I've been watching your videos and have been enjoying the series. The topics are thoughtful and varied covering more philosophical and technical aspects of designing a map. While some have noted disagreement with your perspective on map design from a philosophical standpoint, your critique and commentary on the more technical aspects of map design are solid and rooted in identifiable examples. Out of your three videos so far I think your second one discussing verticality is the strongest in terms of presentation as the visual examples help the viewer to instil your concepts in their mind with a reference image. However, all the videos have some audio mixing issues and could stand to have more imagery directly related to the content being discussed. In your latest video it was nice to have shots of the H2A Lockout and its suggested changes as it helped me to visual what the video was discussing. More care placed into the visual aspects of your content would really help me as a viewer to better digest the material as random gameplay footage can be more of a distraction from the commentary, like in the third video when showing the Boarding Action gameplay which didn't relate to the conversation. What I appreciate about these videos is that they open up a discussion on the philosophical and technical aspects of map design allowing a starter point for the Forge community to talk about these topics knowledgeably. For me personally your videos, and those from ForgeHub, have given me inspiration when designing my own maps. For instance I was sketching out a design for a map yesterday and encountered a problem with a huge line of sight issue on a vertical scale. When I was problem solving I remembered back to your second episode and the discussion on angled surfaces which gave me an idea on how to fix the issue with minimal map re-working. Please continue to produce your own content and share it with the Forge community as it not only helps to spur lively discussion but give others ideas for their own creations. Also continue to read, respond, and adjust appropriately to feedback as you have been here and in the comment section of your videos as people have been offering really good advice that could help improve your content. Thanks for all the effort you put into the Forge and Halo community!
Wow. This post is awesome man, and I appreciate the critiques a lot. The sound mixing is something I'll keep working on, and I'm trying to find more and more applicable examples and diagrams to match my commentary with every video. This last episode probably had the most footage to coincide with my speaking, about 90% of the video were clips I captured or downloaded to match. Cursed lemons half was a little less interactive but that's more on him As for the video itself, episode 3 is easily my least favorite. I recorded when I was sick and stuffy and didn't do to many takes so the speaking is much worse than the first 2 episodes, not to mention the topic just doesn't interest me as much as verticality. But the next episode will probably be the best thanks for your comment man
As always, I'm loving these videos and hope you keep pumping them out. I liked that you brought on another forger. It would be interesting if you keep doing that, but with a different forger each time. I think it would be a nice way to bring in some different perspectives while still giving your own.
I second this. And also, I can imagine that for every 1 person that hates your video, there are as many as 5-10 that enjoyed the video and/or have been influenced for the good after watching it. Always stay positive. Your ability to present the content is only helping you as well.
Decent episode. I wouldnt mind helping out with a new lockout, not sure if the proposed change alleviate the problems of the map though. Also, if your video goes 15-20 minutes, ditch the background music. Just gets annoying after a while.
I actually watched both segments separately so the background music wasn't too bad for me. Multi I honestly think these are the best map design videos that have been put forth by the Halo community. Congratz on that. I'm sick of seeing very specific Halo videos about "how to make a good infection map" or "how to forge a building". The series touches on theoretical concepts without shoving it down anybody's throat. It enforces more of an open mind approach of "hey these are things to consider" rather than "do these things now". Keep up the great work man! Also, LOVED seeing Ravinia... twas a fun map to work on. And part of me really wants to prototype that Lockout.
I'm gonna watch these, as I am getting more interested in creating good arena maps, rather than pet projects that just sort of seem interesting to me.
Glad to see you're making videos again. I had to do some digging but I found an old design that follows the 1-3, 2-4 design style. There's a couple reasons this never came to be though. 1, halo 4s forge wasn't good enough to build something this complex. 2, a little too large and too much segmentation and 3, not sure the segmented areas would be much more fun to play in than something like rat race, even though that was my inspiration; as well as narrows and epitaph... Haha Maybe I'll revisit this philosophy as the core layout for another project in the future but for now, I'll keep just using it in small amounts throughout my levels.
You seriously have no idea how annoying it is ahaha and then finding tac msgs everywhere is the cherry on top