Halo 4 Reclaimer Map Pack (Vitality, Fracture, and Diocese)

[Mike Foster]

This is just a teaser for my upcoming "Reclaimer Map Pack" featuring the maps Vitality, Fracture, and Diocese. All three maps are heavily Forerunner themed, and inspired by Halo CE campaign

and multiplayer settings.

 

 

Vitality

 

 

Vitality is a remake of my Halo 3 Bungie Favorites map, Frailty. Located on the largest of Forge Island's anvils, Vitality has a scope and scale that handily dwarfs it's predecessor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fracture

 

 

Fracture has been in limbo for a few months as I worked on Vitality and Diocese. It was, for lack of a better term "finished", but I felt more testing was still needed. I am thrilled at how the Forerunner aesthetics came together, it really gives me that warm sense of nostalgia from CE. This was designed mainly as a 1-Flag and Team Slayer map, but also plays KOTH as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Diocese

 

 

Diocese was inspired from a single hallway, from a brief section of CE's campaign (also reappearing at the end of Halo 3). I, for some odd reason, felt compelled to integrate that scene into a map, and I'm pretty confident I succeeded. Diocese is influenced by campaign, and maps like Hang 'em High, and Damnation. While Diocese doesn't have any specific layouts or structures lifted from those maps, it does have multiple layers and lots of vertical elements that mirror it's source material.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So that's the preview in a nutshell. Some fo the recent screenshots for Diocese didn't show up, and I didn't have time to take more to show off Red and Green areas. The maps are up on my fileshare right now, so feel free to give them a look over (better still, run some customs!) and let me know what you think. I'll be updating the maps as feedback comes in, and I'll make an official release when everything is set in stone. Thanks everyone!

 

Vitality

https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/games/halo4/fileshare/details/568222b9-09ce-4dd0-9a4e-a7463bed1149

 

Fracture

https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/games/halo4/fileshare/details/c67dee45-5506-4dcf-99ee-017ee1aa7d30

 

Diocese

https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/games/halo4/fileshare/details/9602f65f-58ca-4760-a07d-8fc8fc77c148

 

[VinWarrior]

I like the look of Diocese very much, the other two are okay, in my mind, but Diocese wins it, nice job,

[Mike Foster]

Thanks for taking the time to reply Omega. Good to hear Diocese caught your attention. As for the others, is the flat terrain a turn-off? I understand some aren't too keen on flat maps.

[Choot 'em]

Congrats on getting all three maps completed Mike! I admire Vitality and Fracture but, like Omega, I feel more drawn in by the originality and aesthetics of Diocese. Have downloaded for a test run.

[VinWarrior]

Thanks for taking the time to reply Omega. Good to hear Diocese caught your attention. As for the others, is the flat terrain a turn-off? I understand some aren't too keen on flat maps.

 

I am an aesthetic person, I feel like Diocese has a sense of original UNSC architecture, while the others are kind of just bland forerunner and dirt, while Diocese is on a ship, ergo, more different types of surroundings, instead of just one big arena.

[Squally DaBeanz]

Vitality: Weren't you gonna get a rockmod for this one? Because as it stands now, it's pretty open and pretty flat. If there's anything you can do about that, I would highly recommend you do it.

 

Fracture: Similar problem here, but not as extreme. I think if you could maybe simplify some of the structures to save you some budget, allowing you to make more interesting spaces to fight through instead of just water, rocks, and the occasional platform.

 

Diocese: I really like what you were going for on this one, but the map was pretty broken when I last played on it XD I can't quite tell from the pictures, but I'm hoping you made more hard routes throughout the map and fixed the camping spots.

[Mike Foster]

Vitality: Weren't you gonna get a rockmod for this one? Because as it stands now, it's pretty open and pretty flat. If there's anything you can do about that, I would highly recommend you do it.

 

Fracture: Similar problem here, but not as extreme. I think if you could maybe simplify some of the structures to save you some budget, allowing you to make more interesting spaces to fight through instead of just water, rocks, and the occasional platform.

 

Diocese: I really like what you were going for on this one, but the map was pretty broken when I last played on it XD I can't quite tell from the pictures, but I'm hoping you made more hard routes throughout the map and fixed the camping spots.

 

I'm putting them out in hopes it gets attention enough that someone may volunteer to mod them. I've been hearing rumor that the mod community has kinda gone dark. Nobody's getting responses to requests, I guess.

 

Vitality has had some work done since you saw it last. Both blue side platforms gained some bulk for added LOS blocking, and the mantis area has also received a facelift. Because of these expansions, I could re-purpose some of the natural pieces better.

 

As for Diocese, there have been changes made (I'm also redesigning Red side), and I'll be testing it again tonight. I moved the sniper to bottom purple next to the new lift that goes to top purple, rockets are top gold, OS is bottom gold, and there is a tele going to top blue. I'll inv ya if you're on.

[Flyingshoe ILR]

The first 2 maps seem to make use of a lot of what we call "lazy cover." Basically, the maps are extremely flat outside of the base structures  and lines of sight are blocked by random parts placed around the map instead of being segmented by structures and height variation. This leads to a maze-like map where players run around until someone pops up in their face. There are no defined routes between bases or parts of the map, simply a lattice of places you can walk with no distinct advantages or disadvantages, leading to sterile gameplay. A bit thing that developer maps feature is segmentation via large structures such as rock cliffs, arches, tunnels, or buildings. The maps in matchmaking are almost all split into specific areas by these structures, such as how the center area splits up Exile or how Meltdown is split by it's bumpy walls and the 2 central rock spires near each base. This way there are defined areas on each map that players can thoughtfully move through instead of just a maze of directions the player can go, forcing players to think about how they want to move through the map. On your first maps I only see a maze with possibly a few loosely defined routes. I'm not proposing that there is an easy way to fix this on these maps, and most likely they would need a full redesign to avoid this problem. It is more something to remember for the future. 

 

The structures on Diocese, the third map, look interesting, but the pictures don't really show the layout of the map very well, instead showing mostly interior close up shots. It can be hard on smaller or more enclosed map but I'd try to get a few good overview shots so we can tell how the map would flow.