Sandbox Vice

Debo37 · 07-20-2009

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to my latest Forging venture: Vice.
Link to Atlas thread

Vice is an asymmetric Crypt map designed with an urban layout - you know what that means! Buildings, alleys, streets, and of course, vehicles. The streets of Vice are easy to drive around on, and actually fun to drive around as well. Vice was designed to enable the player to play the way they want to, and this is evident in its layout. No matter how you play, you can play that way on Vice. I hope you enjoy playing it as much as I did designing it!

Vice is a fairly large map; it uses the entire floorspace of the Crypt for its setting. I recommend having from 6 to 12 players when playing a game on it. ;) The elevation provided by the map's design gives players plenty of ways to fight, making gameplay interesting and different every time! It's a cleanly Forged map - for those of you that judge maps based on their Forge quality, all of Vice's static geometry is interlocked in some way. This is primarily to prevent grenades from going into unwanted places, but it gives the map a clean look as well.

This map supports ALL gametypes, but recommended ones include Slayer, Slayer BRs, Team Slayer, Team BRs, Crazy King, Team King, Multi Flag, Assault, Neutral Bomb, Flag Rally, VIP, and Infection. Zombies can be quite a blast if the infected have low gravity.

Weapons
AR x 2
BR x 4 (max 10)
Sniper x 1 (max 2)
SMG x 2
Plasma Pistol x 1
Plasma Rifle x 1
Needler x 1 (max 2)
Brute Shot x 2 (max 3)
Rocket Launcher x 1 (max 2)
Sword x 1 (max 2)
Carbine x 2
Mauler x 1

Equipment
Frag Grenade x 4
Plasma Grenade x 8 (max 16)
Bubble Shield x 2 (max 4)
Deployable Cover x 1
Portable Grav Lift x 1
Overshield x 1

Vehicles
Ghost x 2
Mongoose x 1
Warthog x 1

Red Building

Red Building has 4 main levels of play and these major accesses: to the second floor of Mid via a bridge and the second and third floors of Snipe Building via a tube. Red's roof has access to top Mid by means of a jump.

Inside Red Building are 1 BR, 1 Mauler, 2 Plasma Grenades, and a Bubble Shield on the landing leading to Red's roof.

In Red's back alley are a Ghost and a Carbine. There is a Brute Shot between Red Building and Snipe Building.

Snipe Building
Snipe Building was under construction when the city fell. It has 3 levels of play - two large ones and one small one. It's missing a roof, but there are intact walls on the top level. The Sniper spawns in this building, and has a great view of Red Alley. From Snipe Building one can easily access Red roof, Blue's interior, and Mid.

The lowest floor of Snipe Building houses the map's Warthog, as well as two ramps up to the top floor. This floor of the building is a safe haven for vehicles - they often pass through and will possibly splatter you if you're not alert!

The top floor of Snipe Building possesses the Sniper and two SMGs. It's usually a hotly contested area - its close-quarters design will have you relying on your melee skills to wrest possession of the Sniper from the other team.

Mid Building

Less of a building and more of a central structure, Mid is a looming presence that possesses 3 levels of play. The second floor of Mid has a convenient dropdown hole into Bottom Mid, and Top Mid has the map's only Overshield.

Bottom Mid has the map's Rocket Launcher, and is a semi-enclosed structure perfect for close- to mid-ranged fighting. AR aficionados will love it here. The area is too open to be campable but closed enough so that it's a safe spot for people seeking refuge. Beware vehicles though! They can fit through the doors, and will thus use Bottom Mid as a shortcut from time to time.

Blue Building

Blue Building has 4 levels of play and accesses to Top Snipe, Top Sword, and Sword Balcony. The roof has an access to Top Mid as well.

The ground floor of Blue Building holds a Ghost, a Plasma Rifle, and 2 Plasma Grenades. The Ghost is poised to leave the building and head into Blue Alley.

The second floor of Blue Building possesses a BR and the aforementioned accesses. In the left of this picture is the ramp to Blue's roof - on the landing there is a Bubble Shield.

Sword Building

Sword Building has perhaps the map's most deadly weapon - the Sword. Perched atop its roof, the Sword is right out in the open. The risk of getting the Sword is definitely worth the payoff though - controlling the Sword can be key in controlling many building interiors. Above Blue Alley sits Sword Balcony, which links to Blue Building via a tube. On Sword Balcony sits a Carbine - perfect for fighting in the Alley's long line of sight.

The interior of Sword Building has 2 Frag Grenades and a Plasma Pistol, as well as a ramp up to Sword Balcony. The building's five entrances/exits mean that it's a pretty hectic place, but its good access to its half of the map makes it a point of strategic control that shouldn't be overlooked.

Blue Alley has a Brute Shot, and can be an everchanging place. Combat in this area of the map is sometimes vehicle-oriented, sometimes long range, sometimes mid range, and sometimes short range.

Goose Building

Goose Building is a well-connected cornerpiece of the map. It boasts 4 playable levels, accesses to Blue Alley, Sword roof, and Mid's second floor in addition to some tactical jumps to other regions of the map. Goose Building has a Needler near its roof, and a BR on the second floor (facing into Blue Alley).

Goose Building's interior houses a Mongoose, 2 Plasma Grenades, and a Deployable Cover. It can be a welcome respite from the hectic action of Vice's streets, and a wise player will pass through here from time to time to help his team regroup.

Overviews
All of this is a little bit tough to understand at first, but after playing the map a couple of times it should be easy to know where you are and where you should be going. For your benefit, I have included some overhead screenshots of the map's layout so that you may understand it better!

Red Building - lower right corner.
Snipe Building - lower left corner.
Mid Building- upper center.
Blue Building - top left corner (cut off by picture).
Goose Building - top right corner (cut off by picture).

Blue Building - top left corner.
Sword Building - upper center.
Goose Building - top right corner.
Mid Building - lower center.

Link to Atlas thread

Thanks for reading! The version number of the map is in the file description. It will be updated periodically as fixes and tweaks are made until I've arrived at an ATLAS posting-worthy submission!

Download Vice Here

Goatnuts · 07-20-2009

Hey debo, it was fun testing this with you tonight. I really like the room based gameplay as well as the many different heights and elevations. I like how you made height such a factor in gameplay, yet the high ground does not overly dominate. The vehicles work well and are not overpowered, they have enough room to get around too. Good job on this one debo.

aMoeba · 07-20-2009

Hey! I tested this with you a few hours ago. It was loads of fun, and the gameplay was always on the cutting edge :)

The BR fights were great, complemented by the rooftop accessibility. I however don't like how you have to jump to that one thin wooden platform (that leads to the roof of the center building)... unless it was intended.

Overall great map, good for objective. Flag spawn rooms are easily accessible and great to camp with a sword (almost got a riot there). You made the crypt feel massive. I can't really find any flaws.

Ac3Snip3r · 07-20-2009

Wow, this is a great map. Most maps I see have an imbalance of weapons or it just sucks. This map looks great and I am downloading it right now!

AKILLYEZ · 07-20-2009

After the saturday testing night, I have to say that this is the smoothest sandbox map i have ever played on. Everything was interlocked to perfection. I never once felt like i was bouncing as i walked. Well done debo. The map was flawless.
Ok now for the weapons. When we played it was very difficult to find these guns. And i no that isnt a hard fix. I just have to memorize the map to get a good idea on were the weapons are. I looked through the weapon list and did you change anything from last time we played? Like did you add any more anti vehical weapons? Cause those ghosts can be a real pain. I got splattered like 10 times... Well all in all this map was sick!

evan12075 · 07-20-2009

Holy hell! This has gotta be the fastest released map by you that I've ever seen Debo. Did you really get it perfected??? Because as I stated when testing it the other day, there were a few funky spawns here and there...

Regardless of the few very small issues that I had when testing, the map itself is terrific. The layout and design is boastful to the map because of all the factors it brings to gameplay. The bottom middle has rockets and provides the fastest route from base to base, but you must watch out for snipers and vehicles because of the open area. The bases had to be my favorite part though. There design made you unsure of where your enemy was going to attack from. Sure you had the red dot on your radar, but you have no idea if there coming in from then entrance above you, under you, to the left, to the right, in front of you, behind you, etc. This makes for some intense CTF and other objective games and requires you to work together as a team and communicate, just what a map should do.

So, as long as you fixed those few spawn issues, I must say, this is quite the map.

JBSpudster · 07-20-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by AKILLYEZ

After the saturday testing night, I have to say that this is the smoothest sandbox map i have ever played on. Everything was interlocked to perfection. I never once felt like i was bouncing as i walked. Well done debo. The map was flawless.
Ok now for the weapons. When we played it was very difficult to find these guns. And i no that isnt a hard fix. I just have to memorize the map to get a good idea on were the weapons are. I looked through the weapon list and did you change anything from last time we played? Like did you add any more anti vehical weapons? Cause those ghosts can be a real pain. I got splattered like 10 times... Well all in all this map was sick!

Actually, Debo completely revised the weapon layout once it was apparent that new players to the map were having a difficult time finding weapons that weren't dropped by other players. The weapon layout is much more intuitive now that it has been slightly revamped, and I must say that vehicles are much easier to take out now.

The selling point of this map, in my opinion, is how balanced it is for an asymmetrical map. I never once felt that one team had an advantage over the other be it elevation, weapons, vehicles, or visibility. Unlike most asymmetrical maps I've seen, both teams start out equal and have to make their own advantages as the game progresses. In my opinion, the only gametypes that weren't fun on Vice were the FFA gametypes, although I'm probably just a team gametype kind of player.

Great work on this Debo, I would love to see this in Matchmaking! ^_^

xXnoSk0peXx · 07-21-2009

Wow, that map looks great. I'm going to give it a download and see how it actualy plays, but from the pics it looks like one of your better maps.

Esorath · 07-21-2009

YES, this map is win
The layout flows wonderfully when doing tests, and the weapons and vehicles are great.
Ghost control is very important - and if ur not controling the ghosts - STAY OFF THE GROUND! theres plenty of cover - very unique structures - and very very clean forging
10/10z and want to own some noobs on this map in matchmaking

niceone · 07-21-2009

What an ugly map it is so damn ugly :P why you didn't post a pic of my ugly elite testing the map (jb did) XD but yeah it plays verry nice at first you need to run around in circles to know the map and then you go on a camping spree with the sword :D (yeah sword spree for me) XD