firedune22

lol, the banshee in Halo is fixed, having a flip/roll rate similar to that of Halo 3's banshee. The Scorpion in that picture may just be a placeholder model for a slightly updated scorpion Falcon and Hornet are confirmed for Halo 4 There is some pretty compelling evidence that the pelican will infact be useable in halo 4. Watch the end of the Spartan Ops mission and you can see the pelican has 2 turret at the back, not unlike the Falcon. The best thing about the War games canon is that 343i can include any vehicle they want, as it can be "simulated from prior records" on the training floor

Well, i've signed up for the Planetside 2 beta and i've been thinking that I should start an outfit. An outfit is like a squad in BF3, but with 10 people. I've also made the decision that we'd be in the Terran Republic, which specializes in Fast Fire, Fast Movement, but generally less armor than either the New Conglomerate or Vanu factions. Our outfit could specialize in a bit of everything, but i'd prefer it if we stuck to ground combat, utilizing light tanks, and infantry combat, along with hot drops Basically, we could be a sort of Shock troop, hitting hard and fast. Air combat will be limited to liberators (planetside's version of an AC130-like gunship) and a single Galaxy (a pelican-like transport), so we'd be Hot-Dropping in with heavy aerial support, specializing in capturing and low-profile

Welcome to forge, mate! I myself am a very experienced forger, being part of the review team over at Blueprint. Anyway, i'm always glad to see people trying out forge for themselves, and if you're interestind in improving your skills, here are a few tips: 1) your first map will amost always be terrible, it's part of the learning experience. 2) Don't be afraid to ask for help! Some very reliable and knowledgeable people that I personally know (well, over Live at least) are Haunted Army, Blaq Cloud, Stubborn Clam, Kbo00, NOKYARD, OTT2OWN, and basically anyone who's made their maps into Matchmaking. 3) There are plenty of great forging communities, but the best are Blueprint, ForgeHub, Xforgery, and sometimes waypoint. MLG and BTB.net are niche communities but have great resources 4) Get into test lobbies from these communities, you'll get ideas for your own maps, learn techniques, jargon, feedback, and get to know some great people Good luck with your forging endevours,. Also, a heads up, the forge communities are in a bit of a lull now, seeing at how we're about to end support for Reach and transitioning to Halo 4.

lol, i hear that the marines would love to get their hand on something a little quicker, smaller and better amored than the V-22. We have the technology! Based upon the design of the pelican, the wings would need to be extended a bit (not much) and moved foward a bit. A GasTurbineEngine would fit in nicely with the pelican's body whilst getting good airflow and protection. The pelican also has a good enough overall body shape that it employs the lifting body technique when in full foward flight.Something like the pelican would fit the marine's need for a low-profile insetion and exfil vehicle that can land in confined spaces (such as courtyards in urban areas) it's probably pretty radar absorbent too...

promethians. comfirmed. I still don't lke the design of them. They look nothing like forerunner tech, their weapons play closer to human weapons than anything forerunner that we've encountered and seen. They even have to be reloaded with rounds. (scattergun= shotgun in every way (shoots faster & 3 shots less)) and the light rifle is EXACTLY THE SAME as the Halo 2 era BR. in. every. way. (except for design). I would have preferred some forerunner equivalent to the AR be the sentinal beam and the BR equvalent shoot a beam that is equavalent to the BR burst (i damage and duration), yet have a cooldown, no reload like SB. if I see a forerunner Rocket launcher that you hold the trigger to lock on to a vehicle.....

The very first FTW (Friday Night Testing With Awsome Maps) is going to begin Tonight! I'll be setting up a PGLG (Pre-Game Lobby Game) at 7:30 pm EST , and will start be used to fill up the lobby in style. The first FTW will begin at around 8:00pm EST, depending on how quickly or not we'll fill up the lobby. Since Today's the first FTW, let me explain how this week's customs lobby will be handled. I'll be sure to keep it short this time. First off is the PGLG, which will be capped at 10 players. This is to "get the ball rolling" per saying. Next we'll start the official Lineup which will go a little something like this: 1) The party cap will be increased to 12 players. Invasion maps that have been requested to be tested here will go first. If none are present, we'll play some Blueprint invasion maps that need testing. 2) Once we're done with invasion, we'll open up the party up to 16 players and play some BTB maps requested, again, if none are present, i'll put on some BP-BTB maps that need testing. 3) This part is if, and ONLY IF we don't have any maps that were requested to be played on via 343i.org, in this post specifically. Now, back to what it is. We'll play a maximum of 3 invasion maps from Blueprint and 3 BTB maps from Blueprint. 4) This is the end of the testing maps part. Beyond this point, no feedback is needed, unless someone puts on a map and requests feedback on it. Yes, this is the part where leader will be passes around, and we'll get to play whatever you want. But please, no party-nazi-ing or booting other players to lower the playercount. Regular rules still apply here. There's this friday's lineup, and please, tell a friend or two! Also, the custom lobby's name is subject to change, so please, Suggest a new name and i'll take it into consideration!

Hello there. It seems you've come here for one of two reasons: You want to play some awsome new maps with a bunch of cool people; or you have a Big Team or Invasion map that you've created and want to playtest it and get valuable feedback. Wheter you're a casual player, MLG fan, vehicle fanatic, or just like to relax with some cool people, this playtest customs lobby is for you. Now, before i get onto the details, i'd like to give you some basic information on what playtesting is and why you're vital to the process. Playtesting is a critical stage in the development of a map, and the more a map recieves, the better it becomes. It's also the longest phase of building a map, taking as much as 3/5ths to 2/3rdsof the actual development of a map. It's the stage when maps are played on to find problems with the map, and the more it's played on, the more problems can be found and fixed. The very maps you've played on in matchmaking are the result of dozens of matches played on them, with each game played having some kind of tweak or another that fixed an issue present on the previous version played. When a player finds an isuue, they tell the lobby in the post-game lobby and voice their opinion on what they liked and don't like. This is known to forgers and playtesters as "giving feedback" You yourself are a vital part of this playtesting phase because you are unique. You playstyle is unique and different than anyone else. You'll approch the same bridge differently and drive into areas that no one else has or snipe from the trickiest of ledges to get to, and any problems you encouter is valuable information. The way you play allows for the designer to address all sorts of issues to make the map as perfect as possible. You opinions are vital to the progress of any map, so become a playtester by joining our customs lobby and have your voice heard. Who knows? Maybe you'll get to play on the next map that's going to be featured in you favorite playlist. ------The details for this Friday night test lobby (how to sign up, how to request you map to be played, and rules) will be posted below. This may even become a regular thing here at 343i.org.---- There will be two roles in this lobby, playtester, and forger, but there's really no difference other than name. Here's the breakdown of the roles Playtester- You just want to have a good time. don't have a map? No problem! you just need to play, and state 3 things: 1) What you DIDN'T like, and why; 2) What you DID like and; 3)any issue you found with the map Forger- Bring a map! Write up a map request, and we'll play it and give you feedback to improve it. If it's not your map, you have the same obligations as a playtester, which is just to give some simple feedback. Now for the most important part of any structured customs lobby, The Rules. -Leader will be passed around, no leader nazi-ing. You got a map that you've requesed to play? we'll put it in a que -Maps that are a priority (relevent to the test theme- i.e. BTB, 4v4, action sack, ect...) that are requested will be played first. Then the order will be a mix of maps from Blueprint that are relevant, (max of 4) then Non-relevant map requests, then a popular vote of minigames, competitive maps, and basically anything else, even matchmaking! -No yelling, screaming, playing loud music into the mic, or other ear-raping activities -Leaving early is frowned upon, so make sure to invite someone (preferralby with a mic) before you leave -no use of exccessive swearing, bigotry, racist comments, insults, or making terrible jokes -People who requestes their maps to be played by posting on 343i.org will be played first, and requests for maps not in the "qeue" will be played later. -most importantly, Have a good time! There are 2 submission forms, one is the basic playtester, and the other is the Forger submission. please copy the form, paste it into the reply box, and fill out the information. *note, since b.net online fileshares are down, please list map TAGS that are on you map. If none are added, add one with the title of the map being the tag. Forger's sumission template

Heh. the whole "keep xbox horizontal" thing works the opposite for me. I have the fat model (jasper), and used to keep it horizontal. I just got Xbox live and played halo 3 very often (a few months before reach came out). A few months after reach came out (disc was intsalled from day 1) my xbox strted acting up, with the disc becoming unbalanced. I then set it up horizontal, and since then i've had no problems whatsoever (aside from the occasional dusty vent grille) and i keep it clean regularly. Most of the guide is common sense (duh), but the vinegar thing was interesting. Good job on the guide though!

sweet, but a little tidbit of info, they just recently released the heatmap for wraparound and someone cleard up the picture. if you're going for an actual, er.... premake, i'd look at it (on HBO (halo.bungie.net)) and change the map accordingly. Unless of coure you were going for an interpretation, just basing a map around a few screenshots and sort of "filling in the gaps" you might say. Also, is it just me, or does wraparound sound an awful lot like Guardian 2.0. "a main central platform where most of the fighting, er... dying will occur, along with multiple man cannons around the edges to bring you back into the action." Seems to me like it is

xzanplez? you're posting here too? Anyway, nice to see this one here.

Dino, i think i'll take this one. I'd like to say that i am part of the dedicated Review Team over by blueprint. We have a test lobby this friday, and hopefully i'll get this thing squeezed in a some point. Is there anything that you'd like me to focus on, such as: spawning, weapon balance, layout, general appeal, ect...?

I'm still puzzled as to why there's an image of a Halo-3 era Flood stalker form in the first archive video. "Well gang, it looks like we have a mystery on our hands." Yes, I went there.

shameless bump

This thread may be too much information for those who are not forgers. This map submission template is used by Blueprint: a closely-knit forge community that has a lot of experienced forgers, cartographers, and is THE place to try and get you map into matchmaking. Blueprint is the community behind the infection playlist update in january, and the BTB heavies playlist update. Map Name: SandDune 3.0 Canvas Map: Forge World 2]Last Updated: 3/24/2012 Status: Near Complete Screenshots*/Videos: Photobucket album Ideal Player Count: 16 players Best Gametypes: Slayer, CTF Supported Gametypes: Slayer, CTF, Assault, Territories, Stockpile Description: Ring aound the Sandbar The map description is a throwback to the name of the original version of this map i bult as my first BTB map. Did I mention that this map is a re-mastering of my first BTB map? Anyway, i've learned much since I first joined Blueprint and I decided to see if I could apply professional forging techniques to an old map and see just how much I've improved. Now the map played pretty well before. It just looked, i'll admit it, crappy. Now; not so much. Anyway since you probably want to hear about the map itself, and not it's histoy, here's the gist. The map is basically shaped a lot like a giant ring with two primary bases at each end of the two opposting "sandbars", two secondary bases on the island side, and tertiary spawning bases on the beach/sandbar side. The map is really easy to get your bearings right off of spawn beacuse one side is brown, and one side is green and you usually get a whole view of the map right off of spawn. I've intended the beach side to be more vehicle-oriented and the island side to be more infantry-based, however, there is room for vehicles to travel through the island side and cover for infantry on the beach side if they wish to do so. Two secondary bases house rockets to tackle the enemy falcon. banshee, or any stray vehicle too close to the base. The two red/blue main bases start out with focus rifles and on the paradisio side there is a neutral +1-clip sniper high up in the mountains Other Notes: I'm mainly concerned about spawning ( one time i had spawned in red base whislt being blue. I believe I have fixed it, but i'll just have to see) and if there are too many vehicles, or not enough power weapons at the bases If you answer yes to any of the following, please list: Supports Vehicles: Y Power Ups on map: N Armor Abilities on map: Y-(decoration only) Budget Remaining: 370 forge-bucks Overall performance: some Framerate Lag in distant locations Split Screen Framerate Rating: N/A Edit 2: New map update means new weapon and vehice selection! Vehicles 2x wraith - 180s 2x Rocket warthogs - 60s 2x/2x mongi - 25s/30s 2x ghosts - 45s 2x Falcon - 150s 1x Banshee - 160 Weapons 2x/1x plasma pistol - 30s/80s 2x focus rifle - 90s 4x needle rifle - 45s/+2 clip 2x DMR - 30s/+1 clip 2x needler - 60s/+2 clip 2x concussion rifle - 60s/+1 clip 2x Rocket Launcher - 120s/+1 clip 1x Sniper rifle - 90s/+0 clip 1x Plasma Launcher - 150s There is a teleporting system at the bottom of each primary base, there are 2 paths opposite from the warthog bay half. The two enterances are denoted by 2 armor abilites, armor lock and Sprint. Now, they've been chosen for 2 reasons. 1) each AA ability will take you to the side that you'll need it the most (i.e. AL on the beach side, sprint on the paradisio side), and 2) AL=orange, Beach=orange/ Sprint is green/paradiso is green. Pretty nifty, huh? Feedback in any form is greatly appreciated!

Ha, I remember the origins of the quote... gather 'round the campfire folks. it's storytime. Wayyy back in the day, when Bungie was first crafting the iconic gamel, there were many ideas that were thrown around, with some of them scrapped, some of them used and some stuck somewhere inbetween. When an idea or object is put into a game, and then scrapped and deleted, the only remaing trace of evidence that we even know they existed at some point are developer production commentaries and concept art that is often released with special edition packages. Very rarely though the developers miss something, much like how the renowned Kestrel was discovered. This iconic line was one such thing that Bungie missed. Back when the level was being made, the level designers had the idea of making the famous cave... an actual cave. You know, the kind with rocks and stuff. Bungie then scrapped the idea and made the cave into that squarish-tubular forerunner formation we all know and love. Thus, that cave was, at one point, an actual natural formation. Bungie just missed the line when finally marrying the finished audio and the video portions, but at that point, it was too late to delete the line. And that kids, is the origins of the cave of natural formation. Such missings still occur to this day, with great examples to go by such as "the baking of the cake".

it's OK, i'm really just after a test. That's all. I desperately need feedback because the deadline for a another contest is coming up rater soon, and i made some major changes from the last version. I need to know if they work.

sending AD a submission. Hope BTB variants are accepted too,,, If you're wondering it is called Heavylands, and you can find everything you need to know about it in the Thread in the Map Room.

please excue the delays, there are a lot of pictures, and are well-worth the wait. I'll also have the link up ASAP, so please, have patience. oh, and also the grammatical errors, i've rushed this post quite a bit...

Welcome to the Heavylands post. You must have ventured here to see something amazing. Well, i'll admit it's not anything you haven't experienced before as far as actual maps go (because it's based on the Highlands canvas, not much you can do with it), but it involves several things never tried in a map before. I've worked not on forging a new playspace, but on crafting a new gameplay experience, particularly on the underwhelming Matchmaking Highlands variant. The map is an entry in a very important compitition, one which you might see the fruits of in the upcoming future. Heavylands is considered to be a "heavy" map by the Halo community, and if you ever played Halo 3 BTB, you might know what i'm talking about. For all those who have never played on a Heavy variant, it can be summed up in the quote "everything that flys, drives, shoots, and goes boom can be found in bountiful numbers and rather often" . Either that or my personal favorite "Feel like a god every 20 seconds"` Anyway for your convinance, i've compiled all the basic information into a short, helpful list of everything you need to get a game on it. Map Name: Heavylands (v1.9) Canvas Map: Highlands Min/Max Player count:[/b} 10/16 Ideal Player count: 16 Gametypes supported: All Default Highlands gametypes Best Gametypes: Slayer, 2-Flag/Bomb, Neutral Bomb, Stockpile, Territories Map Category: Heavy Variant Breif Description: The map has been crafted with loving care, innovative techniques, and improved numerous times with feedback from experienced and talented forgers. Heavylands sports a much more powerful weapon and vehicle set than it's underwhelming brethren, and uses controlled spawning of ordiance on both sides to craft as an ever-changing arsenal at playes disposal to meet new challenges that appear on the battlefeild. Download Link: Heavylands v1.9 Now for pictues, and then a personal request. (but mostly pictures) Blue teleporter (reciever) Red teleporter (reciever) Red "neutral" Falcon Blue "Neutral" Falcon Red sniper rifle Neutral Splaser structure Neutral Grenade Luncher, Plasma Grenades, and Health Pack Total Vehicle selection(available at bases) NOTE: all vehicles shown in the picture are NOT available simultaneously. The Gauss hog spawns once, and once only. Use it wisely. ACTION SHOTS Air Assault Revving it up Rocketman I would like to let everyone know that the map itself is only now being introduced into the public Beta phase, and may still have bugs, glitches, and un-perfected gameplay elements. You can help in the development of Heavylands by downloading the map, getting some crazy DLC-only fun on, and posting any bugs, you find or any dislikes you have about the map Anything you don't like or wish to be changes is extremly important to the development of the map. Please post anything as soon as possible, you'll only be helping yourselves The link if you missed it: Heavylands 1.9

Personally, i'd like almost all maps to be new. I think that Reach is also plauged by having too many remakes as dedicated maps. I think that making straigh-up remakes should be left to community forgers as shown in the old "classic "playlist (hope you still remember that thing!). Great remakes such as blackout/lockout, pinnacle, and Hang 'em High were found there, and could have been expanded upon, The map packs (excluding Anniversary) were chock-full of original ideas on possibilities, Showing us just how much better new things are than stale ideals.

I brought a Sword, got the slice n' Dice on red team

all righty then... if that new weapon seen in the trailer is explained... i herby reserve the rights to say: I TOLD YOU SO!!!! Plus, hyped to see at least some of the new vehicles in the game... I hope it's in video format, or at least pictures with commentary, and not just concept art. Concept art is cool an all, but it dosn't actuall tell you anything about the upcoming game, unless you already know what it'a a picture of...

Might i shorten the OP, by making this descriiption really short. The Weapon acts much more like a single-shot Plasma Launcher, without the lock-on effect.

There has only been one confirmed weapon that is to be feaured in Halo 4 that has been seen so far. No one's quite sure what exactly what it is, but I believe I have just figure out what exactly it is, what it does, and what the likely gameplay mechanics of it are. So, let's start with what we know: -It's obviously a human weapon -It fires some kind of external round that explodes rather violently. -it's pretty small, about the size of a pistol -Chief reloads it by popping on another round on the muzzle of the gun -It only fired once before it has to reload -The round DOES NOT explodes when hitting a wall, instead it Sticks to the door and detonates when stuck. -Chief only fires it WITH ONE HAND. look VERY closely Now by looking very closely at the Trailer, i've likely deduced what all these factors mean to gameplay. The mere fact that it's a ballistic-based human weapon means that we'll likely be able to reload it, and once it runs out of ammo, requres you to scour around for ammo. This meant that something else is running around with this weapon, likely other humans. Now whether or not you'll have to kill them for it is another thing altogether. Now, i'll combine the second and third known facts to hypothesize the likely power and useage of the weapon. Since this weapon explodes, it must be pretty powerful, meaning it likely has low ammo, and takes a while to reload and get off another shot. The weapon itself is only the size of a pistol though, what gives? The pistol itself is a sidearm, so the Mystery Weapon itself is likely also a sidearm. And let's face it, an explosive sidearm has never been implemented before, and sounds like a great idea. Considering the fact that projectile explodes, and yet is a sidearm, it's extremly like that it is in fact, NOT a one-shot kill weapon, [unless stuck, i'll get to that later] and does limited area damage. The fact that No EMP effect is seen reinforces the thought that is a sidearm, and does not have as much range as a rifle, or do as much damage as a heavy weapon. Imagine a Reach Grenade Launcher in which the round does not bounce (instead sticks) , only kills on a direct hit, and has no EMP effect. The forth and fifth known facts are almost the same, but they mean two different things. First of all, The Chief puts another round on the FRONT of the gun, meaning that it is, in no way, clip fed. In other words, it's not a pistol, and it's certainly not a pistol attatchment. You get one shot, and one shot only. The reload sequence shown is likely much longer in the trailer than in the game, for dramatization purposes. Chief likely just smacks down the top, and slips on another round. If the speed of his actions is accurate, that gives it about a reload about as long as the Reach Grenade Launcher. A resonable length for an explosive weapon. The sixth fact shows us that it has an ability to stick to surfaces, much like the plasma launcher. You must pay EXTREMLY close attention to notice this. You can see this right before the very moment the "beep" is heard, and you will see a yellow-orange dot that wasn't there before and explodes. There is also a "beep" once the round had stuck, possibly indicating that the charge is armed and is ready to detonate (and alerting other players that something's been stuck, and it's time to get out of there). The apparent speed the round travels gives it an approximate "golden range" of where most DMR battles take place and is likely very accurate at that range. This is offset by the fact that if the weilder misses the first shot, there is an ample window of opportunity to close in, and kill the weilder before they have a chance to fire another shot. Now, what I consider to be the most interesting fact is that, if you look very closely, you can see that the chief fires the Mystery Weapon with one hand. This is pure speculation, but it could mean that the weapon is dual-weildable. This, coulpled with the fact that there were several of the other weapons floating about, might reinforce the suggestion that dual-weilding may be back. --------------------------------- If the Mystery weapon were to be dual-weilded, you would have 2 shots available increasing the incentive to go and find another Mystery Weapon. Reload times should be longer for both sets by a bit, to offset the increase in shots available at any given time. I'm just suggesting it's back, not that it would be good. Anyway, The Concluded traits of the new weapon are that it: is an explosive sidearm able to kill in 1 hit if stuck, sticks to other surfaces and likely vehicles, deals moderate-heavy damage if stuck to vehicles ans other players and has low-medium splash damage . It reloads quickly enough to match an AR at just beyond it's golden range, and challenge the coming "utility rifle" at it's closest "golden range". but long enough to be balanced. There is also the possibliliy of it being dual-weildable. The round is also loaded onto a series of 2 adjacent rails, and one lower rail, Original speculation idea goes to firedune22 (me)

Yes, they're called Community Cartographers, and have been working hard to bring you those newly updated maps. There was a zombies contest a while back, and final test had most of the maps that are in the new zombies playlist. As of right now, we've been told to get Race and some Heavy variants out, however, i'm not too sure of the deadline for the submissions to 343i. Unfortunately, there is a slim to no chance of you seeing a Gauss 'hog in Matchmaking anytime soon, even on the Heavy variants. P.S. could someone tell me if there is a variant of [midship? i forgot] in the zombies playlist? There was one version that was and adapted MLG variant with some FX filter on it. It was very fun.