Hello there fellow forgers, and welcome to Forge Hub! If you're reading this, then you should know these pesky site updates tend to swing wildly between being excruciatingly painful (when I can’t seem to stop pathetically attempting lame puns,) and hilarity on an unparalleled level. If it seems to be the latter, then give thanks to my godlike sense of humor. Otherwise, you should blame Theorem for crushing my creative freedom because he refuses to teach me how to dougie. Also, you should be on the lookout for pop-culture references, my sources say they are invading!
Promoti-
Wait a second, what's this? Strangely empty, that’s what! You guessed correctly, no members changed ranks these two weeks. What a wonderful break - ever since the new path to loyal this paragraph has been the most colorful and over-linked of the update! Now, that title belongs to the Review Hub. Or does it…
Enter, the Review Hub
Or…. Not? It seems they're having trouble defining just what it takes to review a map in this new Reach era, so give them a break! They’re not lazy, just taking the time to make sure that the reach custom game system is so thoroughly analyzed and understood that they can give expert advice to help the community divine which maps are amazing, and help creators see how their map stacks up against the rest. And you know what? They'll be up and running before the next time my words grace this front page!* If you think you have some stellar advice, feel free to contact me and I promise I'll relay that information to them. But I’m guessing you want to be more direct, am I right? How about joining the Review Hub, and telling them yourself!
* The term ‘grace’ is subjective, therefore all of my upcoming posts are NOT graceful until the RH posts its first Reach review.
Testing, Testing…
As of now you can go get your maps tested by the one, the only, the Testers Guild! The guild is a group of people who have a singular purpose - to run your maps through a gauntlet of customs to check they're up to par. In fact, why don’t you go try them out with that amazing map you just made? All you have to do is wander on over to the Testers Guild Forum and author a post that follows the lovely set of rules that I helped type up. Then, check back in a few days and see that somebody (hopefully LD, he’s amazing) has posted some helpful advice in the Feedback Forum. And if you think you’ve got what it takes and can lend a helping hand to those in need, join the Testers Guild!
Hidden Gems
Here for your viewing pleasure, just a few of the delectable treats that I chose from the community. I think you should probably take a look at them, because they're all just so cool!
Isle Circuit - THE Fuglystick
Vanilla - Gunnergrunt
Impact - II CASHnDASH II
Nadelim Chamber - DIEabolical
The Forgotten
The Forgotten Treasures II contest, that is. We were so distracted by the six Elite Zealots charging us that they simply slipped our mind. Wait, that’s not possible, I can’t navigate anywhere on the board without seeing the flood of awesome submissions that keep coming in! I personally find it incredible how so many people can come up with so many wonderful and accurate recreations of previous Halo maps, and then change them enough so that they play well in reach. I can’t wait to see what else you guys come up with! Don’t forget, the due date is fast approaching and you need to make sure that you post a link to your map in the Forgotten Treasures II Submission Thread.
Breast Cancer Awareness Month
This is a more sobering topic, and I'll drop my usual insecure antics for the moment. This October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. 1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer at some point in their lives - the most common form of cancer among women. It is a very dangerous disease, which can be fatal. It's not just women either - men can suffer from it too, although rarely. I'm bringing this up because there's a wonderful movement going on over at one of our affiliate sites, Ghosts of Onyx, to support this. There's two ways you can show your own personal support as well.
The first thing you can do is change your in-game armor color to rose (pink) and switch your service tag to BCAM. This will also enter you into a competition sponsored by one of our members, Vorpal Saint. For details on that, visit his thread on Bungie.net
The second way you can offer help is by downloading a firefight gametype, Pinky, from Vorpal’s fileshare. The Ghosts of Onyx have pledged to donate $1 to the Susan G. Komen Foundation for every 5,000 downloads it achieves. We're pledging to match them every step of the way.
This is a way of showing your support for BCAM, and seeing the crazy numbers of people who believe in fighting for a good cause alongside you. I'd love to head into a game and meet someone else all tagged up and rockin' the pink. Hell, we've got the numbers right? Let's create an army of pink spartans the whole of this October! Do it now!
If you'd like more information, you can read the original post at the GoO forums.
Forge Hub Favorites
The infamous parallel to any prestigious map feature is the community's hand-picked favorite maps. Once ran by chrst and soon to be picked up by What’s A Scope?, it's a great chance to see some of the most exciting maps you might have missed. It makes sense really, there are so many dang maps being posted these days, it’s impossible to look at all of them! So, sometime in the near future (exact date to be determined) voting for the very first Forge Hub Favorites for Reach shall commence… when will it be?
Thank God its Halo: Reach
I could spend hours slaving over my keyboard to paint you the most beautiful verbal image imagined, and convey the shear awesomeness that I imagine went on during the evening. Or, I could let a first hand witness do the job even better! Straight from CombatGam3r:
"Halo 3 TGIF may be gone but Reach TGIF is starting off strong! The hours flew by fast as games were played. My lobby stuck with Mini-Games as our schedule for the night. Based on lobby reactions the favorite for the night would be given to "Tunnels" for it's unique clever used of Mongooses, Zombies, and of course, Tunnels. Lobby spirits were held high throughout the night, even through Brodelsky's singing, Spawn Of Saltine's lovely phone useage, and we can't forget, the people without a mic that just don't get the picture. The lobby lasted 3 hours and I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to play with. I hope the next TGIF will bring even better Mini-Games, better lobby participation, and the best ForgeHub spirit to date."
Sounds fun, doesn't it? Be sure to keep your eyes open for the next one, you don't want to miss out!
Forging 101
This is it, the very reason that this website first came to exist. Teaching you all tips n’ tricks to get you forging like a pro. And guess what? They're gonna start coming like fireworks on the fourth of July (that's a metaphor, not a date). In fact, I’m so certain that we're doing this hard style that I will convince Shock to change the CT of every single staff member to “F(ailure) 101” if you aren’t reading one on how to set up gametypes by the next site update. See, we're feeling the pressure and it is my hope that we respond well as a whole.
Think you have some wonderful guide that belongs in the 101/201 section of the site? Then post it in the Halo: Reach Forge Discussion and if its worthy, it'll get noticed!
Screenshot of the Week (not!)
You guessed correctly folks, its coming back. Headed once again by Orange and Black Theorem, the digital photography contest will be back and running in no time at all. This time around there'll be a few differences. For starters, it will most definitely not be weekly, but this is because there's a prestigious prize. If you win TWO in a row, you'll get your own, one-of-a-kind custom title that nobody else has. And if somebody else gets two in a row? Then you lose your honor, and have to fight to regain it! Sound fun? Head on over to the Reach: Media forum to check it out!
Back in Two
Well, this has been a very dramatic update. It might not have been the longest but it was a behemoth. It may not be the funniest, but I am. Chances are that it wasn’t the most action-packed, but it was still entertaining. And it was most definitely worth your time! I really wish I could have done more, but my muse is on a sabbatical now so it’s a real struggle to keep these updates as funny as they need to be! It’s alright, lots of peanut-butter, loud music, and infinite skittles will help wake up the comic in me, so i can always be revived. I’m coming Wal-Mart!
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