Acreage: Halo Infinite Forge
**This project is now published and available in the Halo Infinite custom games**
The screenshots seen on this page are a snapshot of how the level has evolved from May 2023 until late August 2023. This project really let me embody the "learning by doing" mentality as I simultaneously learn Halo Infinite Forge while design this One Flag CTF map. I went through rounds of play tests to balance and create both a competitive and unique environment for players to play.
Game Type: One Flag CTF
Balanced for Team Slayer, King of the Hill, Oddball, and Strongholds.
Player Size: 4v4
Paper Prototype
Began by brainstorming various themes for a level that would have a unique but fitting place in the Halo universe. After listing off a number of ideas, I ended up going with a farm based level. From there, I began to sketch out some level ideas that would fit the theme and work with some of the modes Halo Infinite has to offer. I created a short narrative to give the level some life.
"After the first Halo array was destroyed by the Master Chief and what remained of the Reach UNSC, a grunt by the name of Ardok, who was a high level officer in the Covenant, secretly abandoned his post in the military and escaped to a plot of land on one of the more stable pieces of ring. He found a plot of land that was in a safe enough location on a rock pillar well above a large body of water. There, he found an abandoned UNSC post that was primarily used for corralling resources and used to distribute to the scattered forces on the ring. Ardok began to make the place his own, reorganizing supplies and setting up new structures that would fit his personal exile. After witnessing the power of Master Chief, and “The Flood”, he wanted to separate himself from the war and conflict altogether.
However, Ardok was partially to blame for the failure of protecting the ring, The Prophets sent out Covenant hit squads to bring him back to set an example in front of all High Charity. Ardok anticipated this and built defenses to assist. He was not about to give up what he felt he deserved. The Prophets would have to kill him before he returns ever again."
I was aiming to create a level that was designed around a One Flag CTF and One Bomb variant, which would also be balanced for Slayer, Team Slayer, OddBall, and King of the Hill. One CTF and One Bomb are my favorites among Halo game modes, and I wanted to contribute a level to the existing pool of maps. The player size is being designed to work with 4v4, 6v6, or 8 person free for all modes. I wanted it to be an asymmetrical map with defined key positions for power weapon spawns and important places for players to hold for map control. I spent some time in other Halo maps to get a feel on how big encounter spaces, sight lines, location of weapons, spawn points and objectives to get a sense of the scale. I finally felt inspired from this research and after finding inspiration from my sketches, I moved forward on the gray boxing process.
The screenshots seen on this page are a snapshot of how the level has evolved from May 2023 until late August 2023. This project really let me embody the "learning by doing" mentality as I simultaneously learn Halo Infinite Forge while design this One Flag CTF map. I went through rounds of play tests to balance and create both a competitive and unique environment for players to play.
Game Type: One Flag CTF
Balanced for Team Slayer, King of the Hill, Oddball, and Strongholds.
Player Size: 4v4
Paper Prototype
Began by brainstorming various themes for a level that would have a unique but fitting place in the Halo universe. After listing off a number of ideas, I ended up going with a farm based level. From there, I began to sketch out some level ideas that would fit the theme and work with some of the modes Halo Infinite has to offer. I created a short narrative to give the level some life.
"After the first Halo array was destroyed by the Master Chief and what remained of the Reach UNSC, a grunt by the name of Ardok, who was a high level officer in the Covenant, secretly abandoned his post in the military and escaped to a plot of land on one of the more stable pieces of ring. He found a plot of land that was in a safe enough location on a rock pillar well above a large body of water. There, he found an abandoned UNSC post that was primarily used for corralling resources and used to distribute to the scattered forces on the ring. Ardok began to make the place his own, reorganizing supplies and setting up new structures that would fit his personal exile. After witnessing the power of Master Chief, and “The Flood”, he wanted to separate himself from the war and conflict altogether.
However, Ardok was partially to blame for the failure of protecting the ring, The Prophets sent out Covenant hit squads to bring him back to set an example in front of all High Charity. Ardok anticipated this and built defenses to assist. He was not about to give up what he felt he deserved. The Prophets would have to kill him before he returns ever again."
I was aiming to create a level that was designed around a One Flag CTF and One Bomb variant, which would also be balanced for Slayer, Team Slayer, OddBall, and King of the Hill. One CTF and One Bomb are my favorites among Halo game modes, and I wanted to contribute a level to the existing pool of maps. The player size is being designed to work with 4v4, 6v6, or 8 person free for all modes. I wanted it to be an asymmetrical map with defined key positions for power weapon spawns and important places for players to hold for map control. I spent some time in other Halo maps to get a feel on how big encounter spaces, sight lines, location of weapons, spawn points and objectives to get a sense of the scale. I finally felt inspired from this research and after finding inspiration from my sketches, I moved forward on the gray boxing process.
Gray box
Inside the Halo Infinite Forge mode, I began gray boxing out the level. I started by placing places big blinds in the world and began to build out terrain and cover around them. I focused mainly on creating the structures that would define the starting points for each team, which were a “farmhouse” and “barn”. They would act as both blinds and objects to allow players to orient themselves no matter where they are on the map. I then focused on blocking out the interior for both so it was interesting to attack and defend both locations.
I faced a few early challenges in scale and filling out empty space. Halo levels by nature are not cluttered with obstacles but are intelligently designed by incorporating cover primarily on walls or into big blinds. My interior portion of the level had many chokes and the exterior felt very barren. I had my set pieces, but had too few pieces of cover in between. A player would easily be caught out in the open and taken down before having a fair chance of reach safety. At this point I was constantly returning to sketching and drawing on screenshots to see how I could rework parts of the map to make it feel like the space is both interesting and meaningful.
After many interactions of slowly adding additional pieces to each main area, things on the map began to slowly unfold into something more fun and fitting. There are now multiple avenues for a player to navigate both by foot and by vehicle. It also began to allow for more interesting use of power ups (particularly the grapple shot), to scale higher walls and structures.
Once the gray box felt like it was starting to come together, I began to decide where objective, spawn, power and common weapons, and vehicle spawns would be located. I sketched out good spots in my grid book and then went into the level and added them to their current locations. After all the objectives, spawn, power and common weapons, and vehicle spawns were added, I emailed my mentors with a video walkthrough, and gathered some folks together and ran my first play test. Both my mentors and play testers provided me with incredibly useful feedback that I utilized to make changes. I then went in and color coded sections of the map to separate areas and give players a look at what possible call outs could be, as well as differentiating art set pieces from each other.
Inside the Halo Infinite Forge mode, I began gray boxing out the level. I started by placing places big blinds in the world and began to build out terrain and cover around them. I focused mainly on creating the structures that would define the starting points for each team, which were a “farmhouse” and “barn”. They would act as both blinds and objects to allow players to orient themselves no matter where they are on the map. I then focused on blocking out the interior for both so it was interesting to attack and defend both locations.
I faced a few early challenges in scale and filling out empty space. Halo levels by nature are not cluttered with obstacles but are intelligently designed by incorporating cover primarily on walls or into big blinds. My interior portion of the level had many chokes and the exterior felt very barren. I had my set pieces, but had too few pieces of cover in between. A player would easily be caught out in the open and taken down before having a fair chance of reach safety. At this point I was constantly returning to sketching and drawing on screenshots to see how I could rework parts of the map to make it feel like the space is both interesting and meaningful.
After many interactions of slowly adding additional pieces to each main area, things on the map began to slowly unfold into something more fun and fitting. There are now multiple avenues for a player to navigate both by foot and by vehicle. It also began to allow for more interesting use of power ups (particularly the grapple shot), to scale higher walls and structures.
Once the gray box felt like it was starting to come together, I began to decide where objective, spawn, power and common weapons, and vehicle spawns would be located. I sketched out good spots in my grid book and then went into the level and added them to their current locations. After all the objectives, spawn, power and common weapons, and vehicle spawns were added, I emailed my mentors with a video walkthrough, and gathered some folks together and ran my first play test. Both my mentors and play testers provided me with incredibly useful feedback that I utilized to make changes. I then went in and color coded sections of the map to separate areas and give players a look at what possible call outs could be, as well as differentiating art set pieces from each other.
Final polish and Reflection
After another round of play tests and feedback, I made some final changes to the gray box. While high ground is a key part to playing a Halo map, there seemed to be a little too much of it, and some of it being a tad too high. I adjusted certain locations, including the space over the farmhouse garage, to balance out the map so both attacking and defending felt fair. I then began to add some basic art to the level. The map was separated into five sections of color, and I added art to one at a time to make sure it was consistent as I could possibly make it map wide. After the art was included, I did one more play test to gather additional feedback. I made tweaks to certain parts of the map, weapon ammo counts, and then felt it was good to go! I added some small touch ups to art where I felt were necessary and then published it.
This process was full of growing pains. I tackled Halo forge before, but not since Bungie's iteration in Halo 3. Learning the shortcuts, uses for different objects, prefabs, and incorporating level design concepts into the work flow took time. There were points where I had to rework entire areas or the entire map because I had blindly put in objects that "looked good" where it stood. In the end, I realized the mistakes I made and embraced them and taught myself how to deal with them in the future. Personal takeaways:
- Don't go into a level like going to a grocery store hungry: You will just start blindly placing objects everywhere as you would grab anything that looks tasty and put it in your cart.
- Look at examples in and out of the game you are targeting: Scale is a pain, but hitting this on the head early by looking at maps already done would have saved me tons of time and effort.
- Human feedback is critical, bots are not enough: ALLWAYS find real people to play test your level. Bots can only do so much and will not embody what a real player would do. Find a community or group of folks who are willing to help you, and get your map played by them.
- Keep your hierarchy organized: From the get go, have folders containing all associated objects with that portion of the level.
- Work player spawns and power weapons into the map early: Especially on symmetrical maps, it is important to be at the same distance from power weapons. No one team should have an advantage over the other in obtaining one.
- Enjoy the process and embrace your mistakes: It is part of being a Level Designer. It is challenging and arduous at times, but it is fulfilling to see what clicks and what you are able to take away when you fall.
After another round of play tests and feedback, I made some final changes to the gray box. While high ground is a key part to playing a Halo map, there seemed to be a little too much of it, and some of it being a tad too high. I adjusted certain locations, including the space over the farmhouse garage, to balance out the map so both attacking and defending felt fair. I then began to add some basic art to the level. The map was separated into five sections of color, and I added art to one at a time to make sure it was consistent as I could possibly make it map wide. After the art was included, I did one more play test to gather additional feedback. I made tweaks to certain parts of the map, weapon ammo counts, and then felt it was good to go! I added some small touch ups to art where I felt were necessary and then published it.
This process was full of growing pains. I tackled Halo forge before, but not since Bungie's iteration in Halo 3. Learning the shortcuts, uses for different objects, prefabs, and incorporating level design concepts into the work flow took time. There were points where I had to rework entire areas or the entire map because I had blindly put in objects that "looked good" where it stood. In the end, I realized the mistakes I made and embraced them and taught myself how to deal with them in the future. Personal takeaways:
- Don't go into a level like going to a grocery store hungry: You will just start blindly placing objects everywhere as you would grab anything that looks tasty and put it in your cart.
- Look at examples in and out of the game you are targeting: Scale is a pain, but hitting this on the head early by looking at maps already done would have saved me tons of time and effort.
- Human feedback is critical, bots are not enough: ALLWAYS find real people to play test your level. Bots can only do so much and will not embody what a real player would do. Find a community or group of folks who are willing to help you, and get your map played by them.
- Keep your hierarchy organized: From the get go, have folders containing all associated objects with that portion of the level.
- Work player spawns and power weapons into the map early: Especially on symmetrical maps, it is important to be at the same distance from power weapons. No one team should have an advantage over the other in obtaining one.
- Enjoy the process and embrace your mistakes: It is part of being a Level Designer. It is challenging and arduous at times, but it is fulfilling to see what clicks and what you are able to take away when you fall.
|
|
|
|
|
|