Blood Gulch

[John117_MC]

Let me start out by saying that this map is in a very, very, very preliminary stage. I'm really just looking for design suggestions at this point - I want to see what people think so I can get ideas set in place before doing too much cosmetic work.

This map is based on the Blood Gulch level from Halo, the video game. The background of the territories is an image of the map from above (linked at the end of this post). The actual map is thus:




Now, like I said, this is very much "rough." The placement, boundaries and names of territories can be considered somewhat placeholderish for now.

I do have specific ideas though.

1. The bases (ex: Red Base) can attack their respective teleporters (Red Tele, shortened name on the map for now), but the teleporters cannot attack the bases. This is how they work in the actual game - one way.

2. I wanted the Road and the Ridges up the side to provide a tactical twist, allowing faster travel along the map.

3. See the brown areas next to the Ridges that don't have names? Those aren't territories, but impassable slopes, if you will. I haven't represented that on the map yet, except by not naming the area.

All the areas that have a generic name (Blue Area 5, etc.) are somewhat randomly generated, so they are very much open to editing.

The red and blue "continents" are each currently 14 territories (large, I know). They consist of all the generic areas, the vehicle spawn locations, and one piece of the road (so the red continent is Red Areas 1-7, the "behnid the base" area (random name), the 3 vehicle spawn places, and Road 1). These would have a bonus of 9 or so.

The yellow and green "continents" are of equal size (9 territories each) and would have a bonus of 5 or so. They consist of the 8 generic areas and the teleporter that resides within the space. Note that yellow is above the road, green is below.

This is a lot to swallow, I know.

I've also been kicking around the idea od having the bases alone have a +1 bonus, and maybe even an extra +1 for holding that base's teleporter as well. The ridges/caverns could also have small bonuses, or owning the 4 middle road paths.

Now, I know there is somewhat of a problem in the fact that the map is extremely wide open. There aren't really any isolated spots, so that makes it hard to control an area. That's partly why I've posted this so soon. I'd like design suggestions, any would be gladly considered. If you have an idea for making areas defendable (without adding arbitrary non-passable boundaries), that would be great.

So, ideas? Questions? I may have left something out, feel free to ask.

[KEYOGI]

I don't know how you're going to tackle copyright. It might be okay if you don't name it Blood Gulch and maybe change the colours of Red and Blue. But then it has no appeal if it's not tied to the Halo universe.

My only suggestion would be the impassable slopes be made one-way attacks as you can go down but not up.

As much as I like Halo, I don't think you're going to have much success making a map on anything Halo related. First you've got copyright to overcome, then I personally don't think any of the Halo maps lend themselves to good Conquer Club maps.

[John117_MC]

Well, I've emailed Bungie to see what they think (actually, I'm still trying to find out who I should ask about the whole thing). So, the copyright thing is on the backburner at the moment. I have plenty of work that I can do while I'm waiting, so I went ahead and started.

Also, it could be possible that simply using the name "Blood Gulch" wouldn't be copyright infringement; it is somewhat generic, and it isn't the title of the game. It might not be copyright protected.

As far as the slope things being one way attacks - yeah, I've been kicking that around as well. I'm just worried that, considering how many territories they are in contact with, it would be an insane advantage.

And I think that with work, there should be at least one Halo map that can be converted into a good CC map.

[John117_MC]

Well, I'm going to keep kicking it around, see what I can come up with.

However, I had a thought while looking at a list of Halo/Halo 2 maps. It appears to me that Lockout might make a good map. I know that conquer club lets you have maps with multiple levels, you just have to display them with multiple images.

The "territories" could be individual rooms and all the ramps. Most importantly, it would be possible to defend bonus areas - there are plenty of places that if you owned the entire set, you'd only have to defend a couple territories, just like regular CC maps.

It has potential, I think.

[Captain Crash]

Don't stop 'kicking it around.

'A wide open map' as you say may be that something different that is needed. Not every map has to have a small out of the way area to hide in!

cheers and GL

[AndyDufresne]

Well surely look into copyrights, but if you can't find a way around them, I'll have to close the project down.

One thing I do like though...is the idea of a real 'battle field' map... perhaps an original and unique idea similar to this...could have merit on its own?


--Andy

[Pro_Snowboarder]

a wide open map could be a fun chalange, but..... if you do need barrierors, you could put vehicals in there. Like a scorpion tank, or a worthog. this way you have a boundry, and it still is part of the halo universe.

[wrightfan123]

Here's an idea: name some things RvB stuff, so make blue territries like : Church, Caboose, Tex; and red territories like : Grif, Sarge, Donut; and so on. If you haven't heard of the series, wiki it.

[John117_MC]

Those are some really good suggestions, guys.

I still haven't heard anything back from bungie, I'll try again later tonight. Maybe they just have a backlogged inbox.

The encouragement is appreciated, as well.

And as far as RvB goes, my user name here is the same as my username on the RvB forums

[The Nile 24]

i love this idea, and the naming of territories after Red vs. Blue.....

just seeing this once in a game would make it worth it.

2007-08-24 12:11:05 - The Nile 24 attacked Church from Sheila and conquered it from O'Malley

that would be amazing.

[John117_MC]

A slight update.

I really like the idea of naming territories after RvB characters.

In order to make progress, I'm trying to tackle the copyright issue. I still haven't heard back from Bungie, but I figure they get tons of emails, so maybe it will just take some time.

However, I have contacted the RT (Rooster Teeth, the people who make RvB). I asked two questions - one, if they would mind me using their character names for the map (I actually can't imagine using the names "Donut" and "Sarge" being any kind of copyright violation, but it's always good to ask), and two, if they know who I should contact to ask about copyright issues at Bungie or Microsoft. RT has had to deal with such things in the past (because RvB is made using the Halo/Halo 2 games). I'm hopefult that I'll either get a response from Bungie or the RT guys will be able to tell me who to talk to. I've talked with them a few times, they're pretty good about responding in a timely manner.

So, that's all I have for now. I'm optimistic.

[tmidgley]

I like the looks of it alot but Id probably have to be sober to understand it...