Conversely, many of the maps from Halo 4 and Halo 5 run into each other visually, lack any distinctive character of their own, and don’t do anything interesting or have anything remarkable in terms of layout, and many of them have poor flow, frequently have lots of kibble and other stuff to get stuck on, and sometimes have visuals that are muddy or hyper-detailed enough to affect gameplay. Even Chiron TL-34, the black sheep of CE’s map pool, was at least trying to do something interesting and is a wholly unique design (though because no two rooms were identical and the map had an asymmetrical layout it was hard to navigate unless you spent some time memorizing the teleporters, which likely explains its mixed reception). Some of the most well-regarded maps of past Halo games, including classics like Chill Out, Lockout, Zanzibar/Last Resort, The Pit, and of course Blood Gulch and its remakes all had interesting, unique designs and/or superb map flow, and had a distinctive character to them. Visuals also make for maps that are easily recognizable and just plain interesting, and having a unique, memorable design can help make a good map even better. A muddy visual appearance, bad lighting, etc., can make things hard to see and the map difficult to navigate. This feeds back into map flow: visuals can go a long way towards making it easier to find your way through a map and distinguish its various components and contents from each other. It’s essential for a map to have a clean, clear aesthetic, with various landmarks and/or other visual cues to help aid navigation. If it’s hard for players to navigate, then it’s likely a bad map.Īrt design helps facilitate good design as well. If players are getting stuck on kibble that’s strewn about or can’t bounce grenades because they get stuck in miscellaneous little cracks and crevices that have no practical reason for being there, it probably isn’t a good map. If there’s one easily-defended focal point that makes camping it the only winning strategy, then it might not be a good map. If players are only using one part of a map and ignoring large parts of it entirely, it’s probably not a good map. It’s also important to make sure that they have a good flow and are uncluttered. Still, there are quite a few asymmetrical maps that work very well and are fun to play on, including Chill Out, Lockout, and Powerhouse, among others.
Making sure they’re balanced is a given, and while this is easy to attain on symmetrical maps since everything is mirrored, it’s a bit tougher of a task on asymmetrical maps.
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Making good, memorable maps isn’t an easy thing, but I do have a few ideas on how to do so. While in general I’m all in favor of giving the player more options - hence my suggestions for customizable HUDs and, as you’ll see later on this page, a more robust set of tools for custom games and Forge - but not when it negatively affects game balance, which is extremely important in matchmade multiplayer. Indeed, Halo 4 added several COD-ish elements, including rank-based unlocks, custom loadouts, and perks, which was a step in the wrong direction as far as I’m concerned, but fortunately it was a one-off thing that was ditched in Halo 5. I believe in the importance of an even playing field, and to stray from this would risk making Halo too much like the current status quo of popular FPS multiplayer modes, represented primarily by Call of Duty. It’ll still be the same Halo-style balancing where every player in a match will spawn with the same weapons and gear (or access to the same weapons and gear if loadouts are enabled), with other weapons and power-ups being acquired as pick-ups on the map, though certain asymmetrical or “non-standard” gametypes like Invasion, Infection, and Fiesta would be obvious and notable exceptions to this rule. For example, there won’t be any class system or unlockable perks or weapons. Just like the core gameplay, the multiplayer component would remain true to the roots of the Halo series.
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