While we're on the subject of old maps and design philosophy at the moment, I took a few seconds earlier this morning and scrawled out an abomination in MS Paint (the only image editing program we have at work) looking at a different take on the multiplayer map Relic. I liked Relic, but I know a lot of people were hung up on some of the gameplay elements which seemed to rail the players into playing it a certain way on flag games.
If you can look at these images without becoming squeamish at the horror that is MS Paint's limited faculties, then you can see some changes which I think would improve the map, especially given Halo 3s impressive sandbox.
So the top image is the just the superficial changes. The bottom shows the segmented pathways for vehicle travel (green), which would be considerably more due to an increase in vehicles.
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01 Wraith added with high respawn time. Why? Because offense gets
02 One Goose (fast respawn) and two LAAG Warthogs (moderate respawn), instead of one.
03 Craggy/uneven geometry would be flattened to represent sand, but filled with large stones, well-spread so that they allow for both vehicle movement
and infantry cover.
04 - No teleporter. Instead, an energy bridge which is activated and deactivated here (accessible by pink arrow pathways). Offense has to flip the switch to activate it; otherwise theyll be forced to go out the back and the long way around the map. If defense cant get to the flag in time, they can remove the bridge, dropping the flag carrier into the [currently non-textured] chasm of blackness. This divides combat at its center, which was an unforgiving BR fest before, and adding more cover on the edges of this fall might benefit the cross-chasm combat.
05 Platform geometry has been simplified and gutted to allow for vehicle interplay on its surface. The entire platform, save for the ramps, has a concrete barrier railing which girds its edges. Rockets and considerable plasma grenades still exist, providing ample opportunities for defenders.
06 New ramps allowing for easier access to the rear of the base, pushing combat deep into enemy territory instead of log-jamming it on the platform.
I would also put a rocket launcher on both sides of the map, similar to Standoff, with two rockets a piece, allowing there to be a fair share of anti-vehicle measures for both sides.
So yeah, the basic design (if youve managed to forgive the production value here) attempts to properly segment combat like was done on large maps such as Valhalla and Avalanche, while feeding vehicle combat and offering infantry cover and resources to counter the vehicles.
Relics main vices when it came to flag games were that it was extremely difficult to get to the flag, but once you did, it was almost always an easy score. This is frustrating and unbalanced. It should be consistently difficult to move the flag back, possibly with an even high increase in difficulty as players got closer to the score point (Terminal knew this, thats why many a flag were stopped when the player broke free from the parking garage).
In this version of Relic, it gives the offense plenty of opportunities to get to the flag with the three vehicles, new ramps and less cluttered platform, but once they get to the flag, its incredibly difficult to move it from its perch on the relic to the base, due to the chasm. If they wanted to, offensive players could turn around and use the Warthogs to backtrack, but theyd have to go through defenders (respawning near the back of the base) and push their flag further away from their own base.
The likely option is gaining access and securing the switch which activates the light bridge. There, the offensive team can move carefully across the bridge and to the far side of the offensive teams part of the map. Since the defenders spawn near the switch, they can siege any offensive players guarding it (creating a very interesting deadlock situation) possibly tipping it and bringing the flag to the bottom of the chasm. If the Warthog breaks free, theres always the Wraith which might have moved up at that point.
I think this is a much more consistent flow for combat on this map and it makes the map work more for the player (rather than the player having to force the map to work for them), allowing vehicle interplay around the beaches and infantry combat toward the interior. Obviously, I have no way of telling if they'd ever do a remake for Relic or any other Halo 2 map, but I think it's interesting to look at the design philosophy and see how old maps could be bettered - allowing that same mentality to function when building new maps from the ground up.
