Firefight Descent - by MoooseGuy & Pepzee

[MoooseGuy]

Welcome to Firefight Descent.

Firefight Descent is not your average firefight. With a focus on cinematic vibes and player interaction, this map takes cues from many of the things that made past firefights great.


"The year is 2552. Delta Halo has recently been discovered by the crew members of the In Amber Clad. You are a new breed of Helljumper. Specially trained for extended combat, and wearing armor fitted with technology not unlike that of the legendary SPARTAN soldiers, you are ready to take more punishment than most marines could ever imagine. Today, you have learned that Covenant forces are taking interest in a mysterious structure roughly 3000 km from the nearest UNSC stronghold location. Your mission is to go in and eliminate as many of their forces as possible to pave the way for a full assault. You have waited a long time for this opportunity. The time has come to perform your duty. Prepare to descend into hell."

http://i.imgur.com/zQvVN.jpg

Descent has its own twist on firefight gameplay. The map makes use of infinite playtime, game-changing decisions, and cutscenes to give a new and fresh experience. It is also the first firefight map for Halo Custom Edition to use a bsp (or level geometry) specifically made for the purpose of firefight.


The project has been in the works for 2 years now. It has survived multiple revisions and obstacles, and has finally been primed for release. Expect to see it out during the month of August.

See it soon on HaloMaps.org.
- MoooseGuy & Pepzee

[neuro]

why is everything purple and green?

[Zeph]

it's the future bro

[neuro]

future = hexagons everywhere.
don't you know anything? jesus.

[Tnnaas]

Don't forget useless greeble on guns.
And diarrhea-yellow stripes.

[MoooseGuy]

Lol, the purple & green thing is just the color scheme that the map evolved into. It follows a cool-color style with a darker, yet more lively tone on the Delta forerunner look. I wanted to make it something different and fresh. We also have an updated HUD coming soon that should replace the current one.

Also, me and Pepzee have finally exited crunch phase, which had been going for just about two months, and are now making the final changes, plugging-ins, and adjustments before release. Expect more news on this soon. ;)

[Hotrod]

I remember reading up about this a year ago and was very excited about it! I'm glad to see that it's still being worked on and that I'll get to play it sooner than later!

[n00b1n8R]

zo5l-1r8OMo
official thread music

[neuro]

Lol, the purple & green thing is just the color scheme that the map evolved was mutillated into. It follows a cool-color style with a darker, yet more lively shittier and oversaturated tone on the Delta forerunner look. I wanted to make it something different and freshterrible.


only half joking
regardless of your reasoning, it really does look quite bad.

[MoooseGuy]

Play the map or don't play it, but you really don't have to be such a dick about it. I have spent hours of my free time to make something that the community is getting for no cost. Just don't comment if you don't find interest in it.

[neuro]

look im just saying super saturated lights like that combined with everything else being dark makes everything look like bad.
that's a fact.

there's a whole science behind colour theory. google it.

if your opinion is different, it's still wrong, it can be your opinion that the earth is flat, but it's still wrong.


i had a whole bunch more crap to say, but i decided to be nice, and not say it.

[haloextreme117]

look im just saying super saturated lights like that combined with everything else being dark makes everything look like bad.
that's a fact. Incorrect. Just because two things are different does not automatically make 'everything look like bad'. Ever heard of contrast?

there's a whole science behind colour theory. google it.
if your opinion is different, it's still wrong, it can be your opinion that the earth is flat, but it's still wrong. This is totally unrelated to everything else on the topic, and it is incorrect. Opinions are called opinions for a reason.


i had a whole bunch more crap to say, but i decided to be nice, and not say it.

MoooseGuy & Pepzee have worked hard to create something for you to play. Appreciate it. Complaining and being 'picky' will not get you anywhere, and may discourage them from making more in the future.

[Cagerrin]

good job backing your arguments with facts, maybe next time find some that don't smell like they've been glued to a taint for weeks

[Higuy]

look im just saying super saturated lights like that combined with everything else being dark makes everything look like bad.
that's a fact.

there's a whole science behind colour theory. google it.

if your opinion is different, it's still wrong, it can be your opinion that the earth is flat, but it's still wrong.


i had a whole bunch more crap to say, but i decided to be nice, and not say it.

While I agree that it can be improved upon and they could take advice, you could at least do your best to actually explain how it can be improved and give examples as to what it can be, instead of complaining about how terrible it looks. Theres a thing called constructive criticism, use it.

[DarkHalo003]

Neuro is absolutely right on there being Color Theory. It's a huge principle of art and the implementation of colors can affect any/everyone on a subconscious level. I suggest using Google because it's your friend.

[Ki11a_FTW]

While I agree that it can be improved upon and they could take advice, you could at least do your best to actually explain how it can be improved and give examples as to what it can be, instead of complaining about how terrible it looks. Theres a thing called constructive criticism, use it.

I actually agree with neuro. I'll lay it on the line, the map looks unpolished with a bunch of h3 and h2 tags slapped into it. I appreciate your work but it just looks like.. bleh. Change the lights to a more natural color for a start.

[Higuy]

I actually agree with neuro. I'll lay it on the line, the map looks unpolished with a bunch of h3 and h2 tags slapped into it. I appreciate your work but it just looks like.. bleh. Change the lights to a more natural color for a start.

I didnt make this map and if you read my post I was also agreeing with him, but asking him to give more criticism in a constructive manner to help improve the authors work.

[neuro]

look i wasnt trying to be a dick.

i mean good job and shit and making a working map and whatever, but it still looks ass.
that's about it.

also,
Complaining and being 'picky' will not get you anywhere

oh, so being picky never helped me bring up my own work quality to the level where i've had the privlige of working in amsterdam, paris, frankfurt and rome, making AAA games such as brink and crysis2, and a bunch of other big names you'll be hearing more about as soon as titles for the next xbox get announced.

okay, i guess it must be just my radiant personality then.

[Higuy]

oh, so being picky never helped me bring up my own work quality to the level where i've had the privlige of working in amsterdam, paris, frankfurt and rome, making AAA games such as brink and crysis2, and a bunch of other big names you'll be hearing more about as soon as titles for the next xbox get announced.


This arrogance is what makes you look like an ass, its hard to believe you actually worked in those places with other people if this is the way you talk to people in real life. You still have yet to actually contribute anything worthwhile to the thread other than telling them that there work is shit, if you actually have that kind of experience I would imagine you would know how to help improve it. If you actually care enough to start shit posting and glorifying yourself, you should be able to tell them how to improve.

[Cagerrin]

talking to word collections(often eminently stupid ones) on the internet is not the same as talking to people, and it's a helluva lot easier to be honest on the internet

Telling people how to improve strikes me as fucking stupid because if they "improve" in exactly the way you want them to instead of applying their own mental power to improve in new ways, all you get is same-old cloneshit like CoD.

(and yes, it's perfectly possible for people to be incapable of improving, there's no magic word of advice to turn everyone into great artists)

[Higuy]

No, but there's no excuse for a good artist to not be able to give advice from his knowledge to other aspiring artists in an attempt to help them improve their work. Neuro obviously has experience from the work he has accomplished in the past, and there is simply no excuse for him to go tell a person that their work is shit (and state it as a fact), and not back it up by telling them how to improve. Either keep quiet and let them learn on their own, or at least give them advice like a decent human being.

[Kirby_422]

He openly disliked the appearance, yes, but then told the creators to google color theory. He did give them help; he told what they have to research to help correct their mistakes, and its not like he has to spoon feed them. Yes, he could of summarized it to give them the general idea of why they should read it, as well as links, but he is assuming these people are not children and are capable of using the internet themselves. If you are assuming that it is REQUIRED to give links to be considered help rather than telling someone to google it, then that could be seen as offensive to the people this advice was offered to, as if you believe they are that incapable, in-turn insulting them rather than disliking their projects appearance. Which do you believe is worse?

Anyways, hopefully your issue is with how he said it, rather than the option I previously mentioned. I agree, he could of written it far more polite, and I doubt anyone would of had any issues with it at that point.

[Ki11a_FTW]

I didnt make this map and if you read my post I was also agreeing with him, but asking him to give more criticism in a constructive manner to help improve the authors work.

Uh.. i didn't hint anywhere that you made this, if you read my post you'd know that. He clearly gave clear and constructive crit on whats wrong with the map. I've seen neuro's work and posts. I'm aware hes a good artist with harsh criticism , but some people need that and I don't see what his criticism has to do with you. Are you a mod? No. You're just another person on these forums that has no control of ANYONE, so stop acting like it. If hes causing that much of an issue talking to people in these forums, im sure he'll be notified by someone with power on this site. He's not the only one whose like that with crit either. You'd think its obvious that this map needs some fixing visually, and im glad neuro said it the way he did. Unlike half of the people saying it actually looks good on the halomaps forums, from when I saw pictures from this on those forums. The creator of the map has a good idea, but it doesn't even look like lights, it looks like a broken radiosity with messed up UVW's if you ask me. It has potential

[Higuy]

Anyways, hopefully your issue is with how he said it, rather than the option I previously mentioned. I agree, he could of written it far more polite, and I doubt anyone would of had any issues with it at that point.

That was my issue from the begining, if you read my posts I said I agree with him. He could have done it in a much more polite and constructive manner, theres no reason he cant act like a decent human being. If he also has so much knoweldge on design and visuals he could have also given a short explanation with the color theory to help back it up too.



Uh.. i didn't hint anywhere that you made this, if you read my post you'd know that. He clearly gave clear and constructive crit on whats wrong with the map. I've seen neuro's work and posts. I'm aware hes a good artist with harsh criticism , but some people need that and I don't see what his criticism has to do with you. Are you a mod? No. You're just another person on these forums that has no control of ANYONE, so stop acting like it. If hes causing that much of an issue talking to people in these forums, im sure he'll be notified by someone with power on this site. He's not the only one whose like that with crit either. You'd think its obvious that this map needs some fixing visually, and im glad neuro said it the way he did. Unlike half of the people saying it actually looks good on the halomaps forums, from when I saw pictures from this on those forums. The creator of the map has a good idea, but it doesn't even look like lights, it looks like a broken radiosity with messed up UVW's if you ask me. It has potential

Please look at the following:


I actually agree with neuro. I'll lay it on the line, the map looks unpolished with a bunch of h3 and h2 tags slapped into it. I appreciate your work but it just looks like.. bleh. Change the lights to a more natural color for a start.

Considering the fact that during that post you quoted what I had said before, I was assuming that this was in response to what I had said.

Secondly, no where did I once see a constructive post in this thread from Neuro. Being constructive is not being rude or acting like an ass to people below you but maintaining a professional and friendly behavior, which is clearly not visible here. Just becuase no mod's here have said anything to Neuro about (as far as I know), dosent mean someone with an actual brain can. His critcism has nothing to do with me or this map, but that dosent mean if someones acting like ass to another you cant stick up for them. Didnt you learn that when you were a kid?

There's simply no reason for him to act like an ass. If he can act like an ass he can give suggestions and constructive criticism from his knowledge, (you know, because in his post he mentioned how great he was from working everywhere). When you act like that and give criticism it does nothing to help. The only thing it does is make the other people feel bad and un motivated. Act professional and friendly and they will take your advice more into account.

[Cagerrin]

"constructive criticism"

UH
also luh MUUUH RIIIII UHHHHH, ty tyrel
you realise that by nature criticism is destructive, riiiiiiight? Trying to force it to be "constructive" blunts and spays the entire concept and use of it.

[Higuy]

Thats why its called constructive critcism and not just critcism. Being constructive still adresses the main issues that can improve the authors work but reinforce it by being polite and friendly, and showing intrest in the work. Again, I dont see how this is so mind boggling, you dont have to act like an asshole in order to tell a person what can be improved.

[neuro]

bitch please, i'm not a kindergarten teacher.

nobody told me what to do, i looked at other people's work, and tried to analyse how and what and why they did stuff.
it sickens me that everyone always needs their hand held trough fucking everythign they do nowadays.

you know why i call people out of doing shitty work?
so that they KNOW it's shit, and don't env up reveling in their own stupidity going OH LOOK WHAT GLORIOUS AMAZINGNESS I MADE.
when i was back in that stage, sure i was proud of my creations, but i also knew they were shit, so i kept working to improve and become better.

this whole 'oh post constructive or don't post at all' thrend shit is absolute bullshit.
does anyone recall any of my posts towards that 'hunter' fellow?
he's a pretty decent artist now, and we talk on aim every now and then where he asks for some feedback, which i then take time out of my workschedule for to give him.

i'm not going to waste time on a green and purple piece of shit critiquing it.
the only piece of critique i can say is 'get better and try again'


you dont have to act like an asshole in order to tell a person what can be improved.
-everything-

asshole eh? please point out where i called the guy names?
every word was only in reference of his work, not his person.
grow the fuck up you whining fucking cunt.
(see that's where i'm insulting YOU, and not your worl, there's a difference there)

higuy, who the fuck are you telling others how to behave?
the universal mommy of the internet?
get back to halomaps.

[Higuy]

bitch please, i'm not a kindergarten teacher.

I figured you weren't becuase of your work experience.



nobody told me what to do, i looked at other people's work, and tried to analyse how and what and why they did stuff.
it sickens me that everyone always needs their hand held trough fucking everythign they do nowadays.

I'm not asking you to hold their hand you incompetent fuck. Read my posts. My complaint with you is that you talk like you do through this entire post and the way you give criticism makes you look like an asshole.



you know why i call people out of doing shitty work?
so that they KNOW it's shit, and don't env up reveling in their own stupidity going OH LOOK WHAT GLORIOUS AMAZINGNESS I MADE.
when i was back in that stage, sure i was proud of my creations, but i also knew they were shit, so i kept working to improve and become better.

There are plenty of other ways to help people improve their work then just telling them that its shit and nothing more.



this whole 'oh post constructive or don't post at all' thrend shit is absolute bullshit.
does anyone recall any of my posts towards that 'hunter' fellow?
he's a pretty decent artist now, and we talk on aim every now and then where he asks for some feedback, which i then take time out of my workschedule for to give him.

If I recall correctly he also now has an attitude exactly like yours, and likes to tell everyone how terrible their work is.



i'm not going to waste time on a green and purple piece of shit critiquing it.
the only piece of critique i can say is 'get better and try again'


Then don't post. It isn't that complicated, unless you have some compoulsive disorder where you must post in order to get your shitty attitude into every thread.



asshole eh? please point out where i called the guy names?
every word was only in reference of his work, not his person.
grow the fuck up you whining fucking cunt.
(see that's where i'm insulting YOU, and not your worl, there's a difference there)

higuy, who the fuck are you telling others how to behave?
the universal mommy of the internet?
get back to halomaps.

You are basically implying that the only way to act like an asshole is to call another person a name, which *shocker* it isn't. You were insulting his work in a deconstructive manner, thus insulting him.

Who am I to tell others how to behave? I can tell you to grow the hell up and start acting like a mature adult (unless your like what, 5?) or get out of my friends thread. Perhaps I will go back to Halomaps, because there I know a lot of people don't have such arrogant attitudes towards other peoples work.

By the way, learn how to spell/use grammar. Some of your sentences are hardly legible.

[Ki11a_FTW]

Really? If this guy is your friend higuy then you should have "constructivly told him" that his work needed improvment. Im on my cell phone, but I still dont see how i said this is your work? The only words addressed to you were "i agree with neuro". Nothing else. Im aware that youre working on your lumoria crap. If anyone looks like an ass here its you. Like what neuro just posted is exactly what I was trying to get through to you. Ive been around this community since the very first days of gearbox and Halomods. Ive seen some other people that have a harsh way of criting such as snaf, tweek, some others. And the harsh crit really LETS the person know it look horrible. Why would you want to be nice or not address it? Theyll just keep posting the same shit like FMT masterchief, Hdoan, Frain, and more. Hunter USED to be a horrible artist. Ive seen all of the shit he went through on these forums. Like neuro said, look at him now. Personally im more of a self-judging person. I can see whether my own work is good, decent, or bad. It took years of developing to see that. But this map here is just... like why post it? Its pretty obvious it looks fuckedd up.. it looks like he painted all the lightmaps on himself.

[t3h m00kz]

people who voice condescending opinions without putting forth the slightest effort into offering anything even remotely constructive quickly make it to my block list. "This is shit" is about as constructive as "you're garbage" MLG youtube comments. I.E. vague, generally unhelpful, and lazy. I'm not going to stand behind "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything," because nice things are often times not constructive. I will however stand behind "If you don't have anything constructive to say, don't say anything." if somebody spends their time working on something and wants critique on it, saying "it's shit" is the laziest thing anyone can do.

Nobody's a perfect artist, and I doubt anybody on these forums thinks their work is worthy of unending praise (and if they do, they should reconsider how they look at themselves in the mirror). I for one am extremely open to, and encourage people telling me what needs improvement, and what is wrong with the horse shit that I call my "art." my sense of morality tells me to not try to make a god damned cent off of what I do, because it's nowhere near the bar of quality to justify it. on the other hand, each time somebody posts anything that I feel I can assist with, I lend a hand and do what I can to see that person improve. while yes, I've been known to be snarky, I still do my best to contribute in some constructive way, and bring to light what in specific needs to be improved, because I WANT to help other people get better.

I feel that we, as a community of modders dedicated to making cool shit, should be more collaborative and willing to assist each other and help point each other in the right direction to help raise the overall bar of quality for this place, and not expect random professional-grade talent to just show up like we're somehow entitled to it. this is a dying corner of the internet. I'd rather not live in the pipe dream that this place will one day be booming with AAA-grade game developers pumping out quality products and making bank, when (as far as I know) this place hasn't even collaborated to produce a single successful project, outside of an angry letter to the H2V team.

too bad my opinion isn't worth shit though right, because I'm not working in the industry as a professional artist??

[neuro]

still funny how you folk blow up over a post a random dude on the internet made.

[MoooseGuy]

I am taking a cue from what was expressed in this thread, and am relighting the map with colors toned down. The style of the lighting is not changing, but the brightness and temperature is. I'm hoping this satisfies some of the concerns of members here.

[Ki11a_FTW]

The lighting idea you have may not be a bad one. It just looks poorly executed IMO. Looking forward to new pics.

[BobtheGreatII]

Honestly. I really like the green. It's something finally different than the reds, blues, light blues, blue blues, and red reds, and purple. :P

My only critique on it is that it's really running in to whatever crazy bump map/detail map you have going on in the textures:

http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/3407/crita.jpg


It makes it look messy almost. You might be surprised how nice just standard forerunner textures with normal shaders look. You might also look in to using the forerunner strip textures in more places, like that ramp, which blends almost perfectly in to the wall.

[MoooseGuy]

New HUD in the works by good 'ol Choclate Thunda.

Default:
http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/3425/56039409.png

Widescreen with OS running:
http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/5120/169y.png

And yes, it will have a working bubbleshield equipment that works witht the HUD.

EDIT: Yeah I see what you mean with the color clashes. The new lighting should help to alleviate that a bit.
Also, at this point, the BSP is pretty much set in stone. This map is more about the gameplay than the BSP, and I just don't have the time left to make changes to it. My life is about to start getting super busy.



EDIT: The new lightmaps are in, as I said I'm not changing the lighting style, but this does get rid of some of the cringeworthy areas that the old lighting had.

The old lighting:
http://i.imgur.com/2Zz5i.jpg


The new lighting:
http://i.imgur.com/l5Kgd.jpg

So yeah...

[t3h m00kz]

still funny how you folk blow up over a post a random dude on the internet made.

But I thought you were more than that

I thought you were super pro because you work in the industry

I thought your "word was final"

is that not the case anymore??

because if youre some random guy then sweet now I can add you to my block list and disregard everything that comes out of your whore mouth. Good day, sir~

[=sw=warlord]

I like the Teal.

[DarkHalo003]

Moose, the lights on the panels that you have on the struts and main structure are way too fluorescent. Definitely make them a less so and I think that'll help the map a great bunch.

[neuro]

But I thought you were more than that

I thought you were super pro because you work in the industry

I thought your "word was final"

is that not the case anymore??

because if youre some random guy then sweet now I can add you to my block list and disregard everything that comes out of your whore mouth. Good day, sir~

cute <3

[BobtheGreatII]

But I thought you were more than that

I thought you were super pro because you work in the industry

I thought your "word was final"

is that not the case anymore??

because if youre some random guy then sweet now I can add you to my block list and disregard everything that comes out of your whore mouth. Good day, sir~


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKG07305CBs

[Ki11a_FTW]

is it just me or does the new lighting look even greener than before.

[Hotrod]

It does look a bit greener, but it also looks more clean.

[MoooseGuy]

A good deal of progress and change has been done to Firefight Descent in the recent weeks.

Special nav point types (3 shown):
http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/220/waypoints.png

Completely new HUD:
http://i.imgur.com/OxeVp.jpg

Redone loadout bitmaps:
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/861/newloudout.png

New vs. Old
http://i.imgur.com/G1SYq.png

And another cool feature I've gotten working in the map:
http://i.imgur.com/otADx.png

Also, the map has toned down lighting from what was seen in the OP, and scripts have been debugged, optimized, and are ready for the map to go Gold.
Thanks to Choclate Thunda for volunteering to work with me on improving the HUD elements of this map.

Expect to see this very soon.