Sandbox Reflux

DeKnoZx · 09-05-2009

This map is part of the H3FF Map Pack. For more details, you can view the map pack Here

Remake of Xyience II
Forged by xZonKeD

Background Story: To clear things up early, yes, Reflux is a remake of the Foundry map known as Xyience II or also known as Flux. Xyience was originally designed in the program known as Sketchup. With this sketchup Iv0rY Snak3 and I forged Xyience. This map went through a few versions 3 to be precise until it became what it is now. The final version of the map on Foundry known as Xyience II went through a lot. The map made it on to Bungie Favorites, Forgehub Favorites, had a Forgehub Feature, and was even tested by a few pros during the time that Killa KC was looking at maps for v6.
With all of that being said some may say why would you even bother remaking the map on Sandbox then..? Well the answer to that is that the map wasn't perfect, no map will ever be perfect, but there were still things that Sandbox offered that would help make the map even better. After redesigning a few areas of the map to help fix these areas of flaw/problem I forged Reflux. So now onto more about the map itself...

Description: Reflux as already stated above is a remake of the Foundry map named Xyience. Reflux is an asymmetrical map made in the Sky Bubble of Sandbox. It has a total of four floors with various routes and elevation changes throughout the map. One of the most important and popular ways to move throughout the map is the teleporter system that sends your from 'Teleporter Room' which is located on the first floor all the way up to 'Catwalk' which is on the fourth floor. While playing Reflux like most maps that have power points, it is key to control these points along with the power weapons around the map. Since Xyience II a few things have changed within the map design of Reflux. The major noticeable changes that were made are the increase in size of the map, the addition of the spawn area known as 'Obelisks', the uncampability of the reciever node, increasing the size of 'Plasma Pistol Tower', adding a ramp from 'Obelisks' to 'Plasma Pistol Tower', and the decrease in strength of 'Street'. While playing the map you will deffinitely notice these changes through appearance and also gameplay.

Weapons:

5 Battle Rifles
3 Carbines
6 Plasma Grenades
1 Rocket Launcher
1 Sniper Rifle
1 Plasma Pistol
1 Custom Powerup

Gametypes:

-->All Updates Will Be Kept In The Bottom Of This Thread<--

Beta to Release Version

Screenshots:

Overview from Red Side

Overview from Blue Side

Red Spawn/Teleporter Room

Blue Spawn/Blue Street

Overview of Plasma Pistol Tower

Plasma Pistol Tower and Obelisks

Obelisks

Overview of Courtyard

Overview of Courtyard 2

Overshield Grenade Jump

Rocket Stairs

Rocket Spawn

Walkthrough Video: Reflux Walkthrough Video

Gameplay Video: Reserved

Additional Information: The original design of the map (Xyience) was tested thoroughly and by thousands of people. I took a lot of their feedback and kept it in mind while forging and designing this map. Due to how much I tested Xyience and already how much I have tested different versions of Reflux I am limiting the amount I will be looking to change the map. The reason being that I know what works and what doesn’t so with this being said if I don’t take your feedback it is nothing personal just what I feel is better for the map. I hope you all get a chance to play and look around the map and after playing the map I would like to hear about the game and your experience on the map. Here is the link to the Matchmaking Weapon-Set thread.

_____________________
Beta to Release Version:

Upside down Obelisk pillar added near the end of Rockets
Spawns have been tweaked and adjusted throughout testing

RC · 09-05-2009

Ooh, this looks a lot more aesthetically pleasing than the original, bravo... It kinda gives me a sense of damnation from halo for some reason. All in all, epic map, good job.

jameslieb1 · 09-05-2009

Very, VERY well interlocked. I also like how the map is asymetrical but would clearly work with symetrical gametypes as well. The ends of the maps are well lit up, but the middle is a bit dull in lighting, but still amazing. 5/5, great map. DL'd.

TKS x MoNsTeR x · 09-05-2009

Zonked Zonked Zonked, what can I say?
This is definately my favorite asym Sandbox map.

I'll be honest with you: you showed this to me when it was about half way done, and I didn't really like it. HOWEVER, when I saw the first completed version of this, I was AMAZED. The simple aesthetics that you implemented in this map make it an absolute gem to look at. The forging is very, very, very clean. The gameplay was great in the 40+ games that I tested and despite my apprehension, I love how this turned out in the skybox.
Everyone needs to check this out, great job Zonked.
p.s. I love you.

InfamousFailurea · 09-05-2009

This map looks amazing, atleast in my eyes. I think this map looks asthetically pleasing and has great game play, you can tell that there was a lot of time put into this map. Keep up the great work!!!

pyro6666 · 09-26-2009

I think this map is great; however you might think of replacing the custum powerup with either overshields or active camo, because depending on the gametype the custum powerup may give odd traits.

jacster9 · 09-27-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by pyro6666

I think this map is great; however you might think of replacing the custum powerup with either overshields or active camo, because depending on the gametype the custum powerup may give odd traits.

you can't use a overshield in mlg because the mlg gametype has special traits for the custom powerup.

anyways the map is a beauty with nice paths and great gameplay but i noticed it had it's own courtyard! :) this map deserves to be on the charts.

great job! - jacster9

itsmebiff · 09-27-2009

Great, Awesome, F*ing amazing just some of the words i would use to describe this map. I see some awesome intrlocking in this map. Um the weapon layout seeems good. i honestly dont see many faults. Definately one of the better mlg maps i've seen on sandbox. Keep it up 4.5/5

Verto1 · 09-28-2009

This map looks very smooth and smoothly forged. I really liked the original xyience so this should be really good. Great job :D

DeKnoZx · 2 Weeks Ago

Well over looking all my old threads even though this is one of my more recent threads I came to realize I never really commented back on anything anyone has said so I am going to take this oppurtunity as I sit here on my couch watching Game 6 of theWorld Series to comment on everything you guys have had to say about the map, so just bear with me...

Quote:

Originally Posted by TKS x MoNsTeR x

Zonked Zonked Zonked, what can I say?
This is definately my favorite asym Sandbox map.

I'll be honest with you: you showed this to me when it was about half way done, and I didn't really like it. HOWEVER, when I saw the first completed version of this, I was AMAZED. The simple aesthetics that you implemented in this map make it an absolute gem to look at. The forging is very, very, very clean. The gameplay was great in the 40+ games that I tested and despite my apprehension, I love how this turned out in the skybox.
Everyone needs to check this out, great job Zonked.
p.s. I love you.

Haha thank you Monster. I haven't talked to you in forever and I really hope your back on Xbox Live, I will actually add you back when I get back online.
When I was making the map at first I actually had to re-do it about 4 times until I actually had it right. The main reason being that since this was my first project on Sandbox I wasn't very aware of all the tilting and what not so it took some time until I figured out about which ways I had to place the objects and such to keep everything straight and alligned with the grid. Once I was finally able to reach the main idea of how forging was on Sandbox and exactly how I wanted every area of the map to be changed from the original Xyience I was then able to look into implementing asthetics from all of what Sandbox had to offer. And you know you can't expect anything less from me (MY OCD IS OFF THE CHARTS).

Quote:

Originally Posted by jameslieb1

Very, VERY well interlocked. I also like how the map is asymetrical but would clearly work with symetrical gametypes as well. The ends of the maps are well lit up, but the middle is a bit dull in lighting, but still amazing. 5/5, great map. DL'd.

Glad you like the map. Yes, this map was originally designed on Foundry and was named Xyience and then I redesigned the map to fix everything that was wrong with it on Foundry and that is what is now Reflux so I am pretty sure everything is nearly as balanced as it was going to get.
Regarding the lighting, there isn't much more I could really do; The lights are there for callout purposes and so you can distinguish each base from the other. Any thought of putting any type of lighting in the middle just seems to not fit my interest and I can't really even see it looking good. Thanks Again.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RC

Ooh, this looks a lot more aesthetically pleasing than the original, bravo... It kinda gives me a sense of damnation from halo for some reason. All in all, epic map, good job.

Yes, once all the renovations were planned and the design was finalized from the transition from Foundry to Sandbox, asthetics were a huge part of what I was working towards. Seeing all of the new objects on Sandbox really got my imagination and my asthetic nerves tingling and I really couldn't picture the map any differently...
The reason you get that damnation feel is mainly because Nexn who designed the original map, Xyience was inspired by Damnation while in the designing stages of the map. Thanks again and glad you like it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by InfamousFailurea

This map looks amazing, atleast in my eyes. I think this map looks asthetically pleasing and has great game play, you can tell that there was a lot of time put into this map. Keep up the great work!!!

Thank you very much... Please read the above comments to see anything about asthetics or anything else.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pyro6666

I think this map is great; however you might think of replacing the custum powerup with either overshields or active camo, because depending on the gametype the custum powerup may give odd traits.

Thank you I am glad you like the map but the map is designed for MLG gameplay especially the weapon-set in this version of the map. That being said Custom Powerups are used in MLG due to the fact that MLG settings have an overshield with specific traits that are better suited for more competitive gameplay. Hope that gives you a better understanding.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jacster9

you can't use a overshield in mlg because the mlg gametype has special traits for the custom powerup.

anyways the map is a beauty with nice paths and great gameplay but i noticed it had it's own courtyard! :) this map deserves to be on the charts.

great job! - jacster9

Thank you, I really do wish this map would've got more self-deserved recognition but a lot of the hype died down for the map because I released it along with the MLG Forge Forum Map Pack and I had it done for an entire month before the release so a decent amount of people had already seen the map before that.
I really appreciate the fact that you were able to take interest into the little things. It's always nice to have people recognize that in your map.

Quote:

Originally Posted by itsmebiff

Great, Awesome, F*ing amazing just some of the words i would use to describe this map. I see some awesome intrlocking in this map. Um the weapon layout seeems good. i honestly dont see many faults. Definately one of the better mlg maps i've seen on sandbox. Keep it up 4.5/5

See quoted replies above... Most of the comments go hand in hand with this one =].

Quote:

Originally Posted by Verto1

This map looks very smooth and smoothly forged. I really liked the original xyience so this should be really good. Great job :D

See quoted replies above... Most of the comments go hand in hand with this one =].