Conflict v2.2
First off, this version is not over budget!!! I have $2 left over. So for those that need nothing more than a hot link, here. However, it seems that my pay per click ad didn’t work as well as expected when I released v1. So for those kids out there that spend more time on the forums than playing the game.—Below there is a detail description and pictures… so you can carrying on an intelligent debate about how much the map sucks without even playing it.

Name:: Conflict v2.2

Author:: Kon Artist

Map Layout:: 4 room bases (Red, Blue, Yellow, Purple)

Map Size:: 4-8 players

Map Variations:: MLG settings

Game types:: TS, CTF, KOTH, Ball, FFA

Weapons:: 4 Battle Rifles (1. rifle top each base), 8 Plasmas (2 under each side bridge) , 1 Mauler ( bottom center)

Spawns and Objective goals
TS- - starting spawns are top Red and top Blue, and all spawn points are neutral

CTF—starting spawns are top Red and top Blue. Flag at home.-- spawn area is 15 x 15 units = able to spawn in your base (top and bottom) and sides. Flag away—spawn area is an “L” shape along the out side of your base and is 7x12 x 7x12. = you can spawn in your bases and outside. Flag spawns back corner of Red and Blue.

KOTH—starting spawns are top Red and top Blue. All spawns are neutral. There are 4 hill locations, in order. 1) top center. 2) top yellow. 3) bottom center. 4) top purple.

Ball—starting spawns are top Red and top Blue. All spawns are neutral. The ball spawns top center.

FFA—Starting spawns are scattered throughout the map. All spawns are neutral.

Overview

Blue Base

Top Blue Base

Bottom Blue Base

Open “A”

Closed “B”

Bottom Center

Conflict call-outs

For center of the Map- courtyard
courtyard:: all the bridges in center 5 total
Center Hill:: the 3.5 x3.5 sq. top center with Boxes
Ball:: very middle of top courtyard
Bottom court:: under center bridges
Mauler:: bottom center b/t the Boxes where mauler spawns

For the Bases- Bases are Color coded— Blue, Yellow, Red, Purple
Red Base:: Blue, Yellow, Purple
Top Red:: Red Base top floor (top Blue, top Yellow, Top Purple)
Bottom Red:: Red Base bottom floor (Bottom Blue, Bottom Yellow, Bottom Purple)
Red door:: the door way that connects the Red Base (the front door way) to the courtyard (Blue door, Yellow door, Purple door)
Closed Red:: the top door of Red Base to closed “B” street (Closed Blue, Closed Yellow, Closed Purple)
Open Red:: the top door of Red Base to “B” tower --the long side of the map (Open Blue, Open Yellow, Open Purple
Red BR:: the BR in the back top of Red Base (Blue BR, Yellow, BR, Purple BR)
Red flag:: the sq. b/t ramps in the back of the base. (Blue flag, Yellow flag, Purple flag)

Side of Bases and bridges- There is an A & B side to the map—the long side is open with the large “A” & “B” towers and the stairs. Closed side – is shorter and has a drop down from Closed street ( the bridges) and has a jump up out of the pit area before the courtyard.
Red Stairs:: the stairs connected to Red Base (Blue stairs, Yellow stairs, Purple stairs)
Red Jump-up:: the Jump-up next to Red Base on the short side out of “A” pit (Blue jump-up, Yellow jump-up, Purple jump-up)
Open A:: the large “A” side (connects Blue Base and Purple Base)
Open B:: the Large “B’ side (connects Yellow Base and Red Base)
Closed A:: the flat bridge on A side (connects Blue Base and Purple Base)
Closed B:: the flat bridge on B side (connects Yellow Base and Red Base)
A pit:: the area under short A b/t Blue Base and Yellow before bottom court
B pit:: the area under short B b/t Red Base and Purple before bottom court

Conflict v2.2

Time Line and Explanation of Conflict.

For a few people here on this site, that see beyond Halo, beyond Forge. . . this is for you. As some of you know, I have made quite a few maps in the Halo 3 “map editor” . I have utilized the tools and options that Bungie has given me access to. With my current education and knowledge I couldn’t successfully sit down in front of a computer and create my own game. Neither, could I sit down in front of a computer and MOD a game. However, I do know how to play FPS and I know how to design maps. I hope that many of you have enjoyed playing some of my maps. Most of the maps have been over budget. The reason is that I have been more concerned about refining my design skills than frame rate problems on split screen. So Bungie, I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to get my ideas out of my head. . .And I want to slap you for making it so hard to do. So again, for those that think past Halo, and have larger dreams and goals. . . here is a time line of Conflict v2, form thought to realization! Grab a Mountain Dew, this is long.

The Idea!

When you look at Conflict you can see the layout is 4 base symmetric. It was an after thought of Impact, a map that I made back in May. Many of the design decisions in Conflict are a result of what worked and didn’t work on Impact. So lets start there. Impact, came from the Idea, of a group of people that rebuilt a living area around a crater. The “Impact” destroyed the whole city—and the survivors built a living area around it as a memorial. That was the idea and concept. Now came the design elements that infused the art and science. The art-- look and feel. The science-- things that directly affect game play (Geometry, LOS, Cover, Routes, etc.).

Design 101—Paraphrased from Competitive Level Design Guide - From a Quake 3 Perspective. Complete article can be found here"]here
The function of the level is to create a continually interesting playing field for the players. Without any items at all, a level already presents several new strategies for the players. All of these strategies in and of themselves give the players sufficient reason to traverse the level, if only to gain the tactical edge.

Higher Ground
Multiple Routes
Cover
Distinct Geographic Features
Sound Cues
Verticality
Balance
Flow
Connectivity

To the Drawing Board

I still use pen and paper in the 1st stages of design. The map started with the idea stated above. Basically a large crater or circle in the center of the map. I thought that a large center that blocked LOS along the bottom level of the map would make some interesting game play, be a distinct feature, and serve as a useable transition between the two levels. The Bases, were inspired from stockpile (designed by KC) and the sides came from Embezzlement ( a 2 base map I made just before Impact). The map was intended to hold 4-6 players and primarily play 5 man FFA, which was the standard at the time. I wanted the map to have a circular flow to it; with enough surface area to hold 6 players. Each of the open ramps are at a custom angle adding to aesthetics and playability. Notice the transition in impact complexity level design, as players can move freely through the map with ease. Here are two of the first drawings I made for Impact during the concept phase.

Impact-- concept

Impact—concept

Impact took about 1 month to forge in foundry. I would work on it about 20-30 hours a week. Version 2 was finished about 3 weeks later, with minor fixes to geometry and the addition of team game types. Impact is one of my most popular map with over 4,000 downloads between the two versions. You can download it here

Impact v2.0

Back to School

After the update on Impact, I stopped forging for about 2 months. That doesn’t mean that I stopped thinking of new ideas for maps. I was busy finishing school. At the beginning part on June, I starting working on an intro college statistical course. It was the last class I needed to graduate and ironically one of the first ones that your supposed to take. On the 15th of August 2008, I received my Bachelors of Fine Art. I also have an associates in Art and Science. So that’s how I came up with the gamer tag “Kon Artist” for those wondering where it derived from. I had put off finishing my degree for awhile, due to the fact that it wasn’t affecting my current work and career direction. However, I have made a decision to take my love for art and video games and unify them into one goal. I plan on opening my own development studio! So who knows, maybe one day MLG will be running games on a game that I have made. However, that is still a ways off— so I continued where I left off, using forge as a place to refine my design skills. . . Bungie can I have a job now?

Room for Eight

As I said, I still worked on map layouts and designs when I was finishing school. Over those two months I came up with conflict. The story behind conflict is this:: After the Impact the people built a dwelling place around the crater. It was a utopia environment. A few years later, one group of people became hostile and threats of aggressive expansion lingered in the air. So the four groups started to fortify their living spaces. The only neutral ground became the courtyard, which no one ever entered.
Layout-- again addressed the problems in Impact. I call them problems, because Impact only held 6 players and I wanted a map that could be taken seriously for 4v4 and 8 man FFA. My main focus with Conflict was safe spawns.
Solution—larger bases that are more fortified than typical MLG style maps. I had to be careful when making a base that has limited lines of sight. I balanced this with multiple routes into each base. This kept the balance, flow, and connectivity of the map.

Conflict-- Blue Base (blue cir. are spawns points, green arrows are opening into base)

The bases design did not vary to product in version 1. In version 2 boxes were offset to create cover outside and inside the base. Here are a few drawings of Conflict.

Conflict—concept

Conflict—concept

How to Build

Forging can be very relaxing. . . if you have about 1,000 hours of music on your ipod. There are no real short cuts in forge, its easy to learn and impossible to master. Forge is a stubborn tool and only yields to patience. Anyways, here is a few tips to optimize your building time as much as possible. First, after you have a drawing or sketch of your layout— build a rough draft. What I mean is, don’t geo-glitch anything, just throw objects around to get a feel for size, flow, LOS, and of course material management. Here is a picture of the 1st build.

Conflict—1st build

Final build: everything is in place, neat and smooth. Here is a few tips to get your map symmetrical and smooth. Spawning areas always form a line on the true “X” and “Y” axis. Set a spawn area to 30 units high—then make the width Zero—then make the length 60 units. This will give you a nice blue straight line across the map to line up symmetrical parts, like bases or ramps.

Conflict— forge

Yeah… I have American Express

Conflict version 1 was about $300 over budget! Not something you and your friends would want to play split screen. I have not paid too much attention to budget, because I have been more interested in developing my ideas than anything else. I look at each map as an art project and build them with the most care, or tell I run out of mountain dew. As you can see in Conflict, there is not one singular object laying around. Getting players to forget that they are in foundry is key to mood and feel of a map. Many object are combined to create structures and unique angles. Conflict v1 was finished off by numbering the bases with teleporter light—an idea that came from forge legend Nexn.

Conflict v1.0

But We’re In A Recession

After many test on Conflict. Lets say I didn’t get any real bad feedback. And the only feedback I got was, “wish it was in budget”. Then it was brought to my attention that Bungie would be putting together a user created play list. And to qualify, you have to be in budget. So Fritzster challenged me reconfigure the map with-in budget. Version 2 is the final build of the map. It took about a week and a half to build version two. I didn’t start over, but quickly said goodbye to the teleport lights (that was about $100) and the top row on the bases. Also, “A” and “B” were completely reworked because I felt they were over simplified and ugly in v1. I felt that the long side needed more options and cover. The new “A” and “B” sides help increases flow of the map and pull it together as one work of art.

Conflict v1.0 “A” side

Conflict v2.0—“A” side

Forging Ahead

I could write a whole lot more about the thought process and theory of map design… But I am an Art major, not a journalist. So what next? I plan on making at least one more map with forge in foundry. I have already designed it and have the rough build done. After that, I plan on moving on to another editor and a PC modding team. From there I will land a job working as either a concept artist or multiplayer designer at a studio. Finally… I plan on having my own development studio were I can over see my own production. For those that have ambitions, dedication, passion, and dream. . .go for them. Bungie, we could accomplish world domination together. Thank you for making a great game that was a good place for me to start. click here to download Conflict v2.2