Spoiler: For those of us that were here 10 years ago.

GG

10 years is a long time... Congrats! ...and thanks for being a key part of the Halo Community for so long. Well Done!

I haven't been around too long, but I feel like this is the best community in gaming today.
I learned about Halo when I was a kid, but never had an xBox to play it on. I always got killed
whenever I tried it because I was always on a friend's machine and had no time to practice for myself haha.

Spoiler: Keep Reading

Later on, I was at a friend's place and they had Halo Reach, so we tried the campaign, a few matches of arena, etc.
But at the moment they introduced me to Forge mode, I was hooked. I never knew there was a map making machine within a console game. That was the biggest surprise for me in years.

Halo 5 was on TV for a few commercials near the time I was introduced to Reach, so I skipped Halo 4's Forge and stuff, but I heard it wasn't that much different from Reach's anyway. So I went out and bought my first xBox. The xBox One. (lol)

I was even more surprised than I've ever been when I popped the disc in, I didn't expect all the new changes to Forge Mode and I almost lost my eyes as they shot out of my head to see Forge better.

My first real map was a bust, a Mantis arena type game (very similar to the action sack mantis arena actually) but mine was a test and I didn't know what I was really doing with forge at the time. So I scrapped it. I'm glad that mantis arena became a thing later on though!

As I was building maps, I made a map called "The Playground" and it was fun for me to play on it for kicks and giggles. I like weird playspaces like that, so I wanted to bring something like that to halo via forge. Once I finished the map, I decided to play some arena to get players to play my map. It was fun and it made me happy to hear that people liked my work! I was told to show it to a YouTuber who can showcase it, so I tried contacting a guy named "SexyPapaSmurf" who is now "Tech Fox" on YouTube. He liked it too and wanted to make a video about it. It was also seen by "Game Guide" and featured on his channel as well..... That kicked off my "career" as a Forger.

I made more maps that people liked after that and have been enjoying the attention the maps have received. I have used ForgeHub ever since my first debut haha I owe it to them because it's how the community can check out what forgers are doing. That is amazing to me.

I've been featured on a lot of big channels like ForgeLabs and iSpiteful, Brusky0086 and other map feature channels.. I don't know where my luck is coming from.

Brusky invited me to join iForge, a spartan company that focuses on Forge Mode. They are the 2nd biggest forge company next to Creative Force. (most forge maps in matchmaking)

The most intense moment for me, was waking up one day and Unyshek asked me on xbox if he could check out my "Snowball Fight" map to see what it's about. He came back to tell me it's going into matchmaking under the Action Sack playlist........................ I was shocked to the spine to know that my map was now officially apart of Halo 5.... I still can't believe it.

But I had another surprise too.

Halo 5 didn't have race mode when it launched. But when they launched the race update, they added my race map "Jungle Rush" to Action Sack as well!! O_O

I got my Olive helmet and have cherished it ever since.

I am glad I checked out Forge Mode on Reach because it is something I never knew I loved so much.
Helping the forge community is something that makes me happiest, because I love making maps for the community too. If I can help anyone in need, I'll give them a hand. I got good with scripting and building by trying many many many things out on my own. iForge inspired me to keep building, and I have been grateful to be a member of theirs. I feel like it's my other family, a place to call home when I get into the halo universe.

I hope ForgeHub never goes away, because it's creating a connection that the community needs.
It's the hub of all things forge, an epic place to be.

I joined ForgeHub in April of 2016, I remember thinking I was a hotshot because I figured out how to make a door open and close in Forge.
Some of my favorite moments have been contained in @Max Extra's lobby.
Max's commentary was the best, whether it's the passive aggressive comments, or calming everyone down when everyone started screeching: "THE FRAMERATE", they were all good times.

Happy 10 years boys. I'll never leave this site, mainly because it's a nostalgia factory and brings me back to a simpler time in my life. I joined in 2010 but was a lurker in '09.

Halo was always my passion since second grade in 2002. I never had xbox live until eighth grade and a year later I found this wonderful place. Forgehub sparked a new hobby for me after seeing all this creativity in manipulating things into works of art with such a limited tool. Once I finally signed on, I was greeted by a welcoming crowd who have helped me grow as a forger. I can call a lot of you guys good friends of mine and that's pretty rad.

My favorite moments are late night brainstorm sessions with a good forging partner. Got some **** done, man. My most triumphant moment is when I finally got Architect. I wanted that green text so bad. But now it's gone (srsly wth).

Thanks for the memories, and here's to many more.

Well I met Multi, given, martian, and kurismic on this website. It's been pretty fun so far.

Well...damnit! You had to go and put one of my maps in the article didn't you. Now I have no choice but to reply, lol.

The overriding sentiment surrounding my personal involvement with Forgehub has been 'resurrection'.

I first found Forgehub in the Halo 3 era. It was honestly of very little interest to me initially. The site was primarily focused on making cool stuff. As an avid fan of competitive Halo, it just wasn't the kind of content I was interested in. I was greatly enamored with the level design aspect, which got relatively little attention here. Plus, I didn't have the time or the patience to work with Halo 3's forge. I had a great interest in it, but never actually used it to make anything. I stopped in from time to time to check out the competitive maps, but never bothered to make an account until several years later.

When Reach came around, with it's far more accessible forge, I finally got into the forge game. I spent a good solid year just learning what I considered to be the basics, maneuvering pieces around, experimenting with vertical and horizontal scaling to learn how different distances impacted gameplay, and I spent hundreds and hundreds of hours looking at other peoples work. This is where I really started to become involved in the community, and Forgehub wasn't my primary outlet at that time, but it became a place that I visited fairly regularly in my efforts to find maps that I was interested in studying. I became very active at some other sites, and began building relationships with other forgers. It's hard for me to talk about myself, but it seemed like I gained the respect of some other forgers because of my ability to give helpful and critical feedback in a constructive and non-threatening manner. My many hours of self-education began shining through, and I was able to offer suggestions to others that often helped them improve the maps they were working on, AND their overall design skill and knowledge.

The reputation I built eventually put me in a position to join the staff here at Forgehub. For reasons that I don't know or care to speculate about, the site was sold. The new owner happened to be someone who was familiar with me, and recognized the fact that I cared about the community, and was always trying to be a positive force within it. I was offered a place on the staff, which I ultimately accepted. I came on initially as a moderator, and that was honestly all I ever really cared to do.

Things degraded, due primarily to the declining interest in Halo and Forge, but also partially because things had changed dramatically in the staff and it was rubbing some longstanding members the wrong way. Near the end, before the site had closed down, I was one of the only active staff members remaining, and had started taking on a lot more than moderation. It's always been true of me that when I commit to something, I'm truly committed to it. I wasn't the most capable person, but I had joined the staff because I recognized that the forge community was in a fractured state (or at the very least had become severely segregated). I wanted the forge community to have one true home, and I wanted to be a part of that community. Giving up on it was never something I considered, so I sucked it up and started taking on writing and administrative duties as well. Eventually, the owner decided it was no longer worthwhile to keep the site active, and it was closed down.....only to be revived again when the current owner took over.

At this point, I think I was probably a logical person to have on board. I had a lot of experience doing a wide variety of things, and was well regarded in the community (I think). In addition, I once again happened to have an established relationship with the new owner. This time, things were different. It was obvious that everyone was in it for the long haul, and had the mutual goal of making Forgehub the home of the entire forge community. We had some really tough times, not gonna lie. There were stretches of time where I felt like I was wasting my time, fighting a battle that couldn't be won. At this point, it wasn't really a failing on the part of the site. The forge scene had simply died out completely. Halo 4, and then H2A, were seen as sideways steps for forge at best, and in many ways were a step backwards. For some reason, we just kept plugging away, day after day, not knowing what the future would bring for Forgehub, but not willing to give up.

Enter Halo 5. A new forge emerges. Forgehub is back.
It's a testament to the fact that the quality of the game, and the tools available within it, is the biggest factor in determining the success of a site that relies on that game. It's also a testament to the fact that there was a solid foundation in place within the site itself. I'm thinking of that scene from Field of Dreams..."If you build it, they will come". This isn't exactly true in the case of Forgehub. It's more like "If they come, you better have it built for them", and I guess we at least met that baseline requirement.

Forgehub may never return to the activity level it saw in Halo 3, where it sort of caught lightning in a bottle. But for me, it's a testament to the dedication of forgers and the forge community that a site entirely dedicated to building custom levels in an FPS game has survived through 5 different iterations of forge, and is poised to continue going strong for the foreseeable future.

I feel so grateful to have had the opportunity to act as a sort of steward for the site when it was at its lowest, and then to to see it be resurrected again, and become what it was always meant to be... The home of Forge and the Forge Community.

This site and all the members that have played a part in making it what it is will always be special to me. It's kind of crazy to me to think that this time in my life, with this website and community, will be something I reminisce about in my golden years. But as I sit here typing this now, I know that's true. It's been a large part of my life for a very long time, and it's brought me more joy than I can possibly express.

Congratulations on 10 wild and crazy years Forgehub!

Dude, I forgot about Far Cry Hub! Hahaha. Also, side note, I thought about you while rebuilding Redeemer a few months ago because of how you camped in one location through the entire testing process of the original. Lol

Jeeze - I played with lots of people from the Halo Community (including Forgehub), Halo3Mythbusters, Real7alk, etc. Lots of good memories. I loved the old caption the screenshot competitions.

TGIFs Fridays
Not the restaurant, the event we staff used to host back in 2011s.
The old people here would remember. We also maintained a log with all events and funny quotes of the night the day after. I met lots of cool online friends here. Miss that **** so much in my life, those memories are so nostalgic.

Forgers Guild also was a big thing.

BIOC was also funded here, I still remember a huge PM @REMkings sent me explaining his idea of an infection based community, in which it was a honor to be one of the founders.

This site will always have a profound impact over my childhood memories.

Hey man, don't hate the player.

I actually remember those games though. I remember that you were quite picky about who you had in your testing sessions, I was pleased to be one of them. Whether you regretted that invite was another matter altogether

you guys were a formative part of my teenage years <3

This is possibly the only community that I still return to, despite not playing Halo now in about 3 years.
I couldn't specifically state a fondest memory, since there's quite a lot. I'm still in contact with a couple of people I met on here, and talk to them almost daily (not even through games, just whatsapp).
Some of the best bits were probably working the Tester's Guild and Review Hub and participating in Forge Hub Favourites as it meant I got to build lobbies and enjoy content people were creating for a reason other than just "come play!", and those moments in turn created many enjoyable and hilarious nights.

Oh, and learning to Ghost Merge was probably the biggest thing since sliced bread!

(Also I know this post is a good few months old now, but I haven't been back for a good browse in a couple of months)

Due to me only looking at the WAYWO now a days, I totally missed this thread. Such a shame.

Lots and lots of time spent on this site even though I haven’t been a solid forger for a long time. H3 and Reach were definitely my most active times but here I am so many years later still lurking almost daily. Lots of these older members posting in this thread I remember. I was quiet and didn’t talk with them much but I did put out a butt load of maps back then and got a lot of features. H3 was for sure the most fun and there were sooooo many active members back then.

I take back what I said, I hate it here