All of the maps they chose were bad, VERY VERY BAD. 1 they are all the same. structure in the middle (DISH or ANTENNA LARGE). and crappy bases on the sides. and one big F**k fest area, where everyone gathers. I said all, but i exclude Enclosed. this map was the best of all of them. there was a few parts that seemed boring, but the rest was fun, good flow and i think the weapons were fun. One part that i didnt like was the two 4x4 talls underneath, by the rockets. it cramped up the bottom. So i made some changes, that really changed the bottom area. its sad they cant actually get applied to the map in the playlist though.
Funny how all that resulted in was playing almost nothing but SWAT or Snipers in TS and Infection in FFA, though I heard that rationale was based around testing the water for what warranted its own playlist in terms of popularity, those 3 getting their own so quickly for exactly the above reasons. Though I agree with the principle in terms of custom game searching, @ chrs, I don't think I'm overstating it totally tbh. There are plenty of posters who simply say FH like it implies a guaranteed level of quality, and that the maps selected are fundamentally other than what FH is about in all senses. True there are others suggesting a more productive take on what FH can mean, but frankly we have only 4 featured maps that aren't disqualified by being remakes or aesthetic/mini game etc, and of those I think all but Vanilla and possibly Impound were featured after the closing date for Forgetacular submissions. To have a more varied and applicable standard of The FH map in what it can mean at it's best (which, as always, I agree is something special, and a standard which would not exist were it not for the communion and development that this community can bring), we need more features. Now, just like you said no one has a duty to forge, you guys don't have a duty to feature in this context, but on the flipside I can say the same as you that you can't ask for them to look at an outside seal of approval which barely extends to any eligible maps. The bottom line is that such any practical application of specific FH content would involve serious communication between Bungie and the higher levels of forging hierarchy here (Staff, with a helping of Premiums and RH/TG Loyals basically) and a level of trust therein. Now that demands a high level of trust from Bungie in our self defined hierarchy and site structure, as well as allowing outside community members to see behind the scenes of what's going on before the general public. Now do I think that'd be pretty kewl? Hell yeah. But can I see Bungie's potential reservations (we've both been in the Staff forum in the context of discussing opinions on maps, I think you know why I'm saying this)? Yes as well. And, at the end of the day, is this even close to likely? I fear not, and so keeping the FH banner over things only confuses the issue away from how great any map in question is with a useless (in this sense) division. It's not about playing down the role of FH in some of the great maps we pride ourselves on, it's simply about how the process of selection has to work from Bungie's end at this point, and playing up the nature of the maps themselves that I think we both want to see in MM at some point. Btw, I'm not trying to force this thread off topic, I think the selection process and Bungie's approach to what goes in the playlist is fair discussion for a community playlist thread, if anything I'm saying that the attitude of 'this isn't about FH' should be extended to the B.net forums as much as this thread. How sad would it be if a great map, made by a known FH forger and that we featured, gets in to MM, and people keep saying stuff like 'that's a Forge Hub map'. No, it's a '*forger's name here* map', and goddamn congrats to them for getting it in. What about stuff like Genome or Leviathan for example? Those are featured, both are made by members who frequent FH a good deal, but are they FH maps or are they MLG HRFF maps? Is trying to make that decision even worth it at all when they're both great maps? EDIT: @ Rick and DtL, good point (and one which drew me back down to earth a little) on taking some time to at least appreciate the fact that this is happening and happening so soon after release. I guess it's worth drawing back to the point stated by Schnitzel and others that we've got a whole load of other map selection groups to look forward to no matter what we think of these. Good on ya, lads.
it makes sense that the playlists at launch were simple. since bungie uses voting data to filter up what people wanna play, naturally team snipers/swat and infection were introduced... which is obvious since these are legacy hoppers
About Custom Games lobbies: I hate to keep bringing up Far Cry series as the example but servers are servers. In every console Far Cry game, you could host custom games - even set them up as dedicated servers. They weren't searchable by map but only gamertag. It is completely doable, but like someone said, they probably like control too much. The ESRB has a "no rating when online" for a reason so I think its dumb. This game is rated M for Mature so no one should be playing it anyways if they are too young to see a ***** map in a custom game. The only reason Far Cry game communities lasted so long was because of custom servers that strangers could join. It kept the community going without developer interaction.
I really do dislike any forge map that uses towers on it. From a design standpoint, putting a tower seems like a terrible move. They always seem to be used as camping areas. Right when your about to kill someone in one, all the guy has to do is crouch, and they're hidden behind a railing. People criticize Reach for its slower gameplay, and putting towers does not help improve that at all.
I have played on all of the maps listed, and i agree that all of them are crowded and overflowing with power weapons. I don't know why bungie would put them up insted of just heading over to the competitive map thread and finding some that are ten times better in a day. Insted of taking a couple months reviewing all the ones submitted to them. I like playing on community made maps in multiplayer but i wish they would just put more up faster.
these maps are introductory. they are simple, easy to understand designs that are meant to introduce to the reach community that this is a user made hopper. no, they are not too hot. yes, they are kinda broken. but the fact remains; the important thing to remember is that this playlist is here, and it's most likely here to stay. that's a wonderful thing. halo 3 never got a consistent user created playlist, and it's in reach within 6 months. they are listening. be patient. bungie is not stupid. give them credit. if fh's maps were as good as people keep saying they are, then surely they would be in mm. but they are not, and perhaps there is a lesson to be learned there.
No....Do you wonder why it takes so long to make what seems like simple changes to the MM playlist. It isn't because Bungie hates you and what you like to do. It takes weeks if not months of server side testing before a simple change can be implemented that goes over xbox live. If change one small thing, and that small thing made half of say Europe not be able to play halo online, than those employees over at Bungie that made that change would not be working for Bungie anymore. Bungie's servers are already in place, I'm sure they have an entire floor or maybe an off site building devoted to them to store all of the player data and xbox live connection data. However all that server information is designed to handle specific things and server side code is very delicate. Like I said, implementing a thing like a custom games lobby just can't be done without a whole re-work up of their servers. Can it be done? Yes, will they do it, no. Listen to bungie's own podcasts, they mention all of this.
Kind of related to the Community playlist (didn't think it warrants it's own thread at the moment): Forgetacular winners will be announced today.
LOL you think I am asking for them to do it now.... DUH of course they cant now. This missing feature was a dropped ball (past tense). It is too late now BUT it was not too late during game development as other console games prove it can be done. Do you get my angle now?
not really...I mean it's like saying yeah, before they started programming any of their games they could have done this, this, this, and this. Hindsight's 20/20 and all that. If every developer could take the very best concepts from every game they would have. The reason they don't is because it is damn hard to do, is not cost effective, and overall only a minority of people would ultimately care. So personally would I have liked there to be a matchmaking customs lobby. Yes. Do I blame Bungie for dropping the ball and calling them lazy or holding out on us for some dubious reason. No, and that is a stupid position to take.
Pacmonster you keep saying matchmaking which is not my arguement. I don't want custom matchmaking. I was custom game server searching. Like in all of the games before Halo 2 on Xbox had. Keep the matchmaking but allow the custom game lobbies which we can already MAKE be searchable and not friends only. Kapeesh? [br][/br]Edited by merge: It reads like the winners already have been told. Anybody get an email? Are we allowed to say if we did?
I won! All my mapz is teh winnar!!!jk Seriously though, I would like some clarity on the process of informing the lucky winners. Email, Live message or some other way? And will they inform those that get dropped into matchmaking that weren't contest winners?
Well boys and girls, word is already leaking out on the web as to who are winners in the Forgetac Contest and will be getting their maps in this play list... Unfortunately, Joeski is already prancing about proclaiming his victory status (the results already got e-mailed out)... And if you don't know who Joeski is, he's the man behind the abomination we know as Atom. You can see his forgetac winning map Treasury here.
Seems a lot like cage. At least the map looks cleanly forged and the LoS are not bad. I'm not too happy with the overuse of railings....people like railings too much. No strafing room.
"Prancing"? So, you wouldn't be excited to have your map winning a contest that had thousands of entries? Give me a ****ing break, dude. I'm happy as hell that a quality map from JoeSki won, at least it will quiet down some of the retarded assclowns that constantly bash Atom. JoeSki has also had a couple of maps in H3 matchmaking as well, which for the most part were enjoyed by the community at large. And the map was posted here as well, if you could be bothered to do a search.
<sigh> on initial glances.. that map looks like it blows. I mean, red and blue base are like 5 seconds apart.. yet the whole map appears to be around 20seconds long. It's like a version of foundry, without the seperation wall. This is all speculation, but I can already see I'm going to be let down... especially since that has been marked as a winner out of probably over 100000 submissions, it really does show that the map quality was lacking in that contest, or that bungie really do have ridiculous tests to get it in matchmaking. Again, this isn't a direct dig.. I don't suppose I qualify for that. I just expected so much more, considering it appears average at best
Errr. Yep. I'm a little disappointed. While Enclosed is certainly the best of the maps that were in the community playlist, was it really the best in the several hundred (at least) that were submitted to its category? I'm hoping that Bungie does make some changes to the submitted maps now that they are no longer just "community" maps. I hope I don't have to spawn with glass in my face every time I play Enclosed, which is otherwise a decent, fun map. As for Treasury, I saw it back when it was originally posted, and it is an OK map. But just OK, nothing more. It's another team slayer map trying to be Lockout #2. I was hoping we'd see more originality in the submissions, and that Bungie would be looking at this contest as an opportunity to inject some new experiences into the Reach hoppers. That said, this is no bash on JoeSki, as I actually feel Atom is a pretty fun map. I'm happy for all the winners too. What an amazing honor to have a custom map in matchmaking, and I am looking forward to trying each of their maps in turn.
I find it strange how all of these maps are really crappy community creations yet Bungie don't bother to include alot better maps. I remember when Bungie added community maps on Halo3 some of them were great and yet some of them were like these peices of rubbish.