Joseph Staten (Halo Infinite's Head of Creative):
Made by Mini-Me
Work-in-progress screenshots and concept arts:
Audio Team in March, PC Team in April:
The Art Team is approaching bug-fix and performance stage of the game's production:
Time-of-Day lighting system is one of, if not the largest graphical feature implemented into the Slispace Engine over the past few years:
Enemy strongholds can be approached from any direction:
The ring has its own story to tell, "show me, don't tell":
The experience offered by Zeta Halo described as "Halo unleashed":
Recapturing the feeling of the Silent Cartographer in Halo:CE has been an inspiration behind the gameplay direction:
Graphics team effort finally coming together:
About the Forge mode:
Infinite's world is incredibly large, and its vast combat zones connect seamlessly to each other. Its vistas are filled with adventures that entice you to stray from the golden path story missions. From a distance, it might appear that we're building an open world game, but that's not really the case. We're making a Halo game; a sandbox shooter where our goal is to make you feel like the most powerful actor in a rich, emergent, sci-fi combat simulation.
For example, if you zoom into some of this month's screenshots, you'll catch glimpses of the wildlife that inhabits the ring. Halo Infinite's campaign doesn't have a crafting system, however, and you won't spend time hunting and skinning animals to make better gear for Master Chief. Spartans wear Mjolnir assault armor. They don't need leather boots.
What you will spend time doing is plummeting from a rocky overlook into the heart of an enemy patrol, eliminating their leader with a well-stuck Plasma grenade, using your Grappleshot to pull his power weapon off the ground and into your hands, and then empty its magazine into the rest of the patrol, scattering the nearby wildlife back into their burrows.
Which is to say, we've designed Halo Infinite so that you're freer than you've ever been to do what Spartan super-soldiers do best: survey a battlespace, plan your attack, engage the enemy, deal with whatever surprises the sandbox throws your way, and then rearm for the next battle.
What's different this time is that you have more freedom than ever before to choose your path through the world. Follow a hidden cave system into a well-guarded fortress, wind your Warthog through a fog-filled mountain pass, capture a Banshee and fly to a floating ring fragment across a gap of stars. A strong narrative remains at the heart of the Master Chief's adventure, and your journey between story missions is entirely up to you.
So then, what kind of game is Halo Infinite ? It's the most open and adventure-filled Halo game ever. It's the Halo game we could only dream about making 20 years ago. And we can't wait for you to explore it.
Made by Mini-Me
Work-in-progress screenshots and concept arts:
Banished strongholds, as shown in this concept painting, can be approached from nearly any direction with more tactical options than prior Halo games
Audio Team in March, PC Team in April:
Next month, we're looking forward to shining the spotlight on our Audio Team and then in April we'll sit down with our PC Team and talk more about what you can expect when Halo Infinite lands this Fall.
The Art Team is approaching bug-fix and performance stage of the game's production:
As we look ahead to launch this Fall, can you give us a sense of what you and your team are focused on over the remaining months?
JD - For sure – the Art Team, like most of the development teams, are quickly wrapping up all of our remaining tasks and polish items as we approach our bug-fix and performance stage of the game's production. We will be spending the final months fixing bugs ranging from floating trees to T-posing enemies, as well as ensuring that the game runs smoothly across all the platforms. While not the most glamorous phase of development, it is the most technical and crucial to shipping.
TM - The team is 100% focused on wrapping up the campaign experience which includes gathering and addressing user feedback (both internal playtests and User Research data), bug fixing, performance, and balancing.
Time-of-Day lighting system is one of, if not the largest graphical feature implemented into the Slispace Engine over the past few years:
What's your personal favorite aspect of this world and/or the experiences therein?
JD – One of my favorite features in the game is our Time-of-Day lighting system that is active while you are playing the game. This has been one of, if not THE largest graphical feature implemented into our engine over the past few years. It allows us to create artistic scenes and settings that have vastly different visual tones and moods depending on which time during the cycle you encounter something. So, coming across a mysterious Forerunner obelisk during the day may feel peaceful and serene, where at night it might feel much more ominous and threatening - it really adds some incredible dynamically-driven visual variety throughout the experience where we were not able to have it before.
Enemy strongholds can be approached from any direction:
JM - I love the agency we are creating that really doubles down on that premise of delivering on the promise of Halo: CE. Enemy strongholds can be approached from any direction and there are so many options available for how you take on the challenges at hand. Do I blaze through the front gate in a Warthog full of Marines and just light the place up with zero subtlety? Do I scout the perimeter and discover a subterranean entrance that allows me to enter through one of the interior structures? Do I Grappleshot to a sniper tower, take out the inhabitant and begin picking off enemies from my raised vantage point?...there are so many options available that allows everyone to approach the game the way they want and have their own unique experiences. I am excited to hear stories of all the different ways players have taken on missions in the game once we are released.
The ring has its own story to tell, "show me, don't tell":
TM - The Ring definitely has its own story to tell, and the environment artists have done an amazing job bringing this to life. Memories of past battles scars the surface, and evidence of bigger events can be seen in the fractured chunks of the Ring floating in the sky. This is something I really care about because I am more of a "show me don't tell me" kind of player. I find that discovering things and figuring things out for myself go much further to immerse me in this world.
The experience offered by Zeta Halo described as "Halo unleashed":
JM - There are missions that will pull you through the "Golden Path" of the primary narrative, but more than any previous game, we are breaking down the walls to create a more open play space offering exploration and discovery. What is that odd tower in the distance, I see a smoke signal over that ridge, what is the source of the odd hum? Go find out. There are entire stories to be discovered. I often describe the experience offered by Zeta Halo as "Halo unleashed" because it is all the experiences and stories you love from Halo presented in a world where you have so much more freedom to explore and discover unexpected adventures.
Recapturing the feeling of the Silent Cartographer in Halo:CE has been an inspiration behind the gameplay direction:
TM - Designing games for me is about crafting amazing experiences that pull you so far into the game you think about it even when you are not playing. It's no surprise that "The Silent Cartographer" from Halo: CE is one mission that stands out clearly in my memory.
This mission starts with Halo theme music playing as you fly low over the ocean to an island, where you are seamlessly dropped off to clear the beach with a squad of Marines, but wait it gets better! Foe Hammer drops off a Warthog, next thing I know I am driving around with a gunner in the back taking out enemies as I drive around the island.
This mission made me feel like I was in control, initiating combat when I chose, on foot, or in a vehicle, interior, exterior, with Marines and without. Recapturing the feeling of this mission has been one of the inspirations behind my gameplay direction.
Graphics team effort finally coming together:
My main focus as Graphics Producer is partnering with engineering leadership to set and prioritize goals, as well as resolving blockers and empowering our engineers to do their best work.
Following the Campaign demo last July, the team has been continuously iterating on outstanding graphics and lighting work to deliver a more immersive experience. This additional level of polish required the coordination of multiple disciplines, such as: Graphics, Lighting, Environments, Characters, Sandbox, and more. This team effort is finally coming together, and we are very excited to share some of the results with our community today!
In the same spirit, we've been regularly reviewing the Xbox versions of Halo Infinite with our multiple partner teams. And while the work-in-progress images we are presenting today are captured on a PC - which we'll dive deeper on in a future blog post - we are committed to deliver a great experience and high level of visual fidelity across all platforms." - Alex Le Boulicaut, Graphics Producer
About the Forge mode:
"I'm really excited about how the Forge toolset and workflow is being vetted by our internal 343 devs. Different teams have been using Forge in different capacities which in turn is providing us valuable feedback to help further improve the Forge/UGC experience. It's great to see Forge being put through its paces! I know you're all eager to learn more about Forge Infinite and I promise when that time comes, I won't be quiet about it!" – Michael Schorr, Forge Lead Designer
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