The Winds, They Are 'A Changin'
Hello there, compatriots. It's been quite some time since you've received a Site Update, but we've decided to hold off until most of our new changes had already taken place. As you have probably noticed, many things have been changing around our forums (all for the better) and we thought you guys deserve a nice little guide to the recent fluctuations our site has had.
RISE MY MINIONS, RISE
With the recent Open Staff Applications, I've personally had my PM box blown sky-high with applications, and from all of those the staff have deliberated, argued, and started an old fashioned bear-riddled cage-style death match. And, the winners have surfaced from the war-pits to announce the new staff choices.
First off, I would really like to thank everyone that applied. It means a lot to us that you wish to join our ranks and help out the forum, and just because you weren't selected now doesn't mean you can't be selected in the future, so keep up the good work around the forums! All applicants were viewed evenly, and the choices we viewed as best for our current situation were selected.
We've got three new journalists, xAudienceofone, Tedium, and MickRaider. Keep an eye out for tantalizing articles from these new guys in the future, you'll be seeing a lot of their work on the front page and around the forums.
We also have three brand-new moderators: Berb, Chron, and cluckinho10. Keep an eye out for these orange crusaders diligently keeping our forums clean in the future, and you may want to watch out as they figure out their new ban-hammer powers.
Dual Duels
The 2v2 Dust Up Tournament is running smoothly, and as we enter march we're making our way into the second half of the map making phase. If you'd like to enter a 2v2 map to possibly be placed in the tournament (and to take your shot at grabbing some really cool prizes) head on over the map submission thread.
Remember, the deadline for map submissions is March 28th at 11:59 pm EST, and the tournament itself will take place in April.
Weekly Features
As you may have noticed, features have begun gracing the front page of our forums every Friday, ranging wildly in genre. This is no mistake friends, we're working hard to keep our front page healthy and alive with all of the amazing maps you're working so hard to create. In the future (thanks to new journalist: Mickraider) we'll have videos for each feature, posted on our own youtube page, for an even bigger advertising extravaganza.
If you know of any maps that are deserving to grace our humble front page with their illustrious presence, head on over the Feature Suggestion thread and post them. All maps that are posted in the Feature Suggestion thread will be looked at, and tested, to see if they're of a high enough quality to be featured. While we test maps that aren't posted there, it's still the easiest way to bring a map to the attention of the staff. As a reminder, you cannot post your own maps, only maps made by other members. We also discourage members from suggested maps made by their friends, if that's the only reason why they're being suggested.
File Shares Are Live!
Yes, you read the heading correctly, the online file sharing system is finally up and running, thanks to the guys and gals over at 343 industries. Now you can link directly to files, enabling you to more easily share your creations through our site, and our requirements for map-posting have been updated to reflect that. Hopefully we'll see an increase in maps shared on our forums (and all across the internet) with the advent of this service.
You can check out the file sharing system here.
SilentJacket Has Been Busy
Forge Hubs own, SilentJacket has been very busy organizing graphics contests. You can see the fruit of his labor here, in the form of his last contest, a Halo Landscape photoshop-off.
FrozenGoatHead won the contest with his snowy rendition of an icy Halo mountain range.
Silent's current contest, a Water Craft Art competition, can be found here.
The New Guild
Like a phoenix the Community Center has arisen from the TRCs ashes, transcending the bounds of it's predecessor, and lovingly making it's home on our forums. The Community Center is made up of the Testers' Guild, the Writers' Guild, and Community Customs.
[l-col]
The Testers' Guild
The new and improved testers guild functions much the same as it's previous iteration, though it has been streamlined for ease of use, and to keep up with the ever-changing landscape of Halo 4. Here, your all your hard work designing and building a map is made easier by our world class testers, who will play test your maps for you, and provide insightful and helpful feedback. If you would like to get your map posted, please, follow this link and post your map here, but not before reading the guidelines here. If you'd like to join this merry band of brothers, click here. The TG can always use new recruits, and there are plenty of pristine opportunities for advancement among their ranks.
[/l-col][r-col]
The Writers' Guild
The Writers' Guild is our shiny new alternative to the Review Hub. The Writers' Guild publishes critiques for finished maps, providing a service dissimilar to the Testers' Guild. These critiques are much more detailed than your standard review, and as such, are highly sought after, if a bit more time consuming to write. If you'd like to suggest a map to be critiqued, check this thread. If you're a talented writer you can always apply to join the Writers' Guild, as new recruits are always needed to keep up with the work these in-depth critiques require.
[/r-col]
Community Customs
The Community Customs is an area of the Community Customs Subforum, completely open to any members of Forge Hub to use to arrange game nights, or testing sessions. Inside of this area lies subforums especially for long-running customs groups, like The Circle of Jerks, and the Bloodthirst: Infection Only Customs group. If you're interesting in applying for a subforum for your own custom group, please check here.
Question of the Site Update:
This week we're going to ask you a question directly pertaining to Forge Hub. Please answer truthfully, and remember, this question can be answered without flaming or insulting any member of groups on our site.
"What do you want to see more or less of on our forums?"
If you have any thoughts on this article, or the front page in general, that you would like to share with us then we invite you to post your opinions in the Front Page Feedback thread.