Get 'em close enough to see nature's warning colors...
Complete all of your Weekly Challenges and the Ultimate Challenge to earn this week's Ultimate Reward – the Neon Steel weapon coating for the CQS48 Bulldog.
A new Ultimate Reward will become available every week, so be sure to keep an eye on your Challenges and take advantage of these free rewards.
Dreaming of Miami nights...
Featuring coatings for your M12 and M12R Warthogs, M15 Razorback, AV-49 Wasp, the MA40 AR, BR75, as well as the Mark VII and Yoroi cores, the Will o' the Wisp Visor, and the Combat Reload stance, there's never been a better time to look super fly.
There's more than one kind of dance out on the battlefield.
Dazzle your foes with the Neon Beat Mythic Effect Set, deliver some swift juice-tice with the Juice visor, and stamp that Synthwave Sasquatch emblem onto your armor, weapons, and vehicles.
You can't outrun inevitability.
At least, not forever. With the Neon Beat kill effect, you can live life on the grid, even in death.
Level up your style and hit the grid after swinging by the Shop today!
Forge Features
Forge has come to Halo Infinite!
First introduced in Halo 3 all the way back in 2007, this feature has evolved from its original intent to serve as a map editor for moving spawns, replacing weapons, and adding geometry, to become something else altogether.
The reason for that lies in the community. You used teleporter nodes to suspend crates in the air on Last Resort. You took weapons, grenades, and respawn points, made makeshift visual effects in certain rooms, and made iconic screenshot art. And you learned tricks like “interlocking” and “geomerging,” combining objects together and phasing them through the environment, to not only edit existing maps but create brand new ones.
And that was just the beginning. In each successive instalment with Forge, the goal has been to empower players with these abilities as tools at their disposal, which has culminated in where we are today. In 2022, Forge is more powerful than ever before and in the last week that it’s been added to Halo Infinite as part of the Winter Update, we’ve already seen the community’s creative spirit begin to flourish.
That means the time has come for a “Forge Spotlight,” a new monthly blog feature where we bring some of the coolest community-made content your way.
With advancement naturally comes a certain feeling of intimidation and fear over a loss of comfortable, learned simplicity. There’s so much you can do that it can feel difficult to know where to start, and so this series is designed to say... start here! Try out the things that folks in the community are making, and let’s give you the tutorials and insights that will set you on your own odyssey with Forge.
Maps & Modes
Let’s take a look at some awesome maps that you can find and bookmark right now via the Content Browser!
I remember the first time I played Paintball in Halo 3. Back in ‘08, it was instant kill Plasma Pistols on a Forged map on Foundry, and I lost many hours to it with friends.
With the Forge Beta in Halo Infinite, Paintball returns! “Weapon combination” through scripting enables you to wield a Battle Rifle that shoots plasma bolts from a Pulse Carbine while your Sidekick fires Plasma Pistol bolts.
With jumping disabled, Paintball is all about how you use the various objects and structures of the map for cover while anticipating the movement of your enemies.
In the past, we’ve been able to create goals and hit a ball around with Gravity Hammers, but Repulsoccer takes things to a whole new level!
Using the Repulsor equipment, two teams can move an energy ball around the map with the aim of getting it into the enemy’s goal. If the energy ball touches you, you’re dead and have to wait to respawn – of course, you can help thin the numbers of the enemy team with your Energy Sword as well.
A fan-favorite classic from Halo 4’s multiplayer, Haven has been rebuilt in Halo Infinite.
Haven has everything there is to love about a Halo multiplayer map – it's a Forerunner-themed symmetrical arena map capable of hosting a broad variety of modes for some great 4v4 action.
Speaking of fan-favorite classics, it is only natural that, upon getting a tool like Forge in their hands, the community would remake this map in particular—and that’s exactly what BicyclicHealer2 and the fittingly-named AlphaEpsilon have done.
Named Coagulation after the Halo 2 incarnation of this unforgettable boxed-in canyon, the map itself is actually a recreation of the original Blood Gulch we know and love.
Grab some friends and contemplate life's great mysteries about why we’re here... or blow each other up with tanks. Either’s good!
Halo 3 gave us a spiritual remake of Coagulation in the form of Valhalla, and this recreation of the map by DarthPepper, Chewbaci, and anakin53106 (that’s a lot of Anakins!) is a fantastic first go at bringing this beloved space to Halo Infinite.
As a co-Forged map, it’s amazing to see what kind of community content can come from a group of people pooling their memories of the series with the collective creative talent they have for utilizing Forge as a tool.
Community Creations
As a critical aspect of the Halo franchise, some of you may be wondering where you can find and connect with the Forge community. Two of the core places you should definitely check out are:
Here, you’ll find lively forums for discussion and sharing, detailed browsers for maps, news and updates, and much more! And you can always hit up the official Halo Discord if you’re looking for people to play with.
Of course, we’re not the only ones highlighting Forge maps and modes, which brings us to some of the guides and tutorials for Forge made by the community for the community.
First up, Red Nomster has been putting together some great tutorial guides on how to use Forge.
In his first part, Red Nomster looks at how to get started in Forge – from simple things like placing objects and examining their properties, to getting you started on the fundamentals of FX tricks, and how to weld and script a door.
The second part takes a closer look at how you can Forge interactive maps in Halo Infinite, implementing features like double and automatic doors, elevators, and ladders.
DEWtheMCCOY has been rounding up various Forge maps from the community to show them off each day since the Winter Update launch. We applaud this incredible dedication, and you should definitely keep up with this showcase of amazing content!
Our own Senior Sound Designer Robbie Elias has been putting together some videos that show some of the cool things you can do with scripting nodegraphs in Forge.
Remember in Halo 2’s Cairo Station and Halo 4’s Dawn when you go out the airlocks for a spacewalk and the audio changes to muffle the sound effects? You can set that up as a global audio effect, which means it’s time for y’all to leverage this for a truly immersive Boarding Action remake!
With that, we bring our first Forge Feature to an end!
This is just the beginning of incredibly exciting things to come with Forge – both in terms of continuing to build on the mode and in seeing what creations of yours will continue to amaze and astound us. We couldn’t be more excited to be embarking on this Great Journey with you.
Also, while sharing your Forge content online, just like with other community creations, be sure to tag it with #HaloSpotlight!
To end this first Forge Features blog with a question:
What’s your favorite Forge creation you’ve seen so far? Let us know!
Ultimate Reward & Featured Shop Bundle
Sharpened on Covenant armor, wetted with Banished blood.
Complete all of your Weekly Challenges and the Ultimate Challenge to earn this week’s Ultimate Reward – the Wolf Fang chest attachment.
A new Ultimate Reward will become available every week, so be sure to keep an eye on your Challenges and take advantage of these free rewards.
Party on, party people!
The Fiesta Fury Mythic Effect set features some fancy footsteps, glorious Grappleshotting, stellar sliding, and will cheer for you on every respawn.
Head by the Shop and let your party flag fly!
Has it been a year already?
Halo Infinite launched November 15, 2021, and to celebrate the occasion we've got a free birthday gift for all players.
Head to the Shop and get the Birthday Bash death effect for no additional cost, then head to the online battlefield and let those balloons fly! 🎈
Ultimate Reward & Featured Shop Bundle
I see you've got as refined a taste in armor coatings as you do your choice of morning tea, Spartan!
Complete all of your Weekly Challenges and the Ultimate Challenge to earn this week’s Ultimate Reward – the Mark VII Willow Tea armor coating.
A new Ultimate Reward will become available every week, so be sure to keep an eye on your Challenges and take advantage of these free rewards.
Hungry like the wolf.
Bare your fangs on the way to the Shop to pick up your matching set of Reavian Werewolf shoulders for your Mark V [B] armor today.
Let everyone know your bite is worse than your bark.
Has it been a year already?
Halo Infinite launched November 15, 2021, and to celebrate the occasion we've got a free birthday gift for all players.
Head to the Shop and get the Birthday Bash death effect for no additional cost, then head to the online battlefield and let those balloons fly! 🎈
Winter Update Launch
The Winter Update for Halo Infinite has arrived!
This is the largest feature update to Halo Infinite yet, bringing with it a number of highly anticipated experiences such as Campaign Network Co-Op, Mission Replay, the Forge Beta, and a plethora of new, free content for all players.
We want to acknowledge and thank our players who have stuck by us and provided feedback to improve the overall Halo Infinite experience – the Winter Update marks a big step forward for all of us. So, let’s dive into everything that you can play in-game today. Check out our launch trailer for a quick look at what's coming...
...and, for a more detailed visual showcase of it all, be sure to give our Winter Update Overview video a watch!
Whether you’re stepping into the legendary Mjolnir-clad boots of the Master Chief for the first time or making your return to Zeta Halo, you can jump in with up to three of your friends and experience the epic Halo Infinite campaign together in Campaign Network Co-Op.
Campaign Network Co-Op for Halo Infinite supports crossplay across all Xbox devices and PC, and progress and unlocks are shared across all players. This means that no matter what platform you’re playing on and where you are in the game, all players bring their progress with them – campaign completion, collectibles unlocked, Spartan Cores unlocked, etc – and all players progress together so it’s not just the host who benefits, but everybody.
Should you find yourself wanting to relive a specific part of the odyssey from the Warship Gbraakon to the Silent Auditorium, or if you need to clear up some outstanding collectibles and Achievements, you can replay any of the missions from the TACMAP.
New Achievements
Bleep bloop! Achievement unlocked!
Alongside Campaign Network Co-Op and Mission Replay comes the addition of 24 new Achievements for the Halo Infinite Campaign, to be awarded for accomplishing a variety of Spartan-worthy feats—some can be done solo, but others may require a helping hand or three.
Oh, and if you want to get a closer look at some of the requirements for the Achievements in a suave presentational style, go and give our YouTube Shorts a watch!
Forge Beta
At last, Forge has come to Halo Infinite!
Halo’s legendary creation tool is back and more powerful than ever, boasting a vast suite of additions and improvements to empower community cartographers with advanced and accessible tools.
The Forge Beta in Halo Infinite launches with six canvas maps, a new visual scripting engine, object scaling, lighting and audio tools, bot support, huge budget increases, file sharing capabilities, and much more to help you create and share your maps, modes, and prefabs.
While we are calling this the Forge “Beta,” by no means does this mean that the mode is going away. Forge is here to stay for good in Halo Infinite, all content will carry forwards and persist, and the mode will continue to see updates and support over time, evolving to add even more content to further inspire and empower creators.
Got more questions about Forge? We’ve got answers! Be sure to give our Forge FAQ blog a read for further insights into the mode, as well as this extensive Forge article from Halo Support!
Looking to get an overview of all these new additions? Check out our four-part Forge Fundamentals video series.
Keep an eye on the Community tab to find and bookmark Forge creations and 343 recommended content in the weeks ahead. For those who may need a reminder, a Custom Games Browser for Halo Infinite is in-development and is targeted for release with Season 3 next year, and in the meantime you can find community content on the Halo Waypoint Content Browser (there’s more information on that in the Halo Waypoint section further down!)
New Battle Pass & Events
The Winter Update brings with it a new Battle Pass that is completely free for all players and will never expire. That means even new players who may come to Halo Infinite even months from now will still get the Winter Update Battle Pass for free, as it is available in perpetuity!
Featuring 30 tiers of rewards, the Winter Update Battle Pass sees the return of many highly requested, fan-favorite Halo: Reach-themed cosmetics. Take a look at what awaits you in our Battle Pass Preview.
Over the coming months, you can also look forward to two free events which will bring a further 10 reward tiers each (that’s 20 additional free reward tiers overall).
In December, Winter Contingency shall be declared once more and offer a series of Holiday-themed cosmetics.
In January, the Joint Fire event will center around the JFO-class Mjolnir armor and other related cosmetics.
Match XP & Progression
The Winter Update marks our first major step towards evolving Halo Infinite’s player progression experience with the Match XP Beta.
Directly acting on player feedback to evolve XP and progression in the game, Match XP consists of:
XP for completing matches
Additional XP for performance (win/lose, end-of-match placement, etc)
With Match XP, progression will center around player performance rather than the completion of Challenges. No matter the mode, players will be rewarded for how they do. Note that we are referring to this as a “Beta” because we will be monitoring the values for each Match XP reward category and tuning them to provide enhanced earn rates.
Challenges are getting an overhaul too! Completing Challenges will provide a bonus boost to your XP, but the core focus of this feature will be primarily based around obtaining the Ultimate Reward.
Where it previously took the completion of 20 Challenges for players to get the Ultimate Challenge, with the Winter Update we are reducing that requirement down to 10. Challenges will also be more “general” overall and can be completed in any playlist.
Amongst the new additions to Halo Infinite are two new multiplayer maps: Argyle and Detachment.
Argyle
Set within the narrow corridors of a UNSC vessel, Argyle comes to Halo Infinite as one of the first multiplayer maps to be built entirely within Forge. This tight, indoor, symmetrical map makes for a competitive arena environment that showcases merely a fraction of what the Forge tool is capable of.
Detachment
Also built entirely within Forge, Detachment comes to Halo Infinite as a new symmetrical arena map. Set atop a rocky outcropping, this once-abandoned UNSC research facility is composed of indoor and outdoor environments, providing opportunities for dynamic combat that suits a variety of game modes and play styles.
Covert One Flag
Covert One Flag arrives as a unique variant of One Flag CTF. In this round-based mode, attackers and defenders swap sides as they battle for control of a single flag.
Asymmetric team loadouts equip attackers with Active Camo to help sneak their way past enemy defense while defenders possess Threat Sensors to help spot the intruders. The team who wins the majority of rounds wins the match.
For folks looking to get straight into this new mode, head to the Joint Ops playlist!
Sandbox, Playlist, & Matchmaking Updates
In addition to all this new content, Halo Infinite is also seeing some overarching adjustments and improvements to the overall experience. We’ve touched on some of that with the addition of Match XP, but this also goes for sandbox balancing and matchmaking improvements.
Based on player feedback and our own findings, we’ve addressed some of the common themes that have been occurring around weapon balance, as well as other areas.
Playlists in Halo Infinite are also getting a new rotational rework to keep things fresh for players week-to-week.
Permanent playlists include:
Quick Play
Big Team Battle
Ranked Arena
Fiesta
Tactical Slayer
Team Slayer
Rotational playlist slots include:
Rotational Core: A playlist that is typically close to the core Halo gameplay experience, similar to Quick Play (e.g., Team Snipers, Team Doubles, etc.)
Rotational Social: A playlist that is usually closer to the fun, social, and whacky side of Halo (e.g., Social Slayer, Big Team Social, Rumble Pit, etc.)
Rotational Ranked: A playlist that fosters a competitive experience (e.g., Ranked Doubles, Ranked FFA, etc.)
Event playlists: A slot that will be used when Events roll into the game (e.g., Cyber Showdown, The Yappening, etc.)
The first rotational core playlist with the Winter Update will be Joint Ops (featuring Covert One Flag), and the first rotational social playlist will be Social Slayer, which includes the likes of Kong Slayer, Purple Reign, and Rock ‘n’ Repulsors.
In parallel with the additions and evolutions of Halo Infinite, Halo Waypoint has also seen several enhancements to the user experience on web and mobile.
In support of Forge, you can now access the Content Browser from the Community tab of the site. This is where you’ll be able to search for and bookmark maps, modes, and prefabs (which include objects and scripting nodegraphs) in Halo Infinite.
As an additional reminder, at the start of October we brought your Halo Infinite Game History and Post-Game Carnage Reports to Halo Waypoint, going all the way back to the game’s launch in November 2021.
Head to the Shop in Halo Infinite and you’ll find the free Birthday Bash Kill Effect available to grab for the next two weeks, marking the one-year anniversary of the game’s launch!
Complete all your weekly Challenges and the Ultimate Challenge (remember, you just have 10 Challenges to complete to get there now!) in order to acquire this week’s Ultimate Reward: the Willow Tea armor coating.
You can submit tickets on a wide range of topics that include reports of Audio Issues, Crashes, Game Save Corruption, Report a Player, General Bug Reports, and more.
Thank You
At this point, hopefully your installation of the Winter Update has completed and you’re ready to jump into its content offerings – whether that’s campaign with your friends, straight into some multiplayer action, or your very first Halo Infinite Forge project…
For now, the last thing we want to say is thank you for your support over the past year. We know it certainly hasn’t been the smoothest or quickest ride, but with the Winter Update we have an opportunity to show our thanks for the community’s dedication and feedback which serves as the north star guiding us to evolve the player experience of Halo Infinite.
The Winter Update marks a major step forward for our game and studio, but this is just the first step of that evolution. The team is actively working on key player experience priorities across the game to address areas of feedback, and we are targeting another game update before the end of this year.
Your support is greatly appreciated, and we can’t wait to turn this corner with you all in 2023 as we look to shorter seasons, a more regular stream of content, and bigger things to come.
As we look to the arrival of the Winter Update in Halo Infinite on November 8, which brings with it the highly anticipated Forge Beta, our support for the game with Halo Waypoint’s continues to expand.
Today, we’re excited to share that Halo Waypoint’s latest update brings the Halo Infinite Content Browser to the web—making it incredibly easy to find and share community creations.
Halo Waypoint’s Content Browser is how you can search for and bookmark Forge creations from other players. We’re bringing this powerful in-game tool (which can be accessed from the main menu’s Community tab) to Halo Waypoint, putting it in the hands of our players, wherever they may be.
At the landing page of the Halo Waypoint Content Browser, you’ll find 343 Recommended content, as well as popular maps, modes, and prefabs (these are things like Forge objects and scripting nodegraphs created by other players that you can download and place in your maps).
Explore below to see how the Content Browser looks and the filters and tags it offers to refine your search.
With the Content Browser at the tip of your fingertips, you’re never far from being able to try out the next great map and mode from the community, or from implementing objects and nodegraphs into your own maps under construction.
Whether you’re a cartographer looking to share your content, or a player looking to try out something new, the Content Browser is your one-stop hub for everything you need!
We’re excited to continue supporting Halo Infinite and Halo Waypoint experiences across the board, and today’s update is another step on that great journey.
If you have any feedback about this latest update, please share be sure to share it with us. If you come across any technical issues, please let us know on the Halo Support site.
Thank you for your continued support and feedback, and we can’t wait to see what you make!
Winter Update
Winter is Coming.
Running from November 8 through March 7, the Winter Update is Halo Infinite's largest feature update to date and brings much anticipated and highly requested features!
Experience Campaign Network Co-Op with up to three friends, go back and work on completion with Mission Replay, unleash your creativity with the long-awaited Forge Beta, and more.
Additionally, you will receive a free 30-tier Battle Pass featuring many Halo: Reach inspired items.
The Winter Update for Halo Infinite arrives on November 8 and brings with it a plethora of free new content, including a 30-tier Battle Pass that never expires.
Based around fan-favorite Halo: Reach cosmetics, this Battle Pass celebrates a year of Halo Infinite with a return to the “Heroes of Reach” theme. And, speaking of celebrations, make sure you head over to the Shop when the update drops to pick up your free Birthday Bash Kill Effect gift.
The Winter Update Battle Pass will be the first one that players can progress with the new Match XP system, which you can read more about in our Match XP & Progression blog. Though, if you’ve not completed your Season 1 or Season 2 Battle Passes, you’ll be able to progress them with Match XP as well! This is our first step in overhauling player progression in Halo Infinite and we’re keen to hear your feedback about how this new approach feels, so let us know.
In the meantime, let’s throw it over to John Junyszek and Sean Baron for a closer look at the Winter Update’s free Battle Pass!
Forge Beta FAQ
The Winter Update is right around the corner and the launch on November 8 will usher in the long-awaited Forge Beta for Halo Infinite! This is a huge moment that’s been years in the making and we can’t wait to put our most powerful editing and creative tools into the hands of the Halo community.
Forge will technically be launching as a “Beta,” but rest assured that it’s still incredibly powerful with immense functionality that will continue to improve and evolve over time. And don’t let the “Beta” moniker fool you – this free update will be permanently added to the game for everyone. Once it’s here, it’s here to stay (along with all the content being created).
As we count down the final days to release, we’ve put together answers to some community frequently asked questions (FAQ) and rounded up all the information to date to make sure you know what to expect when the Forge Beta arrives on November 8.
Since the announcement of the Forge Beta, you’ve had questions – lots of ‘em! While the Forge Fundamentals series did offer a lot of insights, there’s still no shortage of questions across the community.
Below is a collection of frequently asked questions gathered from Twitter with answers provided by Michael “Forge Lord” Schorr, Forge Lead at 343 Industries.
Will 343 be adding community maps into matchmaking regularly? How easy/difficult is that to do?
We want to do this as soon as possible but it will take a bit of time. It first requires content to be created by the community. Then, 343 needs to identify that content and work with the author(s) to make sure that content meets our functional requirements (works as expected, performs well, etc). Once the content has been finalized, we then need to add it to a playlist.
We do have plans for a Forge playlist that highlights only community created content. We’re eager to see how the community embraces Forge and will look for opportunities to continue evolving our approach to Forge content in Matchmaking as warranted.
When does The Pit hit matchmaking?
The Pit remake is targeted to land in Matchmaking before the end of the year, with other official legacy map remakes planned for further down the road. We’ll have more details to share later, but in the meantime, we expect no shortage of awesome throwback community-creations that could also make their way into Matchmaking (per the question above).
When do you think you’ll consider Forge out of Beta? Is it based on performance or the amount of content in the mode?
For the most part, the Beta label means that we still want to apply more polish and bug fixing to some aspects of the experience in addition to seeing what new issues and opportunities may arise as we release Forge into the wild at massive scale. Forge is an incredibly robust and ambitious feature, and while the team has spent years developing and iterating on it, nothing can truly equal the level of feedback and data we’ll get from players around the world.
There is also some work that just missed the November 8 Forge launch that we’d like to add before we consider removing the Beta tag. There’s a lot to dig into here—exponentially more so than any prior Forge—but we have more we want to get to including functionality to allow editing on dev maps (at launch, the Forge Beta functionality is centered around the 6 shipping canvases), audio acoustic fidelity improvements, and of course more content (including additional palettes).
Any ideas of implementing an “import geo” type thing into Infinite, so we could create custom assets in Maya/Blender or whatever DCC we’re using and be able to import them into infinite to use in forge?
There are content moderation and Forge object integration challenges in officially supporting this type of content. That said, we are looking at MCC’s approach to modding support as inspiration and will be listening to the mod community to better understand how to best support them. Who knows what the future will bring, but safe to say November 8 is merely the beginning.
When I permit others to make copies of my maps, will those copies restart at version number 1 and be saved separate from my own, or will theirs be alternate versions of my own map in my own version count lineup?
Cloned assets do not include all the versions of the original; they behave as brand-new assets except that map credits persist from the original to the clone. There is no limit on the number of versions an asset can have but non-locked versions are auto-deleted after 30 days. To prevent this type of deletion players can lock asset versions in the Version History menu.
Will there be any basic tutorials on how to Forge and will that happen through The Academy?
Our Forge Fundamentals video series is a nice overview of the (ahem) Forge Fundamentals and a great launch pad for your Forge journey. We also recommend chatting with any of the Forge community groups out there (Halo Waypoint forums, ForgeHub, The Scripters Guild); they’re supportive, positive, and a great way to meet like-minded folks who are passionate about Forge.
We’ll do our best to continue to surface and promote these great community resources and look forward to partnering with the Forge community to help enhance the experience for everyone.
Is it possible to add campaign AI in Forge? Are y’all working on it?
It’s possible and we are working on how to best bring those features from our internal tools into Forge at a later date. We see a lot of potential in allowing players to create experiences that lean into the cooperative/PVE space. Good news is that with the addition of Nav Mesh and the support of AI controlled Bots, we’ve already got a head start on pushing further into this area.
We’re not announcing anything today and this is long lead work, but it’s definitely an opportunity we’re interested in and excited to pursue.
Will custom game modes made using Forge’s new visual scripting be able to be shared independently from the maps they were created on as custom game modes?
At launch, any mode logic created using Node Graph will need to be contained within a map by using a script brain. That said, players can create prefabs that contain script brains and related mode objects to share with map makers. This will make it easier to integrate custom modes into maps.
Longer term, we have plans to allow mode makers to create custom modes using the Node Graph and share them just like you’d share a custom mode created in the custom game mode editor. This will remove the need to embed ANY mode logic in the map.
How can I download maps from other people?
Players can use the Community tab to find custom content to play. 343 will also be featuring cool community content in the “Recommended” menu and popular maps, modes, and prefabs will show up in their respective menus. You can then set up a custom game with that content to play with friends, etc.
Once Season 3 lands, you will also be able to find active games in progress via a Custom Game Browser. And, as noted up above, we’ll also be working to integrate suitable Forge content into Matchmaking over time.
Stay tuned for additional ways to find and share content!
Will you be looking at or taking submissions for maps to be added to the HCS rotation?
We’ll be looking far and wide for cool community made experiences to promote in our “Recommended” section and add to our playlists. Halo 5 had a couple of amazing Forge maps make it into HCS rotation (Fissure, Echelon, and Refuge) and we see the potential for that to happen again. Of course, the maps would need to be tested and iterated on thoroughly before making their way into rotation, but we fully expect that some of the maps made in Halo Infinite’s Forge will have what it takes to make into the HCS eventually.
In the meantime, the team does have plans to incorporate Argyle and the Pit remake—both built from the ground up in Forge – to the HCS lineup as a first step.
When will we see the Custom Game Browser?
Halo Infinite’s Custom Game Browser will land with Season 3 “Echoes Within” on March 7. Until then, you can find, bookmark, and play custom games on maps and modes that you find in the Content Browser or by looking at an individual’s files. If you’re LFG to play Forge customs with, jump into the Official Halo Discord Server or the Halo Waypoint forums and send up a flare.
How many players can Forge on the same map at once?
Up to eight players can Forge together in an active co-forging session. If you want additional players to collaborate with on an asset, you can add them via the Manage Collaborators menu. Just make sure any potential collaborators are friends; you both must be following each other to work together like this.
It’s worth noting that because of a bug we found close to launch, join-in-progress will be disabled for Forge sessions. This means co-forging will require everyone to enter the Forge session at the same time. Fixing this is a top priority for us and will be done as soon as possible.
Will we ever get Banished/Covenant structures en masse like Forerunner/Human pieces?
We are currently adding more objects to the Forerunner object set and will then move to creating the Banished palette. Other design palettes (Flood, Covenant) are top of mind, but we have not finalized plans for those yet. We understand how much variety and flexibility these sets bring to Forge creations and will add more as fast as we can!
Can we make Custom Power Ups?
Yes! In Node Graph players can place an “On Custom Powerup Used” event node and hookup any scripts they want to it. When someone uses that custom equipment, it’ll fire whatever scripts they have attached. So, players could apply a Trait Set that boosts movement speed and reload times. Or they could refill 50% of the player’s ammo. Players could make Fusion Coils fall from the sky at a point 20 feet in front of where the player is looking. The sky’s the limit. Players can also define weapon combos (like an AR that shoots Skewer ammo!) to really spice things up!
You say you’ll add more features once Forge is released. What features do you plan to add later on?
Right now, the team is focused on supporting the Forge Beta launch. Once we go live, here are the highly requested features we will be diving deeper into:
Editing on dev maps
Minigame game mode
AI spawning tools
We will also be continuing our dialogue with the Forge community and integrating bug fixes, quality of life updates, content drops, and feature work based on that feedback. And, as noted above, we’re also actively working on additional palette offerings for future updates.
If possible, can we get more info on how it works when I download a map from someone, and they update it later? Would it download the changes as an update? Or do I need to manually download the new version? (By extension what about prefabs people made as well if they are updated?)
If you bookmark a map, you are bookmarking that map asset. If the player updates and publishes the map at a later date, the bookmark will point at the newest published version. Prefabs work differently—every time a player publishes a prefab it’s treated as a new asset. So, if you’ve bookmarked a prefab and the creator of that prefab publishes an update to that prefab, your bookmarked prefab still points to the version of the prefab you originally bookmarked.
Will the maps we create during the Forge Beta carry over when it leaves the “Beta” state?
Once Forge is out of Beta, all content created during the Beta phase will absolutely be supported in future updates. Invalidating player content is a total deal breaker for us, so we consider this with everything we add to Forge going forward.
What are the team’s future plans for audio features in Forge? Are there plans to include triggering music or VO from the Campaign?
In terms of audio, we are currently focused on improving acoustic fidelity in Forge. In an effort to reduce the amount of manual work on players when creating Forge maps, we employ a simplified version of the acoustics system. Because of these differences, audio traveling between different rooms will not be as muffled as in dev maps. Improvements in this area are in the works for a future update.
The ability to trigger VO lines in Forge is something we have discussed though and is definitely on our wishlist—it’s easy to see how cool it would be to create your own mode and trigger iconic Steitzer lines! Music trigger functionality is in a similar situation—no current plans but also something we know would be cool and it’s on our wishlist.
Do you plan to add water features at some point?
Yes, we are currently discussing the best way to bring placeable water into Forge. No other details to share at the moment but it’s clear that this functionality is very important to the Forge community!
I noticed you refer to Forge as a game engine rather than a map editor. When did it become clear that the next evolution of Forge would have to be the development of a game engine?
From the start, our goal was to create a version of Forge that was as close as possible to our internal tools. Early on in Forge’s development, we had this Tom French quote guiding our vision.
“If you give them a toy, they’ll make toys. If you give them a tool, they’ll make experiences.”
Based on what we’ve seen of the community and Forge Council creations so far, we feel like we are well on our way to delivering on that promise!
Are there any rules or restrictions around creating Forge content?
The use of our games and services is governed by the Microsoft Services Agreement (MSA) which you should definitely familiarize yourself with before you start creating and sharing content (please pay attention to the Code of Conduct within the MSA as well). The Xbox Community Standards also apply to anything and everything you do within Halo Infinite.
FORGEWARD UNTO DAWN
We can’t wait to release the Forge Beta on November 8 and usher in an exciting future for Halo Infinite where the community itself is at the center, leading us all forward into brand new experiences of all shapes and sizes!
We’ll keep our eyes out for more community questions to update this article but also suggest you join the Halo Waypoint Forums and the Official Halo Discord to meet and share with fellow Forgers. And once the Winter Update has launched, be sure to visit the Halo Support site for more information on any Known Issues and steps to take if you happen to encounter an issue in the game.
Thank you for your ongoing support and please be sure to tag us and share your creations so we can share the love with the rest of the Halo community.
Matchmaking Improvements | Winter Update
In today’s blog covering the improvements landing in the Winter Update, we’re focusing on a few substantial ways in which your matchmaking experience will improve in Halo Infinite.
Here’s a TL;DR of these updates landing next week:
Local region matchmaking will make its debut
Improved logic for CSR progression
Improved rules for quitting with uneven teams
And more!
All these updates are great additions to Halo Infinite, so let’s dive into the details!
Local Region Matchmaking
We know that having good latency to the server is an important part of what makes Halo (or any FPS) fun, and we prioritize latency quite high within our matchmaking. However, we know that some folks want more control over their latency, so (as we discussed in a previous post) we’re working to give you that control. To that end, we’ve added a new feature that allows players to choose to match exclusively into games hosted within their local region.
This option can be found in the settings, under Gameplay->Matchmaking->Search Region. The default is “Expanded”, which is the existing behavior: we try to match you in your region but will allow matches outside. Changing the setting to “local” will limit your matches just to your region.
Choosing to search only in your local region will generally improve your latency to the server, because all your games will be played on a datacenter within that region. However, it may also increase your matchmaking time and reduce the fairness of matches you get.
We decide your local region based on the datacenters that you have the best ping to, and the regions we are currently using are:
Asia
Australia
Brazil
Europe
North America
It’s important to note that each region may have multiple datacenters. So you still may see some change in ping from game to game as a different datacenter is chosen within your region depending on which of those datacenters is better for the players in the game.
A couple notes about how this feature works with fireteams:
The Fireteam leader’s setting is used to determine whether a search region is “local” or “expanded”
If the players in your fireteam are located in different regions, the matchmaking system will pick a single region that strikes the best balance for all the players in your Fireteam. So, for example, if your four-person fireteam has two players in Europe and two in Australia, it’s likely that your fireteam’s region will be set to Asia to get the best possible experience.
When this launches, please be sure to let us know how it feels. And, as a reminder, if you end up having long queues in your region, please try re-enabling “Expanded” to find matches faster.
Updates to CSR
We’ve received a lot of feedback that the CSR progression doesn’t feel right, and that the CSR gains and losses were too closely based on personal statistical performance, which doesn’t always represent the impact a player can have in the game. (e.g., communication, map positioning, spawning knowledge, etc.)
To address these concerns, we have overhauled the algorithm that determines CSR gains and losses after a match. We’ve made it more configurable and set up the configuration so that a win or loss for the whole team matters more than individual performance when determining the CSR gains and losses for each player.
We’d love to hear your feedback on how the new algorithm feels. We’ll monitor these changes and community feedback to help inform future updates as the new CSR season progresses.
Reduced & Clearer Penalties in Ranked Games With Uneven Teams
Currently, when a player fails to connect to a ranked match or quits early in the match, other players are forced to play out the entirety of the match even though it may not be fun (particularly for those on the quitter’s team), because the team that’s short will likely lose. To address this in the near term, we’re making some changes to the penalties that players will see when they quit in these situations.
There are two types of penalty for quitting early in Ranked matches: bans and CSR penalties. Both of those will be improved with an upcoming change, which is currently set to land on Nov 10, shortly after the Winter Update’s launch.
Improved Ban Logic in Uneven Ranked Matches
Currently anyone who quits will receive a “flag” and getting too many flags in a short period of time will result in a ban. We’re updating the rules so that only the first person to quit will receive a flag. Everyone else in the game may quit without fear of getting banned.
A couple notes on this:
Network disconnects count as quits. Unfortunately, if they didn’t, bad actors could just pull their network cables when they wanted to quit.
Other offenses like cheating, team killing, or going idle will still always result in a flag regardless of whether others have quit.
Improved CSR Logic During Uneven Ranked Matches
Currently anyone who quits a ranked game will lose 15 CSR points, regardless of when they quit or whether others quit first. We’re changing the rules so that the first person to quit will always lose 15 CSR points, but if that first person quits early in the game, the CSR losses and gains for everyone else will be capped at +/- 5 CSR points. That means anyone who leaves the match after an “early quitter” will only lose 5 CSR points.
A few more notes about specifics here:
“Early in the game” means the first couple minutes
As covered above, network disconnects count as quits
We’re limiting the first person quit timer for this CSR logic to prevent potential abuse of this new rule. If the timer goes too late into a match, one player could quit after noticing the game wasn’t going their way just to reduce the CSR impact on their teammates.
We believe we’ve landed on a good time window, but we’ll monitor these updated rules around ban flags and quitting to make sure they land well out in the wild.
Additionally, come the Winter Update, we will reset CSR ranks so that we can give everyone a fresh start in Ranked with all these updates.
Future Matchmaking Improvements
Clearer Display of CSR Changes
In addition to making the size of CSR changes more sensible, we are making changes to the in-game UI so that it’s easier to see how many points you actually gained or lost after a game. Instead of just showing a visual progress bar for your rank, we’ll also show your current CSR, the CSR value for the next rank, and your CSR progress in your most recent game, all as numbers.
CSR-Based Matchmaking
Last, but certainly not least, we are also working on an update to Ranked matchmaking that will primarily match players based on their current CSR. Our existing system matches purely based on skill rating (MMR), which is closely tied to CSR, but led to some confusion when viewing the ranks in the Post-Game Carnage Report.
Even though our system will still know your MMR and it’s still the underlying basis of CSR, we expect that this new approach, combined with the CSR improvements landing in the Winter Update, will make matchmaking feel fairer and more focused on winning rather than in-game performance.
Our team is constantly energized by your passion and input on the matchmaking experience in Halo Infinite, and we’re excited to bring you these improvements in the Winter Update on November 8th and November 10th.
Stay tuned for more updates on matchmaking in the future as well.
