343 Industries has released a bunch of new information about the Forge tool which players can use to build their own levels in Halo 4.
Answering questions posed by the community, 343's Jessica Shea says that most forgeable objects in the tool will consist mainly of UNSC-themed environmental objects.
Forge creations will not make it into the main matchmaking playlists initially, but the team plans to make Forged variants and user created maps a part of the playlists eventually while still maintaining a separation between 343-produced content and user-generated content.
Forged worlds will be "large enough to accommodate just about any design you can think of," said 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. The inclusion of a new lighting engine and some unique palettes will make things look more varied and connected. 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)."