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| Halo: Revolution - A Mock Game Doc (Part 1) | |
| Posted By: SonGoharotto <SonGoharotto@gmail.com> | Date: 1/11/13 12:32 a.m. |
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Spurred on by the surprising conversation that sprung from my usual grousing about (imho) Halo 4's faults, I've once again succumbed to the temptation of trying to write a Halo game design doc. (Search HBO news for "[R]Evolved" in case you missed out!) In brief, this is a hypothetical "What I would have done with Halo 4" and is something I've been thinking about long before Halo 4 was officially announced, but never deliberately tackled as a project. Fortunately, we're a long way off from Halo 5! I'll try not to crib from Leviathan's brilliant Shield and Sword write-up, but he's definitely a man after my own heart, so there might be some thematic overlap. And don't expect that degree of concept art; my heart's just not in an art mode right now. Also, I apologize in advance for my stream-of-conscience style vernacular, in case you find that off-putting. Enough with the self-deprecation, already! /Zoidberg R E V O L U T I O N Uhg, I know. I suck at naming things. But I think if you're going to start a new trilogy, you need a bit of THEATER to kick things off. Just tacking on the number 4 seems so blasé. (No offense, 343i.) Moving on... If I were to build a Halo game from the ground up, the first thing I'd have to nail down is the moment-to-moment gameplay, the anecdotal "Golden Triangle" and "30 Seconds of Fun." What would I attempt to introduce to that formula? What would I dare to change? Although the core gameplay has varied little over the years, the exact controls have had to adapt depending on what features were added or removed. These basic gameplay mechanics are what dictate level design and, in some ways, the story itself. This is really important and is something Halo has always done really well, in my opinion. With that in mind, here are the proposed (default) controls:
Some of these things will take more explaning than others. For starters, I assure you that these controls are 99% customizable, with only Move and Aim being restricted to the analog sticks. You can swap the Left and Right stick functions independent of the button functions. You can swap the Bumpers and Triggers with each other, or both left-to-right. You can even swap the face buttons with the D-Pad functions. Or you can remap any individual button as you see fit. There would also be a few new and classic presets to choose from. The first new thing I'll address is the Armor Module system. It lies somewhere between Halo 3's equipment and the Armor Abilities of Halo: Reach/Halo 4. I think the main flaw of H3's Equipment was that they were single-use. Often, you'd use your Equipment accidentally and waste it, or hold onto your Equipment for just the right situation and end up never using it (a.k.a. RPG Hoarder's Syndrome). Armor Mods can be reused, but there aren't any that involve sustained activation, like Armor Lock or Hardlight Shield. I'll elaborate more on that in the future, as I determine the exact selection of Mods. One thing you'll notice is that the Jetpack is now independent of Mods, instead overlapping with Sprint. That's because as a method of movement, Jetpack fundamentally changes the core gameplay, just as Sprint does. Equipping the Jetpack for enhanced vertical movement should therefore be a tradeoff with losing the enchanced horizontal movement of Sprint. As with all of Halo's gameplay mechanics, it is a tactical choice. (You'll just have to suspend your disbelief that Master Chief can't hustle with the Jetpack on.) And as noted above, D-Pad Down is for equipping an available Jetpack and manually de-equipping it, at any time. The Jetpack runs on a heat gauge, rather than a circular timer, which differentiates it from Armor Mods on the HUD. Holding down Left Bumper for continued thrust works just the same as it does in Halo 4, causing the heat gauge to fill. The hotter the thrusters get, the longer it takes to cool off, so you can get some extra lift out of it by feathering the Bumper. There is also a secondary function from simply tapping the Bumper once. This toggles Hover mode, a constant thrust that keeps you on a level plane as if you're walking on mid-air. In Hover mode, the heat gauge rises at the same rate as with regular thrust, but it frees you for more precise maneuvers. Maxing out the heat gauge forces the Jetpack into an additional venting stage before it can be activated again. Sprinting is handled in much the same fashion and uses the same gauge, akin to an accelerometer. Putting a slight twist on the Sprint function of Halo: Reach and Halo 4, this version has actual acceleration over time. For the first couple steps, Master Chief will move at about double walking speed, but it quickly rises to triple, topping out around quadruple speed, at which point his stamina runs out. (The exact speeds may need to be re-tuned for balance.) The faster you went, the longer it takes to cool off before you can Sprint again. And like the Jetpack, there is an additional penalty period if you maxed out the gauge. You may have also noticed that Sprint doubles with Evade. This isn't the massive diving role seen in Reach. (I suspect that was an effect of Evade being tuned for Elites, who are much taller than SPARTAN-IIIs.) Master Chief only moves about seven feet, his own body length. It should be just enough to help avoid being splattered, step off a grenade, or escape melee range. Viewed in Theater mode, Evading to the left or right appears as a football-style juke; Evading backwards is a backstep. For balance reasons, using Evade instantly maxes the Sprint gauge before cooldown, but without the additional penalty. It's an emergency manuever and can't be spammed. As always, Sprinting or Evading involves tucking the weapon so that there is a slight delay before you can fire again, throw a grenade, or use an Armor Mod. However, you CAN Melee while Sprinting by holding down the Right Bumper, which results in a unique shoulder charge. A well-time charge at max Sprint can kill in one blow, if you hit someone dead-on. In addition, using an Armor Mod sometimes causes Master Chief to plant his feet or trigger a canned animation, so they cannot be used while jumping or using the Jetpack. Melees and Assassinations are basically unchanged from what you're familiar with. I think H4 does a pretty good job of toning down the absurd Melee lunge of past games. Being punched by Master Chief should feel like taking a cannon ball to the chest, so it has to be a risk/reward scenario. Closing the distance to use a Melee has the potential to instantly kill, depending on your target's shield and health levels, so you should be risking a complete whiff. Grenades now come with a Cooking mechanic, which is something I've wanted to see in Halo for a long time. Basically, you tap Left Trigger to throw a grenade as usual, or hold the trigger to prime and cook the grenade briefly. The Frag Grenade, for example, has approximately a two-count before it detonates. You throw it, it bounces off something, one locomotion, two locomotion, BOOM. Now you can Cook that Frag for up to two seconds, at which point it will be thrown automatically and explode in mid-air. Firing a weapon works exactly as always, with some having secondary functions depending on whether you tap or hold the Right Trigger. More on that later, when I define the full weapon selection. D-Pad Left/Right lets you cycle through grenade types, since there will be at least three. Just a nice little improvement over one-button cycling, I think. Swapping weapons and Armor Mods are separate buttons, for convenience. For the same reason, in-game interactions are now mapped to the B Button with manual reload, so you're not accidently exchanging weapons when you want to open a door. The Help Menu is basically the same from Reach and H4, overlaying information on the HUD about your current weapons, objective, scoring (if applicable), etc. Another major addition is the VANIR System. This will have to be a minor retcon, but I think is a happy medium between Master Chief's retro flashlight (cut from Halo 4!) and the built-in image enhancers that the novels said MJOLNIR always had. VANIR stands for Visual/Auditory Navigation & Intelligence Reconnaissance. If the VISR from Halo 3: ODST is a new version undergoing field testing, then VANIR is the tried-and-true base version installed standard on MJOLNIR. VANIR operation uses both reflected light from helmet-mounted beams and subsonic pulses to draw a computer model of the terrain ahead, which then overlays relevant data onto the HUD. What this means for the player is that moving objects, thermal sources, and electronic signatures will be given a distinct highlight. In low-light conditions, this can help to identify both targets and objectives, but unlike VISR, it does NOT distinguish between friendlies and hostiles. Naturally, there are other drawbacks to using VANIR: It can be overloaded, for one, so turning it on during daytime will just blind you. Even in optimal conditions, colors will be washed out. In the campaign, certain enemies can detect the subsonic signal used by VANIR and will home in on your position. (More on that later.) In multiplayer, VANIR can come in handy on darker maps, but having it active looks like the old-fashioned headlamp to another SPARTAN, which can give away your position. Controls for various vehicles will be essentially unchanged, and navigating in-game menues is largely dependent on the UI, so I don't feel those need to be explicitly addressed just now. Here's a rough mock-up of the HUD:
Looks a little busy, but bear with me. Keep in mind that the exact size and style of individual elements are not final, just representative. And I know some people absolutely despise superfluous HUD lines, so you'll always be able to turn those off. From an artistic perspective, I find them handy for tying together the various elements (like drapery), instead of just having free-floating widgets. (Side note: When I was comparing the various games' HUDs back and forth, I was surprised to see how low the targeting reticle typically sits in relation to the center of screen.) To the indivdual points, going clockwise from top-left: 1. Your one-stop-shop for weapons. The Spike Grenade icon is just a placeholder, since I haven't yet determined the exact nature of the new grenade type. The silhouette of a Shotgun is where available weapon pick-ups appear on your HUD. No floating around in the middle of the screen when you're trying to shoot at something. 2. An in-game compass makes following directions easier and provides a neat way to keep objective waypoints from cluttering up the screen. Waypoints now stick to the compass, providing you an exact distance, and pop on-screen only when you come within 10 meters, as illustrated by the green diamond. Or if you prefer omnipresent waypoints, you can always toggle that on. The arrows on the left are what a waypoint looks like when it's outside your field-of-view, prompting you to turn around. 3. Yes, it's the retro shield and health bar, but not just because I'm feeling nostalgic. Ever since Halo 3, I've been somewhat annoyed by having the shield/health meter decrease from both sides into the middle. It always tricks me into thinking I have more shields/health than I actually do. In addition, I feel having an independent health meter takes out some of the guess work and imparts a stronger sense of your survival, knowing that even with full shields, one red mark means you're on the brink of death. That subtly affects your gameplay and may dissuade suicide tactics. Shunting this back over to the right also makes sense because it now aligns with... 4. Team bio-signs, or BIOS, a very minimalist way to keep an eye on your allies. Everyone is represented by their four-character call sign, so get creative. A blue med cross is the default status. A yellow pointer to the left or right indicates a teammate is engaged in combat, guiding you to their relative position. A red X means they're dead. The white horn indicates a teammate who is speaking. The no-sign is someone you have purposely muted or has the convenient global mute from being an asshat. BIOS can be set to Always On, MP Only, or Always Off. 5. Scoring, ripped straight from Halo 4's HUD. Playing FFA shows your player emblem versus the current score leader, or next highest if you're in the lead. This is also where campaign scoring would appear. 6. The Sprint gauge, shown here when going maximum speed. If maxed out, LIMIT will flash to indicate a slight penalty before the cooldown phase. When using Jetpack, the gauge is red instead of green. This is also the dedicated position for Jetpack-related prompts. 7. Remember from the alpha-build screencaps of Reach, when it had this style motion tracker? Missed opportunity. (Armored Core has been doing this since the PlayStation One!) Should be pretty self-explanatory, with targets above or below your position indicated by the appropriate rising/falling balloon icon. 8. The Armor Mod cooldown icon works just as it does in Reach and H4. Seen here with Hologram equipped and the prompt for Active Camo, both of which I intend to retain. 9. The play-by-play, only for MP, but it can be turned off if you don't want to see it. The most recent heading gets brighter text. (Looks like Wu has the Rockets again.) Something my HUD doesn't illustrate is damage indicators. I'm ambivalent on the subject, probably because I never really notice them. Older games flooded the appropriate corner or side of the screen with a red filter. I think Halo 4 has a dedicated widget for damage and incoming grenades? Seriously, I played a couple days ago and I just can't visualize what they look like. Perhaps my game could give you the option of Classic vs Modern. And finally, a 'clean' version of the HUD without prompts and all optional elements toggled off:
Whew! And that was the easy part. I'm going to start outlining the story and maybe typing up some basic level walkthrough/transcripts. Don't expect that to drop anytime soon, but for the sake of my own sanity, I really need to focus on something like this. Thanks for reading, and stay tuned!
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| Replies: |
| Halo: Revolution - A Mock Game Doc (Part 1) | SonGoharotto | 1/11/13 12:32 a.m. |
| Re: Halo: Revolution - A Mock Game Doc (Part 1) | Chewbaccawakka | 1/11/13 2:25 a.m. |
| Re: Halo: Revolution - A Mock Game Doc (Part 1) | SonGoharotto | 1/11/13 12:08 p.m. |
| Goddamn, this sucked me in. Good Write Up! *NM* | zoojoo | 1/11/13 5:19 p.m. |
| 1 thing though | zoojoo | 1/11/13 9:06 p.m. |
| Re: 1 thing though | uberfoop | 1/11/13 9:18 p.m. |
| Re: 1 thing though | zoojoo | 1/12/13 9:29 a.m. |
| Re: 1 thing though | SonGoharotto | 1/12/13 11:00 a.m. |
| Re: 1 thing though | RC Master | 1/12/13 11:48 a.m. |
| Re: 1 thing though | SonGoharotto | 1/12/13 12:36 p.m. |
| Wow, good stuff. | NsU Soldier | 1/11/13 6:27 p.m. |
| Re: Wow, good stuff. | SonGoharotto | 1/11/13 7:47 p.m. |
| Re: Wow, good stuff. | Chewbaccawakka | 1/11/13 7:54 p.m. |
| Re: Wow, good stuff. | SonGoharotto | 1/11/13 8:06 p.m. |
| An additional thought | SonGoharotto | 1/12/13 12:53 a.m. |
| Re: An additional thought | Chewbaccawakka | 1/12/13 1:18 a.m. |
| It sucks. | GrimBrother One | 1/11/13 7:02 p.m. |
| I was just grabbing random names *NM* | SonGoharotto | 1/11/13 7:48 p.m. |
| Oh suuuuuuure. ;-) *NM* | GrimBrother One | 1/11/13 7:56 p.m. |
| Hey... | Louis Wu | 1/12/13 9:10 a.m. |
| In all fairness... | SonGoharotto | 1/12/13 11:01 a.m. |
| lol | Louis Wu | 1/12/13 11:29 a.m. |
| You're just mad I took your flag. *NM* | General Vagueness | 1/12/13 8:47 p.m. |
| I am intrigued. *NM* | Leisandir | 1/11/13 7:38 p.m. |
| Re: Halo: Revolution - A Mock Game Doc (Part 1) | Nighend | 1/11/13 9:04 p.m. |
| Re: Halo: Revolution - A Mock Game Doc (Part 1) | SonGoharotto | 1/12/13 12:46 a.m. |
| Re: Halo: Revolution - A Mock Game Doc (Part 1) | scarab | 1/12/13 7:32 a.m. |
| Re: Halo: Revolution - A Mock Game Doc (Part 1) | SonGoharotto | 1/12/13 11:10 a.m. |
| Re: Halo: Revolution - A Mock Game Doc (Part 1) | General Vagueness | 1/12/13 10:01 p.m. |
| Re: Halo: Revolution - A Mock Game Doc (Part 1) | scarab | 1/13/13 10:07 a.m. |
| Re: Halo: Revolution - A Mock Game Doc (Part 1) | scarab | 1/12/13 8:21 a.m. |
| Re: Halo: Revolution - A Mock Game Doc (Part 1) | SonGoharotto | 1/12/13 11:15 a.m. |
| Re: Halo: Revolution - A Mock Game Doc (Part 1) | Chewbaccawakka | 1/13/13 3:10 a.m. |
| Re: Halo: Revolution - A Mock Game Doc (Part 1) | General Vagueness | 1/13/13 9:38 a.m. |
| Pulse grenade: Polishing a turd. | scarab | 1/14/13 4:47 a.m. |
| Re: Pulse grenade: Polishing a turd. | NsU Soldier | 1/14/13 5:16 a.m. |
| You need to freeze it first. *NM* | Quirel | 1/14/13 2:30 p.m. |
| Cleaner HUD | scarab | 1/12/13 8:38 a.m. |
| True | SonGoharotto | 1/12/13 11:22 a.m. |
| Some thoughts. | Quirel | 1/13/13 6:51 p.m. |
| Re: Some thoughts. | SonGoharotto | 1/13/13 7:35 p.m. |
| Re: Some thoughts. | Quirel | 1/13/13 10:54 p.m. |
| Re: Some thoughts. | SonGoharotto | 1/13/13 11:11 p.m. |
| Re: Some thoughts. | Quirel | 1/13/13 11:32 p.m. |
| Re: Some thoughts. | General Vagueness | 1/13/13 11:37 p.m. |
| Re: Some thoughts. | SonGoharotto | 1/14/13 12:42 a.m. |
| Re: Some thoughts. | General Vagueness | 1/14/13 8:36 p.m. |
| Re: Some thoughts. | SonGoharotto | 1/14/13 10:40 p.m. |
| Re: Some thoughts. | General Vagueness | 1/16/13 8:53 a.m. |
| Re: Some thoughts. | SonGoharotto | 1/16/13 11:10 a.m. |
| Re: Some thoughts. | General Vagueness | 1/17/13 12:55 a.m. |
| Re: Some thoughts. | SonGoharotto | 1/17/13 12:41 p.m. |
| Re: Some thoughts. | General Vagueness | 1/18/13 12:04 a.m. |
| Re: Halo: Revolution - A Mock Game Doc (Part 1) | RC Master | 1/14/13 3:09 p.m. |
| Re: Halo: Revolution - A Mock Game Doc (Part 1) | SonGoharotto | 1/14/13 4:29 p.m. |
| Re: Halo: Revolution - A Mock Game Doc (Part 1) | uberfoop | 1/14/13 11:58 p.m. |
| Re: Halo: Revolution - A Mock Game Doc (Part 1) | RC Master | 1/15/13 10:52 a.m. |
| Re: Halo: Revolution - A Mock Game Doc (Part 1) | SonGoharotto | 1/15/13 3:14 p.m. |
| Re: Halo: Revolution - A Mock Game Doc (Part 1) | General Vagueness | 1/16/13 9:09 a.m. |
| inventory management sux | scarab | 1/16/13 9:34 a.m. |
| Re: Halo: Revolution - A Mock Game Doc (Part 1) | scarab | 1/15/13 11:05 a.m. |
| Re: Halo: Revolution - A Mock Game Doc (Part 1) | SonGoharotto | 1/15/13 11:45 a.m. |
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