Forge Features: October 27, 2023
Forge has evolved.
With the arrival of Season 5 of Halo Infinite, players have now got their hands on the Forge AI Toolkit which has well and truly changed the game, as you can now add AI units to the maps you create.
Already, we have seen PvPvE experiences populate the Custom Game Browser, along with recreations of classic campaign missions and even brand-new ones. As we hit our twentieth issue of Forge Features, that seems like a nice round number to start showcasing some of these incredible new experiences that you can jump in and play right now.
For a more comprehensive breakdown of the additions made to Forge in Season 5, check out our Forge Overview blog.
FIREFIGHT CUSTOM GAME MODE
When setting up a custom game for Firefight, you’ll want to make sure that you’ve got the right mode set up to have the optimal experience. Sometimes you can use one that’s more “general,” but sometimes there will be maps that use their own specific mode variant(s). Some even come with difficulty levels.
For a good general Firefight mode where the player simply needs to survive ten rounds, be sure to bookmark the following:
For others which are more map-specific, you will find these included below.
INCLEMENCY
Credits: MadmanEpic
Mode: Inclemency Campaign
An early example of what a “custom campaign mission”-type experience using Forge AI looks like, where you’ll be fighting Banished in the snow.
There’s a vehicular section as you navigate through several Banished checkpoints; there are some narrow bridges and walkways; you’ll storm a Banished facility and fight a hammer-wielding Chieftain in close-quarters, before heading to the extraction point and fighting off several waves of tough enemies.
Either jump in solo or grab a couple of friends and try it out!
FIREFIGHT HALO REVAMPED
Credits: JAYZEN0009, ghostlyswat12
Battlecruisers and corvettes are inbound with enemy troops! Survive five rounds against an onslaught of enemies and hold the line to claim victory.
H2 OUTSKIRTS FIREFIGHT
Credits: Ju Jitsu X, Squishiop9, tttwyson
Mode: Easy | Normal | Heroic | Legendary
“We’ve got Jackals in the courtyard!”
It’s the holdout section from Halo 2’s Outskirts mission, featuring some adjustments to the overall layout. You can bookmark different modes which scale the AI difficulty, so maybe you’re looking for an easy time ploughing through enemy waves, or perhaps you’ve gathered a group of friends and you’re looking for a challenge to test your mettle on Legendary.
INFINITE FIREFIGHT REFUGE
Credits: Cousin Tim, InfiniteForges, Michael B 2K8, NightAvenger01, I Crush All, CertifiedChamp, ItzSkittz3964
Just when you thought you couldn’t be more in awe of the maps this crew puts together, they deliver this…
Abandoned and overgrown, Halo 2’s Headlong has become a battleground for the Banished.
INSTALLATION 07 FIREFIGHT
Credits: TJtheForger
One of the encounters that Firefight naturally ended up evolving out of were the holdout sections in Halo: CE’s second mission, where the Master Chief must seek out and protect Marine survivors from several waves of Covenant dropships while exploring the Forerunner structures and beam towers that almost serve as “lighthouses” for these encounters.
It is only natural, then, that this experience has been recreated with Forge AI in Halo Infinite.
PVPVE BLOODGULCH
Credits: ghostlyswat12, DaringMacil, AlphaEpsilon
Many years ago, I remember one of the first videos of Halo modding that I ever saw was of a big AI battle on Blood Gulch where Hunters were sat on Scorpion tanks and all manner of explosive green chaos ensued.
That was well over fifteen years ago, and now you can actually create this experience for yourself in Halo Infinite.
This PvPvE experience offers 12v12 for players and 16v16 AI—with some being aligned to your team, and others on the enemy’s. It is, perhaps, one of the purest possible expressions of Halo imaginable.
TUTORIAL TRAINING
Interested in making maps that utilize the Forge AI Toolkit for yourself? Well, there’s a variety of video guides you can watch to get a greater understanding of the systems and options that are at your disposal.
First up, we did our own showcase of the Forge AI Toolkit during a Community Stage panel at the 2023 Halo World Championship.
Join 343 staff John Junyszek (Sr. Community Manager), Michael Schorr (Forge Lord), and Connor Kennelly (Forge Technical Designer) as they dive into the details of what’s new to Forge in Season 5 and how you can use it.
Ducain23 has been putting together a series of tutorials on the Forge AI Toolkit, and this is a great place to start—how to spawn AI on your map and make them move around.
This video will give you a good understanding of things like nav mesh and move zones (how AI movement on the map works), the various methods of spawning (like whether they arrive by drop pod, Phantom dropship, or fade in), and how to put these things to the test.
For something a little more advanced and long-form, check out MadmanEpic’s video on how he put together the scripting for his Inclemency campaign-style mission experience.
As MadmanEpic puts it himself, the Inclemency map isn’t copy protected and he encourages players to jump into Forge to fiddle around with the map and see how he put it all together.
That rounds us out for this issue of Forge Features, which has now become even more exciting with the new kinds of maps and experiences that players are able to create using these new tools.
It’s not even been two weeks since Season 5 launched and we’re already seeing some incredible creations from the community—we can’t even begin to imagine just how much farther there is to push the envelope, which just means that we’re every bit as excited as you are.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, the next wave’s droppin’ in and it’s about to get hot!