Frozen Valley Map Info Posted
The last and final Halo Wars Map has been posted to the Skirmish Maps Info Page. Frozen Valley, the big snowy 3v3 Map is revealed in all of its glory.
"Frozen Valley was the first 3v3 map designed during the development of Halo Wars. After Chasms, this was probably our most played map through internal playtesting. The layout went through one major tweak throughout development and that was the opening down between the teams that runs along the bottom edge on picture shown here. The first iteration had the hole as well as the mount near that bottom edge of the map extend all the way to the edge. Leaving a pocket only access through the middle by land units. It allowed the two bottom player on each team to build up safely. "
Check it out!.
Crevice Skirmish Map Information Unveiled
Paul Jaquays finishes up his roundup of Halo Wars Skirmish Maps he worked on with Crevice today, this map had quite a few different ideas thrown around for it, and looks quite different form the original conception.
During development, Crevice shifted from the inside of the Shield World to the outside. To achieve this, I painted over a screen capture of the current version of the map, sketching out ideas for details on notebook paper. The design rework of the map had turned the central platform into a big hole. I suggested changing this into a playable area, a partially buried circular Forerunner platform. One feature I wanted to play up was the "bouncy-ness" of the warthogs, so where possible, I sculpted in small steps and shelves into the terrain.
Check out the Crevice Skirmish Map Page!
Repository Skirmish Map Info Revealed
Paul Jaquays continues his rampage across the Halo Wars skirmish maps to talk about Repository this time. He also includes 4 never before seen development and concept pieces.
Early 2007 saw the first completed version of Repository (then called "the Halo map"). Primarily developed by Ensemble artist Patrick Thomas, this was a land of subtle terrain blending, muted colors, narrow paths, rough terrain, and the unrestricted placement of bases and other buildings. Players captured Forerunner power stations to earn resources. Very little of what can be seen in this map survived into the final game. The effects guys put a lot of effort into river that runs through the map, including the appearance of moving water, waterfalls, and spray. But the game was about to undergo an extensive refit, resulting in play much closer to the final version and the need to totally rework this map from the ground up. The river, sadly, became an early victim to those changes.
Check it out along with the rest of the skirmish maps on the Skirmish Maps Page.
Terminal Moraine Skirmish Map Information Released
Paul Jaquays is back again to talk about his work on Terminal Moraine, one of the 2v2 multiplayer maps in Halo Wars. Check it out, with a piece of never before seen concept art on its very own page.
I started map development by literally copying and pasting a large chunk the Alpha Base ruins into one corner of the map. This established a particularly unique landmark in that corner. These large landmarks in skirmish maps help players immediately know where they are and and let them navigate from point to point by in-game visual references. Ideally, each "corner" of any skirmish map is visually unique, and this was my design goal with Terminal Moraine
As always, I dish up a few tactics I use when I'm playing on the map. You can check out all of the maps released so far on the
Skirmish Maps Page.
Pirth Outskirts Skirmish Map Page Released
Pirth Outskirts, a 1v1 skirmish map, is laid out for us today by one of the original Artists. Paul Jaquays, formerly at Ensemble Studios, gives us how he came up with the art style for the map on the Pirth Outskirts Map page. He's also kind enough to include his concept art image from development.
I developed the area as a remote vacation destination with mysterious ancient ruins, modern hotels, and dramatically steep, mist-shrouded cliffs into which breathtaking waterfalls poured majestically. On top of this, I layered the planet's recent, tragic history. Covenant bombs had cut the area off from the cities and turned the man-made structures into smoking rubble.
Check it out on the Skirmish Maps Page.