: This is to fuel my couriosity and possibly to help inform 343 Industustries
: what we Like, Miss, and Want in future Halo Forge Modes. I realize that
: there have been dozens of other threads before this discussing Forge and
: it's short-comings and/or changes over the years. I do not wish to go that
: route with this thread. We are very blessed to even have Forge. And I feel
: we need to remind ourselves of that from time to time. I also feel we need
: to thank the game's many developers for their hard work and dedication to
: keep the mode alive and growing.

I think that advice is better suited to life and big things than features in software and specifically video games, but maybe I'm looking at it wrong.

: This is a pretty simple survey that expands among all Halo console games
: consisting of a Forge Mode. Halo on PC and Mac are exempt from this survey
: due to how big of a beast their map customization has become in comparison
: to their console counterpart. Mode, Hacks, and Glitches are also exempt
: from this survey.

modes are exempt? what do you mean?

: Now on to it we go.

: 1) List your favorite Forge Object or Group of Objects and why?

I wanted to say the Structure category, but that's kind of obvious, isn't it? Without it you can't get anything done, at least you can't really build anything. I was kind of leaning towards the Natural category under structure, but IDK. You reminded me (in your next post) of the new specialized objective pieces, and I do think those are cool and useful. I feel like I'm forgetting something else... IDK... after thinking some more, I'm somewhat leaning towards all the thin Building block pieces, though.

: 2) List your favorite map to Forge on and why. Please try to keep this answer
: simple and short.

The simple, easy answer is Forge World, but I haven't tried to do a lot Forge-wise in Halo 4 (I've spent a bunch of time in Forge, but I haven't gotten much done), and most of my attempts at making things were on Forge Island, so I don't feel like I can totally fairly judge them like that... but Forging is also harder and less enjoyable in Halo 4, which automatically brings them down a certain degree.

: 3) List no more the three NEW changes you would like to see in future Forge
: modes.

1. I'd like access to all the objects the developers use in making the game (at least the ones that show up in the game). This might not be that realistic because they're not left in object form in shipped maps (unless they're made using Forge), so they're not already there, and they're not that way because of how the maps are finalized, which has to do with the second issue: they can take up a lot of memory.

2. I'd like to be able to apply any texture in the game to any object and to reorient it. Just being able to reorient textures could be really nice to have. It shouldn't be too hard to give us the ability to use any texture on any objects, but I'm not sure about reorienting them.

3. I'd like to be able to compile maps. This is how mapmaking is done on the PC and this is how the developers do it. Originally it meant making a collection of polygons from scratch in a design program, saving it as a file, running that through a special map compiling program, and then testing it with the engine. Nowadays developers use a lot of shortcuts and time-savers in putting together those polygons. I'd like something that deletes unviewable/unreachable polygons-- the visible component and the collision component-- and turns everything else into part of the map geometry. I'd also be fine with something that has us mark the polygons to be deleted. This would improve the performance of custom maps, it would affect file sizes, though I'm not sure in what way, and it would allow us to, as long as we build in stages, have an endless amount of material. You could place all the objects that are within the budget and other limitations, compile the map, continue building on the new map, and if you still can't make all of what you want, compile it again and go back to building. Of course at some point you would get performance issues still, but this could help a lot.

While I'm on the subject, I would like to thank 343i for allowing decals on Forge items (bullet holes, black marks from rocket impacts, plasma burns, etc.). Not every object can have them, basically anything designed to be moved can't, but pretty much everything that's likely to stay put can. It's small and I feel like I'm the only one that appreciates it, but I do appreciate having it for nearly every object, not having it was a small immersion-breaker for me. I also kind of want to yell at whoever let the game ship with fusion coils that give no feedback at all, but they fixed the visual part of that in seemingly all the DLC maps (which is good) and they fixed the audible part in the last two or three map packs (which is also good), although not in time for Forge Island, where it especially matters since along with everything else people place fusion coils on there a lot, and you still can't hear them unless they've been hit, increasing the chance of walking backwards or sideways into one without realizing it. Any chance of a patch or reissue or something for those things?