- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Forge is not win. Forge is suck. Forge is only useful because of the two glitches that make is somewhat able to make maps. If not for interlocking (merging to objects together) or geomerging (forcing objects into map geometry).
The flaw with the TS2 or TS3 (Time Spiltters 2/3) map editor is that you are limited to making a bunch of hallways and large, prefabricated rooms. I have several map ideas that would simply not be possible in a map editor like that, and we would still have the problem of really similar looking maps. I would kill to have the TS3 map editor in Halo 3 as an upgrade to Forge. However, because Reach is a new game, I believe Bungie should go all out and make some crazy map editor.
Reach's map editor should include (but not limited to):
-have an object library composed of only 4 geometrical primitives (cube, triangular prism, cylinder, sphere) that are relatively low-polygon so we can place many of them, as well as height maps, water, death barriers, soft ceilings, gravity lifts, some prefabricated objects such as trees and rocks, etc...
-ability to edit color, texture and opacity on an object.
-ability to resize objects (x,y, and z individually)
-ability to position the x,y,z coordinates of objects
-ability to change the roll, pitch and yaw of objects
-ability to edit the last three properties of objects using a keypad type thing
-ability to create bump maps/height maps (whatever they are called)
-ability to have a paintbrush feature to paint heightmaps so they aren't one solid texture or color
-ability to create water
-ability to color the water, change how murky it is, etc...
-ability to turn physics on or off for anything so we can make our own crates, barriers, etc...
-ability to cut certain geometry out of other geometry (this should definitely be included, because it would allows us to make many different types of things such as cars, stairs, etc...
-ability to place 'death barriers'
-ability to place customizable gravity lifts with different effects and heights/diameters
-ability to give objects basic scripting capabilities so we can make buttons, drawbridges, giant rotating things, working subways that turn at certain points, etc...
-ability to enable/disable the more advanced options so new users aren't overwhelmed by them
-have the map editor not be based off of a certain map (such as Sandbox), and instead start as a completely empty (no floor, walls, water, etc...) map
-limit our maps to numbers of polygons total or the fps achieved when playing on the map, not by some predetermined value such as money or amount of objects
-fix the 'glitch' that causes walls to be uneven to conserve file size. Videos can be 16 megabytes easily, so why is Bungie trying to keep map sizes so low?
-allow us to have more than 100 items of user-created content
-ability to group objects together, and move them together
-ability to change the weather and atmosphere of the map
-ability to copy/paste objects or groups
-ability to place soft ceilings to keep people from leaving the map
-ability to create 'zones' that give certain teams or players different base player traits
-allow us to place the objective objects without changing the gametype
-put in as many Halo Wars vehicles in forge as you can. They'll be like the Fuel Rod Gun and Incendiary grenades.
-allow us to alter the power and abilities of vehicles and weapons. Bungie did this on Avalanche with the Transport Hornet
-more specific spawn characteristics, ie: VIP, Juggernaut spawns, etc.
-set the default spawn grenade (i.e: Heretic with Plasma Grenades)
-ability to add sounds to certain parts of the map
-a grass brush
Or, Bungie could just give us a computer based map editor not limited to console controls.
[Edited on 09.30.2009 4:50 PM PDT]