The Grid

ThPerfectDrug77 · 09-04-2008

THE GRID

A Remake of the original Perfect Dark 64 Map

Hello all. I'm not new to forgehub by any standards, but i haven't exactly posted a lot of maps. i posted one a long time ago but then the site switched servers and it got deleted anyway. let's just call this one my first. i forge all the time, but i don't want to post something until i'm completely satisfied with it. So with that, i'll introduce The Grid. It was my favorite Perfect Dark level in the days of N64, and i managed to translate it very well into Halo. It features floating objects, interlocking, and a tiny bit of geomerging (the first time i ever tried it.) The map's been finished for months, but its been under testing ever since. It is built for Free-For-All slayer with about 2-6 players, and due to a problem with the budget glitch, i can't set it up for much else. In any case, FFA is what it was built for, and what it works best with. I can say that only one person i've played with so far knows the original map from Perfect Dark that this is based off of, but there has not been a single person who didn't enjoy it either way. So download it and give it a shot. You won't be disappointed.

Here's the basic layout:

The map is comprised of two large main rooms that are connected by a series of halllways and smaller rooms.

DESCRIPTION

I'm incorporating my pictures into the description since it's kinda hard to explain the map without them.

1. Refer to the picture at the top of the post to kick off the walkthrough of the level. I'd copy it, but there's a limit to picture count. In it, you'll notice one of the maps most notable features: the pallet bridge. While it does not completely do justice to the original level's bridge of glass, it's about as close as you can get. You will also see the dumpsters that are used as the pillars. The turret is a reference to the planting of a Laptop Gun at the same spot. Unfortunately, it won't shoot on its own, but you can still get a few good kills.

2. This is the lower level of the same room. As you'll see in the picture, the crate and barriers are used solely as platforms for getting up to the second level. This was the only big thing i changed from the original level, but it ended up really enhancing the gameplay. There is a trip mine on the platform just above the crate. On either side of the crate are the entrances to the two hallways leading back to the second main room, but they're really just boring old hallways, so i won't show them till the action shots.

3. Back to the top of the room again. As the Diagram shows, the room leads into two smaller rooms on the second level. The first one is my personal favorite. The shotgun room. It's a small rectangular room-inside-a-room with a shotgun in the center. Now weapon placement in Perfect Dark was always different, so this never was the shotgun room. In my map, it is. I like this room for the fact that it looks just like the old one, and for all the crazy combat situations i've gotten into while in there.

4. The ramp shown in that picture leads downstairs, where you will do a 180 and end up facing the shield door hallway. I know some people's feelings on shield doors, but i couldn't simulate doors that opened and closed from the old level, so i took the next best thing. There's 2 or 3 sections of this small halllway, depending how you look at it, and it usually houses everything you'd imagine: sticks, beatdowns, shotgun/mauler kills. Its more of a passage than a battlefield though. It leads to the second main room, which i'll get to later.

5. This is the second room leading out of the main room. The old level had a bottomless pit with a path leading around it, but i didn't have the resources or imagination for that. I just put a fence box with a path around it, which allows you to still shoot across. Yes, there is a firebomb in this room, but don't worry. I treated it as a power weapon, by giving it a long respawn and making it the only one on the map.

6. This is the staircase leading down from the firebomb room. It's rather common for someone to dive off the stairs and kill you from above, so watch yourself. There's a regenerator in the spot underneath the stairs where ammo boxes were in the original. The shield door leads out to the second main room.

7. Voila, the second main room. Its only on the ground level, and its fairly open. There's a few "pillars" and another turret at the end (also used to be a good spot for laptop guns.) Though there is often less action in here than in the other main room, its a good spot to escape to from basically anywhere else.

8. Now onto the elevator. It connects the second main room to the top level of the first main room. As any rocket scientist can see, it is not actually an elevator. Though i could have put lots of time and resources into making a timed elevator, or even one that you triggered to go up like in Perfect Dark, i decided not to. For one thing, a timed elevator gives the player no choice on when he goes up or down. And an elevator that you can trigger to go up AND down is almost impossible to make, let alone put in my map. So i settled for a simple solution. There's two chutes. One has a grav lift so you can go up and land by the pallet bridge. The other chute has nothing, so you can drop down from there to here. It's simple enough, and it flows very well in-game.

9. Here is the elevator from the other side. If you jumped into the grav lift from where the other picture was, you'd come out on the left side here. That's also why that custom powerup is there. That's the chute with the grav lift, so don't go down it. I mean, i can't stop you, but really, there's no point.

10. So there. Two main rooms with small rooms, halllways, and an elevator connecting them. As confusing as it looks, thats really all it is. I AM aware that you can get stuck in the elevator, but its very hard to. If you do get stuck, you can (A) Press crouch when you're falling and let go when you rise back up, freeing yourself in a few seconds, or (B) wait for someone to come along and kill you out of mercy. The choice is yours.

Thanks for reading my description, guys. It was a little hard to take pics of some of the small areas, but it makes much more sense if you jus walk through it. So go ahead and download, I know you'll enjoy it. I'd like to close off with one last note before the action pics...
****THIS MAP IS NOT PERFECT: My number one priority when forging this was gameplay, and gameplay only. Looks are important, and i did the best i could, but you will see flaws. Even with the budget glitch, i exhausted all my resources. So instead of being able to create a ceiling, i barely made it so that its 99% unbreakable. I say 99, cuz no one i know can break it, but you guys are creative and i'm sure you'll find a way. All i ask is that when you look at the map and the walls and boxes i used to close it off, just remember that if they look sloppy in some places, it is simply me sacrificing a little bit of aesthetics for much better gameplay. I think that tradeoff is more than fair, as this map has provided hours of fun for me and my friends****

ACTION PICS!

Caught up in some crossfire

Action by the staircase

Trip mine + Elevator = Hilariously Cruel

Battling for the Shotgun

Orange "convinces" Red to leave his hallway

Elevator camping occasionally works....if they don't have a shotgun

Showdown!

....Ok now we're BOTH f**ked

Brute Shot vs. Turret

Friendly reminder: the pallet bridge is a great vantage point. Grenade/shoot your enemies and then get the jump on them

Thanks for checking out my map guys, i hope to have more up soon. Whether or not you played Perfect Dark, i still know you'll have fun, so give it a shot. Here's the link one more time. THE GRID

EGP · 09-04-2008

Whoa, this map makes foundry look huge!
Ok, I like how the interlocking throughout the map is very clean, which makes gameplay way easier. I like the idea of two floors this also helps gameplay.

BTW Good Job on the post, the diagram helps a lot! Good JOb

SiN Fwang · 09-04-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by eguitarplaya33

Whoa, this map makes foundry look huge!

I agree. i like maps that make foundry bigger. the map itself has a simple design with some more complex elements to it (i.e. the elevators, the pallet bridge) i dont usually see maps that have actually GOOD elevators. they have the crate and deployable grav lift thing... so right on for that. 4/5. good design, neat and tidy. keep up the good work!

macpatterson · 09-04-2008

very well done. I LOVE the pallet bridge, it looks neat, and as it it would greatly add to gameplay. the only thing I thing may need some help is the elevator, possibly use a curved top so the people get pushed out instead of float there.

What was the issue with setting up other game types. possibly someone else could help you.

other then the game type issue, 4.5/5

Fallen Flame · 09-04-2008

The map is looks very well done. I'd DL for sure but my Xbox died..... Anyways the interlocking is nice and clean, the bridge is one of the best destructable bridges that I've seen lately. Just one question how long is the shotgun respawn, and how many clips does it have?

ThPerfectDrug77 · 09-04-2008

Quote:

Whoa, this map makes foundry look huge!
Ok, I like how the interlocking throughout the map is very clean, which makes gameplay way easier. I like the idea of two floors this also helps gameplay.

BTW Good Job on the post, the diagram helps a lot! Good JOb

thanks. it does seem pretty big when you play, now that i think of it. but having two levels helps with that a lot. i saw a few other people remake the same map, and instead of the second floor being two boxes high, it was only one box high. i felt like that was too lazy and didn't allow you to jump down on your enemies as well, so i wanted to emphasize height on mine.

Quote:

I agree. i like maps that make foundry bigger. the map itself has a simple design with some more complex elements to it (i.e. the elevators, the pallet bridge) i dont usually see maps that have actually GOOD elevators. they have the crate and deployable grav lift thing... so right on for that. 4/5. good design, neat and tidy. keep up the good work!

thanks again. the elevator itself is actually really simple, but i felt like making one of the more complex elevators would just look good while taking away from the functionality. and i didn't want to sacrifice gameplay, so i stuck with this. doesn't look amazing, but it works just fine.

Quote:

very well done. I LOVE the pallet bridge, it looks neat, and as it it would greatly add to gameplay. the only thing I thing may need some help is the elevator, possibly use a curved top so the people get pushed out instead of float there.

What was the issue with setting up other game types. possibly someone else could help you.

other then the game type issue, 4.5/5

the problem with the curved top is that the grav lift doesn't have enough juice. a curved top would simply stop you instead of pushing you out. but really, jumping into the lift and holding forward isn't all that difficult. i know i shouldn't say that, but oh well :)

as for the gametypes, a problem occurred with the budget glitch. i'm not sure what or how exactly. so while my map turned out fine, it no longer allows me to place respawn zones or certain objective items. my only other choice would be to completely remake it, and it took me way too long the first time. i figured since FFA was the best choice for this map anyway, i might as well just accept it.

but hey, on a brighter note, if you wanna have fun with the pallet bridge, just plant the bubble shield on it, and then crash through to the lower level. one of my favorite moves lol

Quote:

The map is looks very well done. I'd DL for sure but my Xbox died..... Anyways the interlocking is nice and clean, the bridge is one of the best destructable bridges that I've seen lately. Just one question how long is the shotgun respawn, and how many clips does it have?

respawn is 180 and its got 1 spare clip. when i say i've been testing for months, i mean it 100% lol. hypothetically speaking, the shotgun allows you 12 kills every three minutes, not accounting for any shots you miss and the fact that it gets passed around between different players. so it works well in my opinion

Box Cat · 09-04-2008

This map is sexy! Interlocking is near perfect and looks original.
The only reason I won't DL is cause I am not a fan on this style of map.
3.99999999999991/5

Bass Forger · 09-04-2008

Great Map! I love seeing people make those pallet or fence wall bridges it makes me quite :). Well anyway it is an absolutely fabulous map except for the whole shotgun and shield door thing :/. I know you say you've tested it and all but.. It still looks like trouble to me. It also looks like you have used most, if not all of the advanced forging skills and for that you deserve a 5/5! + rep, and a Bass Forger's sticker (5 stars rating on Bungie and here.)

Keep Forging!

ThPerfectDrug77 · 09-04-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bass Forger

Well anyway it is an absolutely fabulous map except for the whole shotgun and shield door thing :/. I know you say you've tested it and all but.. It still looks like trouble to me. It also looks like you have used most, if not all of the advanced forging skills and for that you deserve a 5/5! + rep, and a Bass Forger's sticker (5 stars rating on Bungie and here.)

Keep Forging!

thank you. and hey, man. to each their own. thanks for the bonus prizes anyway lol

Shmahogenfogen · 09-10-2008

I like the bridge a lot. Two floors definately makes the map fun and playable. I only wish that my forging was this good....I don't have enough patience to do all that :) Anyways, it's a 5/5 and a dL from me.