Does anyone have any forging tips for the community?
I am currently working on one map and testing out a concept for another (which nearly broke forge), and am wondering if anyone has any tips for people like me who are interested in getting better at forge.
I have experience with editors in other games, so I can throw a couple tips out there.
- Don’t stop halfway through a project. I do this all the time in other games, and that is why I never get anything done. It is demoralizing to never get anything done. - Get an idea and stick with it. - Build the basic outline before you start adding details. - Playtest a lot, but don’t spend all your time playtesting.
By all means, stress the details. The difference between a sweet map that looks nice and a garbo map that looks like dook is the attention to detail. You can tell when something is a labor of love and when something is the product of idle thought.
> 2533274881560701;3:
> - Include some creative height variation and interaction between different levels of height.
> - Make sure to remember the scale of a Spartan relative to the area you are making. A height of ~24 units is about enough for Spartans to jump at full height and clamber.
> - Include a variety of engagement distances.
> - Use lighting creatively and include sources of light when possible, not just an invisible light with no source. Also note that when a light is set to ‘Dynamic=off’ that it will cast shadows, and if the light is set to ‘spot’ (not point) these Shadows will render on Spartan if the Spartan walks into the shadow where the light is occluded by something else (making the Spartan darker/shaded).
> - Dynamic lights are good for moving lights and lights that are small and/or animated with flickering,etc. However, they disappear at a distance.
> - Watch the Foliage as Trees and grass in excess can REALLY bog down performance fast if not used sparingly. Try not to let too much foliage be in line of sight at a given point.
> - Your lightmap budget will probably exceed 100%. The effects this causes are debated, with potential glitches, or nothing could happen at all.
Going off of the lighting section…
Simply adding a subtle Candlelight or Bug Zapper animation can make a world of difference to your ambiance. Even better, however, is the use of the color beige for your lights. White looks washed out and boring, and can make distracting specular highlights. Using beige, or a similar light color, can make a world of difference.
Go absolutely wild. There are few limitations in Halo 5 Forge, and you can find a solution to everything (especially scripting and puzzle making) with some preplanning and thinking. Don’t be afraid to take a pen and paper to get things just right.
For example… if you want to make a map around a mountain- build that mountain. You have the tools to do it, and make it look fantastic at that.