Maps should be simple. Not cluttered blobs.

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

Alright, first of all, aside from this sentence, I don’t want to hear the word “Sprint” out of anybody, okay? I’m taking a break from that in this thread. Map design encompasses far more issues than just [REDACTED], so we should be able to manage. :slight_smile:

Map design was a strong point in the older Halo games. I think this was because each map was designed for a purpose. Basically, I’ve got the MCC Multiplayer map book, I’ve been flicking through it, and the older games had some very basic designs for maps.

  • Symmetrical, linear. You have two bases at opposing ends of a straight line. Blood Gulch, Valhalla, etc.- Symmetrical, U-shaped: You have two bases at opposing ends of a U-shape. Sidewinder, and Avalanche are like this.- Symmetrical, circular: Typically, control of the center is vital in these maps–there’s usually a power weapon there. Combat also takes place around the perimeter. Midship is always a good one to refer to.- Four-way symmetry: These maps would have four bases, arranged around the edge of the circle/square/octagon/whatever. Example: Wizard.- Figure-eight maps: Literally, maps which are in the shape of the figure 8. Ice Fields and Infinity work as examples.- Vertical maps. Haven’t had too many of these, Really, they’re just maps which take place on multiple levels. Boarding action and Gephyrophobia and Sword Base were good examples. [Edit: I’m talking about the entire map basically being being on three or four levels, not just little isolated towers whilst the rest of the map takes place on ground floor or two levels].- Asymmetrical maps–like Zanzibar. Zanzibar was a really good asymmetrical map because it had a clear progression. You started at the beach and you tried to get past the cliff, and then the spinning wheel of doom, and then finally had to break into the generator complex. It would have been great for Invasion. There was a similar map to this in Halo 3–High Ground.- Chiron TL-34. Honestly, this map just goes into a category of its own. It’s…fragmented? Disconnected? Insane? I don’t even know where to begin…Each of these maps work well for a specific gametype. Asymmetrical maps like Zanzibar work for Assault or Invasion gametypes. Circular maps often have that power weapon in the middle, for fun slayer matches. Figure eight maps and u-shaped maps are usually good with vehicles. Symmetrical, linear maps are good for CTF gametypes. King of the hill–well, the circular maps are basically one big king of the hill battle, anyway.

Really, all the gametypes can probably be listed as a variant of one of these: Slayer, Oddball, CTF, King of the Hill, and Race. I have no idea what Chiron TL-34 was used for. A short trip into insanity, maybe?

Then, when I flick through the booklet to Halo 4, I see a lot of maps which aren’t any of these. They’re just great big blobs. I can’t tell where the primary bases are. I can’t tell what gametypes would be used on them. I see an awful lot of clutter which is an impediment to vehicles for most of the map. I see so many nooks and crannies that deviate into their own little separate areas that the maps don’t even feel like a cohesive whole. What is going on?

Now, in the Halo 5 Beta, I saw a couple of maps which were just…mazes which go nowhere. Most of the battle in Empire was done in those two little areas outside, if I recall correctly, with players basically ignoring the middle. Truth had players just ignoring the middle, and skirting around the edge, and people were either trying to snipe eachother with the DMR/Battle Rifle from across the map, or were giving eachother the run around the edge. Orion and pegasus…I didn’t get any clear indication of what sort of design those maps had. I’ll go with cluttered blobs. Didn’t play the breakout map, and weren’t the other ones reskinned “Truth” and “Empire” maps?

Anyway, let me know your thoughts on the Halo map designs. If we can get through this without mentioning [REDACTED], I’ll be happy.

Edit: According to thy Reaper MC, I need to actually state that I do understand that maps can go into more than one category. It’s fairly clear cut which category or categories maps go into in Halo 1, 2, and 3. It’s not anywhere near so clear cut in Halo 4 or with Orion/Pegasus [at least for me]. Maps in Halo 4 seem to have far too many individual routes to get from A to B. Thanks for the heads-up, thy Reaper MC! Much appreciated. :slight_smile:

2

Pop a shotgun in bottom middle in Truth, exchange the inside sniper for a shotgun in Empire, and a lot of the issues are fixed.

3

> 2533274932540799;2:
> Pop a shotgun in bottom middle in Truth, exchange the inside sniper for a shotgun in Empire, and a lot of the issues are fixed.

Truth shouldn’t have needed fixing. It’s just a remake of Midship and Heretic. Empire…I think we’d need a lot more than just one shotgun on the map. I feel like both Truth and Empire might require some kind of shotgun/sniper gametype.

But Orion/Pegasus was definitely cluttered, and I didn’t think it followed any of the designs listed in the OP. Bit of a messy map, I thought. I could be completely wrong–but from what I saw, the Beta doesn’t give me much confidence for the overall quality of map design in Halo 5.

4

> 2533274880692195;3:
> > 2533274932540799;2:
> > Pop a shotgun in bottom middle in Truth, exchange the inside sniper for a shotgun in Empire, and a lot of the issues are fixed.
>
>
> Truth shouldn’t have needed fixing. It’s just a remake of Midship and Heretic. Empire…I think we’d need a lot more than just one shotgun on the map. I feel like both Truth and Empire might require some kind of shotgun/sniper gametype.
>
> But Orion/Pegasus was definitely cluttered, and I didn’t think it followed any of the designs listed in the OP. Bit of a messy map, I thought. I could be completely wrong–but from what I saw, the Beta doesn’t give me much confidence for the overall quality of map design in Halo 5.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but weren’t Orion and Pegasus Forge created maps that the community picked out to be released? Either way these maps that were shown were no where near what will be released in the final game. They were used to test the the infrastructure in both maps created in house and maps created through forge. I would of like to have seen either teleports or man cannons in both maps. I’ve always loved using those.

5

While there are crossovers that can be in more than one category, it appears there is an attempt to falsify the data;

Symmetrical, linear. You have two bases at opposing ends of a straight line;

Symmetrical, U-shaped;
You have two bases at opposing ends of a U-shape. Sidewinder, and Avalanche are like this.

Symmetrical, circular;

Four-way symmetry;

Figure-eight maps;

Vertical maps;

(and really, you can’t think of vertical maps like Hang’em High, Construct, Countdown or Prisoner?)

Asymmetrical maps;

Yes, it appears we are missing a non-Forged U-Shaped map in H4. The rest of the accusation(s) are without substance. Halo: Reach had a lot of vertical levels to boot. I mean, HELLO; jetpack and Falcon!!!

> 2533274880692195;3:
> > 2533274932540799;2:
> > Pop a shotgun in bottom middle in Truth, exchange the inside sniper for a shotgun in Empire, and a lot of the issues are fixed.
>
>
>
> Truth shouldn’t have needed fixing. It’s just a remake of Midship and Heretic. Empire…I think we’d need a lot more than just one shotgun on the map. I feel like both Truth and Empire might require some kind of shotgun/sniper gametype.

And to question, this thinking; How is it believed that what we had in the beta was what the map is getting? A Covenant themed map is going to feature human weapons near exclusively??? Think about it a bit more than what we had was the end package.

6

@thy ReaperMC

No attempt to falsify the data. I’m just looking at the maps from an overhead view in the MCC Collection handbook. Maps from Halo 1 to 3 I can categorize quite easily. Halo 4…they’re a mess–except for Exile, Haven, and Monolith, where I can quite easily pick out the 8, the…well, Haven’s quite interesting because it’s more of a half-circle, and Monolith, which is basically the symmetrical, circular, control-the-middle map.

Oh, you put Exile in the “Asymmetrical” section. Would you like to have another look?

Seriously. Go and look at the maps from an overhead view. Most of them in Halo 4 are a mess. There are so many pathways that you can’t tell what they’re supposed to be.

I’m not going to list every map. I only spent a maximum of five minutes creating the OP, and I mostly just listed stuff from Halo CE and Halo 2. I’m sorry if I derped by not putting really obvious maps in there.

So please, don’t insult me by stating that I’m falsifying the data. Maps were easily distinguishable into their categories in Halo 1, 2 and 3. Maps aren’t so easily distinguishable, and are far more cluttered in Halo 4. Hence “cluttered blobs.”

7

I did take a look at what you’re looking at… And I seriously question your conclusions if you’re not falsifying statements.

Especially when you consider this as other than asymmetrical.

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> 2603643534597848;7:
> I did take a look at what you’re looking at… And I seriously question your conclusions if you’re not falsifying statements.
> Especially when you consider this as other than asymmetrical.

Can you not see the giant figure-8 track in that image? It’s yellow against the green.

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> 2603643534597848;5:
> While there are crossovers that can be in more than one category, it appears there is an attempt to falsify the data;

Meltdown plays with a figure-8 with bases separated by the crossover, Exile has a 3 pronged pathway between bases and can be used as a figure-8 for racing.

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> 2603643534597848;9:
> > 2603643534597848;5:
> > While there are crossovers that can be in more than one category, it appears there is an attempt to falsify the data;
>
>
> Meltdown plays with a figure-8 with bases separated by the crossover, Exile has a 3 pronged pathway between bases and can be used as a figure-8 for racing.

I can agree with that. But the fact that it took a while before you could see where I was coming from with Exile being in the figure-8 category tells me that maps in Halo 4 really aren’t that clear cut.

I made an assumption that I didn’t need to state that maps could go into more than one category. It’s still a lot more obvious which category or categories the maps go into in Halo 1, 2 and 3 compared to Halo 4, isn’t it? Anyway, apparently I was wrong. I need to explicitly state that I know that maps can go into more than more than one category if I want to avoid being accused of falsifying my data. Thanks for the heads-up, and for being both helpful and understanding on this issue.

11

If you ask me, 343 is just trying to incorporate the new armor abilities and wall climbing (clambering? I forget - only played the beta a few times), and they forgot to keep the flow in maps that halo’s known for. They probably couldn’t handle both the new and old they were trying to use. The trick for a new game is to keep just the right amount of “old,” and add just the right amount of “new,” and 343 is obviously quite new to that

12

> 2533274823601925;4:
> > 2533274880692195;3:
> > > 2533274932540799;2:
> > > Pop a shotgun in bottom middle in Truth, exchange the inside sniper for a shotgun in Empire, and a lot of the issues are fixed.
> >
> >
> >
> > Truth shouldn’t have needed fixing. It’s just a remake of Midship and Heretic. Empire…I think we’d need a lot more than just one shotgun on the map. I feel like both Truth and Empire might require some kind of shotgun/sniper gametype.
> > But Orion/Pegasus was definitely cluttered, and I didn’t think it followed any of the designs listed in the OP. Bit of a messy map, I thought. I could be completely wrong–but from what I saw, the Beta doesn’t give me much confidence for the overall quality of map design in Halo 5.
>
>
> Correct me if I’m wrong, but weren’t Orion and Pegasus Forge created maps that the community picked out to be released? Either way these maps that were shown were no where near what will be released in the final game. They were used to test the the infrastructure in both maps created in house and maps created through forge. I would of like to have seen either teleports or man cannons in both maps. I’ve always loved using those.

Yes…? Just because it’s a Forge map is no excuse for poor design. How do you know that Orion and Pegasus won’t be released in the final game? I mean, I’m inferring that you think that those maps could be vastly improved from your statement. Considering that you can recreate Beaver Creek and other maps in Forge mode now, I expect to have good map design, too.

Glad you mentioned teleporters and man-cannons. I always loved those, too. They are a really fun and dynamic way of getting across the map quickly and getting back into the battle.

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> 2535419439751551;11:
> If you ask me, 343 is just trying to incorporate the new armor abilities and wall climbing (clambering? I forget - only played the beta a few times), and they forgot to keep the flow in maps that halo’s known for. They probably couldn’t handle both the new and old they were trying to use. The trick for a new game is to keep just the right amount of “old,” and add just the right amount of “new,” and 343 is obviously quite new to that

Well, no. Clamber is basically just jumping, isn’t it? You shouldn’t have to change the map design for these abilities. You can have vertical maps without jetpack–with ladders, teleporters or gravity lifts, or just jumping/crouch-jumping onto each consecutive ledge. Actually, there’s something that maps tend to forget about–little tunnels or shortcuts that you can use to get from A to B–or, if not, you could walk on top of the tunnel, because it’s also a bridge.

I don’t really see any reason why map-routes and map design has to change significantly in any way to accommodate abilities.

14

Have you noticed that the older maps of Halo has been more clustered and compact than the newer maps, hence why anti sprint people like yourself, always say that the maps are to elongated because of sprint, same concept. Yet you are kind of contradicting yourself right now.

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> 2533274836143427;14:
> Have you noticed that the older maps of Halo has been more clustered and compact than the newer maps, hence why anti sprint people like yourself, always say that the maps are to elongated because of sprint, same concept. Yet you are kind of contradicting yourself right now.

I did notice that old maps were smaller and more compact. I also noticed this little feature in custom games when I could change my base player speed—reduce it to half, move at 10 times speed, whatever. The maps still worked well enough within a certain range of velocities, so velocity isn’t the problem here.

I also noticed that I did ask people to refrain from mentioning [REDACTED], because there’s more to map design than that. If people can’t talk about map design or other topics without mentioning it, then they’re missing out on about 99% of the sandbox. I can equally argue that map design and weapon ranges and ammunition count and everything else has a knock-on effect on the rest of the sandbox, too, so I guess we should always mention them on every single topic which touches on Halo’s gameplay.

I wanted to create at least one gameplay thread without having people mention [REDACTED]. Can you not understand that?

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> I have no idea what Chiron TL-34 was used for.

Shotguns-NoShields from what I played of it, really popular on Halo PC.
I guess the strangest, most gimmicky map ever invented needs an equally gimmicky gametype to function.

> Anyway, let me know your thoughts on the Halo map designs

Shame, I thought you were going to be telling me your thoughts.
I’m not an expert in map design, in fact to be honest I’d say I know very little.

Adrift

Three sections separated by a giant amount of choke points.
What is the intended purpose of this?
What gametype is this supposed to work with?

This is the impression pegasus has left on me.

So basically little reason to actually leave red. To me this seems like they were going for a 1-objective map, if I had to take a wild guess.

Or for an actual overview of the map.

17

I think the maps have become stale and unimaginative in terms of geometry, most of the time I found myself either moving aimlessly around or just sticking in the spawn. Sure they look stunning in the visual department, but that’s not a priority when you can’t play on visuals.

The map designs have shifted between all of the games. Halo 2 doesn’t have a prisoner like map, Chiron or Boarding Action for that matter. But it had Headlong, Relic, Terminal and Lockout. Then while Halo 3 didn’t have any of those, it had High Ground, Sandtrap and Guardian. Reach was perhaps were it started to go down hill in the MP map department. Halo 4 suffered from some sort of “sameness” all over the maps.

> 2533274880692195;15:
> I also noticed that I did ask people to refrain from mentioning [REDACTED], because there’s more to map design than that. If people can’t talk about map design or other topics without mentioning it, then they’re missing out on about 99% of the sandbox. I can equally argue that map design and weapon ranges and ammunition count and everything else has a knock-on effect on the rest of the sandbox, too, so I guess we should always mention them on every single topic which touches on Halo’s gameplay.
>
> I wanted to create at least one gameplay thread without having people mention [REDACTED]. Can you not understand that?

Here’s the problem, mobility based features are a large part of map design. If you introduce wall running, you need to make sure that maps are made in such a way to meaningfully incorporate that wall running. If you introduce ridiculously high jump heights, then you need to increase wall heights where you do not intend players to get over them.

> 2533274880692195;3:
> Truth shouldn’t have needed fixing. It’s just a remake of Midship and Heretic. Empire…I think we’d need a lot more than just one shotgun on the map. I feel like both Truth and Empire might require some kind of shotgun/sniper gametype.

But pop in Midship into Halo 5 and you would only have a field to play on, not a “maze” to navigate through. Because of certain mobility features.

> 2533274880692195;13:
> Well, no. Clamber is basically just jumping, isn’t it? You shouldn’t have to change the map design for these abilities. You can have vertical maps without jetpack–with ladders, teleporters or gravity lifts, or just jumping/crouch-jumping onto each consecutive ledge. Actually, there’s something that maps tend to forget about–little tunnels or shortcuts that you can use to get from A to B–or, if not, you could walk on top of the tunnel, because it’s also a bridge.
>
> I don’t really see any reason why map-routes and map design has to change significantly in any way to accommodate abilities.

Clamber is the action of grabbing an edge and climbing up on the ledge or platform to which the edge belongs to. It increases your highest jump height by atleast 3/4 of the whole spartan and also in a forward direction. If you keep jump height consistent with what it was before, introduce clamber and then not design jumps and walls with clamber in mind, you’ll open routes that will make the map play a lot differently than how it was intended to play, potentially destroying the flow of the map.

Yes, you can have vertical maps with ladders, telepoerters and grav lifts, the difference being that they are static entities on the map, not in the case of the Grav lift equipment though. But that is still limited to one or how many they decide to spawn. Still not the same as crouch jumping.

If I’m quoting it correctly:

Map design is part result of mobility player base traits
Man cannons, teleporters, ladders and other mobility based assets on the map are results of map design

They are two completely different things.

Why does map design have to change to accommodate mobility based player traits?

Because mobility based abilities completely change the behavior of a player’s ability to navigate a map.
If I put a wall that I intend for you to not jump over, disregarding clamber, for some reason, perhaps I don’t want you to have line of sight, reduce your travel time or deny you the area from that angle. You are able to override all those intents with clamber. You change the map flow and balance, something that’s important for a map to play well.

Prisoner is an excellent map in my opinion. I found it to play horribly once Jetpacks came into the picture.
I also tested a Forge Boarding Action in Reach. Jet packs needed to be disabled for it to work like before.

Sprint increases travel speed, but in Halo 4, travel times were attempted to be kept in line with Halo 3 travel times, maps increased in size to keep travel times consistent with that.

Destiny has very few maps that in my opinion are memorable, because most of them turn into big open fields rather than mazes to navigate in. Simply because of the ridiculously high jump heights. The only one I actually enjoy playing on is Anomaly.

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> 2533274795123910;17:
> I think the maps have become stale and unimaginative in terms of geometry, most of the time I found myself either moving aimlessly around or just sticking in the spawn. Sure they look stunning in the visual department, but that’s not a priority when you can’t play on visuals.
> The map designs have shifted between all of the games. Halo 2 doesn’t have a prisoner like map, Chiron or Boarding Action for that matter. But it had Headlong, Relic, Terminal and Lockout. Then while Halo 3 didn’t have any of those, it had High Ground, Sandtrap and Guardian. Reach was perhaps were it started to go down hill in the MP map department. Halo 4 suffered from some sort of “sameness” all over the maps.
> Here’s the problem, mobility based features are a large part of map design. If you introduce wall running, you need to make sure that maps are made in such a way to meaningfully incorporate that wall running. If you introduce ridiculously high jump heights, then you need to increase wall heights where you do not intend players to get over them.But pop in Midship into Halo 5 and you would only have a field to play on, not a “maze” to navigate through. Because of certain mobility features.

Agreed. Visually stunning. A bit bland in gameplay.

> 2533274795123910;17:
> Clamber is the action of grabbing an edge and climbing up on the ledge or platform to which the edge belongs to. It increases your highest jump height by atleast 3/4 of the whole spartan and also in a forward direction. If you keep jump height consistent with what it was before, introduce clamber and then not design jumps and walls with clamber in mind, you’ll open routes that will make the map play a lot differently than how it was intended to play, potentially destroying the flow of the map. Yes, you can have vertical maps with ladders, telepoerters and grav lifts, the difference being that they are static entities on the map, not in the case of the Grav lift equipment though. But that is still limited to one or how many they decide to spawn. Still not the same as crouch jumping. If I’m quoting it correctly: Map design is part result of mobility player base traits Man cannons, teleporters, ladders and other mobility based assets on the map are results of map design They are two completely different things. Why does map design have to change to accommodate mobility based player traits? Because mobility based abilities completely change the behavior of a player’s ability to navigate a map.
> If I put a wall that I intend for you to not jump over, disregarding clamber, for some reason, perhaps I don’t want you to have line of sight, reduce your travel time or deny you the area from that angle. You are able to override all those intents with clamber. You change the map flow and balance, something that’s important for a map to play well. Prisoner is an excellent map in my opinion. I found it to play horribly once Jetpacks came into the picture.
> I also tested a Forge Boarding Action in Reach. Jet packs needed to be disabled for it to work like before. Sprint increases travel speed, but in Halo 4, travel times were attempted to be kept in line with Halo 3 travel times, maps increased in size to keep travel times consistent with that. Destiny has very few maps that in my opinion are memorable, because most of them turn into big open fields rather than mazes to navigate in. Simply because of the ridiculously high jump heights. The only one I actually enjoy playing on is Anomaly.

I think I know what the issue is here. Map routes don’t need to change. Map design does. Players require the illusion of choice for great maps. So, let’s just say you need to get from A to B, but there’s a gap. You could thruster pack over there. You could sprint jump and clamber over there, or you take the bridge across.

For vertical movement, you could jump up to a ledge, then jump up from that ledge to the level above. Or, you clamber up there as if there was a ladder. Or, you could use jetpack [If Halo 5 had jetpack], or you could use the gravity lift. Or you could use the ramp to get up there.

Basically, when you need to get from Point A to Point B, there should be a variety of different movement options to get there. However, they should all follow the same basic route.

I think 343 industries is trying to ensure that there are shortcuts which only work with a specific ability–like crouch-jumping or stuff like that in map design. That sort of thing doesn’t work. You should always be able to get anywhere you want to go by moving at base player speed and jumping. You can’t plan skill jumps ahead of time in map design. Players find those rare glitches or design oversights where they can skill jump or super-bounce. If you’re not intended to get to a location by that route, then you shouldn’t be able to get to that location by using any of the movement options available to you. If you’re supposed to get to that location by that route, then you should be able to get to it by using any of the movement abilities given to you. Does that make sense?

19

Favorite map Pegasus. Least favorite map was Eden, it was just no fun in comparison to its brother Empire. All the maps had great flow, and were very consciously designed. The powerweapons were also incredibly well chosen. Empire and Truth would definitely play better once the Spartan Charge is fixed to allow lunge and beatdowns and assassination from sprint. The Breakout maps, all two of them, played like amcharm. Highround, for long distance watches, and careful silent positioning wars, where one assist should could change the tide of battle. The mid ground on both maps worked as a sneak and close quaters zone, or a place to hide. The highgrounds doesn’t allow you to see within the mid mazes. Ground pound could be used effectively on both maps, and clamber makes it so that people in the mid can rise out in an instant and reposition. Overall I loved all of the maps

20

@Ramir3z77
Hey, come on. I know zip about map design. I just created this thread because you seemed interested in discussing map design, and I hadn’t seen a thread on it. Basically, my thoughts can be summed up thusly: keep it simple.

…

Oh, ok, I’ll give it a shot.

I can see some great shapes for maps on my keyboard. T, Y, U, I, O, A, S, D, H, J, K, L, Z, X, C, V, B. #, $, *, +, =. We could even have a series of maps which spell out HALO if we wanted to. Other 2-dimensional shapes, [which could have multiple layers] to consider are the triangle, the square, the pentagon, the hexagon, the heptagon, the octagon, the nonagon, and the decagon. Shapes like #, Y, X, T, +, =, E, W, etc, are great for secondary levels above the main action, with transportation to that level at each of the corners or ends.

Keeping maps simple in design works best. You don’t want a thousand and one routes with cover to get from A to B. All that does is encourage hiding. We don’t want that, we want players to easily be able to find each other and fight in multiplayer. I would say that a good rule of thumb would be that you should never be more than 5 seconds away from being able to see 50% of the map. You can have multiple levels which each have their own shape, you can have all sorts of nooks and crannies, but players need to be able to observe enemies and be observed by enemies. Another good rule of thumb is that players should never spend more than about…15 seconds away from a battle.

Something like that, anyway. If you are going to have maps which are complex mazes or fragments like Chiron TL-34, then they need to be small, once again ensuring that players aren’t too long away from a battle.

I guess another rule of thumb would be: the larger the map, the simpler you make it…at least horizontally. Larger maps probably could have a bit of complexity by being more vertical–and having more aircraft battles. But once again, the player should never be too far away from being able to see about fifty percent of the map. If teleporters or man-cannons can be placed to accomplish this, then that helps, too.

Portals and man-cannons and gravity lifts and ladders don’t really affect map design too much. Basically, they connect one point with another. So, ladders and gravity lifts connect each floor. Man-cannons and teleporters should send the player towards the centre of the map, or connect one side of the map with the other. This is enabling fast transportation to the battle zone. Examples would be Valhalla, Blood Gulch, and Beaver Creek.

Now, with interior/exterior maps. Maps should be primarily either exterior maps or interior maps. For exterior maps with bases, then unless you’re playing dominion or territories or king of the hill, then you should never have more than one interior structure on the map per team.
Let’s see if I can explain that point a bit better. With Zanzibar and High Ground, you progressed from an exterior map [beach] to interior. In most maps, you progress from Red Team’s side, to Blue Team’s side—or vice versa. You always know where the enemy team is.—if they’re not on the side of the map occupied by you, they are on the other side of the map.
For maps in Halo 4 like Complex, Longbow, Shatter, Abandon or Wreckage…you’ve got three to five structures, plus multiple nooks and crannies where players could be hiding—and they could be hiding in any of them. You basically have to search each of these areas in order to find them. Complex was particularly bad, because there were a bunch of interior tunnels and other structures where players could be hiding.

Those sort of maps only work when there’s an actual objective which changes location—because then it doesn’t matter how many structures or how much cover there is on the map, players are always going to be where that objective is, and you always know when the enemy is trying to get that objective. So, whether it’s capturing bases [dominion, territories], oddball, king of the hill—basically, it doesn’t matter what the map shape is—because players are forced into combating in those specific areas—and usually, there’s only one or two of those areas at any one time.
…
Yeah, ok, I think that’s it for now. I just made all of this up on the spot because you asked, Ramir3z77, so enjoy! :slight_smile: