Ok, I was into Halo CE since the beginning of 08. That's not very long ago. But I've browsed through a large number of maps on the site, and noted what date those maps were created, and also their ratings. I've discovered that more recent maps have lower ratings than older maps of the same quality. For example, I noticed a map, called Open, a week or so ago. It was uploaded in 04 and had a 9.1 rating, as very few people had downloaded it ever since well, 04.

That map was bumped down to 6.8 in 2 days.

Majority of our players don't make maps. Perhaps they think making maps is an easy business and rate simple maps very lowly? Even from the beginning of 08 till now, there's a huge difference. Take this map:

War Ahead
http://hce.halomaps.org/index.cfm?fid=4238

Its a good map, with custom weps, but only rated 3.6! In the beginning of 08 such a map would have gotten 7.2 or so.

Look through the HaloMaps archive and search for maps from 04-05. You'll find out that they have considerably higher ratings than if you posted maps currently.

Most players would say that certain maps are great because of custom weapons/vehicles. But think about it: Most of the tags are ripped. One person creates custom stuff, dosen't protect that map, and people start ripping like crazy. Find me one unprotected map where the author has created Cutom content and it has not been used in some other map?

IMO, its not the weapons, or the vehicles that matter. Its the gameplay. If its a symettric map, what advatnages/good positions does it have? If its Assymetric, how is each team advantaged? Weapon and vehicle placement is also important.

Also, can the map run on all gametypes and how well are the netgame flags placed? If the map runs on all types and the netgame flags are placed good, it should be a great map.

Think about this: For Halo, there are many interesting aspects of gameplay. You can have a map with Seraph fighter starships and Longswords and Scarabs and super weapons, BUT a simple, small close-quarters map with good weapon placement and great-close range gameplay can also achieve the same rating as yours.

In the end, these are the points to think about before rating a map:

How good is the gameplay?
-Does it support all gametypes?
-Does it have netgame flags placed well?
-Does it have manny different positions were you can snipe/hide?

How good are the weapons placed?
-Does it have weapons placed appropriately? A Shotgun is kind off useless in a large, open area, while useful in a small, cramped, short hallway.


Post what you think.
Edited by Polamee on Dec 24, 2008 at 09:08 AM

Wow You think the same way as i do O: ! i havent rated very many maps but, lets say there was a bloodgulch mod and it had a (for example) 3.6 well and you donwload it to see how good it really is (maybe because you thougt something in it was good or badf or interesting) and you check everything and te gameplay and weapon spawns netgame flags scenery placage and they were all great you would be wondering "why does this map not have a high rating ?" well it's because almost everyon "HATES" bloodgulch mods because it is the most used map that gets modded and you have tried many bloodgulch mods and they were horrible.

Keep this in mind if alot of mods you have played on the same map are horrible well how do you know that all will be. you would think almost all of them would be "n00bish" or "sucky" well not all have to be jsut actualy try the map and see for yourself and not the rating. just because the map looks bad doesn't mean it is or the map has a low rating doesn't mean it's bad. some people rae the maps without even downloading them first to look at them. so think before you rate and download the maps to TEST THEM!


-Pakar45

Good point you have there. May I have a link to this bloodgulch mod?

lol i was making a example but here let me find one exactly like it hold on EDIT: here this one is 4 points higter but close enough (lol i just found mine to see how high it was here) link: http://hce.halomaps.org/index.cfm?fid=4145

Edited by pakar45 on Dec 24, 2008 at 01:23 AM

I think part of it is that since there aren't as many good maps coming out as there were back in those days, new maps coming out that are even semi-decent are thrown in with the crappy box maps and AI mods that we're used to seeing nowadays.

Crappy box maps? What crappy box maps?

actually, theres a reason why its rated so low. the AI wont spawn. im still trying to fix it.

actually, I just played it and I think it had no sense of game play whatsoever and was terribly planned.

Ditto. I still think it deserves a rating of 6 or so.

You might not want to put your own map as an example...

How about a 1.5, because I seriously think this could be one of the WORST BG mods in Halomaps' history.

Erm... Just off the front page: http://hce.halomaps.org/index.cfm?fid=4237 http://hce.halomaps.org/index.cfm?fid=4234 http://hce.halomaps.org/index.cfm?fid=4236

Everyone has to start somwhere

yah you cant discourage people from creating box maps if there new or liek them. i mean seriously also. Custom things do count if you want to play all good gamplay and no custom go play halo combat evolved not halo "custom edition" dont get me rong gameplay is big ordeal but you have to have custom in halo "custom edition" seriously get over it.

but do they really have to upload their maps?

first of all not everyone goes to the forum so they wouldnt know that they shouldnt and when you first make your first map you have a sence of pride if you want to be ignorant go ahead and dont play the map either i personaly have almost everymap here whether there bad or not. I dont have so many of the small ones though.
Edited by vmt on Dec 24, 2008 at 12:26 PM

May have something to do with people leaving the community... A lot of the people who made some of the good maps from the past are gone, leaving not very many good mappers out there... So all we have left are mods and box maps, a new generation is attempting to start, but keeps getting crushed by the "1337" or "elite" mappers that point out every flaw, and discourage the newer generation. So basically, I blame Modacity and it's "elite" mappers who think they are on top and (probably unknowingly) crush this next generation of mappers.

I agree with SiMuLaCrUm because you have to incourage people to do this suff in order for them to advance in map making and don't point out every flaw but help them not order them to do things. Don't discourage people from trying.

and when one of the "supreme" mappers makes something that is mediocre, they expect everyone to say 'ooh, aah'. When a person points out a mistake or bad thing, the "good" mapper goes f u and stop paying attention to comments.

Yea, true. Masterz could make a box map and everyone would go into shock or something >.>

Most people pay attention to weapons, mostly. Not the map itself. I don't hate box maps, I mostly pay attention to gameplay. If it has good weapons, a good hud, or something like that, then the map might be able to redeem itself. Some people spend a lot of time making one tag, and put it into Blood Gulch or a quick box map to show it off.

That's what I thought as well.

I really hate those guys. They're just too lazy to make a proper map to show off their creation.

Box maps can be great, if populated, textured and have proper flag placement.

sphere maps could be great too? im making a small map where you can walk on the walls and ceiling (hopefully)

That sounds good. What stops you from falling upwards when you spawn though?

nothing. you spawn on the bottom side.

The days of 2 Dimensional warfare is over

wha-?

could you explain it in a more simple english?

ftfy
Edited by Gamma927 on Dec 26, 2008 at 09:42 AM

Since when was Halo 2D?

It was more of a game where you stand on the ground, you shoot at things on the ground, etc...

kk il try to finish it.

(this is my first modeled map, so dont expect for a good map)

just a question:

the sphere map is 200 meters radius. should i add light vehicles like ghosts and warthogs? should i add explosive weapons? (currectly the only explosion weapon is rocket, covered by the gun turrets)

should i put super jump? or disable safe fall?

No super jump, acts weird online. Disable falling damage.

This is sorta off topic but, how do you make it so you can walk on walls?

I have always wondered that so how do you?