Thanks, I appreciate the honesty as always. The first few months of this game, I was really just finding my footing. Spellbound was born out of that era and it happened to be one of the maps that saw noticeable improvements as they added more objects, which is why I decided to finish it. I'm still fond of it as a stepping stone and I'm sure there is untapped potential in the design, but the updates to Forge since then have opened a door to far more interesting themes, and I really don't plan on dwelling on something so far behind. Of course, it's nice to reflect on where you were some time back. Before this game, I Forged either to play fun little maps with my friends, or competitive stuff for matchmaking. While I still experimented with different designs, it was easy to get caught up doing the same thing. In this game, I started to Forge outside of my comfort zone and rethink what I previously thought was possible. The way I approach the ever present limitations has bred an appreciation for style, purpose and artistry that defines everything I do now. Why do I forge in Halo 5 despite being restricted by the engine and more or less disliking the game? Well part of it is the satisfying feeling of overcoming those challenges, and then there's obviously the fact that I want to impress myself. I'm honestly easily pleased by artistry, but when I know something can be even a hair better than it is, I can't help but push it to see how far it can go. When I know I've put in 100%, I want to just sit back and enjoy it. But more importantly, I hope my work can inspire others to do the same, just as I once was challenged to think differently and branch out of the status quo. It's not enough to me to make something "good", and I don't push for excellence to boast about it. The best creation to me is the one that almost literally changes reality, bending and breaking it. The greatest achievement I think an artist can claim is to say that they paved the way for others, and I believe that those who can have the responsibility to do so.
What about the guy that's still finding his footing? I've never been in the right place at the right time as it were with halo as well as forge it seems like. Halo 2 we couldn't afford internet; peeew just like that a whole games online life slipped through my fingers. It wasn't until 6 months into halo 3 that the sky's parted to let glorious glorious ethernet connectivity into my existence. Of course, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Game after game after game of not knowing what call outs are or rotating (I didn't even know it only took 4 shots with a br until a year before reach came out), and somehow saw myself through to reach a 39 in rank. Somewhere in the middle of that cluster**** I found forge, and if I seemed a noob from my explanation before, it pales in comparison to how RETARDED my overjoyed confidence in getting to build halo Legos. Geomerging? What's that? Halo 3 came and went without that knowledge for me. The world is a dark place swimming without manuals or directions for me: enter halo reach. Armed with the knowledge of my failures from 3, I did as much research as I could on the competitive side of things, and finally grinder my way to (whatever form it was in reach) 50. Around the same time I found you, my beloved hubbers. Unfortunately, growing up with a Mac and no Internet for a good chunk of webs birth, I came off as one of those no good, no idea what I'm doing, attention craving pleebs. So while part of my halo experience was somewhat fulfilled (almost went to an event on a semi pro team, but couldn't afford the plane ticket), the feeling that "oh **** this forge world is cool!" left me lacking when against my already 'never gonna be good enough' attitude. I submitted 1 map for 1 contest and no one really had the heart (or balls) to tell me my map looked like acid baby vomit. Enter halo 4 Thats enough of halo 4 Enter halo 5 Now with a full knowledge of competitive play, forgehub nuances, and an understanding of the game design and art that goes into a REAL map, I began my search for that teacher that could tie everything together. I looked at different people's maps, I participated in testing lobbies and avidly devoured as many forge guides as I could. While I can feel myself getting better bit by bit, I feel limited and lonely. Many times I have reached out to various 'God tier' forger's for little bits and pieces of help, nothing like my 'OH EM GEE LET'S COFORGE' of days past however. Either they're busy (understandable), don't really forge anymore (understandable), or I just get lost in the ether and am too much of a ***** to pipe up again in fear of being a squeaker. TLDR; This isn't really meant to be a rant, more like a documentation of my acceptance to forge on ahead alone. I may never make a map that sparkles and bequeaths oohs and ahhs from the crowd, but I want too, and will continue making subpar maps until someone throws me a bone or I pull one out of my ass. I may never get it through my thick skull to practice level design techniques every day or week, but it's only due to lack of direction as to which areas I excel and areas in which I should focus more time. So I raise a glass to the ignored, forgotten and downtrodden; may we forever be inspired to be good enough for ourselves. /emotionalmanperiod
The Halo 4 line made me lol The way I see it Forge is a skill, and skills require technique, effort and patience to improve. Obviously if you are talented, you will have a headstart; but even talent requires work to hone, and it can fade away if you don't exercise it. While Forge is still pretty limited in this game, it's far more powerful than previous titles, and therefore I think it's a much better tool to develop design and artistic skills. So take solace in the fact that you're among the company of many people who either sucked in previous games or didn't take it seriously until recently. In order to discover your own footing, your views, technique and current work need to be challenged. Soliciting for direction is a good place to start depending on who and how you ask. But Forge can be tough to give instruction on since everyone here is self taught and many people are not used to giving or receiving feedback. To rephrase it as bluntly as @MultiLockOn put it, most people have no idea what they're doing, and it will ultimately come down to personal preference and conjecture anyway. If you're looking for ways to build more efficiently, solve common problems or polish art, just ask, and don't be afraid to be a pest about it.
perhaps, but in H4 I did this by putting a large grid (we have invis blockers now, though) underneath the water and it made ghosts into jet-skis. worth a try. EDIT: Add pic...
use vehicle blockers, then. humans still fall through or script a shark to attack them after a short time EDIT: You can also set a kill zone (hard or soft) in the water so that if you get off the ghost, it triggers the player to die or start dying.
is someone thinking of making a boat gametype? like armored boats or boatracing, where the boats are based on ghosts? I never got the hang of merging vehicles, even when I followed the video guides they would **** up and once welded would just collapse or act like a black hole
I was thinking earlier about how 343 needs to test their maps to "find the fun" of the design. I feel like if you have to test your map to figure out what it is, you're doing it wrong. Sure you might not know how people are going to play or what sort of sightlines people want to use - and hell, you might not even know what you want out of the design to begin with - but your job as a designer is to curate encounters and provide the player with a certain gameplay direction. I don't think that's something you need the map to tell you, or at least I don't think generic symmetric maps like those in Halo 5 require that much mental gymnastics. Sure it may take some testing between versions to figure out what you like or dislike, but there is a point where you should come to understand what your map is going to do, and decide on that proactively. Take it from the guy who overthinks everything.
Also, that feeling when @darkprince909 makes a better remake of Midship IN FORGE than 343 does with dev tools
Remember when you were stuck on Spellbound for approximately 20 years, and I kept telling you to move on because the fastest way to improve was to "kill your kids" as they say in the gaming industry? Yeah, I know you didn't start making new maps because of what I said, but I was right all along! Also, I might actually finish Kingsbane.
i'm lazy - here are the screens that were too big before http://imgur.com/a/jh44o Spoiler: NITRO IN WITH THE SAVE