Proportionalty Accurate Headlong Recreation: Progress Notes Hey there, ForgeHub. I suppose you could say I'm a very new user who signed up some time ago. Bieng unfamiliar with specific posting etiquite of ForgeHub, I apologize ahead of time if this type of thread is frowned upon or in the wrong area. I'm hoping this is all good though, because this project is a little important to me and I'd like to get it off the ground. Headlong was one of my favorite maps from Halo 2. I played a lot of customs on there, with King of the Hill being the most enjoyable for me. CTF wasn't bad at all, either, and Slayer was a grand ol time. I'd like to stretch my Forge muscles a little by recreating this masterpiece, a map that many have deemed a great map for Reach's sandbox, f not for the community then for myself. It'd be a challenge, and an accomplishment. I'm no stranger to remaking Halo maps. I've had a fair stint in FarCry 2's mapping community, gaining popularity through a couple of Halo maps made in the editor, such as Zanzibar, Sandtrap, and even Headlong. With the Headlong remake (first map showcased in the video below), I became familiar with minor details that I've noticed were missed by the various remakes listed on the file shares of users when I do a file search in Reach. There are plenty of things that can go overlooked, and I feel that my previous experience will help me in building a faithful recreation for everyone to enjoy. YouTube - Far Cry 2 Halo Maps 2 If there's already a really good remake of Headlong, please let me know about it. I like seeing what others have done so I can put everything together into the best possible map for the community. The first thought I had was to put the map at the water's edge in the canyon, but there's not enough space to construct the indoor areas. The opposite side of the canyon has more space for the proportions, although it isn't at the water's edge. I feel that getting the maps' proportions is more important than the waterfront aesthetics, so this is where i'm going to start my measurements. Using Halo 2 and a stop watch, I'll block off and measure how long it takes to walk certain parts of the map, and figure out what I need to do to get everything where it needs to be. Again, if this is a frowned-upon type of thread, I apologize. I don't post in the Halo Forge community much, but I'd like to get support for this project in the form of opinions, critques, and playtesting. I'll be sure to do follow-ups as time goes on, so hopefully this is the start of my continuous posting on ForgeHub.
I saw that image you posted of your version of Headlong and it looks like you're putting a lot of effort into this. I'm glad to see someones recognizing key terrain elements. Good luck! and I hope you keep posting on FH!
Thanks, but if you take a look you'll see I posted in that one. I appreciate the link, though! Progress is coming along on my variant. I had to ditch several attempts to utilize Forge World's terrain in favor of space. My original construct in the Canyon fell short for the Warthog spawns; the cliffside took up most of that area. I moved my construction over to the Island on the southern shore. Most of the terrain work will be done with building blocks, I'm afraid. Forge World just does not have the proper terrain work with the necessary space. It's unfortunately, but I've spent a couple of hours rebuilding a quick layout of Headlong in various areas to test things out and this was the best solution. Here's another crappy cellphone pic to show my current progress: I'm not taking in-game screens because I don't feel like jumping out of Forge right now. This is just a rough layout to get the proportions correct. So far, it still feels like Headlong, which is a good sign. The driving is less fun, though, but I hope the infantry play is good enough to counter that.
If you put some considerable budget and effort into the natural pieces, you can make some desierable terrain using just the right sides and egdes of the rocks to keep them seemless, but it's really easy to make them look crummy D=
Indeed! Before I went to bed, I went ahead and tried out some rocks in different positions. I was able to make a really nice ramp out of the bowl and it gave me confidence in terrain. I'll be using various Arch, Flat, Spire, and Medium rocks as well as Tin Cups to make some nice bumps and turns. Added after 9 Hours 41 minutes: A little update: I decided to forgo the rocks in most of the map in favor of generic Pyramid buildings for "terrain ramps" out of the bowl. This is a bummer for me, and I'm really hating Forge World right now because there's not enough space in the good sections of the map. Oh well. once the full thing is built and completed, I'm sure I'll forget about it. I've checked out a few more Headlong remakes last night. It seems everyone is falling for the same fallacy; building the map on the beach of the Canyon and using Memory as a means of comparison for proportions. There's plenty of gross errors in many of these remakes, such as certain platforms being higher than they should be, or being in the wrong spot, or just plain not being there at all. It seems as though the authors are putting a good amount of effort into these maps, but then giving up part of the way through and "just finishing" them. With my experience in this sort of thing, I won't be done until my lust for an accurate Headlong is satisfied. Added after 1 Day 21 Hours: Update: Work is going very well, with only minor discrepencies popping up here and there. These disproportionate areas have gone unnoticed to the friends I've shown, thus I feel these areas can remain the way they are in the final product. These problem areas are mostly bridge lengths, walkway widths, and hallway angles. They're not completely off or noticeably different to the point of taking away familiarity. Here is a quick phone pic showcasing the corner I'm working on at the moment: You can see the shotgun spawn and the gun turret placement here. I feel these areas are very strong and feel very natural, which makes me happy and helps push me further. My method right now is using an old Halo 2 Official Strategy Guide opened to Headlong's overhead layout and my original Xbox running Halo 2 on a different TV channel. I can swap back and forth between Reach and Halo 2, getting rea-time comparisons to areas, as well as an overall picture of the whole map with the game guide. It's working very well and I'm confident I will be able to make this the most accurate and proortional Headlong yet. My only concern is my budget. I'm low on Walls, although I have many Colosseum walls layed out as placeholders, and I am in danger of hitting critical low on Building Pieces and Bridges/Platforms. I'm going to use a lot of Large Braces, which I hope will help my item limits, but those will cut into my overall budget for weapons and vehicles. Added after 1 Day 19 Hours: Another update: I've run into a huge issue, that many have been running into when making a complex map in Forge. The issue is the budget, in terms of object-type restrictions. Despite going back through what I've already constructed and using different materials, I'm still dangerously close to hitting limits on Building Blocks, Platforms, and Walls. I've been using Inclines and Decorations for my wall-building needs for the moment, so I hope I can continue this trend until I finish up the rest of the map. There hasn't been too much of a change since the last picture posted, so I won't post another. I worked long shifts over the weekend, so my time spent in Forge was mostly used cleaning up my budget and using Large Braces and Inclines to replace a lot of the Building Block flats I was using.