A Halo Reach Forging Mentor

Actually, a good place to start is to just check out all the work that get filtered through the system. Take a look at everyone's maps, and even take a minute to look at architectural designs in the real world. Everything is a source of inspiration, you just kind of have to tune yourself in.

Sometimes I do forge sessions that are just for testing. I'll just start building random stuff with no particular aim while also incorporating aesthetic touches and spawning random objects just to see if they fit well together. Sessions like that are a great source of inspiration for me and some of them have even turned into fullblown competitive maps.

However, all maps need to be balanced between not only how aesthetically pleasing they are, but also how well they play in general. All things must be considered while creating a map.

 

Like n3rdness said, just test everything out and post it in the Testers Guild, then listen to their suggestions and start testing again, when you think the map is good enough, post and and I'm sure you'll get some helpful tips that will help you to improve your forging.
A single forge mentor may not the best solution, learning from several people is always better, because if you only listen to me for example, you only know the stuff I know and what I think may be the best way to forge something.

 

I agree with n3rdness. For what you are asking for, I myself look through all the maps posted here and pick out the ones that look like they have some nice aesthetics, then look at them in more detail. I got an idea from one map last night on how to finish a problematic area on my latest map.

 

Mrgreen knows his stuff, but you can't forget to balance out working through things on your own. Otherwise, you risk ending up with a map that doesn't have its own identity but rather one derived from several others. I see that a LOT around FH, and its definitely one of the main reasons i've been on such a negative posting spree lately lol Also, remember that there's a huge difference between "inspired" by someones map and "stealing" things directly and hoping nobody notices.

 

Don't take this the wrong way, I am not trying to bash your quote. I would like to make a point that it raises in my mind.

The only way you can claim someone is stealing is if they say they made a map when they didn't do most of the work. There are a lot of great ideas out there and you can use them on your own map and then make small changes. I am so disappointed when people say things like, "stealing ideas". The whole point of sharing what you do is to increase other peoples' levels of ideas so they can then take it to the next level and share back with everyone themselves.

My case was on a map where I was using lots of coliseum walls for flooring, there are a lot of open spaces. People playing on my map kept telling me that they felt it was too open. I needed a way to maintain cohesion and aesthetics, while filling in voids in specific areas of the maps - to clutter open areas without them seeing intentionally cluttered with cover. I found an example of an architecture I was able to base my solution on. I began with the same blocks, but as I worked on it, it became unique. but even if that one section was identical, it would be a replication of 2% of someone else's map.

I guess what bothers me the most about people concerned about others stealing their concepts or ideas is that they really don't have a monopoly on anything they do with Forge. Otherwise, we can go through a check list of "who created what" as off limits to any new maps and then you would have a situation where no one could forge anything decent for fear of being labeled a thief. That logical end is what escapes some people and the fact that it escapes people bothers me a lot.

 

I didn't really mean that no one could ever use similar ideas. I was just making the point of how much more important it is to try to come up with your own cool ideas rather than mashing together a collection of everyone elses. It helps breed more interesting and unique maps.

My own Dead Streets is a great example. I was inspired to experiment with braces as floor pieces after playing Saddos' "Oblivion." I used them in a similar way, but didn't directly steal his architecture or layout. Now, if I had just placed the center bridge of his map in mine... that's a different story altogether and the kind of thing I was warning the OP about.

 

I suspect to understand the level of replication you refer to here, I am going to have to look at his map and then yours also to see why you feel the center bridge alone would be too significant to replicate identically.