HALVALLA
By no god anywhere

view original map thread​

The Forge community has been reliably quick to recreate some of our favorite Halo maps and today we get to break ground once again on one of our favorite Big Team Battle maps from Halo 3, Valhalla. To recreate this map, its author began a meticulous process of measuring out his terrain in grid like fashion as if the map was an archaeological excavation. The results of this fine calibration leaves us with a perfect scale of our beloved battle ground. The map supports 16 players and is recognizably equipped to match the original vehicle and weapon layout. In a desperate attempt to twist our minds, the map has been renamed HALVALLA and you can find it in the file share of “no god anywhere”. This forger has also done an incredible job recreating other classic Halo 3 maps such as Construct (Contract) and Citadel (High Citadel), so make sure to check those out as well. Please join us as we sit down with the author of Halvalla, no god anywhere, for an inside look at his forging history and passion for creating levels.



WARHOLIC
How long have you been a fan of Halo and have you forged in any previous halo games?

no god anywhere
I started playing Combat Evolved the first Christmas after it was released. My true obsession for halo began with halo 3 about a year after It came out. I played a 1v1 on Valhalla to 100 with my friend after school and instantly thought, "I want an xbox 360 and Halo 3, NOW!"

I did a lot of object phasing in halo 3 but mostly br warmup maps, nothing serious. I made a few maps on reach and halo 4 each, but never really cared to share them. Making maps is fun, and that's all I needed.

WARHOLIC
What attracted you to remake this collection of maps and were you afraid that any of these may not have been possible to complete?

no god anywhere

I chose Construct because it never gets much attention and was a hard remake previously. It's also one of my favorites and the first map I got a 50 on.


I chose Citadel because it hadn't been made yet, was one of my favorites and looked way difficult. I also wanted to try using cooler pieces than just primitives like contract is.

I chose Valhalla because I wanted to avoid all the light glitches I was getting before(turns out this was the worse for lighting) and wanted to try terrain this time around. I personally don't enjoy anything above 4v4 so this one wasn't for me. This was for the community.

I knew Valhalla would be possible thanks to WyvernZu's frontiering with sandtrap, so credit to her for that. Valhalla really isn't the same though. It has steep and short terrain changes mixed with rocks rather than large sweeping hills. It also has the huge walls and shadows that made all my pieces look bad. Halvalla was a real test of skill and I'm happy to have completed it. All it takes is budget balancing, and you can find a way to build anything!



WARHOLIC
Your current roster of remake maps have each been stellar. Do you have any previous experience using level editing tools? Professional or otherwise?

no god anywhere
I don't actually. I've always just stuck to console games outside of Minecraft and MMORPGs so i've never really come across an instance where i could dive into anything other than forge. Halos forge is the perfect little niche for me and i don't think i would find interest anywhere else. I'm open minded on the matter though. I would definitely like to try something else out one day.

WARHOLIC
Can you tell us a little more about yourself? How old are you, where are you from and what do you are you professional passions aiming towards?

no god anywhere
Weird wording. haha. I'm 24 and i'm from everywhere. Ive lived in Texas, South Carolina, Georgia and now SLC Utah. Utah sucks by the way, don't ever come here. I wouldn't necessarily say i have any professional passions in the sense of something that a career could be made out of. I play acoustic guitar and enjoy gaming but i would never want to dilute those passions by making it a daily burden, if that makes sense.



WARHOLIC
Do you have any favorite forge maps that inspire you to create great work?

no god anywhere
Ive mostly only played forge maps in matchmaking up until recently. Otherwise I really get my rocks off to architectural and aesthetically themed maps. Two awesome examples of this recently would be Shurima from Demption, and Trestles(WIP) from Zombievillan. I could only hope to make something of original quality like them.

WARHOLIC
Now that you've covered some incredible ground and made 3 fantastic remake maps, what are your plans for the future? Will we see more remakes or will you attempt to create an original design of your own?

no god anywhere
I like to fill in the blanks where the community hasn't done awesome work already. There have been a lot of great remakes that may not necessarily be perfect but i don't want to overshadow their work. Ive currently got an eye on another halo 3 map but its quite intimidating.

I'm a little scared to release an original as i've set high standards for myself within the community and i'm not particularly creative but Ive nearly finished a dynamic 2v2 map that allows a new strategy to the more competitive players. It has two rotating phases in which the map changes that pushes an interest in capturing during one and gaining control in the other, rather than an all out continuous struggle for captures. It of course doesn't hinder standard gameplay for those who would like to play that way. I believe dynamic maps is the true future and potential of original creations, not just great easthetics.

WARHOLIC
If you had to create a map that isn't a remake but is loosely based on a previously existing Halo map, which map would you choose? Have you ever thought of completely overhauling a design to suite Halo 5's movement mechanics rather than producing a 1:1 scale?

no god anywhere
I definitely have. 'Inspired by' is thrown out a lot and is uninteresting to me as we can create absolutely anything we can imagine but is also a great way to create familiarity, which is a human instinct to gravitate towards. The pit is definitely my all time favorite and it would be my choice if anything. Id also like to transfer my map from halo 4 that is loosely 'inspired by' a few maps.

WARHOLIC
What is it about Halo 5's forge that gravitated you to create where others such as Halo 4 forge did not? Was it because of the expanded tools or timing in your life?

no god anywhere
You hit that pretty spot on. The expanded tools make the process much more in depth and you can really lose yourself in them rather than getting bored quickly. I also just recently got engaged and quit a well paying job to go back to college full time. Classes haven't started yet and i've been living the dream up until then. Gaming all day with a gorgeous 10 to come home to me every night.



WARHOLIC
Out of all of the remake maps you've completed, which one was the most challenging for you and which one are you most proud of?

no god anywhere
Out of ALL my remakes? Firing Range of COD: Black Ops on Halo 4 was the hardest because you guys know i go into detail, and halo 4 forge didn't have it at all. Haha. From halo 5 though, Halvalla was the hardest because its not so easy to match terrain and the light budgeting was a *****. I'm most proud of Contract though as it is technically my first released map and the overwhelming feedback i got from it was truly humbling and inspiring to keep going.

WARHOLIC
Thanks again for taking the time to share your passion for forge with us here. We're all looking forward to your future projects, so keep them coming!