Halo 4 The Legend of Aihab: Mingo's Mask

[Berb]

Aihab - A linear progression infection map by The Berb 9 and ConfuseFlamingo

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Map Download Link

Gametype Download Link

Recommended 14-16 players

Desc: Hey guys, Mingo and I would like to present to you our recent co-forge infection project, currently under the awesome temp. name Aihab.

When Aihab was being conceived, both myself and Mingo decided it was a good idea to explore linear progression infection, an area outside of our comfort zones of Invasion and 1v1 respectively. Because we were essentially completely new nubs to infection forging, we browsed and learned from many other linear progressions out there, looking at what they did right and wrong, and how we could create a fun, immersive experience for all players. To try and accomplish this, we focused on two main areas in which linear progressions greatly differ, where proper designs separate from corridors of coliseum walls. These areas are The Experience Playing as Infected and The End of the Map / Objective.

I'll explain a little more after these teaser pics:


An overview of the zombie's 'raw spawn' with the teleporter hub. The human initial is in the background.


Viewing the start of the game as an initial zombie.


Protip: Watch your back when entering risky weapon locations.


A view of the first and only holdout point on the map.

The final stretch - Zombies come from everywhere. Only true heroes make it through here.

Now if you're reading this part you must be interested in the two areas previously mentioned that we tried to focus the map on.

The Experience Playing as Infected - After looking through maps, we saw one thing that became very common: playing as a human was fun in pretty much all, but only in the best maps was playing as a zombie also a really enjoyable experience. With this in mind, we laid out the map with plenty of space for only zombies to move around in, space to freely roam and utilize their advantageous movement traits. These spaces also doubled up as very efficient zombie spawns, giving zombies plenty of movement options so as to not constrict them (which causes the boring zombie slaughters).

End of the Map - The main concept behind linear progression infection is that it has an endpoint - a final goal/objective. This goal/objective is reached by progressing through the map in a linear fashion (thus the name). During this progression, as more humans become infected, the challenge to reach safety (the end) becomes ever more difficult. Now this increasing difficulty is contributed to by many things like zombie spawns, the amount of infected, the map terrain itself, and weaponry. This increasing challenge should therefore find its peak at the end of the map, where zombie count is high, and ammo is low.

Now, what a holdout finish does well is the epic grinding-out victory, but it completely throws out all purpose of the map being a linear progression. It does this because humans would have in many cases, actually have been better off just holding out anywhere on the map such as right at the beginning or an easy to hold point along the way. So, instead of working towards survival(the ultimate goal), the humans jeopardize their lives and safer places just to reach a finish that all in all rewards them very little.

I personally would say that a linear progression needs some form of room or area that is actually the only safe place on the map, so the survivors are only rewarded with survival if the work together and get through the difficulty. One thing I find is that though letting out a war cry after a successful holdout is enjoyable, tediously working against the clock herding some final bros into the room, with a massive horde in tow, and shutting the final door, watching the crate fall down to seal the final victory, is true satisfaction. The few men who have made it let out a universal sigh of "Yes..." as a million droplets of sweat evaporate from their brows in one. Victory.

If you guys want to see the full map, just send me a message here or on the xbox. Thanks for viewing, and be sure to come to BIOC on Sunday where this map will be tested.

- Lots of Love, Berb and Mingo

[pyro6666]

Good to see you've posted this here. At the risk of flattering you, berb, I'll say this it the only infection map I actually enjoy. The style is much more competitive and fun than any other infection I've played.

[Flyingshoe ILR]

You guys did an awesome job on this map. Starting from having little infection forging experience, you have created one of the most fun and most paranoia inducing (for humans at least) linear infection maps out here. In every game I've played I have enjoyed being a zombie, I actually relish the thought to being a starting zomb on Aihab. While it's usually set up on infection maps that humans can move more on their own and zombies have to set up ambushes, here it feels partially flipped, with humans having to pack together for any chance of survival and zombies getting a bit more freedom. You guys have made something special here. And the explosion? Totally worth the 8 hours it took to set up.

 

Seriously, props guys. This one earns a spot with the big shots of Linear Infection, whoever they may be.

[Berb]

Thanks for the comments guys! Yeah, we've been working very hard to bring a near-competitive experience to the infection gametype, and we feel that Aihab's getting close.

[Guest Oakley HiDef]

I was able to play on this and it was a really really cool map. The aesthetics were nice and clean. Exploding falcon at the beginning was great and the hold out area at the end with the scrawled messages was a nice touch. Gameplay was also pretty good and shows a clear understanding of how to build these types of maps well.

 

I would just say that there should be maybe a couple changes to the map before we feature it.

1. there should be a loadout camera which there wasnt (at least in the version I downloaded)

2. humans had a very difficult time getting to the end

 

The zombies spawned close to the beginning but this want an issue. What was is the fact that from their spawn they could easily get past the humans from the rooftops and camp around the corner of the path. Alot of the times the zombies were able to always be on top of the humans. Along this same type of problem was the teleporter system. It was well designed but sometimes seemed to give the zombies too much of an advantage. The prime example of this was the one way shield door area. Once the humans are allowed to go though the zombies can immediately spawn on the other side of the door. This seemed a bit unfair and made it very difficult for humans to survive.

 

I would say that you should maybe limit the zombies a bit in the beginning. Not the initial zombies but upon respawn the zombies should be forced to chase the humans down the path rather than jump ahead of them. While this may make it hard for the zombies to push forward you could maybe place the first teleporter in such a way that it allows them to move up and place the zombies in such an advantageous position that the humans must fall back. (we had issues of humans standing in the beginning and camping with all the ammo they got rather than progressing)

 

You should maybe also shorten the map a little bit so that when the humans get through the shield door it isnt at the same time that the zombies get their final teleporter. Maybe limit some weapon ammo as well.

 

Otherwise ****** awesome map man, hopefully this feedback helped

[REMkings]

I was able to play on this and it was a really really cool map. The aesthetics were nice and clean. Exploding falcon at the beginning was great and the hold out area at the end with the scrawled messages was a nice touch. Gameplay was also pretty good and shows a clear understanding of how to build these types of maps well.

 

I would just say that there should be maybe a couple changes to the map before we feature it.

1. there should be a loadout camera which there wasnt (at least in the version I downloaded)

2. humans had a very difficult time getting to the end

 

The zombies spawned close to the beginning but this want an issue. What was is the fact that from their spawn they could easily get past the humans from the rooftops and camp around the corner of the path. Alot of the times the zombies were able to always be on top of the humans. Along this same type of problem was the teleporter system. It was well designed but sometimes seemed to give the zombies too much of an advantage. The prime example of this was the one way shield door area. Once the humans are allowed to go though the zombies can immediately spawn on the other side of the door. This seemed a bit unfair and made it very difficult for humans to survive.

 

I would say that you should maybe limit the zombies a bit in the beginning. Not the initial zombies but upon respawn the zombies should be forced to chase the humans down the path rather than jump ahead of them. While this may make it hard for the zombies to push forward you could maybe place the first teleporter in such a way that it allows them to move up and place the zombies in such an advantageous position that the humans must fall back. (we had issues of humans standing in the beginning and camping with all the ammo they got rather than progressing)

 

You should maybe also shorten the map a little bit so that when the humans get through the shield door it isnt at the same time that the zombies get their final teleporter. Maybe limit some weapon ammo as well.

 

Otherwise ****** awesome map man, hopefully this feedback helped

 

I'll feel free to reply for Berb and cover your issues above, because I helped him testing this map and got to learn the mechanics of this map, such as why it is so difficult and why zombies have the opportunity to drop down on the humans.

 

To save myself time and to stay close to the source, I'll just quote Berb himself here and I go into more depth on why I love this map over here. I'd read both comments Oakley.

(To sum things up: Get to know the map as how it's supposed to be played (by checking out the links above), and you'll absolutely love it.)

[Guest Oakley HiDef]

I'll feel free to reply for Berb and cover your issues above, because I helped him testing this map and got to learn the mechanics of this map, such as why it is so difficult and why zombies have the opportunity to drop down on the humans.

 

To save myself time and to stay close to the source, I'll just quote Berb himself here and I go into more depth on why I love this map over here. I'd read both comments Oakley.

(To sum things up: Get to know the map as how it's supposed to be played (by checking out the links above), and you'll absolutely love it.)

 

Yeah took a look at the posts and it shows a lot of the details and strategy of the map. I got the impression that the map was already strategic from our test but there were still a couple small things we most likely have to fix before featuring it. No spawn camera (at least in the version I downloaded, don't know if it has been updated yet) and the zombies teleporting behind the shield door just as humans are let through

[Erco 'Zjadee]

You done a great job on this map, keep it up.

[Douglas 042]

Looks pretty cool man i'll be downloading it.

[Cry0G3n1c]

nice map

[Berb]

I'll get that loadout camera mess up fixed right away. I'll leave an updated download link in this post.

[Spinssss]

This map has left me nothing short of speechless.I love the clean asthetics and great weapon placement. Thats smart I wish I had thought of that.You inspired me to make a new map.

[Guest Oakley HiDef]

Great job guys. Guessing you already saw this but we featured the map:

 

[WARHOLIC]

Great work on this, definitely opened my eyes on the longevity and enjoyment from linear style infection maps. Each time or "party" presented a new experience to the game as it required team progression, coordination and defensive strategy. Glad to see this featured and looking forward to reading all of the positive feedback from the community as I know it'll be well received. Can only hope that you guys carry this project over in the next title sometime as I know how much delicate work and craftsmanship was required for its making. See you guys Sunday:)

[CrustyChristian]

Yeah took a look at the posts and it shows a lot of the details and strategy of the map. I got the impression that the map was already strategic from our test but there were still a couple small things we most likely have to fix before featuring it. No spawn camera (at least in the version I downloaded, don't know if it has been updated yet) and the zombies teleporting behind the shield door just as humans are let through

I agree, I found the game very fun and had to use a lot of stratigy to stay alive! But after the survivors are let through the first holdout point, the zombies were already onto us! I found this a bit distressing because we didn't really have a chance. I suppose it does work, but I personally think maybe an extra 10-15 seconds would be sufficient.