Is there a record for fastest feature ever? This should hold it lol. In all seriousness this map is fun. Looks good too so I ain't mad at ya.

Oh my god, 343i really dropped the ball when it came to texturing... What is this? It looks like a whitebox level. The geometry looks like it could play well, but I am in complete disbelief. How did they get away with this?

Edit: I just want to take the time to reiterate. I find the geometry to be pretty interesting, but 343i took out all of the textures out of Forge.

This map reminds of Legend of Zelda for some reason.

I like it that way.

Sure I wouldn't mind some texture swatches from 343, but I'd rather have minimal texturing than the over complicated texturing of reach and the blotchy texturing of H2A.

Xandrith along with other forgers make great use of the contrast the simple textures provide. Here the matte white is accented with the metallic gold. This contrast allows the natural central focal points to shine. The simple and sterile walls are the cornerstone of the design.

Where previous halos would have had a mishmash of sensory input that forgers would have to work around, H5 forge intuitively enables forgers to choose when they want detailed areas and when they would rather not.

This particular use of the tool allows for a uniform look which has elevation levels and doorways capped with gold, making it easy to see how spaces connect and interact. While simple at a glance this finely tuned look allows for flourishes of color and natural elements. The theme is further realized by the mathematic geometry against the soft moving fire and shifting water effects.

In short these simple textures are a godsend from 343 and it surprises me that so many people don't see it. Learning to design with these flat pieces will really help a lot of forgers learn important things about visual design, and will also finally allow for forgers to design simple beautiful map geometry without having to fight odd and inconsistent textures. If textures are incoming via #sustain, I can honestly say it's the one thing I'm happy 343 is holding back until later.

I wasn't trying to undermine what forger's are doing. I am certain they are doing great things. The objects that 343i put in just look really terrible for something that is supposed to be "next-gen." Obviously, it's now current-gen but that comes down to semantics. I was just really taken back by how bad these objects look though. No textures, little to no normal/specular mapping, and the lack of anti-aliasing makes me think this could be accomplished on an Xbox 360. The character models and the pre-baked maps look great, but I think they really dropped the ball when it came to making Forge look good.

I don't own an Xbox One, so this is my first time seeing what can be accomplished in Halo 5's Forge. While the map looks impressive, I am stunned at how minimal the objects are. It's not even about contrast. It's about the complete lack of depth in a flagship franchise.

I'll take the dull easy textures over crazy looking performance crashing textures anyday. Also, after Halo 4 how can you not like this?

The flat textures compliment the fact that they are flat objects. This allows forgers to determine the use of a piece rather than having the texture of the piece determine the use for the forger. Or worse yet, having the forge fight the texture to apply a different purpose. Furthermore, implying these pieces are without texture is just hyperbole.

You mention that 343 "took out all of the textures out of forge." Can you sight an example from a previous iteration that you liked better than the current?

I am kind of surprised that you guys are rushing to defend them, but that's okay. I guess I was just really surprised because I thought the Xbox One could handle more than this. You can have flat surfaces without them looking like clay. It looks like they just used a paint fill tool on the objects. I guess I am just spoiled after switching completely to PC, but I expected way more out of an Xbox One. Sorry if you guys took offense by my comments -- it was not meant to be a jab at the map creator. There's nothing he/she could have done about it.

I remember at launch seeing the maps and thinking they were beautiful. They had to compromise A LOT! That is what is so surprising to me. They have a beautiful game and accidentally shafted the forging community by making it look like play-doh.

I think I get the point Furry is making. Just speaking in perspective of blocks:

• The bottom of H3 foundry's double boxes (the side forgers actually used for flooring), still had those lines etched in at the half-way/quarter-way marks) instead of being plain green
  
• The majority of H3 Sandbox's palette had that non-shiny, rough/scratched texture that actually matched the environment around it. Look at the H5 remake of sandtrap (recently posted) and look at the structure, that is where it comes short as a perfect remake and that is not the creator's fault.
• Halo Reach's 2x4's - enough said.

The textures on Halo 4's blocks were god awful. Those were an example of poorly done textures. Also to hell with H:MCC's bridge pieces.

I personally don't mind the plain texture, many maps still look amazing. It is just one of those things that reminds you it's a forge map (I guess not the case for forerunner maps though).

Edit: sorry for being off-topic, the map does look nice Xandrith

On the topic of the texturing, I think the whole point of Forge in H5 is that we're doing away with placing an object and having it look nice just by itself. That's why there's no more prefab and no more blocks with all kinds of crazy lines on them. WE are supposed to make the maps look nice with accents and stickers and many pieces creating the whole, instead of just placing one piece that looks nice by itself. Or at least that's my theory, and for that reason I don't mind the lack of texturing, it's refreshing to me and I think it promotes individuality because you have to try different stuff to make the map look nice.

And on the topic of trying different stuff to make a map look nice, this map looks incredible. I love it. It's an inspiration to all to try different stuff to make a map look nice. Will update this comment if I get a chance to try it with some folks to see how it plays!

I think clinical has the right idea and what 343 should focus on in future updates, simple geometric blocks with the option of adding texture to them ourselves. Xandrith has made a plain map by design because it fits the theme better. This map could be transformed into a UNSC base easily by replacing blocks with accents but that would obviously defeat the purpose of a greek theme.

So far if you want a textured map, you don't have many choices other than a human theme, or a Forerunner theme using lighting and interesting shapes (Like Kronos). I'm hoping for more covenant pieces in an update and I think if 343 were to port over a ton of pieces from the Sanghelios section in the campaign, Xandrith would be able to update this to give it a more stony look.

I still believe this forge looks miles better than the previous games. Funnily enough having featureless blocks seems to lead to maps looking more unique. When every block has distinctive patterns etched into them it's easy to recognize them and say "Oh, I know exactly what piece that is".

I think one of the things u misunderstand about forge in the past is the fact that textures in the past created visual distraction and even limited our choices when trying to create our own textures. Forge and it's peices in Halo 5 act more like a real 3D editor now and we can now freely choose when we want textures or not instead of having them forced upon us, take a gander at the WIP threads and you will begin to see what I mean

I think forge maps look better than the dev maps. Too much **** going on and not fitting thematically with Halo.

take a gander at WyvernZu's godly remake of Sandtrap and realize the structural objects look like they are made of plastic and don't actually fit with the sand.

Everyone seems to be missing the point, not that it matters anyway.

That's true. I don't think anyone is saying that forge couldn't be better. But if we are discussing how this forge looks compared to older ones, or how functional it is as a tool, this is obviously the best iteration.

The flat textures are not perfect for every map, but they are more versatile for creators compared to anything we've had. 343 should add more textures, but in the case that we have, where there is only one skin for our blocks, I am beyond ecstatic that we finally have plain blocks to build with.

So to say that 343 "dropped the ball" is just crazy to me. Can they do more? Always. But if they dropped the ball with anything it's the fileshare, not this. These textures are a gift to forgers. I'd really like a stone texture. I'd really like something that looks uniquely covenant. More detail would be great. But they certainly didn't drop the ball here.

In the video paints says it's a Arabic style but yet in the text it says roman