Lava Pit 2 and Sacrifice 2

http://www.bungie.net/Online/Halo3UserContentDetails.aspx?h3fileid=117944277

The original Lava Pit was created by the talented “Predator5791,” probably best known for his amazing forge screenshots. I fell in love with Predator’s simple design way back when it was on “Bungie Favorites,” and my friends and I have thoroughly enjoyed it as a great casual map in between more competitive sessions. But I’ve always felt it could use a facelift and some minor gameplay alterations to make it even better.

If you’ve never had the pleasure of playing Lava Pit (it’s been downloaded nearly 300,000 times), the concept is very simple: players spawn on a large square platform with an open pit in the center and attempt to push each other off using a variety of vehicles within 10 short two-minute rounds. It’s basically bumper cars meets Halo.

As fun as this can be, unfortunately there are several nagging issues that I feel need addressed.

1. First, scoring is inconsistent and confusing. With the provided gametype, Sacrifice, players score as you might expect: by not dying. However, the victorious player is not rewarded with any points. Rather, everyone else receives negative points for dying. Oftentimes players are killed by the Guardians, though, and thus do not receive a negative. Obviously this presents a major flaw in the gametype.

In my version, Sacrifice 2, scoring is much more straightforward. I used a King of the Hill variant that only allocates one point per round to the last player alive who is within the hill’s parameters.

2. Secondly, once you die you have to wait out the remainder of the round in death-cam mode until there is only one player remaining. This can be especially annoying in a big party or when you die first.

In my version, I have kept Predator’s one-life per round model, but I also allow the recently deceased to spawn outside of the hill, in an inescapable platform overlooking the play area (think Bungie’s “Sumo Grande”). Inside this temporary prison are two spike grenades and a brute shot that appears 60 seconds into the round. With these weapons at his disposal, a respawned player can still interact with the main floor and help his team win the round or just cause mayhem for those below.

3. And finally, Lava Pit looks decent enough but the texture flicker (z-fighting) can be very distracting. To remedy this, I completely remade the entire platform (with similar dimensions) and smoothed out the floor in the process.

These aren’t the only changes I’ve made, either. I took the liberty of adding additional vehicles and several equipment items that can really shake things up. Near the center of the map on each side is an item: a trip mine, grav lift, flare and most notably a custom powerup. This powerup grants the user 10 brief seconds of a higher damage modifier, 150% speed and normal gravity, allowing for one quick kill of an unsuspecting foe. However, the user is also weaker and thus more susceptible to being splattered. It may not sound like much, but a seasoned player can put it to great use.

Also, 2 Prowlers appear 30 seconds into the game and 2 choppers appear 90 seconds in.

So long story short, I took Predator’s basic design and remade it from the ground up in my own slightly altered adaptation featuring a new game variant. If your one of many who have enjoyed Lava Pit at all, then I think you’ll like Lava Pit 2, the unnecessary sequel.

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