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If you've clicked this thread then you knkow what you're getting into: you wanna know the winners of the latest Meet Your Maker Forge Contest. So that's what I'm going to give you... After talking more about the contest first. This year's Meet Your Maker was centered around Big Team Battle with Assault Rifle and Magnum secondary as opposed to the Matchmaking loadout of Assault Rifle and Battle Rifle secondary. One of the main reasons for this decision was that the Battle Rifle dulls the effectiveness of vehicular combat in the game where as the Magnum is strong, but not nearly was powerful. Battle Rifles also take away from effectiveness of the weapons and power locations on the map. You already start with a precision weapon that has a decent red-reticule range and better smartscope range so players feel they don't even need to use a lot of the map's original assets. The Meet Your Maker BTB Forge Contest saw an upwards of 50 submissions this year making it the second largest Meet Your Maker since 2013. A lot of Forgers submitted multiple maps to this in hopes of winning the great prizes to be dealt including Arena REQ Bundles and signed poster by 343 Industries! From May of this year to the end of August, Forgers were laboring away at some awesome submissions to this big community Forge-off. It's important to note that for this Meet Your Maker, we took the top 3 maps as grand winners. And now we're gonna move on to those winners! (Did you read anything I wrote before this?) _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Echoes by The Grim Dealer Echoes is a canyon style BTB map reminiscent of older designs such as Valhalla, while also taking inspiration from Halo CE's campaign spaces. Echoes is notable for having much more geometry breaking up the canyon itself, establishing clear lanes of travel, blocking longer lines of sight, and allowing for greater vertical overlap. The lowland bases take inspiration from prior canyon maps but also improve on them, with a protected yet accessible interior and a large overhang that provides cover from the neutral banshee. Each base is outfitted with a Rocket Warthog, a Ghost, and a Wargoose. A Sniper and a neutral Spartan Laser can be found across from the banshee at top mid. Echoes plays best for Capture the Flag games, but also supports slayer. Echoes shows that there is always room to improve upon tried and true design formulas. By introducing new elements and finding solutions to the problems of its predecessors, Echoes succeeds at breathing new life into a classic genre. Traffic Jam by IMAROLLINGSTONE & STUNT ARTIST Traffic Jam is a smaller, urban BTB map inspired by the busy streets of New Mombassa from Halo 2 and Halo 3: ODST. The map is inversely symmetrical and split into several interlacing vertical levels, which are accessible to infantry as well as vehicles like the Rocket Warthogs and Ghosts. A large bowl between the bases offers open space for driving, as well as a fast yet dangerous flag route through the middle. A three-tiered structure in mid houses a SPNKR Rocket Launcher and also acts as a power position over each base. Roads and alleys snake off from the middle and around the backs of the bases, underneath them, and above them allowing for a variety of approaches on the flag spawn. Many tactical jumps allow for risky but quick routes in and out of the bases for those with the skill to pull them off. Traffic Jam was one of the most polished maps submitted to the contest, showing the importance of continuous testing. With its hilly streets, twisting tunnels, and sweeping overpasses, Traffic Jam is the epitome of an urban BTB map. Dispelled by TimeDipper Dispelled is a massive, forerunner-inspired map that accentuates the qualities of a classic BTB map. Its massive footprint and mix of sprawling hills and tight interiors harken back to maps like Blood Gulch and Waterworks. With a sandbox that features Scorpion Tanks, Wasps, Warthogs, Ghosts, and Wargooses, as well as an Incineration Cannon, Rockets, Sniper Rifles, and more, Dispelled offers a vast array of options for players looking to mix up their play styles. The many tunnels, catwalks, and man cannons make it easy for infantry to move across the map without being overwhelmed by the vehicular mayhem. Dispelled's primary objective mode is Capture the Flag, however it also plays very well for Slayer games. Dispelled proves that very large, classic style BTB maps can both support casual vehicular mayhem and competitive, strategic plays. By balancing so many different parts of the sandbox in one massive play space, Dispelled offers a huge variety of unique experiences to be had. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Thank you to everyone who participated and supported the Meet Your Maker BTB Forge Contest. Congrats to the winners and enjoy your awesome prizes! We encourage everyone to try these maps out when possible! Be ready for Meet Your Maker Weekend!

Hello all, we're back with another good interview this week with one of the funniest Halo YouTubers right now, a member of our Forge Group, and a friend of mine: Zandril. I could go on about how Zandril is known on a number of different Halo sites and things like that but I fanboyed enough in this interview. So enjoy the followup with Zandril 3 years later: DD: "Alright Zan so it's been almost 3 years since we last did an interview. Back then you were still a recognized name and you had a lot of success with Halo 4 competitive Forge maps and your Map Marker Pack. You've had ZannyVids forever but things really popped this year with Halo 5. What do you think contributed to that?" ZAN: "Well, I don't really think I had a lot of success back in the Halo 4 days. I was relatively known around some forums but that was because I hosted regular testing lobbies and usually left feedback for maps. I'd say I was only slightly successful getting my name out there. The YT channel and the Map Marker Pack definitely helped. As for my channel getting more traffic with Halo 5, I think a big factor for that happening is because I made tons of map features when forge got released. People wanted to see cool forge maps and I made good quality videos showcasing them. Although I had to change things up a bit when interest in Halo 5's forge lessened. I couldn't just make good quality videos. There had to be something that set me apart from the other channels. And that's how my channel is getting decent attention until now. I kept on featuring good maps but I started including jokes and comedy sections in my videos. Anyone who watches my videos would notice this in most map features. People seem to like them " DD: "Comedy is big in the ZannyVids, that's a fact. There's always at least 2 or more parts in all your videos where I laugh out loud. The editing and jokes are really amusing and make your videos interesting to watch. Even simple map features get turned into funny videos. So how can people keep up with your current lobbies and activities?" ZAN: "To stay updated with my custom games lobbies, people can follow my lobby thread here. I post there some hours before I host a lobby. My regulars, friends, and subscribers also sometimes post jokes or comments about the lobby there. I also make lobby announcements and random updates on my Twitter." DD: "Glad we got that plug in there! Your video, , was an amazing piece. Your biggest fanboy (this is me) may even call it art. What inspired the creation of the video?"ZAN: "Ok, first of all (in high pitched, teasing voice) FANBOY I made that Forge YouTubers video purely because I wanted to do some light teasing to the people in it and to also publicize certain inside jokes like Stigma. Each YouTuber featured in that video had something about their channel I wanted to tease them about. iSpiteful had his pack opening videos. Ducain has his Halo Vanguards disaster. Sean (Forge Labs) had his habit of saying specific buzzwords, etc I was also kinda inspired to "roast" Halo channels and figures because of my friend, Yeti. He made teasing videos of Forge Labs, Spiteful, RUL, etc long before I made the Forge YouTubers video. I don't think I would have gotten the idea of making that video were it not for Yeti's YouTube content." DD: "Fanboy? Please, call me Dandril. The video is hilarious like I said and as for Yeti, I gotta say my favorite video of his is . So quotable and so funny (and so handsome). You're always working on testing other Forgers maps and featuring them. Do you have any Forge projects of your own that you've been working on since Boarding Pass?" ZAN: "Actually no. For me, forge actually took a backseat and YouTube's been more of a priority. Back in Halo 4, I made TONS of maps and in Halo 5, I was only dedicated to Boarding Pass. That's not to say I didn't make anything else before Boarding Pass but those other maps just ended up failing due to my disinterest in improving them. Those failed projects actually led me to a realization. It was that I'm kinda bored of making core maps. I made a lot of them back in Halo 4 but I'm a complete Infection kid now. I have plans for some original Infection maps though. I'm hoping I can make them when Forge comes to PC which would allow me to forge in school during my 5 hour breaks. Fun. DD: "You've become infected by Infection then you would say? No? Ok I'll go die after this interview. Anyway, I remember always seeing multiple submissions here from you for core maps back in Halo 4 and I even got to see Weekend at Warden's in its early stages. You definitely still have the talent but even as someone who wasn't huge on Infection before, I gotta say 343 has stepped it up in this one. Forgers definitely have too. Speaking of Infection though, can you to tell us about a certain gametype you have been testing on some maps?" ZAN: "Ah yes. For the past couple months, I've been working with PA1NTS on testing the official Last Stand BETA. Some of you may recognize Last Stand as a gametype that is in Halo 4 Flood Matchmaking. To those unfamiliar with Last Stand, it's basically an Infection gametype where the humans can't jump but the Infected can. Of course, there's more to it than that but that's the basic gist of it. Anyway, there's currently 3 Last Stand maps (that I know of) that are more or less final. I'm keeping an eye on 3 others that are under development/testing. I think once there's 5 or 6 ready maps, I'll make a Last Stand announcement video." DD: "Having played Last Stand in one of your lobbies before, I have to say it's really fun on the right maps. PA1NTS has always been into Forge and is a good Forger at that. Are there any Forger's works that you really admire in Halo 5?" ZAN: "Well I know a lot of great maps and great forgers so I can't really just pick one. But off the top of my head some of my current favorites would be - Fever Pitch and Old Salt by Sikamikanico - Littlemonk 5's and CaptainDireWolf's minigames. I admire both of them for making good, fun, and ORIGINAL minigames - There are so many Infection maps and forgers I could name but if I was to name a few, they would be Storms End, Lunar, Doubloon, Dubious Depths, and Heavy Metal" DD: "Awesome! I'm so glad I've gotten to play on most of the maps you listed and I hope the readers check them out! A lot of Forger's maps have been coming in through your submission forums here on-site. Do you feel like this is an easier way to receive maps than your previous method?" ZAN: "I certainly do. For one thing, using a forum for my submissions page makes it easier for me to interact with the people who submit maps to me. It's easier to leave feedback and give any suggestions I might have. It's also easier to view the submissions and understand the main idea of maps because people are more free to talk about it and include screenshots. I also like that the forums allow me to pin the submission threads of maps I featured. It's nice street cred for the forger to have his thread pinned and it also allows others to view the discussion in the threads and maybe learn a thing or two." DD: "Awesome well we're really glad to host your submissions here! It's been a blast testing some of the latest submissions in your lobbies and meeting some of the map makers. As a Forge YouTuber, I know you're friends with Sean of ForgeLabs, Comedy Aerosol, Pyschoduck, and many others but are there any other Forge YouTubers you hope to work with in the future?" ZAN: "Well I'm pretty curious of what it would be like if I collaborated with RecklessRi1ey and Ducain23. I've only talked to them a few times so I'm not that great friends with them but they seem like they'd be cool to do something with. And something about me is that I'm usually pretty open to collaborating with smaller forge channels. I enjoy helping people get subscribers because then they'll be in my service forever until death. no one endorsed or collabed with me when I was a smaller channel and I understand how annoying it can be to have such slow growth. It's also a good way to establish multiple connections around the community. Plus, it means more people will say nice things about me when I eventually die of lung cancer." DD: "That last answer was pretty much the definition of ZannyVids. Key points: philanthropic, started from the bottom now you're here, connections around the Halo Community, a need for sympathy and memorial when dead/jokes about dying from a horrible disease. Honestly, golden answer. Let's wrap it up then Zan: Do you have any words for rising Forgers/YouTubers in the Halo scene?" ZAN: "1. Keep doing what you're doing. The Forge communty isn't all that big and the more people participate and share maps, the happier we'll all be. 2. Try to have something in your channel that sets you apart from others. You don't want to be a discount Forge Labs or discount iSpiteful. Give people a reason to subscribe to you. For my case, I have memes and offensive jokes in my channel. 3. If you want your stuff to get more attention, don't just sit around and complain. Do something about it. If you're a forger, join lobbies and stuff and get your name out there. Get feedback, take it like a man, and get gud." That's it for me and Zandril's interview, thank you everyone who took the time to read. Check out the Spotlight featuring Zan in the Announcements!

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!