Whac-a-Mole

Created by REMkings

Prologue
This minigame is based on Whac-a-Mole (or Whack a Mole), a popular carnival game. The object of the original game is to force the individual moles back into their holes by hitting them directly on the head with the mallet.
I thought it would be really interesting to turn this into a Halo Reach compatible minigame. Of course it wouldn’t be as much fun to give the ‘whacking’ player a gravity hammer replacing the mallet, so I decided to use sniper rifles instead.

Overall picture of the map

History

[Here I will explain the history of the process of forging this map and finding a proper gametype. If you’re not interested just skip until the next horizontal rule.]

First I tried to make it an Infection variant but I couldn’t make the teleporters work properly to add a random chance of getting to the sniper, giving the moles a reason to have a flutter and jump up. I mean, if you can get 10 points for killing the sniper, you would have done the same right?

I couldn’t think of any other way and I almost gave up on the whole idea – which was too bad since I already created the map for it – until I saw a YouTube video made by ducain23, a great forger by the way, in which he featured his newest map called Snipe-A-Mole, also based on Whac-a-Mole. His usage of the Slayer gametype inspired me to not give up on my version and think of something new.
So that’s where I came up with King of the Hill. This version finally suited my intentions and I was ready to show it to my friends - and eventually post it on Forge Hub.

The Map
The major part of the map is centered around a huge platform, or a box actually, with nine holes in it (picture above). The Moles will spawn under the surface (picture below)of the platform while the Snipers will spawn in a small building in front of the box (picture below). The Sniper have a good sight on the surface of the map but they won't see the Moles until they fly up into the teleporter.

The underground

The sniper hut

The Rules
The gametype was made using King of the Hill, and the whole principle is about preventing the other team from entering the hill. The defending team (the snipers) have to shoot the 'moles' who are flying upwards into the hill and then into a teleporter which puts them back under the ground. The moles can kill the snipers too, if they are talented enough with the sniper rifle. You have only 1 life per round so the round ends when all the moles are killed. The game consists of 6 rounds so that means you have to attack 3 times and snipe 3 times. It supports up to 8 people per team but I only tested it with 2v2, which worked fine. I don't think 8v8 is a good idea though.
It might be possible to walk around in the hill as a mole but you will most likely get shot within a few seconds.

Traits [check it out if you’re interested]

These are the major elements:
· 100% health
· Normal shields
· 200% damage modifier
· 120% speed
· 0% jump height
· Normal gravity
· Bottomless clip
· No armor abilities
· Forced color: Brown

Now it’s time for some more pictures and action shots!

In the picture up here you can see the Sprint armor ability. That has now been taken out.

Good things about this map in my opinion:

1. The sniping is really challenging but not too challenging because of the fact you don't have to reload.
2. Fair opportunities for both teams because the rounds are even. Remember you can only play with the red and blue team!
3. The aesthetics look fine, I attempted to put some effort into the looks of the map. (I really doubt if that’s English by the way, sorry if not :S)

Defend your coat of arms

Bad things about this map in my opinion:

1. Though I tried to remove the opportunity to walk on the huge platform, it might still be possible to get up there.
2. Due to the height of the hill you sometimes don't seem to score a point. There’s no way I can fix that because if I lower the hill height you can go stand at the end of the underground because of the surface uplift. And if I make the hill higher and with that the teleporter, the gravity lifts won’t be powerful enough to lift you upwards enough. You will score a point though after you were in the hill during a full second, but it might look like you don't score points every time.

Videos

I highly suggest checking these videos out! They will explain a lot, even though it was sometimes only 1v1 or 2v2.

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More!

My first ever video of gameplay on Whac-a-Mole. It's only 1v1 so please check out the spoiler to view more, better videos!

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UPDATES:

Gameplay:

Halo: Reach Minigame - Whac-a-Mole Full gameplay - YouTube

Features/Commentaries:

Tyler Feague was the first to make a video about my map on his YouTube channel, so I could show it to you guys. You can view down below. I would highly recommend checking his channel out because he makes great videos for YOU about YOUR maps, definitely subscribe to him!
(Click here for his channel)

My Forgings: Halo:Reach: Whack-A-Mole - YouTube

As you could already see above the spoiler I've also made another clip of this map with some gameplay, this time it wasn't 1v1 but 4v5. Click here to view this clip on my fileshare.

Other YouTube videos of the map:

Halo Reach Epic Maps Episode 85: Whack A Mole - YouTube

Forge Review 82 - Whac-a-Mole - YouTube

Epilogue
Thank you for reading, I would love to hear your feedback so I can improve some things and I hope you’ll have a great time playing this if you’re going to download this minigame!