"Spectating aside, without having played the mission, it's hard to confirm whether the extra effort paid off. Jarrard claims that everyone on the team knew it wasn't a necessary feature, and that it was a gamble. "But in our play tests, it's always one of the highest-rated parts of the game," he says. There are other surprises in Reach, including multiplayer modes that weren't playable in the recent public Beta, more new vehicles and a fully-featured level-editor that's so powerful, Bungie developers used it to create a few of the maps that will come with the game. Although it's already in preproduction on its next, non-Halo game, Bungie wants Reach to have the biggest dramatic punch of the entire series, and then to live online for years. If Reach is as good, and as bold, as it looks, the final days of Halo could last a very long time." Sneak Peak of Halo Reach - Halo Reach Details Unveiled at E3 - Popular Mechanics) tis a great day for forgehub indeed.
Yeah, Bungie used Halo 3's forge to create several of the maps in matchmaking too. That comment doesn't mean much.
I personally wont consider it confirmed until Bungie says something about it on B.net. As im sure all of us know articles have been wrong/typo'd in the past, or simply could have been blown out of propotion. I would rather not end up hating the game because I thought that it would have a Far Cry 2 style editor. Regardless it will most likely have me up at night thinking of the endless posibilites that may await my finger tips...
those are map variants. we are talking base maps here, like valhalla, although probably simpler like sword base.
I'm not saying new Forge won't be as good as that, just that you can't go and say you'll be able to make Sword Base in forge because of that article. Forge will definitely be improved, there's no doubt.
Surely Bungie will do this if they want the map editor to match up to other games. I can't understand why they would have a pre-DLC forge were you just fiddle around with crates all the time, that's terrible.
Because then they will make infintismal amounts of money when its included partially in the first DLC, then fully in the second DLC. Thats exactly what they did for Halo 3, because the Foundry and Sandbox maps were nearly the only reason some people downloaded this stuff. Its brilliant buisiness, and thats why i think that theyll do something similair.
This depends on what you mean by full map editor. On sandbox, there are a few objects merged into the ground to make them level with everything else. Evidence that the map was created from the base sandbox in another program (not the H3 forge). The only thing your little quote means is that they placed some of the spawnpoints, weapons, and such in forge instead of doing it by programming. And that was probably only to test forge.
You got my hopes up. That website isn't a gaming website so its audience may not comprise of Halo fans who would understand "Forge" unless it was then explained, its much easier to just say a "map editor". Also, Forge is what Bungie uses. Bungie has told us this, the software they use is very similar but with a lot more tools, more complexity and fewer limitations. Forge is a cut back, user friendly version of what they have. The way its phrased in that article is a bit misleading: They say it as if they developed this new game mode, "Forge", and realised its better than their current map making programs, so they used the game to build them instead. When in fact its the other way around. Forge is based on the programs they use. Reach isn't going to have a full map editor, but 3 years work and a lot of user feedback, I think Forge will be greatly improved.
It almost deffinately wont have something like Far Cry 2's editor, because the maps would be on a scale too epic. Personaly I agree with DMM, that it is just forge with lots of improvements.
If people do want to try making their own maps then I recommend Halo PC or H2 Vista. You'll need to get your hands on extra programs but it certainly gives you an idea of what Bungie has to go through to make maps. Its not just a matter of putting down a few boxes that look cool and remakes need to be more than just imports from old games!