Forge ahead.
Halo Infinite will soon allow the player base to make their own campaign scenarios in Forge mode. As part of the game's fifth season, the popular creation tool will let Forge players to use an AI toolkit to "enable functions...like spawning AI, control where the AI navigates, and use a node graph to control managing AI."
Since it was introduced in 2007's Halo 3, Forge mode only let players create custom maps or game types, which can then be shared with other players. 343 Industries' lead designer Michael Schorr noted this new toolkit "has the capacity to do more linear experiences," which is a significant upgrade from its previous iterations.
The toolkit will let players spawn AI, control its navigation, and use a node graph to handle their management. Schorr called the kit "the other half of the equation. Forge has been around for a long time...but we’ve never seen what players can do with the AI."
343 revealed this feature has been in the works for 18 months, and Campaign engineers were brought on to assist the Forge team at the start of 2023. The engineers helped create an "API wrapper" which made it easy to use complicated functions.
Technical director Connor Kennelly stated that players can create patrol routes that "send your squad of Elites around the outside of the base. Or send groups into the encampment before the marines kill them."
"We totally expect players to make those campaign scenarios where you’re taking a base or holding out a location," he continued. "That’s one of the things we built the features around."
Mods and content creation tools within a particular game can be a gateway to actual game development. Kennelly, who used to be a Forge creator prior to working at 343, said this toolkit will further help aspiring developers to "make an amateur portfolio."
"[Forge] is a cool way to get your feet wet in the [game] industry," he continued. "If you go and make your game and engine, you can get maybe five or ten play testers. With Forge you can just put it up in the custom browser you can get players, find other Forgers, and then your content can get a lot better."
Speaking to the new horizons offered, Schorr suggested that players could use the toolkit to create different types of games (such as PvE or tower defense) for solo players to experience. "There's a lot of flexibility in those tools. [...] It's not all the bells and whistles the internal team would use in Campaign, but it's still very powerful."
The Forge AI toolkit will come to Halo Infinite on Tuesday, October 17 alongside its fifth season, Reckoning. More information on the toolkit's process is available here.
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