Quote Originally Posted by t3h m00kz View Post
no offense meant bro!

it's just, from the outside looking in there's a lot people don't know about game developement. people assume the developers are constantly throwing around random ideas and working on all sorts of content, when the reality of it is there are lock downs, and set areas of focus. everything is extremely structured and planned. by the time the first reveal of any sort of gameplay is shown to the public, games often times have pretty much most of their plan and design set in stone.

perhaps it's elitist of me, but the naivety of people on the outside looking in hoping to communicate directly with the company is concerning -- I recall all sorts of times members of certain forums wanted to get in contact with a bungie representative or designer to ask how to make a certain weapon or get their map put into the game or something along those lines.

you know what though? go post about it on their forums. if there's enough hype around anything, odds are they'll consider it. consider being the keyword. they'll treat it as a suggestion -- and in the game development industry, many suggestions, including internal suggestions, are often turned down. they already have professional producers and designers making the game. they don't want non-employees and fans backseat driving their project. the closest you'll get is a response to feedback from public testing -- and even then it's never guaranteed things will get changed.
That is a very valid point, and as much as it pains me to say it, the odds that this project will actually get anywhere are not good. But, what do we as a community have to lose? When was the last time you actually PLAYED on a custom maps server? Sure, some dedicated servers run custom map cycles, but at the very best, you are looking at a 12-year-old who is AFK on the map because his mom called him down to dinner. Most of the best maps never make it onto servers at all, and the ones that do typically struggle to get more than 2-4 players at any given time. If people play CE multiplayer anymore, it is generally to play Blood Gulch CTF on a 24/7 dedicated server.

Sure, CE is still alive and kicking. The people who stuck around are the most hardcore of fans, and are fueled by a nostalgia for the golden age that ended in October '04. My point in posting this thread is not to assume that we are more important than whatever 343 is working on in terms of Halo 4, but to acknowledge that we have seen some great ideas come to life in fun and innovative maps, and we do not want those ideas to stagnate and die when the last of us throws in the towel and moves on with our lives. As a recently married college graduate trying to make his way in the corporate world, I have only had time for 30-50 matches in the past 2 years or so. One by one, it will happen to all of us, and I think we can all agree that we do not want these maps to be lost when that day comes. I will try reaching out to 343 so see how far I can push this project. I'll keep you updated.