The Journey of Our Forges.

Yup, looking back at old threads is always good. I actually do it quite often. But yeah, people tend to forget about past works, especially after changing their signature to their current halo 4 maps. It is very interesting how much a community can teach you though, really amazing. I bought an xbox and joined the forums two years ago, now I have a map in matchmaking. There's no way in hell it could have happened if I tried to learn it all myself. It's an endless cycle of sharing maps, learning from those maps, and forging new ones. I've thought about making a thread like this. But it makes me think more than I can actually put into words. So ill stop right here. I'll just say that the forums are amazing.

 

I haven't done it with threads, but I went through all my old Halo 3 and Reach maps a few times. It always reminded me of a couple things: A) How bad those maps were and how far I've come since then, and B) How much fun it was, and is, to create something cool and thematic. My early maps all played and looked generally pretty bad, but damn did I try some crazy stuff. It always makes me happy to see them, because even though they were bad they were the building blocks for what I do now and what I will continue to build, sort of a collective example of my forging style. It also is good to look at them because it reminds me when I see a map that's not the most well designed that I went through the same long process of trying to get any idea how to make a good halo map. That's a lot of why I joined the TG, to help people who were where I was learn from their maps and design better for the future.

I'll have to try looking at old posts too, because as Paints said, "There's no way in hell it could have happened if I tried to learn it all myself." I still remember Bones agreeing to take a look at my few early 4 v 4 maps (Inorite, I made 4 v 4's!) and helping me take the first steps to building bigger and better things (and putting up with 4 months testing First Tracks.) We definitely owe much of the progress we've made to others, and we continue to as we keep on testing and helping to improve each other's work. Great thread Audience O' Fone!

 

well for one it's encouraging to see that master forgers thought that at one time they sucked... so maybe there is hope for the rest of us? LOL

I wish I could go back to my reach maps but the thing is, they were constructed on my Son's xbox and he lives in FL far from here... neither of us had Live at the time, so no way to post them up for the community. I'm trying to get his a-hole mom to let him play with me over Live and then we can load up reach and I can grab his files (many of which are mine and I want back for no other reason than to not lose them forever) but she is being a you know what.

I've learned a lot through struggling on my own and then researching what you all are doing with your great maps, so I also want to go back and apply some of it to the old stuff too. If for no other reason than it would just be fun to do.

happy forging to all

 

So true Audience, I still feel like im at the nooblet forger state, Ive been here for almost 2 years but i have sooo much to learn still. Ive also had a few of my maps go without comments but, the ones i did receive hailed good advice which to learn from. Now to apply it. . . Keep up the awesome work bro!

 

I think about this all the time. My first post on Forge Hub was a map thread for something I made in Halo 3 that, in retrospect, was... actually not entirely horrible. Though in large part that was because I was stealing from Chill Out like a thief with no remorse. But then I look at my first Reach maps that got little or no response, and with the benefit of experience and wisdom, I can see exactly why. There were interesting ideas in there, but the maps were just clusterf-bombs.

I also feel I've learned a ton from everything about this place: reading threads and blog posts on map design, getting and giving feedback, testing week in and out, and just being surrounded by a community full of people that think about the basic questions of forging all day long. Immersion is the quickest way to learn a foreign language, and forge is basically a foreign language all its own. I've learned so much hanging around here that sometimes I read a post and think, "Oh man, I knew that years ago and actually forgot it" - like it got pushed out of my brain through the sheer volume of everything else I was trying to remember and incorporate into my designing.

It's definitely a journey, and a neverending one. I don't think there's one perfect forger on this site, or anywhere else. Don't trust anybody that says they're done with that journey. But listen to and help the guys who know they're on the same path as you, even if it's a different point - further ahead or far behind.

 

I think for me, it was getting over the idea that "Hey my maps do not suck" to "Hey, they may be right, I better have another look at it". This alone, with the help of the community here has made me grow and become better.

Now I will be the first to tell you that I can make some pretty crappy maps, have done so, and sure I will make some more, but the number of them are decreasing now, thanks to feedback from this community, and making myself understand that I am making a map that hopefully everyone will enjoy playing on, not "well I like it, and thats all I need to know".

 

I am exactly the same. Its difficult to stick to plans when you are constantly dreaming up new ideas as you forge. Its annoying, but amazing at the same time, I feel so powerful when forging, my mind is fizzing with creativity which I don't get with anything else. Hell, I'm doing a degree in film so that is saying something. I am addicted to learning everything I can about forge, to expand my knowledge so I can give something back to you all. I am sure everyone feels the same, all of us here are are taking part in the most creative hobby in gaming. We are putting in immense amounts of effort, not just for our own enjoyment, but for everyone else's, to build on this already great multiplayer game. We are feeding a community that is like no other and I find it amazing.

 

Agreed. I think of Forge like a set of legos, a multiplayer building set, an engineering toy that I am in control of. I use it to try and come up with something no one else has made before, and mind you, that tends to be very difficult with all the talented Forgers on this site.

But thats what drives me too, I see what people like all of you make, and say to myself, "I bet I could do something more epic than that", often they get tossed, but some come out just as I want, but I don't often follow them up to finish them and publish them.

 

The only thing I think about is the last Reach map I never finished because Halo 4 came out... It was turning out to be the best map I had ever forged, and I just ran out of time...

Oh, and I went down to walmart and made a poster of one of my maps... it's hanging on my wall here...

 

Anymore I have 2 things I decide on with a new map: What type of gameplay I am designing for, and what type of setting should it be designed in, which is often reliant on what type of map it is. If I can get the type of gameplay I want to work really well with the setting I want to create, then generally I have a good map going (unless it just fails, which happens a lot too.)

 

I remember the olden days, the days when I made largely poopy asym FFA maps in Halo 3. Somehow, without much testing and almost no feedback i managed to improve on them over time, then I somehow took a fat step back with my first Reach map before catching back up to myself and surpassing the level I had been at. I remember when i started playing with Stevo and MattKestrel and whatever other sad saps back at the start of Reach. That's when i really started learning, not so much from the feedback of others' as from the ability to actually play my own maps as intended and figure out was worked with them and what didn't.

I remember starting Cargo Port right before the Noble maps hit and then abandoning it to make a really simple, boring 2v2 map on Tempest. I am very glad Matt got me to return to that, as that's when i really started learning and improving. That map played like a pile of crap, but the memories of the daily testing lobbies and shenanigans are awesome. Then I started making BTB maps, and after a few failed attempts finally got something that i'm still proud of today.

But yeah, it's been a crazy ride. I hope I can keep improving and helping others improve. It's always great to help others along this journey too.

 

And now there is the FC3 map editor.....

 

Unfortunately, for normal competitive games Far Cry multiplayer is about as boring and basic as it gets. Way better editor, but why use it if you won't enjoy what you make? (This is looking at it from my perspective on the games multi obviously.)

 

I agree to a point. I don't enjoy FC3 game play much, and from what I have read on the forums the FC3 spawn engine is quite different from that of FC2, placing new constraints on levels such as requiring essentially doughnut shapes/paths. All I could think of when I heard that was Gears... Talk about a step back...

But the fact remains that FC3 map editor is mid way between forge and UDK in terms of power and ease of use. It is like using UDK to forge but not having to take a class on UDK to be proficient.

In all honesty, I would never have bought FC3 had it not been for my forging experience with Reach. Reach turned me onto level design...

 

I've thought about using it for single player stuff, but by the time I spent all the time there I figured I might as well just learn Unity, which I have a class one anyways (typing this in it.) It's cool, but Far Cry doesn't have anything that really grabs me that I can't do better elsewhere.

 

Without the community, everyone's maps would have stayed the same after the first build. And without play testing, no one would play each others maps. That's what's great about the process. You learn new things about your map that you couldn't see at first glance. People have taken the time to help you, it's almost we use our heads together to make maps.

 

one thing that I've been curious about when reading about how you all do playtesting and such is this... are there community lobbies that are ONLY for fully finished maps and where maps that are agreed to be the best are played on a fairly regular basis?

I need to get more custom games in and playing with people you know is always a better experience.