Hello!

I am very exited to introduce to you, GUARDLOCK!

GUARDLOCK is an amalgam, or hybrid of 2 of the best Halo maps to date, Guardian from Halo 3, and Lockout from Halo 2. This map was probably the most difficult map I've ever made as I was struggling to find a right balance between the 'look' and the 'feel' of these two classic maps and then trying to decide how to make it feel right for Halo 5. Not only that, the budget, and the way it affects the lighting, and pieces turning black for no reason caused me to lose a bit of my hair. But despite all of that, over a month later, it's done. In my opinion, this mix of the two feels right on all accounts.

I started by taking screen shots from within both maps to make sure I was able to replicate the look of both maps. Since the aesthetic of both maps vary a bit, with the fog values and brightness levels, I wanted to make sure that if the budget allowed for it, I could make everyone feel right at home on both. I took top down views of both maps and broke them apart and recombined them using Photoshop. This is actually the same process I went through back in Halo Reach when I remade the same map, with the same name. After reconfirming the placement of the buildings, I went to work.

I'll be honest in saying that this map frustrated me almost every single day during the creation process. I found I could only work on it for an hour or two at most before wanting to quit and take a break. I felt it was a hopeless endeavor. After finishing just the center structure and half of yellow lift base, I was already close to maxing out my budget. Again, I decided it wasn't worth continuing as I didn't want to work hard on a map that had no hope of staying below the light and object placement count. Somehow, as if by Forerunner magic, I was able to regain my budget. Bit by very tiny bit, I was able to add onto the map to make it work.

I started with the middle structure since this is the focal point for both maps and wanted to use the circular center of Guardian, but combine the floors of both. I even added the glass to observe from above. Adding walkways in the four directions, I was able to approximate the distances and by using larger, plain pieces, I could start to visualize the whole map. Throughout this whole process, I was still trying to decide about the fog and time of day and had even decided on using a nighttime theme of the map. The darkness felt right for a long time, that is until I was back up to 140% of my lighting budget. Bye bye lights, bye bye nighttime. Did I say I quit working on this map all the time?

Finally, after struggling with the Sniper tower and elbow from Lockout, and the shotgun base of Guardian, I was able to complete the rest of the map quickly. Trying to figure out a way that combined the two without totally losing either map in the process stumped me for almost 3 weeks. As soon as that was completed, the rest came together surprisingly fast. This map still gave me headaches when it came to budget. I struggled with minimizing the pieces, removing z glitching, using 2 pieces where I previously had 4 and recoloring pieces that I had 'debaked' to save on budget.

With all of that being said, I have a feeling that it's still not finished. Hopefully 343 gives me a reason to revisit to add-in more appropriate weapons like the :hammer: and issue updates to give me back my Brute Shot.

Please comment, download, and enjoy.