Halo map makers everywhere are getting the red carpet treatment with a fully functioning Forge for The Master Chief Collection.  As part of the ongoing IGN First coverage of the game, Dave Mertz, Project Lead for Halo 2 Anniversary at Certain Affinity, walks us through Forge in the Halo 2 Anniversary sandbox, which will include not one, not two, but three blank Forge maps!  The map on demo is called Awash, which has the Forge World/Island feel, but is completely over water.  Not to worry as there is a whole library of natural terrain pieces you can use to create your map literally from scratch with ground pieces, rocks, foliage, etc.  Precision editing from Halo: Reach is making a come back and the budget is now based on object count, but we’re also getting control switches that control dynamic and interactive elements to Forged maps.  That’s right, you can now open and close doors, activate the EMP from Bloodline, trigger remote detonations, spawning vehicles and even spawn and despawn geometry!  The switches show the original BSOD from Halo 2’s Zanzibar switch for the interactive switch.  The shooting switch we saw in Stonetown is also usable as a switch.  There’s a whole new scripting system for these switches and we’re hoping for more details on that later.  Added bonus to the video is the introduction of the Heretic Banshee and a Battle Creek that has been completely Forged from scratch.

So to recap Halo 2 Anniversary’s Forge:

• Three blank canvas maps for H2A Forge including the demoed map Awash
• Natural terrain pieces to completely build from the ground up: ground pieces, trees, rocks, structures, etc.
• Budget is now object count based instead of an arbitrary value assigned to an item
• Precision editing is returning from Halo: Reach
• Interactive switches allow for dynamic map elements, doors, controls, spawners, etc.
• The Heretic Banshee is available for Forge canvas maps
• Battle Creek remake map variant was built for the IGN preview (hopefully as a built-in variant)

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