high poly kungfu countered by sapien freeze attack

[Inferno]

Your layout is bad from what I can see. You need distinct main paths leading directly to your goal (usually the other base) while having smaller paths winding around it and containing valuable items (flamer, shotgun, powerups) while having heavy weapons dead center of the map in a dangerous area ( rockets on BG ).

There are a bunch of useless dead ends scattered around your map that would end up being wasted space and polygons. The few paths in your map that you do that are HORRIBLY susceptible to sniper and pistol fire. You really need to add more cover.

[Vicky]

If this is kinda his second map i'd say keep it up, he'll get the hang of gameplay later on.. make some nice maps first :P

[sleepy1212]

yes...snipers are a problem here. most of the crit i got on the first version was about cover. i don't really know what i could add but i think i could bend the whole left side around the middle so that it cuts off long range fire and forcing main traffic through a W-curve rather than a wide open space (pic 2). this would also help tighten up the map and make it smaller

traffic layout atm:



proposed layout

If this is kinda his second map i'd say keep it up, he'll get the hang of gameplay later on.. make some nice maps first :P

beta

[Con]

Tightening up the map is the wrong idea. You're just constraining the little gameplay it has and making it easier for snipers to make kills. Those teleporter exits are out in the middle of nowhere and you're better off walking from the base--they do little to balance the vehicle path with the foot path, especially when you teleport to an area with only narrow one way out. I think we've had enough of the canyon maps in Halo. Think of something that's never been tried before. It's fairly easy to draw some squiggly lines for cliffs and call it a map, but what I sometimes do for inspiration is find a neat looking object in my house and imagine how its surfaces could be turned into a map. You can always use Google to find interesting terrain as well. In addition, your spawn area looks too big compared to your bases. It's best to spawn players at their base where the weapons, flag, and teleporter are.

[NerveBooger]

I think you should complete this map, and add to it suggestions made here. Don't scrap it - just re-shape or redesign when possible but keep to your idea - and within your skill level - plus one.

Keep it up. looks like a significant improvement over the other one you posted.

[LlamaMaster]

Like others have said, never, ever use meshsmooth unless you know exactly what you are doing. If you want something smoother, you can either chamfer an edge, or cut a new one. Only add polys when you need to in a localized area. Also, it's a good idea to save "stages" of the map (steps in development) every one in a while (and before anything drastic). That way if you screw up something you can go back. Seems obvious, but it saves you alot of pain...

[sleepy1212]

Tightening up the map is the wrong idea. You're just constraining the little gameplay it has and making it easier for snipers to make kills. Those teleporter exits are out in the middle of nowhere and you're better off walking from the base--they do little to balance the vehicle path with the foot path, especially when you teleport to an area with only narrow one way out. I think we've had enough of the canyon maps in Halo. Think of something that's never been tried before. It's fairly easy to draw some squiggly lines for cliffs and call it a map, but what I sometimes do for inspiration is find a neat looking object in my house and imagine how its surfaces could be turned into a map. You can always use Google to find interesting terrain as well. In addition, your spawn area looks too big compared to your bases. It's best to spawn players at their base where the weapons, flag, and teleporter are.

i turned a pocket-hole jig (cabinetry tool) into a base for one of my first models lol.

i'd like to do more ledge and crevice for combat really...if you've taken a look at pics of the grand canyon or watched and old western lately most of the fighting...the most interesting part... is happening on the face of the cliff. i had intended to do that but made the map too large for one, then seriously couldn't afford to put the extra polies into it. i'd think id rather take it in that direction than a canyon-floor based map.

the spawns would have been about 25% outside the base area, 75% inside...i think it helps end spawn kills and keeps things challenging for players approaching the base area....plus a head start for the defending team.

I think you should complete this map, and add to it suggestions made here. Don't scrap it - just re-shape or redesign when possible but keep to your idea - and within your skill level - plus one.

Keep it up. looks like a significant improvement over the other one you posted.

i will and thanks

Like others have said, never, ever use meshsmooth unless you know exactly what you are doing. If you want something smoother, you can either chamfer an edge, or cut a new one. Only add polys when you need to in a localized area. Also, it's a good idea to save "stages" of the map (steps in development) every one in a while (and before anything drastic). That way if you screw up something you can go back. Seems obvious, but it saves you alot of pain...

would it be better to chamfer loops for topography? oh yes, i save a lot..i have 5 copies of this map in various stages...its a habit, i'm a draftsman.

[sleepy1212]

Update:

since all i really wanted to do was make a really good desert map i'm scrapping the first build and make something entirely different.

the plan here is to make a very tight canyon..by canyon i mean more of a giant trench rather than a traditional canyon (and only 3-4 stories high). gameplay will be on various tiers, the first being the "floor" where faster, less purposeful or simple run-and-gun traffic will occur. the upper levels will be a combination of ledges, paths, and tunnels along the sides while land bridges will connect the sides at various points. in these areas traffic will be slower but there will be lots of cover. they will also lead to better weapons, power-ups, and will contain most of the "advantage" postions.

the overall feel will somewhat similar to prisoner although this will be longer between the bases. i haven't decided whether to have vehicles or not, most likely no unless i open the top up like a typical sloped canyon with a plateau on top.

the following will be one of the base areas and represents about 1/5 of the entire map.i haven't done anything to the sides yet. i think i can get the whole map in under 8,000 tris, maybe less.

enlarged wireframe
enlarged render



i've also created a set of custom scenery for this map including a small cactus, agave, short and tall desert grass, a shrub, and a spindly desert tree. i'd like to make a carcass or some kind of skeletal remains to go along with this...i've been looking for a model of the oddball skull to use. any other ideas for this are welcome, i'll post some pics when i'm more satisfied with the results.

[LlamaMaster]

You still have a long way to go, but that is certainly better than that other disaster of a model. Try to even out your poly distribution; you have parts of the model that are relativly devoid of detail compared to the rest (mainly the pillar of rock on the right). Just try to use common sense, and make sure it's either rocky or smooth where it would be in real life. Avoid those god-awful hard edges that plague halo.

[Sel]

That isn't all that far off actually.

I released the model file for revelations here : http://www.moddb.com/mods/revelations

You might want to use that as a reference, if only to see how I did my terrain.