From another thread where the discussion was no longer on the map itself... I understand and I don't have any problems with the community favorites. I think show casing them is fine. I do understand @CANADIAN ECHO 's concern that this site is show casing what are rapidly becoming mediocre maps in their artistic elements and in this case a wholly redundant remake. If this site is to really be any kind of authority on level design, then it should be pushing the finest in game play, art, and inspiring originals. I am not saying take away the community favorites, but make a MORE prominent section from the top of the home page that takes people the the best of the best. I personally would take it a vast step further. Forge 5 clearly gives us the power of art and this leaves ZERO excuses for not including art in maps. The map Nemesis looks a lot like it was forged because it was predominately blocks. (And as I mention in my edited post, so does Haven from Halo 4.) We could come up with something like that in earlier forges if we had blocks that had simple metallic textures. I would push only maps that showed original art and original layout and played decently. I would push maps that leveraged Forge 5's ability to use different textures. If Nemesis was to be a forerunner metallic architecture, then it failed to get that across by the art itself (the texture) and the joints, corners, edges, etc. (I am not trying to hate on Nemesis, but just pointing out that it wouldn't qualify for this new category of maps I am proposing due to the art being sub par.) Those are my thoughts on this topic, didn't want to continue lengthening the Nemesis map thread with yet another off topic post.
So you want about 5 featured maps per year? Because with the standard you're proposing, that's what you'll end up with...literally less than 15 maps in the life of a game. I'm not saying it wouldn't be nice to have a list like that. It doesn't make sense to me to make the criteria that strict though. Features really should happen at least once a month. At that point you're talking about 35-40 maps during the life of a game, and you naturally need to adjust your standards.
ya. what a bummer, huh? It really reflects both a lack of activity and a lack of artistic skills among the limited activity that exists. But let's say there are only a half dozen maps that are high caliber art and originality. Those should be show cased in a class of their own. And to help Forge Hub stand out further, they should include behind the scenes clips that allow the forger to discuss why specific textures were chosen. Then include in those clips critics explaining why those specific textures and geometries together work so well - what the critic looks for and what the forger should keep an eye out for in their own forge works. I guess I am suggesting a Level Design 101 for Forgers. But if anyone takes this seriously, then do it seriously, not a few videos that have **** camera work and hacky narratives. That would be an opportunity wasted. I won't have time to put into this myself, or I would have already. But I would give pointers on the script before you invest your time into assembling the videos or articles. (And I don't have Forge/access to scan the maps for video clips anyways.)
we just need to get the masses playing better-forged maps. Regardless of whether they are the best of the best, at least they will be far superior to what most people in customs are playing... THey grab something with a lot of bookmarks or likes and like Do-Dos, go over the cliff of playing on horrible maps. It would be a shame if either extreme occurred, IMO. If folks stop by here, see that there are only 3-5 AMAZING maps that get top honors, and decide "I'm never going to touch forge because I can't do that", or if people stopped by here and found a deluge of maps which are only ever-so-slightly better than something they could forge, being non-forgers. That gives me an idea: What about two sections: Top Honors, which is a very elite, exclusive club which is very hard to justify adding a new map or forger to, and Recommended - a place for any map which meets minimum level of requirements in terms of originality, art, and playability. The standards wouldn't even be as strict as matchmaking, but would showcase anything interesting, with the hopes of encouraging people to forge in order to get recognized. I would hope some of my maps (when I have more than 1 finished, that is) may be eligible for the latter, because they are typically not geared towards perfectly executed gameplay, worthy of tournament play, but rather, offer something interesting that may not have been offered before. Also, it may be useful if maps could have a more in-depth rating system. Overall stars would incorporate users' ratings for Playability/gameplay balance/execution, Artistic Style, and Innovation.
That's all fine but I was trying to address a vision some have held for FH to be a leader in level design centered around forge. I was pointing to taking the very best and teaching why they are the best. When I get my super duper doped out PC I may take some time and create a sample video for FH to start such a collection. But it isn't something I want to invest my time on over the long haul. I agree there isn't a lot to choose from today but if halo 6 provides s bump in popularity then FH would be in a better position to have at least a handful of strong examples to both teach from AND get new forgers excited simply by first impressions.
I don't even know how to respond anymore because everyone's arguing in favor of completely different things. We have some wanting to prioritize art, some wanting to prioritize innovation, others wanting to prioritize gameplay, and variations on all of those. In my opinion, there's nothing wrong with the current system or process of featuring maps. It can and does encompass all of those. It just doesn't stick to any one of them exclusively, obviously. Everyone's going to have a different opinion on the worthiness of individual maps when you start breaking it down to that level, but there are clear examples of all of those categories among the maps featured during the Halo 5 era.
I just don't have anything else to say because everyone is wanting completely different things. I think adopting any one of the suggested approaches would be a step back from the current featuring process. Absolutely though, you can and should carry on the conversation. Maybe one of the key decision makers will be swayed.