Gaming Forge Islands 2.0

[Skyward Shoe]

After seeing the new Forge Islands canvas, I decided to make a terrain piece in Unity showing how I would have done it. I threw this together in about an hour, so it's not super pretty, but it does show how the canvas could have been done in a way that makes more sense for forger without removing any options that the actual canvas gives us.

The first 3 shots are overviews, showing how all 3 islands are in close enough proximity to feasibly connect.

This shot shows the main island, which is the one that is in the actual canvas map. The little white cylinder on it is player sized, giving a sense of scale.

This second island is loosely based off of Blood Gulch, as it is hilly but still fairly flat and easy to build on. This gives players some variation in textures and terrain for when they don't necessarily want to start with totally flat ground (such as for good warthog driving).

The last island is a bit more vertical, with a separate area that can be walked or driven up to from one side. Like Montana in Halo: Reach, this island lets players experiment with unusual geometry and allows for even more variation.

As I have said many times, I am still happy we are getting a free canvas. But I feel that these simple changes would have made the map infinitely more useful for forgers like myself.

 

[PA1NTS]

I don't know shoe. They gave us flat grass. It's what every forger has been wanting. In my opinion it's perfect.

 

[Skyward Shoe]

I don't know shoe. They gave us flat grass. It's what every forger has been wanting. In my opinion it's perfect.

I don't have an argument against some flat grass. If you look, I left the largest island entirely flat for that reason. However, the other two island make no sense to also be flat. I attempted here to demonstrate how they might have been done better, with the other two smaller islands giving more variation.

Can anyone honestly think of a reason to build on the smaller islands in the new forge canvas? They offer nothing that the big one doesn't already do, making them superfluous.

 

[PA1NTS]

You're probably right. I'm just so excited to remake all my old maps that had flat grass. Oracle, Sovereign and The Observatory. You being mostly a BTB forger, i can understand the frustrations of not having any variation in height.

Can anyone honestly think of a reason to build on the smaller islands in the new forge canvas? They offer nothing that the big one doesn't already do, making them superfluous.

The small island can offer alot. I was already thinking of doing a BTB map where the vehicle pathing circles around that island. A little bit similar to baseline except no cut through in the middle. U shaped maps would also be perfect with that terrain. I could also see some small competitive maps that will look gorgeous because the beautiful cliff edges perfectly house a 2v2 map by the looks of it. If you were to build a 2v2 map on the large island, it wouldn't be as nice looking because the canvas looks way bigger than the map's boundaries.

 

[Skyward Shoe]

I can see where the smaller island maybe is still useful, though the top area could have still had something if people were just using the base. Even a dip for ascension remakes would have been good. The middle island, however, really does not serve any purpose the big one does not.

This is just something that annoys me. I may not have the technical or art skills, but once again I feel damn sure I could design better than the people getting payed to design for 343i. In this case I think I proved it to an extent. The map may be free, but 343i is packed with level designers, designers who should have been able to look at this and realize the things a large part of the community can notice a few minutes after our first look. Hopefully I can make a difference in some company in the future, making sure things like this do not go unnoticed. It may not be broken, but bad design choices always hurt the game a little.

 

[a ninja samuri]

this is much better

 

[Squally DaBeanz]

Honestly, I was expecting something like this when they first said the name "Forge Island". Or at least something with some good usable terrain that offered variation but was still user friendly. The fact that it's three awkward looking islands that are exactly the same shape with different sizes was a huge let down. Still, at least it's something.

Free: Good
Flat area to forge in: Good
Lack of creativity and versatility: Bad

 

[Sinogard]

Honestly, I was expecting something like this when they first said the name "Forge Island". Or at least something with some good usable terrain that offered variation but was still user friendly. The fact that it's three awkward looking islands that are exactly the same shape with different sizes was a huge let down. Still, at least it's something.

Free: Good
Flat area to forge in: Good
Lack of creativity and versatility: Bad

We still don't know all the details. We may be able to put in "hill" pieces like we do rocks. We'll have to wait and see. I for one am grateful for this turn of events even if it may be some time before I can forge on it due to the demands of life.

 

[Squally DaBeanz]

We still don't know all the details. We may be able to put in "hill" pieces like we do rocks. We'll have to wait and see. I for one am grateful for this turn of events even if it may be some time before I can forge on it due to the demands of life.

Oh definitely. I'm glad we're at least getting something. It's just the lack of creativity that kind of surprises me when looking at the general shape and position of the islands. Hope the hill object thing comes through, since I've been wanting that since Reach

 

[evergreen948]

Oh definitely. I'm glad we're at least getting something. It's just the lack of creativity that kind of surprises me when looking at the general shape and position of the islands. Hope the hill object thing comes through, since I've been wanting that since Reach

Or a full on terrain editor.

 

[Squally DaBeanz]

Or a full on terrain editor.

A full terrain editor couldn't work with the way the Halo engine works. I don't remember the specifics, but it has something to do with the way the meshing is created in the engine and how it reads collision data or something.

 

[Sinogard]

Which is why a forge able hill object would work but not a full terrain editor.

 

[Skyward Shoe]

I'm still wondering exactly how they expect people to remake Blood Gulch. They kept talking about it, but they seemed to forget that Blood Gulch worked because it had hills. Well, and because there was no long range spawn weapon besides the magnum.

 

[Sinogard]

Master Chief wants a hill. Once he has got it, no one is moving him. 343i, we want terrain objects because we understand the limits of the engine.

-edit-
Post number 117, I had to throw in master chief somehow.

 

[Titmar]

I'm still wondering exactly how they expect people to remake Blood Gulch. They kept talking about it, but they seemed to forget that Blood Gulch worked because it had hills. Well, and because there was no long range spawn weapon besides the magnum.

maybe it was their way of hinting about a hill piece

 

[CooliestRap]

maybe it was their way of hinting about a hill piece

That or theyre hinting at the fact that they're going to change the way all of the islands look before they launch the dlc. And one will look like blood gulch! Lol

 

[Sinogard]

That or theyre hinting at the fact that they're going to change the way all of the islands look before they launch the dlc. And one will look like blood gulch! Lol

no! They are going to make anther island in the likeness of blood gulch.

 

[a ninja samuri]

no! They are going to make anther island in the likeness of blood gulch.

no they asked u to forge blood gulch

 

[Sinogard]

you are aware burnie from rooster teeth is the one that asked for it right?

 

[Emperor of Fate]

I Don't know guys, The map has three good Islands, I am happy just for Three different sized flat surfaces. In a way this will be good for large cities, or parks, heck maybe air fields. Flat is more than usefull, I remember many times getting upset with a hill getting in the way of a creation. the only thing I don't know is if you are able to touch water, If you are it is good enough for me.