Customs Matchmaking - idea

Games Other Halo
1

This is just an idea I came up with that I’d love to see in Halo 4. If you like or have suggestions please comment and get a discussion going. If enough people would be interested and it shows somewhere, maybe the devs will take notice. So here it goes:

I’d like to see a matchmaking playlist dedicated to playing people’s custom forged maps. That’s a tough one, but I think with the proper implementation it could work well.

First off, there would be a few different playlists under the “Forge” category in multiplayer. They would be Competitive, Zombies, Misc. (or whatever other broad catagorization that could be used to cover most map types).

After a person selects their desired playlist, they’re prompted to either ‘Host’ or ‘Play’. If you host, you select your map, upload, and wait in a lobby for players. If you Play, matchmaking chooses a selection of Hosted lobbies for you to choose from. Some information will be displayed about the map you’re choosing, including a rating system. Something like stars. You can see how many people have rated the map and what the average rating is (1-5 stars, or something similar) The better rated your map is (average stars compared to number of votes) the more likely matchmaking will show your map as an option to choose from for players who are searching for a lobby.

So now you’re match made in a custom map with randoms. You finish your game and when you’re returned to the lobby a pop up prompt comes up and asks you to rate the map. It could also give you the option to comment so the creator can read and get feedback for improvement.

Initially of course, it would be difficult to get play time on your custom, but if it’s a great map eventually it will get great reviews and a lot of play time.

I also think it would be important to keep the playlist free of skill ratings or XP due to the nature of custom maps (many of them could be pretty crappy and warrant rage quit)

It seems a little complicated but with an intuitive interface I think it could be easy. I know there was more I had in mind as I was thinking about this the other day. I’ll add more if I think of it.

Please comment and discuss. Do you think it could work? Would you play in the Forge matchmaking? Any suggestions?

Thanks for reading

2

I just hope they pay attention to forged maps like Bungie did, so we can experience them in gameplay.

Playing custom maps and games in matchmaking would probably end up being a disaster.

3

Can you Give any ideas as to how it can be done without being a disaster? Do you think any of the points I made would help to make it work?

What exactly would cause the disaster and how could it be fixed?

I’m just saying, customs are better than any playlist and it would be awesome to get them in matchmaking.

4

> Can you Give any ideas as to how it can be done without being a disaster? Do you think any of the points I made would help to make it work?
>
> What exactly would cause the disaster and how could it be fixed?
>
> I’m just saying, customs are better than any playlist and it would be awesome to get them in matchmaking.

Easy.
Anyone who’s played a PC multiplayer title knows the solution.
When starting the custom game, you get options:
System link
Online Private (Friends)
Online Private (Invite)
Online Public (optionally password)

If you create a public game, information about the game will be sent to a server. Other players will be able to browse all the custom games available to them. They will be able to see the gametype, map, amount of players and host-submited description and also the ping.
And while we’re at it, Microsoft might finally let us make our own dedicated servers. I’d personally buy one if I could.

5

I like your idea. You should get some xp but no way should it be ranked.
Quitting should be acceptable because some people just make things in their favor that would be one disaster and I would most likely quit and I wouldn’t want any negative impact on my xp or rank like they put in to Reach from quitting.

6

You got exactly what I have in mind, only I was thinking how that could be implemented with the more traditional console style matchmaking along with a rating system.

Any ideas for that Garry?

7

> I like your idea. You should get some xp but no way should it be ranked.
> Quitting should be acceptable because some people just make things in their favor that would be one disaster and I would most likely quit and I wouldn’t want any negative impact on my xp or rank like they put in to Reach from quitting.

The thing about PC (I think) is that nobody really gives a damn about rank. I was a hardcore PC gamer since I was… 8 I believe - and I still carry some of the philosophy; For me, It’s all about the game and players and having a private dedicated server, simply made available only to people I want to play with and just that simply reversed back to public… That was the right idea. We play the maps we want to play, modes we like, have weapon distribution of our choice, server available 24/7, excellent ping for everyone in the locale.

8

> You got exactly what I have in mind, only I was thinking how that could be implemented with the more traditional console style matchmaking along with a rating system.
>
> Any ideas for that Garry?

Well there could be a certain range for the settings you can make.
I can’t really give a definition so I’ll give an example.

While setting damage and shields:
If you sate the damage in the range of X-Y, the game will be giving you XP/ will be Ranked)
Same goes for the shields.
Also, setting damage above 100% would reduce the amount of XP given for kills (Easier to get kills). Setting health above 100% would increase the amount of XP given for kills (Harder to get kills).
And so on. I’m not a developer, so I can’t bring anything more specific. Just giving youthe rough idea. This system would take weeks to design and months to tweak.
Such system would prevent people creating ridiculous games that make it easy to rank.

9

I care a little for my rank, only said what I said for those hardcore players.

10

It would be better to have a custom games browser like that other thread was about instead of matchmaking for custom games. A custom games browser at the main menu, with a tab for all games and a tab for friends games. If you host a custom game and leave it public, it would show up on the list for any players to find. If you make it friends only, it would only show up on the friends tab of people on your list. Or make it invite only or closed.

These are the essential details that should be listed about each game in the browser that you can view before you join the match:
-The hosts gamertag
-a connection indicator
-how many players are in the game
-whether it’s in the pre-game lobby or if it’s in progress
-The name of the game
-a description of the game
-a detailed list of the game settings, starting with the significant ones like game type and map, and breaking it down into all the minor settings.

To avoid cluttering the screen, it should highlight the more important things first, and if a certain lobby catches your interest you can view the description of the game and the settings and see if it’s what you’re looking for.

I like the idea of the rating system, but more to rate the person hosting the matches based on if they’re a good host and have fun games, not each individual map. Except I feel like people will just exploit it by having all their friends and extra accounts boost their rating up.

11

This is what I imagine a custom games browser looking like more or less:

Game___________|Host__________|Status_____|_#of_players_|_connection

Cat n Mouse_____|RELYTNING_____|in_progress_|11/12_players|***
Infection________|JeezyHeartsAGN_|in_lobby____|6/16_players_|****
Cops n Robbers__|Pack121________|in_progress_|13/16_players|**
<mark>Hide n Seek_____|Xeshin Godimus_|in_progress_|12/16_players|</mark>
Dodgeball______|Laughin Garry____|in_lobby___|3/8_players__|_*

You’d have a filter to narrow down the games you find by the gametypes and maps you want, player number, connection, status, etc. Then a list shows up like the one above with the basic information right there of each game. If you see one you’re interested in, you can select it and either join or view the description and details of the game.

12

I like the idea of the games browser. What’s the name of the other thread? Can you link to it?

13

> I like the idea of the games browser. What’s the name of the other thread? Can you link to it?

Yeah here’s the thread. Though the OP doesn’t touch on all the details the feature should have. I think I cover basically everything that should be included.

14

Thanks RELYTNING

I can’t express in words to 343 how much I need some kind of Customs MM.

Surely everyone can see how much replayability something like this would add to the game way down the road, right?

Just look at Starcraft 1… Custom maps still being played today.

15

So, what you’re saying is like Action Sack on Community maps, with no skill or exp gained?

Or are you promoting the option of an extra matchmaking feature, of randoms joining together to play custom maps?

The latter could be a disaster.
The only way I can see this working is the former, a greater emphasis on community maps. Of course, the maps would have to be reviewed and nominated and married with the appropriate gametype.

Because no one wants to join an hour long game of zero gravity sniper-hammers.

16

I like it just so I don’t have to play them.

Hate user created content.

17

> So, what you’re saying is like Action Sack on Community maps, with no skill or exp gained?
>
> Or are you promoting the option of an extra matchmaking feature, of randoms joining together to play custom maps?
>
> The latter could be a disaster.
> The only way I can see this working is the former, a greater emphasis on community maps. Of course, the maps would have to be reviewed and nominated and married with the appropriate gametype.
>
> Because no one wants to join an hour long game of zero gravity sniper-hammers.

With a proper map rating system, the absence of EXP or skill rating, and potentially even a complete customs browser, nobody would play ZG sniper-hammers if they didn’t want to.

Of course if you were in to that kind of thing, you could!

That’d be the beauty of customs MM. You’re not confined to the realm of maps/game types predetermined by 343.