J A I L B I R D

A 2v2 Map by WeedCough

D E S C R I P T I O N

JAILBIRD is the result of many months of reiteration on the same design. It is a small(ish) 2v2 map set in a abandoned ONI prison, used to house criminals of "special interest". The twist is that before it was abandoned, it was already closed for construction. Players battle through the half-renovated prison, exploring its partially excavated yard, and panel-stripped hallways; a place where exposed wire and piping is the least of your worries.

Caged in like animals, prisoners must learn the ins and outs of the battleground if they want to leave alive. JAILBIRD hosts many unique combat experiences and movement opportunities. Corridors and hallways create intense close quarters combat, but the open top floors provide long sightlines and base-to-base battles.

H I S T O R Y

This is not a new project by any stretch. If anyone remembers, it was actually one of the first maps I shared to FH. Back when I first shared it, it was a remix of Pegasus called Hercules.

Heres a picture of the map at one of its earliest stages.

Early forging at it's finest. As stated above, this map was originally a Pegasus remix/reimagination, and in a lot of ways, it still is. But I'm confident that although the map borrows aspects of Pegasus, it's gameplay is different enough to warrant me referring to it as an original map :)

So I built this and it was alright. It kind of sat on the shelf for a long time as a block out. When textures dropped, I decided to give the map a bit of a visual update and wanted to start testing.

Heres a pic of another early version:

The visual design of the map, then known as "The Yard" was starting to come together. The theme was similar to its final state. This version was a former prison under construction to become a spartan training camp. Unfortunately I went a little haywire with the new foliage options and the maps framerate suffered. The play tests were borderline unplayable. It sucked. So I refined it enough for it to be playable. The map was reborn again as JAILBIRD.

Heres a pic of that version:

The map was playable, but not amazing. It seemed to be very packed and players seemed to be only moving in a few ways. It was very one dimensional in a way. I kind of gave up on it for a bit. It sat in my fileshare for a few months.

So about a month or two ago, I was browsing my older maps and stumbled upon JAILBIRD again. I suddenly had an epiphany kind of. Maybe not that intense, but I knew how to fix, or at least help fix the main issues on the map. So I started forging and ended up adding a whole new section of the map. I made a bunch of changes based on feedback from testing lobby.

The cellblock is a sunken in area of hallways, corridors, and vents.

This area really brings life to the map in a bunch of ways. The maps flows so much nicer now, its insane. Just goes to show you that taking a break from a certain map and looking at it with a fresh pair of eyes is very useful. It also solves a pretty basic visual problem the map had: it was a prison with no cells. They really help enhance immersion into the theme imo.

After finishing this huge change, I proceeded to move the entire map to Tidal for performance reasons. JAILBIRD has also received a bit of a visual overhaul as well. It is now much more detailed and believable. The lighting was also worked on.

W E A P O N S

2x BR
2x Magnum
1x Recon DMR
1x SMG
1x Shotgun
1x Energy Sword
1x Overshield
1x Scourge of Fire Plasma Caster

There are grenades on the map but I kind of forget how many lol.

O V E R V I E W

Well, I guess thats about it. JAILBIRD is a project that has been a long time in the making. I'm glad its finished enough to share with you. Please give its download and tell me what you think :)

NOTE: The map is currently playable, but has no invisible blockers/kill boundaries, nor does it have name locations. I'm adding these in very soon.

-WeedCough :donut:

Heres some additional pics :)