Today we're featuring Scavenger, by Commander Colson. Scavenger is an asymmetrical map designed for Big Team Battle. It has a "sci-fi junkyard" theme, with a bunch of wreckage scattered throughout the battlefield for players to use as cover. With well-designed pathing for both vehicles and infantry, the map provides a balanced experience for both.

This map has been in development for one and a half months and the author went as far to completely re-forge this project a few times. With feedback from testing lobbies and friends, this map has marked itself to be one of the strongest big team battle Strongholds maps to date and we encourage you all to experience it for yourselves. We contacted the author to talk more about his design process and history with forge. Please welcome the creator of 'Scavenger', Commander Colson.

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VIDEO FEATURE
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WARHOLIC: When did you first start forging and what was it about forge that got you so interested in it?

CommanderColson: I began forging in the late days of Halo 3 when I was a whee squeaker, around the same time I was turned onto the franchise. Forge however wasn't my first 'map editor' as I had already been building 'parks' in the Tony Hawk franchise for years. Designing locations to play within just seemed to come naturally. I loved the concept of creating worlds and being able to walk (or skate) around in them



WARHOLIC: How much experience do you have designing BTB maps and what was it that inspired you to create Scavenger?

CommanderColson: I'd been forging beautifully over scaled blood gulch like BTB maps since the early days of Reach just like the next forger, however it wasn't until H2A that I finally got serious about it thanks to the Meet Your Maker Squad Contest. Scavenger is actually based on a former H2A map design of mine named Bones (or more commonly known as 'Boned' due to my expertise at writing blunders). Taking the feed back I gained from Bones (loving comments like, "that was trash", "there's a hole in the map", and "lol, Colson your map got boned") I decided to really crack down and dissect what would make up a solid BTB map, with lots of vehicular interaction being tied into a web of interesting infantry routes. I actually forged an early version of Scavenger in H2A as a block out for 1-flag, however I considered it more of an experimental map that I'd always planned on finishing in H5.

WARHOLIC: What was the process you used to design your overall layout? Did you create a sketch or any blockout concepts before hand?

CommanderColson: I built a Blockout version of the map in both H2A and H5. The H5 version began as a carbon copy of the H2A design but was then further iterated in ways that I saw would fit H5's Spartan abilities. I am a firm believer in rough drafts, and boy did they come in handy, especially considering all the interconnectivity I'd thirsted on creating. I wanted to create a BTB map that was the furthest thing possible from my early blood gulch like designs.



WARHOLIC: Was there any specific map you referred to as a source of inspiration? Burial Mounds perhaps?

CommanderColson: Believe it or not, there was no other map inspiration that consciously aided in the design of Scavengers geometry. It was purely a case of me drawing from all I'd learned in the way of pathing player movement, and trying to apply it in the most random and interesting directions possible. Aesthetically however, I drew inspiration from Halo 2's 'Burial Mounds', Halo 4's 'Wreckage', and Killzone 3's 'Junkyard'. Other numerous inspirations came from a quick google search of 'Sci fi junkyard'.



WARHOLIC: You spent a great deal of time reforging this map. In your opinion what was your greatest obstacle or difficulty in completing this map?

CommanderColson: My self-doubt. I was quite happy with how they map seemed to be shaping up geometrically, however visually I always felt the map was lacking. I am a very aesthetic keen forger, so when I become fixated on a certain vision, anything less then that exact vision becomes a 'failure' in my eyes. The mental strain I put myself under when arting up this map was supremely unnecessary, but the map wouldn't have gotten to where it is now without it. While I am proud of what became of the final version visually, it is indeed far different from my original vision (basically much more grate like junk walls made up of super small pieces of garbage that would collectively create larger looking structures), which I now see would not be possible given H5's limitations (when compared to engines like Unity, or Unreal, that in no way is a jab at H5's forge, which is un doubtfully amazing).

WARHOLIC: Does this forge make the creation process easier or more difficult compared to previous forge systems?

CommanderColson: WORLDS easier. I wouldn't have even been able to have had a vision as ambitious as this if we were still using the tools of previous forge's. The ability to group objects together and duplicate them as a single piece is the real hero here.



WARHOLIC: Can you tell us about your next project? What should the community expect to see from you in the future?

CommanderColson: As much as I love BTB, it's time for me to dive back into the apocalypse. Infection has always been my foremost favorite game type, both to play and forge for, and I cannot wait for it to eventually make its way into Halo 5. As for active projects, I don't have anything necessarily in the works at the moment, besides a few infection ideas here and there. Now that Scavenger is finished, I should probably begin doing my homework again. I do however have a few ideas for future BTB's that could possibly see fruition upon further development, but that won't be for a while. I hope you all enjoy Scavenger! I cannot wait to see all the ways people break out and exploit the map! #freeolive2016

WARHOLIC: Well, we look forward to whatever you bring to the community next! Thank you for providing the community with this great map, and thank you for having this interview with us.

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