Realistically speaking, Halo 4ge is probably way deep into development, so most of our requests just won’t work anymore. So I though, hey, lets discuss Halo 5 Forge- where not only can we still ask for practically anything, the release of the next gen XBOX that is rumored to be SIX TIMES AS STRONG as the current gen would allow just about most of these ideas to come to fruition. So no, this isn’t a bullsh*t thread.
What do we really want in Forge? What have we all ways wanted but feared these ideas are to crazy and impossible that we didn’t even ask if they were good? Right them down in the comments!
Now lets start with the obvious:
- Terrain Editor-
WHY NOT NOW?
Most people deem this idea as a"never gonna happen" one, but is it really? The main reason why people think that is that a terrain editor would take away the need for DLCs, as people can just make new maps themselves. This is where they’re wrong. The way to get the best of both worlds here is simple. First, the developers would restrict community created maps to ONE PLAYLIST - Squad Slayer (or whatever the most popular one is, their choice). This means that people that like Objective games, BTB games, Infection, Invasion, Griffball and all the rest will have to play the standard maps. Also, the devs would give out more credits/experience/whatever for playing the normal playlists. The second thing the devs would do to ensure the success of DLC is to make all the assets from the DLC load up into your full on map creator so you could use them in your new maps- usually that’s a lot of assets. These assets will range from atmospheric objects to textures to skyboxes. Devs should also consider giving away additional armor through DLC as an added incentive.
HOW WOULD IT WORK?
The first thing you do when entering the Forge menu is select either “Edit Map” or “Create Map”. Edit mode will be your classic Forge with some tweaks. Creation mode is where its at.
When entering Creation you will have to select three things:
1- Terrain type: grass, snow, desert, rock, metal, city(?), facility etc…
2- Skybox: this will be a compilation of five or so defaults ranging from “Halo Morning” to “Shield World” to “Starry Night” and also the skybox of each and every map in the game be it MP, SP or DLC.
3- Geographic Shape: mountain, canyon, valley, flat land, hills, and a few more. This is a very simple yet helpful tool, but this will not at all represent most of your work. After this you will enter phase 2.
After setting the very basics of your map, you will start shaping the environment to your liking. This should be heavily inspired by the game “From Dust”. You will get four main tools:
1- Excavating beam: This will form large holes wherever you shoot. Its good for making awesome rock shapes and of course caverns.
2- Terrain Lower-er/Riser- Exactly like the thing from From Dust.
3- Water- this allows you to add bodies of water. You will draw a certain line and select either sea, lake or river- the line will fill these drawn locations with water according to your specific choice.
4- Clouds- none, small, medium, large, storm (this will also set rain), snow clouds (this will set snow and will also fill the top of all objects on the map with a little snow). This will basically set the weather.
Phase 3 will be the classic Forge we all know and love (setting objects from a number of pre-sets). This time there should be a much bigger budget and a bigger variety of natural objects and also structures from multiple factions (to avoid making maps boring and repetitive). At any phase, the player will be able to select any object or even the ground and change its texture with one of many pre-sets that include all the textures in the game and, eventually, DLC.
- Background Animations-
Allow us to set ships against ships, explosions and moving objects all around the maps to add to the atmosphere. You know you want this.
- AI Implementation-
this will range from terrified forest animals that add to the atmosphere to birds to fish and even enemies. We all want this.
- Undo, Copy, Paste, more?-
We all NEED these. The whole terrain editing segment will be practically useless without an undo option.
- Glue and Custom Objects-
Through an object setting, you can glue it to another object eventually making whole structures that move as one object which you can save and use later, and even add to your file-share. Made a one-to-one Frigate model? Upload it to your Fileshare and allow everyone to enjoy it! This can actually be done in Halo 4. I was so happy when I made this one up, its just so useful!
What have I missed?
