When the original Forge mode was released back in 2007, who could have known the impact it would have on Halo? More than just a map editor, Forge allowed players to collaborate with one another and create brand-new, unique experiences in a multiplayer session. For the first time, friends could test a map live while it was being built. This empowered creativity, allowed for rapid iteration and led to the discovery of all sorts of happy accidents. Best of all, building in Forge could be as fun as playing the game. Halo players embraced this new tool, letting their imaginations run wild. Since then, some of the most fun and creative ideas in Halo have come directly from the community, via Forge.
For Halo 5: Guardians, we knew we wanted to take a giant leap forward with Forge. The creativity of the Forge community knows no bounds and our goal was to give them more power and control than ever before. We wanted to remove as many constraints as possible so they can create high quality maps that rival the ones that we are shipping with the game.
Last month, we brought a group of five Community Cartographers (Forgers) to the studio to spend time with the Forge team and get hands-on with the new tools. Over the course of a week, each cartographer worked on a new map. It was amazing to see how much they were able to accomplish in such a short amount of time. Throughout their visit, the cartographers provided feedback and feature requests that were then turned around in nightly updates from the Forge team. We had a camera crew on site to document this week-long collaboration and we’ll be sharing that footage in the near future. In it, you’ll see many of the new Forge features in action. For a small preview of
The new Forge mode will release in December, just in time for the holiday break. From there, we’ll be running Forge as an ongoing (free) service for Halo 5, taking feedback from the community and delivering new features and content on an ongoing basis. Halo 5’s Forge is the biggest evolution of the feature since the original was released with Halo 3. Check out an overview of some of the new Forge features and capabilities from Tom French, our lead designer on the mode:
TOM FRENCH, DESIGN LEAD
When we began working on Halo 5 a little over three years ago, we had the opportunity to take a step back and consider the future of Forge mode. This would be the first Halo game built from the ground up for Xbox One, and with it we wanted to deliver tools that would empower a new generation of Forgers. As we developed our vision, we challenged ourselves to think big, for Halo 5 and the future beyond. We compiled our ideas, scoured the internet for community wish lists, and stirred it all together. Rather than just tack a handful of new features on top of what’s already there, it was important to examine every nook and cranny to make sure even the foundations for building with Forge were up to snuff.
Building with Forge was a slow and methodical process, and we felt that was the first thing we needed to fix. We wanted to streamline building so users could build faster, build prettier, and build MORE, MORE, MORE! We took philosophical cues from professional level editing tools to redesign our core systems to make them more powerful while maintaining fluid controller-based editing. It was important for us to rip out arbitrary restrictions in order to unshackle map builders, empowering more creativity with every piece placed, enabling imagination to run rampant, and find ideas that we never even expected.
We’ve been using Forge internally A TON; battle testing it while we build new maps to push on the new feature set. Along the way we’ve made Forge fans out of people who weren’t fans before. Simply put, while still maintaining the core identity, the new Forge really feels a lot like a new tool that will improve the way maps are built with it.
CONTROLLER BASED EDITING 2.0
Before we began delving deep into implementation of feature list, we knew our first revision needed to be to updating the core controls of Forge so every system had a solid foundation we could extend from. This was arguably one of the most important foundational shifts we needed to make, so we had to get it right.
In the beginning, my engineering partner Ben and I met and drew on whiteboards to work through ideas and break down changes. Ben would then head back to his desk and soon we’d have a new iteration up and running to try. We ended up experimenting with probably a dozen different methods but none of them felt right to us. Everything we tried wasn’t fluid enough for us because we were trying to cram things into the previous control schemes. After taking a step back and taking a weekend to soak on it we came back and put the new ideas up on the board. A few days later Ben had new controls hooked up that finally worked.
Improved Control Scheme – Revised controls keeps users hands in the default “home” position so there’s less reaching for buttons which speeds up the building process. Don’t worry long-time Forgers, it took the Forgers we brought in a little bit to get used to but even the most hesitant were soon up and building maps at full speed.
Multi-Select/Edit – Users can select and manipulate up to 64 individual objects at one time (more if combined with Groups); movement, rotation, property editing, everything you’re able to do to a single object.
Free Camera – The camera no longer snaps to objects being edited. Users can freely position the camera to find the best vantage point to edit from. To orbit around selected objects like past Forges, simply click the right-stick to “lock on” to the objects and click again to cycle between multiple zoom levels.
Contextual Control Helper – This lets the user see, in real time, what each controller input does. Users can change from “basic” settings to learn the ropes, “advanced” for the power user controls, or turn the helper off once everything becomes second nature.
Grid/Rotation Snaps – Switch between multiple grid/rotation snap settings quickly to help align objects perfectly with each other. The bulk of the Forge specific assets are built to a grid so they interact perfectly with each other, making building even easier. There’s even a very small grid snap that can be used to fix z-fighting without making “bumps” or very precise grid editing.
Precision Editing – Precision editing returns to enable fine tuning of object placement. On top of that, there’s a power user trick we call “double analog” precision that allows for even finer manipulation.
Smart Magnets – Magnets no longer snap objects while moving them around. Instead they draw connection lines between magnets that will snap when the input is released. Additionally the camera can be aimed at magnets to influence which ones will snap giving extra precision when building with magnets.