Map Masters

That's a lot of questions. Although I'm not the most well known forger, and despite what my friends say I'm no master by any means, but I've been forging for a long time, ever since Halo 3 came out with Foundry, and I picked up quite a few tid bits in all my experimenting, so I'll answer these with my own philosophy and views, not everyone will agree but hey, that's just how the world is.

Question one: What does a great map need?
There's no real set in stone requirement that specifically states the exact things a map needs to be great, considering Halo's forge goes along well with custom games, a great map could mean many things. a super simplistic map that's highly blocky can turn out to have amazing gameplay, while an aesthetically pleasing map could not even be set up for any game types at all, but both in their own right would be great. The blocky map demonstrates good grasp of gameplay while the aesthetic one show's a good grasp of art direction. It really depends greatly on what purpose you're trying to accomplish.

So I guess a short answer could be that a great map needs to accomplish the goal it was created for. however The ideal of a great map is still a vague concept left for interpretation from the audience that play's/looks at. A remake could be considered great because it gives the player the feeling of being on that map again, but someone else may not like it as much if it's not scaled correctly or doesn't play as well as the original.

Question two: How do we take great ideas and make great maps with them?
Trial and error. Lots of trial and error. You may have a great idea but your first attempt at realizing it may end up not playing well or being disappointing. However that doesn't mean the idea should be debunked or given up on.

Your first attempt will receive a lot of feedback whether its from your own observations or from someone else. Even if it's mostly negative feedback, it's still important to accept it as much as you would accept positive feedback. It'll help you see what could be improved, what doesn't or does work and work from there. Even if you have to rebuild the entire map all over again, as long as you take what you learned from each attempt and apply it to the next, you'll eventually have a great map around your own idea.

My own view on feedback is I want anything other then "It's awesome" or something like that. I appreciate you like it and I'll say thank you, but that doesn't give me much on how to overall improve the experience on the map. Hell if they want to rip my map to shreds I'd prefer that, because it gives me something to consider and even perhaps allow me to something I've overlooked.

Question three: Who are some notable forgers?
Every forger is a notable forger... not the answer you were looking for? There's lots and lots of forger's, some may not be as well known as other's but it doesn't quite mean they're not as good. There're some real hidden gems in this community, whether they're notable or not should be up to you.

That being said, a few notable forger's well revered in the halo community would be Ducain23, A 3 Legged Goat, a Chunk (do I get brownie points now?), Psychoduck, NOKYARD, no god anywhere, and Pokephile(Sean of Forge Labs), I remember GodlyPerfection back in the Halo reach sceen personally, I helped break out of his maps quite a bit.

By no means is that a definitive list, and there's a lot more well known forger's then that. You can look up the members section of ForgeHub just to get an idea of how many there are. Plus new one's pop up everyday. One day even I'll be notable for being that weird ODST obsessed guy that made Crater from Halo 3 ODST way to many times in all the halo's. Halo 5 was the stopping point, its all windward from here on out

Question Four: Where can we pull inspiration from?
Anywhere. Literally anywhere. You like Lord of the rings? . You like Dark Souls? . Do you like Halo 3 ODST? , , (can you tell I like ODST yet?)

But seriously, Take inspiration from anything. Even your own interests can be inspiration for a map. I'm making a BTB map right now based on my favorite Halo 3 level The Ark.

Question Five: When do you know if the map is finished?
Maps are never finished, just highly polished to the point that you're sick of looking at it's god forsaken frustrating appearance after the Millionth time of loading it up to move a single object an inch just so people can walk through the vent without custom's preventing people...

Where was I? ah yes, A map will never be "Finished" even when you think it is, someone may end up breaking your map again and you'll have to figure out how to fix it. When you're done working on it would be the correct answer to that I believe. Personally its when I'm satisfied with how it looks, feels, and plays is when I consider a map to be finished, but I know there'll be something to come along that'll require me to fix it.

Question Six: Why is it so important to study other halo maps?
Because it's an example of a professional's work with design, structure, and gameplay implementation. It's generally a good Idea to study maps from any game really. There's plenty to learn from them whether it's architecture, to clever ideas on how to manipulate player flow, to just finding something to inspire your next creation. Other Halo maps also provide examples of how to set up certain game types, like the length of a grifball court, or the proper settings to a game object's labels. Or even how to script a certain feature. Other maps are prime examples to learn basic to advanced techniques in level design. Even the worst of maps may hold some valuable information that could improve your own work.

Everyone can feel free to disagree with anything I typed, this is my own views on the matter.

 

To answer the last question, I'd rephrase it: Why is it so important to study other maps?

Because the best way to learn, is to see what those who have more experience than us have produced. To ask ourselves the basic questions we encounter during our own designs, and to see how these more experienced designers have answered those questions themselves.

I'd recommend that you don't limit yourself to the library of this series to seek inspiration. There's plenty out there, and the more you're versed in general map design, the more potential answers you'll have for those questions.

 

I would suggest adding other forgers and interacting with them as much as possible. I would totally link the "post your gamertag" thread, but I couldn't find it. Also, this is always helpful http://www.forgehub.com/threads/forge-fundamentals.147829/

 

Here's the gamertag thread - http://www.forgehub.com/threads/gamertags-for-forge-customs-testing-custom-lobbies-list.148028/

Here's enough reading material to keep you busy for a week - http://www.forgehub.com/threads/forge-guides-resources.148358/