Be prepaired to have 800 Microsoft Points on December 11th. Why you might ask? Because Bungie is releasing their first DLC on XBL Market Place. What are they? By now I hope you know. No still confused? Three Brand New Halo 3 Maps Are Being Released!! Under this are Pictures and Info About the maps. Excited? I sure am.

Standoff

Standoff, a serene field surrounded by giant satellites awaiting your chaos.
Q: For reasons that should become obvious now, Frankie referred to Standoff as Jodrell Bank. What inspired the creation of this outdoor playground?

Christopher Barrett: Standoff, or Bunkerworld as it’s known internally was one of the maps we had originally planned as one of the Halo 3 release multiplayer maps. Because of time we ended up postponing it until DLC, and here it is!

Steve Cotton: We wanted a small, outdoor, vehicle map. It started out simple enough. 2 relatively small bases seperated by a landscape of hills and rocks. Good visibility and quick access to the Warthog parked right out front. And a turret on top for defensive types. After that, the rest just built itself. Actually, Justin [Hayward] built it. That guy is good.

CB: Obvious? I still have no idea why Frankie keeps talking about his bank all the time [ed. Google Image Search – L.S.].

Q: Give us a general description of the map’s spaces since we’re not showing too much right now, what’s the overview of Standoff?

CB: There’s two opposing bases and some rocks and a tree and a road and some giant missile silos and enormous satellite dishes.

SC: Oh, and a lot of transportation and firepower.

CB: Imagine Blood Gulch, except squished together, with 4000 foot satellite dishes.

Q: What sort of revisions and iterations changed from early-period Standoff to the version of the map that folks will be playing in December?

CB: The original version only had the two front doors into the base. We eventually added two side routes into the base one of which is opened via a switch inside like Zanzibar/Last Resort.

Originally the sun was at or around high noon, about a month ago we lowered the sun towards the horizon giving the map a very moody sunset feel which really adds to its atmosphere.

We weren’t satisfied with two ways into the bunker so we added a third entry.

Q: How many players can Standoff comfortably accommodate?

CB: Surprisingly it works for almost any number of players pretty well, but 4 vs 4 feels about right.

SC: 2v2 Multi-flag is actually very cool. So is 8v8. I think it pretty much covers the spectrum. It's just a very fun team objective map no matter how big the teams are.

CB: I was very comfortable playing a one player game on Standoff but it wasn’t a whole lot of fun. At least I didn’t die as much as usual.

Q: What are some of your favorite gametypes to play on Standoff?

CB: Multi Flag CTF

SC: Kill Barry.

CB: I found out your teammates love it when you yell out “I CAN’T FIND THE FLAG” during team slayer games.

Q: What kind of items will populate Standoff’s Forge palette?

CB: Apart from the standard crates and barricades we’ve created some new placeable mancannons, shield doors, and a very special secret object.

SC: You can add a Wraith as well. In addition to the mancannons of course.

Rat's Nest

No, you won't actually fly the pelican on Rat's Nest. Nonetheless, there's plenty of high jinks to be had on what was once known as John Carpenter's Prince of Dorkness.
Q: Rat’s Nest, that sounds like Crow’s Nest, the second level from the Halo 3 campaign, surely this isn’ t a coincidence – but it’s also not simply reused space, what’s the deal?

CB: We really wanted to create an indoor multiplayer level, something we hadn’t done a lot of in Halo 3 and the setting of Crow’s Nest was a perfect fit.

SC: Rat's Nest is a great example of a simple idea that turned out to be a great map. And it was only a simple idea because Barry came up with it.

CB: We felt that the single-player mission wasn’t long enough so we wanted to make you play through it again over and over in multiplayer.

Q: It’s a pretty big map with a lot of smaller, tighter combat spaces, how do art and design create those spaces and make sure they play nicely?

CB: A lot of testing and iteration. We also wanted to give a nice balance to larger open spaces where big battles can occur with vehicles and also allow some close quarters combat. The combination really worked great.

The first part of this question makes me feel weird. I’m not sure why.

Q: What kind of items will populate Rat’s Nest’s Forge palette?

CB: A hamster wheel and wood shavings.

SC: Who hasn't always wanted to drive a Scorpion tank inside.

Q: What’s been the biggest change in Rat’s Nest from the prototype/concept phase to the “ship it” phase?

CB: Originally the entire map was indoor and underground. We had the idea of opening up the wall to let in the sunlight, give an epic view and create a memorable space. Doing that really added a lot to the visual feel of the level.

We almost forgot to put any rats in the level.

SC: That better not be why we were losing performance!

Q: What’s the ideal player count for Rat’s Nest?

CB: 6-16 Players, it will really add to the Big Team Battle matchmaking hoppers online.

Q: Which gametypes have worked the best? What would you guys like to see in Matchmaking?

SC: The typical symmetrical games work well, Multi-flag, Territories, Neutral bomb, Team Slayer.

CB: Infection on Rat’s Nest is great, the dark moody atmosphere and all the hiding places make it idea for zombie hunting. There is a perfect race track around the outside!

Foundry

Up until now, you've known Foundry as Art Vandelay.


Q: Foundry is completely different from any map Bungie has made for a Halo game, how so?

CB: Foundry was designed from the beginning to be a Forge level. There is an almost limitless amount of potential map designs that can be made by arranging objects in different configurations.

You can remake Hang ‘Em High out of crates. Kind of.

SC: The second you see someone delete the entire level in Forge, you realize the potential a space like this has. The default layout Tyson put together is great, but the possibilities are definitely greater.

Q: Was Foundry’s art inspired by areas from a Campaign space like Rat’s Nest?

CB: We loved the feel of the Warehouse area in the campaign [on Voi] and it really made for an ideal playground that could be filled with lots of modular crates.

Q: Tom Doyle called the Forge objects for Foundry “Legos” – what kinds of items are players going to have at their disposal?

SC: Legos that look like all the things you might find in a Warehouse in Halo.

CB: All the things you’ll need to make a great multiplayer playground. Man-sized crates, walls, fences, stairs, bridges, and of course fusion coils.

I wouldn’t trust anything Tom Doyle says if I were you. He’s shifty.

Q: What’s the default set-up on Foundry? What’s it built for?

CB: The layout that will be include with the map is set up to work well to support as many gametypes as possible. But once players get a hold of it with Forge I can’t wait to see what people will do with it!

Q: It’s not a huge map so what’s the ideal player count for Foundry’s shenanigans?

CB: I can’t think of anything funny to say about this question other than being impressed you somehow fit shenanigans into one of the questions.

SC: 4-12. Unless you're Barry and then probably 1. Playing Halo isn't the only thing he does by himself.

Q: In daily playtests, what gametypes have been the most successful on Foundry?

CB: Most gametypes work great on Foundry. I definitely had some memorable Territories and Assault games.

Kill Barry, repeatedly, has been a popular one.

SC: Yes. Kill Barry. As well as traditional Slayer and CTF.

**The Bungie Thread**
http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=12983
Edited by Nexus Halo on Nov 20, 2007 at 05:15 AM

You realized that this morning? It was up yesterday.

im definitely gonna remake hang em high on foundry

I'm sure it was up yesterday but I went onto Bungie.net at 1:00am. I'm hooked on Marathon Infinity Online.

cool. anyone want to form a party when these are released? or now maybe

Heh No Halo 3 map has been made yet. Im almost finished with the pit but I still need to add alot more detail so it looks more like Halo 3 instead of hang em' high. Not to mention Ill have to get textures and stuff like that. Trust me, a that map WILL be difficult for the average modeling team.

Rat's Nest looks like it'd be fun to edit.

Standoff looks absolutely spectacular. the satellites in the background are the perfect touch they look awesome. im interested in seeing how the gameplay is though. it looks like a pretty large battlefield. good thing im getting a 360 soon. better save up for those MS points.

I really can't wait. Who knows when they will be free since they will have their own MM catagory. I'm getting Microsoft points ASAP.

When Bungie talks about "Highjinks" I find that is immature, anybody agree?

Wasn't directed to the better modelers. The Valhala for CE the mapping team (That doesnt speak english) Is doing a way better job than the other people making it. The snowbound I saw was nothing like the map. It wasnt layed out right.

what are you talking about?

um no. I can't even find that word in the article.

Nvm, but if you didnt look at most other articles about halo 3 they have.

The hijinks is funny.

i read about this on Bungie.net....... CANT WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!

I dont know what he ment by making hang em' high in forge. Is it that big? And will there be enough crates? I havent seen too many remake of Halo 1 maps in forge. The only one is boarding action. You may say "Nexus what are you talking about?" there was a boarding action made on construct. No that amazing but its the same concept.

^ It's Blood Gulch, but with giant satellites and it's slightly squished together.

Sounds awesome.

I just KNOW these are going to be awesome. I KNOW it. The last one looks very fun to me, since I spend most of my time in forge.

I hope it's the halo 3 bloodgulch... I have wanted to see what it would look like... nad maybe this is it..... cause vallhalla just isn't BG.

P.S. wow i'm hyper from playing through the fire and the flames a bunch of times against people online.... too bad alot of them quit... and once the Wii locked up.... lol I was so dissapointed. Oh and then I finnally got two full playthroughs and beat both people..... oh and the first guy was beating me... untill I activated star power.... then it was all down hill for me.

why did I tell you guys that? i duno..... but I fell calmed down now.

A link to the Bungie.net post would have been easier lol.

did you really have to quote that entire post? jeez my scroll-wheel finger hurts now...

It adds to my point lol.

The Spartan just killed the hype for the new maps just now...

Indeed. And so was your post lol. (And this one I guess is too)

Edited by The Spartan on Nov 23, 2007 at 07:28 PM

schnauzers

seriously guys stop. your being immature and annoying.where is that thing... oh here it is:

STOP MAKING STUPID POSTS!

lol this is fun


seriously though is this really nessasary? well anyway Foundry looks like fun though.... fully customizable...
Edited by tygron on Nov 23, 2007 at 09:30 PM

@Church- no someone posted it in another topic.
@ tygron- that link doesn't work it just takes you to the photobucket homepage.

I can't flip ppl off now becuz I just scrolled through 4 of the main posts in quotes... thanks guys. ............

And I CANT WAIT!!!

my bad... i just posted a link..... I meant to make it a picture... it's the headbang thing... nothing special.... i'll fix it though.

And it still didn't work... ah screw it.
Edited by tygron on Nov 23, 2007 at 09:28 PM

I just broke my scroll finger

fixed it

hey guys... theres a new way of scrolling... it's called the scroll bar..... simply hold the mouse on it and pul down.... oh my god right?

EDIT: or click down the scroll wheel..... and pull down.... really oh my god now riieeet?
Edited by tygron on Nov 23, 2007 at 09:33 PM

psshh, that was rlly pointless
lol jk

I sense a topic locking soon...

Ok, anyway back on topic, how big is foundry supposed to be? Like the warhouse in Singleplayer?

Edited by The Spartan on Nov 23, 2007 at 09:50 PM