I haven't been on this site for very long. But I've been forging for years. Ever since I looked over my older brother's shoulder to see him playing the MCC years ago, I've been enchanted by this timeless series. But now, I'm done. For two reasons: 1.) My older brother moved away, with his Xbox. 2.) Even if I still had it, no one likes anything I make. To clarify that last one, anything I make which I think is good. A long time ago, I made a map for H2A that was huge, convoluted pathways in a square shape. I had my friends over a few times, and they said they liked it. It was fun for snipers, anyways. But along comes the H2A competition. With a top reward of $500, this was my chance to get funds to purchase another Xbox. To rejoin the community I'd been prematurely booted from. In a way, I saw it as a test of my forging skills. The first map I entered had been technically complete for months now, but I wanted to improve it any way I could. I still thought it was a solid map, though. But when I had my friends over to play my map: They didn't like it. So I improved it. And entered it in this competition, hoping for the best. And because of my shorter time limit, caused by my older brother moving away, I couldn't test the map. No lobbies were being made until it was too late for me. But the second map I entered, now this had potential. I had only been working on this one for a week or two, but I had the skeleton of the map done in days. Everything I had learned before, I was putting into this map, my magnum opus. I made some final touches, but because I don't have many friends who play Xbox, I had to just hope, wish that my map would work for 4v4. So I entered it. The console was taken. And I waited. And I waited. The results are announced. I excitedly scroll down the screen, zooming past each entry that is not my own. But, then there are no more entries. That's it. Those are the nominees. And then it hit me: The judges. They didn't like it. This is crushing. Everything my forging skills had built towards for the past four years, wasn't good enough. I don't want to hear anyone saying, "oh, we thought the map was good," because for me, it wasn't good enough. When I create a map, I go into it again, and again, and again, to make it the best that I can. And my best efforts aren't good enough. I don't blame the judges, or the other nominees. They did well. I blame myself. I'm missing something in my design. That stupid simplicity I had at first? Maybe. I don't know. I'll never know. But I do know one thing- I'm done with forge. I just can't anymore. On two levels. I don't really know why I'm posting this. For pity? Sympathy? In part, probably. But also, this is a goodbye. Good luck to everyone else for the competition. I'm sure you deserved the nomination. Farewell. tldr some kid complains that his maps suck and leaves forever.
You talking about that map Icarus you linked? Also all the maps that place were made like...4 years ago. Don't even trip, forgehub contests are a joke.....unless I'm the one judging them but, ya know
Don't worry about it. For the most part contests have always been about who you know and/or if you know how to appeal to the judges preferences. I personally dislike contests in general. I know this is always the case but it is pretty common.
To be honest, you're either taking it too personally, or you just don't have a strong interest in forge. If it's the interest that's lacking, it makes perfect sense to quit. There's no reason to do something that you're not REALLY interested in and/or excited about. If it's an emotional reaction, you should swallow your pride and keep at it. You shouldn't ever quit something because of what someone else thinks. It was almost a year from the time I started posting maps on forums to the time I got my first download. Let that sink in for a few minutes... I didn't get a single download on a single map for almost the entire first year I forged. And I sank a crap load of time into those maps. It takes a long time for most people to get beyond '**** tier' in forging. And even if someone knows what they're doing, it can take time for other people to recognize it. Just looking at the screenshots of your maps, I can tell that you're capable of forging something very good. It takes time to get to that point, but you have that capability. Stop giving a **** about what other people think of your maps, because: a) Most of the time you're assuming what people think, and even if they tell you exactly what they think, the odds that they know what they're talking about are exceptionally slim. b) It's just not important. In fact, it's counter-productive if your goal is actually to become a good forger. Nearly all of the really good forgers don't give a damn whether or not anyone else likes their maps, and it's not a coincidence. Listen to what people have to say, but don't take it to heart. If you ever decide that you're really interested in forge, feel free to ask around for help on the site. There are lots of people that are willing to help. But like I said, if you don't enjoy forging and don't have a passion for it, quitting is a wise decision, and good luck with whatever you decide to spend your time on.
This ^ Winning a contest doesn't prove anything other than the judges liked them... which doesn't say much about a maps objective quality. I would hate to see a brother in Christ leave the community. If you own H5 on xbox can't you get H5 Forge for free on PC? If nothing else but to keep on experimenting idk
The forgers and designers who have seen more success than you have failed more times than you have even tried. Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not who someone else is today.
You know what's worse than entering a contest and losing? Wanting to enter a contest and missing the deadline because you can't finish a map. So if you entered, congrats - you're better than me at something, and i'm the best - The best at what I do. And that is self doubt. So you can't take that from me. Seriously though, being the best at what you do is all that matters. Figure out what it is that you like about Forging maps, and focus your attention on competing against yourself. I have no idea who you are, but I was excited to see a new face posting maps in WAYWO and I looked forward to reading what you were working on. So what if you made some maps that weren't that great? It's cliche, but everybody starts somewhere and it's usually near the bottom. But self doubt is going to keep you at the bottom. You could have absolutely no aptitude for Level Design and still learn enough to propel you forward. But doubting yourself before you give yourself the chance is putting yourself in a 3x3 box made of invisible barriers. And you deserve better than that. Post your ****. If it's ****, we will say it's ****, but most people here don't mean anything personal by it and if you ask, they'll happily share what they know. Some of it is rubbish, and some of it is radical. But you can sift through to find something that will help you become better at your own unique discipline in Forge. Even if nobody wants to play your ****, they will appreciate you as long as you are moving forward. I think you made the map with the pipes? It was tacky. You threw pipes everywhere it became distracting, and the layout felt unfocused and full of wasted space. Start there - list everything you want your map to accomplish and SIMPLIFY it down to the essentials, and then list what you want to learn from building it. If you're not learning anything new from building it, then you're wasting your time eating crab cake comfort food. And that's fine if you want to just chill, but you obviously want to climb the ladder. So you can either think you're not worth it and sit on the first rung, or you can see how far you can go before you fall, and then take what you learned and climb further the next time. Failure isn't the opposite of success; it's part of it, and the faster you fail, the faster you can begin succeeding. The opposite is obsessively idealizing your success, and then giving up and thinking you don't deserve to see how far you can go. Nobody really cares about the results of a contest - they'll always be controversial (RIP Gurf). It's the competition that draws everyone out of their cracks and crevices and crusty vaginas to challenge themselves and Forge better maps than they did last time. If you're entering to win, you're missing the point. Enter to challenge yourself. I've forged 50 maps in the last 2 years and I haven't finished **** since mid 2016, but my success is defined by everything I've learned along the way. And the most important thing I've learned is that if you're afraid of failing, you already have. Embrace failure, because that is when you're supposed to LEARN.
I dunno. I get that you're trying to help, but it just feels like I wasted four years. One of the reasons I forge is not just for my own enjoyment (and I do enjoy it), but for the enjoyment of other people. And when other people don't like it... I feel like I've failed. If I get another Xbox, I might pick it back up again in Halo 6 (unless they take another year to put it in). But for now, I'm going to persue other avenues. I don't have a good pc. I don't have another Xbox. I don't have money for either. It was all or nothing. Sometimes people just don't like a map, I guess. You guys can try them if you like. I thought they were good. For now, I'm going to do animation. I've kinda been putting it off the past few months, and now would be a good time to get back into it. If you've got free time, go ahead and try it. I always appreciate feedback. Thanks for the encouragement, everyone. Seeya.
Bro I feel like I wasted twice that playing video games and not learning animation. DID WE JUST BECOME BEST FRIENDS Seriously though, **** video games man. It is a waste of time at the end of the day. Are you going into level design? Are you going into game design? Then why are you beating yourself up over Halo? Who cares? Halo kids don't even know what they want. The absolute last thing you should do is try and please Halo kids. I mean I had to delete a lavafall on my map because someone thought it meant red base. You seem to like to create, so create. And create at your own pace. But don't create comfortably or you will stay exactly where you are. Yes, we all want to create things that other people can enjoy, but you have the one thing I don't - you enjoy your own ****. I hate my own **** because I feel like I don't even deserve to create it - like my own limitations are holding it back from existing. I do enjoy going on my own maps or listening to my own music, but only as its biggest fan, and not as its creator. But if you like your work as a creator, then don't lose that feeling, or you're ****ed. And I mean that. If you like what you make and you're proud of it, and other people don't like it - then to hell with them. But really, if you want to get better and create something that other people will enjoy, then figure out what it is that they dislike about what you have made, and then learn from that. You only fail when you give up or lose your own enjoyment chasing everyone else's.
I've been forging since halo 3 and I'm still in my '**** tier' phase. I've also been where you are at. For me it was finally understanding that I was in fact making maps for other people and not myself. I got mad at how vain I had become, but once I got over that I started forging again
Funny you mention that, I was considering game design and programming as a "I'll settle for it" career if animation doesn't work out. But yeah, I would enjoy game design. That's kind of why I am beating myself up over this. I'll get over it. But I won't be back to forge any time soon. Gonna take a break. Kinda have to at this point. (btw just gonna plug my animation yt channel cus u might like it it's not that good but here ya goes)
I personally think that the best way to understand game design is to understand level design. You're gonna have a hard time if you just try and completely ignore that dimension.
What. Lmao. You realize the game industry is one of the hardest industries to break into on planet Earth. For every open position there's several hundred professionals gunning for it. General animation is a much more open ended and forgiving field.
TBH this is why I'm going into Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Computer Engineering rather than those stupid bullshit "Game Development" degrees. Computer technicians make a killing, and IBM and other tech companies alike are needing coders bad, so I have a wealth of opportunities outside of gaming. The engineering aspect is a great way of getting into machinery and hardware fields. Heck, I might end up a well known firearms engineer or heavy equipment designer. Ultimately I'm asking myself this: "Why do I enjoy designing games?" Tbh I think that it's to make a cohesive, well oiled mechanism, so why not widen my breadth of possibilities? Oh, and screw the games industry. I'm gonna nerf up Bungie headquarters, see how they like it when someone else throws foam bullets at them. Also, I literally haven't read this thread past the last two posts lol
If you feel like youre wasting your time, then my simple advice would be to move on. If you get no reward out of creating maps, then why bother? Comparing yourself to others (especially those with more experience) is how you set yourself up for disappointment. As long as you focus on yourself as the true competition, you will keep improving. You need to be strong enough to accept your failures, and learn from them. And for the record: the maps ive seen you make looked pretty cool to me.
I’m sorry I don’t know where to or how to post a question, I don’t mean to post unrelated content but I have to idea how to make a post on his website, can someone explain to me how?
Comparing yourself to others whom have more experience is how you improve. See what they do differently, think of why that is, then implement those different methods in your own way. Always worked for me as a forger and 3d modeller. Not trying to start an argument, just throwing out my 2 cents.