What We Need In Forge (Within Reason)

[Squally DaBeanz]

Things I would like to see in future titles that can actually BE DONE with the Halo engine (terrain editors and cutting pieces wouldn't work):

 

Precision editing returning:

'Nuf said.

 

Interchangable palettes:

Give us an option in the menu of which palette we would like to work with. In Halo 4 context, when you hit X, you'll see "Impact, Erosion, Ravine." Selecting one of these will lead you to the normal item menu, except eveything in there will have the skins of the selected palette. And not only three palettes from three maps. There are multiple themes we could use: Human Civilian, Human Slums, Human Military, Covenant, Forerunner, stone, etc.

 

Weather Effects/ Time of day Effects:

Easy to understand. In the gadgets menu, have a "Weather" menu. This will be similar to the visual filters. You place an orb on the map that will change the time of day and weather. Examples: Morning, Noon, Sunset, Night, Rain, Lightning Storm, Snow, Blizzard, Windy, Dusty, Light Rain, Cloudy.

 

Environment Pieces:

Also simple. Give us pieces that can change the environment around us. Trees, more rocks, shrubs, and terrain editing pieces. This wouldn't be a terrain editor exactly. Think of it like this: People already use rocks and tin cups to change the environment. Expand upon this idea, and give us smooth pieces with terrain skins of varying shapes and sizes to create smooth flat ground, or create rolling hills. They will still be made of individual pieces that can be placed on the existing terrain.

 

Bulk pieces:

We're almost there already with Coliseum Walls and the silo pieces on Impact. Give us large pieces with a low polygon count that can be used to create large environments at little cost on the engine. Large coliseum walls, entire ground structures (like the environment pieces), giant pillars, bigger ramps, that sort of thing.

 

Better coordinates and rotational points:

Think back to Reach. If you lined up a piece inside of anothe of the same dimensions and rotated it, it would still be inside the dimensions. This has been changed on some pieces in Halo 4, like the ramp 2X2 and corner 4X4. If you line them up then rotate them, they are off center. 343 needs to find the EXACT center of the pieces to set a rotation point. HOWEVER, they should not do this on pieces that are not an exact coordinate, like the 1X1 Tall and Thin and the Coliseum Wall. More on that here: http://www.343industries.org/forum/topic/27355-colliseum-wall-problems-and-fixes/

 

More/Better canvases:

Duh. Everyone complains about the current canvases. Now, they're not AS bad as everyone is making them out to be, but it would be nice to have some more user friendly canvses. Thank you 343 for listening to us and giving us Forge Island, but please do better with the default maps in the future. We don't want half finished "templates" to finish, but blank canvases to fully utilize. One example that I've talked about a lot is a snow canvas that would use the same texture mapping as the rocks on Ravine. They could make it so the pollar top of every piece that is exposed to the sky has snow on it.

 

Scenery:

We're getting closer with the inclusion of Dominion pieces as aesthetics, but there really should be more. Think of some of the maps in Halo 3. The first one that comes to my mind with aesthetic pieces is High Ground. That map had shelves, tables, radios, and laptops lying around. I'd like to see the inclusion of more practical aesthetic pieces like this in future titles.

 

Dynamic Objects:

Basically, give us stuff that moves. It's doesn't need to be anything crazy like custom moving pieces, but things like the Station Core on Impact. For example, give us a U shaped metal frame with movable gates attached to either side like in the back of High Ground. Nothing special, just a single piece that isn't stagnant.

 

I'm probably missing some things, but I'll leave it open to you guys. What do you think? I'm trying to think of things they could add in that wouldn't disrupt the current engine or way the game handles. Forge is and always will be a map editor at heart, simply for easy of use. There are still many things that could be improved, and I want to hear if you guys have any ideas that could be implemented SIMPLY and stay true to what Forge is.

 

 

[ForgeMonitor]

You wanted trees; they gave us trees and gigantic rocks as well. That's what I gathered from the latest Bulletin. Also, Forge Islands might come sooner than you think.

Slender Island, anyone?