So halo 5’s maps weren’t the best and I hope they improve in halo 6, but I think 343 needs to know what makes a memorable map in the first place. What made the pit and Valhalla so great? Was it the gameplay of halo 3? The setting and visuals? The guns and vehicles that were all placed on the map? What do you guys think 343 can improve on in their map design to make more maps memorable?
In my opinion - Here are several factors (Not in any particular order) - I’m also going to comment lightly on game mechanics because they go hand in hand with map design
- Pacing - How quickly can I traverse the map? How many routes are there from point A to B? Choke points?
- Space Control - Clamber makes this one rough, but having obstacles that can’t be traversed in game breaking ways. Imagine - on Pit, if you could Sprint/thuster from the outer sword spawn platforms to one of the upper sniper towers. This make this area of the map more open - the base doesn’t provide as much cover. Having defined areas of the map that can be controlled is key. Being able to circumvent choke points with game mechanics makes map design difficult.
The first two are the main reason why I think halo 5 maps are very vanilla. Sprint and Thusters make this hard - Multiple Game types - being able to play CTF, Slayer, Assult, KOH, etc on Valhalla made it a good map. Same can be said for Blood Gulch, Battle creak, Sidewinder.
- Neutral in map items - Examples from various halos would be destroying the bridge on Zanzibar, The base gates from High ground in Halo 3, etc. There are a couple halo 5 maps that have these features, but they come off as annoying sometimes (I’m looking at you, Mr “Map-with-raising-and-lowering-platforms-but-I-can-t-remember-your-name”).
I could probably think of others, but that’s a start. I also think that unless the game mechanics are similar…doing remakes aren’t a viable option. If Halo 6 has sprint/thursters in it…then they should probably stick with Halo Reach/4/5 maps since those have similar mechanics.
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> So halo 5’s maps weren’t the best and I hope they improve in halo 6, but I think 343 needs to know what makes a memorable map in the first place. What made the pit and Valhalla so great? Was it the gameplay of halo 3? The setting and visuals? The guns and vehicles that were all placed on the map? What do you guys think 343 can improve on in their map design to make more maps memorable?
I dunno… I didn’t like either of those maps… However I can tell you Lockout was amazing because of all the CQC and ranged options as well as escape jumps that could be completed for a skilled player.