The Forgers of Halo Infinite

Developer-made

• Aquarius
• Argyle
• Bazaar
• Behemoth
• Breaker
• Chasm
• Cliffhanger
• Corrosion
• Crashout
• Deadlock
• Detachment
• Dredge
• Elevation
• Empyrean
• Flood Gluch
• Forbidden
• Forest
• Fragmentation
• Highpower
• House of Reckoning
• Illusion
• Jarok Bridge
• Launch Site
• Live Fire
• Oasis
• Prism
• Recharge
• Scarr
• Skyblocks
• Solitude
• Streets
• Thunderbowl
• Wavelength

Community-made

• Absolution
• Alpha Site
• Apostle
• Aquario
• Ardent Prayer
• Arrival
• Ascension
• Banished Narrows
• Beaver Canyon
• Boulevard
• Breakpoint
• Canopy
• Catalyst
• Cessation
• Cliffside
• Cold Storage
• Cole Protocol
• Coliseum
• Command
• Conjurer
• Construct
• Copperhead
• Corpo
• Courtyard
• Credence
• Critical Dewpoint
• Curfew
• Daimyo
• Dawnbreaker
• Dead Water
• Diminished
• Disciple
• Domicile
• Duck Hunt
• Dynasty
• Ecotone
• Exhumed
• Exiled
• First Light
• Formation
• Fortitude
• Fortress
• Foundry
• Ghost Town
• Goliath
• Gondolas
• Goose Halo
• Gothic
• Gridiron
• Guardian
• Gyre
• Hanami
• Harvest
• Harvesters
• High Charity Court
• High Ground
• Homestead
• Houseki
• Immolate
• Insolence
• Interference
• Isolation
• Ivory Tower
• Jotunn
• Kaiketsu
• Kiken'na
• Kusini Bay
• Last Broadcast
• Last Road
• Lattice
• Lone Wolf
• Longshore
• Megapolis
• Merchant's Square
• Nadair
• Narrows
• Nemesis
• Neon Night
• Nexus
• Obituary
• Opulence
• Origin
• Out With A Bang
• Outlook
• Perdition
• Perilous
• Pharaoh
• Pipeline
• Plunderland
• Powerhouse
• Promenade
• Rat's Nest
• Recovery
• Refuge
• Rendezvous
• Ronin
• Ruujaya
• Salvation
• Scarry
• Scarlett's Landing
• Security Zone
• Serenity
• Shiro
• Shogun
• Showdown Arena
• Sigma Stadium
• Smallhalla
• Snowbound
• Solution
• Stage Fright
• Starboard
• Suban
• Sunken
• Sylvanus
• TFF | Countdown Of The Dead
• TFF | Installation Of The Dead
• TFF | Night Of The Undead
• TFF | Station Of The Lost
• Takamanohara
• The Gravemind
• The Pit
• Threshold
• Thunderhead
• TimberLand Evolved
• Urban Raid
• Vagabond
• Vallaheim
• Warehouse
• Waterworks
• Way Up There
• Winter League 2008
• Yosai

Refuge

Long ago I got to work with some talented forgers in the community; InfiniteForges, NightAvenger01, and Micheal B 2K8. InfiniteForges had an idea of recreating Headlong from Halo 2 with an overgrown theme which would include wear and tear on the original map. The project took over a year to make with half of that being a long summer break, but we were able to finish it in time for the 2023 Halo World's Championship.

Micheal primarily did the blockout using B2FP while the rest of us focused on the art for the map. I focused on the interior sections of the map mostly, however there were some basic areas I helped art for the exterior sections. The majority of the exterior was forged by Alex (InfiniteForges) along with the skybox lighting. Eric (NightAvenger01) came in clutch a little into the project with sprucing up both lighting and art in various sections of the map. I was able to learn a lot from Alex and Eric about environmental art and lighting which would later help me progress with future Forge projects.

Refuge became one of the most (if not the highest) anticipated community maps for Halo Infinite's life. The map was also presented by Alex on the 2023 HCS Worlds Community Stage where we published the map during the presentation. Soon after, Refuge made its way into matchmaking for both Squad Battle and BTB. Eventually the map would be picked up variants for Heavies, KotH Firefight, and Squad Battle'gs ranked mode makin Refuge have the most variants of any other map in Halo Infinite's matchmaking.

The amount of time I spent using Sapien and Blender to understand how this map and any remake I worked on had displayed their art, lighting, and sound accumulated to 800+ hours of being on my side monitor while I forged. Sapien was a good way to understand how art and lighting worked in the earlier Halo titles. Super happy with how everything turned out. I'm just disappointed that no one has found the Golden Warthog yet.

Cold Storage

This project was a sort of last minute decision to art which also ended up being my second fastest map to art (~4.5 weeks). As remakes and Legacy Arena/Delta Arena were hyped up for a fair period of time, I collaborated with UneeQ, Mr Greencastle (blockout and standard gameplay set-up), MikRips (advanced gameplay setup), and Deathcrawller (scripting the Monitor Eye) during the dead of winter 2025.

I believe it was Green who offered the blockout for arting and I took the opportunity to take a shot at Forerunner/Flood art. Not soon after, Deathcrawller randomly dropped a script for the ceiling mounted Monitor that follows the player with its section of the map. The whole process with working alongside the other collaborators was a very chill experience.

Cold Storage turned out to be a fantastic journey with studying and using the Forerunner and Flood palettes offered by Halo Infinite's Forge, both of which were my first time using either or those themes/palette for a map. As I was beginning to work on the art for this map, I knew I wanted to do three things. First, keep the Forerunner theme but with more of a Zeta-Halo inspiration. Second, keep the Flood theme but go further with the biomass and grime. Lastly, base the lighting off of these awesome dice that melded Gold, Silver, Copper and Teal onto the dice. I was very content with how the map turned out over all. I began to dive deep into Halo lore and present this map as a hub for Mendicant Bias during its betrayal to the Forerunners.

The map would later be picked up for the Legacy/Delta Arena playlist and remain as chaotic as Chill Out and Cold Storage were originally. This surely became one of my favorite maps to work on. Out of all the names I was going to call the map, everyone recommend keeping the name "Cold Storage" as the best way to present the map. I still think "Meat Locker" would've been an awesome name but I don't think Halo Studios would allow that.

Grit

Here's another map that took about a year to art with a large gap or two during that time period (sorry Mik) which eventually became my favorite concept for the map. MikRips (blockout and gameplay) and I (environmental art) intentionally started this project as an urban city map. I had an idea of having a civilian area during the end of winter which would have dirty piles of almost melted snow and icicles dripping and dropping to make puddles along the geo. That idea got scratched, then came the Banished Mining tunnels ideas. That didn't last long. Finally I had some inspiration from Starship Troopers: Extermination and wanted to do a desert based Jotun (In-game manufacturing company) operated structure which would escalate into becoming a dust storm harvesting facility on Saturn's largest moon, Titan. The skybox would be Titan's dunes with an oncoming dust storm headed towards the player.

After taking a shot at lighting, Mik and I decided to bring Kwatzy onto the project as the Lighting Artist, and boy did he deliver! The collaboration between the three of us turned out to be a pretty wizard Ranked experience. MikRips was a huge fan of my work with Perdition, a remake of Halo 4's BTB/Extraction Map, that he wanted to color-code the areas of the map similar to how Perdition's map is color-coded. This decision really gave some life to this aesthetic and really gave this map life among the sand covered broken concrete and brownish worn metal.

Cole Protocol

This was my first linear experience and first major scripting project that stressed me out the most. I began working on this back in November of 2024. The concept was based off of Live Fire/The Academy and the Forward Unto Dawn series/film about surviving an invasion from The Banished while protecting and leading marines to safety.

In the early stages of the project I brought timmyforges on to work on the blockout for the map. Given I wanted to try and get as much detail into the art that the game could allow me to, I planned to have multiple areas be revisited from different angles so the art could be shown off. It was a helluva project to take on, but somehow I managed to accomplish the project's environmental art, lighting, scripting and gameplay.

I was informed that Halo Studios wanted to work with this project for an upcoming "Firefight: Battle of The Academy" playlist. I got the opportunity to work with a few Halo Studios Developers and well as have a video call with Jeff Easterling (GrimBrother One) about the concept of the map. Jeff and the crew were able to give feedback and adjust the linear story progression to bring out the best of this project could.

After the numerous days of work, the map was solidified as an experience that is the first community Forge map to be loosely tied to Halo lore. Sadly there were many ideas I had to scrap due to timing, map budget and overall player experience such as a Warthog run, an objective for keeping Marines alive or failing the mission, and a whole other section of the mission which would've made the experience ~5 minutes longer. Thanks to Max Extra I was able to see my vision come to life with his scripting expertise. Without his help I would've lost all my hair trying to figure out how to script certain areas of the map.

One of the key features I wanted to include on the map was having Marines and Spartans communicate with you through scripting. The limited strings provided in Forge made it difficult to make sentences that were complete and grammatically correct. Unfortunately this map came out prior to the 2025 update that included a ton of new strings, otherwise maybe some of the sentences would've been easier to understand.

For my first major scripting project, it was a goliath of a project to work on. There's so much more I wish I could've changed for the project, but I would have to start (or finish) more campaign-like experiences in order to accomplish all that I wanted to achieve. But also, never had I been so miserable forging because of scripting, maybe I'll let the profesionals focus on the scripting next time.

Exhibition

Exhibition was one of my favorite maps to art. This was a layout by thesilencebrokn and Blaze. I picked up the project because it had been abandoned in the art process from a previous forger. The original theme was something like a UNSC facility overlooking a frozen ocean. I initially tried to keep the original vision going but kept getting stuck. Thankfully the team assured me that I have full creative freedom and eventually I started on a fresh new look.

I wanted to capture the look of natural decay untouched by people. No graffiti, broken glass, or other senseless destruction. Just Earth's slow reclamation of the spaces we abandoned.

One of the ways I felt would best illustrate this idea was making the foliage be the center of attention, making the structure itself a neutral point in the art. The walls, floors, and ceiling to the left and right of the map are all the same concrete and rusted iron. Being a symmetrical map, it's important to differentiate one side from an another, and one of the best ways to do that while keeping nature at the center is to use the plants; classic Red vs. Blue, and the "Alien Planet" assets were perfect for that.

I also wanted the space to feel friendly and mysterious. Like those vibes you get from a Nintendo title like Super Mario Odyssey, or Kirby and the Forgotten Land, so the map is very stylized.

It's a totally different look than what you would expect to see in Halo. It features giant pipes with huge red valves and buttons. I forged ramps and doors that look like they can move, and an alien language marks unknown machinery throughout. If you weren't fighting Spartans in this arena, you might mistake it for a solvable puzzle map.

Music from M83 in the album DSVII was on repeat when I was forging. The music perfectly complemented the aesthetic and helped guide me when creating that friendly whimsical feel I was looking for.

The map was entered in a ForgeHub contest and unfortunately didn't place but overall I was very happy with the way this turned out. It's my favorite map so far.

Gamma Station

Gamma Station was another ForgeHub contest entry and the layout also by thesilencebrokn. The map is a 2v2 asymmetrical layout. These are my favorite size maps because I dont have to worry about the budget as much and it essentially becomes a glorified art project.

Inspired by Alien, Star Wars, Starfield, and music from Orphée by Jóhann Jóhannsson, I originally created a scene with the new Flood palette. The idea was a stranded UNSC Ship overtaken by the Flood leaving parts of the ship habitable but infected by the deadly parasite. While ideas of an Infection gamemode variant featuring flashlights were tossed around and even scripted to some degree, the idea eventually fell through and the art sat unused for a while.

When I was asked to do a map for the contest with short notice, I decided to dust off the file and expand on the idea. Eventually removing the Flood altogether to create a pristine fully functional space station. Pulling heavily from the newly released Alien Romulus, I wanted to create a station that felt real but independent from The UNSC aesthetic everyone was used to.

It's a challenge to stay original when working on a space station, but I found some interesting ways through the structural details. One of those ways was to think about how one might manufacture a space station. Maximizing space within, heavy support beams cross diagonally in and out of the space while vertical white panels hide the delicate wires and pips that lie throughout. A hierarchy is established as the beams cut unapologetically through the cosmetic panels. It feels as though these choices were necessary when designing the station, and that you are seeing just part of a larger whole.

This map was a fun time to make with lots of room for detailing. The map didn't place in the contest but it's a great place for a 1v1.

Tanaga HQ

Another layout by thesilencebrokn with help from Blaze, and Le Frenchys, Tanaga HQ was a fun space to create but getting there was a challenge. Originally called "Alley Way" the team pitched the space as a ground level outdoor space with the tight halls imagined as alleys. I was stuck for a very long time trying to make that work; took multiple breaks on the project and almost dropped it altogether. I asked the team once more if I could just start fresh on a new idea I had. They were open to it. What if this was on a rooftop set in New Mombasa during the events of Halo 3 ODST. While I admit it's not very original, I at least had a vision for once on this project.

I wanted to capture that feeling that you were alone in the city just like in Halo 3 ODST. If you walk the map alone, you can spot details of a controlled evacuation gone wrong. The cafeteria left in shambles as citizens and employees asked to evacuate as essential personnel stay behind to monitor the situation. Tables used to barricade an exit creates a story of panic and desperation. Alarms sound as the Superintendent watches over the empty building. A sense that you shouldn't be here grows as you walk the empty office spaces.

Even thought we changed the theme, the blockout still presented a lot of challenges. A lot of the map had geometry that was difficult to translate to something in the real world, particularly in the middle of the map. It featured a Power Equipment pad and would be at the center of most engagements. With a round raised platform with walls on both sides, it was impossible to connect it to anything we have in the real world that could also be in seen in an office interior.

After many different ideas I came up with an idea that the center would be an art piece celebrating the pride of the city, the Mombasa Tether. The center platform would be a rock to represent the small island where the base of the elevator lies. The raised walls on both sides would become the city skyline capped with bright lights that illuminate the center of the map. Above, a chandelier with metal rings of light resembling the supports of the tether as it reaches for space. An art piece like this could reasonably be featured in the lobby headquarters of the NMPD.

Tanaga HQ was great because it allowed me to live in the Halo 3 ODST universe once more. I felt like I was creating an extension of the city, cut content, or something I would dream was in the original game. "Wait For Me" from the Bladerunner soundtrack by Vangelis feels a lot like that too. It was on repeat when I was forging this map.

My name is Ryan, I've been forging since way back in 2007, but Infinite is the first official game that I've released maps publicly to. I love doing Terrain, Skyboxes and Forerunner themes. I had a rough transition going into Halo Infinite's Forge, as I spent the prior ~4 years forging in ElDewrito, which is essentially Halo 3 Forge under the username "Duke". I made a lot of friends then, and it even helped me transition into the Infinite community some by having friendly faces to anchor to initially, like Whos Blaze. I had intended on doing everything solo since I had never collaborated on any kind of level design in the past, but the amount of work required in this iteration of Forge was proving to make that really hard!

During the creation of my Tempest remake, Gyre, I was hitting some roadblocks after working on the map solo for around 6 months straight and the awesome community at HaloFunTime stepped in to help drag me across the finish line. I would have never finished the map without Virus, Kwatzy and MikRips, they all did fantastic work on the map and it was eventually added into the official matchmaking rotation, one of my biggest dreams in life.

Ever since then I've tried to collaborate as much as I can, and it lead to my first ForgeHub contest victory at 3rd place with Ilex with my now good friend Yeehaw. I've grown into loving Skyboxes the most this late into the game, and I've stepped up to helping whenever I am able to, and its led me to helping with some amazing maps like Ecotone and the recent Breakpoint remake for Invasion. I am currently in the middle of a few maps right now, and will be as long as the game keeps going along. Looking forward to working together with all the friends I made during Infinite in wherever Halo goes next.

I'm especially grateful to have been given the opportunity to contribute to the Forge community so early on with projects like Eternity and Oriole District, two maps I made under the Pilot program and featuring at the launch of Forge. I don't really have much else to say, just that I hope to make as big of a splash in the next iteration of Forge!

I have dabbled in Forge since I was 13 on Halo 3. I made exactly one map when sleeping over at a friend's house: a paintball map. I didn't own an Xbox 360 at the time so I never got to keep it or see it again. I did, however, own an Xbox 360 by the time Halo Reach released when I was 15 and would forge for hours. Eventually forcing my younger brother to play the maps I had made. I made 4-5 maps in Reach and there was really only one I would consider playable, a Big Team Battle map set in New Mombasa titled "Ground Zero". I managed to get a few full lobbies to play this map and that was the highlight of my Reach Forge career.

For Halo 4, I continued honing my skills since it was largely the same Forge Engine. I started by bringing forward the previous map mentioned: Ground Zero. H4 had a larger budget and I was able to make a few adjustments. I made some other maps as well but they were nothing to write home about.

For Halo 5, I had found a real life Forge partner in my college buddy Tim (Tiiiiiiim 7). We eventually made two maps together, the first one was yet again Ground Zero. With H5's budget being much larger we made some very large changes that ended making the map play much differently and I always secretly disliked how different it was to my original vision.

The second map we made was called "Clandestine", a BTB map set on The Ark during Halo 3. We really only got to test this map one time but it was fun and I'd like to revisit the concept one day. I made another map on my own titled "Revenant", revisiting yet again another old Reach design. This being a 4v4, I was able to gather IRL friends and actually test and iterate. Very fun times.

HaloFunTime is the only reason I got involved with forging in Halo Infinite. I probably would have been left to my vices and continued to forge at a lower skill level had I not been invited by Michelangelo and Ascenial. I was welcomed to the community with open arms and have learned so much. I owe all of my time in Halo Infinite to this small little corner of the Halo community.

Harvest

I was invited to help with the HFT Smallhalla project and achieved my dream of getting a map into matchmaking. After this, and a lot of learning the ins and outs of Forge, I decided to move onto my next big project, a remake of Harvest, a Halo 4 DLC map. I wanted to pick this map for several reasons:

1. I wanted to do a lesser known map. What better than a DLC map no one bought in the most hated Halo multiplayer?
2. I wanted to be the "team lead" on this project and collaborate with the friends I had made in HFT to lean on their strengths as much as possible.
3. Third, having done terrain on my Hemorrhage remake, I felt confident that I could sculpt the terrain on Harvest.
4. H4 was a game that did not have a traditional sandbox and I challenged myself to actually curate a sandbox and make changes to some level design that made sense for Halo Infinite.
5. This map was one of the select few to test the newly founded BlenderToForgePrinter. Thanks to Okom, the map is a perfect 1:1 recreation to fit Infinite's speed and scale.

This was such a fun project and I was ecstatic when it was picked up for matchmaking. I love Smallhalla, but Harvest was my map. I think I still hold the record for most bugs fixed in a day (94)

Forge World

This was one hell of a project. I wont go into terrible detail, because Okom perfectly captured the process behind this map's creation, but this was one of the most challenging things I have ever been apart of. Yes, we made Forge World. Yes, its mostly accurate. And yes, flying the Falcon is as fun as it was in 2010.

Limerance

Limerance holds a very special place in my heart. JoValiant had asked me to do the environmental art for his upcoming Doubles map for the Dueltacular ForgeHub Contest. Being only Jo and I, the art process was curated by myself and myself alone. Jo handled level design, lighting, spawning, that sort of thing. I handled the environmental art, skybox, and some more technical additions. This was a pretty big deal for me as I have never once been the sole artist on anything, let alone a whole map.

This map is heavily inspired by the 1995 anime "Ghost in the Shell". Set in a dystopic city, this map's art style was set by referencing the movie, of course, but also dirty, grimy, cities also seen in other media like Bladerunner. Over all, the map did not place well in the contest, much to our surprise and chagrin. I think that Limerance might be some of my best work and I am extremely proud of what Jo and I accomplished. Hopefully one day, Limerance can have its day in the sun.

Apostate

This is the current map I am working on as of October 21, 2025. This map, to me, is a love-letter to everything I have learned over the past three years. Level Design is definitely not my forte. I mostly resigned myself to being just an artist and focusing on what I was good at (see Limerance). However, I wanted to really challenge myself and actually design a map this time around. Apostate was a spiritual successor to a previous map I had made in 2023, titled "Oracle". Oracle was a map made for the ForgeHub 4v4 Treadstone contest. The map didn't even make it into the top 25 contenders. The design was flawed, the art was flawed and I tried to "fix" Oracle over and over again for a year and eventually abandoned the notion.

In July of 2025, I decided to push myself and design a map from scratch. I wanted to make Oracle the right way. The size eventually ballooned into an 8v8 map. I was able to utilize old prefabs that Tiiiiiiim 7 had made back in 2023, making a very detailed blockout. (Side note: this blockout was packed with so many detailed prefabs that another Discord Server found a published version of the map and started spreading false rumors that my blockout was actually an unreleased "dev-forge" map.)After many, many, many blockout attempts later. I managed to curate a blockout by my own hand (with much assisstance from Yeehaw, Igrizhar and Squally).

The testing began and the map was initially supposed to be an infantry-only 8v8 map and I was going to enter it into the ForgeHub Squad Battle contest as well. Some panic set in after ArturBloodshot let me know that the contest rules require the use of vehicles as well. So after a pretty major redesign to some core areas, Banshees were added to the map. This map is supposed to be set on the same Forerunner Gas mine as seen in the Halo 2 levels "The Arbiter/The Oracle" so Banshees made the most sense.

Thanks to the testing lobbies in the Forge Testing Group Discord server, this map has seen regular testing for about two months now and feedback continues to shape the map design. As I type this, the map is still in the art process but I am absolutely loving how it's turning out. I think that Apostate will be my last outing in Halo Infinite's Forge Mode.

Extra

I owe so much to this community. I have met so many amazing and talented people. Truthfully, the people in this community have helped me get through some tough points in my life, whether they know that or not. I have learned so many tricks, developed new skills and pushed my boundaries as an artist, thanks to this little slice of community. Now, in a few short days, I will be able to spend time with them in person and have an all-time high in my life. Thank you, Halo community.

The forklift era

At the beginning of Halo Infinite's Forge, I didn't expect much of myself or to be spending so much time on the tool. I did however have a love for forklifts in Halo and Husky Raid from back in Halo 3 and Reach. The birth of our friend group's first "forgy" started by scaling a forklift as massive as it would go and then turning it into a Husky Raid map. We'd basically rope in anyone that happened to hop into our voice chat to help us with building a warehouse around the forklift to give it a somewhat believable space to be in.

I would go on to make a few more abstract forklift maps on my own such as "Facing Forklifts" (inspired by Unreal Tournament's "Facing Worlds"), a few different octagons made of forklifts, as well as a figure eight demolition derby made entirely of forklifts. I've returned to this series once after my many other projects to make a forklift Husky Raid version two with much better scale and art.

The forklift has become my calling card of sorts, and I have included at least one forklift in every project I've worked on.

The birth of Blender to Forge and Chateau Guillard

The first somewhat serious map I led was a remake of "Chateau Guillard" from Overwatch made as accurate as possible with the help of the Blender to Forge tool. Not having to worry about the mechanical aspect of building a block out manually, we could mainly focus on art. Much like the forklift Husky Raid map, I employed the help of as many friends as I could and I would say that this was my first true art piece.

Smallhalla

My second large project was my first stab at terrain work on Smallhalla. With Okom as project lead, it was very nice working in such an organized way. This has led me to try and be very adamant about folderization from the beginning of projects.

Isolation

Isolation started as an offshoot Infection variant of Smallhalla, playing into the joke reference from Red vs, Blue when Grif drives through the wall in Isolation and ends up in Valhalla. We essentially tacked on a full scale remake of Halo 3's "Isolation" to the side of Smallhalla after punching a few holes in the wall.

After that Infection variant was done, we forked it again to make a standalone Isolation remake (a little bit just to make people mad at it) because the art fidelity was limited due to Smallhalla being on the level as well. During this time we teamed up with Fame28 who had started a separate attempt at remaking Isolation. Taking his art and working it to fit the Blender-accurate scale was a fun challenge that resulted in the first version of Isolation to make it to matchmaking.

After the addition of the Flood and human brutalist assets, we were able to significantly upgrade the art for version two of Isolation. I took that as a personal challenge to make Isolation look as disgusting as possible with the flood art.

Recovery and Breakpoint

With the studio asking for Invasion content, Okom had already started a remake of the Halo Reach maps Boneyard (Recovery) and Breakpoint (Breakpoint), although they had been shelved for a while. I took that as an opportunity to take up an art lead role to gather some of the usual suspects: Scrubulba, Mr IncrediJON, DocSmurf, spartan blood 1, and JoValiant. To help with the art process. Compared to some of our other projects, Invasion was more of a sprint due to deadlines but I'm very happy with the results and people seem to love the playlist.

The Blender tool has also caused me to accumulate way too many projects on the "backburner" that I would love to continue at some point. Mostly other recreations from Unreal Tournament games such as DM-Chill or DM-Salt from UT4.

Plunderland, my (current) Magnum Opus

Working with MikRips on one of his earlier iterations of "Fortress, at the time dubbed as "Refire", I found a love for medieval themes and brickwork art. I'll admit those first attempts were not very good. Later on, our group became friends with Ethan Hibbs, who heavily inspired the art style for Plunderland with his previous medieval works such as Fortress

At the time of Plunderland's inception, we did not have the means to translate Unreal Engine games into the Blender tool. Because of this, some help had to be employed to make the blockout manually. With testing and iterations, a good amount of changes and additions were made to the geometry to make the map fit better into Halo's sandbox.

Like the other projects I've led, I tried to employ the help of as many hands as I could. Some made large contributions: Ethan Hibbs made the ship, GIazednConfused did the blockout/iteration/sandbox, JoValiant did lighting, and Zaddy Hammer made the skybox in a single 8-hour session. Others were given an art pallet and pointed at a corner.

To date, I believe Plunderland to be my current best work and plan to apply the same art techniques and assets used on it for more medieval themed Unreal Tournament remakes. Some people I won't mention did make their own folders on the file and that did absolutely destroy the folder organization but I don't think I'll need to go back into those folders anytime soon.

Also big thank you to Mr Kwatz for making the cannon script Easter egg I'm glad that made it into matchmaking as well.

Forge World

I previously worked with Scrubulba on his first remake of Hemorrhage from Reach and we attempted to combine that work with Ethan's remake of Asylum to hopefully make the rest of Forge World. The end goal of combining those maps and making the complete canvas was predominantly to make Paradiso and the island therein.

Doing the project that way ended up being more than we could handle on our own and we eventually deferred to using the Blender tool to do the entire Forge World map at the proper scale. Okom did a full blog post about that endeavor for more details about my pain and suffering making that map. This was also my first attempt at a Forerunner art style and I'm very proud of the work we put out on that project.

Honorable Mentions

I've contributed in small amounts with other maps such as Gyre (Tempest), Sandtrap, Timberland, and the Sharks and Minnows pool. With what I've learned from other projects, I've gained a wide array of art skills to help me tackle various themes. I don't think I'd say I excel a lot in any one style though

I've been enthralled with the concept of Forge as a creative tool since its initial introduction in Halo 3. Over the years, it has evolved into a remarkably powerful platform for artistic expression and gameplay innovation. While my own work only scratches the surface of what this incredible community is capable of, I'm proud to be a small cog in a much greater machine.

Forge has allowed me to explore storytelling through environment design, and I've naturally gravitated toward foliage work, an area I've refined over time. Several maps I've been a part of, including Smallhalla, Timberland Evolved, Isolation, and Recovery, to name a few, have been fortunate enough to make it into Halo Infinite's multiplayer matchmaking.

Foliage work presents unique challenges, not in artistic vision, which comes naturally (all pun intended), but in balancing creativity with budget constraints, as foliage is often treated as a finishing touch with limited resources. This challenge has pushed me to develop a skillset that delivers both quality and efficiency. While foliage became a requested specialty, my passion extends to broader environment art. One of my favorite projects is Verdant, a map I primarily arted from a blockout by MySh0tisntSiK, which gave me more artistic freedom.

Through all of this, my appreciation for the Halo Forge community has only deepened. Communities like HaloFunTime have been instrumental in my growth, and I owe much of my journey to the support, collaboration, and inspiration I've found among fellow forgers. I've had the privilege of contributing to others' visions, even when my name isn't front and center, and I'm proud of every project I've worked on.

I look forward to continuing this creative journey with future iterations of Halo, always alongside the passionate and talented Forge community that makes it all possible.

Going back to the antiquated era of stacking crates on Foundry to make a "base", I have always found that my approach to forging is centered around a thematic visual lens first. In every project I work on, be it my own creation or co-forging with my friends, I always end up having a mental image of the environment and theme I want to capture before any blockout or design even starts. I think of the people who would be here, the wild life, what species created this, when in time does this take place, and the imaginary positioning of my creation in the Halo universe.

I think that is a big part of what I love about this community. It is a bunch of people who share that same excitement about portraying an environment in this universe from their own imaginations. I've made some of my best friends through Forge/Halo.

My forging is rarely solo; these friends of mine: Classy Moth, Haijakk, and Uber Panzerhund work as a team with me, each providing their own skill set. My projects become theirs and vice versa in our little forge coalition we call "Scrapbox".

With that said I'd like to specify that these four map entries are as much theirs as they are mine:

Factory

Tsavo Highway, The Storm, Foundry, Ghost Town, and Longshore, all center around human infrastructure that has fallen into disrepair, destruction, or has just been discarded. Things feel grimy and dirty, stuff is broken, and the industrial brutalist nature of these locations is all too familiar in light of simultaneously being at war with aliens.

When I received the initial blockout of Factory from Classy Moth, we knew that this map would be centered around a human environment. I wanted to capture the essence of those rugged human environments we see in Halo 3. I decided that the location would be the dockside shipping bays of an unnamed coastal factory outside of New Mombasa. The goal was to make it look like maybe this is part of a transit area for whatever is coming or going.

Outside of the playable space, one can see a ship unloading it's supply. From the playable outside space, a floor cargo port, cranes, and conveyers for containers were placed to signal to the player that the cargo they see will be headed deeper into the facility. Doorways had to adhere to function. Some feel small in comparison as they are meant for a human, not a genetically enhanced super soldier. Some are larger to accommodate the entry of a forklift, some are meant for trucks, and some are tall and broad to allow for the entry of multiple vehicles at once.

Things needed to feel a little gross. Walls are smudged, floors and ceilings bear cracking, metal is rusting, food items are left out from an employee snacking on their shift, etc. I chose a daybreak skybox, allowing warm light to enter the facility amid the early morning sea fog. Maybe this would be how the start of the work day would look, just without the tanks.

The Map flows in a loop, making vehicle play fun even though the hallways are somewhat tight. Elevated platforms, catwalks, and a somewhat honeycombed center of the map's interior portion provide escape from vehicles and power weapons while playing into the deferent "portions" a factory like this may have. Some rooms clearly are for cargo passage, some sport lockers and crane operation stations amidst exposed rebar and crumbling walls.

Beacon

Beacon was a project that we started close to the launch of Forge, and absolutely received the most playtesting because of it. The goal was a fairly traditional Forerunner indoor environment for core game modes, and an emphasis on CTF. Regarding layout, Beacon was clearly meant to be a Forerunner environment from the start, and was loosely based off an old map of mine from Halo 5 called "Waypoint".

Forerunner environments are part of why I love Halo, and thus have been a main focus of mine throughout my time forging. I wanted the map to show off the fusion of nature and Forerunner Architecture we so often see in the Halo universe. The map is a massive Forerunner hallway-like structure nested into the face of a mountain. In the center, each Halo Ring is represented above a terminal, indicating that a Reclaimer could use this facility to communicate with them. A massive pit lurks in the center of the map, with a center bridge spanning the lower level.

From each side of the map, the environment seems daunting visually. We even were told once "This is a BTB map, it's bigger than Behemoth!" Though that was due to the illusion past the playable space, a feeling we wanted to take from the vastness of CE's Forerunner interiors. The backside of the map opens into the mouth of a massive cave, while the front of the map allows for a player to stand on an ornamental balcony overlooking the cool waters of a lake. Avalanche inspired launchers are at each end of the map to provide quick transport to each teams respective middle. There are many routes to cut a player off, as a series of sloping tunnels and the green glow of teleporters allow for sudden encounters and quick escapes.

Cascade

Remember playing Halo 2 and landing on Delta Halo? I think that was a core memory for most of us. I am fascinated by the archaic ancient Forerunner design. Crumbling blocks, massive stone structures, temples, all overgrown and incredibly ancient.

When Cascade started, it was not called Cascade, nor was it themed after ancient Forerunner masonry. It was a 1v1 called "Array" that was nestled into a space station. Classy Moth had initially made this simply as a warm-up map to play with Haijakk. We decided to rework this map both layout wise and thematically, and settled on a Delta Halo theme.

Many of the prior gameplay mechanics stayed, but the map grew to accommodate a 2v2 or very tight 4v4. Stylistically, the map is an ancient Forerunner dam; a temple-like structure adorns the top of a waterfall, allowing proper dispersal of water from the river above. The map is mossy, wet, and covered in displaced stone blocks. Water channels feed into a deeper network of dam mouths that can be seen to the sides of the map.

We did want this map to be themed on Delta Halo, but to sell this we needed the planet "Threshold" that can be seen in the Delta Halo skybox to be visible. Classy Moth and Uber were able to sell a convincing planet that looked far enough away with proper lighting tricks and fog. In a last minute change we, opted for a playable space in the skybox for Firefight. When the Firefight game mode is selected, a teleporter spawns allowing players to fight on a cliff side overlooking the map's waterfall

Evocation

This was my attempt at a nostalgic canyon map. Taking inspiration from Blood Gulch and Valhalla, Evocation is supposed to feel both classic and new.

The environment of a Pacific Northwest beach surrounds two beam emitters. The map is overgrown and highly wooded, allowing for cover for players from air vehicles. While on foot, players can fight their way up the river, or attack from the cliff sides of the map. The layout is simple and really without gimmicks, but the map's highlight is in the nostalgia that is meant to be felt.

Although I already had previous experience in scripting and environmental art with Unity for a year, the first time I used Forge was with Halo Infinite. I created the map "Oaxaca Station", which received a lot of praise from the start; so much so that it was showcased in the 4th Forge Features.

Now I have fulfilled my dream of having a map in the official matchmaking with "The Gravemind", and I am going to give a talk about Forge at a fairly large Latin American convention focused mainly on Halo called SPARTAN FEST.

I am surprised and excited by how quickly I have progressed on this journey as a Forger, and I am very excited about what new things may come.

I remade "Battle Creek" from Halo CE as a personal project that started out right when forge released, and kept it as a side project while working with the Falcons. This eventually became "Tributary". While the final version of it never got published under the group, several of the other forgers (Notably CHEF BLAMSEY, Prim 27, and Mr Multibit) helped me get the right base shape, as well as fix the light map. While working with the Falcons I mostly helped with environment art, though I did help with blockouts of some maps occasionally.

I'm extremely lucky to have gotten the chance to work with them, and wish I had a computer to join the rest of the guys working in UEFN, but for now I'm slowly cooking up a second possible Helljumpers map, though the scripting is a daunting challenge.

Night Of The Undead

I did the decoration for the outside Vista, as well as box room, the room above, and the area with the "Pack a Punch"

Helljumpers

I created the chief statue, as well as the road template, decorated and helped build the skatepark area, as well as the main square.

Creek Of The Fallen

While I didn't have a heavy hand in the final design, the base map is an old version of Battle Creek, my personal remake.

Installation Of The Dead

I had a heavy hand on environment art, mainly foliage, though I did assist with the background vista, as well as various decorations across that map.

Hello, my name is Hollywood. I am a Forger known for primarily two projects: the MW2 Highrise remake and later a recreation of the light bridge section from level 2 of Halo CE. I had not contributed to Halo Forge in Halo 5 but was interested in building in Infinite.

MW2 Highrise

When Forge launched I burnt about 80 hours over the course of a week simultaneously learning Forge from scratch and putting together the MW2 Highrise space. That map is filled with tons of bad practices – the window blinds are all 65 objects a piece, things are colored and textured in bad ways because of the Season 1 Forge texture and color spread bugs, lighting is complete guesswork, but a combo of being fast + a custom thumbnail from Surasia got the map lots of attention.

Thank you to all who enjoyed the map, made variants, and played on it. It was phenomenal to connect with so many people during that time.

Formation/Foundation

Second, the light bridge projects became two* projects - originally the entire campaign playspace was a BTB map which I had first named "Formation" as a joke about the unnatural cave. Later, when I created a shrunken version of the playspace, I renamed the husky raid map to "Formation" and the big BTB space to "Foundation" to acknowledge its legacy as the frame on which Formation stands. I was honored that Formation Husky Raid was chosen to be included in Halo Infinite's Husky Raid playlist, and from that caused 343i to discover that AI in multiplayer playlists will actually cause mode-specific challenges to fail! So, in a way, I count my contributions as 99% map making and 1% bug fixing. 🙂

I got my start on Infinite as a fill-in on the map "Descendant" by D4rkDeath. Afterwards, I decided to go off on my own and start creating. After learning from many failures and getting assistance from some well known forgers in the community, I created Nimbus with my co-forger XC986.

Nimbus

Nimbus is a Husky Raid map based off of the Halo 3 level "The Covenant". My main focus on this map was to make sure that the player knew exactly where they were the moment they spawned in. Immersion to me is the most important aspect of level design. The finer details are often the most significant.

About me

I'm Dennis, a Halo Forge creator since day one. My breakthrough came when I designed maps for Arena Gaming League, successor to MLG. I was also part of Forging2Perfektion, a major German Forge community known for signature creations. Today, I collaborate with JDzirkus—creator of the best The Pit remake. He's my mentor: brutally honest, layout-obsessed, and always pushing for better. Alongside Zaffiro Creep, our team thrives on synergy—he's the idea engine when we hit creative blocks. For playtesting, we rely on a tight-knit German group of former Profile players who provide sharp, objective feedback.

Deimos

One of my first Halo Infinite maps, inspired by a 3D sketch of a black hole singularity. The central structure is a sleek research facility built around that concept.

Quantum

Evolved from Exoclysm. The original layout was too large and unfocused, so I rebuilt it, merging the strongest elements. It features a Forerunner relic drifting in space, on the verge of being consumed by a black hole.

Stormbreaker

Created for the ForgeHub SnD contest with Zaffiro Creep and JDzirkus. It was refined over time with the German Halo community. The design draws from Halo 3's "The Storm" campaign mission, with terrain shaped to match the original geography beyond the portal.

NEON RUSH

My most ambitious and personal project. Inspired by Halo 3's The Pit and infused with cyberpunk aesthetics. The layout is inverted and multi-layered, with massive light sources that define the atmosphere. Optimization has been a major challenge, but the release is near.

In longbow I did most the gameplay setup, terrain and lighting. In Harvest I did some early environment art and later some lighting. In REQ it was all level design and I'm kinda proud of it since I learned alot from it.

Work in progress, sorry!

My work primarily has consisted of clan orientated Raid Maps and Prefabs which take from different universes. My best works so far have been creations pertaining to the 40k universe which are still in use by TGI. Before this I was making Star Wars maps and personalized Scripted campaign missions.

Casino Luxe

The main structure is inspired by "Casino de Monte Carlo" and the map "Circuit Royal" from Overwatch. This architecture type looked really pretty to design in Forge so I attempted creating one in a similar style and the garden just outside was fun to create too.

I started on the main casino building first as it is the primary interest and giving the interior a grand theme, and exterior a Belle Époque and Beaux-Arts style. I then worked on the garden as that was the next focus. I wanted to give the map nightlife vibes, so adding firework flares and a spotlight behind the casino. Another part of a city can be seen across the river, which has helped with that idea. After that I was in a state of forger's block, luckily I wasn't really alone on this project as I had a good friend "hvmmie" help me finish ther project towards the end.

One of the greatest challenges in Forge is managing budget. Near the end, the budget was very tight and being able to find which part of the map I could free up budget while keeping the aesthetics was challenging but, possible enough to get the map completed with just a few objects left to spare. I also feared how the spawn system would play out but after some testing it wasn't a big deal.

Hayashi Estate

A Japanese map, but this time there's not really any inspiration that has been used, allowing me to go full creative with this design and layout. It was a bit challenging to design but I'm happy with the results. Using blockouts was really useful in this scenario as it helped get an image in my head on what the base could look like and being able to make some adjustment to make sure the sizing wasn't too big or small, as well as getting the base to have some elevation so the whole thing wasn't super flat. Afterwards, I finished by designing off of the blockout with feudal Japan architecture. After some tests, only a little amount of changes were needed.

The terrain and scenery has some nice features like the giant rock arch in the centre of the map, towers in the background which adds a city environment to the map, and a waterfall with a small pond which can be seen in the corner of the map.

Yokai palace

One of my first few maps that started my Forge journey. Japanese architecture has interested me after seeing other creations the community has made. So I wanted to create my own, using "Himeji Castle" as the inspiration, which led me to exploring the Hanamura map on Overwatch, which helped with more ideas. I created the main temple using blockouts, which helped with sizing of each layer to get a better aesthetic of the complete temple.

As one of the first maps, I wanted to avoid as much symmetry possible so there are more creative ways to play the map, which also adds more to the aesthetic making it slightly more complex. A nice detail that can be seen in this map is the memorial inside the main temple with a Katana and candles in front of it. The hanging lanterns are also a nice detail that gives the map more of a Japanese feel.

Spades Nightclub

I've been a fan of cyberpunk and neon aesthetics and most of the map is inspired by the game "Cyberpunk 2077", specifically the "Charter Hill" area. I didn't really use any inspirations on the club itself and went full creativity. I started off the map by laying out a blockout of the club, thinking about where the dance floor and bar etc. would be, then designed each room one by one with the neon aesthetic in mind. I then proceeded to the outside area, attempting to create a cyberpunk aesthetic environment. Choosing a night time sandbox felt appropriate as it makes the nightclub stand out, as well as the outside area, giving it a nightlife feel.

I made the map "Origin" with TheKarmaPlex and DarkMaiming as well as a community map "Champion" with UneeQ, which was a remake of the Halo 4 forge map "Onyx". I have an unfinished map that's a remake of Halo 5's "Oracle" from the Mythic playlist. I also recreated the Breakout map "Crossfire", although that was made 2 weeks into my first experience with the forge.

I started my forging journey with Infinite, taught by UneeQ and W0lfR3ign. UneeQ taught me how to start on my journey as well as how to recreate maps one-to-one of their original. That led to how these maps were created, and the initial blockout of Origin before Halo Studios suggested we size up sections. I'm still really new to Forge in general compared to a lot of talented forgers in the community, and I hope down the line, I'll be able to create my own original ideas that can be played by many!

Fortress

Being able to bring Fortress to Ranked/HCS was a dream come true. It initially started because I enjoy fast paced CTF maps, and flag runs through open courtyards, requiring team shots and cover fire generally to pull off a successful flag run. After the blockout was made and testing was done, I met Ethan and he took over on the art side of things, and he did a fantastic job turning it into a medieval castle.

Side note for Fortress: the small village outside the map near red elbow is a map made by Ethan called "Tavern" and if you look across the large lake theres a small town way out there, that map is another map Ethan and I made named "Auburn". The Tenrai version of Auburn was added to matchmaking as part of the Tenrai event.

If you load up Tavern, or Auburn you will see a castle where Fortress is, connecting all the 3 maps' skyboxes together.

Last Road

This was a project started by Kwatzy, and I was brought on to do the level design for a large portion of the map. Initially taking the rough geo from the beginning of the ODST campaign and blocking it out (by Kwatzy) then I came in and added paths, routes, rooms, etc to turn the solid buildings into a playable map.

One of my personal favorite aspects is the button to lower the road behind defenders base, connecting the path underneath for vehicles. If you drive a vehicle behind defenders base from the lower road without pressing that button, you can't easily pass a vehicle through, pressing the button makes 2nd and 3rd pushes easier to complete from that side.

The initial idea was for it to be primarily a One Bomb map, with support for One Flag as well. Over time Invasion was coming, so we had the opportunity to convert it to an Invasion map, extending the attacker spawn further down, and creating a Payload experience for attackers to push through to the gate. All credit to Kwatzy for the payload experience.

Hangar 18

Halo Studios reached out to Artifice and I to help create Seek and Deploy Extraction, a new game mode for Halo Infinite; a One Life mode where the objective as the Attackers is to arm one of the 2 bomb sites and hold off defenders until the time runs out, as Defenders you need to prevent the Attackers from planting, or defuse the plant site if they do. Using new Forge tools to create the game mode experience and UI (Artifice), I got to create the map, working with the Halo Studios Competitive Insights Team giving feedback from playtests. With a heavy emphasis on utility usage, popping Threat Seekers, or Shroud Screens to make an entry or retake a site. Offering a point boost in the middle lane to fight over in an exposed position, different angles to cover teammates as they push. Taking place in an abandoned aircraft Hangar similar to the Pit, with training ground excersizes outside and a brute dummy in the middle connecting route to B site allowing players to know an enemy is about to come around the corner a brief second before hand. The project was a ton of fun from start to finish, and I can't thank Halo Studios enough for the opportunity.

Grit

Grit was a joint project between myself and Cousin Tim. I wanted to build a fast paced asymmetrical map, with King of the Hill and Strongholds being the main modes. After many testing lobbies and iteration on certain areas, my personal favorite spot became bottom Red, near the elevator with crates on it. The hill in that lower spot was a lot of fun to have a teammate risk being in the nade pit, while one or two of your teammates watch from above. Kwatzy came in after the map was arted and did a great lighting pass, there may or may not be a way to find a ball to roll around on that map 👀

I've been dabbling in Forge since the moment I popped Halo 4 into my Xbox 360 many moons ago. My brothers and I spent hours and hours building bases on the Forge World islands and then seeing who had made the most defendable base in a custom game. From this point, I would further dabble in making bases on my own, and eventually would spend my weekends building giant structures on Forge Island. It wasn't until Halo 5 however, that I began to take Forge, and by extension, level design, more seriously. While I didn't make any maps worth including here, I did learn quite a bit during my time with Halo 5's Forge Mode.

With Forge being added to Halo Infinite, I began to break out of my shell and interact with the Forge community.

Ecotone

While not the first map I made in Infinite's Forge, Ecotone was the first one of mine to be properly playtested and critiqued by other forgers, as well as the first of mine to be added to Matchmaking. From March to November of 2023, I poured many hours into what would become the first iteration of Ecotone. The following summer, I received word that Ecotone was being considered for matchmaking and began overhauling the map's art from the ground up.

As time went on, and plans for Ecotone in matchmaking would be shelved, I began to lose steam on the Ecotone project. Progress slowed to a crawl and for a time, I began to feel that Ecotone might be dead in the water. That is, until I was given a second wind by some incredible fellow forgers. JoValiant offered his expertise of lighting, Scrubulba helped shape the map's terrain, pull together the technical aspects, and lent me his Frigate for the skybox. Speaking of which, the beautiful Igrizhar blessed Ecotone with a fantastic skybox. With the help of my Forge friends, Ecotone was finished in May of 2025.

Ilex

This is an incredibly special map and was a collaboration between Igrizhar and I for a ForgeHub 2v2 contest. What started as something Igrizhar conjured up back in his ElDewrito days became the third place winner of the contest. Ilex was made utilizing the strengths of forgers involved, featuring exceptional lighting work from JoValiant and Igrizhar's jaw-dropping skybox. These complimented my UNSC art nicely and made for a very pleasant experience. I'll never forget staring up at the giant spire in the middle wondering how I'd art the thing. I had such a blast working on this map.

Rumination

Another contest map, this time in collaboration with the brilliant JoValiant. Rumination, like Ilex, was bliss. I was a little nervous being trusted to art Jo's layout, but as I began to experiment, it became almost addicting to work on. I'm still really pleased with how the refrigeration area came out. This is such a genuinely cool map and I'm honored to have been able to contribute to it.

Overtime

One of my most recent Forge endeavors. Overtime isn't the most interesting layout or the most fun to play, but it is a very personal design and there's a lot of intent behind it. Overtime is based directly on my very first Forge map in Halo Infinite, "End of the Line". A map from a time when I was still stuck in my shell and blissfully ignorant of what level design knowledge I now possess. I must say, iteration on the layout has been enlightening. The map is also full of little references and geometry to past Forge endeavors. For example there's a section of the map based on an area from Ecotone that didn't make the final cut, and the pipe jump facing the Saber is a nod to what is easily my worst map, "Far Flung". Overtime is still in the blockout phase at the time of writing, but I can feel the winds of change starting to blow and hope to begin the push to finish it in the near future.

Closing

I'd like to close this out with a thank you to the people in the community who have given me feedback, one-on-one sessions, and have playtested my maps over the years. I would also like to give props to Okom for what he does for the Forge community!

Since my beginnings with Forge back in 2007 with Halo 3, I have always sought to innovate and provide diverse experiences to the community. From minigames that have become classics, to immersive arenas and tools for the competitive scene, it brings me great satisfaction to know that my creations have provided hours of entertainment to the community.

My collaboration with Mountain Dew to create Critical Dewpoint / Fuel is an event I'll lways be proud of. Not only it was a chance to work together with two of my favorite brands, but the materialization of a legacy on Forge: Coming from a concept I conceived more than a decade ago for MLG, now becoming an icon for Halo nostalgia and the connection between the beverage brand and the franchise.

Over the years, I have learned a lot from the Forge community, seeing it as a great creative entity that drives the same passion I have to new horizons, for which I am very grateful. So, in order to return the favor, in recent years I have dedicated myself to promoting and tutoring other forgers from my region to reach that creative mantle, and I've become proud of what they have achieved.

Never stop learning, and always looking forward to what the future will bring...

Lattice (or Lettuce?)

The first original asymmetrical 4v4 ranked and HCS map added to Halo Infinite. It's currently in competitive rotation for the 2025 HCS season and LAN tournaments with $250K and $1M prizing. Originally built for Oddball, it plays equally well in King of the Hill and Strongholds. The setting, a remote hydroelectric dam and submarine research facility, carries a grounded, in-universe narrative feel rather than existing as a detached fantasy arena.

The map's macro evolved over 1.5 years of continuous testing with hundreds of players. Early prototypes explored multiple asymmetrical layouts before we settled on what became Lattice. The process with the Halo Pro Team (Competitive Insights Team) was central; their input on visibility, spacing, and line-of-sight discipline informed several large-scale reworks. What defines Lattice is the clarity of its opening stories: three distinct lanes, middle, high, and low, that offer contrasting risk-reward decisions in the first seconds of a match. Those openings shape the pacing of each round.

Many players describe the map as "classic Halo", which for me comes from the structure: opposing bases, an open but viable midfield, and multiple cross-cutting lanes that reward both control and creativity in movement.

Team:

• timmyforges
• Kat Rat A Tat
• dellsoto
• h8yse
• Squally DaBeanz
• bullet2thehead9

Copperhead

A collaboration with dellsoto, built for Infection. It's a sprawling environment with layered hideouts, sniper sightlines, and environmental storytelling rooted in the ruins of an abandoned copper mine. The name fits the layout: a long, weaving S-shape that plays differently in each mode but always rewards spatial awareness.

Cole Protocol

A narrative project co-forged with Cousin Tim. It's a sequenced, campaign-like experience set in The Academy, the tutorial and narrative hub of Infinite. Working with the Halo Studios narrative team, we extended a story thread that was once cancelled and brought it back as a fully playable mission. I focused on level layout and encounter flow: a looping path that lets four players fight through escalating phases while allowing quick iteration between tests.

Three principles

Across all of my work, three principles guide everything:

1. Grounded world-building: maps should feel like real, inhabitable Halo spaces.
2. Iteration through playtesting: frequent testing with real players, not just forgers, is the only way to reach a balanced experience.
3. Discard freely: we built and discarded three full asymmetrical layouts before Lattice. Every iteration teaches something.

My focus as a level designer is the intersection of space, flow, and clarity; building environments that feel alive, readable, and competitive at the same time.

Level design is one of my favorite hobbies, and Halo is the reason I developed the passion. I've been Forging since Halo 3, where I spent countless hours making simple maps on Foundry and Sandbox. Being addicted to the universe of Halo since a young age, it's easy for me to get lost in the worldbuilding aspects of the franchise. Every MP map tells a little story or gives little hints to the world outside of the campaign. With an increased budget and variety of props, Halo 5's Forge allowed me to start to fold in my own storytelling and design maps like never before.

I had the pleasure of meeting beesonmars during the days of Halo 5, and we've created dozens of projects together since. Infinite was a leap for us as we had the free time to take level design more seriously. We created a little group called Scrapbox with our friends Haijakk and Uber_Panzerhund. And while we've largely winded down on Forging in Infinite, we're ready for what comes next.

Beacon

Beacon was my very first project in Infinite. I remade the blockout six times while learning the controls of Forge and revising after playtests. This map really pushed me to consider gameplay more than any project I've worked on before. I knew I wanted it to feel really open while being in the interior of a deep Forerunner installation.

The challenge was conveying the emotion of being in a large space without it being a slog to get around and being constantly berated by precision weapons in a 4v4 setting. The result was having more verticality than you'd see in a typical matchmaking map; the highest point of the map being the least protected, the middle elevations having open sightlines with columns, cover, and ramps breaking it up, and the lowest level feeling more like a hallway interior connecting the two bases. This created a vertical lane system that made for excellent CTF gameplay. From Fiesta to objective modes, we playtested it until I felt satisfied with the blockout. But then, I abandoned the project for months.

I did not have the technical skills to achieve the vision I had for the environmental art of the map at this stage of my Forging ability, so it was easy to put it on the backburner. But a few months later, beesonmars would return to the blockout to produce a vertical slice of the map fully arted. Forging with beesonmars is like having a cheat code for Forerunner visuals. Now we saw a path forward and iterated the art until we landed on its current design. We both love the classic, sleeker Forerunner architecture, and I couldn't be prouder of bees' work making the map feel like a cohesive structure.

One of my favorite things about this map is the use of open space. There's a balcony that extends out over a lake that serves almost no gameplay purpose, beyond maybe having some sniper angles while being greatly exposed. I lowered the kill boundary in the center pit, so if you get knocked off, you really feel the mistake as you fall down a long shaft to your death.

The map itself is stuck in a ravine in a mountain, with openness in all directions and above.I love the diverse encounters the map offers. Movement based equipment has a ton of space to play around. And I've had some of the sweatiest CTF games in Infinite on Beacon, as the lanes make you use map knowledge to effectively cut off the flag-runner. I think my Forge group has a lot of interest in bringing this design forward to a future Halo game.

Substation

Substation was my entry to a ForgeHub 2v2 Forge contest and the first map I published. It was a section of a space station that generated power while attempting to be an inviting place for space colonists to work. This was one of the next projects I started after giving up on Beacon initially, and I pressured myself to finish Substation as I worked under time constraints and pushed myself to fully art the environment.

After the contest ended and I published another map, my Chiron remake, with some renewed confidence, I returned to Substation to attack the parts I disliked most. I edited the spacing between platforms to make jumps more comfortable. I added more reactor art to reflect the name "Substation" more. I had repetitive flower beds everywhere, so I tried to remove a lot of them and add art that made each section of the map unique. And the biggest change was gutting the bottom play area and opening up a lane bottom-mid to tie the wholemap together.

Substation has a lot of sentimental value to me. It's a little rough around the edges, but I think the changes I made between initially publishing it and following it up with a redesign reflect how much I grew as a level designer during that time.

Chiron TL-34

My Chiron remake is the fastest map I've ever made. The base artwork was done in about 5 days. But it's my most played map, seeing as it's a remake of a CE map, and I had a lot of fun making it.

The design philosophy was keeping it simple like the original map, while having better textures and being scaled to Infinite's movement. I didn't want to overdesign the visuals by adding a lot of greebles and extra geometry to be more reflective of its CE origins. So in order to add more depth, I added various observatory rooms seen through windows around the map. These rooms allowed me to play with environmental storytelling with denser prop arrangement than you'd typically want in the normal playspace of a map.

Huge credit to my friend Uber_Panzerhund who did the lighting on this map. He did a great job making the lighting dramatic and suit each room, while being eveningly lit and visible for gameplay. This map got me comfortable arting levels by first designing a few modular templates for walls, ceilings, floors, walkways, etc. and configuring them into the shapes of rooms I wanted. This is a great technique for human and industrial designs where the geometry is simple and more rectangular.

This was also an opportunity to learn more about the Nav Mesh system. Okom had to show me how to generate bot paths between the two-way teleporters, and I had to consider how bots would move between the rooms. Overall, the experience sped up the way I Forged going forward. The teleporter gimmick is fun in Infinite, especially with the ability to send projectiles between rooms. It's not a serious map, but it's a fun map to play a game of Fiesta on.

Starting Line

Starting Line is a Spartan-III training facility buried in an underground hangar on Reach. Its a modular course Spartans used to simulate combat in an urban environment.

Originally the map was in a forest on Reach, but later changed to be a little more ambitious. You can tell I started using more modular building techniques similar to how I made Chiron, but I pushed the fidelity a little further. I even think it's a fun PvE map, fully compatible with Firefight King of the Hill. For being a square map with a few lanes, I really like the variety of encounters Starting Line provides.

I've been incredibly lucky to be immersed in a community that was eager to help me grow. I've gone from not even knowing how to bake Nav Mesh to having a map played on the main stage at HCS, and regularly hosting and organizing playtests for the Forge community. I'm really proud of what I've been able to create.

The Hive and Mortar had intense deadlines for ForgeHub contests, and so there was a really organized workflow that happened in quick succession. Layout, sandbox design (where applicable), art, lighting, technical design (such as Named Location Volumes, SFX, ect.)

The Hive

In regards to The Hive, neither myself nor my collaborator had ever been to a nightclub so we had to do a lot of research to try to make the environment make sense, and I had tried my best to give off the vibe that this map could have been in one of the larger buildings we've seen in Halo Reach.

Mortar

Mortar was a mad dash, I got started late for the contest. Speaking with members in the community I found what I've been told was a reference used for Ghost Town's Artwork. An abandoned cement facility in Washington just outside of town named Concrete. Pouring through the photo references and Halo 3 screenshots really brought me back to exploring active construction sites as a kid with family in the trade, something about the exposed rebar that had been laid in the concrete brought me back. The smell of wet cement and freshly laid limestone gravel are vivid in my mind every time I loaded up Mortar to work on it.

Lattice

Lattice was a slow burn in development. The map's design was really clicking with the community, but it never felt just perfect for a long time for me. We got to a point where we had hit a wall in developing its layout, and after mulling over options about proceeding, I recommended that we let it simmer. Get more data, get more eyes on it. What I was really hoping for was to get more experienced eyes on the project.

Talon

Talon is a project I've picked up and put down several times, sometimes jokingly calling it the ship of Theseus due to building and rebuilding its layout again and again, but the bones of the map are all still there. The map features a low gravity zone activatable by players that recharges to be activated again along with an animated skybox. The layout has been designed to provide a competitive experience.

The atmosphere I've created provides a softer, dreamy feeling. The art's foundation comes from an idea I had as a highschooler, a city where there's waterfalls everywhere, and curiosity of what their source could be. That combined with the idea of an elvish city, one that has almost modernized in some ways, and that their magic is effectively technology. Bringing players a fresh and impactful experience was my highest goal.

It's hard not to like the maps you make. I like to build remakes from previous games and add a little twist of how I think they'll be fun. That's how all of the four listed maps came to be. But one of the projects I've had a lot of fun building and I'm most proud of is the Halo 2 campaign mission "The Great Journey", thanks to tHe PR gAmEr117, who really helped me with the art, lighting, and sounds on all of my maps. I really learned a lot about layout design, scripting, and AI. That knowledge pushed me to build fun projects and minigames that I, to this day, continue to improve.

Sadly, forging a good quality map takes time, and sometimes there were bugs that ruined the experience for us. That happened with Banished Narrows. There was a bug that if you had a prefab containing a light source with OBB and copied it, it made the map unplayable online. We didn't know that at the time and basically had to delete and rebuild the map, trying to identify the issue. And building map lighting data took like 20 minutes every time, just for the map to crash during building the data or to not open the next time.

With a time limit for the Halo 3 Refueled Playlist, it was a nightmare. There were times we slept less than 3 hours trying to finish it. Thank goodness we identified the problem, and everything worked fine. Even if they were not classic remakes, more like reimagining of those maps, we felt honored and happy for the opportunity to have 2 maps featured on the Halo 3 playlist.

I have over 10 maps and minigames that I haven't been able to publish. But I love to forge, and I've made it a routine to open Forge almost every day. I've been doing it since Halo 5. For now, I'm not planning to stop forging; it's like therapy for me. I like the challenge that forging a good-quality map takes.

3TB:Rift

3TB:RIFT was made in a collaboration with ItsSkumie inspired off Splitgate 2's Multiteam playlist which is 8v8v8. So we came up with the name "Triple Team Battle" or "3TB" for short and I made this map while Skumie was making the other map that I occasionally worked on. We did a playtest of the map and modes with BTB streamers like RedGear, XLR8, carsonloots and many others, and they really liked this map and associated modes.

Reunion

Reunion is a BTB Map I'd like to get into matchmaking. It's my latest BTB map where I used Halo 5 concept art and brought it to life with a mix of objects from the E3 2000 Halo Combat Evolved trailer. The map features two portals on the sides of the map, allowing vehicles to flank the enemy teams. The map is very infantry-focused with light vehicle combat (NO TANKS). The map plays like a hybrid of Fragmentation and Scarr with a dash of Behemoth.

Trials of Halo

Trials of Halo is my take on recreating SMITE in Halo. It's a 8v8 map with various modes that puts two teams of players and AI against each other. AI kills count towards you team's score, and Trials makes you play differently. It's a tug-of-war where you spawn in with random weapons and you have to revive teammates that will eventually respawn back in your base. The map features two custom equipment: Speed Boost and Damage Boost. It was really awesome that the map and one of the modes was featured in CardinalRedbird's Boomers vs Zoomers event, and was the first project where I used scripting.

Waterfall

Waterfall, was my attempt at remaking a map. The map is a one-to-one remake of "Waterfall" from Halo Online with slight tweaks, mainly sandbox placement. The map is scaled not because of movement but because of the sandbox, as Halo 3's sandbox is slower compared to Infinite's. The map can play 4v4, 6v6, and up to 8v8. A thing I noticed with the Forge community is there will be a bunch of remakes of Halo 3 maps and a few Halo 2 maps, so if I want to remake a map, I tend to avoid Halo 2-3 era maps and remake maps that will most likely get forgotten.

My forge adventure was brief, but intense. I came up with the concept of Interference, made the blockout and the art all by myself. I had no experience whatsoever with Forge before making it so it was a beautiful challenge; I learned along the way. Interference is my only contribution to Forge and I think the layout of it is the best part. ArturBloodshot gave me a hand with the lighting some months later, but the map was already being played at HCS events. Now the current version in MM is the one with the new lighting.

Compared to the other members of Scrapbox (Classy Moth, Beesonmars and Uber Panzerhund), my level of knowledge and contributions to the Forge projects we worked on were definitely the most minimal. You see, Halo Infinite was my first true experience with map editing tools and a lot of my time was spent with understanding the fundamentals. The vast majority of my own personal Forge time was spent creating blockouts and learning how the sauce is made. This was incredibly daunting for someone who previously only just learned how to play on maps, not make them. Especially since I found the Halo Infinite Forge tools to be less than ideal in regards to approachability.

Before I stepped into the Forge ring, the majority of my experience with Halo was (and still is) competitive multiplayer. So, the skills I donated the most to the Scrapbox projects were my intrinsic knowledge of how maps should feel and the placement of sandbox items. I would give consistent feedback to level design and sandbox in nearly every map Scrapbox released.

I was the driving force behind the idea of advertising Scrapbox maps and formatting the posts for them whenever a new Scrapbox map was about to be released, alongside advertising any playtests we had going on. I would also be the one to take screenshots for the maps. Due to my status as a /r/Halo moderator and my entrenched position within the Halo community, I was able to give genuine real exposure to the Scrapbox Discord and the Scrapbox Twitter.

The map that I absolutely contributed to the most was Starting Line. Starting Line is a 4v4 arena map that's focused on open space and utilizing fun verticality. I was responsible for the initial basic block out, with Classy Moth being in charge of turning it into an actual map and bringing it over the finishing line.

Funnily enough, the first map I was 100% responsible for creating from nothing to something wasn't done in Halo. I actually ended up creating a 2v2 map with Call of Duty Gunfight settings in Fortnite, utilizing Unreal Editor for Fortnite. I found this toolset to be a lot more accessible to use compared to something like Forge. Everything was done by me, and I ended up being really proud of my creation, Timber Island. This is why one of my main hopes with Halo moving to Unreal Engine 5 is we get a similar tool just for Halo. Unreal Editor for Halo feels like it's the true next step for Forge.

Overall, I was and still am the least valuable member of Scrapbox in regards to the output of Scrapbox creations. However, I did make absolutely great strides in my map making skill set since the release of Halo Infinite Forge and my confidence in myself as a map creator has never been higher. I'm optimistic for the future of Halo and I'm ready to give it my all for when the next iteration of Forge releases.

Prevail

This map is an original design, with some inspiration from past Halo maps like Ascension. I initially made this map back in Halo 5 when Halo Infinite was announced. When I made the Halo Infinite version later, there were changes and revisions due to previous Halo 5 Forge limitations.

Erosion

Erosion is a reimagination of the Sandbox map from Halo 3. My favorite gamemode is CTF especially in BTB. I also hadn't seen at the time a remake map of Halo 3 Sandbox. I had some forgers help me out in adding the kill zone outside of the map with explosives when you venture out of bounds. It would be cool to see some of my BTB maps in the matchmaking playlist.

I also made a version of this map in Halo 5. But the theme in Halo 5 was Sanghelios, and Halo Infinite was on Zeta Halo.

Ominous

I made Ominous in Infinite as a full map like in the Halo 3 Campaign mission "The Covenant". Did a Halo 5 version too. Limited to one area due to object budget. Its a husky Raid map, until we can add AI bots in. I tried to make a campaign gamemode, but my scripting skills aren't that great. Just did a basic you load in and the AI will spawn on a timer when you progress through.

TurtledC4t contacted me and wanted to do a collaboration based off the map I made for Husky Raid but make it a bit smaller than what I had made as well as more accurately like in the Halo 3 mission. That map became Nimbus. For my map Ominous I wasn't too worried for it being done 100% accurately. It took us a while to get Nimbus done with others working on it too.

Contingency

Contingency is a campaign map remake I did in Forge for Infinite and Halo 5 based on the Halo Reach Campaign mission "Winter Contingency". Funny story, when I was making this in Infinite it didn't save and I had the building mostly done. When I went in later to continue working, it hadn't saved and had to basically start all over!

This map is mostly a 1v1, 2v2 and maybe 3v3. Its smaller than the campaign space from Halo Reach. I tried to do an AI campaign for it too, however I was limited on my scripting skills. If anyone wants to help out with that, I'm welcome for it.

Other maps

Here's some other maps I've done in Infinite:

Firefight Classic

This is my favourite project I have worked on because of the restrictions I had to overcome. The main goal was to make a Classic ODST style firefight mode that worked on ANY map set up for Firefight King of the Hill. This meant creating a custom wave system that allowed me to use spawners already on the map and a behaviour override system to make the AI not try to always go to the hill position and act closer to how the player expects the enemies to act.

Firefight Ops

The largest project I have published. A firefight mode that allows the player to level up their stats as they play, complete per player missions, and contains many events that can happen during gameplay. On top of this, the mode is set up on 6 large-scale maps all with their own easter egg that unlocks a final dungeon. Firefight Ops has been evolving since the introduction of Forge AI and is up to version 3.2. I have learnt so much from this project for game design and balance and even now have many ideas on how to make the mode even more fun for players. It is designed with custom games in mind and we have seen many long sessions where players are grinding it out for hours at a time.

Race

I added race to this list because it came with some interesting challenges, the biggest being the custom spawn system. Race was made well before the addition of Spawn Order so I had to create a spawning system that allows a set of ffa players to always respawn at their checkpoint. My solution was a spawn queue system which only enabled spawn points at the player's checkpoint and then allowed the player at the top of the queue to spawn. At the time the most common way to do something like this was to spawn the player off map and teleport them to the desired location.

Sentry Defense (with honorable mentions)

Sentry Defense was the first highly scripted mode to hit Halo Infinite's Matchmaking and my first opportunity to go through the process of creating a mode alongside 343. Having professionals work with me on the creation of this mode was a huge experience and was the project that gave me the game design foundation I needed to help with all my future Forge modes. This was also the catalyst that allowed me to work on other projects like 1v1 Showdown and SnD Extraction which where also both projects made with heavy support from 343. Having these modes being played on the HCS stage will always be a surreal experience. The only reason they are not more prominent on this list is because I was in more of a scripter role rather than a game designer role for these 2 projects.

Ricochet

My friends and I are avid Ricochet players so I began reinventing Ricochet into Halo Infinite the moment Forge dropped in an attempt to "get the boys back together". Having no previous programming experience, I used Ricochet as a project to help me learn scripting.

Once the core logic was set, I carried onto putting my spin on the mode. It evolved over the course of a year. I was obsessed with adding new mechanics and innovations while keeping things meticulously balanced for fast, competitive play. I wanted to incentivize playing the objective by giving the ball carrier all sorts of cool new abilities. The ball carrier has unlimited thrusters with no cooldown, allowing them to zig and zag like a maniac. But each thrust causes self damage, an effective balance to keep the baller thinking carefully about when to push or fall back. The baller can also deploy a shield wall on the go, allowing brief protection in frantic situations. Or float through the air while zoomed to cross hazardous gaps.

Holding the ball doesn't feel like a selfless chore; it's actually a power weapon in the right hands. Countless other tweaks and subtle mechanics have been implemented and the mode plays like a dream. My friends and I have been pumping out Ricochet maps left and right like we used to. The boys are back! With Ricochet complete, I set out to apply what I've learned on new maps and modes.

Basketball

I began applying what I learned from reinventing Ricochet to create Basketball, as there was plenty of shared foundational logic to build from. My goal was to create a version of Basketball that played well into Halo's mechanics while also setting itself apart from modes like Ricochet or Grifball. It just had to be something totally new.

I built a gorgeous indoor basketball court then started on scripting the basketball logic. I decided to implement a stamina system where I would treat the player's shields as a stamina bar and balance accordingly with mechanics that play into it. Players can't attack via traditional means such as shooting or meleeing. Instead, they're equipped with Repulsors that deal stamina damage to enemy players that are knocked back from it. The longer a player is lifted from the ground while being repulsed, the more damage is applied to them. Players also have zero-cooldown Thrusters for ankle-breaking crossovers.

These abilities cost stamina (shields) to use so players must think critically about when to push or defend as a team, resulting in competitive back-and-forth gameplay. After adjusting the ball throw physics via scripting, shooting the basketball felt natural and intuitive. I even built a practice room behind each goal for players to sit out and work on their jump shot mid-game.

Gatorade vending machines grant extra stamina (Overshield) to thirsty players, speakers toggle between songs when interacted with and the bleachers are filled with AI marines that cheer from the sidelines. You can feel the energy of a basketball game being played at all times. This map and mode was also featured in May 2025's Forge Features article!

Volleyball

Building off of Basketball and Ricochet, Volleyball came packed with new features. This time, I replaced the generic ball with a physical sphere. Players need to strike the volleyball with a sword to launch it over the net. Players can execute a scripted slide-jump to hop above the net for a powerful spike. Activating scripted threat sensors will pop enemy players detected by it high into the air, briefly preventing them from returning serves.

Custom equipment spawns a temporary launch pad in front of the player that can catch the volleyball before it lands on their side if placed strategically. Popping the volleyball high up into the overhead scoreboard causes it to come crashing down onto the net. Every strike that keeps the volleyball in the air is counted and displayed to each player. As the number rises, the announcer cheers each team on with increasing enthusiastic voice lines. There's no shortage of wacky mechanics at play here but it's all been balanced to promote an engaging, competitive experience.

Slow Motion Slayer

I wanted to create a brand new movement mechanic that was easy to learn, hard to master, fun to execute, and had enough utility and depth to complement a wide range of environmental obstacles. Enter, Slow Motion Slayer. Inspired by Max Payne, I wanted to simulate a slow motion dive-shooting mechanic in Halo.

I replaced the players' ability to jump with modified Thrusters. These scripted Thrusters serve as the slow motion dive. When activated, the player dives into the air at an angle (in third-person) before falling in slow motion towards the ground. While airborne during the dive, all damage dealt by the player replenishes their own shield. This powerful ability is balanced with the fact that a player is vulnerable while falling in slow motion and should be given an opportunity to defend themselves (in style, no less).

Players can slide in slow motion at greater distances (also in third-person perspective). This maneuver makes for some fun, cinematic room-clearing shenaniganry. While slow-mo sliding, damage dealt by the player is boosted. This is particularly useful if the enemy is currently leveraging the healing function granted from diving. The power struggle of players utilizing both mechanics on each other serves to facilitate action-packed encounters at every turn. Knowing when to dive or slide is key in winning each fight. And it's insanely fun to chain them both into a combo. This mode was featured in June 2025's Forge Features article as well!

Conclusion

As a video editor, I typically pair my in-game creations with various types of heavily edited cinematic trailers and promos to share on Reddit and Discord. Look me up sometime! These were just a few experiences I've published in Halo Infinite. An honorable mention to "Kill Switch" if I may, a mode where players are telekinetically pulled to enemies they kill. Fun stuff.

Feel free to check out some of my other Halo Infinite creations on Reddit or in-game:

• Hero Shooter (Escort)
• Gears of Halo (Horde mode)
• 8 Ball Pool
• Football
• Combat Chess
• Scripted Wall Breach Prefab
• Club Nightshade

Thank you Okom for the opportunity to share this with the community. This is a cool idea and I look forward to seeing what other forgers are going to share here.

To put it simply, I like to make off-beat, competitive experiences that remind players what makes Halo special. Reaching into the sandbox and finding something new in it every time. Maps and modes that, with each new match, offer the thrilling notion that anything can happen and everything will.

• Love, Disco Lizard 69

Halo 5

I've been pretty far removed from Halo Infinite since its release. I joined The Scripters Guild during Halo 5 and my current experience in programming can be largely attributed to the thinking process of trying to build intricate scripts in Halo 5. I loved pushing the engine to its limits with ideas, some realized, some not, but I was a strong advocate for modularity, standardization, and interoperability of scripting standards.

In Halo 5 we had limited channels in which to store and transmit data, and each scripter would have to be careful with collisions and logic. I even tried making a "debug" panel in Java to help make script debugging easier for my Computer Science class in high school (didn't get far). Back then it was me, Captain Punch, Yamudas Beegbut, and Nokyard.

One huge innovation I won't claim credit for was smooth movement, by spamming move to position commands to a proxies position, which would then be moved to the "real" position. This along with hinges could be used to create buttery smooth movement especially for gameplay objects like boundaries. I helped in some capacity to advise or implement this type of system in a couple projects, and helped debug and fix a critical bug in Extermination on Halo 5. Progress was slow though in terms of standardization, and I got busy in life due to starting full time work and waiting for Halo Infinite.

Halo Infinite

When the beta for Infinite came out, people figured out that an early version of the new Forge was a part of it. Along with a cracked version and a server binary (forgot who made it, but allowed for the use of Forge offline without the beta being open). This is what gave us a better look at the node system and the possibilities for the new mode.

We wanted to make a wiki for a long time, a lot of the legacy Halo 5 stuff lived on the old ForgeHub (rip the forums), so we were looking at a way to document this info. At this time I had used a lot of documentation when developing bots on Node JS (Discord.JS) and their documentation in my opinion is the gold standard on how it should be done. I made a template example of what it could look like and sent it to Captain Punch – who was hesitant but eventually bought into the idea of using GitLab which could also contributed to on GitHub.

When the game came out I made some other discoveries, created a few contraptions, but haven't contributed much since. My time these days is mostly spent on real life obligations and creating mods (and scripts) for Arma Reforger. Maybe Halo 7 will revive my interest, but Infinite in my opinion was a big water down of the engine physics wise – which goes hand in hand with gameplay scripting.

That being said, most of the work done to fill things out post Infinite launch has been others like Okom. I don't necessarily think I can take credit for any contribution to the community over the past few years.

Some cool notes that I remember finding out

The game mode determines tickrate of the server – this was a big question mark for timing objectives in Infinite, maybe this is the same maybe not. I made a clock that printed the time delta every tick as a test and ran it in different game modes.

AI is a practical tool that can be used to help develop frameworks for ideas, yet it is still not good enough to "one shot" a problem with the given constraints of node availability, etc.

Leaderboard Connected Checkpoint System

One of the most advanced cheap checkpoint systems connected to a fully integrated leaderboard system that utilizes math and variables to determine a players best time, resets, and time between checkpoints on parkour maps.

Using Nav Markers to present a user interface that opens to select a file within an object list of "saved runs". Each saved run holds the finished time, as well as extra data such as times clocked per checkpoint, reset counts (including out of bounds, and ping resets) and the gamertag of the runner to see who the run belongs to, of course.

The system can be activated silently, despite the Nav Markers, with a press of a button, and by standing on the pad, you gain visibility to the board and it's selections, and lose visibility on exit of the viewing pad for convenience. You can easily select by pinging through with a total of 3 different menus: The main menu, the ID selection (saved games), and the Result Board.

This system may be updated in the future as this was before a few updates when this was made. But it's by far the most advanced system currently using only 1 Script Brain for the Checkpoint system, and 7-8 brains for the leaderboard UI (without consolidation currently). If this system was applied to a large map, you could use any amount of checkpoints due to the system being connected using labels to gather all of the checkpoints, and using number variables to sort each checkpoint accordingly.

One extra feature of the system is you can change the run you want presented on the in-game scoreboard. By selecting "Collect Your Treasure", you can change your finished time, and score. The system automatically depicts if you are the same player as the one in the recorded run, just to prevent some fraudulent activity, and updates your time instantaneously.

More updates to come with the new Raycasting system or other features with the leaderboard UI for sure.

Updated Portal Gun

Now for one of the most math induced scripts with many versions of it currently: The Portal Gun.

The latest version utilizes the newest update of raycasting to determine the aim of the gun, and uses a custom "On Weapon Fired" script from the original Portal Gun I made. This script consistently checks the state of the Portal Gun, checking if it has been fired by getting the max ammo count and it's current ammo count, and updating the system of the changes, allowing another script to alternate Booleans to ensure the right portal is being placed. Despite this newer version being highly accurate, it's not infinite-distance. If you shoot too far away, it basically marks the raycast as "missed" and auto sets the Vector3 (the hit point of the portal) to be 0,0,0. The fix? I made it so that if the Vector3 ends up being 0,0,0. The portal won't fire, preventing the player of entering into the void upon entry.

There are other versions that utilize a wall system to determine the rotation of the portal based on which wall it has entered. One version using area monitors, and the newest using the raycast system and a number variable for cardinal directions, and compare nodes to rotate the portals accordingly.

Despite this Portal Gun being the most advanced and cheapest, the original was only a tad more expensive and used a custom bullet to track its velocity, and when the velocity of the bullet reached a number that would severely impact its speed, it's marked as the "Impacted Speed" (ex. Shot at a velocity of 300, and impact speed is at 275 or lower). Once impacted, the portal is placed and scaled accordingly along whatever it impacted to ensure save travels and no phasing into walls etc.

Like the original version, this newly updated Portal Gun also scales accordingly, but instead uses area monitors for the portals, for instant teleportation, and they're scaled to align with any floor, wall, or ceiling it encounters, also ensuring safe travels.

With many versions of this Portal Gun, each one is always being tweaked and updated, and there will definitely be more updates to them in the future.

HaloConnect4

This is one of a few other minigames I've created, and by far the most advanced. This is my Halo Connect 4 board using ping to play. It's interesting because all 42x2 pieces are behind the board and not placed within the board to be scripted into unlike my other systems that utilize the pieces, or placements that are preset.

So how does this work? Using dropping points at the top of the board and other points below used for selection, the system uses number variables and lists to determine how many pieces are in each column. Once activated, the piece spawns and physically drops into each column and updates the column's counter, ensuring the column doesn't overfill. A blocker is spawned to ensure each piece that enters the column gets spaced out smoothly.

But how does it read where the pieces even go, or where they are after being placed, or even the win conditions for when a connect 4 is made?

Here's a small bonus script. This is my reference pack custom-built for this board. A small 6x7 block grid that gathers all the information of the board, and uses numbers to register which piece was placed and where (0 means unoccupied, 1 is red, and 2 is blue).

And this mini ref pack is also referenced into a long strip of a win condition Global Custom Event stretching across 4+ brains to determine every possible win in Connect 4 across the ref pack. The ref pack's numbers update every turn and is reset fully after every game (or on manual reset) using an "occupation scan" event for precise coordination.

Certainly one of the most fun projects, and was simply an impulse script at the start. It's finished functionally, but will be updated with Nav Markers, announcer audio, and other fancy things in the future.

ChessGHalo

Now, my biggest accomplishment, script, and project in Halo Infinite. This is my fully functional chessboard integrated with systems to track gameplay, replay games, and to update accordingly per move.

This board simply updates every piece's legal moves and only allows legal moves to be played. Along with special moves such as en passant, castling, and piece promotion. The board also determines pins to a king, and only allows moves in between the pinning piece and the king.

Did I mention this board also registers win conditions? After every move, the board automatically determines if the king is in check, scans to see if any piece can attack the attacker, and checks if the king has any legal moves. If all conditions are false, Checkmate! This board also has Stalemate to check if the king has any legal moves along with any other pieces and pawns.

The board can be simply started and turned off with the two Banished buttons in front, and started with interact buttons to join in as White or Black. Once on top of the White or Black pillar, there are ping towers that can be selected to request a draw or resign from the current game. There are many more features, but this is by far the largest project I've ever done.

With a total of 70 brains operating, and optimized over and over just to fit the old Scripting limit of 34.1%, but after the update where that limit was raised, I was able to completely update the board's selecting method using blockers and the newly added raycasting to determine where you wish to place your pieces, pushing way beyond the game-breaking limit pre-update.

Why update away from pinging? Well, you know how if you start spamming ping, the game will stop you from pinging for about 30 seconds? Imagine you're playing in a blitz game where you only have 1 minute to play your moves with no time increment? You're practically AFK during the rest of the match after the opening! Yikes... I took this into consideration and with the raycast system, and consistently updating hitscan board, you can now select pieces and place them even faster than the ping system, and with unlimited moves, ensuring the board is just as fast as Hikaru!

A little note: I knew little to nothing about chess before this project, and had the thought of making a chessboard after I made a small Tic-Tac-Toe board thinking it couldn't be too hard. I was completely wrong.

This is still an ongoing project with updates to the "Shipmate" (Stockfish) system where the board can replay saved games smoother and possibly make updated moves in saved games to provide examples. It may be more of a challenge, but what's stopping me? There will be more updates in the future guaranteed, with the system operating smoothly, scoring systems, and so much more!

I love the long journey I took to make this chessboard, and learn about chess itself, and became a big fan of chess through the start of this very project. Been a scripter for many years on many Halos, and this is just the beginning.

• Ravity

Hello, my name is Zezno and I've been creating maps for about 23 years now, starting all the way back in 2002 with the Timesplitters series, into the Far Cry series, then the Halo franchise, and a handful of other games with map editors along the way. Pretty much, if it had a map editor I used it.

Map making is my favorite hobby and I love creating new experiences and learning new skills. I've made about a hundred or so maps throughout those years and will typically build an experience suitted to my interest in the given game. In the case of Halo Infinite, I prefer to stray away from traditional Halo maps and create my own experiences. I'll talk about my four favorite maps I've worked on and completed in Infinite.

Velvet Railway

This map is, put simply, a moving train PvP map. Velvet Railway is what I'd consider my first big project in Infinite. Going into Infinite, I was so interested in what scripting could do, but unfortunately I knew nothing about scripting. So I spent many hours self-teaching myself about scripting. The goal here was to make a moving traing and a (semi) decent layout in such a small space. It was a tough challenge for sure.

Dead End

This is the first map I made in Infinite and the first in my Zombie Terror series. The map itself has history for me, as it's a map I've built in other games as well. So since I alrealy knew the style and layout, I could spend that time to learn Infinite's Forge. The map is designed around my own spin-off of Infection (before offical Infection mind you), which is meant to be a slower paced, realistic, loot based infection. I'm really happy with how it turned out, enough to have spawned 4 other maps in the series.

Lunarveil Manor

Originally this was a small hallway for a long time, as it was designed to be a setpiece for me to improve on my lighting skills in Forge. After a year or so later, I just kept adding more and more until it became what it is now. This map itself fulfills the role of an "all interior map", as I usually like to make something different with each map I make. At first it was meant to be a part of my Zombie Terror series, but it seemed to play better as just a PvP map.

Excavator 44

Excavator 44 was actually my first co-forged map ever, and was also the first ever map I built for a tournament. This was designed to be a 2v2 map for a ForgeHub tournament, and the layout/design of the map was made by Box Knows. He asked me If I could art this map, which is how I got involved. It was a great experience overall co-forging, and I learned a lot about level design as well.

Descendant

I love this map, I truly do. This is the map I wanted to make in Halo 5 when I made Ancestor. I never intended to make this map and somehow, I always intended to.

The theme of the map was my take on a control room inspired by the earlier Halo games. With an interior control room fully seen through the windows below, the subtle callbacks to earlier days, and the progression into something new, Descendant is a true love letter to Halo. I designed the level around the three tiers of the structure: the higher you are, the less you can see into the base areas.

Though the twists and turns for the vehicles have some interesting tricks for most of the vehicles, they integrate nicely with infantry. The man-cannons are not only a shortcut for the map, they help the player immerse into the idea of the flood jumping all over such structures. The idea of the cold control rooms of the past has been met with a spring-time melt!

I enjoyed working on this map with Weeeeemann and TurtledC4t! They both provided strong ideas, some fun designs, and ultimately the theme of the map. A few tweaks have been made to open the map more for the vehicles, and updates with the new modes and weapons. With a focus on CTF, Descendant is more than ready for the 12v12 playlist.

Jurassic Park

Weeeeemann and I have a long history of making Jurassic Park in Halo. With the addition of TurtledC4t, we have made our best work in Halo Infinite Jurassic Park is full of easter eggs, and moving through the map is quite the tour. The segmentation of the map with rocks and Jungle create a unique style of play that is designed to bring you through all areas of the map.

Core gamemodes are great, but you can add some pure exciting chaos to the map by trying our unique "Jurassic Firefight: King of the Hill" and no Jurassic map would be complete without "Jurassic Infection". When it comes to how me and my team view Jurassic Park, we certainly have spared no expense!

The Lost World: Jurassic Park

As iconic as Jurassic Park is, my team and I set out to make something extra special with The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Following the same design philosophy as how we built Jurassic Park, it was important to have reasons to really tour the map.

The jungle theme on the map is strong and immersive to really make you feel like you are in the scenes of the movie. The amount of tuning to come up with getting this to feel right to respect the players AND the film was worth it. We certainly break a few common Halo rules to make both of these maps more immersive.

Fight through the worker village, the Ingen camp, the RV's, and stay out of the long grass! This map plays core 8v8 modes, but has a special focus on our "Jurassic Firefight:King of the Hill" and "Jurassic Infection." The accuracy of both of these maps blended with the intense gameplay that Halo provides is sure a mix of worlds. Weeeeemann and TurtledC4t made sure we all had a good blend of easter eggs and a tour of the movie while I did my best to lay it all out! To quote the film, "We're not making the same mistakes again. Uhh, no, you are making all new ones!"

The main thing I'd like to share is that Forge can definitely feel daunting at first. I was intimidated by it many times myself, but my desire to create fun Custom Games for my friends pushed me to keep trying. That's what led to me and some friends to creating "Outlets". Each of us took a small section of the map as a learning opportunity to experiment, get creative, and figure out Forge together. That project also sparked my interest in scripting, since the mode required some atypical logic for the teleporters and game rules. It even earned me my first feature in the Halo Waypoint Forge Features!

From there, I started exploring other custom game ideas, which led to Magma-nificent; a twist on Stepping Stones from Halo Reach, with added parkour elements. After that, I wanted to challenge myself with a more traditional arena-style map, which became Going Up. It's still a work in progress, but through playtests and feedback from other forgers, I've learned so much and connected with an incredibly supportive community.

To wrap up, I just want to emphasize again that while Forge can seem intimidating at first, it's absolutely worth diving into. Speaking as someone still relatively new, the community is open, welcoming, and always ready to help you learn and create.

I had played maybe 10 ish hours of Halo Infinite before Forge came out. Over the course of the last several years I've put somewhere around 2000+ hours in it; that works out to about a year of a full-time job here in the states. Almost every single one of those hours was either forging or testing Forge maps. It took at least 500 hours before I made anything I was really happy with and it wasn't until Timberland Evolved that I made something I was proud of.

Because Forge at its core is still "just" an object editor the system has no means of modifying the terrain of the maps. I wanted to focus on bringing my favorite maps from various games into Infinite and I found that many of them comprised of a considerable amount of outside space. I somewhat accidentally became the "terrain guy" because I had the patience to try and assemble convincing looking level geometry out of hundreds of preset pieces.

Sort of like putting together a 3D jigsaw puzzle; the more I did it the better I got. The maps I listed are ordered from oldest to newest so you can see me get better at the technique overtime. I'm also pretty good at exterior environment design and got really good at debugging Infinite's lighting probe and reflection systems.

I still have complex feelings regarding the ethics of Halo Infinite essentially surviving on free labor but the truth is these maps would have been built regardless. Although the emblems and armor coatings were a nice incentive.

I can say that everyone working on the live game are genuinely good people and I'm glad to have met them. The same goes to all the other forgers I have met, especially the ones from HaloFunTime. As long as Halo has user generated content I'm sure you'll see my name again.

• DocSmurf

Throughout my experience with Forge, I have found the heart of it to be at the community. I would not have the knowledge I have today without the support and collaboration of fellow artists. Map making is an art form that requires collaboration at all levels of the process and makes you a better artist because of it.

Lighting was one of the first things I experimented with in Halo Infinite's Forge along with environmental art. For example, the picture of a street under an L Train and the map "Last Broadcast". However, as I took on more projects I found myself enjoying and having a better understanding of lighting more than any other aspects of map making. I've had my hand at level designing with maps such as Limerance and Rumination but ultimately I found both to be an excuse to continue doing light design on maps.

My biggest contributions come from my collaborations with other artists in the community. Maps like Ecotone, Breakpoint, First Light, and Ilex, come from collaboration doing light design with other members of the community. These are projects I'm most proud of to put in the hands of others to enjoy.

Limerance and Rumination, the two maps whose level design can be attributed to myself, still saw themselves amongst collaboration with other artists. Notably Scrubulba, Yeehaw J24, and Igrizhar. Both of these maps sought to push players out of their comfort zone while themselves acting as complete works of art that go beyond their environmental art. The names used for both maps mirror the introspection I was experiencing at the time of their inception and is reflected in the narrative of both maps.

At the time of constructing these maps, I was also committed to multiple other projects and would consider this my busiest season as a forger. Just this year alone I contributed my skills as a lighting artist to over seven maps. These included two of the maps introduced in the Invasion update, Breakpoint and Recovery.

Now coming off of that season, I find myself eager to continue doing light design and being a pillar of the community. The amount of creations the community has developed continues to amaze. My favorite experience will probably have to be the recreation of Warzone; a testament to the powers of this editor.

TFF | Countdown

Countdown only really caught wind when I was taken on as a forger for The Forge Falcons. EliteFalcon believed it was worth the time and effort, and with the studio's help we were able to create an incredible map that I could really be proud of.

Survive The Undead

Survive The Undead was a PvE playlist added to Halo Infinite's matchmaking which included the "Night Of The Undead" map. I had assisted in lighting and environmental design in several of the maps we made for the mode, but not all of them.

The Spire remake

This last one is unfortunately unpublished. Upon finishing the blockout for the Spire remake, I was informed that maps made for Infinite from previous Halo titles needed to be upscaled by a certain amount to fit Infinite's movement. I made an attempt to finish it but lost motivation as I and TFF as a whole moved on from Infinite. It is unfortunate, as the remaining work is all environment stuff, lighting, and gameplay elements like objectives, spawning, etc.

I have to thank TFF for really bringing me forward into the forging community in a meaningful way. EliteFalcon, I owe you for that.

Most of the minigames I've created come from one simple idea: I make the kind of games I personally want to play with friends and the community. I've been doing this since Halo 4, though my passion for Forge and custom games really began back in the Halo 3 days with those massive lobbies full of creative modes and chaos. That era is where it all clicked for me, it's baked into my DNA.

My projects like Ice Cream Man, Hogs From Heck, Castle Wars, Hot Potato Tag, and the many others are all built around that same spirit: fun first, community-driven experiences that make people laugh, shout, and come back for "one more round". Every map and mode I make starts with me asking, "Would I want to play this with my friends?" and if the answer is yes, I build it.

Forge has always been my creative outlet. I love seeing people enjoy the things I've made, and I'm grateful to everyone who takes the time to play them.

Bowling

"Bowling" started as a small experiment that quickly grew into my most complex Forge project. Building for the custom games browser introduced some interesting challenges around how to communicate the gameplay and ensure everyone can have fun in an open lobby. I worked to... strike... a balance between bowling enthusiasm and the very Halo tradition of just goofing around in a map.

I'm proud of the lane locking system that allows players to temporarily isolate from the chaos of the rest of the room while bowling scoring frames. It was fun adding in hidden details around the map for players to discover. There was more I wanted to do, like functional arcade games that would teleport players to mini play spaces, but I ultimately focused on the core mechanics and environment to stay performant within the budget.

Once I shared the map, the legendary Forger Mr Greencastle made a request for Glow Bowling (or "Cosmic Bowling" depending on where you live), and so of course, I had to do it! I forked the file and scripted some fun lights to give it that classic party atmosphere!

Ashore

Ashore is the winner of the Seek and Deploy Extraction contest co-hosted by Halo Studios and ForgeHub. Finishing this map tested my limits both creatively and physically due to the shorter contest deadline.

It started with a design document in which I enumerated elements of maps that I found fun and which elements I wanted to avoid. I spent hours gathering reference screenshots from MCC as well as real world inspiration. I constructed and abandoned multiple complete blockouts along the way as I learned more about what was working and what just wasn't fun.

Because we did not have an official mode for the contest duration, I built and shared a script prefab "SND At Home" to roughly emulate the mode for testing based on a pro-player showmatch. I also made a custom utility to test with bots in Forge to speed up iteration.

Though only my name is in the credits, I consider "Ashore" a group project, as it would not be what it is today without the dedicated testing and wise feedback from the members of the Forge Testing Group! I also greatly appreciate the rigorous QA testing done by Halo Studios prior to the map going to matchmaking!

EZ Race

I love racing games, and while I love the kart style maps, the Mongoose handling is not my favorite. This led to building the map "Stadium Razor Trucks" which featured Nav Marker checkpoints with resets, an anti-griefing system, and even a timed hotlap mode.

Since there is no official race mode in Infinite, I wanted to make it easier for others to create race maps, too. I extracted the logic from the map into an "EZ Race" mode and created "EZ Race Setup", a drop-in prefab for anyone to use. I also collected and shared art assets to speed up development. "Oasis - EZ Race" served as the validation platform. While I haven't seen many race maps pop up since, I'm still hoping to someday finish a few more!

Noir

"Noir" began with the goal of turning "Streets" into a BTB map. When thinking of how to expand the playspace, I became more invested in the concept of a mirrored version of the original map.

Tracing the geometry proved difficult. Invisible boundaries, objects disappearing, and odd collisions plagued Forge work in the dev map. Once I had the full blockout, there was still the repetitive task of reflecting across an axis piece by piece. This map gave me a renewed appreciation for environment artists. Creating distinct areas within a theme while grounding gameplay focused geometry into a believable reality proved quite the challenge. Overall, I'm thrilled by the mood I was able to capture with the cloudy sky, outdoor only rain, and custom signage.

Transfer

What I love most about Forge is when texturing, lighting, and audio merge together to evoke a certain feeling of a place. I'm fascinated with the concept of empty/abandoned infrastructure, and "Transfer", an Infection map based on a real subway station, gave me a second opportunity to delve into the environment (the first being my first Forge map "Terminus").

Lots of effort went into the scripted details and lighting techniques to really sell the vibe, but ultimately the repetition at scale ate up the budget. In hindsight, there is room for improvement both in terms of gameplay and detail, so yet another station might be in order!

All these maps above were collaborations with many amazing and talented forgers and would not have been completed without the effort of each person I've had a lot of fun creating maps and working with these amazing people and creating friendships and just love the Halo community as a whole.

I have to also mention that making maps for the Women of Halo has been a wicked experience, they were all so kind and supportive people and I'm thrilled to see their community grow larger and larger every day.

Here's a list of the amazing forgers who were on the above projects:

• p1ss3doffcat (god tier scripter)
• spartan blood 1 (terrain king)
• lNeedMoreBleach (layout wizard)
• LudoHT (minigame madness)
• MikRips (blockout specialist)
• bullet2thehead9 (artistic god)
• Kat Rat A Tat (map making ninja)
• AddiCt3d 2CHa0s (script master)
• JAKEV10 (overall brainiac)
• xLoud Mary Jane (the ideas king)

Since I am a scripter and gamemode creator, almost all maps are made by other players, and it's my custom scripts and gamemodes, that I created. I picked 3 favorite creations since I feel that the focus on these three is a good enough representation on my work, without bloat.

Glactic Conquest

A map I created with the help of DC Valorstrike who did all the art. The map is a BTB space combat map where players team up and fly ship to ship invading one another's capital ship. The map includes AI turrets and Corvette ships that are destructible, and automatic missle launchers firing at players and objectives!

Cat Mouse Cat

A VERY chaotic minigame that I created, then placed on ArtN00b's aesthetic "Art's Room" map. Its a Free-For-All gamemode where no one can hurt one another, until a player is chosen to be the Cat. The Cat will chase and kill any Mice it sees. The only catch is, at a complete random time the game will select a random player to now be the Cat and take it away from the previous player, causing chaos, and alot of fun!

Blueberry Pancakes

A team based mode that is melee, Plasma Grenade, and Repulsors only! Get hit by anything, you die instantly; even the Plasma Grenade stick itself or being repulsed into a wall! An extremely fun gamemode that's good for fast-paced fun and getting the energy up in your custom game lobbies!

For AXIOM and Musical Chairs, I used existing maps as a base, originally from Reach (DMR tournament & Musical Chairs); this time, adapted to Infinite's gameplay. In AXIOM, I used large lines of nodes to carry out more phases, making it more chaotic and dynamic.

In Musical Chairs, I integrated logic to adapt to the number of players (8-24 players) making the games have a similar duration and of course including music.

And finally Tropico was a small game design experiment. I published it in a 1v1 map contest (I didn't win of course) and there's not much to say... At the time, it was a map in Halo 5 and as much as it pains me to admit it, the Infinite's version is such superior to the one back then... but we all start somewhere :p

IloveBTB

When Halo Infinite was released, the lack of a Forge mode left us feeling lost in France. Historically, we've always been big fans of BTB since Halo 3, especially through the IloveBTB association, which adapted BTB for high-level players by transposing the MLG 4v4 modes into 8v8 formats. The maps and modes are available in the shared files of the "ilovebtb" account on MCC if you'd like to check them out.

Recreating Halo Infinite's BTB

Halo Infinite's 12v12 setup was impressive but poorly balanced, and while it initially brought back joy and nostalgia among veteran Halo players, disappointment soon set in, leading many to leave.

When Forge was finally released, deeply attached to Halo and to this very tight-knit French community, the idea of seeing this community fade away pushed my friends and me to “recreate” the real BTB — the one that had united us for 15 years (I've seen players who were teenagers back then become parents today). But with players leaving, time was against us.

Former members of the IloveBTB project helped us as consultants to launch extensive test sessions and define acceptable/unacceptable weapon and vehicle metas for this new BTB. I got back into Forge — which I had stopped using since the end of Halo 5's second year — to produce, as fast as possible, maps and game modes (Team Slayer, CTF for symmetric maps / One Flag CTF for asymmetric ones) designed for Onyx-level players.

WeLoveBTB

With this new and very buggy Forge (and to make things harder, I forge using a controller on Xbox...), I sacrificed my evenings and weekends; 2–3 hours per day during the week, 8 hours per day on weekends, to produce and/or adapt 8v8 BTB maps for testing, so we could announce the "WeLoveBTB" project, build hype, and thus reunite the community.

Through player testing, internal feedback with D5STR0Y (level design), KFR Cardiake and Rotax (weapon and vehicle balance), Majin F4lCoN and GolBoTz (internal testing), and various training sessions I took from U.S. forgers (notably Danger Tanner), I was able to develop the playlist from version 0.1 to 1.9 online, plus the later LAN version.

This included:

• Adapting gamemodes by increasing player damage and health by 130%, to reduce vehicle dominance and encourage efficient team-shooting
• Designing and recreating a non-rotating spawn system to make spawnkills possible but not irreversible, encouraging map control without randomness
• Continuous visual improvements as my skills grew, to make maps enjoyable both in-game and on Twitch for our tournament streams
• Ongoing gameplay tweaks and debugging after each round of player feedback on Discord
• Regular level design adjustments to keep the playlist suitable for both Diamond-level players and professional teams like Quadrant, who even joined the competition. The main challenge was to allow Diamond 1 players to enjoy matches without being constantly spawnkilled by 2000 Onyx players — emphasizing teamwork on maps that could offset individual skill differences.

BTB LAN events

Having created an improved BTB experience for our needs led us to organize two BTB LAN events: The first LAN at Game In Rouen faced huge issues when we discovered that the people responsible for testing LAN functionality had done a poor job. In Infinite, non-HCS game modes often break randomly in LAN, and maps lose their color rendering. Ultimately, the LAN had to be played online on-site to ensure functionality

For the second LAN at Gamers Assembly, we rebuilt the Team Slayer, CTF, KOTH, and One Flag CTF modes based on what worked — the HCS modes. The maps were scripted to modify the necessary HCS parameters directly in-game, preventing random alterations, which was a nightmare to create and test.

The maps

I'm very proud of Incubus, Eden, Wayont, and Precontinent because they offer four distinct environments, four very different gameplay experiences, designed to appeal to different player styles. They also helped average players become good — even great — by pushing them out of their comfort zones, all while maintaining authentic, low-randomness Halo gameplay (our beloved Halo!).

Each map was created and initially designed for 2–6 players, but any number of players can join and play (up to about 20 before spawning and other things potentially become an issue). There is no mode requirement; however, I did publish the mode, "TostEZ28 Maps - Campaign Mode" intended to provide the most optimal experience for players on each map.

For each map, I've invested long hours and dedication to making something great and original, highly considering level design, art, gameplay, music, and much more. It was my goal to make each experience feel like a true campaign mission, while providing a taste of my own creative outlet, and I think I have had success in achieving that goal.

I'm proud of all 4 maps, but I am especially proud of the following, which I will now elaborate on:

One Final Effort

Inspired by the infamous film "Olympus Has Fallen", and a reference to Halo's notorious track "One Final Effort".

Players are tasked with the critical goal to re-take The White House from The Banished, who currently have full control. Nearly all UNSC countermeasures have failed, and options seem to have been fully expended. The fate of the nation is left with little hope and is forced to depend on one final effort. It all comes down to you, the player(s) to fight back and restore hope to mankind.

This map took nearly 6 months to finish completely (not including weeks of playtesting), as this was one of my first creations, and I had zero prior experience with scripting nor lighting. I wanted to make something original; something new for players to experience. I also wanted to create an accurate representation of The White House, which ultimately entailed Google searching floor plans and extreme details of the highly classified government building of The United States itself, which leads me to share a fun fact about the process...

During the making of One Final Effort, I was eventually contacted by The U.S. government regarding the research I was doing on The White House! I think it may also be safe to assume that I've been placed on a watchlist because of this project as well...

The Failed Sword

When it comes to visuals and the setting of this map, it comes purely from the heart and my own illustrious imagination. With each map I make, I aim to create a different experience, a different atmosphere, a different feeling. At this point, I have yet to publish a map in a snowy/cold type of biome, and I knew I wanted to build a castle in some way. I figured these two ideas meshed and I began making The Failed Sword.

Before I get in to further detail, I'll share the fun fact/story that I have for this map as well! So, before even starting the map, or having any idea what I wanted to do with it, I had already decided on the map name. I thought of an idea to reference a time that was much simpler; a time where I can recall some of my most cherished gaming memories. Like the first time my brothers and I booted up Xbox Live on our first online game, which was unironically, Halo 3. By the time we were ready to queue our first game, we were given our first (defaulted) gamertag: "FailedSword".

After deciding on the map name already, I then had to decide how I wanted to design the gameplay. At this point, I thought of the experiences I had in Destiny, and how much I enjoyed the raiding aspect of the game. Then I became inspired to make a raid just like those in Destiny. I thought of how the encounters functioned and what game mechanics were incorporated to challenge the players. From there, I knew that this was going to be my biggest and most challenging map making experience I've faced yet.

This is a selection of forge creations all heavily based around parkour and advanced movement. "Adrenaline" and "The Climb" are both themed around the game "Trackmania 2020" and they each draw from two completely different styles of map seen in Trackmania.

Adrenaline

A fast paced, racing minigame with a heavy focus on satisfying flow and speedrunning. It has a low skill entry barrier but a very high skill ceiling, featuring lots of difficult skips and shortcuts for the player to master in order to earn the 4 medals seen at the end of the end of the map.

The Climb

A challenging and punishing tower map inspired by Deep Dip, which the player must ascend using a wide variety of tricky movement mechanics. Reaching the top is no easy task and a sign of mastery of Halo's movement.

Surf: Alpha

More of a technical demonstration than a full length map. It uses complex scripting to try to replicate the feeling of the movement in the Source Engine seen in the highly popular Counter-Strike Surf minigame. Unfortunately, it has to be played solo and in offline mode for the best experience.

I enjoyed making all of the MK64 tracks I brought into Halo Infinite, and it would not have been possible without the Blender to Forge tools.

The one I spent the most time on and the most effort on was definitely Bowser's Castle. There were a couple brain teasers for trying to get the thwomps working properly, thanks to Yolomcswag, but also making them look as accurate as possible within the confines of Halo Infinite's Forge was very tricky. Like I said, none of what I did with these maps would have been possible without the B2F tools, and my prior experience with Blender definitely aided to me being able to make maps as efficiently and effectively as I could.

If I go into the ways I imported the track models from MK64 into Blender, we'd be here all day, but I also did that manually with some plugins/hacks for the emulator I was using. I ripped each map from the game and imported it into Blender, making sure to clean up the geometry where needed and with a mix of the mesh to tris Blender plugin and manually positioning pieces, I was able to cleanly replicate the original tracks in Halo Infinite's Forge.

I do still plan to finish making the last few MK64 track in Infinite, but those are probably still a ways out if I'm honest. I will share some screenshots of my work so far on Royal Raceway, which was the last map I had been working on before I took my hiatus. (Purple parts are what I've still not finished yet, so it's not too far off from being able to import)

But in the end, even more than Blender to Forge, none of this would have ever been possible without Okom, Uber and Yolomcswag. All of you and a few others from the B2F Discord helped me to get these maps out and looking as good as they do.