The Battle Cat's Forge Tips

Gary L. Simmons

rev 03/16/06

http://battlecatslitterbox.com/Forge/index.html

Forge and Anvil are the sister editing programs that Bungie Software Products Corporation released with Marathon Infinity. Because of these two programs their vision of Marathon being never ending has so far been spot on. It has been almost 5 years since its release and there is still a large dedicated core of gamers using Forge and Anvil to produce a rising sea of solo and net levels for a multitude of avid Marathon gamers. We're everywhere.

This page is dedicated to Forge, if you are here for Anvil tips then would you please be so kind as to center yourself on that door set into the floor while I fumble for the lever. ::KACHUNK:: Thank you. Turn on the Anvil Balloon Help, a fabulous Anvil guide.

For the longest time, Doubleaught, the Bungie spinoff company that produced Marathon Infinity has had a web page called "Hastur's Workshop". This workshop was a gold mine of information on the secrets of getting the most out of Forge. Now sadly Doubleaught has bellied up and gone out of business. Doubleaught is a brain short of a wave, in fact it is an ex-parrot. 'E's passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! 'E's expired and gone to meet 'is maker! 'E's a stiff! Bereft of life, 'e rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed 'im to the perch 'e'd be pushing up the daisies! 'Is metabolic processes are now 'istory! 'E's off the twig! 'E's kicked the bucket, 'e's shuffled off 'is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the

bleedin' choir invisible!! He's upin' snuffed it!..... THIS IS AN EX-PARROT!!

Then as if enough coals weren't heaped on our heads, when Doubleaught folded, Hastur's Workshop folded with it. I have managed to locate it and I present it to you here with the blessings of its creators. Greg Kirkpatrick, originated the site, Randy Reddig added valuable material to it and finally Randall Shaw took over and doubled the volume of knowledge on that site. What a treasure trove! The halfway house for Marathon Forge junkies, Hastur's Workshop, is back online!

I have noted on Hastur's Workshop where any broken links are. If you think you can fix one or more of them then please drop me a line. Special thanks to Randall Shaw aka: FrigidMan, for his help in restoring Hastur's Workshop.

Also included on this page is a link to some new Forge techniques that I have developed plus the work of others. If you have anything to add then I welcome your input and will present it here on this page. The goal of the Forge Tips page is to provide Marathon mapmakers with a centralized source of online Forge tips and tutorials. The more we share, the better we get. My motive is selfish and selfless. I want to play your maps plus I want the Marathon playing community to keep enjoying the best, most versatile computer game created: MARATHON!

Click on one of these links for a hat's off tour of Forge
Bungie Forge Manual	This is the Infinity users manual that was originally provided by Bungie Studios. In it is the original Forge tutorial. This file has since been removed from their site. With Matt Soell's permission, the manual is available here. No collection of Forge information would be complete without this official Bungie Manual. Use it wisely young Padwan.
Hastur's Workshop	This is the original Hastur's Workshop straight off the CD archive of one of its creators and maintainers. This is a gold mine of advanced Forge techniques and tips.
The Battle Cat's Split Poly Technology	Symbol Thingy, the artist formerly known as the Battle Cat, has finally gotten his butt in gear and put down on paper the technique he previously developed in the last millennium. These are not your father's split polys! Gosh... unless he's your dad...
Even Steven's Floating Polys Even Steven's Floating Ledges	This is a must see tutorial by Steve Barnes featuring a fabulous fusion utilizing Jason Harper's ledges and the Battle Cat's Split Poly Technology. Marathon finally has floating polys and true ledges... at least Marathon THINKS it does! Note: The original site died but I have recreated it here. Thanks goes to Glen Ditchfield for the heads up.
Jason Harper's Tutorials	If you have heard of the map that won Bungie's official map making contest for "Best Use of Forge" then you have heard of Jason Harper. Jason shares his amazing insights into Forge with this series of Tutorials.
Chris Komarnicki's Killing Time Tutorials V1.1	Got some time to kill? Kill it here with these tutorials. Chris is the author of the unborn Marathon Infinity scenario, "Marathon: Killing Time" and he wants to share with you some of the cool tricks he has come up with during it's developement.