...but the YouTube assault starts now!



YouTube - The Battle Begins

Time to dance!

Lars is busy cranking away at project "Bakken Crick," and here I am, still stuck in Jurkout. I took Chad's advice from yesterday and added some more flat real estate to the back half of shadow base, using some bridges and floating landing pads that connect back to the central, lower structure. Hopefully, the additional square footage will make the process of creating the myriad of spawns I'll need that much easier.

To tell the truth, I'm not looking forward to it. While there are a whole host of Forge improvements designed to aid in general construction, spawning is and always will be a thinking man's game. Basically, I'm screwed. But it's not all doom and gloom. Chad's promised to give me a few pointers here and there. Hopefully, when we get to that point in the process, his pointers will help you out, too.

But we're not there yet. Carney told me I should add more cover to the lower routes. He suggested I use columns and noted that they've been properly man sized. I only had a brief encounter with Jurkout today, so I didn't get a chance to add them into the mix, but as you can see, I did drop in a pair of man cannons to create a second route up into the back base. From inside, you can drop back down and head through the water up the gut, branch around to the platforms on either side, or ride the central gravity lift back up. Seems like it could play out okay and provide a cool cat and mouse experience. Of course, more likely it'll just be janky and totally suck.

After my first foray into map making, I was asked to drop a Spartan into the mix so people could get a better sense of Jurkout's overall size. See that white blip on the top of the central tower in the image above? That's an initial spawn point, properly Spartan sized. And for that matter, the tower itself is straight out of Lockout. Hopefully, that gives you better grip on the map's scale.











So, there you go. Day 2. (Not that I'm going to be able to update you each and every day.) Next time, I'm going to incorporate some additional cover, play with the movement between the lower routes so people don't accidentally hit the drink thinking they're on solid ground (thanks for the tip, Chad!), and start figuring out where I'm going to put spawns and weapons.

Wish me luck! I'm gonna need it.

All the world's a stage.

A caveat: I am not a map designer. I don’t pretend to have a good (or even pedestrian) grasp of player movement, neutral space, or balance. I’m just a guy who makes jokes on the internet. But even I can make a sweet Forge map.

Welcome to Incompetent Cartographer.

I’m not doing this for personal glory. In fact, I fully expect whatever I build to suck. Tremendously. I am not a patient man. I spent a grand total of about three hours with Halo 3’s Forge before throwing my hands up and tossing my controller down. But while I might not have what it takes to make an amazing map destined for our official matchmaking playlists, I can show you the basic steps. I can walk the path. Over the course of the next seven or so weeks, I’m gonna do just that. I’m going to load up Forge World, I’m going to use Forge and attempt to build a multiplayer map, and I’m going to bug Chad and Carney to give me insider tips to help me through the tough times. When I'm finished, I’m going to submit my creation through some of the same channels and mechanisms you’ll be using post-launch so you can see what the process might be like in Reach. Ready?

Let’s begin.

First things first, before you make a kick ass map on Forge World, you need to scout out some suitable terrain. It’s no small task, Ponce, there’s plenty of geography to explore.

Yup, I went with the Lagoon. The water here is deep enough to be deadly and I figured I could do something interesting by submerging some walkways knee deep in the gentle, crystal blue waves. Plus, it’s an awesome looking sea cave with waterfalls spilling down from high above. Even if my map sucks butts, at least the surrounding space will look downright beautiful. Thanks, Cotton!

Let's get down to business.


Bye, bye random spawns. With this deadly water ensconcing my map, I figure I’ll be meeting my watery maker on a regular basis as I twist and turn the pieces into place. Can’t be spawning up in the Coliseum, now can I?




Before I get too deep, let’s save this sucker, give it a name, and provide a description. As you can see, I got all 80's with it. Catch the reference? Yeah, you're probably not old enough.


Now that we’re working in a safe environment, it’s time to get on the grid. Just like in Sandbox, this grid will act as a physical barrier, so any objects I set on it will be perfectly placed at the right height. Unlike Sandbox, I can slap this grid wherever I want. And now I'm ready to start building. I'd call it the mass out phase, but let's get real -- that's way too official sounding for what I'm about to do. It's gonna get ugly.


Bring your waterwings, chumps! It's gonna get wet and wild.



Back down to business. Shadow Base needs some more love.


And some Gadgets. Does two teleporters and two man cannons seem a bit much?


What about a ginormous base?


Yeah, I think I'm gonna stop for now, but that's not bad for my first few hours, eh? Before I could get too confident, Miller spotted me working in Jurkout yesterday and asked me if I did it all by myself. Like I was a toddler.

“Really? You didn’t have any help?”

Yes, Dan…really. Fortunately for me, Chad stopped by early this morning to offer up a more helpful tip.

“There are a lot of narrow paths and not much dance floor.”

That’s because I haven’t built out the arms or added the Falcons in yet, Chad! (Dammit, he’s right.) Looks like I have a lot more work to do. Stay tuned.

IGN has the answer.

IGN.com wants to chat with you about Credits and Daily Challenges. Don't worry, it's a pretty short article. We're gonna get through this together. (Thanks to HBO for the link.)

Why is Master Chief in Halo: Reach?