Halo 4 Forge Idea Thread to end them all

A huge collection of forge ideas that I and the community have thought up that would greatly increase the experience of forge

ABILITIES


Undo button
Copy and Paste button
Expand button (allows you to make an object smaller or larger using a slider for height, width, and length)
Cutting (allows you to take certain pieces away from a block, like making a hole in a wall)
NO PROP LIMITS (budget can be limited, but props should be able to be used extensively)
Painting (ability to paint on an existing object or terrain. Can change colors, add camo effect, or show evidence of another person being there, like blood, bullet holes, etc)
Ghosting (This will be a tap of the right stick and will allow the forger to move through his map freely, as if he were a ghost. This would help forgers, for example, if they made a room with no exit and they wish to leave without moving objects)
Select All (Ability to select the entire map you’ve made, and in the words of Patrick Star, push it somewhere else)
Screenshot (Ability to take one picture, and this picture will be the thumbnail when people search for a map)
Custom Object Making (When forging, a player can choose to “glue” objects together. After gluing them, they will all move simultaneously. When finishing a custom built object it can be selected and saved to a separate category called “Custom Objects”. When exiting to the main menu, you can go through your custom objects and add them to your File Share. You can also download Custom Objects from other people’s File Shares.)
Despawning (Set an object to disappear after a time limit)
Small time-spawn for objects (Like .2 seconds)
Callout Zones (Small hill-like objects that provide a callout on the side of the screen like in matchmaking)
Variable Vehicle Options (Speed options and gravity options)
Trait Hill Zones (When stepped into, it will alter a player’s traits. It could be set to low gravity, or diminishes speed)
Timed Decay (can make a map grow worse as the map goes on, similar to Isolation)
Can make water swimmable
Temperature (Depending on temperature, things will act differently, like walls will collect ice or water will boil)
Top Down/Map View Function while in Forge Ball

VEHICLES


Drivable Pelicans
Drivable Phantoms
(if map is big enough) Drivable Scarabs
Ability to create vehicles (Put objects together using a “vehicle glue”, then add steering wheel and passenger seats and it will form a vehicle)
Civilian Vehicles (ie Buses, Motorcycles)
Forklifts. Nuff said.
Helicopter (Can be configured to allow only the pilot, turretmen, and other passengers. Can also configure turrets to be grenade launchers or regular turrets)
Boats
Elephants

TECHNICAL


Terrain Editing (Swap your time, 343. Instead of making a forge world, make a blank world and spend time of letting us utilize terrain and alter it in any way the forger pleases)
Switches and Buttons (Using colored wires, you can set up switches and buttons to toggle blocks to move, explode, disappear, etc etc)
Doors (Can be set to open with switches, melee, or even just walking into them)
Dispensers (Will randomly dispense a weapon if the forger has put weapons in it)
Colored Wire (see above)
Mirrors (ability to reflect players, objects, or both, it will make areas seem to go on forever, like for example a highway)
Water buckets (the weapon is a bucket, and you can release the bucket onto a surface where water will flow out. Allows you to use the empty bucket to absorb the water if misplaced. similar to minecraft. The bucket’s contents can also be selected, ranging from water to lava to acid to just about anything. The water will also have to be able to flow, so waterfalls can be made)
Windows (can be set to be unbreakable or breakable)
Barriers (not like kill zones, these will not allow a player to move past it)
Scenaric Props (these will be infinite, but will not have a collision box, they will be placed outside of player’s reach and its purpose will be to show what exact location you are at. An example would be placed a scenaric prop of a desert outside of your map. These will work with barriers)
Traps (can be activated from a push of a button to a pressure plate, these will activate a trap that the forger makes. for example, a forger can make a deadly neurotoxin air vent that will dispense deadly neurotoxin into the room once a victim steps on a pressure plate.
Keycards (Allows you to slide a keycard, once picked up anyway, into a keycard receptor that will do something like activate a dispenser or open a passageway)
Out of bound radios (These will be placed where a player cannot see them. The forger will input different noises into it, such as gun shots or screams, and they will play throughout the game time of the map, to add ambiance)
Alarms (If a player crosses a doorway which an alarm is resting over, the alarm will go off and blare loudly enough that the team will know who the intruder is. A forger can set the alarm to stop after 15 seconds or have to be manually stopped by a, for example, button)
Elevators
Ladders
Non Static Events (Ability to set an event to happen when a player crosses. For instance, you could set a car to crash into a wall when a player draws near, or rocks to tumble off a cliff when the player crosses)
Rubble (A bunch of trash and broken objects than can be set to be meleed to break apart, sometimes requiring even a gravity hammer)
Security Cameras (These cameras will not function unless there is an existing room that contains a matching screen. The camera can be disabled by a player by exploding it. The cameras and screens will function like teleporter channels. They will belong to the teams that they are set to)
Lights (These can be turned off and on by a switch, or chosen to remain lit)
Weather (Clear, Partly Cloudy, Cloudy, Slight Rain, Rainy, Heavy Rain, Storming, Light Snow, Snowy, Blizzard)
Time (Can be chosen to stay at a certain time of the day OR function on a cycle)
Complete Darkness (Can set the map to be completely black where only lights will give a source of light)
Skybox altering (Raising, lowering, and adding special effects to it, like a banshee/falcon fight)
New and forger friendly FXs
Music Orb (Allows you to input Halo music or music from your library, and can be set to how far the music goes and how loud. It would be optional in the player’s options to disable music in case they do not want to hear it)
Weapon Holders (See Halo 3)
Customized Signs (Can be a book, grafitti, a sign, etc)
Man Cannons with Fixed Landing Points

PROPS


Tiny props (food, bowls, etc)
Ruined Vehicles (Like a crashed pelican or destroyed warthog)
Fire
Ammo boxes (Can be set to be a prop or usable)
Trees
Bushes
Cacti
Desks
Computers
TVs
Couches
Chairs
Tables
Refrigerators
Bars
Wardrobes
Cabinets
Beds
Corpses
Cars
Lampposts
Traffic Barriers
Trash Can
Fire Hydrant
Stools
Chairs
Chandeliers
Torches
Training equipment (A dummy, etc

BASICALLY, any prop that you see in the real world. I know this is Halo 4 and it takes place in the future, but if you take a look at the many forge maps for Halo Reach, not a whole lot of them are based in the future but mostly everyone wants to make maps about existing places or current times)

(oh, and more lights!!)

Thanks for reading, and thank you 343i, good luck with Halo 4!

These are some good ideas.

> These are some good ideas.

Thank you! :smiley:

Tell me, which ones do you think are bad?

> > These are some good ideas.
>
> Thank you! :smiley:
>
> Tell me, which ones do you think are bad?

I was simply making a general statement. Let me correct myself. These are all good ideas.

> > > These are some good ideas.
> >
> > Thank you! :smiley:
> >
> > Tell me, which ones do you think are bad?
>
> I was simply making a general statement. Let me correct myself. These are all good ideas.

Oh ok, thank you!

Now all you need to do is collect the good ideas of the community, and you’ve got yourself the ultimate forge sticky mega thread.

Good ideas, btw.

So many possibilities for Halo 4 Forge.

I wish they all could be included, and then some.

> So many possibilities for Halo 4 Forge.
>
> I wish they all could be included, and then some.

Unfortunately you’re right, there are too many that can be including and well, they won’t be. I hope 343 will see this thread and take some ideas from this.

I had an amazing idea once which you should add: Custom Objects.

When forging, a player can choose to “glue” objects together. After gluing them, they will all move simultaneously. When finishing a custom built object it can be selected and saved to a separate category called “Custom Objects”. When exiting to the main menu, you can go through your custom objects and add them to your File Share. You can also download Custom Objects from other people’s File Shares.

If someone builds an amazing 1:1 forged Frigate in forge, and you want to use it in a map of yours, you can just download it! This feature will be very annoying without an undo-redo option, though.

Seems to extensive too me. A few I like, others seem very meh. I’d like too read the original threads from which these came, if you could link them to the main post, that would be nice.

Forklifts are not the best example of ‘civilian’ vehicles. It is a piece of industrial/commercial equipment used also by the military… A better example may be cars, bikes, busses, as they have a heavier civilian association.

Also, I’m sure object expansion would not be a button, but rather a slider or numerical percentage designator. I also feel that a paint feature would be mandated to abolish preskinned objects from becoming graphically distorted.

I do really like the thumbnail picture idea a lot.

I do really like the security camera idea a lot.

Drivable scarabs may be better in campaign, but not MP. The large vehicals would require humongous maps that are not well suited for 16 player max MP.

Key card, button, switch activated doors would also be amazing.

Overall a decent post OP. Hopefully 343 includes much of these ideas. Afterall we have been begging for all of this in post after post since before H3 released.

> I had an amazing idea once which you should add: Custom Objects.
>
> When forging, a player can choose to “glue” objects together. After gluing them, they will all move simultaneously. When finishing a custom built object it can be selected and saved to a separate category called “Custom Objects”. When exiting to the main menu, you can go through your custom objects and add them to your File Share. You can also download Custom Objects from other people’s File Shares.
>
> If someone builds an amazing 1:1 forged Frigate in forge, and you want to use it in a map of yours, you can just download it! This feature will be very annoying without an undo-redo option, though.

Done.

> Seems to extensive too me. A few I like, others seem very meh. I’d like too read the original threads from which these came, if you could link them to the main post, that would be nice.

None of these have been in a thread except the key card and dispenser which I made long ago. Everything else has been in several different websites and IRL, just asking people what they want.

> Forklifts are not the best example of ‘civilian’ vehicles. It is a piece of industrial/commercial equipment used also by the military… A better example may be cars, bikes, busses, as they have a heavier civilian association.
>
> Also, I’m sure object expansion would not be a button, but rather a slider or numerical percentage designator.

I will edit my post, thank you.

This post has been edited by a moderator. Please do not bump.

*Original post. Click at your own discretion.

Woah hold on, I can’t let this slip off the front page. 343 needs to see this!

Also the ability to change the skybox.

I think this is a great idea! A couple of the ideas would be very good with Machinima, while others would be great for multiplayer!

some awesome ideas here :smiley:

> Also the ability to change the skybox.

Like, raising it?

I have a mega list saved too. I will post it’s entirety in 2 posts.

Note: As a forger I think that Halo: Reach has a great forge.
I am trying to help you by making this list, so please help me add to it.
Here is everything I have come up with so far:

>Give us more scenery items along with the usual structure-only items. In Halo 3, we had things like turret cases and computers. While they were cool and all, we really don’t have that many scenery items. You need scenery to set up the environment of your map. All Forge World maps generally look the same and it’s getting old.

>Have an editor that lets you cut into any made piece. Could be called ‘sculptor’ or something.

>Despawn Time- Make an object disappear after a certain amount of time. Maybe it could simulate a doorway opening permanently, a wall getting blown away, anything.

> Under the “Natural” category in Forge World, it is filled with rocks. Tall rock, slanty rock, tiny rock, whatever kind of rock your heart desires. But what about something like trees/bushes? Think about it.

> Only two lights on that gigantic map? Come on. Really? We could use 4 in Halo 3.

> Special FX: The only ones I really use are Juicy and Next Gen, because the others just make it hard to play the game and hurt my eyes. I don’t see why anybody would want to use something like Nova besides taking pictures.

> What if, along with lighting effects, we could put an orb into the map that caused music to play in gameplay? Nothing like some good old epic Halo music to get your blood pumping in a match.

> Dead bodies. This idea has been tossed around a bit, but it would be cool. Especially for creepy infection maps.

> Pelican/Spirit/Phantom dropships. Maps like Forge World are definitely large enough to accomodate them. Also crashed versions of these ships for scenery purposes. Maybe even some Sabre/Longsword/Seraph wreckage. In fact wreckage for every vehicle.

> Ammo boxes. I miss them. I don’t like putting a gun on a map just so players can get ammo. It makes no sense. Give us rocket ammo boxes, .50 cal boxes, and whatever kinds of ammo boxes we may need.

> Shield doors/solid doors with switches, and gravity lifts with switches. To turn them off/open them. Switches could be seperate items, or could come with the door free.

> Breakable windows and objects. Stuff we can interact with.

> Weather FX. Great idea. We shoul be able to choose from night and day (free) anyway. But we should also be able to put on rain, lightning, and severe weather. Not talking about tornadoes and stuff but you get the point.

>Moving Pieces- platforms that move back and forth

>Smaller Time scale- So you would be able to make an object move every .1 seconds or something like that. It would then be easy to make something move in a fluid motion.

>Weapon Holders- Fixed weapons are no fun

>Water Levels- Place water to any level that you wish

>New FX- Something like CE graphics effect

>Skins- Every object should have skins to help differentiate
them and provide real scenery

>Custom Shield doors- Keep what you don’t want out

Post 2:
> Ability to place Callout Zones- Small hill-like objects that provide a callout on the side of the screen like in matchmaking.

>Ability to place soft walls- Instead of death barriers, these invisible walls prevent any player from going past.

>Every Thus-far featured weapon- Even if it is not in Halo 4

>Ability to place equipment from Halo 3

>Sound effects- ex. You go around a corner in infection and hear a flood scream

>Cameras- Allows the user to place cameras around the map and they will show live footage back on a screen somewhere else on a map

>Variable Vehicle Options- Speed options and gravity options for vehicles

>Super High Playspace- The ability to make a skyscraper would be nice

>Elevators- Making your skyscraper climbable would be nice

>Water Vehicles- A boat or two

>A space map- Comes with flyable spacecraft

>Tripwires- like buttons but don’t have to be pressed to be activated. These could be used to set a trap, spawn a vehicle, etc.

>Trait hill zones- Hill zone that alters a players traits. ex. a low gravity area or an area where movement is slowed by wind.

>Ability to plot a trajectory for large sky vehicles to land (like a planned and timed airdrop)

>Scripted Wildlife- Have a fish or bird fly/swim past you at a certain point

>Timed Decay- Similar to the H3 map isolation on which the scenery became “Floodier” over time

>Ability to place AI- Create a Forged Firefight Map

>Every piece should be destructible to an extent

>Ability to port maps from Halo:Reach or Halo 3

>Customized signs- Write your own message

>Place artificial Hazards- Like the train on Terminal

>Fire

>Cut and paste function- Take a part of one map and put it onto another

>Roadways and a tent

>Destructible Elephant

>Be able to swim/ no armor ability needed to use sprint.
I like the idea, but what if Sprint, Swim, and Jetpack were the only armor abilities? I think I would like that, and you might even be able to customize them to be default.

>I dont know if this is possible but it would be cool if it was, anyway there should be something called a vehicle zone. in the center of this zone, is a control terminal that can be changed to a certain type of vehicle controls like drivable or flyable. Any forge piece placed inside this zone will be treated like a vehicle and would be able to be driven. This way you can make your own cars or ships and you would be able to drive them via the control terminal.

>Temperature effects- Maybe it would be cool if you could alter the temperature on a map. Maybe if you had a low temperature then the water could freeze. Maybe with a high enough temperature metals would be more flexible. Who knows?

>A mirror option- this would be similar to a copy function. What if it were possible to select an area, copy it, and rotate it 90 degrees in order to make a quick symmetrical map? Much higher quality playspaces.

>PC capability- I think there should be a version of forge released for PC if anyone would be willing to pay a little extra to buy it. The PC would allow people to make more intricate maps and maybe even custom pieces. It would be even better if we could port these to the xbox for fun custom games.

>Paint tool- Self-explanatory. Be able to paint a unique design onto an object

>An undo/redo function. Fixes all of those mistakes that are really hard to fix.

>Temperature effects- Maybe it would be cool if you could alter the temperature on a map. Maybe if you had a low temperature then the water could freeze. Maybe with a high enough temperature metals would be more flexible. Who knows?

>Man cannons with fixed landing points that would always be the same

>Ladders- My favorite thing about Halo CE.

> I don’t know what to call it, but it would be simply amazing if you could be playing on a map of yours and have an option to see all of your other maps in the distance. I think that allusion would be a cool little easter egg that everyone could enjoy. This is kind of like how Forge World was originally supposed to be.

>Custom Lights- the ability to make a custom-colored light. I think it would also be cool if the light could be represented in different ways. Maybe spotlights or a strobe light would be cool. I think it could be great if there was the option to turn on electricity and then hit a switch to turn on the lights (like Black Ops)

>Preset (or custom) Skyboxes- Space, Red Sky, Black Hole, Urban, etc.

> Object material settings. I know this sounds supremely difficult, but what if you could have your block and make it look like sand/ice/dirt/metal/grass/wood/etc., and then be able to choose what physics the object follows. For example, what if you could have an ice block that had the physics of a trampoline? Or a block of grass that made all vehicles EMPd? I say yes

>More physics options- Like move under influence of explosion, Immovable, etc.