UPRISING

Halo Reach Forges Video

A Moment to Reflect
Uprising was born a long time ago in a distant solar system on the Planet Earth, in a huge empty Foundry in central Africa. While it was built to completion, I never published it due to the constraints Foundry had forced on my design. The idea was simple: a long, narrow, and steep map ideal for asymmetrical gametypes like One Flag with attackers battling from the ground floor up the hill. The map was named after my favourite Halo 2 Campaign level, though the title is more of a pun (attackers rise up through the map) than due to any resemblance. Bringing this idea to Reach was my number one priority for Forge 2.0, but it's taken until now to find the right place to put it. For me, the wait's paid off.

A Long-Winded and Boring Description
Uprising totally transforms the shallow side of the island's mountain. Walls cut through Forge World at an angle that compliments the flow of the mountain, but cuts against the natural grain of Forge World, resulting in a couple neat little "natural" diagonals, like the tunnel through the mountain. The attackers' blue base lies at the foot of the newly proportioned mountain, just off the edge of the island in ankle-deep water. Over a short cliff the island takes over, it's rolling hills dotted with trees and rocks and strung together with bridges and platforms carry attackers up the slow, subtle slope.

As the mountain begins to loom over these intruders, their options for ascent open up. Directly ahead, a mancannon channels a dangerous route up to the defender's base platform - and their flag. Teleporters link the flanks to create confusion or for a quick change of scenery. Rocks and bridges are all forged together to leave one more option for attackers: mountaineering.

The defenders' base is simple, but not well covered. Its advantage is its height alone. A long platform leans out over a fatal drop: an attractive option for suicidal flag runners in a throwback to Halo 2's Relic. A higher platform just short of the mountain's peak takes some climbing, but rewards adventurers with a Focus Rifle. The lines of sight are long from here, but broken by rocks and trees, and the Focus Rifle's own difficulty balances it.

Uprising is set up for FFA or Team Games (where applicable), but teams should really conform to Red or Blue if they want decent spawns.

But hold on a second. There's more...

Or Rather, There's Less
If you thought a big-ass steep valley sounded sweet for asymmetric objectives, but rubbish for Slayer, you were right. That's why I made some adjustments to the map that completely alter the Uprising experience for Slayer. The biggest difference is a game-specific wall that disects the map just in front of the mancannon. Game-specific Respawn Zone-Antis and Kill Boundaries keep players in line. Also, the team spawns (Red and Blue only) are rotated 90 degrees to oppose each other across the short hilly section of the map. Ironically, while this makes the gameplay and map more symmetrical, it makes the weapon layout distinctly asymmetrical.

Speaking of Weapons
This is a teency touch complicated, as there are some weapons that are cut off from Slayer, and then some more weapons that are Slayer-specific to keep things moving. Here's the list:

4x DMRs*
- 90 seconds & 2 spare clips
4x Needle Rifles
- 90 seconds & 2 spare clips
3x Assault Rifles
- 60 seconds & 2 spare clips
2x Concussion Rifles
- 90 seconds & 1 spare clip
2x Plasma Pistols*
- 60 seconds
7x Plasma Grenades^
- 15 seconds
3x Frag Grenades^
- 15 seconds

1x Focus Rifle ^
- 150 seconds
1x Plasma Launcher
- 150 seconds
1x Shotgun
- 130 seconds & 0 spare clips
1x Sniper Rifle
- 150 seconds & 2 spare clips
1x Mounted Machine Gun
- 150 seconds

4x Health Packs^
- 90 seconds

* Asterisks indicate weapons that have the same number across all gametypes, but are in different positions. A Plasma Pistol and 2 DMRs are blocked off by the wall in Slayer, but have been added within the confines of the gametype and set as game-specific. Either way, there are 4 DMRs and 2 Plasma Pistols.

^ Upward arrow things indicate items the number of which differs between gametypes, if only slightly. 3 Plasma Grenades, 1 Health Pack and the Focus Rifle are off-limits in Slayer, and there's 1 Frag Grenade more in Slayer than in other gametypes. Negligible? Possibly, but I'm writing it in.

Pretty Pictures of Things With Dryly Humorous Captions

Bam! Overview. Foreground right is the upper defensive platform with Focus Rifle spawn, under that the defensive objective spawn etc. That one-way shield is where mancannoners fly through. It's also a trampoline.

Bam! Er, underview? This is looking back up the opposite direction, from just above the offensive base.

Middley-section. Bridges and hills. Struts and trees. Yeah, man. Trees. I know you're already hooked. Some of them are even at angles. I did that. (I didn't do that).

The offensive base. It's pretty cool, I'm happy with its modern design. Ankle-deep is in this year. Objectives spawn in varying locations, but mostly on the pyramid thing up against the grass. You can almost make out a flag there.

Look at that greenery! This part of the map was so pretty (not really thanks to me, I have to admit), that I stuck a couple of respawn points and a Concussion Rifle here.

A different angle of the defensive base. Got you shakin' yet?

A little further downhill from that previous shot. One of the teleporters can be seen by the lower left corner.

And here's the other end to that teleporter system, just inside the tunnel there. In case you can't tell or didn't guess, the tunnel's blocked off right where that node is by a Glass Cover.

Another look over the middle battleground, ugly rock bridge in the fore. Damn lighting system. That pair of braces just behind it are the Blue spawn in Team Slayer games.

Picturesque.

Look at all dem trees! Gives new meaning to the phrase "natural cover".

Here's that wall I mentioned. Note also a new grav lift in front of the mancannon tunnel. There are a few more minute game-specific changes to discover in Slayer. That platform sticks through the wall making the Needle Rifle available to anyone daring enough to fly up there with a jetpack. The whole thing is veiled under a soft-kill barrier though, so no pissing around or hiding.

Go team Red! Also, 6v6: bad for spawns, great for action shots! (Surprisingly playable for spawns actually, if I do say so myself).

At 'em, team Blue! These are the TS starting points.

Jetpacks have their upsides.

In case you're wondering, that border around the walls is covered with a soft-kill for most of the distance to deter campers or anyone looking for unobstructed access to the blue base.

Action! Suspense! Etc.!

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!
Or: He's going Super-Saiyan!

Imagine what their holiday hunting trips are like.

I found a lump! Oh shit, I found a lu-

Real men's rock-painting.

More or less screwed.

A Spartan Escaped
This is a 4-part screenshot series documenting a sweet little encounter I discovered while taking these action shots from a 6v6 game of TS.

Part One: Escape?

Part Two: Recharged.

Part Three: Safe?

The Thrilling Conclusion: Melee Battle!

---

If you're the kind of guy who skims through the pictures alone to decide if this is worth his download slot, you suck. Read my words. But also, if you load this up in Basic Editing, there's gonna be a big-ass wall in the way and you won't know what the hell is going down. For the first look, load this map in a CTF variant.

Well guys, that's it for me and Uprising. Hopefully you like the map, it's taken more work than any previous creation, and I like to think that shows.

Finally, a quick thanks to Skisma for being super cool about getting this tested by the tester's guild. You rock.

Edit: What's wrong with white text? :(