Welcome to Team Duck Hunt!

… wait

Team Duck Hunt?

Creator: Sasquatch210
Map Used: Foundry
Recommended Gametype: Open Season (VIP)
Recommended Players: 12-16 (all numbers supported)

Basic Gametype Explanation

Team Duck Hunt is symmetrical, and rightfully so. The main open area of Foundry has been divided in half with two teams of ducks running just feet from each other on opposite sides of that dividing wall. Each team has a VIP with a sniper in a sniper's nest on the side of the other team's ducks. Their job is to hold off the ducks on their side longer than the other team's VIP can hold off those on their side. The wall separating the two teams has a few fence walls that allow you to see what’s going on over there. The ducks get several pieces of equipment along the course to assist in their critical journey to the end: 1) An instantly respawning bubble shield, 2) a deployable cover which respawns at a medium pace, and 3) a flare which respawns slowly. Once a duck reaches the end, they must retrieve the rocket launcher and custom powerup to pulverize the other team’s demonic VIP. Essentially, this is just regular sniping duck hunt but with two games going on at once, and ducks don't have limited lives. This makes it like a strategic race. For red team to win, red team's VIP must hold off blue team's Non-VIPs longer than blue team's VIP can hold off red team's Non-VIPs.

The Spawn System

Due to the fact that VIPs and Non-VIPs spawn at the same points, I had to find a way to separate them. The eventual solution was to make two small rooms, each with their respective team’s spawn points, and fill those rooms with fusion coils and a mancannon to start an explosion. The VIP is strong enough to shrug off the damage and walk into a teleporter which sends him or her into the appropriate sniper’s nest. Non-VIPs die instantly and respawn five seconds later at the beginning of the course.

Confused? I am too. So I’ll just bring you right to…

Happy Pictures!

The Spawn (Only the VIP survives)

The Respawn (Where the ducks start the course)

A Sniper's Nest

The First Floor

The Second Floor

Both Sides

Overview of One Side

The Part Left Out by the Overview

The Conclusion

NOTICE! If you download, read the following statement!

Due to the fact that the number of snipers is constant at two but the number of ducks can change drastically, it is important to edit the speed of the ducks depending on the total number of players:

16 Players – 75% Speed
14 Players – 90% Speed
12 Players – 100% Speed
10 Players – 110% Speed

Other speeds can work, but these are the recommended. However, parties of over 12 have not been tested so the speeds for 14-16 players have been estimated.
For those parties which consist prominently of good snipers, you might want to move up one speed interval and vice versa for poorer snipers.

This game has one simple Honor Rule:

VIPs must enter the teleporter

Reasons to obey:
Seriously, who doesn’t like shooting flightless birds with 50.cal scoped rifles?
The game just won’t work otherwise…
Everyone will hate you if you don’t.
Bigfoot wants you to.

Detailed Gametype Details

Respawn Time is five seconds
Respawn Time Growth is on at five seconds (discourages ducks from running out randomly every time)
VIPs get lots of damage resistance, a sniper rifle, and only ∞ bullets
Custom powerup gives ducks instant kill and waypoint visible to all
Ducks are killed in one shot anywhere
Ducks cannot fly :(
3 Minutes of fun per round; 5 rounds

Videos!!! (Unfortunately teams are uneven, but the game still worked)

Flightless: A day (round) in the life of a duck (Non-VIP)
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The Nest: A look at one side of the map
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The story of the map

Honestly, it’s a miracle that this map ever got completed. I finished the forging of the fundamental, core part of the map on 11/11/2008. Then I made the respawn points. Then I was about to place the spawn points…

But I had overlooked something immense. You cannot spawn VIPs separate from Non-VIPs. At the point I realized that, I recall yelling and quitting the game, thinking I had wasted hours of idealization and creation. And then the map lay dormant and dusty on my hard drive for weeks. Months. A year. It barely evaded deletion on multiple occasions. I just didn’t want to fully nullify my effort in what I had originally thought was a brilliant idea.

February- March 2010. I hadn’t attempted a full-fledged map since September of the previous year. I was weary and tired of forging all together. With a fateful bit of luck, I started a game of Forge on the map. I wondered around, thinking how long it had been since I had placed the walls, crates, and barriers which formed the essence of the map. This game was brief, but it made me think the next few days in school during study hall. Something finally clicked and I realized that if I had the budget left, maybe I could complete the map. As luck would have it, I found that I had nearly $100 left to make a spawn death-box for both teams, more than enough. A month and a bunch of fusion coils later, the map was essentially finished, playable.

But the narrative isn’t over just yet. It was finished on 4/10/2010. But why has it sat unattended for so long? I almost couldn’t post it before Reach… because of the lack of sufficient numbers of testers. No matter what, I would end up testing with 6-8 people and a flawed gametype, and it would suck: which would make me more reluctant to try it next time. This pattern continued until I finally played it with a game of twelve people and a fully functional gametype last month. It was awesome. A few minor upgrades to the map and game later, here I am, typing a novel on its forgehub map post.

Details

I have received a few minor complaints from testers about the Respawn Time Growth. I have chosen to keep it because I think it makes the game as a whole a bit more competitive and gives you even more incentive not to charge and die blindly. Plus, compare it to regular Duck Hunt maps: would you rather wait 15 - 20 seconds late in the game (if it even lasts that long) or never respawn at all? Mhm I thought so.

I ask that you please aren’t too critical of the quality of the forging of this map. Rather, I would prefer a review of the overall concept and execution of that concept. Sure, not everything is flawless and I realize that; there is only interlocking where it is truly necessary, but I have made sure that there are no bumps when you walk the course the regular way. I would make the map more aesthetically appealing, but I simply don't have the time.

I was given a $700 budget by Bungie, and with that I set out to create a unique and fun Duck Hunt experience– not the most aesthetic. It’s fun, but I don’t have time to make it a work of art. Please don't hold that against me.

Finality
I want to remake this in Reach, but due to the exclusion of VIP as a gametype, I would need to find a new way. Also, if there are any errors, inconsistencies, or confusing phrases in this post I apologize. Feel free to ask.

Lastly, a VERY Special Thanks to...

Bungie: For making Halo
Microsoft: For making Xbox
343 Industries: For making it easier to memorize 7^3
My Testers: Testing this was a BLAST! Thanks to all who endured the early (bad) days!
The USA: "Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America!"
Foundry: I am happy to leave you behind, but you will still be missed
Forge: Without you, we would be nothing
Flightless birds: Target practice time? I think so.

Enjoy Team Duck Hunt! See you in Reach!

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