Forge World

Forge World is a new map in Halo: Reach, and is the largest map in the series' history. Set on a Halo installation, Forge World allows for the most flexible Forge editing; allowing players to create entire maps, within the larger map itself.

Description

Forge World was first revealed to the public through a Red vs. Blue Public Service Announcement requested by Bungie in celebration of Bungie Day 2010. This video led fans to believe that the map was a remake of Blood Gulch, but teased fans with "Go outside the Canyon". The true nature of Forge World was revealed in the Forge World ViDoc on July 22, 2010.

Forge World began development as five separate maps designed to be forged by fans. To cut development time it was decided that each map would take place inside the same skybox, allowing fans to see hints of the other maps in the distance. To make artistic development easier, a version of the map existed which allowed movement between and throughout the five levels. Because of a new system in Halo: Reach's game engine called Impostering which alows distant objects to be drawn cheaply it was decided that it was feasible to actually allow players to play accross the entire expanse of the development map. At this point, the five maps were combined into one supermap later dubbed "Forge World". Forge World is a giant map - the biggest multiplayer map in the series - consisting of nine distinct areas. Five seperate maps which were then combined: the Canyon, the Island, the Quarry, the Coliseum and the Pillar, and four new areas were added between the origonal spaces: the Coastline, the Lagoon, Alaska and Montana.

The "Canyon" is a semi-enclosed, symmetrical canyon in the south of the map, with a large open field and a drying river in its centre. Along the edges of the canyon are several walkways and caves. One end of the canyon opens up onto the lake while the other can be ascended into Alaska. The Canyon is designed for vehicular carnage and is recommended for larger team based games. Other than an increase in size and some environmental changes this area of the map is very faithful to the original Blood Gulch, with even the simplest nooks in the canyon walls being remade. The Canyon is home to Hemorrhage, a remake of Blood Gulch from Halo: Combat Evolved and with elements from Coagulation in Halo 2. Forge items in the shape of the bases from Blood Gulch are placeable and removable through Forge, and can be given a red or blue theme to designate which team it belongs to.

The "Island" is a large area in the centre of the map. The Island is roughly symmetrical, with a large rock formation at the center and a small bay on one side that molds this area into a horse-shoe shape. There is a small tunnel that cuts through the center rock. The Island is a designed for vehicular combat and is recomended for larger team based games. The Island was designed to be vaugely reminiscent of Sidewinder, thus the horse-shoe shape of the map.

The "Quarry" pocket is a small roughly rectangular grassy patch enclosed on three sides by rock cliffs with a veiw overlooking the entirety of the map on the fourth side. The Quarry is positioned directly above the Coliseum section of the map. The Quarry is described as about the same size as Sanctuary, with a remake of Sanctuary appearing in the Forge World ViDoc.

The "Coliseum" is an enclosed area reminiscent of the Crypt from Sandbox and appears to be made of Forerunner alloys. The entrance to this area is located directly under the Quarry on the side of the cliff in the far north corner of the map. This area of the map was designed to give forgers a traditional area to forge. The entrance side of the Coliseum can be blocked off with a forge peice designed specifically with this in mind or left open to give players a veiw of the lake.

The "Pillar" is a tall spiraling column of rock stretching out of the lake in the same general vacinity of the map as the Quarry and the Coliseum. Forge items in the shape of several peices of Ascension were repurposed as interesting forge objects leading to Pinnacle, the remake of Ascension which takes place here.

The "Coastline" is a stretch of beach positioned inbetween Alaska and the Island. The Coastline features a large cavern at one end and multiple spots to ford accross a small inlet to reach the island.

The "Lagoon" is a large seacave positioned along from the end of the Coastline area of the map, in close proximity to the Coliseum. The Lagoon features three cascading waterfalls, and a large clifface. The Cage, a built in forged map reminiscent of Lockout and Blackout takes place in this area.

"Alaska" is a grassy area surrounded by cliff faces on all sides. It is positioned inbetween the Coastline and the Canyon. A small gully leads down into the Canyon from one side of the map. Alaska and Montana are similar in appearance.

"Montana" is a rocky, mountanous area of the map taking place ontop of a plateau. Montana is positioned inbetween the lake and the Canyon, forming one of the Canyons walls. Montana and Alaska are similar in appearance.

Remakes of various maps can be seen in the Forge World ViDoc: Necromancer, a remake of Warlock; Blockout, a remake of Lockout; and Refuge, a remake of Sanctuary can be seen as well.

Locations

The following are locations on the map that was seen from the Monitor's HUD during the Forge World ViDoc:

• Alaska
• Canyon
• Coastline
• Coliseum
• Island
• Lagoon
• Montana
• Pillar
• Quarry
• Rock

Trivia

• Bungie confirmed that the events of Halo: Reach take place solely on and around the planet Reach, and thus, this map will not be integrated into the Campaign.
• The Forge budget on this map is $10,000.
• It is possible to re-color certain objects, including vehicles, according to team color. It is also possible to mark vehicles as objectives, such as bomb plant points or hills.
• It has been confirmed that Halo: Reach's Grifball court will be placed inside Forge World's Coliseum.
• It is confirmed that up to four Scorpions and eight Falcons can be placed in the map.
• In Forge, the player can set safe zones to keep the game in a certain area of Forge World.
• One new Forge item includes a large blue grid, similar to those seen in Sandbox, where objects can be placed in mid-air and aligned accordingly.
• The cost for some Forge items have been increased, like the Forge Filters which now costs $250.

Gallery

• Blood Gulch Reach.png

  A view of the canyon in the Hemmorhage variant.

• Blood Gulch 02.png

  A Missile and Gauss Warthog.

• Blood Gulch 03.png

  A view of the valley.

• Blood Gulch 04.png

  One of the many caves.

• Blood Gulch 05.png

  A portion of the fields.

• Blood Gulch 06.png

  Blue base and the lake, in the Hemmorhage variant.

• Blood Gulch 07.png

  A parked Banshee, with Halo in the background.

• Blood Gulch 08.png

  The map from above, featuring the new playable area in the distance.

• Blood Gulch Red Base.png

  A view of the red base in the Hemmorhage variant.

• Reach MP Hemorrhage01.jpg

  Hemorrhage.

• Reach MP Pinnacle01.jpg

  Pinnacle.

• Reach MP theCage04.jpg

  The Cage.

• Reach Forgeworld01.jpg

  Colisseum.

• Reach Forgeworld02.jpg

  Island Tunnel.

• Forge World 01.jpg

  Forge World concept art.

• Blockout.jpg

  Remake of Lockout.

• Sanctuary.jpg

  Remake of Sanctuary.

• Warlock.jpg

  Remake of Warlock/Wizard.

• Paradiso.jpg

  The Forge World map variant.