Forging Halo is a collection of the blogs I created over the years beginning with Forging Reach. The blogs themselves no longer exist, but have been combined into this one web site for easier management and reading by forgers like yourself. Like my first blog Forging Reach and my second blog Forging Halo 4, the blog I put together on level design concepts for Halo forgers is my attempt to put into writing things I have learned in a simple to read format. These concepts should apply to any Halo title.
Forging Reach was started to share with the community my aggregating all of the official Bungie information (JonnyOThan’s sketchy tutorials and his answers to our questions) on the spawn system and present them in comprehensive and easy to follow articles. Over time, the blog expanded to include other topics. And I finished the blog with a lengthy series of mini articles on forging for the Invasion playlist.
Forging Halo 4 started with unofficial information on the spawn engine because 343i and Certain Affinity never provided a forum and an inside source to answer our questions. Tiberius Audley provided the first analysis and discussion on how to make the spawn system work for you. Simple as it was, it started me down a road to go to the next level of discovery and discussion, and I wrote a number of articles on the deficiencies of the spawn engine and how to make it work as best we can. It was at this point I became interested in writing about generic level design concepts that were important to forging Halo maps. I felt that they should not be tied to Forging Halo 4, since they could be used for future titles as well.
These articles on level design are yet again a completely different approach. For these articles, I lean on concepts that some of my friends had taught me one on one in forge, from reading articles at various forums, and from listening to people in lobbies and in games over the years. It is my intention to simply capture all of this information into a series of articles with great detail and deep analysis, to help the aspiring Halo forger skip the learning curve that I had endured, and to reach the next level quickly.
I have read many articles on the web about forging for Halo and also about level design in general. What I hope to bring to the table is a fresh explanation behind the why? regarding what to forge into a map, and to present the information in a comprehensive and analytical perspective. I hope that you can find these lessons helpful.
- MrGreenWithAGun