Yesterday was a pretty epic day for the forging community. 343i and Certain Affinity's Forge Island was released 13 days early.
I still maintain they should have dropped it on April 1st, but it's hard to complain about early gifts.
Our friend Psychoduck, with The Halo Forge Epidemic, does a nice first impressions of the new islands.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zmu5Z_a2j2Q
I also had a chance to go over the objects during my lunch break yesterday, if you want to check out the twitch.tv replay, click here
Overall the map is amazing. A true forgers dream. I noticed a few problems with pieces, but overall it seems they really took the effort to improve the quality of the objects this time around. I tried to break the lighting and was unable to with all the usual players. They also made modifications to improve certain objects weight so it seems like we'll be much more open with object usage.
Some things of note regarding the pallet:
Forge Island includes most of the basic objects from Ravine with a new Green Screen (For machinima)
Certain blocks have been revisited to simplify their geometry. No new sizes.
Bridges now match entire pallet. No longer a dark grey
Dish and Sniper Nest appear to have decorative pipes added onto flat face
Buildings
Includes Window, Colloseum, Ramp Circular pieces, Walkway Large, and Large Ravine bases
Tower, 3 Story still has invisible wall bug
Base 2, Left and Right now have a 3 way hallway instead of a corner
Rock 4 and Rock 5 are huge new rock objects. Rock 5 is ~8wx9lx1.5h rectangle and Rock 4 is around 2x2x12 cylinder
Decorative is mostly unchanged besides pallet matching. The complex pieces appear to be lighter on the lighting
Doors, Windows, and Walls now match pallet better. No major changes
Incline textures were made much simpler, especially noticeable on banks, ramp XL, and Ramp Stunt
Natural now features Trees!
Rock 1 from Ravine returns but with more moss
Rock 2 and 3 are MUCH larger and MUCH more useful
Tree 1 and Tree 2 are mostly leafy, while Tree 3 is 3/4 trunk
Grid or Green screen can be placed under water as an invisible and large water floor
About the Islands:
They're VERY flat
The large island is at max 47.5 units in radius, with a slight egg shape to it.
Center coords for safe volume: X:245.4 Y:46.3
Medium island is at max 34.4 units in radius. It is mostly circular
Center coords: X:317.8 Y:-99.5
Small island is at max 14.0 units in radius. Very circular as well
Center coordinate: X:242.7 Y:-234.9
There's a small rock formation near the islands you can build on as well.
Other points of note:
Trait zones all set to Unchanged by default!
Appears to retain selections better
Let me know if you find any other cool things of interest and I can add it to the list!
Thanks for reading