Hello everyone and welcome to another Halo Community Featured Project. The team at Halo United hope you’ve all enjoyed the summer. In case you’re not familiar with the Halo Community Featured Projects, allow me to give you some additional information.
The Halo Community Featured Project section of Halo United is a place for projects of any size and scale to be highlighted. Whether it’s a solo creator making a mod, or an entire team working towards something big, each Halo Community Featured Project will help answer some questions and shed some light as to where the project started and where it is going.
This feature is a little different than the usual featured projects, as it doesn’t follow the Q&A format that the featured projects usually have. Instead, this piece will use information from the developers commentary video, along with some additional information to highlight this amazing project. I’m pleased to feature the Madusa map and gamemode set, which was co-developed by SightlessKombat, Spartan Blood 1, Kawecki22, b0b is here, ACTIVATE HALO and many more.
The creation of the Madusa Map and Gamemode Set
The Madusa map and gamemode set were made for one simple reason: To give those with or without sight an equal chance of winning. It’s a very unique concept that I’ve personally never seen before, but it’s incredibly heartwarming to know that projects like this do exist.
How does it work?
Since the Madusa map and gamemode aims to make gameplay equal for players with sight and players without sight, that exact difference must be addressed. As such, players that have sight must wear a blindfold whilst playing on this map and rely purely on their hearing.
The next major idea behind this map and gamemode is that you only use your left thumbstick (the one for movement). This is because the map is designed in straight lines, so looking up, down or any other direction would cause the map and gametype designs to not function correctly.
It’s essentially a square shape with corridors making up the 4 edges, and corridors connecting in the middle of the 4 sides.
-SightlessKombat
Audio Cues
Interestingly, each corner has its own audio cue, which helps all players in the match know their location on the map. The top right hand side of the map, for example, uses a falling debris sound effect. Following this, the central corridors that each connect to the centre of the map use a glass floor, which makes a different sound when walking on it.
The map features a range of weapons and grenades, each of which can be identified by their pick up sound and bullet sound. Speaking of the weapons themselves, they actually play a huge part in making this gameplay work.
The Loadouts And Weapons
The default starting weapons for this gametype are the Assault Rifle and the Gravity Hammer. The only power weapon located on the map is the Shotgun variant named Blaze Of Glory, which is already quite a powerful weapon. It is made even more powerful in the Madusa game mode thanks to the gametypes unique settings.
An important note for all DMR and Assault rifle variants on this map is that they use the threat marker attachment. This is to help players more easily identify when they are looking at an enemy.
The gametype settings
In terms of kill time, the Madusa game mode can be closely related to the SWAT gametype. Players can die to a few bullets, one grenade or one melee, so be extra careful when wondering around the map.
The Spartan Abilities are still present. Sprint is still around and can get a player from one side of the map to another very quickly. Thrusters actually has two uses, so you can thrust one way and near immediately boost again. After those two boosts, the thrusters will have a small cooldown.
To cover the project in full detail, I recommend watching the Developer Walkthrough above. It’s very insightful, and helped me personally understand the map and idea quite well.
If you want to know more about the project, you can visit SightlessKombat on their YouTube Channel or on Twitter. For more videos relating to the Madusa map and gamemode, you can check out the full playlist here.
You can check out more featured community members and fan content on Halo United. If you want to talk to the team, answer some polls, have a discussion or just post some memes, you can also find the Halo United team on Twitter. We also have a Halo United Discord for those who would like a more personal discussion or a friendly chat in the voice channels.
You can also check out my Twitter, if you want to suggest or nominate anyone or anything for future features. You can also say hello and watch some Halo gameplay in my stream.
