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> Not only do I not feel like I have any better understanding of how maps get into matchmaking, but I thought there might also be some discussion of what makes a map good. That a forger would have to be good at self-promotion sort of stands to reason, but I still don’t have a clue about the alchemy that takes place between “forger makes good map” and “mysterious forces select map for rotation.”
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> I still don’t have any idea what it is that makes a map good. If I look long and hard at the maps that make it into rotation the only lesson I glean is that re-makes are a sure thing - I assume because the gameplay is a given. With original maps I constantly see projects that defy many of the unwritten rules I’ve picked up over the years, but maybe I’ve been picking up dumb ideas or play this game differently than everyone else.
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> I feel like he was a little disingenuous when he said anyone can get a map into matchmaking. Of course that isn’t true. What he meant was that you don’t have to be a Stonecutter or know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy. But you do have to be a social butterfly with a huge friend list, and you have to be good enough at the game to be the driving force behind the play-testing process. So no wall flowers and no scrubs. Which means that the last bastion of fun in this game, forge, is also the exclusive province of the competitive. Or is that an unjustified leap of logic?
It took me ten minutes to discuss everything in that video. It would take me HOURS to discuss “what makes a map good”.
I understand where you’re coming from. There is not a clear and present benchmark for “good” when discussing Forge maps, especially those in Matchmaking. It’s a topic of debate that I’ve been flung in and out of for several years now. If I had to try to address your question in a rather brief text response, I would say this; When talking about matchmaking, we can view maps as situationally good. By that I mean, we can take that map, isolate down to what we want it to do and after rigorous testing we step back and ask, “Did it do what we wanted it to?” If we’re happy with how a map is performing under really specific guidelines, we can go one step further and then ask, “Okay, now does another map do this better?”
For example, when doing the Halo 3 Playlist we just didn’t have just those 5 maps in the playlist. We literally had every map from Halo 3. All of them. DLC Included. Then we took each one and asked, “Is it doing what we want?”, “Is another map doing it better.” Those five maps that entered matchmaking, did it better, right there, in that particular instance. And in all reality the maps had to do many things “good”. Not just one.
Like I mention in the video, at the end of the day 343 decides what happens with MM. We just do the lifting. If 343 told us tonight they wanted to refresh every social playlist in the game, we’d already have everything they need ready to go. That’s how on top of your guy’s feedback we are behind the scenes. The benefit to us forgers working on these playlists is that we’re players just like you guys. We feel the feedback from the community on ground zero. The same night the H3 Playlist launched we had patches ready for next update. Boom, like that.
This is one of the ultimate benefits of the current system. There is a wide network of people constantly listening and making changes, waiting for implementation.
Ill wrap up by addressing the final comment about how anyone can get a map in Matchmaking. I really dont think you need to be a social butterfly and if that’s what you interpreted in my message I’m glad I stumbled upon this thread. You need to be social yes, but not a butterfly. I think the comment after yours sums it up very nicely.
Anyone that is willing and able to put forth the effort.
Also shoutout to Bob for sharing the video here. You da’ man homeslice.