Welcome to the Graycast! The cool, hip show aimed at the noobs of Forgehub. I talk of the Grays of course! This is the first in what will hopefully be a long line of episodes every Sunday. Sit back and enjoy! The LolBox That We Hold Dear...... This is an extract from the LolBox in which the chatters contributed to a story: Once upon a time there was a sheep named Gilbert. He went to a McDonald’s bookstore in order to eat McDonald Edible Books. Next, he went to take a dump. The sheep named Gilbert then decided to sell himself. The sheep then thought to himself, “Baah Baah” which translates to “That goat has a tight *bleep*.” Gilbert then decided to have a little personal time which made him feel pleased. He then came to a conclusion that he is a lonely sheep which made him feel out of breath... This is just one of the many antics that happen in the LolBox, ForgeHubs very own Instant Messaging Conundrum found at the top of the Forum Index page. You have various topics covered in it, such as: Some serious Discussion on maps and General Halo; to Casual Advice on programs and music; to outrageous talk about Knarly being my pet and Sarge talking about Car Accelerator Porn. But I find that there is usually the same people over and over in the LolBox. Sure, these people are great......but more people in the LolBox would bring more variety to it. Including more antics. Please try out the LolBox........or a child in Africa will die every ten seconds. Turn That Frown Upside Down.... On a much happier note, events are everywhere these days. There is the Template Contest, where you build a map using the objects already placed down. It is a contest based on ability to make something out of.......well, almost nothing. Head over and check that out if you havent already. There is also a weekly Screenshot of the Week Contest, hosted by the youngling that is Donii. This week's Contest has ended but you can still go over and check them out. Here is the winner. Its a peculiar member who won. A mister Black Thereom: Think you have the skills to own this? Head over to the next one to try your skills and gain the prize of winning three times in a row for a mention in the next Site Update, following your hat-trick that is. And speaking of this, you can be expecting another Site Update within the folowing weeks and a tasty Caption Contest to accompany it. The Joker is a Forger...... This week, we have a guest. He's a Joker and a big time Forger. Its the creator of the brilliant Ocho, its ehand88! Ehand: Hello. Me: Hello ehand88. Now, tell me something about yourself. It can be anything that you want, anything that you think defines yourself. Ehand: Well, that is a pretty broad question, but if I had to pick one word that defines me best it is probably "independent." I have always liked to work things out on my own, whether it be school, golf, work, or whatever. I'm not saying you should not listen to other people and their advice, but sometimes you will learn much more if you try to figure things out on your own. Don't let others tell you what your opinion is, go discover your own. Me: Very interesting answer. Lets develop on that later. I am eager to learn some more about your work. What is your map portfolio? (And again, this includes the awesome Ocho). Ehand: I have quite a few foundry maps that never made it to Forge Hub. Most of those I created when I was still learning about forging. I didn't really get into forging all that much until the new Mythic map pack came out, along with the ultimate canvas that is Sandbox. That is where I really started to enjoy forging, and my better maps have been created on that canvas. Archetype is the first map I finished on Sandbox, and I plan on revisiting that map someday. I really love the huge arch, but the rest of the map needs some work. The map Delta was inspired by the Greek letter delta (it is triangle shaped), and the three-base, triangle shaped map is unique and fun to play on. Delta by ehand88 Then came my remake of the COD4 map Showdown. I tried to recreate a Call of Duty map that would work well with Halo's play style, and I believe I accomplished that. My next map drew inspiration from another symbol, Infinity. Infinity is one of my favorite maps to play on, mainly because of the way the ghosts can be used on this map. You never know where the next battle is going to occur. Of course, we cannot forget my most recent work, The Ocho. It is my pride and joy, and much time and effort was put into this map. I really took some of the basic ideas behind Infinity, and revamped it into a whole new machine. I took tons of advice and information from the FH community in an effort to make The Ocho the best it could be. I currently have three projects that I have been working on that will be tested and released in the near future. Heres a little sneak peek. http://haloscreenshots.net/gallery/8...36D4DE3BF24AA/ http://haloscreenshots.net/gallery/6...A9E8A1CB70F7B/ http://haloscreenshots.net/gallery/6...982D70F598EA2/ Me: Looking fine. If theses turn out to be refined Ochos, it'll be canned Bungie. Obviously you have quite a Forging history. What would be your advice to anyone struggling with Map Design or just general Forge? Ehand: You bring up a good point by mentioning map design. It is important to have at least some general layout or design before you start forging. I'm sure many people just go into forge and start messing around until they get something out of it, I started out doing that. Getting a good design is one of the most important factors in a good forge map. I know I haven't been forging for a long time, but I feel like I have learned much from the FH community as well as from my experiences while creating maps. If you are finding it hard to stay focused, go back to the drawing board. Try to get some ideas and then figure out a way to implement them into your map. Don't try to get overcomplicated, just keep it simple and smooth. Also, don't be afraid to ask for help, even the best need it. Me: You seen to be a Jedi Knight of the Forge. It would be awesome if you became a Master or eventually Yoda. Ok, so the Forge is outta the way. Lets get physical. Well, I would want to get physical but since I was put on the Sex Offenders list, I can only get personal. To some extent...........Lets start. How did you find out about this wonderful site that we call home? (Only called Home by the Homeless.........I have confused myself.) Ehand: *Ahem* [Yoda voice] Much to learn, you have. Ok, now that I got that out of my system...Well, I discovered Forge Hub before I ever even tried out the Forge mode on Halo 3. I was over at a friends house and we were looking for some fun custom maps/games to download. So, I did what I always do if I need to find something...Google it. Guess what the first link to pop up was? Forge Hub, and that is how it all began. Me: .........Erm, I doubt Yoda found out about the Force from Google. But it is possible. Lol, Bing doesnt have a chance. Anyway, how is your ForgeHub experience? Anyone you met thats like uber awesome sauce? Or do you hate-... no lets stay on the safe side. Ehand: I believe you are underestimating the power of Google. Anyways, my experience here at Forge Hub has been a great one. Almost everyone here has been helpful, and I try to be also. Like I said, I originally came to FH looking for customs, but there is no shortage of things to do here. Lately I have been looking through the screenshot and graphics and art forums. There is alot of good work being put up on this site. As far as the uber awesome sauce goes, I can't give that award to anyone person, but the Testers Guild would fall under that category. You can get some great feedback from the TG, and they have been a great help to me. Me: Well thank you for the interview, and the Tester's Guild is a great source of feedback for some maps. Dont Let The Door Hit Your Mother..... Thats it for this week folks. I'll be back with my antics of mayhem next Sunday. Ill leave you with this. It is my Quote of the Week and my Vid of the Week: SeanMcAleer1: I always go the Black Guy in Left 4 Dead so I have an excuse for dying first. YouTube - The Assumption Song
Your a younging... Nice writeup though, A good read. Do more.. Also, Nice and thanks for the mention of Screenshot of the Week, Maybe it'll get moar popular.
Great interview and post tartan ( & ehand88). However I'm afraid I can't assocaite with you anymore, now your on the dreaded sex offenders list. It would be too conspicuous for me to hang around a known sex offender, they may catch me up to all sorts of dirty antics.
Dont fear Knarly, ill still send you dirty messages or the occasional kinky teabag in Halo Thanks for commenting tho, Ill buy you some doggy treats I need help my links dont work
I think all the links are fixed And I appreciate it but I wanted the idea to be that to get the sneak peek, you had to do to the links, not just stay on this thread. Also, I didnt want to clog up the thread
You really put a lot of time into this. You might make a good Journalist. PS. stick to the default font.
Nice work sir! Many thanks for the interview, and I look forward to reading the future Graycast episodes. There is a lot of good info in this thing, especially the Assumption Song. I love that one haha!
I agree with this. While this is a nice idea, you could have definitely done it better. You have a long way to go in your writing style, and how you manage the space and layout of your write up. Now, I'm not saying this was terrible- it was actually fairly well written. But you could indeed put a bit more effort into it and make it better. How so you ask? Well lets see. Using the default font would be a great idea, and a new header would be a huge bonus. Nothings really wrong with your current header but a new, sleeker one couldn't hurt. In your writing style: You could try to take your writing a bit more seriously. Unless you're going for a comical, joking demeanor you should try to keep it strict and functional. And even if you're going for the joking demeanor you should keep most of it serious, with a few jokes sprinkled about. The way you laid it out leaves something to be desired aswell. Try making a header for each section, that clearly brakes them up, and keeps your write up looking professional. Also, for things like your interview you could have used [ quote][ /quote] tags. Such as, But, I digress. All in all it was an interesting read and an it has potential. I suppose it's totally up to you on how to write it up and run it, but this was just my two cents. Best of luck.
Appreciate the critisism. I really do. The reason I didnt use the default font is that in the interview I wanted to split it up but when I used paragraphs it wasnt needed anymore so yeah, default font. The header was made by ehand, Ill try to make one next time. Im more of a "I love my comedy" type guy which is why I try to show that in my writing. I never plan what I write unless it is a map post. I just sit down with my topics and see what comes out. The Yoda thing was made out of this and the LolBox stuff really happened. Im planning on teaming up with someone to make the writing a bit more special and the topics more focused. Im gonna make very small but thin headers each time, but I did this to see the popularity and get a feel for what could be done better each time.