Hey there Forgehub! It's been a while now since my last post here (not counting the 1v1 contest back on MCC). In fact, the last time I posted anything here officially was Halo: Reach I believe. However, that doesn't mean I haven't kept up with the community as I've been working behind the scenes on various projects that may or may not have faded with time. Luckily, this one has not. For the past month or so, I've been refining the layout of a small map for the contest currently ensuing, playing tests constantly for even the smallest things like just one mere spawn point. Finally, I'm happy to see the light at the end of the tunnel and release this map! That by no means says that I'm finished making tweaks, as I will continue to polish anything I see necessary. But for now, here's the first public version of Monarch! Forgive me as I don't have an overhead shot of the map, but I should have a video soon.

Weapons

Carbine - Blue Elbow
Halo 2 Battle Rifle - Bridge/Red Yard
Splinter Grenade - Plaza Sneaky/Bridge Wing
Plasma Grenade - Overhang
Storm Rifle - Bottom Mid
Binary Rifle - Plaza (Weapon Pad - 180)
Damage Boost - House (Weapon Pad - 240)

Design Decisions

Monarch first came into design after attempts to create a map with geometry that could be heavily manipulated by the player to coincide with our new abilities with Halo 5, and although the other attempts never amounted to anything (at least, not as of yet), I learned a tremendous amount about the current iteration of forge and what I truly wanted to bring out in a map. After observing numerous maps spring up for the Doubles Contest, I felt that my best chances of getting a shot at any of those prizes were through making the map as unique as possible. In my early layouts, I kept in mind that I wanted more than just right angles and room-based combat. What soon developed was a weird map with geometry that was actually a bit too strange even for my liking. I ended up redesigning a whole section of the map in order for it to play in a simpler style that also helped to promote some form of power in every position.

Later in the testing process, I was given a suggestion to make the jump to red tower from Red Elbow a full ramp rather than a jump-up, so after examining the rest of the map I decided to experiment with the Elbow a little bit to find something similar that fit both my ideals as well as the connectivity. I was looking to design a route that didn't extend off the tower but still connected to it in some way. The reason for this is because the tower as of right now is easily grenadable and if I were to extend off the tower in that direction, I'd be reducing the exposure one is forced to deal with when sitting at that power position. In addition, the player utilizing the tower's power (lol) would be able to easily shift themselves over to get a clear shot on Red Yard which has the ability to put a bit of pressure on tower and gain control of the position. Ultimately, I decided against the idea of the ramp as I felt that I would not be able to control all three problems of consistency of the movement, exposure to the rest of the map, and limited power of the tower (lol).

Special Thanks

There have been so many people that have helped me adjust to this forge, as the whole process would've gone by much slower without them and I wouldn't have had nearly as polished a final product as I have now.

These awesome people are:

A 3 Legged Goat
CommanderColson
MultiLockOn
Oasis Hurler
CheapBox v2
Auxi Clutch
CANADIAN ECHO
Darkling Ninjas
Forge Peasant
Hushed Behemoth
IKYLEIZBEATLY
IMAROLLINGSTONE
Kurismic
MYTHICALTWINKIE
PREACHER x21x
SaltyKoalaBear
SammichEaterPro
Solo XIII
Squally DaBeanz
The Darkk Skull
THE SLAMMERSS
Xdemption
xEasyTargetx

...And that's all. Unless I forgot you. Then you too. Thanks.

Follow me on Xbox to grab Monarch and other maps of mine!