Port

[NitrousOxide]

Hello all!! It's been way too long!! I've been busy these past couple years, had to put level design on the shelf for a while, and unfortunately Halo maps took the back seat. I've worked on a handful of different games since we finished work on Halo 2 for Windows Vista, just finished shipping Kinect and now I have quite a HUGE opportunity ahead of me that I need to brush up for! I need to work on my level design again, and what better way to get back on the wagon than with good old Halo? :eng101:

Having said that, I'd like to share my work with you guys. I'm going to be working on various new maps, focusing very closely on design more so than art. I will polish the levels off and make them pretty enough, but the main focus here will be layout, flow, game play value, balance, etc.. To do this right, I need to test the crap out of my levels, get a ton of feedback, make adjustments based on feedback, and end up with maps that you want to play the crap out of. If I can do that, then my chances of landing the position I'm after will be good!!

Here's my first map since I started again, I call it Port. It's just a little foot wetter, just to get myself used to Halo mapping again, however the same thing applies! I'm looking for feedback on this, looking to tweak ANYTHING to make it more fun. You will notice quickly that this map isn't close to being finished, and most of the known issues are listed in the readme included. For example, the bases are placeholder, there is an unfinished cave, and a few other things. Please, give me any and all feedback, I need it!

http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj151/nitrousoxide2k/haloce2010-12-1514-46-49-40.jpg

Here's the download link: http://www.axifile.com/mydownload.php?file=8279757

I hope you all like it!! There should already be a dedicated server up. I look forward to seeing you guys online!!

Good to be back!! :haw:

- Nitrous

halomaps.org mirror (http://hce.halomaps.org/index.cfm?fid=5695)

[Hr3shy]

looks nice, wonder what polished will look like. keep on the grind you got goin and youll be fine. will look forward to the final product.

[Higuy]

I'll download this map and test it out later and give you some feedback.

[PlasbianX]

Nitro!? HOLY CRAP. I haven't seen that name in.. years O_O.

Welcome back!!

[Limited]

Damn Nitro you made a Halo 1 map? :O Figured you were playing Reach alot..perhaps losing too :D:D (I blame Korn)

[Higuy]

I took a quick look at it ingame, it looks ok so far.

I suggest using the cut tool and cutting up your terrain a bit and messing with the verts, manually and using soft selection. You'll get some nicer, smoother terrain that feels more realistic and flush.
I don't know if your thinking about color scheme and those things since its a beta, but the map is pretty bland at the moment and could definitely use some more color.

The design reminded me of Timberland which was cool. You should also bring back the cliff where the player can fall off a bit farther back, so it makes it more of a threat. Right now, its just kind of out there.

Other then those things I don't have much else to say since I haven't really played any gameplay on it.

[NitrousOxide]

I took a quick look at it ingame, it looks ok so far.

I suggest using the cut tool and cutting up your terrain a bit and messing with the verts, manually and using soft selection. You'll get some nicer, smoother terrain that feels more realistic and flush.
I don't know if your thinking about color scheme and those things since its a beta, but the map is pretty bland at the moment and could definitely use some more color.

The design reminded me of Timberland which was cool. You should also bring back the cliff where the player can fall off a bit farther back, so it makes it more of a threat. Right now, its just kind of out there.

Other then those things I don't have much else to say since I haven't really played any gameplay on it.

Thanks for the feedback. I'll get around to the smoothing and prettying, but I'm more concerned with layout and balance. Hopefully I can get some games going.

[Resinball]

Nice to see you back. I saw you creeping the forums the other day and had a feeling something was afoot.

Rather curious about the next project you are involved in, specifically considering the area and engine you are brushing up on, your work for MS in the past and now, along with all these signs that MS really is about to get back into PC gaming....well, I'm sure you will tell us what you can in due time.

[NitrousOxide]

Thanks! Yeah, obviously I'm not at liberty to say, but it's pretty damn cool. I'm not guaranteeing it has anything to do with Halo specifically, however I know you guys will appreciate it! We have a ton of cool things in the works for next year. I will share everything as soon as I can! As for now, I'm just going to pump out a crapload of maps, some pretty, some not, and hopefully you fellas will enjoy!!

I wish more people still played Halo CE. I also wish more servers ran normal custom Halo maps with normal Halo games and not all these weird mod/hack maps like hugeass, extinction and coldsnap. While some of these have some cool stuff, I don't quite understand why they are the most popular maps. Perhaps there is something to be learned from this. Afterall, they ARE the popular ones and there's always a couple servers running these maps.

[Kornman00]

Gimmicks. People love gimmicks. Oh and bandwagons. Gimmicks and bandwagons. That's why they're lolpopular...still. We can beat them though.

[Cortexian]

Someone needs to resurrect the HIVE server I think... Need more maps going like Wartorn, Portent, Cliffhanger, Fissure Falls, etc... Hell, even some of the less played classic maps like Danger Canyon are fun.

And it needs Rec0. But with responsible admins that don't /kill, suspend, lag, and speed for no god damn reason.


Very cool to see you back Nitro, I remember playing When Hooters Fly with you at one point and having a chat about how our brand new ATI X800 graphics cards were chomping on Halo CE and giving us awesome framerates of 80! I hope you've had a great holiday season and I look forward to playing any more content you release to us! Always cool to see someone that had such a great community response to get noticed and hired by the big boys come back to the community!

[LlamaMaster]

Nitro is mapping again? I never thought I'd see the day...

Welcome back!

[Warsaw]

Nitro? Holy shit, man. Haven't seen his name since H2CE stopped churning out updates and he left to work on H2V.

Am download right now.

[TeeKup]

I suddenly nostaligia'd about the =EP website and forums...am sad. D:

Good to see you Nitro.

[NitrousOxide]

LOL!! You guys are awesome. Thanks for the warm welcome!

I always knew I'd be back at some point, and for the first time in the past 4 years, I actually have some time, and a good reason to return. I love doing this stuff and I want to get better and better at it. My goal is not to make the prettiest maps, but the most fun maps to play. Throughout my time at Bungie, MGS, then Monolith, then MGS again, I've been in positions where I had influence on design, but no actual design decision making power. This time around, I just may land a position calling the shots!! What better way to practice design than with my good old friends? :)

I plan on releasing everything I make. Some of it may not get finished, some of it will, some of it will be for Halo CE, some for H2V, but all of it will (hopefully) be a lot of fun to play!! Like I said, PLEASE feel free to give me ANY feedback you have, it will be useful to me!! Private messages would be best that way I can be sure to gather all feedback I get and compile it into a useful document.

Lastly, I would love to be able to get together a group of good folks to help me test out my stuff in the making from time to time before I release it. I would organize an occasional test on a dedicated server, Teamspeak would be provided, and basically we'd just play a couple games on a map or two, you guys simply just tell me what you think! If anyone would like to help me with this, please PM me. I would reallllllly appreciate it and it would help me more than you know!!

Thanks a lot guys, and again, it's real good to be back.

[ghk]

i'd be more than willing to test/crit

[NitrousOxide]

Thank you to those who sent me feedback via PM!! This helps IMMENSELY, more than you know. I plan to compile a huge document of all feedback I get, and then in turn I will make a design reference document based on ALL the information I have collected, the knowledge I have gained in both the professional industry and online, and the feedback I recieve from both pros and the community. Once I have something good enough compiled, with all sorts of good information from TONS of different sources on the nitty gritty of how to make a map that people will WANT to play for ANY game, I will then release it to the public. Don't hold your breath for this doc, it may take a very long time to compile, however if I'm going to start designing real deal stuff for a real deal AAA title, I'm going to need to commit all this info to memory anyway....and my memory sucks for reasons left unsaid. ;-)

Also, in case anyone is curious, here's how it works in the game industry: Basically, if you want to work for Microsoft, Bungie or almost any game studio, you will most likely start off on a <12 month contract as a Software Test Engineer or maybe a Test Associate, or in simple terms, a tester. It's not very common that someone gets right on board as a designer, dev or producer/PM right off the bat. It happens, but you gotta be GOOD....or know someone.....or graduate from a school like Full Sail or Digipen. Also, as a contractor (or CSG as it's called), at Microsoft you're limited to 12 months on a contract, and then you MUST take 100 days off. Don't ask why, it's some kind of super complicated technicality that drives me and every other CSG up the freaking wall once a year, but that's how it is. you contract for UP TO 12 months, and then you're done. Then, you absolutely, positively cannot work for Microsoft again for 100 days, then you're eligible again. Sounds fun to have a 3+ month vacation once a year, but once you're 100 days is up, you don't have another contract waiting for you. No, no, no, you must go out into the wild and find another job. That's the fun part. :(

So, I'm currently on that 100 day break, so I have a ton of free time to work on portfolio stuff. This whole time though, I've been getting all sorts of calls from all sorts of game studios (can't say which yet) who are interested in my 3D and design abilities. This is balls awesome to me, because for the past four years, I've been a Software Test Engineer. No, being a tester isn't that dream job where you sit around, play games all day and write down what you think about them. That job does not exist. Grandma's Boy is not real. As an STE, you actually barely ever 'play' the game. You spend your time running organized tests with all sorts of hardware and software, you spend a lot of time in Excell filling out test plans, test cases, test passes, etc.. It's tedious work and can really drive a person to be sick of a game by the time it ships. For example, I don't want to even look at a Kinect anymore... However, like I said, now I have a couple HUGE opportunities to get into the fun stuff like making maps, designing multiplayer, and creating art, and that is why this is SO DAMN IMPORTANT TO ME!!! :)

Again, thank you all for your help so far. Also, thank you for all the support and truck loads of awesome that this community has shown me since back before halo PC shipped. It's comforting to see so many old schoolers still around, still excited about the game, still making cool stuff and still holdin' it down!!

I'll update everyone on what I have going here very soon! Keep the feedback coming, it's sprouting many ideas...

[Cortexian]

I setup my home dedi to run on this, CTF, Slayer, Oddball, and then King.

Haven't run a server lately so I'm not sure exactly what my connection can hold player wise, but since the map isn't huge that shouldn't be a problem.

[NitrousOxide]

Thanks man!!

[TeeKup]

Give me a PM concerning testing. I should be available. Around the time I was in =EP was when you well....vanished! The last map I remember playing when you were around was Division Falls, and by god I loved it. Looking forward to your future work.

[NitrousOxide]

Division Falls? Damn, I honestly forgot I even made that map. Looking back, I have made so many freaking Halo maps I couldn't dream of remembering all of them, and to boot I only released about 1/4 of them. I know I had A LOT of old ~75% done maps that I ended up abandoning, and I WISH I could go back and finish some of them, however the only backup discs I could find of my stuff are scratched and wont read!! :(

[Warsaw]

Where's my final version of H2CE? :aaaaa: You guys left us hanging after that last release.

[Kornman00]

Nitro, the backup I kept has a shitload of scenarios (backwoods, forlorn, logan_sucks_the_wang, miniship, etc etc). It may be newer than the one you were able to recover, but I don't see any scenarios named division falls.

[NitrousOxide]

Weird, because I just found my Division Falls max files, they're under a different name. You have logan_sucks!??! SEND before I bomb your house.