Community Some of my thoughts on Forge World

By bailinbone15 — September 1, 2010
Tags: forge forge-world halo-reach xbox-360-exclusive

Some of the stuff I like and some of the stuff I think could have been improved. Prepare yourself, it's a long on

To start, here's a short list of what I do and don't like.

Good

Forge World
Coordinate Editing
Object Properties
Expanded Objectives
Categorized Objects

Bad

Still Object Based
No Editable Objects
No True Map Editing
No Firefight Editing
No Callouts

And now, the extended version.

The Good

Forge World

This is already well know, so I won't bother with much explanation. It's massive, and it is designed for forge. Although Bungie has only mentioned five areas, The Valley, The Island, The Rock, The Coliseum, and The Pocket; it would seem there is much more available.

Coordinate Editing

This is a great thing for perfectionists like me. Not to mention, that annoying bounce when you walk from the top of one object to another will finally be gone. This is also a big thing for rotation, as it means objects can be perfectly angled and lined up.

Object Properties

Being able to set things such as color about objects is definitely a great thing, along with spawns showing a color, making them easily identifiable, for when you forget to set a team for a spawn.

Expanded Objectives

With Reach forge, it's possible to make things like a warthog a KOTH hill, along with any other object such as a soccer ball. Extrapolating, it would make sense to assume that objects can also be made into bomb or skull spawns or planting areas, which I'm sure will make for some very entertaining gametypes.

Categorized Objects

Objects are now split up into more groups, making it much easier to find things you need for a map.

The Bad

Still Object Based

It would have been nice to have map editing of some sort, even if it was just the ability to raise and lower the geometry points on the ground. Of course, that would probably be impossible to implement well.

No Editable Objects

Although some thing, such as color can be set, It still feels as though some things could have been implemented but weren't. For example, instead of having multiple block and wall objects, why not have a single 'Block' object with an editable x y and z size property? It works for objective points, so it should work for them too. From one video, it seems possible that this is in some way implemented. At 5:40 in the video below, you can see a 'Shape' property. It's set to 'None' however, which means it could be useless. It does leave room for hope, though.

No True Map Editing

Although I can understand not being able to move and adjust the actual ground, it would be nice to be able to set things such as the time of day, the water level, or the brightness and contrast. I understand that filters can affect the last two, but it would make more sense to be able to set your own value, and not be limited by the predetermined items.

No Firefight Editing

I can understand not being able to do the full custom map/teleporter ordeal, but seeing as the game's AI can handle boxes, objects and vehicles moving around and openg and closing paths, they should be able to handle them being placed and removed. It would also be nice to choose where weapon drops are located.

No Callouts

In all of the standard maps, there is a phrase near the map which describes your position. It's great for tons of purposes, identifying where the flag is, where a VIP is, cloaked guy there, camper near here; the list goes on. In forge though, the callouts can't be changed, which means that a custom map can never be quite as good as a standard map.

Thus ends my speech, hopefully it's shown you at least one thing you didn't know about Forge, and wasn't a complete waste of my time.

Halo Reach