http://www.bungie.net/Stats/Reach/FileDetails.aspx?fid=24307222&player=Rorak%20Kuroda
http://www.forgehub.com/forum/reach-competitive-maps/133871-opal.html http://www.forgehub.com/forum/reach-competitive-maps/133873-lux.html

Is your life lacking excitement? Azula may be right for you. Azula is a 1v1 map designed to help counter prolonged periods of boredom. Do not play Azula if you are nursing, pregnant, or may become pregnant. Do not play Azula if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. Talk to your doctor to see if Azula is right for you. If your doctor knows what he's talking about, it will be.

Weapons List
1 Sniper Rifle / 0 Spare Clips / 90s
1 Grenade Launcher / 1 Spare Clip / 60s
1 Active Camo / - / 100s
1 Custom PowerUp / - / 60s
1 Health Pack / - / 30s

The design concept for Azula started with the simple idea of a central atrium with three differently heightened openings into that atrium. It should be noted that most of these openings, in their fruition, can be sprint-jumped between. I originally wanted the bottom of that central area to be a teleporter sender that you could fall into and be sent to different receivers around the map. Early on, I deemed that concept to be a tad too radical and just went with the three-opening bottom-mid.

While we're talking about bottom mid, you should know that it houses the grenade launcher. On a quick respawn time (60 seconds), the two-shot grenade launcher repeatedly gives players the choice of giving up their height advantage if they wish to nab the handy launcher. This poses a great risk versus reward factor that is balanced so that a player isn't always choosing one option over another. Timing the grenade launcher, along with timing your run for it, is a key factor in triumphing on Azula.

Another one of those key factors is a player's utilization of the two power-ups. The active camo and custom powerup are on relatively long respawn times, 100 and 60 seconds respectively. They, like the grenade launcher, force the player to give up an advantage and involve some risk to acquire them. The custom power up is placed on the ground, in a corner, in sight from one of the power positions on the map. Set to MLG settings, the custom powerup gives you 200% damage resistance and 50% shield recharge for 30 seconds, acting almost like temporary armor. Active camo is placed quite literally out on a limb. Accesible from only two point on the map, this "limb" is out in the open, very much in the sight lines of the two higher central platforms. Time your run for the camo carefully to ensure your opponent has no idea you have it.

The last main power weapon on Azula is the hometown favorite sniper rifle. A threat on most maps, the sniper doesn't pose as much of a threat on Azula as you would expect. Housed in the overhang corner of the map, the sniper almost acts as a support weapon on a map as small as Azula. Using it to get body shots on your opponent and then finishing them off with your DMR has proven to be a more efficient use of the sniper on Azula. Don't underestimate it though, it definitely is still a threat in the right hands.

The last aspect of the map I'd like to discuss is that of player movement. You will probably be surprised to learn that there are zero ramps from the bottom of the map to higher elevations of the map. The main modes of vertical transportation revolve around pretty much everything but ramps on Azula. Lifts, the teleporter, and jump-ups are the avenues of choice for people who want to get higher. The scarcity of ramps makes player movement very unconventional on Azula, which makes gameplay rather interesting and different from the norm of Halo.

Special Thanks

Rorak Kuroda
Obviously at the top of the list is this cool cat who partnered with me on the Iridescence project. Without him this map, along with the other two maps in the map pack, would be no where near as developed as they are now, even though he beat me 99 times out of 100 in our 1v1 games.

Erupt
This awesome possum helped test Azula with me many-a-time and was a great help in the development of the layout of the map.

Rho Fs
This bum doesn't play much Reach anymore, but when he did, Rho was one of my top testers for Azula.

Noxiw
Even though he probably doesn't know it, this rad giraffe was the one who basically told me the that the whole teleporter concept I mentioned earlier was stupid. He didn't say that exactly, but I know what he meant. :P

Solo XIII
Again, even though he probably doesn't know it, Solo helped a ton with the weapon layout on Azula, with most of the suggestions he made making it on to the final version of the map.

iTs NeXn
The creator of many fabled 1v1 maps, NeXn's map Luca provided a lot of inspiration for Azula.

Longshot
I ask for fancy threads, you give me threads that look as if they were formed by the hands of some sort of demi-god. I ask for them to be finished whenever you feel like it, you finish them almost as quickly as I asked for them. And you've got a big penis to boot. Thanks man, for everything. Especially the super awesome threads.

Bloo Jay
I just edited myself in your post to see if anyone would notice.

Azula
Iridescence 1v1