• There is a nerdy ledge on both sides now, but you'll have to find it and figure out how it works. ;)

A few things to keep in mind for next time:

• The banshees are semi-neutral. The one to your left and across the trench off of spawn is closer to your team. Make sure at least one person goes for this and also have someone try to cut off the other teams banshee.
• The Hydra is NOT an anti-vehicle weapon. It is mainly meant for use against players on foot. The Railgun and Plasma Pistols are the strongest banshee counters. The Plasma and Splinter Grenades are also quite powerful against them, especially in the tunnels, and the SMG and Light Rifle can do substantial damage over time, especially when used to break shields while someone lines up a Railgun shot.
• The map is designed to try to balance Banshees on a small squad map. If you tell me that I should take the Banshees off you're probably going to get ignored and grumbled at.
 
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Psychoduck

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Mystic: This is a solid adaptation of Cryptic for this game. I particularly like what's been done with the red platform as it is not longer a big chunky obstacle sitting in the center of the room, but still maintains the position atop it. The plasma caster is a good fit for the map, but there is some concern regarding the amount of aim assist and bullet magnetism on the light rifle. With the limited lines of sight, a binary rifle might actually be a good fit for the map: players are rarely exposed to the longer lanes long enough to be hit with a full burst from the weapon. The strongholds placement itself is solid. However, the upside-down strongholds buried in the map geometry present significant problems for two reasons. First, the nav points are in entirely the wrong place. Yellow corner is particularly problematic, as it actually leads players straight into a deathpit. The area under the walkway is poorly lit, and players are bound to follow the nav point there only to realize that there is no playable space there and only a death pit. Secondly, the stronghold callouts are derived from the named location volumes they are placed in. As a result, red stage which is clearly placed on the second level of red room is named "Red One". I understand the problems associated with having the stronghold objects placed within the playable space as well, but this solution sacrifices too much.
 

Sgt x Slaphead

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Feb 18, 2013
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Thanks for the feedback on Mystic guys. I am definitely going to address the issues with the Strongholds. I am sure you understand why I was reluctant to place those clunky stronghold capture points around the map, particularly on the stage but I can see why there is an issue with that. My testing had been mostly with people who already knew the maps layout so I was a little biased when considering the intuitive aspect of the map. I am unsure which version of the map was played but lack of weapons was mentioned. The weapon set is something I keep changing and will look into making their placement more obvious. I had actually changed from a Binary Rifle to a Beam thinking it would be more balanced but I can see how it gets overpowered and the ammo count is a bit too much for my liking so I will change that back to a Binary for sure. I am not happy with the lighting in the pit room either and I plan to brighten it up as well as add a bit more visual differentiation throughout the map.
 
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Psychoduck

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Betrayal: I don't normally comment on this, but I have to say that this map is thematically excellent. The use of asteroid and glacier terrain, the profiles of the Forerunner structures, the icicles, and all of the other details really make the map beautiful. It feels exactly like Two Betrayals from CE. This design has always been solid, and this iteration is no different. The verticality, intersecting lines of sight, and teleporters work together to create a lot of depth and instill the map with a learning curve which is very rewarding to master. I know there are different approaches to this, but I have to recommend taking the powerups off of weapon pads. I understand the value of using a unified respawn system across all big token pickups on a map. However, I also find the depth of teams being forced to monitor powerups and time them to be an interesting and valuable layer of its own. Furthermore, powerups on weapon pads are not readable: the powerup becomes visible on the map thirty seconds before spawning, leading to significant confusion. Having the HUD oversaturated with numerous weapon pad indicators at any given time is also far from ideal. The weapon set and placement itself seems to be a great fit for the map, though. I would love to see how this map plays at a high level.

Desert Tower: I have a few concerns about this one. The two-tower setup cements the map into a distinct "my side, your side" style of play. This type of map generally benefits greatly from static spawning. Dynamic spawning on this type of layout leads to one team successfully pushing into enemy territory only to have their advance utterly invalidated by a spawn flip which allows their opponents to start spawning behind them at what used to be their own base. However, due to this map's center being composed only of narrow, exposed bridges, static spawning would lead to some very stale matches where teams would each sit atop their own tower and try to snipe across, or get mowed down on the bridges while making a push in flag. I do like what you've done with the levels within each tower, but the movement options behind the towers themselves need work. It's worth noting that most of these "my side, your side" maps (Sanctuary, Midship, Narrows) I refer to have fairly defined central structures.

Glory: Playing a mode with dynamic spawning which encourages circular flow on an elongated map designed to create attack and defend flow with static spawns creates a mess. The map's geometry and layout themselves are sold, but there are no modes currently in Halo 5 which it supports well.
 
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alex quit

Got Gud
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Had a great time testing maps with everyone the other night! I was so excited to finally test community maps. Here’s my feedback for the maps I was present for.


SQUIDSHIP
To re-iterate what everyone has mentioned, this is a unique and experimental map. It explores the a new role for a banshee, which I really appreciate because I feel the banshee is either underutilized or misplaced. I think the banshees fit this map well, as you certainly designed the map around that concept.
My main concern for the map was orientation, because its symmetrical and circular I was never really sure where I was in relation to anything, the only thing I could gain a sense of direction from were the flag waypoints. - With that being said, it looks like you have already added lights and color variation that will solve that problem.

SIMULATION
I did not expect to see a breakout map and was surprised at how much fun it was. The Pit is one of my all-time favorite maps and you've done it great justice in it's translation for breakout.
I really felt like I had options out of the gate, I felt like I could approach the situation with confidence. Perhaps this due to the fact that we're already very familiar with The Pit. In any case I bring it up because I have NOT had this experience with the current breakout maps.
If I'm remembering correctly - the only thing that felt a bit awkward to me was the open top middle. I like it being open, but I think that the pillars around the top felt a bit clunky.

MYSTIC
Really like the feel of this map, it's color palette felt very H2 to me, hah. This map was very easy to navigate and I felt comfortable quickly.
I just have a few nit-picky things to mention. I would consider raising the height of the stronghold zones, the top of the zone would obscure my line of sight when shooting out of the zone. There were also times when jumping would stop your zone capture, which became worse when you were contesting a zone. Also if you could find some way to make the teleporters more recognizable. I didn't know that they were teleporters until I just happened to run into the wall by accident hah.
p.s. - I would love to get my hands on a shotgun or scattershot on that map.

PRECURSOR
There was one point where I got stuck underneath the floating platform hah. Not sure how I managed that but the gravity lift was what got me caught up, so maybe using a different object with a similar aesthetic would fix that up. Honestly the floating platform feels out of place to me compared to the rest of the map. I also agree that it was a bit too segmented, there were a few too many lulls in combat it felt. However I wonder if the same would be true for CTF or Stongholds.
p.s. - I really enjoyed the little sneaky passages you could slide under.

SKYPORT
This map reminded my of Hang-Em-High. I’d like to play slayer on the map, I didn’t move around much in our CTF match. However I think that CTF worked very well on this map. There was a good few minutes where we reached a tense standoff when both teams fought to return their flag, which was a great experience I seldom have in CTF. This was also a map that I could navigate quickly.
The only thing I remember thinking was that slope on either side of the middle bridge structure felt a little too steep.

GLORY
Based on earlier feedback it looks this map was much more successful in the H2A sandbox. This was my first time I’ve seen this map.
The structure in the center/back of the map seems like the most solid part of the map. I was also a fan of the sharp rock ledges, that sort rough and sharp shape language is interesting in contrast with the structure, I’d like to see you build off of that structure more and see how you can integrate those rocks with more purpose. The other half of the map worked, but it felt like it wasn’t as well developed.
I enjoyed playing on the map, but I feel like it has more potential.

DESERT TOWER
My favorite part of this map was the lowest level. It’s aesthetics and paths were interesting. The few bouts I had on that level were the most enjoyable
I second the earlier feedback from Psycho Duck and Flying Shoe. I would like to add that I found the middle and top level of each tower a bit cluttered or cramped in places. I felt my movement was constricted. Perhaps larger more simplified spaces would benefit the map.
I think the concept is there but the structures and pathways need to be refined.
__

LONGBRIDGE
This was a remake of a map that I had made in H2A. It never got tested but I liked the design and decided to give it another go. After testing it I realized a number of things that didn’t work as I had hoped. So this map is seeing some major changes.
As Shoe mentioned, the man cannons were disconnect from the rest of the map and there was no incentive to take them. I’m working on integrating the rest of the map. Here are some of the things I'm working on
  • A new pathway to side bridges
  • Moved flag postion to porch
  • Man-cannons now take you to the opposite side of the map.
  • Side bridges redesigned and enclosed
  • Tunnels to catwalk from the trenches have been removed (This path I felt was far too safe and quick for the flag carrier)
  • Railings added to catwalk.
  • Top mid redesigned to promote use of side bridges.
__

whew… Hopefully that was helpful to everyone hah.
Thanks for the feedback on Longbridge and I hope I’ll be seeing you guys soon for more map testing!


Have a good one.
 
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Thank you guys for all the amazing feedback on Simulation, its really awesome to see people enjoying my map that much. As for some of your concerns, I made the shield barrier come in later, so it shouldn't get in the way again, if it does I will just delete it. The middle columns are a little clunky, but theres not really any better options, it would either look really out of place with normal blocks, or it would look really bad, so i had to choose a kind of middle ground.
Once again, thanks for your guys' feedback and testing, Bubba and I really appreciate it.
 
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alex quit

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Thanks for the feedback on Mystic guys. I am definitely going to address the issues with the Strongholds. I am sure you understand why I was reluctant to place those clunky stronghold capture points around the map, particularly on the stage but I can see why there is an issue with that...

Hey Sgt I just discovered that you can change the GAME MODE LABEL of an object to strongholds:base - "The boundary for this object works as a base location in Strongholds Mode.

Perhaps that will solve your stronghold problems. :]
 

Psychoduck

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The following maps were played on 1/3/16.

Simulation by Berserk on XBL & Lil Black BUBBA - Breakout - mirror symmetrical map inspired by The Pit

Epicenter by a Chunk - Breakout - mirror symmetrical map with circular windows and lots of overlap

Clinic by Batsy Dubs - Breakout - large, green map with four towers and teleporter spawns

Luxor Station by SecretSchnitzel - Slayer - tight, inversely symmetrical space station map with central atrium

Skyport by Psychoduck - Strongholds - asymmetrical urban map

Squidship by Flying Shoe - CTF - inversely symmetrical Covenant map with banshees

Longbridge by alex quit - CTF - inversely symmetrical bridge map

Starlight by The Fated Fire - Slayer - asymmetrical blue map with spaceships and other sorcery

Twice Forsaken by SecretSchnitzel - Slayer - asymmetrical vertical snowy Forerunner map

Precursor by Squally DaBeanz - Slayer - mirror symmetrical Forerunner map with a floating platform

Metridium by Anthropos GFT - Slayer - mirror symmetrical map with detailed geometry
 

Skyward Shoe

Platinum in Destiny
Dec 24, 2012
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Simulation
Nothing new to report, it is still playing well.

Epicenter
The lack of intros on a Breakout map was somewhat disorienting. Usually we use the jump time to talk quickly about strategy, who is heading where and such, and without it it seemed as if we were being thrown in. One person mentioned not realizing it was breakout at first due to the initial spawning. The map was interesting, though perhaps a little simple for Breakout? Most Breakout maps have lots of little ledges and usually very small geometry, allowing for careful positioning, while this had the lines of sight of a standard arena map. I'd prefer to play Breakout in the kind of space mentioned previously, as the current spaces often felt like death traps to move through with such low health.

Clinic
Clinic played a little slow on 4 v 4. People spent a lot of time hiding in the soda rooms, and in general it took a while to find the last few guys. The ways the towers interacted were enjoyable, we had some interesting engagements between the bases and top tower. I wasn't sure about the utility of the shotgun on such a ranged map, but we shall see how it plays out. The teleport entry was a different way to start the match, but I still prefer the standard jump. It's kind of a Breakout standard, and it gives people time to mentally prepare for the match.

Luxor Station

Slayer was not as interesting as CTF on this map. Without the objectives players seemed to be wandering looking for engagements, possibly due to the room-based nature of the map making it a little difficult to find people. At least one person complained about feeling like they are always following the action, unable to get a LOS on the other team before they shad moved to the next room. I still feel that camo is overpowered, especially on this map. It is so incredibly easy to run around back smacking people for the short time you have it, especially when using the many broken up lines of sight between each room. It can function interestingly as a means to brake a stalemate in CTF, but I still think it's just too easy to use.

Skyport
This game we really perfected our mid-load zone hold. By bottling your team up on the stairs and down by sniper, we were able to usually keep your team locked to the lower reaches of the map. The high road is very hard to push across when the other team is sitting on the slope on the blue side of mid, and sniper is easy to keep grabbing from there. Cargo feels like it might be a way to break this hold, but if someone is watching it the length of that jump makes it too dangerous. I'd like to see how a team could use Docking side to their advantage, but I'm afraid that it might just be too easy to win from Load Zone. When you are rating the map up latter, try to distinguish blue and red spawns with some subtle coloration, as right now there is no way to tell them apart unless you remember who spawned where.

Longbridge
This map changed a ton from last week. My first impression is that the map is way too broken up into separate spaces that cannot interact with one another. The middle structure breaks up into 5 areas that can barely see one another, and there are so many rooms and hidden areas in the backs of the bases that teams had a hard time finding one another at times. Spawns were also broken, allowing red and blue to spawn by the other team's flags. The man cannons were cool in that you could thrust out of them to get to certain positions, but I didn't like that they shot you between bases, as this made them far too useful for flag pulls. I would have them send only to the halfway point, but maintain the cool thrust spots.

Starlight
First off Starlight is the name of a Muse song and is way cooler than any Taylor Swift song you might use as a name.
I enjoyed out first game, though the map felt a little too porous. It seemed very easy to escape to another part of the map at any time, and not as punishing as I originally expected because of this. You mentioned closing off a few of the more covered hallways, and I think this would be wise. The meteor jump was interesting conceptually, but was very boring to move across. I felt like I was no longer participating in the fight while on it, due to its segmentation from the rest of the map, and taking 3 normal jumps in a row is a pretty boring movement opportunity. I would also color each ship the same color as its respective power up.

Twice Forsaken
We had a glitch in game where this map was still called Betrayal, which is less of a mouthful as a name anyway. The geometry was beautiful, pulled off the theme very nicely. I wasn't a huge fan of the sloped geometry at the edges of the pit, as landing there immediately bounced you straight into a death pit. It felt a little easy to escape on the map, as the buildings were so close quarters and windy that a player getting shot could quickly disappear inside of one. I need to get a few more games on here before I can say more, preferably without Shore spanking us so hard next time. ;p

Precursor
I'm starting to dislike the bottom bases, they are a mess of angled geometry on a flat plane. I'd like to see more verticality to them, less in the way of large flat surfaces. Mid still feels broken up into an upper and lower area to me. I'm not a high fan of the Dungeons style drop down, as you cannot really interact between those two rooms. The map still feels compartmentalized, with each area mostly being its own space that doesn't look into the other areas of the map enough.

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Squidship
I'm working on improving the readability of the map mostly.

• Adding more lights to help differentiate floors and walls, as well as to show side of the map.
• Added some extra color to the map with orange accents.
• Fixed intro cameras to work with new geometry.
• Swapped Hydra's for Needlers, as no one seemed to use the Hydra's and they weren't meant to be anti-vehicle anyway.

I'm working on how I might introduce some structural differences to the sides as well to help with orientation.
 
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alex quit

Got Gud
Nov 19, 2014
39
29
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I think Shoe pretty much covered all the stuff we mentioned in the lobby, so I'd just like to toss in a few tidbits.


CLINIC
What I enjoyed about Clinic was how it sort of dictated the pace of the match. A larger map gives more time to think about how you're going to approach the situation. Personally I don't mind this in a game type where our health is limited.
I think that taking the flag off of a Breakout map is sort of interesting. It forces the players to search for one-another, which can create cat/mouse like game play. I think that a map that approaches Breakout in this way could provide a new Breakout experience.
With that being said, I don't think that this map's current design can afford to lose the flag, due in part to its scale and number of "hiding spots." Once you have one person left it becomes a game of hide and seek, which does happens in most Breakout games. However without the flag there's no other win condition. Players tend to stay in a cozy space and hope to get the jump on their enemy.

LUXOR STATION
Just a small thing that I noted - the ramp (to the left of our initial spawn) that leads into each base from the Closet? I think it was. I think it could use a light to define the space more. I remember at one point I was walking down the ramp and I could not tell the difference between ramp, floor, or wall because it was all the same color/value.

SQUIDSHIP
I'm getting use to this map as we play it more and I'm enjoying it more as well.
The main thing that kept bugging me was how hard it was to get from the bottom snowy ring around each base to the flag point. "I just need - to cap - the flag - but I can't get on these damn rocks."
I wonder if you should open up the cliffs that block the Banshees from circling the map. It might help the Banshees feel less cramped in the space.

PRECUSOR
Scaling the map down a bit helped a lot. I was finding engagements much quicker and more often.
I found that the bottom of the bases are a bit awkward to traverse with all of the hard angles.
I still think that if you want to keep that platform that it needs to a more prominent vantage point rather than just a spawn point for the light rifle. Maybe making it the spawn point for a single Binary rifle?
 
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Sgt x Slaphead

BK Forger Extraordinaire
Feb 18, 2013
361
265
158
Hey Sgt I just discovered that you can change the GAME MODE LABEL of an object to strongholds:base - "The boundary for this object works as a base location in Strongholds Mode.

Perhaps that will solve your stronghold problems. :]
Thanks I will have to try that out
 

Juanez Sanchez

Proficient
May 30, 2013
53
43
38
42
Not exactly. I normally host around 9:30 pm EST and generally announce a few hours beforehand. I post my lobbies in the Customs section of this site. I'll be sure to invite you if I see you online.
Ah, i doubt i will make customs around those times, as it'll be about 2am for me and thats when i normally go off to bed! Unless i have a day off or something :)
 

Psychoduck

Round Objects™
Dec 23, 2012
1,582
1,781
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Greater Seattle Area
We haven't been using this thread much lately, but I'd like to start again. Last night we played:

Torque by The Fated Fire & Psychoduck - Capture the Flag -Snowy Forerunner tug-of-war map

Kizingo by alex quit - Capture the Flag - Asymmetrical urban night time map

Hangout by MartianMallCop - Strongholds - Asymmetrical Toon Town map

Eagle Square by Shifty Time - Slayer - Inveresely symmetrical urban map with four warthogs

Guillotine by Psychoduck - Strongholds - Headlong remake

Sci Fi Junkyard by CommanderColson - Strongholds - Asymmetrical junkyard map

Lonbridge by alex quit - Capture the Flag - Inversely symmetrical map with a bridge

Squidship by Flying Shoe - Capture the Flag - Inversely symmetrical Covenant map with banshees
 
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Pat Sounds

Novice
Jan 29, 2016
25
16
3
38
Hey guys, just wanted to take a second to introduce myself...I'm a long time Halo fan but just started getting seriously into Forge. I'd love to get involved in some bigger scale play tests, thus far I've only really played any of my designs with a few random people from matchmaking.

I just put up my first map on this site, called "Power Strip". Feel free to download it and let me know what you think! I'm also working on another map that I should have playable shortly. If you guys would have me, I'd love to join in on a play testing lobby sometime and get some feedback, or jump in on some games and play test anything you guys have made. All the maps posted in rotation here look like a blast.
 
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