Maestro

So as summer draws closer -- in this hemisphere anyways -- it's getting warmer and warmer here. 'bout time, too, as May was soggy instead of warm like usual; nice change, but not what I'm used to. May usually gets to that temperature that draws the line between when to use the A/C or not, so I kinda don't like that month. I'm also that kind of person who wishes it was winter in the summer, and snowier in the actual winter season. The dog loves it, I love it, and it's Canada, damn it. Hence, if anyone here plays the Facebook game called "Nations" (which with a player base of only 90 people now, it's pretty unlikely), my nation's climate reflects what I like: COLD. It's also space-faring and rivals Forerunners in terms of tech, but that's a different story. Moral of the story is: I LIKE WINTER! But I suppose summertime is the perfect time to post a stadium, hmm? This is Alexhstan's premier Grifball stadium, called Kappital Imperial Stadium, located in the capital of Alexhstan. It's your typical Grifball stadium; a bunch of players spawn in a large room and rush towards the ball in the middle... Uh, boss? We got a problem. ...oh, wait, what?! The stadium's AI didn't turn the heater on! There's ice on the floor! And it's somehow in the colours of Alexhstan's flag!! Darn computers, anyways... we'll have to improvise... This is Alexhstan's premier Grifhockey stadium, Kappital Imperial Stadium. As I was saying before, it's your typical Grifball stadium, composed of a large room where players two teams spawn on opposite sides and charge towards the ball in the middle while slipping and sliding on ice... or bouncing on Dominion shields. The Emperor rarely visits. He's too busy watching Blernsball. But, a couple of days ago, I was playing Grifball, and eventually the other team started spawn-killing like there was no tomorrow. Let me tell you, it got old reeeeeeeal fast. So to combat that, players respawn on a bench above their side of the rink in a soft kill zone to prevent camping. Can't camp, can't get spawn-killed. Balls can't get stuck up here. In addition to respawning out of reach of the enemy team if they are badgering your end of the rink, players also have "invincibility frames" when they respawn. Basically, you get a couple seconds of invulnerability to get onto the field and back into the game. You will have the speed boost visual effect during this time. Grifhockey also gives you a couple of tricks to use, or armour abilities. There are still only two loadouts, Assault and Guard. The Assault loadout now has a Thruster Pack to be used while on offense, while the Guard loadout has a Hologram to distract your opponents. If you are holding the ball, you cannot use armour abilities at all. Finally, damage and resistance have both been scaled down. You inflict 25% damage, while you can only take 10% damage. This number modification makes it much harder to break the ice, which each piece has a respawn time of one second; it's the same trick I used in Space Invaders to prevent the tanks from making the aliens fall through the floor. Yet, there will still be a lot of smashing and one-hit kills like in normal Grifball. Terrific! And to end the presentation, you may not notice this in gameplay, but let's look outside of the stadium. Monoraaaaaaail! Monoraaaaaaaaaaaaaail! Cityscaaaaaaape! Even in the summer, there's no vegetation outside in Alexhstan. I thought -30 Celsius was plant-friendly? Ah well, I guess that's why I don't work in the seasonal department at work. Anyways, thanks for looking, and if you gave this map a try, I hope you put on your wool socks and long johns first!

We could test Halo Gear Solid if we have eight people online right now. o.O

My initial idea didn't work, so I have something else up my sleeve. But it's nowhere near completion right now. :/

I'm up to some new forging antics... perhaps the rest of the ol' gang can help test it once it's done? Also, a gift from the Guardians.

I liked the feeling of playing the game; everything felt fluid and smooth. The graphics were a definite improvement. Mechanically, this game is amazing. But what annoyed me the most was the Didact. Every game that has an emphasis or a semblance of a plot has an antagonist. The Mario franchise has Bowser. The Megaman series has Dr. Wily; X has Sigma. These guys give you a reason to want to defeat them, even though the games they star in have just a semblance of story. Bowser kidnaps Peach, Wily tries to rule the world, Sigma... I dunno... I haven't played Megaman X. The Didact didn't. He just appeared and made both enemy factions who already shot at you stop shooting at each other and focus their fire on you, then blasted off in his Spooky Sphere. Then he zapped some folks and bit the dust in an anticlimactic boss fight. The Covenant had a bad habit of turning human worlds into glass from orbit; they killed billions. I didn't appreciate that. All the Didact did was wreck New Phoenix and a space station. Exdeath from Final Fantasy 5 was also a lame antagonist, but even he gave me more reasons to dislike him. In short, the Didact is a mustache-twirler antagonist who just appears out of nowhere and (tries to) ruin your day.

I predict a lot of people will be sporting Didact armour.

The bot issue has come up a few times, what with people wanting to make their own Spartan Ops and/or Firefight maps. The reason why bots have not been incorporated except in the form of stationary auto-turrets is simply because bots are incapable of pathfinding on their own. For example, if you manage to launch an Elite onto a high ledge but he survives the launch, he will stand there and shoot at you if you stray too close. We think it's logical to just jump down and continue on our merry way, but the Elite has no path down from said ledge. One would have to program paths for the AI to take, where they can or can't venture, which is something the average Joe cannot easily do. Bots are something a lot of people want to toy with in forge, but as Bungie said, the tech simply isn't there. I doubt 343 Industries will say anything different. :/

I'm guessing this increase in members will result in the need to upload GOR-FEST to my file share?

This world's becoming a place where we can't trust any video game studios and their baked goods at all. Valve turns cake into a lie, and now 343 Industries has made cookies false. What's next, Nintendo transforms pie into a conspiracy? Anyways, it's map time! This one is one of the first minigames I've made on Halo 4. I've tested it with friends, including forum members Razgriz Girl and AnimeAddict92, and I have tuned it up. It's a silly game, but it's a blast to play. I call it Tumble Rumble!!!! And yes, those exclamation marks helped me differentiate between all of Tumble Rumble's previous versions during development. Here's the gametype for it, aptly named Tumble Rumble. The layout of the map is simple. There's a huge hill, and you have to get the trophy at the top. But first, you spawn in a safety room. You and seven friends can spawn in this room. The safety room has windows where you can look up quite a ways. You can tell if something is coming to kill you. If only more people looked out the windows... (and yes, that's me in the screenshot) If you don't look out the window, things may not end well. The Guardians have a bad habit of spawn-killing. A stray kill ball used to be able to land on the ceiling of the safety room, although I have placed a sloped coliseum wall there to fix it. Those kill balls can get some killer air... so can the soccer balls... and the die. The gametype itself is a variant of Oddball, but all you need to do is hold the ball for one second to win a round. There are three rounds in the gametype, and is a best out of three, although you can tweak it to be a best out of nine or seven or whatever you prefer. You're equipped with a Concussion Rifle and a Gravity Hammer, which can deflect soccer balls but cannot hurt your opponents, nor can they deflect kill balls. The previous edition had golf balls, but I scrapped them in favour of more soccer balls and a die. You also have a Thruster Pack, which can save your rear if you're staring down a legion of kill balls. Triple Kill! Running Riot! Anyways, thanks for looking, and if you gave this map a try, I thank thee tenfold! These files have been deleted from my file share.

I guess I'll have to keep this in mind when I'm making something in forge! Thanks!

Changing the weapons you spawn with for a normal gametype qualifies as an Action Sack gametype according to 343. So instead of having off-the-wall objects being your objective, such as Hog Potato where your Warthog is an Oddball or Halo Chess, you can spawn with Binary Rifles in CTF and have that count as an Action Sack gametype instead. :/

Then you shall perform... uh... reasonably when Drive Master is ready to go. Well darn, it sucks to hear that you don't want to try them right now. They are a little strange since they all use Halo's engine for, a lack of better words, non-Halo-style gameplay. Maybe sometime in the future they'll warm up to you? If these got featured in matchmaking, that would make my day! Considering that pretty much every map has a special gametype tailored to it, it probably wouldn't happen for sometime. The Halo Gear Solid maps have the best chances of being featured, but that wouldn't happen simply because 343 isn't even aware of their existence or the fact that the name may end up causing Konami to slap a copyright infringement lawsuit on them; subsequently, I'd end up getting into some legal trouble as well if that were to happen. Otherwise, I bet they'd appear in Action Sack. And thanks for looking! Since I'm in another country right now, I won't be able to post a new map until sometime next week. :/

I've tried working on a collaborative map once before; the person leading the project did not have a clear idea what he wanted to build, so it ended poorly. :/ Drive Master is the only thing I could use a hand for, and that's on hiatus for the time being... but I do have some gimmicks I want to play around with. I want to try and make something that utilizes Wraiths, and make a Grifball map. But I won't be working on anything until the latter half of next week, for I am America-bound!