Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Saturday, November 3, 2012
20 Halo 4 Gameplays
If you are bored waiting for Halo 4 (its 2 days aways) or you just want to see some great Halo 4 gameplays here is a playlist of some nice HD Halo 4 War Games gameplay by Blunt Man.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
My Favorite Halo 4 Review
This is my favorite Halo 4 review I have read all day. It makes great points and talks about all the important parts and criticizes it the right way. Thanks to Flawless Cowboy from The Little English Halo Blog for this great review.
Halo 4 - The Review
It is unprecedented. Never before has this industry seen a franchise so huge handed to an untested, inexperienced developer. Can 343industries escape Bungie’s looming, omnipresent shadow? Let’s find out. View on Little English Halo blog >HERE<
SportsNation Halo 4
These made me laugh.
Halo 4 Bowl
Team Cruz vs Team Gronk
"U mad?"
Master Chief Splatters Tim Tebow
"Get him! Go through him!"
Halo 4 Tips: Improving Your Play
Thanks to Prima Games for posting this helpful article.
No help when you’ve got the flag? Don’t be afraid to defend yourself. Further improve your multiplayer experience in War Games with these additional tactics and tips straight from the Major League Gaming Pros!
1. Jumping:
This is very important when you’re entering fights or disengaging from them. Use rocks, crates, and other scenery to reach higher ground. This can help in all types of objective games to cut off routes, complete shortcuts, or run in a flag faster so you can score.
2. Capturing the Flag:
If you’re holding power weapons and you’re by the enemy flag, then it is better to provide supporting fire, guard the flag, and let a teammate without such a great weapon run with the flag. You can’t drop the flag once you walk over it, so having rockets or a sniper rifle is useless. Instead, it’s simply smarter to slay and chaperone a teammate once they take the flag.
1. Jumping:
This is very important when you’re entering fights or disengaging from them. Use rocks, crates, and other scenery to reach higher ground. This can help in all types of objective games to cut off routes, complete shortcuts, or run in a flag faster so you can score.
2. Capturing the Flag:
If you’re holding power weapons and you’re by the enemy flag, then it is better to provide supporting fire, guard the flag, and let a teammate without such a great weapon run with the flag. You can’t drop the flag once you walk over it, so having rockets or a sniper rifle is useless. Instead, it’s simply smarter to slay and chaperone a teammate once they take the flag.
Halo 4 Review Articles
Thanks to the embargo lifting we have a Halo 4 Review Explosion. Here a few that were Tweeted out via Halo Waypoint (twitter.com/HaloWaypoint).
*Be careful im sure these reviews contain some spoilers, I havent had the time to read them all yet so I dont know which have spoilers and which dont, so be careful.*
Arstechnia-Halo 4 review: Jumping head first without a Bungie (and loving it)
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/11/halo-4-review-jumping-head-first-without-a-bungie-and-loving-it/
OXM (Official Xbox Magazine)-Halo 4 Review
http://www.oxmonline.com/halo-4-review
Penny Arcade-Halo 4: This isn’t Bungie’s Halo anymore – it’s better
http://penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/halo-4-this-isnt-bungies-halo-anymore-its-better
Destructoid-A strong start to the Reclaimer Trilogy
http://www.destructoid.com/review-halo-4-233109.phtml
Joystiq-Halo 4 review: Our new Chief Operating Officer
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/11/01/halo-4-review/
Britbox- Halo 4
http://www2.britxbox.co.uk/viewarticle.php?id=4471
*Be careful im sure these reviews contain some spoilers, I havent had the time to read them all yet so I dont know which have spoilers and which dont, so be careful.*
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/11/halo-4-review-jumping-head-first-without-a-bungie-and-loving-it/
OXM (Official Xbox Magazine)-Halo 4 Review
http://www.oxmonline.com/halo-4-review
Penny Arcade-Halo 4: This isn’t Bungie’s Halo anymore – it’s better
http://penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/halo-4-this-isnt-bungies-halo-anymore-its-better
Destructoid-A strong start to the Reclaimer Trilogy
http://www.destructoid.com/review-halo-4-233109.phtml
Joystiq-Halo 4 review: Our new Chief Operating Officer
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/11/01/halo-4-review/
Britbox- Halo 4
http://www2.britxbox.co.uk/viewarticle.php?id=4471
Halo 4 Embargo Lifts=News Explosion
The embargo (an official ban) on the releasing of Halo 4 news, gameplay, reviews and etc. has been lifted. So with 4 days until Halo 4 and the embargo being lifted we have a lot of Halo 4 news.
The FIRST Halo 4 Montage Ever
Machinma's Halo 4 Review by Adam Kovic
Halo 4 Starting Armor and Loadouts
Infinity Slayer on Solace
IGN's Halo 4 Review(There are some minor spoilers in this video via cutscenes. There are not any major plot spoilers in this though but if you dont want to watch this you dont have to.)
Thanks to all of the Youtubers for making these videos!
Monday, October 29, 2012
NEW Halo 4 Vehicles
In the Interactive Guide released by Waypoint today you can see that are two new vehicles in it;
The UNSC Broadsword
and
The Covenant Lich
Halo 4 Interactive Guide
Halo Waypoint released this awesome Halo 4 Interactive Guide today so check it out!
http://www.halowaypoint.com/en-US/halo4guide
http://www.halowaypoint.com/en-US/halo4guide
An awesome Halo 4 Youtuber
If you are not subscribed or have not seen Bravos channel you should definitely give it a look and then subscribe. He will be releasing some great Halo 4 content when the game comes out. You should definitely go subscribe to him because he is simply awesome
http://www.youtube.com/user/BravoMLG
http://www.youtube.com/user/BravoMLG
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Halo 4 War Games Map Pass
Major Nelson posted on his blog today all about the Halo 4 Map Pack pass. Origional Article >here<
"With the highly anticipated launch of “Halo 4” on Nov. 6 less than two weeks away, Microsoft and 343 Industries today unveiled that there will be more content to come in the months post-launch, and the “Halo 4” War Games Map Pass is your ticket to getting it all at a 15 percent discount."-Major Nelson
Crimson Map Pack (December release timeframe)
Maps: Wreckage, Harvest, Shatter
Description: Witness the chaos of a clash of civilizations in Wreckage, with its blend of claustrophobic spaces and dangerous exposures and venture into the human colony environs of Harvest, and explore a human foray on an alien moon in Shatter.
"With the highly anticipated launch of “Halo 4” on Nov. 6 less than two weeks away, Microsoft and 343 Industries today unveiled that there will be more content to come in the months post-launch, and the “Halo 4” War Games Map Pass is your ticket to getting it all at a 15 percent discount."-Major Nelson
Crimson Map Pack (December release timeframe)
Maps: Wreckage, Harvest, Shatter
Description: Witness the chaos of a clash of civilizations in Wreckage, with its blend of claustrophobic spaces and dangerous exposures and venture into the human colony environs of Harvest, and explore a human foray on an alien moon in Shatter.
Click on the images to enlarge
Wreckage |
Harvest |
Shatter |
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Monday, October 22, 2012
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Forward Unto Dawn Episode 3
This came out on friday and I have got to say that this is the best FUD episode yet, im sure that they can only get better from here!
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Halo 4 Official Trailer "Scanned" *MUST SEE*
This is so incredible! You now have NO reason not to buy Halo 4!
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Halo 4 Rap Song - Requiem is Waiting
This is so awesome, it is my new favorite song!
Sung by Greenskull and minolta1034. Sarah Weaver beautifully sung the chorus.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Halo 4 Gamestop Camo Commercial
I didn't even see him! Im glad im getting this!
(BTW this is my 117 post on this blog)
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Saturday, October 13, 2012
BEWARE OF THE LEAKS!
From 343:
Halo 4 launches in less than 25 days. The good news is that you are that much closer to having the game in your hands. The bad news is that as discs are being made and distributed, you may start to see leaks. The internet is an awesome place… until it’s no longer an awesome place.
We are working closely with our security teams and law enforcement to address the situation. Piracy is illegal and we are taking vigorous action against it. We have poured our blood, sweat, and tears into Halo 4, and we want you to have the best possible experience with our game, come November 6. If you’re interested in staying spoiler-free, we encourage you to exercise caution when visiting various websites, social networking services, and forums.
Going dark is a customary pre-launch tradition for many gamers, and now may be the time to do that. Thank you to those of you that are reporting the leaks, and we’ll see you November 6. Through the scopes of our Battle Rifles, of course...
<3, 343
Halo 4 launches in less than 25 days. The good news is that you are that much closer to having the game in your hands. The bad news is that as discs are being made and distributed, you may start to see leaks. The internet is an awesome place… until it’s no longer an awesome place.
We are working closely with our security teams and law enforcement to address the situation. Piracy is illegal and we are taking vigorous action against it. We have poured our blood, sweat, and tears into Halo 4, and we want you to have the best possible experience with our game, come November 6. If you’re interested in staying spoiler-free, we encourage you to exercise caution when visiting various websites, social networking services, and forums.
Going dark is a customary pre-launch tradition for many gamers, and now may be the time to do that. Thank you to those of you that are reporting the leaks, and we’ll see you November 6. Through the scopes of our Battle Rifles, of course...
<3, 343
Link to Article on Waypoint >here<
Competitive Gameply Info (Settings and Options)
Friday, October 12, 2012
Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn Part 2
This is so amazing.
Description:
Cadet Michael "Sully" Sullivan continues to decode the hidden ONI combat video as Lasky's struggle with his place in the UNSC ignites with fellow cadet Walter Vickers. After a classroom confrontation with Captain Mehaffey and a challenge from Chyler, Lasky pulls Hastati Squad back from the brink...at a terrible physical cost to himself.
Hidden Message In Bulletin
PLNB PRIORITY TRANSMISSION [CLASSIFIED]
ENCRYPTION CODE: [CLASSIFIED]
PUBLIC KEY: N/A
FROM: CODENAME SURGEON
TO: CODENAME COALMINER
CLASSIFICATION: ELEVENTH HOUR [1/5]
SUBJECT: AFTERMATH
/FILE EXTRACTION-RECONSTITUTION COMPLETE/
/START FILE/
Decades from now, when historians evaluate the war, what will they say about us? Will they claim that our victory was ultimately fruitless? That it failed to secure a lasting peace, or worse, that it was only a prelude to far greater horrors that now lay ahead?
My hope -- OUR HOPE -- is that history would instead view this war as a catalyst. That the last thirty years were a crucible, a threshing floor for our species, sifting out our fears and frailties. And that ultimately it made us stronger and more vigilant in the end, fully prepared for whatever will come next. After all, what good is struggle if there is no change? What good is a fire if the sword is not made stronger?
Attached are four reports accounting the major contingency structures our species currently faces in the wake of the war. Please evaluate them closely. Their outcomes will dictate how history views us, or if history even views us at all.
Xenomorphic element [2/5]
Martial element [3/5]
Provenancial element [4/5]
Primogeniture element [5/5]
As Machiavelli once said: "the Romans, foreseeing troubles, dealt with them at once, and, even to avoid a war, would not let them come to a head, for they knew that war is not to be avoided, but is only put off to the advantage of others."
Likewise, we must deal with these issues head-on, without fear and without hesitation. We can afford no other stance.
/END FILE/
Halo Bulletin 10.10.12
This weeks Bulletin is all about Halo 4's progression system. It looks great and I cannot wait to be a Spartan IV on the UNSC Infinity. Read the full Bulletin it on Waypoint >here<
The UNSC Infinity is your gateway to the Infinity Multiplayer experience in Halo 4 and serves as the center of your Spartan career. Here you will build your custom Spartan-IV super-soldier, and progress your multiplayer career across both Spartan Ops and War Games modes. You’ll start your career as a Spartan-IV, with a limited amount of choices. As you level up, that will slowly unfold into a large amount of choices. The pace with unlocks will be regular, but not so fast that it causes confusion.
When designing the progression system for Halo 4, our primary goal was to give progress more meaning, and in order to do that, the player’s progress has to impact gameplay. In Halo 4, we primarily do this by allowing the progression system to modify the weapons and abilities the player can take into battle, empowering player choice, and exposing more elements of the sandbox to more players.
As you progress through your multiplayer career, you unlock items that allow you to build the character and experience you want. The things you really desire, such as the Battle Rifle and DMR, you’ll gain access to fairly quickly. Some of the more difficult choices you’ll face, such as which Specialization to tackle first, come later. All of these things give you the ability to tailor your experience and focus on your favorite parts of the sandbox more than ever before.
How quickly you progress through your career will partly depend on your skill. Skilled players will rank up faster, as you get more XP for winning matches. It’s also worth noting that quitters do not get game completion XP. They can progress commendations and challenges, but they will not get partial XP at the end of the game (AHEM).
Below is a breakdown of the Halo 4 progression system.
Halo 4 Progression System
The UNSC Infinity is your gateway to the Infinity Multiplayer experience in Halo 4 and serves as the center of your Spartan career. Here you will build your custom Spartan-IV super-soldier, and progress your multiplayer career across both Spartan Ops and War Games modes. You’ll start your career as a Spartan-IV, with a limited amount of choices. As you level up, that will slowly unfold into a large amount of choices. The pace with unlocks will be regular, but not so fast that it causes confusion.
When designing the progression system for Halo 4, our primary goal was to give progress more meaning, and in order to do that, the player’s progress has to impact gameplay. In Halo 4, we primarily do this by allowing the progression system to modify the weapons and abilities the player can take into battle, empowering player choice, and exposing more elements of the sandbox to more players.
As you progress through your multiplayer career, you unlock items that allow you to build the character and experience you want. The things you really desire, such as the Battle Rifle and DMR, you’ll gain access to fairly quickly. Some of the more difficult choices you’ll face, such as which Specialization to tackle first, come later. All of these things give you the ability to tailor your experience and focus on your favorite parts of the sandbox more than ever before.
How quickly you progress through your career will partly depend on your skill. Skilled players will rank up faster, as you get more XP for winning matches. It’s also worth noting that quitters do not get game completion XP. They can progress commendations and challenges, but they will not get partial XP at the end of the game (AHEM).
Below is a breakdown of the Halo 4 progression system.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Monday, October 1, 2012
Halo 4 Mantis and Ragnarok Gameplay New Vehicle
Saturday, September 29, 2012
New Halo 4 Screenshots
Waypoint just released some more Halo 4 Screenshots (wich can be viewed here). They look fantastic.
Campaign
Click pictures to enlarge.
Dawn
Dawn
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Halo 4 Weaponry
Halo Bulletin Promethean Weapons
The newest Bulletin talks about all the brand new Promethean Weapons. You can read about the Promethean Weapons down below and/or read the full Bulletin on Waypoint. >here<
Halo 4’s Promethean Weapons
Lately we’ve been focusing on the weapons in Halo 4. We’ve covered both the UNSC and Covenant arsenals, and today we are featuring the Forerunner side of things. In total, there are seven Forerunner weapons, including the Pulse Grenade. One of the best components of Halo has always been the combat sandbox, so it was both scary and challenging to create a whole new suite of weapons from scratch that were interesting, unique and balanced with the rest of the offerings.
Before settling on the final list, the team made concepts for approximately two hundred weapons. One of the biggest struggles was figuring out the high level vision and what made these alien weapons different from the Covenant and Brute weapons seen in past games. The vision we had for the Forerunner weapons was that they should feel technologically superior while still maintaining mechanical elements that made them visceral and relatable. We wanted them to evoke a sense of wonder and awe in the hands of players, similar to how you feel when you encounter Forerunner structures in the game. We also wanted them to be adaptive – both to the user and with regard to how they can be used.
The Scattershot was the first Forerunner weapon where everything started to click. Originally codenamed the “Spread Gun”, the Scattershot started off life as a rapid-fire shotgun that fired off a barrage of five projectiles in a symmetrical diamond pattern. The team started experimenting with having the weapon form around the player using it. We tried a couple different things, but ultimately, the concept of having the weapon assemble upon pick-up really resonated with the team. It also helped solve some other design issues we had around the drastically different Forerunner character models and how they would utilize the same guns that the player would eventually be able to use. For example, in the case of the Scattershot, the gun forms slightly differently to accommodate the Knight arms in that it actually attaches to the end of their forearm. We also started experimenting with adding more grounded elements to the weapons so that there was a unique juxtaposition of “super sci-fi futuristic” with components that were relatable to modern day weaponry. In the case of the Scattershot, that included trying out a hinge-action reloading animation and using more traditional individual cartridges that mimic how a traditional shotgun works.
On the gameplay side, we took a high level abstract concept of “adaptive weaponry”, considered how we could apply that to the gameplay itself, and started posing the question, “How can we extend the functionality of a shotgun and give it some added gameplay depth?” This is ultimately what led to the bouncing projectiles. In addition to functioning like a normal shotgun, it also had the expanded capability of allowing players to ricochet shots in tight spaces and use the weapon in a way that is distinct from the UNSC shotgun. You can see this theme infused in some of the other Forerunner weapons as well – the Bolt Shot and LightRifle both have dual firing modes, and the Pulse Grenade can be used tactically in several different ways.
The final component that really helped pull everything together with the Forerunner weapon subset was the work that the Audio and Visual FX teams did. We had a concept of “hard light” tech that powered the Forerunner weapons, but this meant different things to different members of the team. Originally, this concept was meant to be used as a kick-off point for the projectiles themselves but as the FX guys played around with it more, they came up with things like the animating light panels on the sides of guns. The Scattershot was pretty impressive prior to this – it had the bouncing projectiles, the really cool animations on the gun, and the satisfying gameplay, but the light panels really pulled everything together and made it stand out that much more from the other weapons. The other big “a-ha” moment involved the incineration effect that was being developed for the Knights death effect. We started integrating a similar effect into the weapon gameplay to add one final piece of flair, and that is a large part of what makes the Scattershot, Binary Rifle, and Incineration Cannon so satisfying to use.
Take a look at the seven Forerunner weapons in action by watching the following (new and wubby!) video, which features a sample from the 14-track remix album (not the original soundtrack).
If you’d like to hear the Forerunner weapon sound effects in all their otherworldly glory, here is the same video without the music.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
New Halo 4 Renders
Here are some new renders from Halo 4 found on Halo Waypoint (link here), and I have got to say some of these look real, they look like they should be played on a next gen console. So shout out to 343 for their awesome work on Halo 4!
Character and Enemy Renders
Click on pictures to enlarge them.
Click on pictures to enlarge them.
Master Chief
Cortana
Commander Palmer
Captain Del Rio
Commander Lasky
Saturday, September 22, 2012
INFO OVERLOAD
Be sure to check out all the links in his description, there is a lot of great stuff there.
Friday, September 21, 2012
NEW Halo 4 Map, Mode, Pictures and more.
Here are links to all the news that has came out today. It is incredible go check out all of this crazy awesome new Halo 4 info! (The ones with multiple links are basically the same info but from different people with different opinions and commentary). Be sure to check out all the links!
New Halo 4 Campaign Images and Footage
http://www.littleenglishhaloblog.com/2012/09/loads-of-new-campaign-images-released.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNiTaB2cEDE
New Game-type: Dominion
http://www.littleenglishhaloblog.com/2012/09/new-halo-4-gametype-announced-dominion.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nVjuDnOILA
New War Games Map: Solace
http://www.littleenglishhaloblog.com/2012/09/gameplay-video-on-new-map-solace.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPi9BoOxIz4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS0AQxIgaZE
Infection Mode - Flood Mode
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPeYfKxjqf4
Spartan Ops Gameplay
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIrVzr2lO1s
Halo 4 Kill Cams and Victory Cams
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkHRVcXZo34
New Halo 4 Campaign Images and Footage
http://www.littleenglishhaloblog.com/2012/09/loads-of-new-campaign-images-released.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNiTaB2cEDE
New Game-type: Dominion
http://www.littleenglishhaloblog.com/2012/09/new-halo-4-gametype-announced-dominion.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nVjuDnOILA
New War Games Map: Solace
http://www.littleenglishhaloblog.com/2012/09/gameplay-video-on-new-map-solace.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPi9BoOxIz4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS0AQxIgaZE
Infection Mode - Flood Mode
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPeYfKxjqf4
Spartan Ops Gameplay
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIrVzr2lO1s
Halo 4 Kill Cams and Victory Cams
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkHRVcXZo34
New Halo 4 Game-type: Dominion
The new game-type that was released today is basically the successor to Invasion, but way cooler.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Halo Bulletin 9.19.12 Covenant Weapons
This weeks bulletin is all about the Covenant Weapons it also contains some info on the different Editions of Halo 4. You can read it on Halo Waypoint here.
The Covenant weapons in Halo 4 presented us with an interesting design challenge. Traditionally, they haven’t been as popular as their UNSC counterparts, and they get much less use across the board. From a high level, we still wanted them to feel alien, futuristic, and technologically advanced (or at the very least, foreign) when compared to human weaponry, but we also wanted them to be equally viable choices.This was not an easy problem to solve.
There are a lot of gameplay specific reasons why Covenant weapons function the way they do. The blue/purple/pink color schemes and higher-pitched sound effects are intended to contrast the UNSC weapons and make enemy fire stand out. The projectiles are intentionally slower so that when fighting AI, the player is able to react and dodge them. They also tend to drain shields faster than armor health because it adds tension and creates situations where the player feels like they are escaping a fire fight by the skin of their teeth. In short, the weapons were designed to be fun to fight against, and some of these properties work against making them fun to use.
So how did we resolve these issues? On the aesthetics side, we felt like the shiny textures, bright colors, and flawless models of the past made them read a bit too toy-like, so we tried to make everything slightly more grounded. We did that by showing more wear and tear (such as scuffs and imperfections) and using new textures that made the guns look like they were created from hard metallic alloys (instead of plastic). The audio for all Covenant weapons went through several iterations until they felt a bit more punchy and visceral, while still sounding alien. As far as gameplay goes, we changed the weapon properties to make them better equivalents to UNSC weaponry. For example, the projectile speeds are drastically increased when the player uses them so that they are easier to hit targets but when AI fires them at the player, they are slower so that they are still fun to dodge. Finally, we spent a lot of time on the interface components. Two such examples are the zoom scopes, which were made to have a much more alien feel when using the guns, and the digital displays and reticles use of a similar alien language.
Halo 4 features nine Covenant weapons, with a mix of old and new. Take a look at them in action by watching the following (brand new!) video, and then we’ll chat a bit about how they feel when you’re using them on Halo 4’s virtual battlefields.
Halo 4’s Covenant Weapons
The Covenant weapons in Halo 4 presented us with an interesting design challenge. Traditionally, they haven’t been as popular as their UNSC counterparts, and they get much less use across the board. From a high level, we still wanted them to feel alien, futuristic, and technologically advanced (or at the very least, foreign) when compared to human weaponry, but we also wanted them to be equally viable choices.This was not an easy problem to solve.
There are a lot of gameplay specific reasons why Covenant weapons function the way they do. The blue/purple/pink color schemes and higher-pitched sound effects are intended to contrast the UNSC weapons and make enemy fire stand out. The projectiles are intentionally slower so that when fighting AI, the player is able to react and dodge them. They also tend to drain shields faster than armor health because it adds tension and creates situations where the player feels like they are escaping a fire fight by the skin of their teeth. In short, the weapons were designed to be fun to fight against, and some of these properties work against making them fun to use.
So how did we resolve these issues? On the aesthetics side, we felt like the shiny textures, bright colors, and flawless models of the past made them read a bit too toy-like, so we tried to make everything slightly more grounded. We did that by showing more wear and tear (such as scuffs and imperfections) and using new textures that made the guns look like they were created from hard metallic alloys (instead of plastic). The audio for all Covenant weapons went through several iterations until they felt a bit more punchy and visceral, while still sounding alien. As far as gameplay goes, we changed the weapon properties to make them better equivalents to UNSC weaponry. For example, the projectile speeds are drastically increased when the player uses them so that they are easier to hit targets but when AI fires them at the player, they are slower so that they are still fun to dodge. Finally, we spent a lot of time on the interface components. Two such examples are the zoom scopes, which were made to have a much more alien feel when using the guns, and the digital displays and reticles use of a similar alien language.
Halo 4 features nine Covenant weapons, with a mix of old and new. Take a look at them in action by watching the following (brand new!) video, and then we’ll chat a bit about how they feel when you’re using them on Halo 4’s virtual battlefields.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Halo Bulletin 9.12.12 All About the Prometheans
This is a great Bulletin it talks about the Forerunners (The Prometheans) and how 343i made them. In this great Bulletin we get another Making Halo 4 Vid-doc this time its about The Return of The Forerunners! Dont forget to read the full Halo Bulletin over on Waypoint.
As soon as we started concept work on Halo 4, we started looking at potential big pillar features. One of the things that came up early on was a good way to refresh the overall campaign experience, so we decided to create a new enemy race, applying the fundamentals of what makes Halo work to them. While we understand the importance of the Covenant’s role in the game for continuity purposes, we didn’t want to focus solely on those particular species. Thus, the idea for the Prometheans was born.
There were a bunch of initial ideas the team had come up with, but the real spark of where they’re at today came around discussions we had about if the sandbox is ultimately what differentiates Halo from every other FPS, then what does it mean to the way the legacy AI works and how can we make that better? That very quickly evolved into a theme of adaptive AI.
Our goal was to design a type of enemy that is highly adaptive from a tactical standpoint, basically transforming the player’s idea of how the world and combat works in order to try and gain the upper hand. If these are advanced beings, it seems like they would be intimately connected with the world they made, so the Prometheans can manipulate their environment and themselves in a way that makes them part of it. That is where you get to the final end result of Forerunners being able to spawn in and out of the world, spawn other creatures, phase back and forth, and environments moving around. They are able to manipulate things in a way we haven’t seen before, and they complement existing mechanics and change the way the player engages in the combat encounter.
According to Scott Warner, Lead Designer on Halo 4, creating an entire new enemy class was a daunting task. We started with, for all intents and purposes, a blank canvas where anything could happen. There was a super-brief glimpse of Forerunners in Halo Legends, but we wanted to do something different from that so we took as much as we could from already established Forerunner language and put it on the Prometheans. For instance, when you see a Knight idle, there are small and large bits attached at the elbows that are not physically connected but linked in a different way. They have a mystique, a gravity-defying look, similar to Forerunner structures.
The Return of the Forerunners
As soon as we started concept work on Halo 4, we started looking at potential big pillar features. One of the things that came up early on was a good way to refresh the overall campaign experience, so we decided to create a new enemy race, applying the fundamentals of what makes Halo work to them. While we understand the importance of the Covenant’s role in the game for continuity purposes, we didn’t want to focus solely on those particular species. Thus, the idea for the Prometheans was born.
There were a bunch of initial ideas the team had come up with, but the real spark of where they’re at today came around discussions we had about if the sandbox is ultimately what differentiates Halo from every other FPS, then what does it mean to the way the legacy AI works and how can we make that better? That very quickly evolved into a theme of adaptive AI.
Our goal was to design a type of enemy that is highly adaptive from a tactical standpoint, basically transforming the player’s idea of how the world and combat works in order to try and gain the upper hand. If these are advanced beings, it seems like they would be intimately connected with the world they made, so the Prometheans can manipulate their environment and themselves in a way that makes them part of it. That is where you get to the final end result of Forerunners being able to spawn in and out of the world, spawn other creatures, phase back and forth, and environments moving around. They are able to manipulate things in a way we haven’t seen before, and they complement existing mechanics and change the way the player engages in the combat encounter.
According to Scott Warner, Lead Designer on Halo 4, creating an entire new enemy class was a daunting task. We started with, for all intents and purposes, a blank canvas where anything could happen. There was a super-brief glimpse of Forerunners in Halo Legends, but we wanted to do something different from that so we took as much as we could from already established Forerunner language and put it on the Prometheans. For instance, when you see a Knight idle, there are small and large bits attached at the elbows that are not physically connected but linked in a different way. They have a mystique, a gravity-defying look, similar to Forerunner structures.
Monday, September 10, 2012
Halo 4 Videos (More footage from PAX)
Here are a few more videos, make sure to subscribe to these channels for more awesome content!
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