What a Forge Life it's been.

Well, shit. This is still here. Neat.

I won't be editing anything on this site (other than the Request Help page) so that it can remain a time capsule of how poorly I wrote when I first got started. The content of this site has been mirrored to multiple other wikis and one of them is linked below.

How Does Time Work, Again?

I’ve been using Halo’s Forge level editor since its release with Halo 3 and have been building, experimenting, testing, and learning the concepts of level design, environment art, and experience design ever since.

When Halo: Reach was released in 2010, the manual pointed to Bungie.net if you wanted to have instructions for Forge. There wasn’t one, so I took what design skills I had picked up thus far and wrote one on a personal blog, ForgeLife, after doing a deep-dive in the tool and self-teaching all of the ins and outs through trial and error. I set this site up specifically for this project and began to practice technical writing and educating others through it.

Prior to the launch of Halo 5’s Forge I was asked to be a part of Creative Force, a group of level designers and environment artists, to continue documenting/teaching Forge. While with Creative Force, aside from working on and running internal projects, I began and ran multiple community projects, as well as making sure all of our public image presented as professionally as possible to help drive legitimacy. One of these projects was assisting with creating the Alliance Testing Network, the progenitors of the popular Extermination mode.

Because of my time with Creative Force, I was invited to work with ForgeHub as a writer and artist. Prior to the release of the Monitor’s Bounty update for Halo 5’s Forge, I wrote articles explaining the scripting system for Halo 5. More articles were planned, but became obsolete with the launch of Monitor’s Bounty. Seeing the hugely increased amount of work it would take to properly cover the new expanse, I pivoted to creating a Discord server, The Scripter’s Guild.

The Scripter’s Guild’s base goal was to help people share information and help interested parties find each other. This worked and proved far more effective than a series of reference articles could have ever been. We were able to lobby for the addition of a wiki section to the ForgeHub website and were responsible for collecting, testing, and organizing the information that comprises the Halo 5 Scripting section of the ForgeHub wiki. The codeblock template I developed became integral to our communication and documentation efforts, allowing us to think and design outside the constraints of the UI in Halo 5’s Forge.

The Scripter’s Guild is, as a group, responsible for a large amount of content that was used in Halo 5’s Matchmaking, some of which was made while working with 343i’s Live Team to accomplish specific goals for playlists. Regarding projects that were used in/made for Matchmaking Playlist usage, I was responsible for scripting Roaming King, 1 Flag BTB, and a new KotH build for the Mythic Playlist.

More recently, I did another stint at ForgeHub as a contributor, artist, and admin. We were able to greatly grow the community's size and engagement, replaced the forums with dedicated channels for each version of Forge in the community Discord, and created a help section that quickly turned into one of the best reference tools for Infinite's Forge available as hundreds of questions were asked and answered. We more than doubled the size of the team and had multiple weekly streamed events and lobbies, using the platform to build partnerships across the community. (Note: I stepped down as admin and left the org earlier this year.)

I have also been asked onto the Forge Council by 343. My role there is primarily to advocate for users of Forge, primarily where it comes to scripting and game mode design. I do what I can to apply the modified perspective that comes with that to advising people on how to tackle projects in Forge and to make sure that relevant feedback reaches the right ears.

Most recently, I've been working on wiki content for Halo Infinite and exploring UEFN. You can find that Halo Infinite content in the wiki linked below and the eventual plan is to also mirror it to Halopedia.

Contact

The moniker is Captain Punch, now.

You can find me here:
The Scripter's Guild - https://discord.gg/ZpE3tcpZy9
(this is the best place to reach me)

More helpful links:
https://linktr.ee/captainpunch

You can find the content of this site (for easier reading) and more, here:
https://theanvil.net/wiki/

The Scripter's Guild and myself primarily only offer advice for scripting and focus on the latest release.

You can find information on Halo 5's scripting in the linked wiki and you can get help with legacy versions of Forge from members of The Anvil on their forums or discord.

For the latest release, I would recommend the Pathfinders club in HaloFunTime's Discord, or putting out a question on The Foundry (both are in the Linktr.ee above)

Stay classy, kids.
- Cap'n

Load-Outs

When constructing Game Types, one of the largest obstacles to overcome is the creation of Loadouts. 

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There are a few things to keep in mind when putting these together, so, to begin simply, a listing and reference of the basic settings between them:

Primary Weapon

 Sets Primary Weapon, will be overridden by Weapons and Vehicles and PowerUps settings.

Secondary Weapon

 Sets Secondary Weapon, will be overridden by Weapons and Vehicles and PowerUps settings.

Equipment

 Sets Equipment.

Grenades

 Sets Grenades.

 Unchanged | Map Default | No Grenades | 1x Frag | 2x Frag | 3x Frag | 4x Frag | 1x Plasma | 2x Plasma | 3x Plasma | 4x Plasma | 1x Each | 2x Each | 3x Each | 4x Each 

Hidden (Toggle)

 Decides whether or not the Load Out will be selectable ingame.

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The next biggest item to cover is the plethora of names available to them, the expanse of which I have decided to categorize, as I have seen far too much misuse of names in conjunction with each other (such as usages of "Ling Ling" or "Pookie" in what would usually be considered serious Game Types).

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General Descriptions:

Air Assault | Sharpshooter | Marksman | Recon | Grenadier | Medic | Demolitions |

Jobs:

Operator | Corpsman | Stalker | Infiltrator | Security | Guard | Scout | Saboteur | Deceiver |

Armor Abilities:

Sprint | Evade | Armor Lock | Active Camo | Hologram | Drop Shield | Jet Pack | 

Noble Team:

Noble 1 | Noble 2 | Noble 3 | Noble 4 | Noble 5 | Noble 6 | 

Noble Team (Names):

Carter | Kat | Jorge | Emile | Jun | 

Blue Team:

John | Kelly | Linda | Sam | Kurt | 

Various Spartan III's:

Thom | Rosenda | 

Other Names:

Jerry | Jimmy | Bobby | Marlo | Omar | Danny | 

Animals:

Cobra | Eagle | Hog | Bear | 

Sangheili:

Ranger | Zealot | Royal Zealot | Assassin | Dark Assassin | Spec Ops | 

Combatants:

Gladiator | Champion | Warrior | Berserker | Maverick | Ninja |

Penal System:

Sentry | Warden | 

Gametype Related:

Juggernaut |  Zombie | 

Religion and Mythology:

Demon | Angel | Specter | 

SciFi:

Redshirt | Claymore |

Bungie and Halo Related:

Ling Ling | Pookie | FNG | Noob | Camper | 

Leftovers:

Bunker | Firebase | Intel | Power |

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More will be coming soon, discussing the balancing of Load Outs, specifically in the combination of Equipment with Weapons and Grenades to create a custom character experience.

Time for some Goosin'! RACE!

Coming to you from Zebra505, we have yet another game type article. This time we'll be covering the Race Game Type. I'll let Zebra do the rest (I'll put in your links later dude, posting from the phone).

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Contents:

1) Before Starting
2) Spawning
3) Checkpoints
4) Items
5) Teleporters
6) Flow/Time/Traps
7) Safe/Kill Zones/Mines
8) Final Touches
9) Play Testing

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Before Starting:

Before you start making your map two things need to be decided:

1) What map will you use? This is simple enough. The most common two choices are Forge World and Tempest. It would be best to stick to these maps because they have the largest forge pallets and also offer the most versatile Forge spaces.

2) What vehicle will you use? This is one of the most important decisions you will make. What type of vehicle will your map be designed for? There are a few vehicles to choose from, the mongoose, warthog, ghost, and banshee. The mongoose and warthog are the most common vehicles to see in a race map. Once you decide what vehicle to use you need to stick with it. All the elements of your track need to be tailored to your specific vehicle choice. Other types of transport may be able to run your course, but selecting one main vehicle creates a better race experience.

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Re-Inventing the Juggernaut

Alrighty, so, now that I've finally got some time to write, I've developed a slight backlog of posts! So be checking back every other day to see a new post for at least the next week. Right now, You'll be seeing my own article on the Juggernaut Game Type, with information on the different settings available and what they might mean for gameplay coming after I get a chance to look them over again. You'll also be seeing posts on the Race Game Type, with tips and tricks to help you craft masterful tracks from Zebra505, as well as a CTF article from UrM4mm4, the creator of Crucible, which I featured a few weeks or so ago. Hopefully we'll also see articles on Headhunter and at least one more Game Type in the same line up. I'll also be featuring another map, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

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One would think that creating a play space for a game that entails an immensely powerful being running around decimating a group of people who are on a continuous quest to kill it wouldn't take much thought. They would be right, sort of.

The biggest point to make for Juggernaut, especially now that the Juggernaut is restricted to the Gravity Hammer, is that a map like Hemorrhage would not work very well; with the huge expanses that the Juggernaut would have to cross, vehicles that could dart and weave around him, dealing far more damage over a much greater amount of time than any other player could, and the few tight spaces available, players would spend most of their time grabbing those vehicles, and long range weapons, and take turns taking pot-shots at the Juggernaut as he hopelessly tries to find them, or cowers in the base or the cave. The Quintessential Stalemate ensues.

(If you haven't already, click below to see more)

Special/Color Effects RAWK!

As an Update, I added a Twitter account for the site, so go ahead and follow ForgeLife on Twitter for bite-sized tips and updates from us! Yes, us, there are two of us now (mwuahahahahahahah!) here at Forge Life.


I've also noticed that I didn't have anything even close to regarding the Special Effects Items in Forge 2.0! So, for my forgetfulness, and for me not updating in forever, here is a list of the effects, their effects, and a few combinations you can use to make them rawk!


I'll be keeping this as a separate post, so you'll see it in the sidebar!


If you haven't already, open the full post to see their combinations.
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Effects
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Effect                       Does

Juicy                Saturation ++, Brightness -, Vibrance +, Contrast ++, Light (effectiveness of lights on map) ++, Hue (n/a)

Next Gen          Saturation -, Brightness -, Vibrance =, Contrast +, Light (effectiveness of lights on map) =, Hue (Grey)

Color Blind        Saturation ----, Brightness =, Vibrance =, Contrast =, Light (effectiveness of lights on map) =, Hue (B&W)

Purple              Saturation --, Brightness --, Vibrance -, Contrast -, Light (effectiveness of lights on map) -, Hue (Purple)

Orange            Saturation ++, Brightness --, Vibrance +, Contrast ++, Light (effectiveness of lights on map) -, Hue (Orange)

Green              Saturation --, Brightness -, Vibrance -, Contrast --, Light (effectiveness of lights on map) --, Hue (Green)

Pen & Ink        Saturation =, Brightness ++, Vibrance +, Contrast +++, Light (effectiveness of lights on map) +++, Hue (n/a)

Old Timey        Saturation ---, Brightness -, Vibrance -, Contrast +, Light (effectiveness of lights on map) -, Hue (Sepia)

Nova               Saturation -, Brightness ++++, Vibrance +, Contrast --, Light (effectiveness of lights on map) ++, Hue (White)

Updates to PRO TIPS Section [12/14/2010]

The Pro Tips section has been updated, nearly quadrupling its content, with more on the way, the current line-up is as follows:




#1) Precision Editing


#2) "Game Type Specific" Toggle


#3) Man Cannons  (NEW!)


#4) Shield Doors    (NEW!)


#5) Health Packs   (NEW!)


#6) Devices
     - The Reactor   (NEW!)
     - Jump Pads     (NEW!)




Sources:


BadCompany Brik, Jonzorz 124, That Spazamataz, Captain Furgler, GodlyPerfection, Kirov 099, and Myself, The Ardly374.




You can access the page via the navigation bar to the left, or here (<---LINK).




It may seem like a minor update, but the information in these, however mundane, when used correctly, can make the difference between your make being playable and people wanting to play your map.




Be looking for moar updates, I just finished with school for the year, time to kick ass and take names.




ALSO! I started up (ok, I'm using the one I've had for 8 years) an AIM account to use for this site, on top of the already integrated chat function. The UN is "ardly374." Surprised? I thought not. Hit me up, but understand that I'm not your bitch, ok?




Stay l337.

Can haz a Featured Map?

So I got a map for you guys, from the coolest parent evar, the wonderfully boisterous, UrM4mm4!

He calls it Crucible, my Hammer Sprees call it home.

Click for Moar!

To begin, a basic layout of 2 minute Photoshop gloriousness.

Gray= ground level

Blue= Upper level

Yellow= Ramp

Red= Window

Black= Wall

This map has TONS of stuff on it, a Hammer, Sniper, Rocket, dead bodies, and even a great view out the window by the Sniper. Be careful not to try to hard to get the Falcon, you will get dead.

To better explain all the stuff on this map, I made a pretty picture:

TA-EFFIN-DA!

It is a pretty sweet map, tons of movement paths, plenty of places to camp, and even more ways to get around those places. which makes camping balanced, and ok. There are jump strategies to be had, grenade bounces to be exploited, and lots of pretty things to look at, all the while killing each other mercilessly. GET TO IT.



M4mm4 did a great job on this map, download it (<--Link), play it, and support it, because you know you want to.