Bullshit Forge Excuses

I hear this all the time and it completely boggles my mind.

"I don't know how to Forge."
Bullshit. Forge is a tool. To use a tool, you acquire skill. To acquire skill, you learn mechanics. You become familiar with the way to tool works and you acquire experience from using it repeatedly over period of time. If you develop efficient and effective habits (the most important part), your skill will improve and eventually be perfected until you are a master of that tool. There are tutorials everywhere and advice is never more than a question away.

"I don't have time to learn. I don't even have time to explain why I don't have time to learn."
Bullshit. This excuse tends to come from people who happen to have ample amount of free time on their hands, but that's beside the point. The bottom line is that you're lazy. You don't want to use the time that you do have to learn and practice. You'd rather do something else or complain about not being good enough to do it.



"I'm not that creative or artistic."
Bullshit. Everyone has the capacity to be creative, but not everyone is able to express their creativity. However, there are ways to explore your creativity by asking simple questions. For example, ask yourself what kind of emotion or mood you want your Forge map to convey, and research the kinds of shapes, colors, and patterns that illustrate that mood. That is the first step towards using Forge to express yourself.

"I don't have any cool ideas."
Bullshit. Go put on a movie. Play a different game. Take a walk around town. Boot up Google Images, ArtStation, DeviantArt, Pinterest or whatever image search you're familiar with and ping random terms. Ask someone to throw an idea at you. There is inspiration everywhere. As far as Forge is concerned, you have to manage your ambitions with what the tool is capable of. Nevertheless, any one of these methods are proven springboards for inspiring map layouts and themes.

"I'm just not good at Forge."
HORSESHIT! Not good at layouts? Study them. Figure out what makes maps work and what doesn't; observe the way players move the way that they do. Not good at playing the game? Ask players that are. Find out what behaviors players are prone to exhibiting and in what scenarios they are likely to arise. Watch gameplay footage. Learn the game. Not good at kitbashing pieces? Pick up a book on patterns. Study shapes and how they interlock together. Throw down every object in Forge and try to recreate an image with as few of them as possible. All of this information is public domain. Knowledge is out there for those who seek it.

"I want to make maps but I don't enjoy Forging and I have no motivation to."
That's cool. If the grunt work isn't appealing, then there's nothing that can be done. So you can sit there and watch everyone else make cool things while you lament the fact that you can't snap blocks together to at least make something decent, you piece of ****.

As for me? I'm going to take some of this advice and stop bitching. No, Forge is not going to transcribe the exact image in your head onto the canvas, but it's a tool - a very powerful tool at that - and a tool is what you make of it.

/psa
/rant