Hello everyone, and welcome to Halo Spotlight. Forge Creation features are a place that focuses on a specific Forge Creation.
In this piece, we’re showing off a map created by Infinite Forges named Hydro. We spoke with Infinite Forges about Hydro, and he was kind enough to give us some insight about the map.
We also got to play on the map in one of our Halo Spotlight game nights, so please do check that video out on our YouTube channel or at the end of this piece. As for the questions and answers, please enjoy them below.
Question: For those who may not be in the loop with Infinite news, what exactly is your map inspired by?
In December of 2020, 343 (Industries) put out I believe it was the first Inside Infinite. It may not have been the first, but it was the first with the most information, like a deep dive.
It talked about a variety of things, but within that variety of things was two screenshots of a multiplayer map. It was the first time we ever saw anything multiplayer related to Halo Infinite.
Two hours after that got released, I started building a map that I called Hydro. I went into detail, looked into every single decal, every single element of those images, (and) found out that the background environment was snowy mountain caps.
It was a Hydroelectric plant, that’s my guess. I’m pretty confident in that guess. I essentially studied hydroelectric plants and then built an entire map around a logical space that people could play in.
I’ve come to find out now that when Infinite comes out, we are actually going to do a side by side of the forge map based off the two screenshots and the actual map, and see what elements got right and what was wrong. That’s what inspired it, that’s what created it. It was fun!
Question: How did you create the areas that were not shown in the screenshots?
That was all just guess work. I did as much as I could to be able to recreate the main area in the screenshots, and I primarily worked on that.
I had a guy by the name of NightAvenger. He came in and he did some lighting on there to kinda replicate the same lighting in the screenshots. These are two different games, and you’re trying to recreate a map with the level of detail that’s on a next gen console.
It’s hard, but the thing is we had to use a bunch of unique tools. When I say “we”, I had Valiant Wolf (come) in, and he helped me a little bit with understanding the details.
There was a variety of other people that came in and out, because I wanted to get as much feedback as possible to say “hey, what are your thoughts on this? What do you think this could be like?”. I did a lot of research myself and I spent a few days just studying what hydroelectric plants look like. What they operated like.
I designed the entire map around that. What would the actual layout of the facility look like? What areas and rooms would exist? That’s why the map has a control room, a garage, a maintenance bay, a corridor area and an outside balcony area with a large river view, like a vista.
I wanted to bring a lot of variety into that map. If you actually walked into that map and studied it and looked at it, you could see how every element of that map logically makes sense, from the damn pouring in, to the whirlpool damn, which is that little generator area, to then the outflow of the water.
Everything logically makes sense. That’s kinda how I designed it. It was a lot of work, but it was fun.
Question: What kind of feedback have you had from the general community and 343 Industries?
The general community loved it from what I’ve heard. I didn’t hear much negative (feedback) apart from the fact that Halo 5 has framerate issues. When you try to pour a lot of detail into a map like that, you’re gonna get framerate issues.
That was not necessarily a concern of mine. It’s not going into matchmaking. It’s more just about making a screenshot come to life. Certain things I was kinda lenient with. (From) The community, if there was any negative feedback at all, it was framerate.
Apart from that it’s really not that bad. Certain areas can be (bad framerate wise) because you’re taking the entire screenshot area, which is a massive generator with a bunch of little parts.
Regarding 343 (Industries) it was really cool. I did a game night with the lead designer for Halo Infinite’s Forge, as well as Unyshek and some developers and designers. It was a fun night.
I did speak to, I think it was Cliff, and he was one of the designers for that map in Infinite. What I’m hopefully going to be able to do is do some type of interview with him when Infinite is out and we get to see this map, and essentially do a side by side.
The mind of a developer and the mind of a Forger. One with two screenshots and one with an entire team building a map. I think that’d be a very interesting talk. That’s what came out of the experience regarding 343 (Industries), they just want to show appreciation for it.
Question: If more multiplayer screenshots for Halo Infinite are released, do you plan on trying to create those maps too?
There was a funny joke that one of them said during our playtest. Someone was like “Hey Unyshek, go and release more maps so this guy can remake them”. It was kinda funny.
I think I would. I don’t want it to become gimmicky, but I will tell you one thing, I have one project I’m working on right now, that is the biggest, most time intensive (Project). It’ll be amazing.
The community will be like “Hold on, how in the world did you do this.” I’ve collaborated with a few people to make this happen. That’s where my focus is right now. It is Infinite related, and it’s massive.
Question: Where should people go if they want to find Hydro or other maps made by yourself?
You can go to my Twitter. It’s just Infinite Forges. You can go to my YouTube and you can find the trailer both on Twitter and YouTube (for Hydro). As well as my file share, my gamertag is Infinite Forges as well. No matter where you look, if you type in Infinite Forges Hydro it’ll come up.
A huge thank you to Infinite Forges for taking the time to show off Hydro and to have a chat with The Writing Spartan.
If you want to see the gameplay from the gameplay session and listen to the full audio version of the Q&A, you can do so in the video below.
For more awesome fan made Halo creations, do be sure to check out our new spotlights section of the site. You can also check our Twitter account and Facebook Page for updates relating to the site, our Instagram account for some awesome Halo artwork, and our YouTube channel for the latest Q&As and videos.
Want to see your Halo content or creation on the site? Check out the post submissions section, which outlines what you’ll need to do to get your piece in front of the spotlight. That’s all for now folks, so I’ll see you all next time.