Outposts
Halo Infinite Big Team Battle Map
Outposts is a Big Team Battle map with a focus on vehicle combat and transportation between points of engagement with support for Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and Control Points
Project Spec.
16 players
Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Control Points
Developed in Halo: Infinite Forge
Created over 28 weeks
Solo Project
Initial Planning and Layout
The first 14 weeks of this project was spent getting familiar with the editor and deciding on the style of map I wanted to make. For this project, I decided to make a Big Team Battle map for two teams of 8 players with a focus on vehicle combat between major on foot combat areas. I utilized the terrain objects built into Halo Infinite Forge in an attempt to create interesting areas to drive. This early version of the map also included aerial vehicles scattered throughout the map. As seen in the images, this first version of the map was very open to really put a focus on using vehicles to get around and fight, but this resulted in on foot combat being essentially impossible.
Much like my earlier Halo 5 free for all map, I used a Point of Engagement style map design for this project, where I split the map into a series of main on foot combat zones with terrain between them that would need to be traverses using jump pads or vehicles. Each of these POEs is meant to be a definable area that is distinct from the rest of the map so players can always tell roughly where they are on the map. The initial plan consisted of four POEs spread throughout the map to create an asymmetrical layout while keeping both sides of the map balanced for team deathmatch. The only POEs on the map that repeat are the team bases so that each team has the same baseline and capture the flag can be supported more easily.
New Layout
After the initial layout was in place, it became clear that a smaller, more symmetrical map was needed to make the team-based modes work. Over the second half of the project, I redesigned the map to have a more balanced and interesting team experience while keeping the original vision and the focus on vehicle use. To do this, I reworked several aspects of the map, including the terrain, what POEs there are on the map, and traversal between the different areas.
For the terrain, I wanted each side of the map to feel different. To do this, I have one side that feels more chaotic and rough, using rugged terrain and debris from a crashed ship. This side of the map is meant to be more crowded and close quarters. The opposite side of the map is more orderly and easier to navigate, featuring much more defined paths using roads from each team base to the canyon area and the tower complex. Each side gives players unique ways to fight with vehicles and on foot.
In the new layout for the map, I completely reworked most of the POEs, with the tower complex being the only one keeping its original overall design. I also separated the map into major and minor POEs. The major Points of Engagement on the map are the crashed ship and the tower complex, while the team bases, cave, and canyon building all serve as minor POEs surrounding them.
Traversal between parts of the map and on-foot viability were other major pain points in the original design. To fix this issue, each team base has jump pads that go straight to each of the four locations that aren’t a team base. Each POE also has jump pads that can be used to quickly and safely travel to a new place. To help with on-foot viability without just using jump pads, I added forested areas that cover the areas between the team bases and the tower complex, as well as forest areas between the tower complex and the crashed ship. These forest areas are inaccessible to any vehicles other than a Mongoose and provide good cover for players trying to get from place to place without a vehicle or jump pad.
Crashed Ship
The first major Point of Engagement I designed was the crashed ship and the surrounding debris field. This POE is very chaotic and more close quarters, even for the vehicle combat. The debris field provides obstacles that break up vehicle lines and make it more difficult to traverse while keeping it clear where the player is and how to get to the next location. All of the obstacles are also designed to give players on foot a better chance against vehicles. Many of the pieces of debris have ways for players to move through them to get new angles or put space between them and vehicles.
The main non-vehicle combat area is the interior of the ship. This combat area is built using unusual angles and geometry to emphasize the destruction of the ship. The interior is very cramped, but still navigable with clear sight lines to other areas of interest inside the ship such as a jump pad to the second floor, the large ramp between floors, and the launcher that sends players to the far side of the map. The interior of the ship creates a tight and dynamic space to fight on foot without the interruption of vehicles since the gates at the front prevent any from entering. How the inside of the ship is slanted creates a unique feel to the space and provides different angles for players to explore and master.
The angle of this space made it challenging to design. To help make the destruction feel more authentic, the different floors are at slightly different angles. I also made the first floor more chaotic and used crates and debris to make it seem as if the contents of the ship had fallen to the bottom level, while the upper floor has more stable cover such as concrete barriers and pillars.
Tower Complex
The second major POE on the map is the tower complex and the surrounding forests and cliffs. This area is far more orderly and interconnected, with roads leading to and from the complex and clear routes through the canyon behind it. The complex consists of five main buildings with bridges between them. This separates the on-foot areas from the vehicles while still allowing combat to happen between them. The bridges have cover designed to provide an advantage to players on foot against the vehicles below while not being too strong against other people fighting within the complex.
The complex itself is symmetrical other than some specific portions of it. Each of the four corner towers is the same other than their rotation, which still makes them feel different without upsetting the balance of the area. The bridges on either side of the complex are completely identical to each other which keeps the encounters balanced. Keeping this area symmetrical works well and ensures that each side is given the same advantages and disadvantages and emphasizes the order of the POE when compared to the crashed ship on the other side of the map.
One of the challenges that arose while working on this POE was how to make traversal too and from it work without leaving players vulnerable for too long. For most of the project, this area struggled in comparison to other parts of the map because players felt too exposed when trying to reach it. I fixed this issue by implementing the jump pads from the team bases and providing more cover to and from the complex. I also added easier and more natural ways to reach other parts of the map such as the launch pad at the front of the complex and the ramp to the canyon building on the backside.
Vehicle Combat
As stated earlier, one of the main focuses of this project was to focus on vehicle combat and traversal. To do this, I created a map that is much larger than an 8v8 map would normally be and created vehicle specific lanes throughout. These vehicle lanes go around the outside of the map and directly through in specific spots. Vehicle lanes are far more open than the POEs meant for on foot combat, with large pieces of terrain used as a way to add cover and environmental interactions.
Because of the heavy focus on vehicle use, each team base has four vehicle spawns that offer a variety of playstyles with solo and multi-person options. There are many other vehicles spread throughout the map, often near the main POEs, most of which encourage team play in some way. The power vehicles for this map, the Rockethogs, also encourage cooperation between teammates since multiple players are required in order to make effective use of them.
The original vision for this map contained aerial vehicles and Scorpion tanks, but those were both scrapped in favor of a more generally balanced experience. The map is far too open for the aerial vehicles to not be overpowered since they can attack from much farther away and special buildings and POEs would need to be made to create sight blockers for them. The tanks proved to be far too durable for the map, with entire teams needing to attack at once to stand a chance against them. Replacing the tanks with the Rockethogs created a more cohesive match where players have to fight as a team instead of becoming a one person army.
The introduction of vehicles also made weapon balancing more challenging. While on my Halo 5 map the power weapons are designed for fighting other players, such as the SAW machine gun, while this map uses them as anti-vehicle options. While all the power weapons can still be used to fight other players very effectively, the sniper rifle is the only one that truly specializes in it on this map.
Project Takeaways
Over the course of this project, I learned a lot about map size and how vehicles work within the overall space of the arena. The original size for this level was far larger and POEs were much further apart, but I learned that having a vehicle focus does not mean the map has to require players to use them. Making the map smaller and more compact while still having open areas for vehicles to fight creates a much better experience for players because it allows them to choose how they want to interact with the map.
Another thing I learned a lot about is map balance. When I first started working on this project, the spread of POEs was much more asymmetrical, but this hurt the overall experience for players. Changing the map to be more symmetrical but still feature asymmetrical elements helped fix this issue while also developing my skills to design different styles.
Some more aspects of balance that I became more adept at is weapon and equipment distribution and power. Halo Infinite features many abilities that players can use, and I learned how to leverage these abilities to work within the space I had designed. For the weapons, I learned how to incorporate lots of different playstyles and make player versus vehicle combat viable.
The last major takeaway I gained from this project was gaining experience in team map design instead of free for all. Free for all map design allows for much more asymmetrical design where I can have every spot on the map completely unique, whereas for team based modes, I have to make sure one team does not have an advantage over another. I learned how to do this by reordering the content of the level to be more symmetrical while still incorporating interesting asymmetry within the context of individual spaces.