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Good gosh it's been some time since I've gotten one of these done. I've been working on them believe me but with the laptop issue and school and work coming up things just really slowed down. This interview was maybe over a month in the making but one I was looking forward to. Ladies and Gentlemen, your September Member of the Month: Zandril: DD: "So Zandril, how long have you been Forging in Halo?" Z: "I forged a little in Halo Reach. But that was casual forging. I only started forging for real in Halo 4. So I guess you could say that I've been forging since Reach. :)" DD: "Casual Forging and Forging for real? So what divides the two? Is it the play-style of the map?" Z: "I think it is safe to say that the phrase casual maps is a category that are meant for maps that aren't very good for competitive gameplay. To understand the difference between the two categories, one merely needs to know what qualifies for competitive maps and for casual maps. I would define competitive maps as maps that can test the skill of an individual or a team and allow them to demonstrate their abilities in Halo. So, for me, competitive maps are maps that are designed in such a way that a player can show his skill at Halo. Of course, this is simply my opinion. I've heard other people say otherwise and cite different reasons. _________________________ Back in Reach, I forged obstacle courses, Horse maps, etc. Now in Halo 4, I forge competitive maps that are similar to maps that you'd see in competitive Matchmaking." DD: "Yea and I've looked through your maps and I'd say I'm quite impressed. So ForgeCafe? Is that your home forum?" Z: "Yes, I'd like to consider Forge Cafe my home forum. I love it mainly because of its community. The regular members there are as dedicated and friendly as one could ask for. The weekly Custom Game Nights can also be a blast to play in." DD: "Zandril how do you feel about the success of your Map Marker Pack? It was a great idea from the start and now it's blown up and is pinned on every map submission forum and recommended to be used by Forgers in the Meet Your Maker Dominion Forge Contest." Z: "I'm very happy about the success of my Map Marker Pack. If I counted the total number of downloads from the very first version to the latest, it'd be somewhere around 700 downloads. So yeah, I'm very happy with its success. My Map Marker Pack was actually inspired by Sillygoose's weapon blueprints. I used it a lot to improve the quality of my map posts and to give viewers more information about the map. But I noticed that the weapon blueprints don't always agree with the overview picture of a map in terms of contrast. So I decided to come up with my own weapon markers. And soon after that, I came up with images for gametypes, vehicles, and spawns. With some help from xAudienceofone from Forge Hub, I was able to make multiple styles for the markers making the Map Marker Pack what it is now. And I honestly didn't know about it being recommended for the Meet Your Maker Dominion Contest. But now that I do, then...yay! :D" DD: "Well that's amazing and I'm sure the number of downloads has doubled already! Zandril you post an incredible amount of maps in a short time and they're all beautiful for competitive play. These are maps that have time put into them it's clear. How many hours a week do you Forge would you say?" Z: "I'd say that I forge at most 5 hours total every week. This is mostly because during the weekdays, I'm stuck in my college and sadly, there's no Xbox there. The only time that I posted more than one map was just recently. About two days ago I posted three maps. This was because of a rainstorm that happened in my place that destroyed my internet connection. The silver lining is, classes were suspended for a week at my college, allowing me to forge for a whole week. I'm not saying that I forged nonstop for the whole week but I definitely spent quite a bit of time on those three maps. One of them, I started before the storm. So maybe I only made 2 and a half maps, if there is such a thing. Forging a good map requires time. And thinking. A lot of thinking. Back then, when I was still starting out as a forger, I made a lot of maps really fast. Sadly, all these maps came out mediocre because I was just placing pieces without any real thought process. Now, I'd like to think that I'm past my stage of mediocrity and am capable of producing a map that would really shine. Here, take a gander. http://www.343indust...ic/31044-xenos/ http://www.343indust...31045-praelium/ http://www.343indust...ic/31046-silex/" DD: "That's a little less Forging than I thought seeing as you post so many maps. I've taken a look at the last 3 you've posted and they look great. Thanks for providing the readers with the links. So Zandril! It's happened! Your work has been noticed and you're now 343i.org's newest Member of the Month? Are you totally out of your mind excited? Does it mean you might like us a little more than ForgeCafe *wink wink*?" Z: "Haha. I'm very excited about being 343i's new mother MoM. Out of mind excited eh? Uh, let me think. Yes! Uh, I mean, you know... no big deal. Liking 343i more than Forge Cafe? Allow me to present a list of my favorite forums. 1. Forge Cafe 1. 343i Community forum 1. Halo Customs 2. The rest We have a three-way tie!" DD: "I was only kidding but that's great to hear! I'm glad we made that big of an impression on you! So what makes those your top 3 Halo forums and what's different between the 3? What do you like most about each?" Z: "I love Forge Cafe because of it's community. A lot of the members there are very dedicated to the site and are very willing to help new members. They're fun guys to play Halo with too. Another thing that I like about Forge Cafe would be its friendly and more or less mature atmosphere. When you go into the FC shoutbox, there would be no curse words. No foul jokes. No cursing. Mostly because FC has an Oracle Bot that monitors the chatbox. But at least you can interact with it. Not to mention that the weekly FCCGNs (Forge Cafe Custom Game Night) are super fun. ___________________________________ Now, on to 343i. I like this place also because of it friendly atmosphere and community. But something that sets it apart from Forge Cafe would be all the events. One would be the Community Forge Project. I'd join the CFP if I had the time but college gets me pretty busy. Another thing I like about 343i are all the conversations. There's always a forum discussion that you can participate in. Forge Cafe and Halo Customs have their "dead" moments where there's like 2 guys in the entire site. I'm yet to see that happen here. ____________________________________ Now, for Halo Customs. It's simple why I love HC. Because of all the customs. I've lost count on how many hours of enjoyment Halo Customs gave me. There are customs happening everyday and it's not all map testing lobbies. There are lobbies for Flood. Lobbies for mini games. Lobbies for campaign. For Race. There are just so many to choose from and if one chooses well, he can have the best time." DD: "Well those are some of the best things about our site and the others. Speaking of Forging events, are you working on projects in our Forge Contests going on at the moment? The Free Roaming Flood Forge Off and The Meet Your Maker Forge Dominion Contest." Z: "Ah, those forging events. For the Free Roaming Flood Forge Off, I wanted to submit a map. But it turns out, my map doesn't qualify for the contest because I made it too early. It's a shame too. I honestly thought that my Flood map submission could've made it far in the contest. Not necessarily win the contest but make it far enough. It was the first Flood map that I've ever forged too. Despite that, I think the map turned out pretty well. Here's some pictures. ___________________________ I'm also not joining the Meet Your Maker Dominion Contest. For two reasons. One, I have college to attend to. Dedicating my time to a map would definitely get in the way of my studies and schoolwork and I'd rather not get distracted by a Forge contest. Two, I've never forged a map for big teams. As I understand, the proper amount of players needed for a Dominion map is more or less the same as the amount of players for a BTB map. I've only forged maps for 1v1 to 5v5. Haven't made one for 8v8 yet. And I'll still have to learn about forging BTB/Dominion maps as I have next to no experience to forging them. __________________________________ I wish I had the time to join both of them. But my personal schedule just didn't agree with the contests. Best of luck to the participants though." DD: "Wow those screenshots look great! I'm sorry you couldn't submit previous work Zan! And I'm sure everyone understands why you can't enter the Meet Your Maker Contest. It would've been awesome to see what you could do in that gametype though. So being mildly new to our community here at 343i.org, I'm sure you don't know that upon becoming MoM, each new one gets a MoM Wish that could be almost anything (within natural reason of course. For example, the Offbeat Forum is actually a MoM Wish of a previous MoM). Instead of asking you in your announcement thread I thought I'd ask you here and have everyone read it as one of your answers. So Zandril, if you had to make a MoM Wish, what would your MoM Wish be?" Z: "A MoM wish? This is quite the difficult decision. But I'm gonna make my wish a simple one. Can Zanny have a custom title?" DD: "You sure can! I hope you like it! Now Zandril, the community wants to know, what is your advice to the members that want to follow in your footsteps and make an impact on the Halo Community?" Z: "My answer: Easy. Just be willing to help anyone and everyone you can. Don't do it for the 'fame', do it because you genuinely want to help around in the Halo community. But know your own skills. That way, you can offer them at the area that will be able to make use of them the most. For example, you're good at forging. Then you give feedback to maps that don't get any. I guess I'm saying that you should stick to what you're good at. I'm no saying that you shouldn't try other things but it's important to know if a certain activity is just 'not you'. I can imagine if I gave tips to players on how to be a skilled Halo player. "You must abandon your teammates and rush the enemy position any time you want without and regard for teamwork!" That would have been a disaster. Another tip is, be nice. No one likes a ****** and if you get known for being one, it'll be very hard to get "******" off your plate. And, for one last tip. Listen to the people who are more successful than you. They most likely know what they're talking about and I'm sure you'll find their advice very helpful. That's all I can share because those are what I did to get where I am now." What an interview! That last answer was a little racy but hey! If you want to follow in Zan's great footsteps take that advice! Thanks guys for reading this, I know it was long but there were pictures! The pics were nice right? Thanks 343i.org and look out for some other good ones coming soon!