I didn't know these were a thing now, and seeing as I'm procrastinating on studying for my exams this weekend, might as well make one too. Like many forgers out there, I came on to the scene with Halo Reach. Originally I started by remaking MLG maps such as Onslaught and Amplified, but turned to attempting more "original" designs when Bungie announced the Forgetacular contest. I say "original" in quotations as many of you may know, I don't exactly go about original designs but more often spiritual successor. In that, I attempt to take maps from previous titles and while remaining true to their map genre, I attempt to address flaws inherent to their designs.
Perserverance:
This was arguably my first "original" map, which was a co-forge with Drummerboy420 (or whatever his name was). It was nothing more than an upscaled reitteration of Narrows bent on a 45 degree angle. Nothing special really.
Amalgam
Amalgam is an amalgamation of aspects from several maps, notably Guardian and Assembly. While not a great map in itself, it was pretty fun and recieved a lot of play time with a small community of forgers and gamers that seemed fairly impressed by it. It also received a lot of hate from old ForgeHub staffers, much in part to my insistence that it was a map of equal quality to their own often featured maps. I still think it played a great Territories (3-plot) game.
Cold Snap
This was an attempt at forging a symmetrical variant of Chill Out / Cold Storage. It pretty much sucked. Co-forged with MacXL and Bleuprint. It did have a pretty cool promo video that Bleuprint created though.
Select
Well, it didn't take long for me to actually strike success relative to most forgers. Hit the nail on the head apparently with this one, although I'm not happy with the Reach design. It was essentially Narrows with the bottom bridge removed and two side bridges added in. It was put into Match Making and enjoyed strong popularity with most players. SaLoT helped me out somewhat with this map in the end in return for me co-forging Confined with him, but that's another story.
Triumvirate
This was a pretty cool design in my personal opinion. I took H3's Assembly for inspiration and attempted a 3-way symmetrical map. Never really finished it.
Despair
First version image.
Final version image.
Despair was an attempt at making a Derelict/Desolation successor that combined the open/exposed donut elements with room-based design elements. It went through multiple iterations, received a ton of love (and hate) and almost made it into Match Making... Unfortunately by this point I had burnt too many bridges in the community and Laskan had personally banned me and removed Select from MM on account of my bad reputation. Apparently struggling with alcohol addiction while adjusting to civilian life isn't something people are very sympathetic about, but I was a pretty big dick...
Do note, this map marked the beginning of all of my maps henceforth (in Reach) being 2PL splitscreen compatible. An accomplishment no other forger had success in.
Kernal
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Yet another attempt at a Assembly spiritual successor. I was damned determined to make that design work competitively. Co-forged with Overkill (kinda).
Overpass
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An attempt at a Rats Nest spiritual successor. Wanted a 4v4 map that supported heavy vehicle play. Featured two bases with a figure eight driving lane around them. Met with mixed reviews, mostly in part to other forgers having developed a strong dislike for me. Also co-forged with Overkill.
Orion
Or Onion as Ducky aptly named in on a THFE feature. This started out as a Gemini spiritual successor. Personally favorite of my Reach maps, and ported successfully to Halo 4 (although changed more into a Construct successor in that game).
Perserverance:
This was arguably my first "original" map, which was a co-forge with Drummerboy420 (or whatever his name was). It was nothing more than an upscaled reitteration of Narrows bent on a 45 degree angle. Nothing special really.
Amalgam
Amalgam is an amalgamation of aspects from several maps, notably Guardian and Assembly. While not a great map in itself, it was pretty fun and recieved a lot of play time with a small community of forgers and gamers that seemed fairly impressed by it. It also received a lot of hate from old ForgeHub staffers, much in part to my insistence that it was a map of equal quality to their own often featured maps. I still think it played a great Territories (3-plot) game.
Cold Snap
This was an attempt at forging a symmetrical variant of Chill Out / Cold Storage. It pretty much sucked. Co-forged with MacXL and Bleuprint. It did have a pretty cool promo video that Bleuprint created though.
Select
Well, it didn't take long for me to actually strike success relative to most forgers. Hit the nail on the head apparently with this one, although I'm not happy with the Reach design. It was essentially Narrows with the bottom bridge removed and two side bridges added in. It was put into Match Making and enjoyed strong popularity with most players. SaLoT helped me out somewhat with this map in the end in return for me co-forging Confined with him, but that's another story.
Triumvirate
This was a pretty cool design in my personal opinion. I took H3's Assembly for inspiration and attempted a 3-way symmetrical map. Never really finished it.
Despair
First version image.
Final version image.
Despair was an attempt at making a Derelict/Desolation successor that combined the open/exposed donut elements with room-based design elements. It went through multiple iterations, received a ton of love (and hate) and almost made it into Match Making... Unfortunately by this point I had burnt too many bridges in the community and Laskan had personally banned me and removed Select from MM on account of my bad reputation. Apparently struggling with alcohol addiction while adjusting to civilian life isn't something people are very sympathetic about, but I was a pretty big dick...
Do note, this map marked the beginning of all of my maps henceforth (in Reach) being 2PL splitscreen compatible. An accomplishment no other forger had success in.
Kernal
Image Placeholder
Yet another attempt at a Assembly spiritual successor. I was damned determined to make that design work competitively. Co-forged with Overkill (kinda).
Overpass
Image Placeholder
An attempt at a Rats Nest spiritual successor. Wanted a 4v4 map that supported heavy vehicle play. Featured two bases with a figure eight driving lane around them. Met with mixed reviews, mostly in part to other forgers having developed a strong dislike for me. Also co-forged with Overkill.
Orion
Or Onion as Ducky aptly named in on a THFE feature. This started out as a Gemini spiritual successor. Personally favorite of my Reach maps, and ported successfully to Halo 4 (although changed more into a Construct successor in that game).
