Sandbox Wishlist I'm going to be constructing an e-mail over the next few days, which i will pass along to Bungie detailing some of the collective suggestions from ForgeHub, and more specifically, my own ideas. I have a feeling that it is too late, but with a month left, i may be able to get it to them before everything has been finalized. Obviously this entire thing depends upon the fact that Sandbox has been designed specifically for it's use in Forge, which i am confident about. Before i construct it, i'm going to allow you guys to offer some ideas that you may have, which i will consider to add. I hope that you guys think of ideas that are well within Bungie's grasp; Bungie already explained that the User Interface will not be changed, so the mechanics or the items have to already exist in Halo in one way or another. It's likely that the contents will either be lost, ignored or not taken seriously, but in my eyes it's not worth sitting back and letting all the potential it has to offer go to waste while i watch, when i could atleast try and benefit it in my own way, so here goes. Ideas and suggestions have to be practical and reasonable! Colour Filters that change Hue This suggestion would add a Red, Blue and Green colour filter into the Forge 'Scenery' pallete. Unlike previous Filters, these 3 objects would only change the Hue of all the colours on the map. Each of the 3 filters would be capable of being placed a small number of times, allowing them to be stacked and any colour created. The amount that they change the objects would only be very, adding a subtle tint to everything on the map. This would require two things, firstly, everything present in the map would have to be a neutral colour as standard like a metalic grey or silver, somewhat like the scenery available on Avalanche. This would allow changes with the Hue filters to add a subtle glow to all of the objects on the map, including all the map textures, which would be of a similar style to the placable scenery. The second requirement, which is more important, is that the Hue Filter would have to not change the Hue on the players in the game. If this could not be achieved, then these Filters should not be implamented. An example of a use for this would be to place 1 or 2 blue filters, possibly followed by a single green one. The effect created should resemble the objects on Avalanche, creating a cold, isolated feel. Alternatively, a few red filters could be placed with a green one, to create a warm, orange glow to the objects, resembling some of the colours present in Halo 2's 'Collosus'. Rocket Pod Turret as Weapon This object is already present on the Halo 3 Campaign map 'The Storm', so, in effect, it should be a simple copy+paste precidure to have this item present in Sandbox, in the weapons category. This would operate in the same way as the 'Machine Gun Turret', which has infinite ammo until it is either ripped off by a player or destroyed. The nature of the Rocket Pod turret as a turret makes it almost useless against infantry, but a force to be reckoned with against slow moving vehicles. If Sandbox is going be aimed towards larger scaled battles, then this item is a necessity. Deployable Cover as Scenery The Deployable Cover is already present in Forge as equipment, but i would like to see it added to 'Scenery' much like the Grav Lift is. This way, we can set a specific location for the 'active' shield to spawn, and then respawn at a time we can allocate. The object would obviously be a 'moveable object' so there would be no interlocking. This can serve as a simple piece of destructive cover, that we can allow specific locations for. To me this would be a fairly simple way to add an invaluable piece to Forge, providing many new oppetunities in creative content. Varied Movable Objects Present For Aesthetic Value Multiplayer maps like The Pit and Rats Nest are almost overloaded with small movable objects like UNSC backpacks, generators, radios and a variation of small crates. These objects can be very beneficial when creating the right style is imporant, like maps created for Infection or Machinima purposes. Foundry did not feature many smaller movable objects, providing little more than Crates and Dumpsters. Although these two are of the most useful when it comes to movable objects, a handful more would be very helpful in creating a mood and maping a map look just that little bit more realistic. As stated in the beginning, these objects are already present in other Multiplayer maps, so it shouldn't be hard to get some of them added into Sandbox. No Restrictions With Weapons Almost every Halo 3 multiplayer map has had 1 or 2 weapons cut out. Wether a requirement or not, this is always going to frustrate a fairly large group of people. With Sandbox, everyone is going to want to do their own thing, and be as individual as they can get. If possible, having every weapon present would be a great asset. Elephant If at all possible, the Elephant would re-invent gametypes like CTF, VIP and Teritories. Covenant Shade Turrets and Sniper Towers Both exist in campaign, and would add a refreshing touch to multiplayer, as well as creating more options in terms of realistic looking defensive structures. Both of these structures are well balanced for Multiplayer, working as a good firebase, but providing vulnerability through their lack of movement. Splattering Shade Turrets with Warthogs online would also be a joy. Simplified Map Geometry If Sandbox is to be a map designed entirely for Forge and user-created content, then please, leave it's entirety down to the person Forging. The default map should be a canvas. There should be no matchmaking, atleast until some high quality content has been created by the community. The map itself should be as simple as physically possible, with minimalistic geometry. Some of Foundries biggest problems, excluding the tight budget and restricted Forge pallete were the geometry present on Foundry by default. By this i mean the Cranes hanging from the ceiling, the unusually shaped and sometimes deformed walls, and the extra foot that makes the map not perfectly symmetrical. These features hinder creativity, and serve little purpose. Sandbox should be as simple a map as possible, providing no geometry restrictions to the user. The map should be distinctively symmetrical or aysmmetrical, and not a subtle mix of both. Simplified Immovable Objects One of the difficulties that Foundry posed also was the complexity of the immovable objects in the forging pallete. Many of the objects would not have defined edges, making it extremely difficult to accurately work with these objects and create something great. Objects like double and single boxes had the top face curved, forcing people to use the botton face, which was completely flat and had a texure that would actually work as a floor. This brings me on to the textures of the objects, which would need to be drasticly simplfied.
Herm. Building blocks. A cube, like the size of a "single crate" but it is immovable. And... rocks or trees. That's it. Can't be that hard to make.
No soccer balls. LoL. But would like a biger object limit, like 36 boxs instead of 24, or 24 fence walls instead of 16. idk i like alot of objects
Ladders. I guess it's possible, since they're in campaign. Filters that only apply to certain areas. Probably not, but w/e Airlifts. Like Mancannons but look like the ones on Pit/Blackout Grifballs. Because soccer balls are ugly EDIT: Guess ROADKILL got to the soccerball thing before me xD
They should edit the mancannon to land where we want, it seems to be too random for me. Like in Gaurdian, imagine going off a mancannon on that map, and coming in through the side and landing no where near the map.
I could only hope Bungie will read, and consider this letter of yours, Matty. Anyway, here is what I want to see. Rid Objects of Invisible Sides: Due to the invisible barriers, and un-even sides of boxes, walls, etc. it is often hard to get exact geomerges and interlocks. Often, when you leave these items alone, they begin to become crooked over time, completely on their own accord. If Bungie could just get rid of these invisible sides/cushions, I bet this wouldn't happen. Or at least, make it so one side is not invisibly longer than the other (the side longer as of now is the one that the arrow does not point too). Aesthetics and Moveable: Yes, I know aesthetics do not make a map, but could it to put them in there anyway? By this, I mean the aesthetics pre-DLC maps have, such as backpacks, work lights, generators, etc. In addition, incude all moveable objects such as Crates and Pallets. In Avalanche, it only has crates, which really limits the ability to make switches. Including more, aesthetic, moveable objects can make casual maps, and aesthetic maps look better, as well as opening up more possibilities for Switches. Immoveable Boxes, No Rounded Corners: I like the Foundry immoveable boxes, their color is perfectly fine. They sure beat the constantly changing colors of the Avalance and Blackout boxes (Which I do not want to see in Sandbox), with angled corners. However, I would much prefer boxes to remain boxes. Rounded corners make smooth interlocks more challenging, as well as angled ones. A perfectly square box might not look the best alone, but us forgers know what we are doing, and can handle it. Varied Sizes: Numerous times I have encountered a spot where something slightly skinnier than a bridge would be nice, or smaller than a single box. If there were more varied sizes to the immoveable objects, that would be great. It would help us not waste Larger Objects to make a small corner, for example. Just more variable object sizes would be nice. I really think all that would be simple to do. All it really entails is added 3D, editable elements into Sandbox, and adding hit detection etc. The most time consuming/challenging thing would be fixing the lazy hit detection sides of objects such as boxes, that we cannot see, but know exist because they get in the way. Even then, it shouldn't be hard to fix.
Change the power of man-cannons: I would really like to see us able to vary the power of man-cannons because of the many different styles of maps and sizes of maps. On a small 1v1 map that takes up a small part of Foundry, you don't want people flying across the map to the other side. Rather, you could set the power to low and make it launch you a short distance. More objects: I would also like to see more objects place-able in Forge because sometimes I get very low on materials from building the map and don't have enough objects to block off the extra section of the map. I'd assume that more money or unlimited budget would come along with this as well so we can afford those extra supplies. Not necessarily more different types of objects, but just more double boxes or more single boxes.
More versatile objects. ~I have always wanted the missile pod turret and i think this is the one. ~Ability to place elephants God i love them. Imagine a game of conquest where two elephants meet in the middle. Or elephant escort. ~NO RESTAINTS. (AVALANCHE= NO PLASMA RIFLES= WTF) ~Placeable and fully editable skulls. I bet bungie will already implement this because of mythic skulls. ~More filter options ~Terrain. If it is not to big of a jump. ~Wouldn't it e cool if you could design your own lifts like in construct ~ Different settings. -Construct theme with waterfall in background -Sand terrain theme. -Arctic theme -Space theme. ELOGATION REMAKES!!! Will post other ideas when I think of them. I am not trying to be picky, But it would be cool if bungie would cram as many of these ideas as possible before release. Subscribed to this thread. And you should stickie it! ~forgegod117~
Well, I agree with all of your points, except for this. If I understand what you mean, you want to change the Hue of all of the objects? But then you want the default colors of all of the objects to be the same? It might just be me, but I think that would be a little hard on the eyes. Everything the same exact color.
That would be the point. You would have more mixtures of filters for gameplay effects. I am getting a little worried about people who want to be able to change object size. What is forge if it doesn't take any skill. Let us interlock and geomerge. Please don't make it easy on us.
If the objects were all different colours by default, then the Hue would change all of them to different colours, so what your saying would only occur if everything was the same colour by default, which, with Bungie would be extremely unlikely. And what i am proposing is just a minor change to the tint of the object, an example would be Avalanche, where every item has a soft blue tint. I am proposing nothing more than that.
For screenshots, People often would mix two different filters to make the map look cool. The same can be applied to game play. But the filters that legendary has are somewhat limiting! Matty just answered your question above.
Here are a couple more simple ideas, but you probably thought of them already. They pertain to what already exists. Foundry Doors: Doors were made for the sole purpose (originally) to fit in spaces made for those doors. In order to fit them in these tight spaces easier, Bungie allowed the sides of these doors to pass through objects. This is what brought about Geo-Merging. Avalanche also has doors, but these doors are odder in shape, glow brightly, and are incredibly difficult to geomerge with. So, if at all possible, I would prefer to see the return of the classic Foundry Door, which worked perfectly fine for geomerges. Increased Number of Specific Items: I know this has already been addressed, but I would like to add more perspective to the issue. Now, in Foundry we have 24 double boxes, 16 single boxes, etc. However, if we are making a map that relies on the excessive usage of one item (such as double boxes) we quickly run out of these items. Many times, I would rather have 10 more boxes than 10 more assault rifles. What I propose is that the amount of any single type of item is increased significantly, or made infinite. Now, this could be viewed as an issue, but when put into proper perspective, it isn't. All maps have a Budget. This budget prevents us from placing too many items on it, to prevent lag. This means that we can place as many double boxes (for example) as we want, but once we hit the item limit, we cannot place anymore. In this case, it doesn't matter how many items we have, we still can only place x amount. However, we can break the budget, but that still isn't an issue. On top of a budget, there is an item limit. This prevents forgers from placing x amount of total items on a map. Again, we can place as many boxes as we want, but once we hit that item limit, there is nothing more we can do. By putting a limit on specific items, Bungie is handicapping us more than needed, since Budgets and Item Limits already exist. Increased Spawn Times: This may be too much, since it does involve changing some mechanics to an already existing script, but then again, it can't be that much harder to modify. Forging has grown out of Competitive use exclusively, and now incorporates mini and casual games. These games often rely on timed events. Now, using the combination of not spawning at start and respawn time, these timed events are possible. However, they are un-even. We have 10 Seconds, 20 Seconds, 30 Seconds; all intrevals of 10. Then we jump to 45 seconds, and from their 60 seconds. This is 15. After that, we go by intrevals of 30 seconds, at 90 seconds, 120 seconds, 150 seconds, and 180 seconds. This inconsistent system handicaps precision switches and timed events. Often times, I find myself wishing I can have an event happen at 105 seconds for example, but unless I used a delay switch, this is impossible. So, adding in some seconds in between the 30 second leaps would be nice. In addition, it is often helpful to have items spawn later than 180 seconds into the game. If the max respawn time could be increased, that would also be nice. Teleporters and Respawn times (Weapon Holders Included): Every object gives you the ability to set it's respawn time, and whether or not it can spawn at start. Teleporters do not, and since this ability already exists with other items, it would be concievable that these same traits could be applied to teleporters. In addition, weapon holders cannot be set to not spawn at start (even though it does give you that option). This would be a simple fix, that would have many benefits.
Okay I am back with more ideas to offer. More Items: I know that it has been said three times. I really want to see this in your email. Imagine a floating BTB map made for veichals. It would be amazing wouldn't it. This would only be possible, however, with more items. Please adress this to Urk matty. Better items: We don't need soccerballs. They would be nice to have anyway though. What we forger want to see are cool items that can be used in a most verstile manner. As seen in foundry, most objects are too big to be used efficiently. Sandbox needs to include normal foundry boxes as well as smaller pieces of scenary much like weapon holders. Sniper Towers: Clearly seen in campain are sniper towers, You know the floating ones that jackles kill you in. It would be nice If you could include these in forge. Different colors for different maps would be nice too. Also if possible editing options. Increase the level that the tower floats at. If you increase this then the power that the gravity lift administers will change too. Canvas already: Instead of making a map for MM and using it to forge on is ridiculus. Please give us the forge canvas and leave the MM one alone. If you do otherwise, reserve the option to delete all objects for serious forgers.
they probably can't do this but an undo button would be great. a ladder would be really cool as well as some large trees from the campaign.
Those would be quite easy to put in, actually. It's pretty easy to mod them into Snowbound, which means they exist. And on the topic of modding, how bout them Shade Turrets? But seriously, how about Shade Turrets in Forge?
Shades are what plasma turrets should have been. On more note for me is the sheild doors on Tsavo Highway. You should make sheild doors that extend outward until they hit an object. And by meleeing the generator you could power them down. I suppose this is possible because they exist in campain!!!
Shade turrets were in forge before release, bungie mustve had their reasons to cut them. also the halo 1 shades were SO much cooler