The Rooster Teeth Expo may have been last week, but details of Halo 4 beyond its improved multiplayer are still coming to light. One of the defining aspects of the series, despite only being introduced in Halo 3, is of course the Forge mode and during last week’s live demonstration much of 343 Industries‘ approach to this aspect was ascertained.
It will be even more robust than before, combining the tools you have come to expect with new additions such as the Grav Volume, which allows you to manipulate gravity, and Play Trait zones that will change certain player parameters upon entry.
Despite all of the intriguing tools that were announced, the questions largely revolved around the environments themselves. Jessica Shea, community manager for 343 Industries detailed many aspects of this element:
“The environments will be large enough to accommodate just about any design you can think of, from a Lockout remake to a sprawling racetrack. There will be rolling hills, flat, sterile spaces, big, flat indoor areas and everything in between.”
“The difference is that we’ll use more than one environment – an aesthetic – rather than a giant contiguous space like Forge World. There will also be HUGE FLAT JUMBO Coliseum ‘walls’ that you can instantly place as enormous floor tiles (or walls). All the spaces are being designed with flexibility and performance in mind.”
Bringing more variety and, equally as importantly, creative control to the player are the lighting systems involved. Whilst day and night cycles aren’t included, the system should facillitate alternative versions of the same map that feel significantly different:
“We’ll reveal more about the environments later, and while you won’t be able to make a literal night time version, there will be an element that will enable a starkly different look than the bright daytime maps you’re used to – and the addition of proper lighting and shadowing on and in objects will make a radical difference.”
More on this, and other aspects of Halo 4, can be found on the official Halo Bulletin. I have seen far too many of Rooster Teeth’s HORSE matches to doubt the power that the Forge unlocks. My head may already hurt from merely imagining what more creative gamers than myself will be able to create, but I still can’t wait to see what they forge when Halo 4 arrives this November.
Source: VG247
