I haven't seen a place to post this so I hope it's in the right area but anyway...here are my wants/requests/ideas for Halo 5's Forge Mode... FORGE MODE 3.0 ...GO! MAPS: I like the idea that 343 had; make multiple maps with different environments and set pieces/skins so as to break up the monotony because let's be honest...Forge World, while impressive was bland after awhile because EVERY map had to be Forerunner or Forerunner+Rocks or Forerunner+Green terrain. However...maps should be expanded significantly with more adequate building space. If Ravine was more like a Valhalla or BGulch type of terrain rather than having the oddly placed, non centered ditch in the middle with the forced Forerunner beams it'd be better...if Impact's default base was buildable with pieces rather than being static and forced...Impact would be better, etc. So I believe there should be more than 3 Forge maps, slightly larger than the current ones but smaller than Forge World...each map could have a couple 'familiar' areas as well... - Snow World: Basic idea is that the central section is basically Containment from Halo 2, an adjacent area that you can go to would be a horseshoe area like Sidewinder/Avalanche, and the last could be a new section of snowy terrain. - Desert World: It's actually only two large environments stacked on one another: the surface area would be large and expansive dunes similar to Sandtrap while under the surface (perhaps a hole that can be plugged like on Sandbox) is an underground Waterworks/Erosion type map. - Impact 2.0: A new space map that could be essentially Impact again but I feel that they could come up with some cool stuff. - Gulch World: This world's central and main area would be basically an exact remake of Blood Gulch/Coagulation complete with the orangey canyon walls (and yes...the area would be completely enclosed like the original) and green grass. An adjacent gulch (connected via a pluggable cave) would be much smaller and a suitable candidate for a Battle Creek remake or a Grifball FIELD as opposed to a court. The last area would be a beach perfect for a Last Resort/Zanzibar remake (and yes we should be given the giant FAN as a Forge item and it should move just like the Station Cores on Impact... - Possibly one other world but I think just those 4 would be great. Also note: each should have a pretty high skybox to allow for building maps in the sky so that way you can make a great Lockout remake with the snowy environment or a great Epitaph remake with the sandy terrain far below. FORGE ABILITIES: Halo 4 added some great features but unfortunately took out many...there's also one feature that would greatly expedite map making in a positive way! - Magnets: Magnets were great but often, pieces don't have enough magnets in places. They should add in a few more magnet areas on objects. - Precision Editing: It needs to come back, plain and simple. - Duplicate Object: Fantastic feature. - Fuse Object: I'd trade the "re-orientate" feature for this. What the Fuse Object does is that when you select an object and press the direction on the D-Pad for Fuse...the object will become Purple (or whatever color not used for locking, selecting, moving, etc.). Once you have an object that's purple, select an object that you've either magnetized it to or phased together with and Fuse that one as well. The objects will now be considered ONE object and you can grab hold of the object (i.e. two catwalks in an X form) and can move it anywhere AND dupe the item (note: the fused object won't dupe if doing so would go over object limit). You can fuse more than two things so you could build a brilliant base and rather than have to build it ALL over again, fuse it all together, place it where you want, then dupe and boom! Two bases. You could also do this to fuse together one half of a symmetrical map, dupe it, then rotate it around, use magnets and then have your map finished in half the time.... - Skins: Each environment needs its own skins like H4's. The default skin for Sand World would be the sandstone type pieces from Sandbox or Sandtrap. Snow World's would be Forerunner pieces, Impact 2 would be the white pieces, Gulch World would have the classic gray type skin that Coag and BG and Creek used for their bases. However...each map should also allow us to select a couple different skins: Snow World would allow Forerunner, Rust (that copper type of stuff used for the bases of Containment and Isolation), UNSC, and a brand new Covenant Skin! Sand World would allow Sandstone, Rust, UNSC, and Covenant. Impact 2 would allow UNSC, Covie, or Forerunner. Gulch World would allow Classic, Forerunner, UNSC, or Covie. OBJECTS: There are still numerous objects that are unfortunately not in Forge... - Trees: Under the Natural category, we only get rocks. Those are great but trees would definitely make aesthetics more pleasing and realistic. We would be able to select Tree - S, Tree - M, Tree - L, or Tree - XL and each map would have unique trees: Snow World would have Pine Trees, Sand World would have Dead Trees and cacti, Gulch World would have Dead Trees and Palm Trees, and Impact 2 would have Alien Trees. - Hills: Another object that would be good would be natural hills... now Forge allows for BRILLIANT maps like Lockout that feature all building/man/alien-made structures only but if someone wanted to make a map similar to Valhalla that was still their own design...they'd have to use Forerunner or building pieces and ramps in order to alter the terrain and it doesn't quite look real. Hills would allow for more diversity and nicer looking maps. Of course, you'd most likely have to use the existing terrain as a starting point. They should offer numerous hills of different shapes and sizes similar to the Building Blocks category... naturally, this means that the more hills you use, the less budget you have for man-made structures such as bases. - Grid Skins: The grid is such a magnificent tool to line up and build things but that's where it's useful need stops. Otherwise, it looks weird in maps or at best...can look like a giant force field... but if you could alter the skin of the grid after using it? It would boost its usefulness a LOT. Changing it to the Covie skin would give it a nice metallic purple surface, UNSC to the off-white Ravine like texture, Forerunner to the silvery metal surface with blue glowing lines going through it. But one of the best would undoubtedly be the Grass and Environment Textures. Grass would make it a large flat square of grass while the Environment one will alter it to fit the map theme: Sand, Ice (rather than snow on Snow World), Dirt on Gulch World, etc. - Water Fill?: This one might cause too much lag to be ideal but people have loved making maps with water in Reach and I feel like some miss it a little bit in H4.... imagine a "bucket of water" tool that allowed you to fill any ditch/lower terrain with water so you could effectively remake Battle Creek or Valhalla or your own map using the new tool. If there was a sound way of implementing it...i'd be cool. - Special FX: Lunar FX (make map look like it's night), Fog FX, Rain FX, Snow FX. The Fog, Snow, and Rain FX wouldn't alter the tint/colors of the map it would simply layer a weather effect over the view of the players. - Vehicle Colors: I loved in Reach that you could change the colors of the vehicles and that'd be cool to see again! Red/Defender, Blue/Attacker, Green, Yellow, Gold, Orange, Teal, Cyan, White, Stealth (Black), Purple, etc. Covenant Vehicles would also allow for colorization but with a bonus Heretic color scheme from Halo 2. - Vehicles: Mongoose, Warthog (Standard, Gauss, Rocket), Scorpion, Mantis, Light Mantis (slightly faster but without missiles), Heavy Mantis (slower but with faster reloading of rockets), Hornet/Falcon, Pelican?, Ghost, Spectre, Revenant, Wraith, Phantom?, Brute Chopper, Prowler. All of the vehicles should be brought back for Forge maps at least. Each would have it's ups and downs for instance...two similar vehicles: The Spectre and Prowler. Spectre is lighter weight and has boost but it's plasma cannon doesn't do as much damage as the Prowler. - Team Colors: All the current ones + White, Brown, Gray and Black....I really wish they'd led us have those...first of all White/Black is the classic multiplayer color scheme...CHESS helloooo! haha GAMETYPES: This isn't exactly Forge but it definitely is related. - CTF: They should keep the H4 CTF (magnum shooting, no difference in speed) - 1 Flag: Just like the H4 CTF albeit where one team has the flag and the other must capture it. - Classic CTF: More like Bungie-era Halo CTF where the Carrier is slower, cannot use a magnum, etc. - Classic 1-Flag: Same as above but with the 1-Flag variant. - Assault: All the variants should return as it was a fun twist to typical CTF-styled objectives. It also provided a chance for Defenders to disarm the bomb and prevent a score more adequately than a CTF match which was also a nice difference. - Race: A really fun gametype that plays a lot differently than typical Halo fare. - Territories: Dominion is great fun but sometimes I have the urge to play a one-sided gametype where one team owns areas and the other team tries to take them over. I wouldn't mind if you had to hold a button on a console to initiate the take-over and the same to stop it but something like classic Territories would be fun. - Juggernaut: Regicide can be fun but Juggernaut was a beast of it's own. Perhaps Regicide should be altered in a way so as to allow a Juggernaut remake. - Action Sack: This isn't a gametype but it should return...sometimes I'm in the mood for whacky/fun non-competitive maps and Action Sack allowed that. I've always thought it'd be great fun to MIX gamrtypes...what do I mean by that? Well let's use King of the Oddball or "Oddking" as an example. In this gametype, you must fight over the Oddball. Once you have the Oddball however, you do NOT get points... in order to acquire points, you have to be in the hill. Whoever holds the ball while in the hill will start raising his teams score (or his if it's FFA). The hill will also change from time to time as well...I feel mixing gametypes can lead to some really cool gametypes: CTF Race...you have to capture the enemy's flag then make it through the various points before then planting the flag. Many of these would give rise to some fun Action Sack gametypes. PLAYLISTS - Infinity Slayer: Loadouts, Initial Ordnance, Personal Ordnance, etc. - Big Team Inf Slayer: Same as above but BTB - Classic Slayer: No loadouts, weapons on map instead of ordnance, no Personal Ordnance, etc. - Classic Slayer BTB: Same above but BTB - CTF: A mixture of 2-Flag and 1-Flag with the new abilities and mechanics introduced with H4 - Classic CTF: A mixture of 2-Flag and 1-Flag without the new abilities and loadouts introduced in H4 - Assault: A playlist for avid Assault players. - Oddball: A playlist for avid Oddball players. - Skirmish: A mixture of CTF, Oddball, Assault, Dominion, and Territories games. - Action Sack: For those who love whacky, odd, and fun, non-competitive gametypes. - Slayer Remakes: A collection of the best Forged remakes and slayer. - Skirmish Remakes: A collection of the best Forged remakes plus CTF, Oddball, Assault, etc. - SWAT: Headshot fun! - Snipers: Team Snipers! Perhaps they could incorporate the new ordnance system and grant players the Binary Rifle as ordnance. The Binary Rifle should be severely limited in ammo however. - Lone Wolves: A collection of FFA gametypes including Slayer, Oddball, Regicide, Territories, etc. - Multi Team: 2 man teams and a collection of gametypes ranging from Infinity Slayer to Oddball to CTF to Regicide. - Slayer Creations: 343i's picks for Forged maps suited for Slayer. - Skirmish Creations: 343i's picks for Forged maps suited for objective gametypes. - Player Creations: Hopping onto this will drop you into a random custom match that someone made...XP is not earned, gametype is up to the creator but the Voting system is still in play for a random gametype compatible with the map. Why there's never a playlist for remakes or original Forge maps is beyond me! UPDATE: I forgot to mention a couple of other ideas! - Mechanical Devices: Going under Gadgets and into Interactive -- we should have a few options. A couple different switch types (Wall Switch, Terminal Switch, etc.). We could then link these to another object in Interactive. Let's say a door. We place the door where we want, set the Label to Int_Switch and have it set to 1. We do the same with our switch and now the switch can be activated to open the door. For the sake of Forge maps, rather than have a door like the High Ground door open and clip into the base structure, the door will simply look like it's opening but it's essentially shrinking from the middle outward. As the default mechanic, it can only be pressed once similar to the doors on Zanzibar, High Ground and Containment. However, using another Label we could set it to "multi_use" which now makes it so pressing it once will open, again and it will close. These mechanics can be applied to multiple items. Lights for example. Set the lights where you want, link it to a switch and do the above to have an awesome lightswitch that would be great for a Flood map. Humans start in a dark and decrepit base, turn on the lights and fight off the Flood. The Flood can get in and turn the lights off. Imagine that Flood scenario along with mixed gametypes. Floodominion. Humans get the base, starting activating turret defenses and getting doors and barricades and ordnance to fend off the zombies....the Zombies get in and get to the base console and deactivate it: shutting off the lights and all of the defenses. And yes....Dominion bases can be linked to mechanics as well so you can have a dark base but activating it starts the capture process and turns the lights on. There are so many cool ideas...
while some will probably complain that there are other request lists, I think this is the best one I've seen so far. there''s no reason why some of it cannot be implemented into H4. I hope some of it is. extra skins, precision, snow & deserts, fusing objects, and having trees, among some of the best ideas you've posted... personally I feel that C.I. needs to implement at least a few things into H4 or else risk losing forgers before H5 arrives, which is slated for the next box, right? there should be a skin for Forerunner, UNSC, and Covenant for any piece that would allow it. We need covy crates etc. too.
I don't believe the 360's hardware could handle that kind of revamp to forge, it already messes up on the smaller forge maps we have now, imagine the lag on a map 50% bigger with more textures than erosion, while erosion already drops frame rate depending on object usage. These are valuable ideas OP, but personally i think your timing is a bit off. Halo 4 just came out, give it a chance before you dash it away, because your going to be waiting for halo 5 for a long while if you start now. Halo 5 is already being made, but i think 343 got the message that they need to fix there **** up as theres less than 100k people playing per day...
alternate textures don't cost more CPU resources to display. it's not like you're placing them over the existing textures and still trying to display both. what we need is a 1,2,3 setting (maybe user data) that alternates between three types of textures for a piece. so long as the new textures aren't any more complex that the current ones, it should be fine. and most of his other suggestions don't seem to be about memory or CPU power... just taking the time to do the programming.
Oh no, I'm not dashing away Halo 4, in fact, before now -- I haven't really been able to forge much -- I wasn't all that good in H3 and in Reach I was kept trying to start maps but couldn't finish it...with H4 I've actually been able to make my own map and stuff. That's not to say it's better just easier in certain ways which allows for noobs like me to make maps too haha. I think if you bring back the Precision Editing PLUS magnets and stuff (and my fuse idea haha) you greatly expedite the speed at which the great forgers out there can produce maps. This is all definitely with the next console in mind. I think H4 was about 343 and CI getting comfortable with Halo and how to make the game so we unfortunately lost things...I have the utmost faith that they will not only continue crafting a story that feels like Halo but a gameplay experience that does as well. I'm positive we'll see a return of most if not all of the lost gametypes, more options for gametypes, re-addition of lost forging mechanics, etc. I actually really like Halo 4 unlike some who think it's completely ruined Halo and want to go back to the old games. I believe CI and 343 will rectify the mistakes with Halo 4 and amplify what they did right. Hopefully. [br][/br]Edited by merge: Also thanks! Those things always seem lacking and I always see people trying to make trees out of antennas, wires, or rocks and I always think: We have a NATURAL category -- why not just give us some trees? I wonder if the Environment skins I mentioned for the Grid could be applied to almost ANY object such as building blocks or doors....you could create an ice Blood Gulch base xD
Not to be a sour puss but I have a feeling Halo 5's forge will just be a slight upgrade from Halo 4's Forge 2.1 to maybe a 2.5. I don't have any faith in Certain Affinity and 343 just sits on their asses and take forever just to change one little thing like getting a file share to work. All the disappointing things with Halo 4 Forge, Flood, Customs, etc. will never get fixed. The most I can see happening is TU updates and Precision Editing put back in Forge...that's it. We all wanted new Forge textures ever since Halo: Reach came out and now that Halo 4 is out... we still want new textures because they didn't do good enough. I just don't think things will get much better than they are now. Too bad Bungie ain't here to help because they listen and care.
did precision editing work for rotation as well as movement? if so, that would cure one of my biggest problems... I agree that Bungie would be a better company to have in charge right now, but when I got reach (really late actually) and started forging, I still noticed lots of things they should have fixed but the game had been out almost two years... very few companies do significatn title updates after release. Polyphony Digital's GT5 is one of the only examples... but to be fair they did release a very unfinished game in the first place. But they DID follow through and complete it. Sometimes it seems like they aren't listenging either, and often give us updates that we did not ask for and ignore more important things. But the point is that almost no company really supports their product in a meaningful way after release, except for a few bug fixes. Here's to hoping that H5 takes a really long time to release, like 3 to 5 years, so that they have no choice but to upgrade forge to keep us happy 'till the next release.... but that't not likely, I know.
I would have been perfectly happy with having the reach forge with the new lighting and a decent retexture Edit: Bring back Invasion!!!
Oooh yes! Invasion was pretty legit. I think they should bring back Elites as well...Spartan RvB Invasion, Spartan v Elite Invasion and Elite v Elite Slayer (One side would be normal Covie, the other would be Heretic) They should have Flood Invasion as well where it's a mixture of Flood and Invasion, you try and defend your base and if you can you move on to a new section. Rather than Elites or Spartans attacking however, it's the Flood -- that'd be pretty cool. Also...Firefight should return (Forgable Firefight maps!) but that doesn't mean Spartan Ops should not return. I basically want Halo 5 to be the BIGGEST Halo ever to really kick off the next gen Halo-ness. Flood Firefight would be cool as well. You could have Spartans and Elites working together even.
Yeah you are right... I think this really just boils down to one thing, "Money". We aren't paying them more to add more to the game and Microsoft certainly isn't going to pay them just to make people happy and change or add stuff to Halo 4... unless we are paying Microsoft lol (for major changes/additions).
This. Lots of people get mad at mostly 343. Truth is Certain Affinity was contractred to create alot of stuff you see in-game. Thats why Forge sucks. Thats why multiplayer maps don't have that classic halo feel. Fun Fact: Certain Gay-finity helps make Call of Duty. Bungie never would have made any risky decisions like this to change a game that works fine.
Yes I do, I typed it wrong because the point was just to get the point across and I didn't go "wait...343 didnt make the maps" but yeah.
terrain editor H3 flood characters, classes + objective mode in "Flood" underwater area in forge UNSC air vehicle covenant forge pallet
Truth is, Certain Affinity (and 343i) are comprised of people from Bungie and have helped on the Halo 2 multiplayer as well -- which is arguably the best multiplayer. They worked on Call of Duty too? Big ****ing deal. Get the **** over yourselves. They left when Reach was being made to make the "next" Halo game and that's why you have H4 as a result. From my understanding, even Shishka is the matchmaking lead again but that's just hearsay afaik. They never would have made risky decisions? Are you ****ing kidding me? Game breaking abilties (more so than H4 if you wanna argue that), shitty bloom, BR spread, dividing the matchmaking playlist into two subcategories, etc. You guys don't give 343i enough credit in my opinion.
Seriously! People would have loved it that much more if the game was the same but simply said: Bungie. That said: the decision to leave out the main theme except for literally 5 seconds of it when you SPOILER: get to Installation 03 is just plain asinine. If I had been them, I would've left it out the entire game until the last mission when using the Broadsword and/or when going around to let Cortana split herself. I can see why it's not in ODST, I can see why it's not in Reach, I can even see why it's not in Wars (despite having way more of it than 4) but the game is the start to a brand new trilogy, features the Chief again finally, and what do we get? 5 seconds of it :/ That's like the one thing that truly bugged me about the campaign. As for technical, gameplay related stuff: Halo 4 feels like Halo IMO. I think C.I. did pretty good with the multiplayer...a LOT better than Reach IMO (minus Forge). Abandon feels like a classic Halo map and is a great layout/design. Adrift is a lot like Countdown from Reach (which was one of the best Reach missions as well...). Haven is a simple design that I wish was used for CTF (at least I haven't gotten it yet) and is like a cousin to Narrows both in aesthetics AND gameplay due to the upper and lower floors, hill-like middle, etc. Ragnarok is a great remake of Valhalla. Exile is a simple and great layout and very much classic Halo. Harvest and Shatter are great maps, Wreckage is a brother to Burial Mounds. Meltdown is a classic two-base, semi-symmetrical canyon map with a twist (literally). Solace plays similarly to Construct. Vortex is fun for Dominion and Slayer and Longbow is a pretty cool map as well! Complex is about my least favorite especially for CTF (Red's flag is naturally WAY more protected by both cover and places for defenders to camp due to having the two buildings as well as a giant object blocking the way in one direction whereas Blue's is out in the open). And even THAT mission is pretty good for Slayer and SWAT IMO... Sure the Forge mode has some things missing, sure there are fewer options for gametypes, and sure you may not like some of the missions but dear god it's their first game! HALO: CE didn't have Forge, didn't have Assault, didn't have the BR, DMR, didn't have nearly the amount of options for games as Reach did (which came out close to a decade later I might add), etc. This is 343/CA's first game and are probably still adjusting (despite having Bungie folk). So yeah...it's a great start. That said...still no excuse for no Theme >:l