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Object
Editing in Forge
.:
Part 1 "
Forge Basics
" :. .: Part 3
"Advanced
Forge Editing " :.
On the surface,
the Forge is pretty straight forward. Create fusion coil,
hurl at friend, repeat ad infinitum. However, there are some
other things that you may choose to make yourself aware of
if you wish to master your tools.
Inventory
and Budget
The number of
objects you can place in the Forge is ultimately limited by
two things: Inventory, which is the number of a specific object
that you can place, and Budget, which is an overall total
that keeps things in check.
There’s
actually a third limit that kicks in when you’ve got
a whole heck of a lot of objects on the map, but really, you
need to be looking for trouble to bump into that one. The
Forge will just squawk at you and give you a polite error
message if you try to go above it. Don’t bother, it’s
not that spectacular.
Inventory
Inventory is
tracked per object type. Think of it as the limit for that
object type—no more than that number of those objects
can be placed on the map, or allowed to spawn on the map.
The Inventory
is shown to the left of the object name in the creation palette.
That number tells you how many more objects of that type can
be placed on the map. If that number is 0, you may place no
more.
One important
note: in addition to the objects placed on the map, the Inventory
counts objects which could spawn in later. For example, if
a single Spartan Laser is placed in the middle of Valhalla,
but the maximum respawn quota for Spartan Lasers is 3, then
the Inventory counts 3 Lasers as having been placed. Don’t
freak out, there’s more on this later.
Budget
Budget is an
overall limit on the objects placed on the map. A Warthog
is more expensive to have on a map than a fusion coil. More
expensive than several fusion coils, in fact. The Budget is
what reflects this.
In your bottom
right corner is a little meter, and a number. This is your
remaining Budget. The number is the amount of Budget you have
left to spend, and the bar fills up as you spend it. If that
number is $0, you won’t be able to place more objects.
In the object
creation palette, the cost of an object is listed to the right
of its name, as a dollar figure. No, the dollar amount isn’t
how much will be charged to your credit card if you place
one such object. What would we do with such wealth? Instead,
it is the amount that will be deducted from your remaining
Budget if you place such an object.
Note: as with
Inventory, the Budget counts not just the objects placed on
map, but also the objects that could spawn in later. More
on this later.
Object
Spawning
Most objects
that you can edit in the Forge can be told to respawn if some
evil should befall them. The system that manages this (colorfully
called “The Candy Monitor” by our engineers) can
be complex, but is worth understanding.
Respawn
Timer
When an object
is disturbed, it starts counting down a hidden respawn timer.
Objects are sensitive things, and consider themselves disturbed
if they are moved, picked up, or destroyed.
Once this timer
counts down to zero, the object says “hey, I want to
respawn now”. But before it does, there is a check to
make sure there is not already too many objects of that same
type on the map. This is where the quota, described below,
comes in. If there are too many objects waiting, then the
object waits quietly until there is room before it respawns.
The respawn timer
usually defaults to 30 seconds, but this is a property that
may be set per object, as described below.
Respawn
Quotas
OK, stay calm.
This part will seem a little complex, but its really pretty
easy.
All object types
have a quota. That is, a maximum number of them that can be
on the map, and also a minimum number.
When an object wants to respawn, it makes sure that doing
so would not result in more objects of that type than the
maximum allowed. For example, this is how you can make sure
that no more than one Shotgun is on the map at a time, but
still place three locations around the map where it could
spawn at.
Likewise, a minimum
number can be set, in which case objects will respawn immediately
if fewer than this number are on the map. For example, we
like to set minimum counts on Mongooses, to make sure they’re
always available.
To edit the quotas,
you can select the type of object in the creation palette,
and press X to bring up the summary. This screen tells you
how many objects of that type are on the map, what your minimum
and maximums are, and also how much of your Budget is being
spent by objects of this type. Only the “Run-Time Minimum”
and “Run-Time Maximum” can be edited here, the
other numbers are just for reference.
Remember: the
Budget counts the “Run-Time Maximum” when adding
up the cost. You might only place one Sniper Rifle on the
map, but if your maximum is set higher than that, a new Sniper
Rifle could spawn in.
Is that all clear?
If not, don’t worry about it—the Forge always
sets the minimum and maximum to safe default values, so you’ll
never have to bother with this if you don’t want to.
Object
Properties
Almost every
object placed on the map has a few properties specific to
itself that you can edit.
To do so, place your crosshair on an object. Then press X.
This brings up an Item Properties window which contains a
list of properties to edit.
This list isn’t always the same—a weapon has different
properties than a vehicle, or from a piece of scenery.
But there are
some common ones:
- Respawn Rate:
This controls how many seconds it takes for an object to respawn.
You can use a very low number to make an object respawn quickly,
or a very high one to make it less common. You can even tell
it to never respawn, in case you want something that only
shows up at the start of a round.
- Place At Start:
This controls whether the object starts on the map, or if
it spawns in later. If you set this to No, then the object
will not be there when the game starts, but its respawn timer
will start counting right away, so it will appear after a
delay.
- Symmetry: This
cryptic option controls which types of games the object appears
in. A Symmetric gametype is generally one where both sides
are equals, like Slayer or Multi Flag CTF. An Asymmetric gametype
is the opposite, where the sides have different goals, like
One Flag CTF or Territories. Clever use of this property will
let you set up a map that plays great for Multi Flag CTF,
but also works well for One Flag CTF.
Forge
Options
Like Custom Games,
the Forge does have a few options that you can set up in the
pregame lobby. As with custom game options, you access these
by pressing X in the lobby.
First, the bad
news. That option at the top, the one called “Allow
Editing”? In theory, this option would let you restrict
editing to the Party Leader, and prevent everyone else from
editing. In practice, ah… ahem… well, not so much.
That’s what we call a “feature”. It’s
like how sometimes, when a plane lands, the tires blow up.
Halo 3 is that plane. This was one of those tires.
But the good
news is that the other options work smashingly. The Editor
and Player Traits are pretty straightforward, and offer a
list of traits that you can apply to players in both Editor
and Player modes. So if you’d like to go about your
editing duties while your test subjects shoot lasers at you,
you can tweak those Editor traits to make yourself invulnerable,
or invisible.
And the Respawn
Time option should be pretty self explanatory. It’s
really only there in case you want to get really serious about
playing serious games in the Forge, and three second respawns
won’t cut it anymore.
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