Srs Bzns Back in Black

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On a cold winter's evening in late 2012, a group of web developers, community leaders, and all-around classy gentlemen huddled in front of the proverbial fireplace and discussed plans to give Halo's quirky and creative Forge and Custom Games community a new home.

At the heart of this community-driven vision was a system designed to streamline the process for those wishing to engage with another on the virtual battlefield in order to enjoy the sorts of experiences that simply can't be found in matchmaking hoppers. From wacky mini games to methodical map testing, we sought to provide a platform to allow visitors to maximize the fun they could have in Halo games.

This admittedly simple system proved to be incredibly successful in achieving its prime directive: getting out of the way and connecting this community to fun Halo experiences. Even with Halo 4's waning population, this system reached an impressive level of popularity.

Last summer, we decided to swap this system out in favor of a new one and site updates rendered this change irreversible. The new system we implemented seemed great on paper, but ultimately proved to be overcomplicated and admittedly buggy. Over the last few weeks, adderrson and myself set out to bring back the "OG" Custom Games system in all its former glory, and then some.

Today, it is our pleasure to announce that this new (old) system is ready for public use! We're still working on some tweaks and additions, but the core functionality is here. We hope you're as excited as we are. Read on below for some details on some of this system's features.

Creating a Lobby:
If you frequented HaloCustoms prior to summer of 2015, this should be quite familiar to you. Simply click the 'Host New Lobby' button within the Custom Games section. From there, you'll be asked to input a title and the body of your lobby post (be sure to be detailed and make people want to join). You'll also be asked to select which Halo title you'll be playing (this will come in handy later) and, of course, to set a time for the lobby to take place. All times are automatically converted to the timezone set on your user profile for your convenience.

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Once you've posted the lobby, you can add a banner image and send invites to users you follow. You can also use the 'Host New Session' option within the 'Lobby Tools' dropdown to set a recurring time for your lobby.

All lobby threads will be housed within the Custom Game Lobbies subforum in Custom Games Discussion.

Finding and Joining a Lobby:
If you don't immediately find what you're looking for in the 'Upcoming Lobbies' or 'Lobbies this Week' tabs, you may also choose to filter for lobbies by game. You can also quickly filter by lobbies you've RSVPed to.

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Once you've found what you're looking for, click the green checkmark to quickly RSVP. Be sure to follow your host's sign up instructions. To request an invite to the lobby, or to check up on the host at game time, use the 'Xbox Live Profile' and 'Message on Xbox Live' buttons.

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That's about it! We're still working on a few features, but this should provide a great platform for Halo fun moving forward. See you out there!
 
I always enjoyed the way the lobby system used to work when I joined. It's kind of like the heart of HaloCustoms being revived and will bring an end to pointless posts in Custom Games Discussion. Great job adderrson and Psychoduck
 
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Soooo glad to see this back. It's a crying shame this site didn't take off with Halo 5(we should have done something when it launched goddammit) but I'll try my best to get HC some attention. I'll be making a video regarding the return of the OG lobby system and perhaps mention it in a couple videos
 
Soooo glad to see this back. It's a crying shame this site didn't take off with Halo 5(we should have done something when it launched goddammit) but I'll try my best to get HC some attention. I'll be making a video regarding the return of the OG lobby system and perhaps mention it in a couple videos
I'll post something to my xbox activity feed about it and a whole mess of people will see that.
 
Great to see the old lobby system return, now we just need to spread the word, Maybe spread the word about this on /r/halo and waypoint.