Sandtrap Firefight
PvE variant of a classic Halo 3 map remake with a wide variety of locations and interesting ways to fight AI enemies from.
- Engine: Slipspace Engine, Halo Forge
- Mode: 4 to 20-Player PvE KOTH
- Contributors: Solo (map variant)
- PvE encounter design
- PvE implementation
- Focus on casual play
- Interactable scripting
- Technical implementation
After finishing work on the core gamemodes and sandbox on the main map, Sandstone, I wanted to learn how to set up a then new mode called "Firefight:King of The Hill" and I knew Sandstone would be a great fit for it that would also allow me to add some scripted encounters and easter eggs which I always love to do.
The mode was Halo Infinite's first implementation of a Players vs Enemy experience, which I had seen was very popular among casual players. I realized that combining a classic, nostalgic map remake with the mode was bound to be a hit amongst casual players.
I researched how to set up the mode and first made the enemy spawns too close to the hills, which made them too difficult to kill before reaching the hill. I adjusted the spawn distances and added some aerial spawns as well. With this project I did rapid iteration on the hill placement and the AI encounters in open lobbies with random players, from whom I was able to interpret feedback by just observing gameplay.
As the map was somewhat of a classic that people wanted to try out in a new light, I was able to gather lobbies upwards of 20 players quite easily. This proposed an issue though as the mode was designed for only four players. Instead of limiting the lobby size, I leaned in on the concept of making it work even for larger lobbies.
I found it very rewarding adding fun scripted elements to the map such as a side mission where players need to deactivate terminals to shut down a shield door, saving two marine allies and making them follow the players. Seeing random players know how how to solve the puzzle intuitively was exciting and made me want to build more.
Much like with a previous project of mine, Smallhalla, I went crazy with the amount of easter eggs and fun scripted secrets on the map. I made sure to hide them in plain sight where they would only be found by players who diverted from the main objective of the match. This way the core gameplay was unaffected, but if players got bored, there was always something interesting to find out.
Sandtrap Firefight received the "343 Recommended" mark on 16th April, 2024 meaning that the developer of the game, 343 Industries saw the map as being of high enough quality to want to promote it. The map was also featured in an official article.
With this project I got to set up interesting and balanced AI encounters for both 4-player and 20-player experiences, design nine different hills to battle AI on and to include multiple scripted things that players can explore on the side that brings more depth to the map experience.
Development summary:
Initial idea
I wanted to see if I could create a PvE experience for a large, open map and just how much I could fit into it while still keeping the gameplay predictable and fun.
PvE encounter design
I learned to create fun, but challenging and balanced AI encounters in a variety of settings. The map first had only five hill possibilities, but in the end I expended it to nine.
Public lobby testing
A major part of this project was being able to gather large groups of random players in open public lobbies hosted on the map. This allowed me to gather tons of feedback through observation.
Scripted "side-quests"
Having played the map over a hundred times, I had gotten bored of the core gameplay and wanted to add some voluntary side-quests and easter eggs to make the map more interesting for anyone wanting to explore a bit more.
Marketing and map trailer
As with any map I am proud of, I did a public release announcement for the map along with a short video trailer showcasing the map and it's gameplay.