Name of the map: Phenomenal
Compatible gametypes: All except Zombies, Invasion, and Race
Number of players supported: 8-12
Important Notes: [tl;dr] I got the idea for and started creating this map back in Halo 3’s skybox but never could finish it due to the inherent, imprecise nature of the Forge engine in H3. When I saw Reach’s updated Forge engine and what it could do, I knew I could finally finish it. I began working on the map literally day-one of Reach’s release, anticipating a contest would eventually be held by Bungie. When the Forgetacular contest was announced, I started sinking all of my free time into it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t chosen, and has not been featured in the community playlists to my knowledge. So this is my attempt at trying to get it a bit of the attention that I think it deserves.
I had absolutely no prior forging experience when I started this. I watched a few tut videos but largely learned the ropes through my own trial and error, and there were plenty of errors. At roughly 95% complete, I had to completely dismantle and rebuild this map, piece by piece, which took roughly 8 hours by itself. I can’t even estimate the total hours invested in the creation, testing, and tweaking process altogether.
The map’s inspiration draws mainly from the simplicity of Halo:CE maps; think Derelict but in the sky with an open bottom. It’s a small to mid sized map but finds itself feeling bigger due to the lack of direct routes from one side of the map to the other. It was built primarily with Slayer and Classic CTF in mind, but, in playtesting, I found Oddball, Headhunter, and Stockpile to all be very enjoyable due to how the map plays. From a technical standpoint, I think I’ve just about tweaked it to perfection. Through a very large number of playtests with my friends and individually, I’ve got the spawns set up as good as any Bungie-made map for all gametypes, which was one of the most important things to me. Weapon balance is great, and there’s little nooks and trick jumps to be had all over to add depth to the map. And, of course, it’s simply a lot of fun to play on.
If you actually read through all this, kudos. And if you intend to download and give my map a shot, I can’t tell you how much it means to me. All thoughtful criticism is more than welcome, and I am not adverse to digging back into this map and making any changes that the community sees fit. I love this little guy to death and I just want to see him get some notice.
Screenshots:
OS Hall
Center platform facing OS Hall
Red Teleport
Link to download:
Download me!