Zandril

Now, which team should I be on? _________________________________________ Where are the contest details? Release them! I am pumped. Like, seriously pumped. I feel right at home with 2v2 forging. Let's do this! Oh my god, I'm so pumped. Woo! Steroids! Can we submit maps that are already complete? I don't care. Let's get this started!

'Bout time you got a map featured, Chron. Congratulations again. Well deserved.

The map is indeed reaching its true potential. I'm very interested to play on this version. Also, might I suggest posting this map at...the Cafe? http://forgecafe.com/forums/index.php You'll get noticed there. Maybe even spotlighted. Who knows?

Wow. That is awesome, Rayner. Maybe your calling as a forger is to be an aesthetic forger. This is seriously amazing. So accurate. So beautiful. Hats off to you, sir.

I did not write this article. Forge Fundamentals is brought to you by a Chunk of Halo Evolved. I posted this here with Chunk's permission. __________________________________________ "Forge Fundamentals will consist of numerous articles, and cover all aspects of forge. The first series of articles will systematically review the fundamentals of constructing good maps, beginning at the idea stage, ending at a finalized map, and discussing everything that should be considered in between those two stages. The core concepts that will be discussed are essential aspects of any solid forge map, and should always be fresh in our minds." Forge Fundamentals is brought to you by a Chunk of Halo Evolved. Check them out here. ___________________________________________________ Spawning "At first glance, placing spawns seems like a simple endeavor. Just place spawn points around the map, right? If only it were that easy. Sometimes poor spawning alone can mean the demise of a map. The goal of this article is to go over some of the fundamentals of creating an effective spawn system to maximize the potential of a competitive map." Starting Spawns "When it comes to placing initial spawns, there are no absolutes . There are, however, some good guidelines that can be followed which have proven to work well. When placing initial spawn points, both teams should be placed on equal ground whenever possible. Spawning one team closer to a power weapon or power position than the other team can end up being the difference in who wins the game. On symmetrical maps, initial spawns should be placed in identical positions on either side of the map. On asymmetrical maps, starting spawn locations should be balanced, inasmuch as it's possible, taking into account things like power weapon placements, power position locations, and any other factors that may provide an advantage." Respawns "The best location for a respawn point is in a relatively well protected area - placing them near or directly behind cover is always a good policy. A player should never spawn out in the open without the ability to reach a protected area before dieing. Giving players a fighting chance should be a top priority. The positioning of respawn points is not the only factor to consider - the orientation of spawns (which direction they face) is equally important. A player that spawns facing a wall can find it very disorienting. Anyone who has spawned looking at a wall, turned right and left in an attempt to ascertain their location, and then died before even having a chance to move should understand the importance of orienting respawn points correctly. Aiming spawn points so that players will spawn looking at main pathways or open areas of the map is of the utmost importance." "There are many theories about how respawn points should be dispersed throughout a map. Those theories can range from using every respawn point available, to severely limiting the number of respawn points. There are many factors which may go into deciding which strategy is best for a particular map." ___________________________________________________ This article was written by a Chunk of Halo Evolved. I posted this here with his permission. Read the entire article here.

I did not write this article. Forge Fundamentals is brought to you by a Chunk of Halo Evolved. I posted this here with Chunk's permission. __________________________________________ "Forge Fundamentals will consist of numerous articles, and cover all aspects of forge. The first series of articles will systematically review the fundamentals of constructing good maps, beginning at the idea stage, ending at a finalized map, and discussing everything that should be considered in between those two stages. The core concepts that will be discussed are essential aspects of any solid forge map, and should always be fresh in our minds." Forge Fundamentals is brought to you by a Chunk of Halo Evolved. Check them out here. ___________________________________________________ Spawning "At first glance, placing spawns seems like a simple endeavor. Just place spawn points around the map, right? If only it were that easy. Sometimes poor spawning alone can mean the demise of a map. The goal of this article is to go over some of the fundamentals of creating an effective spawn system to maximize the potential of a competitive map." Starting Spawns "When it comes to placing initial spawns, there are no absolutes . There are, however, some good guidelines that can be followed which have proven to work well. When placing initial spawn points, both teams should be placed on equal ground whenever possible. Spawning one team closer to a power weapon or power position than the other team can end up being the difference in who wins the game. On symmetrical maps, initial spawns should be placed in identical positions on either side of the map. On asymmetrical maps, starting spawn locations should be balanced, inasmuch as it's possible, taking into account things like power weapon placements, power position locations, and any other factors that may provide an advantage." Respawns "The best location for a respawn point is in a relatively well protected area - placing them near or directly behind cover is always a good policy. A player should never spawn out in the open without the ability to reach a protected area before dieing. Giving players a fighting chance should be a top priority. The positioning of respawn points is not the only factor to consider - the orientation of spawns (which direction they face) is equally important. A player that spawns facing a wall can find it very disorienting. Anyone who has spawned looking at a wall, turned right and left in an attempt to ascertain their location, and then died before even having a chance to move should understand the importance of orienting respawn points correctly. Aiming spawn points so that players will spawn looking at main pathways or open areas of the map is of the utmost importance." "There are many theories about how respawn points should be dispersed throughout a map. Those theories can range from using every respawn point available, to severely limiting the number of respawn points. There are many factors which may go into deciding which strategy is best for a particular map." ___________________________________________________ This article was written by a Chunk of Halo Evolved. I posted this here with his permission. Read the entire article here.

I did not write this article. Forge Fundamentals is brought to you by a Chunk of Halo Evolved. I posted this here with Chunk's permission. __________________________________________ "Forge Fundamentals will consist of numerous articles, and cover all aspects of forge. The first series of articles will systematically review the fundamentals of constructing good maps, beginning at the idea stage, ending at a finalized map, and discussing everything that should be considered in between those two stages. The core concepts that will be discussed are essential aspects of any solid forge map, and should always be fresh in our minds." Forge Fundamentals is brought to you by a Chunk of Halo Evolved. Check them out here. ___________________________________________________ Preplanning "Let's start at the very beginning of the life of almost every great forge map - preplanning. Preplanning is an incredibly important part of designing a map which is, unfortunately, often overlooked. Preplanned maps tend to require fewer time-consuming changes in forge. Preplanning can help you increase your productivity as a map designer and improve the quality of your finished products. There are two main parts to preplanning great maps - generating ideas and developing an idea." Generating Ideas "Ideas can be tough to come by - Sometimes they might come from places you've visited or want to visit, pictures, dreams. They might even appear in your mind without an obvious trigger. So, how can you go about creating an environment in which ideas can begin to bubble to the surface? One logical suggestion is to look at a lot of forge maps (Check out Halo Evolved's Archives HERE). Another is to Look at maps from games other than Halo (Lvlworld, a Quake 3 mapping forum, is an excellent resource). You can always look to developer made Halo maps for inspiration as well. Taking a portion of a map that intrigues you and designing something completely different around it is a good exercise. Looking at buildings or at nature can often spark ideas. Taking a walk outside can help a lot - Something as simple as an interesting facade on a building or the curve of a road may be the beginning of a great map. Of course, there is also the World Wide Web. You can search through images of buildings constructed with different styles of architecture. There are numerous styles out there - check out Wikipedia's list HERE. Maybe even a tattoo or a mandala may lead to a moment of inspiration." Developing an Idea "There is a very strong correlation between how well developed an idea is prior to building, and the quality of the final product. Any time spent fleshing out an idea will be well worth it in the end. Once an intriguing idea for a map has arisen, a good next step is to figure out what the basic structure of the map will look like in a decent amount of detail. Ideally, the map should be planned with enough detail that a person who sees a sketch or model of it will be able to recognize the map once it's in Forge. It's not necessary to go to the lengths of deciding which forge pieces will be used to construct each portion of the map. Going into specifics such as that can actually hinder the developmental process." ____________________________________________ This article was written by a Chunk of Halo Evolved. I posted this here with his permission. Read the entire article here.

I did not write this article. Forge Fundamentals is brought to you by a Chunk of Halo Evolved. I posted this here with Chunk's permission. __________________________________________ "Forge Fundamentals will consist of numerous articles, and cover all aspects of forge. The first series of articles will systematically review the fundamentals of constructing good maps, beginning at the idea stage, ending at a finalized map, and discussing everything that should be considered in between those two stages. The core concepts that will be discussed are essential aspects of any solid forge map, and should always be fresh in our minds." Forge Fundamentals is brought to you by a Chunk of Halo Evolved. Check them out here. ___________________________________________________ Preplanning "Let's start at the very beginning of the life of almost every great forge map - preplanning. Preplanning is an incredibly important part of designing a map which is, unfortunately, often overlooked. Preplanned maps tend to require fewer time-consuming changes in forge. Preplanning can help you increase your productivity as a map designer and improve the quality of your finished products. There are two main parts to preplanning great maps - generating ideas and developing an idea." Generating Ideas "Ideas can be tough to come by - Sometimes they might come from places you've visited or want to visit, pictures, dreams. They might even appear in your mind without an obvious trigger. So, how can you go about creating an environment in which ideas can begin to bubble to the surface? One logical suggestion is to look at a lot of forge maps (Check out Halo Evolved's Archives HERE). Another is to Look at maps from games other than Halo (Lvlworld, a Quake 3 mapping forum, is an excellent resource). You can always look to developer made Halo maps for inspiration as well. Taking a portion of a map that intrigues you and designing something completely different around it is a good exercise. Looking at buildings or at nature can often spark ideas. Taking a walk outside can help a lot - Something as simple as an interesting facade on a building or the curve of a road may be the beginning of a great map. Of course, there is also the World Wide Web. You can search through images of buildings constructed with different styles of architecture. There are numerous styles out there - check out Wikipedia's list HERE. Maybe even a tattoo or a mandala may lead to a moment of inspiration." Developing an Idea "There is a very strong correlation between how well developed an idea is prior to building, and the quality of the final product. Any time spent fleshing out an idea will be well worth it in the end. Once an intriguing idea for a map has arisen, a good next step is to figure out what the basic structure of the map will look like in a decent amount of detail. Ideally, the map should be planned with enough detail that a person who sees a sketch or model of it will be able to recognize the map once it's in Forge. It's not necessary to go to the lengths of deciding which forge pieces will be used to construct each portion of the map. Going into specifics such as that can actually hinder the developmental process." ____________________________________________ This article was written by a Chunk of Halo Evolved. I posted this here with his permission. Read the entire article here.

Excellent update. I enjoyed the game we played here. I still think that the top could use more cover. Not too much. Just a few in some areas. I don't mean top mid but the outer ring on the upper level. I honestly think that the barricades you placed seemed very half-assed and lazy. You can do better. As I suggested before, give Dispatch a look because it has some similarities to your map. You can use it for inspiration for cover on the ring. I also think you should seal off the windows at the bottom. You wanted them there for interesting battles where players shoot through the windows but this never really happened. And I don't think it will anytime soon. The map would be better off with the windows sealed off. As for the weapons, I think 4 is too much. I'd limit the power weapons to 3 since this is a 4v4 map. Something else about this map that I noticed is the lack of contrast. It's like a sea of white. The only real contrast in the map is in the bottom floor because of the green grass. Everything else is so...white. Not really your fault because this is how the textures are on Forge Island but I think this is something you can remedy. The best pieces for adding contrast would be Rocks. And, finally, I still think you should raise the map's walls. Unless players can no longer walk on the outer wall. That's all I'm worried about, really. EDIT: I'd have those artifact bases connect to the ground or do something to make that area smoother. Kind of breaks up the flow when players get stuck there.

This is the last update. Really. - Fixed a small issue where the grenades at Red don't spawn at start.

This is the last update. Really. - Fixed a small issue where the grenades at Red don't spawn at start.

I really do like this map. I think I've played it once on someone's lobby. Had a great time. Wasn't really paying much attention so I can't give feedback right now. I'll see if I can run it again in a lobby.

Final update - Thickened the bridge from Blue by a little bit. - Raised the invisible ceiling. - Cleaned up the doorways at Blue court and Cyan.

Final update - Thickened the bridge from Blue by a little bit. - Raised the invisible ceiling. - Cleaned up the doorways at Blue court and Cyan.

No problem, Rayner. Happy to help.

I actually have only two maps on Ravine. Most of my maps are on Forge Island. Only a few of them are good though.

True wisdom cannot be accepted by those who can't handle it.

+10,000 points for Forge Cafe reference.

"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing" Hey guys, I'm back with another map. This one is a little different from what I usually post here. Now I've made a lot of competitive maps. But all these maps were meant to play for 4v4 and lower. I don't think that's such a bad thing. I am comfortable making those kind of maps after all. But I felt like I needed to challenge myself. I already did that once when I made a Flood map. But I thought I could do more. So, I made another competitive map. But this time, it's not a 4v4 map. Not 2v2. Not 1v1. I'm talking big. Big...team. I'm talking about Magnus. ___________________________________________ Magnus is an asymmetric BTB map. There is one big outer ring that encircles the entire map. This ring is wide enough for good vehicle action and has enough cover to protect players against the vehicles. The outer ring encircles a middle structure that has two levels. The bottom level is basically a tunnel that players can use to quickly move from one spot in the map to another. There is also another structure at the side of the map that gives players a good view. But the long sightlines at this structure is countered by multiple entrances. This map is still in its BETA so a lot of things are subject to change. This is also my first BTB map so go easy. MAP BETA DOWNLOAD LINK: https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/games/halo4/fileshare/details/5a22974b-31c5-4015-935a-1870f6a7ebe5 SCREENSHOTS