Halo 4 Forge mode environmental details dropped by 343

During the Rooster Teeth Expo last week, 343 Industries presented a live Forge demo for Halo 4, alongside Certain Affinity, and discussed during a panel the aesthetic variety between the environments.

Forge mode will allow players to lock down objects, move them around, duplicated, you name it. A new lighting system will allow you to make shadows, and Player Trait Zones will change parameters when players enter, and a new item called the Grav Volume alter or reverse gravity.

The biggest question from the community though, was how the environments will look and work with Forge mode.

"The environments will be large enough to accommodate just about any design you can think of, from a Lockout remake to a sprawling racetrack," said 343's community manager Jessica Shea. "There will be rolling hills, flat, sterile spaces, big, flat indoor areas and everything in between.

"The difference is that we'll use more than one environment - an aesthetic - rather than a giant contiguous space like Forge World. There will also be HUGE FLAT JUMBO Coliseum "walls" that you can instantly place as enormous floor tiles (or walls). All the spaces are being designed with flexibility and performance in mind."

Also explained was how Forgeable objects from specific maps will be UNSC themed, and that while Forge maps won't "be in the main matchmaking areas initially," Forged variants may go in eventually.

"The inclusion of a new lighting engine and some unique palettes will make things look more varied and connected," Shea continued. "Some simple examples - you can make Lockout and The Pit with relative ease and plenty of room. If you want to do something giant and meandering, you'll have to incorporate some of the environments existing features (hills, cliffs etc).

"We'll reveal more about the environments later, and while you won't be able to make a literal night time version, there will be an element that will enable a starkly different look than the bright daytime maps you're used to - and the addition of proper lighting and shadowing on and in objects will make a radical difference."

Also, the final menu will have complete feature parity with "old" Forge, plus "several important new additions."

"You will be able to place weapons - and vehicles at will. Custom games will also allow you to define your own loadouts so you will not be limited by your progress in the main Infinity progression," Shea said.

"Coordinates and grids are returning and will be in some ways more useful thanks to other features like magnets and so on."

We honestly don't understand any of this, but we're sure you do. Head on over to Halo Waypoint for more answers to any burning questions you may have regarding Forge mode.

Halo 4 is an Xbox 360 exclusive due in November.