Wishes for Halo 4's Forge - Community Discussion

Games Other Halo
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Introduction

WARNING! HUGE POST IS HUGE!

Hello Halo community and 343 industries,

I have been thinking about the forge possibilities and requests to make forging maps a lot easier to do and make many more options for maps possible. I’ve been spitting through a lot of threads and posts on the forum and picked and also included my own ideas, of course.
I might update the OP (original Post) with requests that you have posted in the thread, I wish you all the best of luck while making up ideas for 343 industries, they might read the thread and include ideas into Halo 4.

If they do so, Halo 4 will be a lot more fun to play for Custom Games and will make forging maps a lot easier and better maps would be able to be created for matchmaking instead of dull grey maps.

Open/Closable doors
It’s yet so simple and yet so useful when you’re creating a map in forge, people have been asking for this for a long time and I hope you’ll finally give us the open/closable doors.

The ability to make fire cover an area
This would make some infection maps really look scary and it would be even better if the zombies would be able to walk through the fire and the humans cannot. When the fire is used to make a map look better but inaccessible you could make it an option to make fire killable for everyone or just put a kill boundary where the fire is at.

Signs that you can write text on
This would make maps such as puzzle maps a lot better because you could give people hints for what to do, or for example competitive maps to give an certain area a name so everyone can easily learn the callouts.

The ability to change the skybox
This would make maps look way better and you could give your maps special themes such as space, night, morning, midday and evening. And it would make maps with a blue sky such as Pinnacle less frustrating when you’re aiming with a blue HUD at a blue sky because you could change the skybox to make the aiming less frustrating.

A more advanced FX system which allows you to control the contrast and darkness and stuff like that.
Sure, I’m happy with the current FX system… but sometimes I just wished it was just a little more or just a little less dark and sometimes it just isn’t the right color.

A map/terrain editor
This, would be very appreciated by everyone who forges maps and plays custom games. Sometimes an area in Forgeworld just isn’t flat enough or a hill is just not big enough or maybe even too big.A map/terrain editor would make creating maps in forge so much easier and would make so much more forging possibilities available.

The ability to make the weather conditions change while IN GAME
This would probably be a very advanced system, but just imagine how useful it could be. It would be awesome to make a room be filled with water after a while, while in game. This would be really cool for infection maps, puzzle maps and trick jump maps. For example in trick jump maps you have to reach an area before the water rises and you drown.

The ability to make a certain area not kill
This would exclude kill boundaries, of course. Just imagine yourself walking in water and still live because of this system, this would be really cool for new infection themed gametypes such as sharks and fishes or something like that.

Copy and Paste option, for symmetrical maps.
It’s so simple and yet so useful to create symmetrical maps or just quickly create a building 100% the same as a building you’ve forged before. This would save people a lot of time and would make symmetrical forge maps 100% symmetrical. You should be able to select an area or just every object you want to copy, press X to go the forge menu and select ‘Copy’ and then you select ‘Paste’ and immediately a 100% similar building appears which you are able to move to the right position. Please include this feature, it would make forging maps so much easier.

A snap function
This would make Copy and Pasting even more easy. You could snap objects together to become one object. Of course you could separate the objects again when you aren’t happy with the result. You could select the object/building in one time instead of selecting every object.

Buttons
This would have it’s very own section under the ‘gadgets’ menu. There would be buttons that open doors, make an elevator work, spawn a gravity lift, open a bridge( such as in last resort, the bridge that leads you to the active camouflage). It would save forgers a lot of time and effort in creating maps instead of creating a lot of advanced button systems over and over again. Continue in second post

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Elevators
Along with the button controlled elevators, there should also be elevators like on ivory tower/reflection or elevators that work when you touch them, you should be able to control if it goes up or down and to the left or to the right, and the speed.
Object Skin Themes
In Halo : Reach every forge map just looks the same, it’s all grey. I think being able to select a theme for an object would make some maps look way more interesting. You could have different areas for a map to make areas more recognizable because it looks different than an other area. Possible theme examples could be : Human, Covenant, Flood, Forerunner, Sandbox, Foundry and maybe just colors like red, blue, green, orange and many other team colors.
Larger amount of usable objects
I, and many other forgers definitely hate it when you are forging a masterpiece, but it’s not finished yet. Everything is working just fine, there’s enough budget left but… Beep! Beep! ‘Object limit reached’. Sadly, I have experienced this a lot and it’s just annoying when you cannot finish a awesome map just because of the object limit.
The bump problem fixed.
The bump problem was worse in Halo 3 than in Halo : Reach, but it still isn’t fixed. It’s very annoying when you are playing a custom map and it’s full of bumps even though the objects are at the same height. It’s more fun playing a map that plays and walks smooth.
A undo/redo-button
I cannot believe how many times I’ve seen people asking for this. It’s just annoying when you have placed an object perfectly and you accidently move/remove it and have to place it all over again.
Better coordinate system
The current Halo : Reach coordinate system doesn’t work very well. Some objects are according to the coordinate system at the same height, yet when you check it for yourself you see that they aren’t and you’re getting frustrated because of the bumps. We NEED a better coordinate system! Also when you’re turning the objects with the coordinates the current system is very buggy.
The ability to resize objects
This would be very useful. Sometimes an object such as a building just isn’t big enough or maybe even too big and just doesn’t fit right as you want it to do. And using different objects would take forever or would just be too hard or budget consuming. This would save you a lot of trouble when creating maps.
Custom Games Lobby Search System
In Halo : Combat Evolved / Custom Edition and in Halo 2 Vista there is a system that allows you to pick a custom game you’d like to join. This would of course not replace matchmaking, there would be regular matchmaking to earn your rank and multiplayer achievements and there would be a section to choose a custom game you’d like to join. A similar system as in Halo : Combat Evolved / Custom Edition or Halo 2 Vista would be a huge gift to the community.

Object Mirroring
the ability to mirror single forge objects. for example, any building in forge that has a staircase as part of the object can only go one way, the ramp circular small only goes counter clockwise (going up), and the ramp circular large only goes up clockwise. there are more examples but the point is that it creates limitations with those forge items. A -mirror object- button would be easy to make and give more diversity.

A Few Objects We As A Community Would Really Appreciate :
Ladders
Movable objects
Trees
More lights
Destroyable Objects, movable(pallets) and unmovable(wooden wall)
Forgeable breakable glass
More variety of types of rocks
The return of old vehicles : Specter, Chopper, Prowler, AA Wraith, troop hog?
Deployable Equipment such as gravity lifts
Civilian vehicles
Forgeable dead bodies
Wreckages
Barrels
Weapon Holders! / Fix current fixed/phased weapons system
Area-Signs (A/B/C/D marks such as road signs)
Tubes
Ammo crates
Working drop pods if possible
Elephant, not necessary but everyone loves them :slight_smile:
Signs that you can write text on
Forklift
cylinders of all types, wide, skinny, tall, short, etc.

> Almost all of the threads from the Beta forums made the move here. I only know of a few that, for whatever reason, got lost in the move. I’d recommend going to the search page (available on the top navigation bar), entering your username as the author, and then using a few key words to search. Hopefully what you’re looking for will pop up. :slight_smile:
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> > I made the posts when the forum was at beta stage.

Thank you BS Angel (:

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PERFECT. I hope this is all in Halo 4.

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Yes everything above.

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I hope 343 is listening, because they really need to put all of what you’ve suggested in Halo 4.

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These are some things I want in Halo 4’s forge, which are completely nessisary.

  • Mending physics objects together. Such as weels attached to objects.

  • Attach objects to eachother with metal cables.

  • Buttons, which can do various things, such as set off an explosive, open a door, release a latch that drops a draw bridge.

  • Being able to set a wall (or any other object) to normal physics without it becoming un-movable.

  • Having the power to change the destructability of any object.

  • Change skybox, and ground textures/vegetation. Also have the ability to change the sky vehicles. For e.g you could have a bunch of banshees fight, or some frigates and supercarriers.

  • On the spot changing of textures on walls and forge objects.

  • You can place AI. So zombies (and other gamemodes) wouldn’t be as boring because you can always be the human. This would be a blast.

  • You can put timed objects down, so if the timer reaches a certain point in the match, this object will just spawn in, or if it is a large vehicle (or big supply of weapons), you can have it dropped in by an air ship.

  • TOD editor.

  • Terrain editor, you should also be able to manipulate raised areas of lands and make them arch over, or have a terrain painting system, where you can make natural looking bridges between a gap of land to another.

  • Having the ability to make this map a campaign type mission.

  • Like in a proper editor (like the crysis 1 editor) you can put in triggers, which once you enter will activate something, or spawn enemies.

  • Auto snap system, where you can change an option and the object will automaticly snap to the nearest object perfectly.

These things would make the forge in Halo 4 awesome! It would also make it easier to make a map, so people don’t have to spend so long trying to put together a simple map. It is a game being released in 2012, so I don’t see how these things wouldn’t be possible.

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What about waterfalls and creeks?

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> What about waterfalls and creeks?

That would be included with the map/terrain editor.

thank you for all your support in my thread guys! keep posting ideas, and 343 might notice this thread :slight_smile:

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If anyone has ever played Trials HD, their map editor is really advanced for a simple Side Scroller game. One of the things I love in Trials is Copy and Paste, and you can also Glue Objects. Gluing objects and combining their physics is huge.

In Trials, they also have Triggers, and you can also do things like rotational axis’, and also allow for soft body bridges and more.

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> If anyone has ever played Trials HD, their map editor is really advanced for a simple Side Scroller game. One of the things I love in Trials is Copy and Paste, and you can also Glue Objects. Gluing objects and combining their physics is huge.
>
> In Trials, they also have Triggers, and you can also do things like rotational axis’, and also allow for soft body bridges and more.

I’ve said something similair in the OP, but that sounds useful. and no I haven’t played Trials HD. when I was young I used to play Unreal Tournament 1999, it also has an amazing map editor.

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> I hope 343 is listening, because they really need to put all of what you’ve suggested in Halo 4.

I sure hope this too, we would be able to create amazing maps if all of these tools were usable in halo 4’s forge.

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aswell as effects like colourblind, gloomy etc. how about changing the brightness of the map or an option to change the time of day e.g. Sunrise, mid-day, evening and midnight.

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I say leave forge exactly how it is. Adding all this isn’t necessary.

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> I say leave forge exactly how it is. Adding all this isn’t necessary.

What? why would you want to limit people’s creativity? if it can be improved then it certainly should be.

Excellent list OP.

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Never seen a post i could agree with more but there is a couple other things that need to be addressed if they decided to add everything in your list we are gonna need a WAY bigger budget. I already feel like are current budget is pretty small. There is one game called garrys mod that alot should be taken from such as welding, a duplicator, ropes to hold things together but still give them slack, and ball socket joints. Thats all i can think of off the top of my head but i suggest someone checking it out.

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I say that if they decide to include Firefight in Halo 4, they need a Firefight map editor/forge gametype, and an AI layout system that the player can use for his map. This would go great with the many ideas posted in this thread. This would open the range Custom Games could go to. Great topic, OP!

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That pretty much summs up my list, nice job OP

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> That pretty much summs up my list, nice job OP

You’re welcome (:

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Can we have AI animals in Halo 4’s forge?

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that is a very detailed and well thought out list OP, nice work!

I just want to add emphasis that there should be a higher maximum limit to the number of lights (and also a wider variety of them) that you can place on a map, alot of times they can be used to enhance areas greatly and allow for easy callouts like in halo 2… also they are nice to have when taking screenshots :slight_smile: