Time for some Goosin'! RACE!

Coming to you from Zebra505, we have yet another game type article. This time we'll be covering the Race Game Type. I'll let Zebra do the rest (I'll put in your links later dude, posting from the phone).

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Contents:

1) Before Starting
2) Spawning
3) Checkpoints
4) Items
5) Teleporters
6) Flow/Time/Traps
7) Safe/Kill Zones/Mines
8) Final Touches
9) Play Testing

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Before Starting:

Before you start making your map two things need to be decided:

1) What map will you use? This is simple enough. The most common two choices are Forge World and Tempest. It would be best to stick to these maps because they have the largest forge pallets and also offer the most versatile Forge spaces.

2) What vehicle will you use? This is one of the most important decisions you will make. What type of vehicle will your map be designed for? There are a few vehicles to choose from, the mongoose, warthog, ghost, and banshee. The mongoose and warthog are the most common vehicles to see in a race map. Once you decide what vehicle to use you need to stick with it. All the elements of your track need to be tailored to your specific vehicle choice. Other types of transport may be able to run your course, but selecting one main vehicle creates a better race experience.

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Re-Inventing the Juggernaut

Alrighty, so, now that I've finally got some time to write, I've developed a slight backlog of posts! So be checking back every other day to see a new post for at least the next week. Right now, You'll be seeing my own article on the Juggernaut Game Type, with information on the different settings available and what they might mean for gameplay coming after I get a chance to look them over again. You'll also be seeing posts on the Race Game Type, with tips and tricks to help you craft masterful tracks from Zebra505, as well as a CTF article from UrM4mm4, the creator of Crucible, which I featured a few weeks or so ago. Hopefully we'll also see articles on Headhunter and at least one more Game Type in the same line up. I'll also be featuring another map, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

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One would think that creating a play space for a game that entails an immensely powerful being running around decimating a group of people who are on a continuous quest to kill it wouldn't take much thought. They would be right, sort of.

The biggest point to make for Juggernaut, especially now that the Juggernaut is restricted to the Gravity Hammer, is that a map like Hemorrhage would not work very well; with the huge expanses that the Juggernaut would have to cross, vehicles that could dart and weave around him, dealing far more damage over a much greater amount of time than any other player could, and the few tight spaces available, players would spend most of their time grabbing those vehicles, and long range weapons, and take turns taking pot-shots at the Juggernaut as he hopelessly tries to find them, or cowers in the base or the cave. The Quintessential Stalemate ensues.

(If you haven't already, click below to see more)

Special/Color Effects RAWK!

As an Update, I added a Twitter account for the site, so go ahead and follow ForgeLife on Twitter for bite-sized tips and updates from us! Yes, us, there are two of us now (mwuahahahahahahah!) here at Forge Life.


I've also noticed that I didn't have anything even close to regarding the Special Effects Items in Forge 2.0! So, for my forgetfulness, and for me not updating in forever, here is a list of the effects, their effects, and a few combinations you can use to make them rawk!


I'll be keeping this as a separate post, so you'll see it in the sidebar!


If you haven't already, open the full post to see their combinations.
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Effects
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Effect                       Does

Juicy                Saturation ++, Brightness -, Vibrance +, Contrast ++, Light (effectiveness of lights on map) ++, Hue (n/a)

Next Gen          Saturation -, Brightness -, Vibrance =, Contrast +, Light (effectiveness of lights on map) =, Hue (Grey)

Color Blind        Saturation ----, Brightness =, Vibrance =, Contrast =, Light (effectiveness of lights on map) =, Hue (B&W)

Purple              Saturation --, Brightness --, Vibrance -, Contrast -, Light (effectiveness of lights on map) -, Hue (Purple)

Orange            Saturation ++, Brightness --, Vibrance +, Contrast ++, Light (effectiveness of lights on map) -, Hue (Orange)

Green              Saturation --, Brightness -, Vibrance -, Contrast --, Light (effectiveness of lights on map) --, Hue (Green)

Pen & Ink        Saturation =, Brightness ++, Vibrance +, Contrast +++, Light (effectiveness of lights on map) +++, Hue (n/a)

Old Timey        Saturation ---, Brightness -, Vibrance -, Contrast +, Light (effectiveness of lights on map) -, Hue (Sepia)

Nova               Saturation -, Brightness ++++, Vibrance +, Contrast --, Light (effectiveness of lights on map) ++, Hue (White)

Updates to PRO TIPS Section [12/14/2010]

The Pro Tips section has been updated, nearly quadrupling its content, with more on the way, the current line-up is as follows:




#1) Precision Editing


#2) "Game Type Specific" Toggle


#3) Man Cannons  (NEW!)


#4) Shield Doors    (NEW!)


#5) Health Packs   (NEW!)


#6) Devices
     - The Reactor   (NEW!)
     - Jump Pads     (NEW!)




Sources:


BadCompany Brik, Jonzorz 124, That Spazamataz, Captain Furgler, GodlyPerfection, Kirov 099, and Myself, The Ardly374.




You can access the page via the navigation bar to the left, or here (<---LINK).




It may seem like a minor update, but the information in these, however mundane, when used correctly, can make the difference between your make being playable and people wanting to play your map.




Be looking for moar updates, I just finished with school for the year, time to kick ass and take names.




ALSO! I started up (ok, I'm using the one I've had for 8 years) an AIM account to use for this site, on top of the already integrated chat function. The UN is "ardly374." Surprised? I thought not. Hit me up, but understand that I'm not your bitch, ok?




Stay l337.

Can haz a Featured Map?

So I got a map for you guys, from the coolest parent evar, the wonderfully boisterous, UrM4mm4!

He calls it Crucible, my Hammer Sprees call it home.

Click for Moar!

To begin, a basic layout of 2 minute Photoshop gloriousness.

Gray= ground level

Blue= Upper level

Yellow= Ramp

Red= Window

Black= Wall

This map has TONS of stuff on it, a Hammer, Sniper, Rocket, dead bodies, and even a great view out the window by the Sniper. Be careful not to try to hard to get the Falcon, you will get dead.

To better explain all the stuff on this map, I made a pretty picture:

TA-EFFIN-DA!

It is a pretty sweet map, tons of movement paths, plenty of places to camp, and even more ways to get around those places. which makes camping balanced, and ok. There are jump strategies to be had, grenade bounces to be exploited, and lots of pretty things to look at, all the while killing each other mercilessly. GET TO IT.



M4mm4 did a great job on this map, download it (<--Link), play it, and support it, because you know you want to.

Just some stuff

I work retail, I'm in college, I have a son, I have a fiance, I have bills to pay, Forgetacular submissions are due by the 30th, Black Friday is this Friday, I'm working 40 hours a week, I picked up Assassins Creed: Brotherhood (sweet game btw), and am also still doing some stuff in New Vegas (also rather enjoyable) as well as maintaining a presence at a small number of other communities around the web, such as Bnet and Reaching Perfection. Time is rather tight lately.

I am still working on more stuff for this page, and will be releasing all of it all at once. The site will most likely be down during the update, which I would expect to see soon after the first of the month. I am also still looking for authors for some of the articles that need written still. If you are interested, email me at cabarry374@yahoo.com and I will get back to you on how things will work from there.

Long story short: I've been super busy lately, but I haven't forgotten about you guys, I just haven't gotten anything up to my standards for posting, but a lot of stuff is close.

Stay 1337.

Moar Stuffs 4 Chu! Invasion Slayer stuffs too!

I told you guys I've been working on some new stuff, and I have, I just haven't been able to post it. I'll take some time out of the schedule for this one for yas though, which is pretty fair. So yeah, here goes, first post from the iPhone.




To start things off, I've actually been looking for more ways to make this site interactive to the viewer, to make is so that things are easier to find, easier to comment on, and for the viewer to have ways to ask questions to me directly. What I've found is that you viewers, as a whole are much more comfortable talking to me directly via this Meebo chat function than actually posting your questions. The chat boxes purpose is not to replace the Request Help section, otherwise I would have titled it as such and removed the other one. The chat box is for having conversations with me, asking about sections of the site, getting help with the site itself, stuff like that. So many of the questions I am asked are covered in this Handbook, many of those, quite explicitly. I have made this guide as easy to navigate as possible, I can't do much more. So yeah. chat me up, but if you ask me a question not related to navigating the site, expect to be directed to the request help page.




NOTE: This will be appended to the Invasion Experiences guide.


When crafting games for Invasion Slayer, both in the map design and game type editing, you are actually doing something rather peculiar. The game is best explained as a team King of the Hill game, where points are earned via kills and where hill captures lead to bonuses that assist in the gathering of kills. On top of that, you have to consider the fact that your map and game type will have to be able to cope with three different sets of weapons and abilities that are available to the player, at all times; you don't have the luxury of leaving the jet pack areas near the end of a game inaccessible, players should be able to traverse the entirety of the map for the entirety of the game. They should also WANT to use the whole map, much unlike during games on Boneyard where the regular Invasion start point is basically never seen. You can't make the map super huge and expect it to just play well, you have to make it so that players can traverse it from nearly every start point in a timely fashion; this is further assisted by the players ability to choose their spawns.

Setting up a map for Invasion Slayer is actually quite simple. Your Spawn System will be very similar to regular Invasion, save that it wont have to have a linear progression, it could simply adjust itself for the addition of Jetpacks, rotate spawn locations around the map, or push players to spawn closer and closer together as the Tiers are unlocked. The rest of the map should be set up to play well as a BTB slayer map, as well as having  accommodations for the vehicles you will likely have spawn in during the later rounds. You will then need to place your hills, which don't need to be placed equidistant (equally far) from each team, but do need to be at least a certain length away, so that it is not extremely easy for any one team to control them; think of this bit as being akin to Stockpile, making it so that some territories are easier for some teams to get, some are rather equal, and the rest are favoring the other team. Just remember not to give too much favoritism at any given point. 


Something to consider would be making it so that areas of the map become available with the new Tiers being unlocked, just like in regular Invasion, things like this will really open up your map and make playing on it interesting, removing any feeling of the game being too long or drawn out.

Game Type Settings will be discussed in further detail in the future, just remember that you get to choose the rewards for hill captures for both sides, as well as 3 sets of Loadouts for both sides.


Stay 1337.