[XONE] Halo Infinite - [Preview]

[Maximuss]

 

[Paul Soc]

Goty-117 ! Imersão brutal. Lets go, Spartans!

 

[Maximuss]

 

[Smurf]

Eu nem curto HALO, mas olha esse Steelbox:

Halo Infinite [Steelbook] - Exclusivo Amazon | Amazon.com.br

Compre online Halo Infinite [Steelbook] - Exclusivo Amazon na Amazon. Frete GRÁTIS em milhares de produtos com o Amazon Prime. Encontre diversos produtos da marca Microsoft com ótimos preços.

www.amazon.com.br

 

[Paul Soc]

Ganhou porque eu estava lá como único jurado

 

[Paul Soc]

343i já começou parcerias para fortalecer o cenário competitivo de Halo Infinite

Halo Infinite: Cloud9, FaZe, G2 e mais seis fecham parceria

Organizações terão times na modalidade e vão lucrar com itens in-game

ge.globo.com

 

[Maximuss]

INSIDE INFINITE – AUGUST 2021​

BY 343 INDUSTRIES - 8/26/2021​

Welcome to the latest edition of Inside Infinite – the blog series where we sit down with the teams hard at work building Halo Infinite, to give you more insight into our process and goals than ever before.
This month you’re joining us fresh off the heels of Gamescom, where we had the opportunity to reveal our launch date of December 8, 2021, along with the Xbox Series X – Halo Infinite Limited Edition Bundle, the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 – Halo Infinite Limited Edition, and of course - our Multiplayer Season 1 Cinematic Intro, where you'll meet Spartan Commander Agryna:



This time around we’ve got a lot to cover, thanks to the Multiplayer and Bots Teams. But, we’d be remiss if we didn’t kick off the blog with a quick word on the most recent Technical Preview, directly from the folks you heard talk to it on the stream.https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/inside-infinite-august-2021#_msocom_5

If this is your first time checking out an Inside Infinite, we’re glad to have you! And, when you get the time, we’d highly recommend checking out our previous editions, to hear directly from the teams building the next chapter of Halo:

• December 2020 – Art, Graphics, and Live
• January 2021 – Sandbox
• February 2021 – Campaign
• March 2021 – Audio
• April 2021 – PC
• June 2021 – Live and Waypoint vNext
• July 2021 – Flighting

Now, it’s time to dive on in. First up, we’ll hear from the folks that introduced you to the Tech Preview during our overview stream, then the Multiplayer Team chats with us in-depth for their goals when designing Halo Infinite, and after that you’ll hear from the Bots Team to learn all about their process, and why their creations can throw grenades so well.

Now, without further ado...

TECH PREVIEW REVIEW​

A scant few weeks back, from Thursday July 29th to August 2nd, Halo Insiders jumped onto the very first publicly available servers for Halo Infinite as a part of the Technical Preview – a chance for us to kick the tires of our backend systems, and a chance for you to put Halo Infinite through its paces. To preface the entire event, we ran a live stream that provided all the finer details of what was in the build, showed you some live gameplay across Xbox One and Xbox Series X – and, of course, a chance to hear from some of the folks that are working on the game itself. For those that missed the full stream, it can be viewed right here:



You all took the assignment very seriously and piled in to help us out, by slaying as many Bots as you possibly could. For those that are hungry for an after-action report, here’s a look back at the carnage:

Sam Hanshaw, Jerry Hook, and Tom French all sat down with us on-stream to talk through some of what they were most excited for during the Tech Preview – speaking to flighting, overall design, and multiplayer respectively. We were able revisit them here on the tail end of the preview, to hear a bit more about what excited them the most, what caught them off-guard, and any other tidbits that they were interested in circling back on:

With this being the first public flight for Halo Infinite, how did it go from your perspective as a Producer for the Live Team? What caught you off guard or surprised you?

Sam Hanshaw, Live Team Producer: Maybe an unpopular answer but the biggest successes for me were the problems we hit while delivering this flight. I want to say a big thank you to everyone who experienced problems during the flight and stuck with it, with special appreciation for the folks who submitted support tickets to highlight bugs they found

I know a lot of people had problems connecting to matches, and we were surprised that some people couldn’t play matches at all. But that’s why we flight, y’all out there who joined us brought so many new hardware configurations to our testing, new network conditions, and of course the simple scale of testing that we needed. The biggest things we worry about aren’t the things that happen to 5% of players, we can usually find and address those issues. The worst are the ones that happen to one player in one thousand. So that’s why we invited hundreds of thousands of you to play, and I’m thrilled that you showed up and helped us find those one in one thousand bugs.

From your perspective as Head of Design and someone working closely with the Live and Customization Teams, what’s your take on our first Tech Preview? How’d it go, and were there any particular surprises or unexpected outcomes?

Jerry Hook, Head of Design: It was great to hear and see the excitement over our first taste of customization content being shown in the Technical Preview. The love for our prosthetics, the investments for players to customize their Spartan’s look, and our new Personal AI systems seem to have landed very positively with our players. It is always great to hear a call for more at this early stage of the game, even before we release. Also, I saw lots of love for being able to earn items outside the Battle Pass, since earned gear is not just focused on one track or activity. We did have some issues however with our challenge system in the Tech Preview, so I want to make sure to clarify some of those details:

• First off, I want to correct my own language when discussing the Battle Pass all-up. In our live stream I stated that the Battle Pass system will always have free and paid rewards available at each tier, this statement is incorrect for our launch Battle Pass. Our goal is to still provide great value to players for their time spent playing Halo, whether they choose to go the premium route by purchasing the Battle Pass, or by unlocking the incremental Battle Pass items that are available for free. So, while there isn't a free reward at every tier, there will be numerous free rewards to acquire across the entirety of a season's Battle Pass. (And yes, we are still allowing you keep your Battle Passes once the season is over – they will not expire.)
• Our challenge system had some issues in the preview that hit a few players and prevented forward progress on their Battle Pass. Our first issue was that we failed to cull the challenge decks of challenges that could not be completed with Bot-only matches. This caused players to get blocked behind these challenges and is not our intent for launch.
• We also missed some tuning for our daily challenges that caused them to not to refresh. This also caused players to get blocked as they would run out of daily challenges.
• Lastly, we just wanted everyone to remember that for the Technical Preview we had expedited XP earn rates to help players get through the pass in the short window for the preview.

Using challenges, our goal is that you will always be earning progress in your Battle Pass through playing and winning matches. This will allow you to always jump into a game of Halo and make progress on your goals.

Having now seen a huge pool of players dive in and kick the tires of the Tech Preview, what are your thoughts as the Multiplayer Associate Creative Director? Did anything happen that surprised you? Anything that hasn’t happened within the walls of a 343 playtest lab?

Tom French, Multiplayer Associate Creative Director: I definitely saw players do some crazy things with the Equipment (particularly the Grappleshot) that I’d yet to see in our playtests! It’s one of the joys about building a game where the core is so centered around a sandbox that empowers a lot of player creativity like ours. I think giving players first “hands-on-stick” time against Bots reduced some of the pressure of fighting players in Arena and let everyone experiment with the inputs a lot. Our Sandbox Team has done an amazing job building a suite of mechanics that lets players express themselves and our job as the Multiplayer Team is to build modes, maps, and systems that facilitate ways of drawing players together to create interesting conflicts. It’s going to be fascinating to see all the ways people will use all the toys we give them to play with at launch and see what they do when we introduce new ones into the mix to change things up over the life of Infinite!

Thank you, Sam, Tom, and Jerry for jumping back in to chat with us one more time! And to those of you that want to make sure you’re on board next time we’re prepare to flight – ensure that your Halo Insider profile fully filled out, you’re opted in to communications, and that you have your DxDiag uploaded (if you’re on PC). Then, we’ll reach out once we’ve got something new on the way.

BETTER TOGETHER​

Now that you’ve had a chance to see (and for some of you, to play) an early look at Halo Infinite’s multiplayer, it’s time to hear a bit more from the team building the backbone behind every experience in Halo Infinite’s free-to-play multiplayer experience. Back during our multiplayer reveal we chatted with a few of these folks in the Halo Infinite Multiplayer Overview, but now seems like a fitting time to circle back and chat with them once more.

Hello there, Multiplayer Team! Who are you and what do you do here at 343 Industries?https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/inside-infinite-august-2021#_msocom_31

Tom French, Multiplayer Associate Creative Director: Yo! I’m Tom French. I’m responsible for overseeing our Multiplayer Design Team and shepherding the Multiplayer vision of Halo Infinite.

Andrew Witts, Lead Multiplayer Designer: Hey, everyone! My name is Andrew Witts and I am the Lead Multiplayer Designer on Halo Infinite. My team and I work on things like Game Modes and systems such as Personal AI, the Mark System, Item Spawners, Medals, and more!

Cayle George, Lead Multiplayer Level Designer: My name is Cayle George and I wrangle all things maps for Multiplayer. Our talented Level Designers and I are responsible for creating all the exciting levels and combat arenas in Halo Infinite’s Multiplayer experience.

Alex Bean, Multiplayer Designer: Hey all, my name is Alex Bean. I’m a Multiplayer Designer working on features including Personal AI, Item Spawners, Death Cam/Spectate, Match Flow, the Mark System, and Medals. I also had a hand in designing a few maps.

Patrick Wren, Senior Multiplayer Designer: Hello everyone! My name is Patrick Wren and I am a Senior Multiplayer Designer working on the voice-over systems and partnering with Alex on Personal AI. I have also been designing in-map systems like the Pelican Delivery System.

David Ellis, Senior Multiplayer Designer: Hi everyone! I’m David Ellis, and I am a Senior Multiplayer Designer on Halo Infinite. I’m focused on helping delivery the Academy suite of features which includes our Tutorial, Weapon Drills and Training Mode.

Sara Stern, Multiplayer Bots Designer: I’m Sara Stern and I’m a Multiplayer Designer working on Halo Infinite. I’m primarily focused on developing the multiplayer Bots, although I’ve also worked on the Tutorial for the Academy.

When approaching Halo Infinite’s multiplayer, what were some of your most crucial design pillars?

Tom French: There were three Multiplayer wide pillars we established early in development that still hold really true to what we are today:

• The Player Spartan is Halo Canon – We want players to feel invested in their Spartans and part of that is making them be part of the bigger Halo universe. This led to the world wanting to feel more grounded to reduce “game-y-ness” without compromising gameplay.
• Extensibility at the Core – Modes, systems, and everything we built for Infinite to be modular and expandable over the lifespan of the game. This enables us to recontextualize parts of one game mode quickly to stand-up new mode prototypes for future Seasons. The long-term benefit is this also helps us extend this beyond our internal team and into our community development tools by exposing these various components through Forge and Custom Games settings to empower the community to build more content that feels more “real” alongside things built by our team at 343.
• Always Onboarding – Playing online is intimidating for many and difficult to master. It was important for us to develop an evergreen onramp of features into online play that we refer to the Academy. Starting with the Tutorial, players start their journey; joining the ranks as a Halo Spartan to learn the basic mechanics. Through additional features like Weapon Drills, Training Mode, and the Players vs. Bot playlist, players always have fun and “safe” ways to practice and explore Infinite before they’re ready to jump in boot-first into matchmaking.

Andrew Witts: The design pillars are different based on our two big experiences: Arena (4v4) and Big Team Battle (12v12). We created different pillars because we felt that they had design goals based on player expectations. For the purposes of this blog, we’ll focus on the Arena, and we’ll save Big Team Battle for next time!

The design pillars for Arena are:

• Fair Starts – Players start the match as equals with balanced gameplay mechanics.
• The Lone Wolf Survives but the Pack Thrives – Players can achieve individually through skill expression, but the team with better coordination, communication, and reactivity will seize the most victories.
• Mastery = Mechanical Depth + Tactical Decision-making – A match with two teams of equal skill should be determined by the team’s tactical decision making as the game mode’s state is altered by player action.
• Game Mode Clarity – The modes in Halo Infinite’s Arena communicate their game states efficiently and urgently to bolster the tactical decision-making required for a player’s path to mastery over the Arena experience.
• Power is Earned and Impermanent – Scavenging pushes teams to contest the acquisition of items within the Halo sandbox. Any item that can be earned can also be taken away through combat resolution, positioning, and tactical actions.

It’s been a few weeks since the Halo Infinite Tech Preview closed its proverbial doors. What’s been on your plate since that weekend of testing concluded?

Tom French: There hasn’t really been any time to stop, we’re always thinking about the next target ahead of us on the road to launching Infinite. The next big thing is getting our upcoming preview dialed in and buttoned up for players to dig into; grinding down all the little details we can to make sure the game delivers on the gameplay we’ve been working on all this time. It’s equal parts exciting, terrifying, and exhausting all at once!

Andrew Witts: I’ve mainly been going through all the data that we’ve received from all our feedback channels. The team has been spending a lot of time celebrating the positive ‘heartbeats’ on some features and coming up with solutions to some of the improvement areas we’ve identified based on player feedback.

Since then, the world has really had a chance to sink its teeth into every single frame of the gameplay they’ve come across. Did the community pick up on anything that surprised you?

Andrew Witts: I’m surprised at how fast the community found all the Halo references we put into the experience so far. (There’s more!) I also really enjoyed the players’ reactions to the more flavorful lines from the Personal AI that play when players do something particularly awesome.

Patrick Wren: I was really surprised by how evenly distributed each Personal AI was a favorite to someone. While I enjoy them all for different reasons, I had no idea how much each one would resonate, but it was great to see them all get love.

Alex Bean: I had a blast watching the community happen upon new Medals. We put a lot of work into a suite of Medals that would complement the game’s sandbox by telling the player, “Yes, you just did that!” It was great to see players discovering Medals that highlighted new mechanics (“Off the Rack”, “Deadly Catch”) as well as classic maneuvers (“Ninja”, “360”).

With the Spartan Academy and Bots being core features of Halo Infinite, how does that play into your multiplayer design philosophy? Does this open up any new opportunities?

David Ellis: From day one a core axiom we’ve used for the Academy was to “Give players a safe space to learn how to Halo.” After 20 years there’s a lot of institutional knowledge in the franchise that, for more experienced players, is second nature and doesn’t require a second thought. We’re focused on ensuring all the modes, tools, etc., we create will allow any players – regardless of experience – to hone their Halo skills. We were gratified to see the community response to the slice of Weapon Drills in the recent Tech Preview and can’t wait till players get the opportunity to explore more facets of the Academy in the future.

Sara Stern: We don’t see playing against Bots as a separate experience from multiplayer, but rather a tool we can use to allow more people to have fun playing the game. We spent a lot of time working on making the Bot experience feel like playing against players, so that the skills you practice against Bots are skills you can use in regular matchmaking. Sometimes you also just want a little more control over how your multiplayer experience goes: if you’re new and trying to get the basics down, or an experienced player who had a long day and doesn’t want to fully lean forward, Bots are there to give you more options for how you play multiplayer.

Tom French: Bots originally started with the desire to give players something “safe” to learn against and backfill players in matches. They’re a core component to our Academy feature suite to support an “evergreen” way to onboard players into our gameplay. The Academy and playing our game modes is really just the beginning of what will be possible with them. Their presence affords us new tools to explore new game modes and UGC experiences not possible in previous Halo games.

When creating a cross-platform experience like Halo Infinite’s multiplayer, what are some of the biggest design considerations/design challenges? Or, balance challenges?

Andrew Witts: Being cross-platform is super exciting for us in general. A particular challenge that we faced on the MP Team was around readability for new players in general. We looked at a lot of legacy designs and we tried to both modernize them as well as make them more accessible to new players without losing too much of their feel. An example of this is in our game mode design. For modes, we tried to add an additional level of clarity about what players should do off the rip with Personal AI “kick-off” lines that describe the mode in a concise manner. We’ve also added mode-specific scoreboards to many of our game modes in order to better explain game mode states to newcomers. This is the first time Halo has made completely unique scoreboards for modes and we’re excited to get some feedback on how they are functioning for our players when they see them in upcoming flights.

Expanding on the tried-and-true Halo experience seems like a mighty challenge to overcome. When looking at things like Personal AI, how do you add extra things into the margins without encroaching on the existing multiplayer formula?

Alex Bean: We looked for opportunities to take existing features and give them a big “Halo” coat of paint. An example of this is with Personal AI. Halo 5 had a voice in your head that talked about incoming Power Weapons and players have always captured zones in modes like Strongholds by standing in them. But this is Halo, and you’re a Spartan! Instead, a Personal AI is now delivering that information and “hacking” zones, giving players their own Master Chief/Cortana dynamic within multiplayer. Another example is our approach to the camera in MP. Now at match start or when you die, the camera transitions to and from your helmet instead of simply cutting, just as it does in the Halo Infinite campaign. And when you spectate a teammate driving a Warthog, you’ll see the camera mounted to the vehicle much like a cutscene from Halo: Reach.

We also wanted to take mechanics that were hidden knowledge or skills and surface them to the greater player base. Inspired by the dynamic weapon racks featured in the original Halo 2 teaser (and later in the game’s opening mission), all items (weapons, grenades, etc.) now spawn from physical objects in the world, marking the location of the spawn and informing players of their remaining respawn time. Instead of only being able to call out “3 enemies, Top Mid” via voice chat, players can now Mark those enemies and communicate the same information.

Patrick Wren: When looking to expand the Halo experience, I look at how things can really punctuate what is already there. Like Alex said, the Personal AI was the desire to get that buddy informational experience that you get with Cortana in the Campaign. When talking about what that would look like and where the current state of the story is, the “Dumb AI” made a lot of sense to be the way to mass produce with Spartans and not be influenced by Cortana. It was important for us to give players a variety to choose from to dial in their Halo experience.

Player feedback is a critical element of our process – and, during the Tech Preview we had a solid amount of it. What are some of the bigger items the Multiplayer Team is working on now as a result of that?

Andrew Witts: One area of focus for me lately has been on analyzing player sentiment around what we’ve been calling the “Combat Sensor” or as everyone has been calling it, “Radar”. We knew that the implementation we had for the Tech Preview was going to feel different, maybe even a little contentious, which is why we wanted to get feedback on it as soon as possible. We’ve heard all the feedback and we have a new iteration that will be in the next preview which will be more in-line with players’ expectations.

Alex Bean: There was a healthy mixture of known bugs going into the flight and new surprises – the Match Intro camera operator had many 1,000 lbs. Spartans tumble in their direction. We’re actively trying to polish up those Match Flow issues. And while our Medal animations weren’t playing correctly in the Tech Preview, sentiment on Medal visuals has been heard and our UI team is investigating addressing some of that feedback. Lastly, it was helpful to see what resonated most with our players to inform areas of growth as we look beyond launch.

Patrick Wren: The feedback on the VO systems was greatly appreciated. You try and tune as much as you can in development, but there is nothing like seeing it in the wild to get the clear picture.

The biggest pain point we saw were some lines and events repeating more than expected for both Spartans and Personal AI. Spartans in particular really wanted to make sure you looked “Over Yonder.” We identified the biggest pain points and added a buffer so that the same events aren’t commented on over and over.

For Personal AI, the biggest request we saw was the ability to preview their voices. Good news, we have already had that for a bit and is primed and ready to go the next time you all get your hands on the game.

David Ellis: For Weapons Drills we’ve already added and adjusted a few items which should improve the experience for everyone. We heard you loud and clear (cough… Bulldog 3) and tweaked target ranges in a few drills so they don’t tread outside the intended range for too long. We also saw some opportunities to improve readability with targets and introduce new target behaviors so be on the lookout for those in the future.

Sara Stern: We identified a number of Bot behaviors we wanted to improve coming out of the Technical Preview, but two areas of focus for us have been rebalancing our difficulty tuning and improving how well Bots prioritize contesting powerful weapons on map. The difference between Spartan and ODST Bots should feel like a significant increase in difficulty, which wasn’t a target we hit in the Technical Preview build. They also ran in a pack to all try and get the same weapon at once – we're exploring solutions for getting them to spread out and search for weapon pickups without competing with one another.

What are some of your favorite parts of Halo Infinite’s Multiplayer? Anything that’s caught you off guard, personally?

Tom French: I love how the game feels classic and modern at the same time. In a way it’s the fantasy of what you remember playing back in the day. You pick up the controller and the gameplay feels like getting to know an old friend again; they’ve changed and grown but the core of who they are is still there. The gameplay is very much indexing on classic Halo tropes of fair starts and map control, but with new twists and enhancements to make it feel more modern. You can Scan to find weapon locations, you can Mark enemies, weapons, etc., for teammates, and the world of the Player Spartan feels more cohesive in the larger Halo universe.

Andrew Witts: I have a lot of favorite things in Halo MP! I think what I’m most happy with is how everything feels authentically Halo. We spent a lot of time trying to really hone our features to meet player expectations not just in terms of their output gameplay-wise but also fantasy-wise. Everything must own up to the razor of “Is this Halo enough?” Using this razor helped us not only differentiate what makes Halo MP different from other free to play games but also own up to what our existing player-base expects from us.

David Ellis: I would regret it if I didn’t take this opportunity to give a shout out to the team responsible for bringing our vehicles to life in Halo Infinite. Nothing is more quintessentially Halo to me, than battling across of map when a buddy skids to a stop alongside and honks their horn for you to jump into their Warthog. There’s no way to predict the outcome in most Halo skirmishes, but if you’re in a Warthog there’s a very good chance cheers and/or laughter will ensue.

Patrick Wren: I love how we built our systems so we can really fine-tune and expand each experience. We can have a very tightly tuned competitive experience and have a much more dynamic experience in BTB. It makes me excited for the future and what the community does with these systems in Custom Games.

Alex Bean: I’m surprised how good it feels to move and shoot in the game. The Sandbox Team made some great enhancements to how smooth and responsive the controls feel while preserving a Halo feel. And the weapons are a ton of fun – all my favorites are brand new for Infinite. Getting a “Perfect” with the VK78 Commando or nailing the “one, two, DEAD” firing cadence of the Mangler is immensely satisfying.

Thank you so much to the Multiplayer Team for taking some time to sit with us and talk through everything from design pillars, to what you enjoyed most from the Tech Preview! If you’re reading all of this and wish you could get in on the fun – worry not, it’s not too late! Sign-up to be a Halo Insider today, get your profile fully filled out, and if you’re on PC make sure you’ve got your DxDiag uploaded.

Up next, we get to hang out with Sara a bit more – along with a few more of her teammates over on the Bots Team, who recently had their hard work go head-to-head with Halo Insiders over the course of the Tech Preview weekend.

BOT WATCH​

During our recent Tech Preview for Halo Infinite, the Bots took center stage. Over the course of the weekend players went toe-to-toe with Marine, ODST, and Spartan Bots – all of whom were busy putting players through the paces and landing some next-level grenades.

We had the chance to sit down with the Bots Team to hear more about their goals when they set out to make Bots in the first place, their process for how they’re able to build sentience from the ground-up – and, some of what excited them the most when they saw their hard work put on display against hundreds of thousands of Halo Insiders.

Hello there, Bots Team! It’s your turn to rock the mic - who are you, and what do you do here at 343 Industries?

Brie Chin-Deyerle, Senior Lead Gameplay Engineer (she/her): Hi! I’m Brie, my pronouns are she/her, and I’m a Senior Gameplay Engineer with the Multiplayer Team. I’m currently the engineering lead for Academy and Bots, so a lot of my days are spent adding features, fixing bugs, and helping the team do their best work.

Sara Stern, Multiplayer Bots Designer (she/her): I’m Sara Stern and I’m a Multiplayer Designer. I’m primarily focused on developing the multiplayer Bots, although I’ve also worked on the Tutorial for the Academy.

Ilana Franklin, Gameplay Engineer (she/her): I’m Ilana Franklin. I’m a Gameplay Engineer on the Multiplayer Team, and I spend most of my time on Bots.

Hollis Lehv, Gameplay Engineer (she/her): I’m Hollis Lehv, and I am a Gameplay Engineer on the Multiplayer Team at 343. I have been working mostly on Bots!

How did Bots in Halo Infinite come to be? What need did they fulfill?

Brie Chin-Deyerle: Bots have been something the studio has aspired to do for a long time. We knew we wanted a welcoming place for new and returning players of all skills levels to get familiar with the sandbox, warm up before a match, and just have some fun. We felt Bots could help us with all those goals. We started working on prototypes after we shipped Halo 5 and have been iterating over time to what you played against in the Technical Preview.

What were the very first design conversations like?

Sara Stern: At first, we were primarily focused on getting something working in-game that could move and shoot. After we completed initial prototypes, we took a step back and compared what we had on screen to what we were seeing players do in internal playtests. Our early Bots were a bit like walking turrets, and we knew we wanted to get them behaving much more like players. We spent a lot of time discussing how Halo combat worked and why players do what they do in certain gameplay situations. Those conversations helped us isolate what actions we needed Bots to do to properly represent Halo gameplay.

When you were kicking the whole process off for building Bots in Halo Infinite, what were some of your design tenants?

Sara Stern: There are a lot of fun ways you can use Bots, but our primary design goal is that Bots help players learn how to play Halo and serve as good practice partners. Knowing that made a lot of our other decisions easier. To facilitate learning, Bots need to be the best representation we can make of how players act in multiplayer. They need to move like players, shoot like players, use equipment like players, and so on. They should also use the same tools (or a representation of those tools) that players can so that a player can beat a Bot by getting better at using that tool than the Bot is. It’s why we avoid allowing Bots to “cheat” by using information that players don’t have access to.

As Bots continued to get their sea legs, what were some of the biggest difficulties to overcome?

Brie Chin-Deyerle: One of the things people might not think about was one of the harder things to do, and that was getting the Bots to show up in the game like players. They show up in the back button scoreboard, earn medals, have MMR, customizations, and so on. It’s really common for game code to make a distinction between “This is code that runs for players” and, “This is code that runs for an AI.” With Bots, we had this new thing that is both of those, and we needed code to run from each of those contexts. It was a very long road to get them well integrated into the experience, and I think it’s really paid off.

Ilana Franklin: One of the great parts of making multiplayer Bots for a game like Halo is we already have an incredible AI framework in place. However, multiplayer Bots are trying to solve fundamentally different problems than campaign AI. One of the challenges throughout development has been knowing when to leverage what we have, and when we need to come up with new solutions.

How did the team prioritize certain Bot behavior? When does it go out of its way to pick up a gun vs. when does it rush straight into battle off respawn?

Brie Chin-Deyerle: I think Bot decision-making can be simply framed by talking about the choices you make around the flag (in a game of CTF). Sometimes it’s appropriate to hold onto the flag and keep on running, even if you’re being shot at. In other situations, it’s better to drop the flag and try to defend yourself. The variables involved in that decision are numerous and complex. How much health do I have? How far away is the person shooting at me? How far away am I from the flag stand?

We’ve broken down all the high-level actions for the Bots (like running the objective, getting a new weapon, engaging in combat, etc.). We then assign each of those actions a value that’s based on a number of inputs, weighing each one a little differently, and then we choose what the optimal action to take at a given time is.

This is a tricky thing to get right. Getting a new weapon is pretty important if you’re low on ammo, and really important if you’re completely out of ammo. Finding the right balance of all these variables and how to rank them all against each other is as much a problem of human psychology as it is an engineering one, which has made it super interesting to work on.

Bots currently come in four flavors based on their inherent skill. Can you talk us through each and what the general differences and expectations are for each?

Sara Stern: We’ll have four Bot difficulties at launch: Recruit, Marine, ODST, and Spartan. Each of the difficulties is loosely modeled after the different skill levels a player reaches as they get better at playing Halo. You can’t really focus on how to strafe well if you’re still learning how to throw a grenade, and we put similar limitations on what each difficulty can do.

Recruit level Bots are the least challenging experience – they know how to perform each combat action, but they don’t react quickly in a firefight. Marine Bots are like players who are comfortable playing Halo, but they haven’t quite figured out the best way to strafe yet. ODST Bots are competent players that react well to player movement and know how to use equipment more aggressively. While this wasn’t enabled in the Technical Preview build, we’re experimenting with allowing Spartan Bots to communicate with one another about certain gameplay events (such as the location of enemy players).

The intent is that if you work up through each of the difficulties and feel comfortable against Spartan Bots, you’ll be able to hold your own against players in regular matchmaking. We’ll continue to iterate on the challenge and tuning of each difficulty as we get more player feedback. We may also introduce new levels of difficulty over time based on what players are interested in seeing from the Bots.

While they certainly still had their quirks, how did the team get them to feel like actual players?

Ilana Franklin: A big part of getting them to feel like actual players was the combat dance. Their combat movement is modelled after some very high skill players in the studio. Lower difficulty Bots focus on strafing, medium difficulties can jump but won’t crouch as often, higher skilled Bots can do both. Sara has done a lot of tuning to get that balance feeling right, resulting in the Bot combat dance which we affectionately refer to as the "Razzle Dazzle." Ultimately though, a lot of that human feel comes down to little behaviors that are more subtle. When you try to disengage from a Bot, they'll remember where they last saw you and try to hunt you down. When they have the Grappleshot, they'll look for openings to zip in for a melee attack, especially if they're holding a good close-range weapon. Higher level Bots will look for opportunities to backsmack if you're facing away from them. All those small details, along with many others, come together to make Bots play dynamically and make decisions like humans do.

Hollis Lehv: Bots will make different decisions depending on the situation they are in. This gives the impression that they are weighing the pros and cons of, for instance, continuing to fight or backing down, just like a human would. This also makes them more difficult to predict. Bots will also use equipment in similar ways to a player. For example, they’ll hold onto the Overshield until they see a player to fight against. The Bot names also make them feel like real people with distinct personalities.

On a less serious note, why are they so darn good with grenades?

Ilana Franklin: Like players, Bots understand that weapons need to be aimed differently. They'll aim the sniper rifle at their target's head, but try to shoot rockets at their target's feet.

Hollis Lehv: We modeled Bot grenade throwing after what a human player might do. If a grenade type bounces, Bots will throw it slightly in front of the target’s feet. Bots don’t have perfect aim, but they do consider the ways different grenades bounce and by how much, and they are quite quick to react to where a player is, which may contribute to their strong grenade use.

Sara Stern: When we implement a new feature, we try to get the Bots to perform at a high skill level so we can identify what the “ceiling” is for that behavior. We then reduce how effective they are for lower difficulties. We hadn’t done that enough for grenade throwing in the Technical Preview build.

When the decision was made to flight Bots in the Technical Preview, what were your initial thoughts?

Ilana Franklin: At first, I was really surprised! As I thought more about it, I realized it was a great move for an initial Technical Preview like this. It took the pressure off and gave people the opportunity to explore the sandbox for the first time without the stress of competing with each other. Obviously I'm biased though - I was also just ridiculously excited that we were finally putting Bots out there.

Hollis Lehv: I was personally extremely excited to see Bots front and center of the Technical Preview, and not just because I’m part of the Bots Team. They help players get acclimated to the game and give inexperienced players new ideas and strategies. I love that people who had never played a Halo game before were able to hold their own against the lower difficulty Bots and get a sense of what the game is like.

How did it feel to watch real Halo players battle against your creations, and have so much fun?

Brie Chin-Deyerle: So, I spent many long hours playing against AI as a kid. I wasn’t very competitive with other people, but I was very competitive with myself, and I loved any game that had Bots for me to play with. It’s one of the reasons I started learning about programming and game development. So finally seeing people playing against something I’ve been able to help bring into being literally made me tear up a bit. Seeing people enjoy something you’ve worked really hard on is an incredible feeling.

Ilana Franklin: It was emotional for me too. I know that Bots are something that I find essential in competitive multiplayer games, especially when I'm first starting out, but I acknowledge that I'm not the best at first-person shooters. I was really humbled by how excited players of all skill levels were to finally have Bots in a Halo game. I loved seeing all the memes and clips that people posted of crazy plays that Bots were making. Especially all the Grappleshot Gravity Hammer clips, it was really fun to see code that I wrote getting kills in the real world.

Hollis Lehv: It was very surreal to see streamers I’ve been watching for years play against Bots for the first time and give feedback on features I have contributed to. I am proud of the team for getting Bots to such a strong place where the feedback has been so positive.

What were some key learnings from the Technical Preview?

Sara Stern: We knew going into the Technical Preview that the Bots had some bugs and odd behaviors, but I don’t think we appreciated the extent to which some of them were impacting their ability to get on the scoreboard. They were predictable off initial spawn and often ignored important map pickups. These behaviors made it hard for Bots to compete against players who had fully stocked up on power weapons and equipment, and we’re looking for ways we can improve Bot performance in this area in the future.

Brie Chin-Deyerle: I was excited to validate that our backend for calculating Bot skills relative to players was operating as intended. We did notice the Spartans did feel a little easier than the ODSTs, and it was awesome to have both that quantitative data along with all the qualitative data we got from the community. I think one of my biggest takeaways was seeing how many creative ways groups of humans could exploit certain Bot behaviors, and we definitely have some work to do to clean up some of those edge cases.

During the course of development, has an Infinite Bot ever done something unexpected that truly surprised you?

Brie Chin-Deyerle: During the Technical Preview, a Bot stole a Needler I was about to pick up from a weapon locker with a Grappleshot, because they missed an attempt to Grappleshot backsmack with a Gravity Hammer. Then they killed me with my Needler. I went from being very impressed to very salty.

Ilana Franklin: There have been a couple times in playtest where I’ve seen a Bot get a Fastball. I’ve never been able to do that, so they’ve already surpassed me.

Thanks for joining us today, Bots Team! Before you go though, any closing words for our players?

Brie Chin-Deyerle: Can I just say: Thank you all for the amazing memes and clips about Bots. Literally a highlight of my career. The Bots also asked me to say they are looking forward to playing many more games against you all!

Sara Stern: Thank you to everyone who played in the Technical Preview and sent in feedback. The data we got back from the weekend has been invaluable and we’re already putting it to use to make the Bots better.

Thank you, Bots Team, for taking the time to walk us through your process. It was humbling having ODST’s drop grenades directly at our feet, but going toe-to-toe with your creations over the course of the Tech Preview was a joy – and, we’re thankful for all of your hard work.

Now, to proverbially go ‘round the horn and hear from the rest of the studio! In this edition of Tales from the Trenches we’ve got a few stories from around the studio, including one that nearly resulted in newly-found super powers. Enjoy.

Inside Infinite – August 2021

<p>Welcome to the latest edition of Inside Infinite – the blog series where we sit down with the teams hard at work building Halo Infinite, to give you more insight into our process and goals than ever before. This month you’re joining us fresh off the heels of Gamescom, where we had the...

www.halowaypoint.com

 

[qqcoisa]

Ainda bem que vai sair por 1 real no gamepass.

o jogo parece ser uma versão MP do Halo 5 com campanha por DLC, já tá até separado.

Será que a campanha vai ser 4h e 30min igual o Halo 5? pq do jeito que tá uma zona esse Halo Infinite... não sei não, conseguiu ser apresentado bem pior que Halo 5, que já não teve impacto.

Tomara que consiga competir no mesmo mercado com Fortnite, inclusive até para celulares.

 

[Guns]

Ainda bem que vai sair por 1 real no gamepass.

o jogo parece ser uma versão MP do Halo 5 com campanha por DLC, já tá até separado.

Será que a campanha vai ser 4h e 30min igual o Halo 5? pq do jeito que tá uma zona esse Halo Infinite... não sei não, conseguiu ser apresentado bem pior que Halo 5, que já não teve impacto.

Tomara que consiga competir no mesmo mercado com Fortnite, inclusive até para celulares.

Posta lá no twitter, essa opinião é não só muito bem fundamentada como também muito importante.

Aproveita e compartilha esse Gamepass de 1 real. Estamos ansiosos.

 

[ClaudinhaPS5]

INSIDE INFINITE – AUGUST 2021​

BY 343 INDUSTRIES - 8/26/2021​

Welcome to the latest edition of Inside Infinite – the blog series where we sit down with the teams hard at work building Halo Infinite, to give you more insight into our process and goals than ever before.
This month you’re joining us fresh off the heels of Gamescom, where we had the opportunity to reveal our launch date of December 8, 2021, along with the Xbox Series X – Halo Infinite Limited Edition Bundle, the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 – Halo Infinite Limited Edition, and of course - our Multiplayer Season 1 Cinematic Intro, where you'll meet Spartan Commander Agryna:



This time around we’ve got a lot to cover, thanks to the Multiplayer and Bots Teams. But, we’d be remiss if we didn’t kick off the blog with a quick word on the most recent Technical Preview, directly from the folks you heard talk to it on the stream.https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/inside-infinite-august-2021#_msocom_5

If this is your first time checking out an Inside Infinite, we’re glad to have you! And, when you get the time, we’d highly recommend checking out our previous editions, to hear directly from the teams building the next chapter of Halo:

• December 2020 – Art, Graphics, and Live
• January 2021 – Sandbox
• February 2021 – Campaign
• March 2021 – Audio
• April 2021 – PC
• June 2021 – Live and Waypoint vNext
• July 2021 – Flighting

Now, it’s time to dive on in. First up, we’ll hear from the folks that introduced you to the Tech Preview during our overview stream, then the Multiplayer Team chats with us in-depth for their goals when designing Halo Infinite, and after that you’ll hear from the Bots Team to learn all about their process, and why their creations can throw grenades so well.

Now, without further ado...

TECH PREVIEW REVIEW​

A scant few weeks back, from Thursday July 29th to August 2nd, Halo Insiders jumped onto the very first publicly available servers for Halo Infinite as a part of the Technical Preview – a chance for us to kick the tires of our backend systems, and a chance for you to put Halo Infinite through its paces. To preface the entire event, we ran a live stream that provided all the finer details of what was in the build, showed you some live gameplay across Xbox One and Xbox Series X – and, of course, a chance to hear from some of the folks that are working on the game itself. For those that missed the full stream, it can be viewed right here:



You all took the assignment very seriously and piled in to help us out, by slaying as many Bots as you possibly could. For those that are hungry for an after-action report, here’s a look back at the carnage:

Sam Hanshaw, Jerry Hook, and Tom French all sat down with us on-stream to talk through some of what they were most excited for during the Tech Preview – speaking to flighting, overall design, and multiplayer respectively. We were able revisit them here on the tail end of the preview, to hear a bit more about what excited them the most, what caught them off-guard, and any other tidbits that they were interested in circling back on:

With this being the first public flight for Halo Infinite, how did it go from your perspective as a Producer for the Live Team? What caught you off guard or surprised you?

Sam Hanshaw, Live Team Producer: Maybe an unpopular answer but the biggest successes for me were the problems we hit while delivering this flight. I want to say a big thank you to everyone who experienced problems during the flight and stuck with it, with special appreciation for the folks who submitted support tickets to highlight bugs they found

I know a lot of people had problems connecting to matches, and we were surprised that some people couldn’t play matches at all. But that’s why we flight, y’all out there who joined us brought so many new hardware configurations to our testing, new network conditions, and of course the simple scale of testing that we needed. The biggest things we worry about aren’t the things that happen to 5% of players, we can usually find and address those issues. The worst are the ones that happen to one player in one thousand. So that’s why we invited hundreds of thousands of you to play, and I’m thrilled that you showed up and helped us find those one in one thousand bugs.

From your perspective as Head of Design and someone working closely with the Live and Customization Teams, what’s your take on our first Tech Preview? How’d it go, and were there any particular surprises or unexpected outcomes?

Jerry Hook, Head of Design: It was great to hear and see the excitement over our first taste of customization content being shown in the Technical Preview. The love for our prosthetics, the investments for players to customize their Spartan’s look, and our new Personal AI systems seem to have landed very positively with our players. It is always great to hear a call for more at this early stage of the game, even before we release. Also, I saw lots of love for being able to earn items outside the Battle Pass, since earned gear is not just focused on one track or activity. We did have some issues however with our challenge system in the Tech Preview, so I want to make sure to clarify some of those details:

• First off, I want to correct my own language when discussing the Battle Pass all-up. In our live stream I stated that the Battle Pass system will always have free and paid rewards available at each tier, this statement is incorrect for our launch Battle Pass. Our goal is to still provide great value to players for their time spent playing Halo, whether they choose to go the premium route by purchasing the Battle Pass, or by unlocking the incremental Battle Pass items that are available for free. So, while there isn't a free reward at every tier, there will be numerous free rewards to acquire across the entirety of a season's Battle Pass. (And yes, we are still allowing you keep your Battle Passes once the season is over – they will not expire.)
• Our challenge system had some issues in the preview that hit a few players and prevented forward progress on their Battle Pass. Our first issue was that we failed to cull the challenge decks of challenges that could not be completed with Bot-only matches. This caused players to get blocked behind these challenges and is not our intent for launch.
• We also missed some tuning for our daily challenges that caused them to not to refresh. This also caused players to get blocked as they would run out of daily challenges.
• Lastly, we just wanted everyone to remember that for the Technical Preview we had expedited XP earn rates to help players get through the pass in the short window for the preview.

Using challenges, our goal is that you will always be earning progress in your Battle Pass through playing and winning matches. This will allow you to always jump into a game of Halo and make progress on your goals.

Having now seen a huge pool of players dive in and kick the tires of the Tech Preview, what are your thoughts as the Multiplayer Associate Creative Director? Did anything happen that surprised you? Anything that hasn’t happened within the walls of a 343 playtest lab?

Tom French, Multiplayer Associate Creative Director: I definitely saw players do some crazy things with the Equipment (particularly the Grappleshot) that I’d yet to see in our playtests! It’s one of the joys about building a game where the core is so centered around a sandbox that empowers a lot of player creativity like ours. I think giving players first “hands-on-stick” time against Bots reduced some of the pressure of fighting players in Arena and let everyone experiment with the inputs a lot. Our Sandbox Team has done an amazing job building a suite of mechanics that lets players express themselves and our job as the Multiplayer Team is to build modes, maps, and systems that facilitate ways of drawing players together to create interesting conflicts. It’s going to be fascinating to see all the ways people will use all the toys we give them to play with at launch and see what they do when we introduce new ones into the mix to change things up over the life of Infinite!

Thank you, Sam, Tom, and Jerry for jumping back in to chat with us one more time! And to those of you that want to make sure you’re on board next time we’re prepare to flight – ensure that your Halo Insider profile fully filled out, you’re opted in to communications, and that you have your DxDiag uploaded (if you’re on PC). Then, we’ll reach out once we’ve got something new on the way.

BETTER TOGETHER​

Now that you’ve had a chance to see (and for some of you, to play) an early look at Halo Infinite’s multiplayer, it’s time to hear a bit more from the team building the backbone behind every experience in Halo Infinite’s free-to-play multiplayer experience. Back during our multiplayer reveal we chatted with a few of these folks in the Halo Infinite Multiplayer Overview, but now seems like a fitting time to circle back and chat with them once more.

Hello there, Multiplayer Team! Who are you and what do you do here at 343 Industries?https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/inside-infinite-august-2021#_msocom_31

Tom French, Multiplayer Associate Creative Director: Yo! I’m Tom French. I’m responsible for overseeing our Multiplayer Design Team and shepherding the Multiplayer vision of Halo Infinite.

Andrew Witts, Lead Multiplayer Designer: Hey, everyone! My name is Andrew Witts and I am the Lead Multiplayer Designer on Halo Infinite. My team and I work on things like Game Modes and systems such as Personal AI, the Mark System, Item Spawners, Medals, and more!

Cayle George, Lead Multiplayer Level Designer: My name is Cayle George and I wrangle all things maps for Multiplayer. Our talented Level Designers and I are responsible for creating all the exciting levels and combat arenas in Halo Infinite’s Multiplayer experience.

Alex Bean, Multiplayer Designer: Hey all, my name is Alex Bean. I’m a Multiplayer Designer working on features including Personal AI, Item Spawners, Death Cam/Spectate, Match Flow, the Mark System, and Medals. I also had a hand in designing a few maps.

Patrick Wren, Senior Multiplayer Designer: Hello everyone! My name is Patrick Wren and I am a Senior Multiplayer Designer working on the voice-over systems and partnering with Alex on Personal AI. I have also been designing in-map systems like the Pelican Delivery System.

David Ellis, Senior Multiplayer Designer: Hi everyone! I’m David Ellis, and I am a Senior Multiplayer Designer on Halo Infinite. I’m focused on helping delivery the Academy suite of features which includes our Tutorial, Weapon Drills and Training Mode.

Sara Stern, Multiplayer Bots Designer: I’m Sara Stern and I’m a Multiplayer Designer working on Halo Infinite. I’m primarily focused on developing the multiplayer Bots, although I’ve also worked on the Tutorial for the Academy.

When approaching Halo Infinite’s multiplayer, what were some of your most crucial design pillars?

Tom French: There were three Multiplayer wide pillars we established early in development that still hold really true to what we are today:

• The Player Spartan is Halo Canon – We want players to feel invested in their Spartans and part of that is making them be part of the bigger Halo universe. This led to the world wanting to feel more grounded to reduce “game-y-ness” without compromising gameplay.
• Extensibility at the Core – Modes, systems, and everything we built for Infinite to be modular and expandable over the lifespan of the game. This enables us to recontextualize parts of one game mode quickly to stand-up new mode prototypes for future Seasons. The long-term benefit is this also helps us extend this beyond our internal team and into our community development tools by exposing these various components through Forge and Custom Games settings to empower the community to build more content that feels more “real” alongside things built by our team at 343.
• Always Onboarding – Playing online is intimidating for many and difficult to master. It was important for us to develop an evergreen onramp of features into online play that we refer to the Academy. Starting with the Tutorial, players start their journey; joining the ranks as a Halo Spartan to learn the basic mechanics. Through additional features like Weapon Drills, Training Mode, and the Players vs. Bot playlist, players always have fun and “safe” ways to practice and explore Infinite before they’re ready to jump in boot-first into matchmaking.

Andrew Witts: The design pillars are different based on our two big experiences: Arena (4v4) and Big Team Battle (12v12). We created different pillars because we felt that they had design goals based on player expectations. For the purposes of this blog, we’ll focus on the Arena, and we’ll save Big Team Battle for next time!

The design pillars for Arena are:

• Fair Starts – Players start the match as equals with balanced gameplay mechanics.
• The Lone Wolf Survives but the Pack Thrives – Players can achieve individually through skill expression, but the team with better coordination, communication, and reactivity will seize the most victories.
• Mastery = Mechanical Depth + Tactical Decision-making – A match with two teams of equal skill should be determined by the team’s tactical decision making as the game mode’s state is altered by player action.
• Game Mode Clarity – The modes in Halo Infinite’s Arena communicate their game states efficiently and urgently to bolster the tactical decision-making required for a player’s path to mastery over the Arena experience.
• Power is Earned and Impermanent – Scavenging pushes teams to contest the acquisition of items within the Halo sandbox. Any item that can be earned can also be taken away through combat resolution, positioning, and tactical actions.

It’s been a few weeks since the Halo Infinite Tech Preview closed its proverbial doors. What’s been on your plate since that weekend of testing concluded?

Tom French: There hasn’t really been any time to stop, we’re always thinking about the next target ahead of us on the road to launching Infinite. The next big thing is getting our upcoming preview dialed in and buttoned up for players to dig into; grinding down all the little details we can to make sure the game delivers on the gameplay we’ve been working on all this time. It’s equal parts exciting, terrifying, and exhausting all at once!

Andrew Witts: I’ve mainly been going through all the data that we’ve received from all our feedback channels. The team has been spending a lot of time celebrating the positive ‘heartbeats’ on some features and coming up with solutions to some of the improvement areas we’ve identified based on player feedback.

Since then, the world has really had a chance to sink its teeth into every single frame of the gameplay they’ve come across. Did the community pick up on anything that surprised you?

Andrew Witts: I’m surprised at how fast the community found all the Halo references we put into the experience so far. (There’s more!) I also really enjoyed the players’ reactions to the more flavorful lines from the Personal AI that play when players do something particularly awesome.

Patrick Wren: I was really surprised by how evenly distributed each Personal AI was a favorite to someone. While I enjoy them all for different reasons, I had no idea how much each one would resonate, but it was great to see them all get love.

Alex Bean: I had a blast watching the community happen upon new Medals. We put a lot of work into a suite of Medals that would complement the game’s sandbox by telling the player, “Yes, you just did that!” It was great to see players discovering Medals that highlighted new mechanics (“Off the Rack”, “Deadly Catch”) as well as classic maneuvers (“Ninja”, “360”).

With the Spartan Academy and Bots being core features of Halo Infinite, how does that play into your multiplayer design philosophy? Does this open up any new opportunities?

David Ellis: From day one a core axiom we’ve used for the Academy was to “Give players a safe space to learn how to Halo.” After 20 years there’s a lot of institutional knowledge in the franchise that, for more experienced players, is second nature and doesn’t require a second thought. We’re focused on ensuring all the modes, tools, etc., we create will allow any players – regardless of experience – to hone their Halo skills. We were gratified to see the community response to the slice of Weapon Drills in the recent Tech Preview and can’t wait till players get the opportunity to explore more facets of the Academy in the future.

Sara Stern: We don’t see playing against Bots as a separate experience from multiplayer, but rather a tool we can use to allow more people to have fun playing the game. We spent a lot of time working on making the Bot experience feel like playing against players, so that the skills you practice against Bots are skills you can use in regular matchmaking. Sometimes you also just want a little more control over how your multiplayer experience goes: if you’re new and trying to get the basics down, or an experienced player who had a long day and doesn’t want to fully lean forward, Bots are there to give you more options for how you play multiplayer.

Tom French: Bots originally started with the desire to give players something “safe” to learn against and backfill players in matches. They’re a core component to our Academy feature suite to support an “evergreen” way to onboard players into our gameplay. The Academy and playing our game modes is really just the beginning of what will be possible with them. Their presence affords us new tools to explore new game modes and UGC experiences not possible in previous Halo games.

When creating a cross-platform experience like Halo Infinite’s multiplayer, what are some of the biggest design considerations/design challenges? Or, balance challenges?

Andrew Witts: Being cross-platform is super exciting for us in general. A particular challenge that we faced on the MP Team was around readability for new players in general. We looked at a lot of legacy designs and we tried to both modernize them as well as make them more accessible to new players without losing too much of their feel. An example of this is in our game mode design. For modes, we tried to add an additional level of clarity about what players should do off the rip with Personal AI “kick-off” lines that describe the mode in a concise manner. We’ve also added mode-specific scoreboards to many of our game modes in order to better explain game mode states to newcomers. This is the first time Halo has made completely unique scoreboards for modes and we’re excited to get some feedback on how they are functioning for our players when they see them in upcoming flights.

Expanding on the tried-and-true Halo experience seems like a mighty challenge to overcome. When looking at things like Personal AI, how do you add extra things into the margins without encroaching on the existing multiplayer formula?

Alex Bean: We looked for opportunities to take existing features and give them a big “Halo” coat of paint. An example of this is with Personal AI. Halo 5 had a voice in your head that talked about incoming Power Weapons and players have always captured zones in modes like Strongholds by standing in them. But this is Halo, and you’re a Spartan! Instead, a Personal AI is now delivering that information and “hacking” zones, giving players their own Master Chief/Cortana dynamic within multiplayer. Another example is our approach to the camera in MP. Now at match start or when you die, the camera transitions to and from your helmet instead of simply cutting, just as it does in the Halo Infinite campaign. And when you spectate a teammate driving a Warthog, you’ll see the camera mounted to the vehicle much like a cutscene from Halo: Reach.

We also wanted to take mechanics that were hidden knowledge or skills and surface them to the greater player base. Inspired by the dynamic weapon racks featured in the original Halo 2 teaser (and later in the game’s opening mission), all items (weapons, grenades, etc.) now spawn from physical objects in the world, marking the location of the spawn and informing players of their remaining respawn time. Instead of only being able to call out “3 enemies, Top Mid” via voice chat, players can now Mark those enemies and communicate the same information.

Patrick Wren: When looking to expand the Halo experience, I look at how things can really punctuate what is already there. Like Alex said, the Personal AI was the desire to get that buddy informational experience that you get with Cortana in the Campaign. When talking about what that would look like and where the current state of the story is, the “Dumb AI” made a lot of sense to be the way to mass produce with Spartans and not be influenced by Cortana. It was important for us to give players a variety to choose from to dial in their Halo experience.

Player feedback is a critical element of our process – and, during the Tech Preview we had a solid amount of it. What are some of the bigger items the Multiplayer Team is working on now as a result of that?

Andrew Witts: One area of focus for me lately has been on analyzing player sentiment around what we’ve been calling the “Combat Sensor” or as everyone has been calling it, “Radar”. We knew that the implementation we had for the Tech Preview was going to feel different, maybe even a little contentious, which is why we wanted to get feedback on it as soon as possible. We’ve heard all the feedback and we have a new iteration that will be in the next preview which will be more in-line with players’ expectations.

Alex Bean: There was a healthy mixture of known bugs going into the flight and new surprises – the Match Intro camera operator had many 1,000 lbs. Spartans tumble in their direction. We’re actively trying to polish up those Match Flow issues. And while our Medal animations weren’t playing correctly in the Tech Preview, sentiment on Medal visuals has been heard and our UI team is investigating addressing some of that feedback. Lastly, it was helpful to see what resonated most with our players to inform areas of growth as we look beyond launch.

Patrick Wren: The feedback on the VO systems was greatly appreciated. You try and tune as much as you can in development, but there is nothing like seeing it in the wild to get the clear picture.

The biggest pain point we saw were some lines and events repeating more than expected for both Spartans and Personal AI. Spartans in particular really wanted to make sure you looked “Over Yonder.” We identified the biggest pain points and added a buffer so that the same events aren’t commented on over and over.

For Personal AI, the biggest request we saw was the ability to preview their voices. Good news, we have already had that for a bit and is primed and ready to go the next time you all get your hands on the game.

David Ellis: For Weapons Drills we’ve already added and adjusted a few items which should improve the experience for everyone. We heard you loud and clear (cough… Bulldog 3) and tweaked target ranges in a few drills so they don’t tread outside the intended range for too long. We also saw some opportunities to improve readability with targets and introduce new target behaviors so be on the lookout for those in the future.

Sara Stern: We identified a number of Bot behaviors we wanted to improve coming out of the Technical Preview, but two areas of focus for us have been rebalancing our difficulty tuning and improving how well Bots prioritize contesting powerful weapons on map. The difference between Spartan and ODST Bots should feel like a significant increase in difficulty, which wasn’t a target we hit in the Technical Preview build. They also ran in a pack to all try and get the same weapon at once – we're exploring solutions for getting them to spread out and search for weapon pickups without competing with one another.

What are some of your favorite parts of Halo Infinite’s Multiplayer? Anything that’s caught you off guard, personally?

Tom French: I love how the game feels classic and modern at the same time. In a way it’s the fantasy of what you remember playing back in the day. You pick up the controller and the gameplay feels like getting to know an old friend again; they’ve changed and grown but the core of who they are is still there. The gameplay is very much indexing on classic Halo tropes of fair starts and map control, but with new twists and enhancements to make it feel more modern. You can Scan to find weapon locations, you can Mark enemies, weapons, etc., for teammates, and the world of the Player Spartan feels more cohesive in the larger Halo universe.

Andrew Witts: I have a lot of favorite things in Halo MP! I think what I’m most happy with is how everything feels authentically Halo. We spent a lot of time trying to really hone our features to meet player expectations not just in terms of their output gameplay-wise but also fantasy-wise. Everything must own up to the razor of “Is this Halo enough?” Using this razor helped us not only differentiate what makes Halo MP different from other free to play games but also own up to what our existing player-base expects from us.

David Ellis: I would regret it if I didn’t take this opportunity to give a shout out to the team responsible for bringing our vehicles to life in Halo Infinite. Nothing is more quintessentially Halo to me, than battling across of map when a buddy skids to a stop alongside and honks their horn for you to jump into their Warthog. There’s no way to predict the outcome in most Halo skirmishes, but if you’re in a Warthog there’s a very good chance cheers and/or laughter will ensue.

Patrick Wren: I love how we built our systems so we can really fine-tune and expand each experience. We can have a very tightly tuned competitive experience and have a much more dynamic experience in BTB. It makes me excited for the future and what the community does with these systems in Custom Games.

Alex Bean: I’m surprised how good it feels to move and shoot in the game. The Sandbox Team made some great enhancements to how smooth and responsive the controls feel while preserving a Halo feel. And the weapons are a ton of fun – all my favorites are brand new for Infinite. Getting a “Perfect” with the VK78 Commando or nailing the “one, two, DEAD” firing cadence of the Mangler is immensely satisfying.

Thank you so much to the Multiplayer Team for taking some time to sit with us and talk through everything from design pillars, to what you enjoyed most from the Tech Preview! If you’re reading all of this and wish you could get in on the fun – worry not, it’s not too late! Sign-up to be a Halo Insider today, get your profile fully filled out, and if you’re on PC make sure you’ve got your DxDiag uploaded.

Up next, we get to hang out with Sara a bit more – along with a few more of her teammates over on the Bots Team, who recently had their hard work go head-to-head with Halo Insiders over the course of the Tech Preview weekend.

BOT WATCH​

During our recent Tech Preview for Halo Infinite, the Bots took center stage. Over the course of the weekend players went toe-to-toe with Marine, ODST, and Spartan Bots – all of whom were busy putting players through the paces and landing some next-level grenades.

We had the chance to sit down with the Bots Team to hear more about their goals when they set out to make Bots in the first place, their process for how they’re able to build sentience from the ground-up – and, some of what excited them the most when they saw their hard work put on display against hundreds of thousands of Halo Insiders.

Hello there, Bots Team! It’s your turn to rock the mic - who are you, and what do you do here at 343 Industries?

Brie Chin-Deyerle, Senior Lead Gameplay Engineer (she/her): Hi! I’m Brie, my pronouns are she/her, and I’m a Senior Gameplay Engineer with the Multiplayer Team. I’m currently the engineering lead for Academy and Bots, so a lot of my days are spent adding features, fixing bugs, and helping the team do their best work.

Sara Stern, Multiplayer Bots Designer (she/her): I’m Sara Stern and I’m a Multiplayer Designer. I’m primarily focused on developing the multiplayer Bots, although I’ve also worked on the Tutorial for the Academy.

Ilana Franklin, Gameplay Engineer (she/her): I’m Ilana Franklin. I’m a Gameplay Engineer on the Multiplayer Team, and I spend most of my time on Bots.

Hollis Lehv, Gameplay Engineer (she/her): I’m Hollis Lehv, and I am a Gameplay Engineer on the Multiplayer Team at 343. I have been working mostly on Bots!

How did Bots in Halo Infinite come to be? What need did they fulfill?

Brie Chin-Deyerle: Bots have been something the studio has aspired to do for a long time. We knew we wanted a welcoming place for new and returning players of all skills levels to get familiar with the sandbox, warm up before a match, and just have some fun. We felt Bots could help us with all those goals. We started working on prototypes after we shipped Halo 5 and have been iterating over time to what you played against in the Technical Preview.

What were the very first design conversations like?

Sara Stern: At first, we were primarily focused on getting something working in-game that could move and shoot. After we completed initial prototypes, we took a step back and compared what we had on screen to what we were seeing players do in internal playtests. Our early Bots were a bit like walking turrets, and we knew we wanted to get them behaving much more like players. We spent a lot of time discussing how Halo combat worked and why players do what they do in certain gameplay situations. Those conversations helped us isolate what actions we needed Bots to do to properly represent Halo gameplay.

When you were kicking the whole process off for building Bots in Halo Infinite, what were some of your design tenants?

Sara Stern: There are a lot of fun ways you can use Bots, but our primary design goal is that Bots help players learn how to play Halo and serve as good practice partners. Knowing that made a lot of our other decisions easier. To facilitate learning, Bots need to be the best representation we can make of how players act in multiplayer. They need to move like players, shoot like players, use equipment like players, and so on. They should also use the same tools (or a representation of those tools) that players can so that a player can beat a Bot by getting better at using that tool than the Bot is. It’s why we avoid allowing Bots to “cheat” by using information that players don’t have access to.

As Bots continued to get their sea legs, what were some of the biggest difficulties to overcome?

Brie Chin-Deyerle: One of the things people might not think about was one of the harder things to do, and that was getting the Bots to show up in the game like players. They show up in the back button scoreboard, earn medals, have MMR, customizations, and so on. It’s really common for game code to make a distinction between “This is code that runs for players” and, “This is code that runs for an AI.” With Bots, we had this new thing that is both of those, and we needed code to run from each of those contexts. It was a very long road to get them well integrated into the experience, and I think it’s really paid off.

Ilana Franklin: One of the great parts of making multiplayer Bots for a game like Halo is we already have an incredible AI framework in place. However, multiplayer Bots are trying to solve fundamentally different problems than campaign AI. One of the challenges throughout development has been knowing when to leverage what we have, and when we need to come up with new solutions.

How did the team prioritize certain Bot behavior? When does it go out of its way to pick up a gun vs. when does it rush straight into battle off respawn?

Brie Chin-Deyerle: I think Bot decision-making can be simply framed by talking about the choices you make around the flag (in a game of CTF). Sometimes it’s appropriate to hold onto the flag and keep on running, even if you’re being shot at. In other situations, it’s better to drop the flag and try to defend yourself. The variables involved in that decision are numerous and complex. How much health do I have? How far away is the person shooting at me? How far away am I from the flag stand?

We’ve broken down all the high-level actions for the Bots (like running the objective, getting a new weapon, engaging in combat, etc.). We then assign each of those actions a value that’s based on a number of inputs, weighing each one a little differently, and then we choose what the optimal action to take at a given time is.

This is a tricky thing to get right. Getting a new weapon is pretty important if you’re low on ammo, and really important if you’re completely out of ammo. Finding the right balance of all these variables and how to rank them all against each other is as much a problem of human psychology as it is an engineering one, which has made it super interesting to work on.

Bots currently come in four flavors based on their inherent skill. Can you talk us through each and what the general differences and expectations are for each?

Sara Stern: We’ll have four Bot difficulties at launch: Recruit, Marine, ODST, and Spartan. Each of the difficulties is loosely modeled after the different skill levels a player reaches as they get better at playing Halo. You can’t really focus on how to strafe well if you’re still learning how to throw a grenade, and we put similar limitations on what each difficulty can do.

Recruit level Bots are the least challenging experience – they know how to perform each combat action, but they don’t react quickly in a firefight. Marine Bots are like players who are comfortable playing Halo, but they haven’t quite figured out the best way to strafe yet. ODST Bots are competent players that react well to player movement and know how to use equipment more aggressively. While this wasn’t enabled in the Technical Preview build, we’re experimenting with allowing Spartan Bots to communicate with one another about certain gameplay events (such as the location of enemy players).

The intent is that if you work up through each of the difficulties and feel comfortable against Spartan Bots, you’ll be able to hold your own against players in regular matchmaking. We’ll continue to iterate on the challenge and tuning of each difficulty as we get more player feedback. We may also introduce new levels of difficulty over time based on what players are interested in seeing from the Bots.

While they certainly still had their quirks, how did the team get them to feel like actual players?

Ilana Franklin: A big part of getting them to feel like actual players was the combat dance. Their combat movement is modelled after some very high skill players in the studio. Lower difficulty Bots focus on strafing, medium difficulties can jump but won’t crouch as often, higher skilled Bots can do both. Sara has done a lot of tuning to get that balance feeling right, resulting in the Bot combat dance which we affectionately refer to as the "Razzle Dazzle." Ultimately though, a lot of that human feel comes down to little behaviors that are more subtle. When you try to disengage from a Bot, they'll remember where they last saw you and try to hunt you down. When they have the Grappleshot, they'll look for openings to zip in for a melee attack, especially if they're holding a good close-range weapon. Higher level Bots will look for opportunities to backsmack if you're facing away from them. All those small details, along with many others, come together to make Bots play dynamically and make decisions like humans do.

Hollis Lehv: Bots will make different decisions depending on the situation they are in. This gives the impression that they are weighing the pros and cons of, for instance, continuing to fight or backing down, just like a human would. This also makes them more difficult to predict. Bots will also use equipment in similar ways to a player. For example, they’ll hold onto the Overshield until they see a player to fight against. The Bot names also make them feel like real people with distinct personalities.

On a less serious note, why are they so darn good with grenades?

Ilana Franklin: Like players, Bots understand that weapons need to be aimed differently. They'll aim the sniper rifle at their target's head, but try to shoot rockets at their target's feet.

Hollis Lehv: We modeled Bot grenade throwing after what a human player might do. If a grenade type bounces, Bots will throw it slightly in front of the target’s feet. Bots don’t have perfect aim, but they do consider the ways different grenades bounce and by how much, and they are quite quick to react to where a player is, which may contribute to their strong grenade use.

Sara Stern: When we implement a new feature, we try to get the Bots to perform at a high skill level so we can identify what the “ceiling” is for that behavior. We then reduce how effective they are for lower difficulties. We hadn’t done that enough for grenade throwing in the Technical Preview build.

When the decision was made to flight Bots in the Technical Preview, what were your initial thoughts?

Ilana Franklin: At first, I was really surprised! As I thought more about it, I realized it was a great move for an initial Technical Preview like this. It took the pressure off and gave people the opportunity to explore the sandbox for the first time without the stress of competing with each other. Obviously I'm biased though - I was also just ridiculously excited that we were finally putting Bots out there.

Hollis Lehv: I was personally extremely excited to see Bots front and center of the Technical Preview, and not just because I’m part of the Bots Team. They help players get acclimated to the game and give inexperienced players new ideas and strategies. I love that people who had never played a Halo game before were able to hold their own against the lower difficulty Bots and get a sense of what the game is like.

How did it feel to watch real Halo players battle against your creations, and have so much fun?

Brie Chin-Deyerle: So, I spent many long hours playing against AI as a kid. I wasn’t very competitive with other people, but I was very competitive with myself, and I loved any game that had Bots for me to play with. It’s one of the reasons I started learning about programming and game development. So finally seeing people playing against something I’ve been able to help bring into being literally made me tear up a bit. Seeing people enjoy something you’ve worked really hard on is an incredible feeling.

Ilana Franklin: It was emotional for me too. I know that Bots are something that I find essential in competitive multiplayer games, especially when I'm first starting out, but I acknowledge that I'm not the best at first-person shooters. I was really humbled by how excited players of all skill levels were to finally have Bots in a Halo game. I loved seeing all the memes and clips that people posted of crazy plays that Bots were making. Especially all the Grappleshot Gravity Hammer clips, it was really fun to see code that I wrote getting kills in the real world.

Hollis Lehv: It was very surreal to see streamers I’ve been watching for years play against Bots for the first time and give feedback on features I have contributed to. I am proud of the team for getting Bots to such a strong place where the feedback has been so positive.

What were some key learnings from the Technical Preview?

Sara Stern: We knew going into the Technical Preview that the Bots had some bugs and odd behaviors, but I don’t think we appreciated the extent to which some of them were impacting their ability to get on the scoreboard. They were predictable off initial spawn and often ignored important map pickups. These behaviors made it hard for Bots to compete against players who had fully stocked up on power weapons and equipment, and we’re looking for ways we can improve Bot performance in this area in the future.

Brie Chin-Deyerle: I was excited to validate that our backend for calculating Bot skills relative to players was operating as intended. We did notice the Spartans did feel a little easier than the ODSTs, and it was awesome to have both that quantitative data along with all the qualitative data we got from the community. I think one of my biggest takeaways was seeing how many creative ways groups of humans could exploit certain Bot behaviors, and we definitely have some work to do to clean up some of those edge cases.

During the course of development, has an Infinite Bot ever done something unexpected that truly surprised you?

Brie Chin-Deyerle: During the Technical Preview, a Bot stole a Needler I was about to pick up from a weapon locker with a Grappleshot, because they missed an attempt to Grappleshot backsmack with a Gravity Hammer. Then they killed me with my Needler. I went from being very impressed to very salty.

Ilana Franklin: There have been a couple times in playtest where I’ve seen a Bot get a Fastball. I’ve never been able to do that, so they’ve already surpassed me.

Thanks for joining us today, Bots Team! Before you go though, any closing words for our players?

Brie Chin-Deyerle: Can I just say: Thank you all for the amazing memes and clips about Bots. Literally a highlight of my career. The Bots also asked me to say they are looking forward to playing many more games against you all!

Sara Stern: Thank you to everyone who played in the Technical Preview and sent in feedback. The data we got back from the weekend has been invaluable and we’re already putting it to use to make the Bots better.

Thank you, Bots Team, for taking the time to walk us through your process. It was humbling having ODST’s drop grenades directly at our feet, but going toe-to-toe with your creations over the course of the Tech Preview was a joy – and, we’re thankful for all of your hard work.

Now, to proverbially go ‘round the horn and hear from the rest of the studio! In this edition of Tales from the Trenches we’ve got a few stories from around the studio, including one that nearly resulted in newly-found super powers. Enjoy.

Inside Infinite – August 2021

<p>Welcome to the latest edition of Inside Infinite – the blog series where we sit down with the teams hard at work building Halo Infinite, to give you more insight into our process and goals than ever before. This month you’re joining us fresh off the heels of Gamescom, where we had the...

www.halowaypoint.com

Só vem com o papai, meu sonho é estar no time do @Deinis!

 

[PELO]

TECHNICAL PREVIEW OUTCOMES​

Technical Preview Outcomes

<p>Welcome back, Halo Insiders! Now that the team has had a chance to process the feedback we received during last month’s Halo Infinite Multiplayer Technical Preview it’s time to unpack it all with the community. In this blog, we’re going to be taking a closer look at the overall key areas of...

www.halowaypoint.com

Bem-vindos de volta, Halo Insiders! Agora que a equipe teve a chance de processar o feedback que recebemos durante a Amostra Técnica do Multijogador Halo Infinite do mês passado, é hora de descompactar tudo com a comunidade. Neste blog, vamos dar uma olhada mais de perto nas principais áreas gerais de feedback, ou temas, que recebemos do Tech Preview junto com as perspectivas ou resultados de muitas das equipes que trabalham no jogo. Embora esta lista possa não ser 100% exaustiva com todos os comentários dos jogadores, ela representa os tópicos de tendência mais comuns que observamos por meio de postagens de fóruns, mídias sociais, conteúdo de vídeo e pesquisas oficiais do Insider.

[Clique aqui para obter a imagem em 4K]

Nosso objetivo é fornecer um acompanhamento transparente para compartilhar a resposta e a perspectiva da equipe, para que os jogadores entendam o que esperar. Embora alguns desses tópicos de feedback tenham implicações envolvendo bugs reais, não é intenção deste blog abordar problemas relatados por meio do site de suporte do Halo Insider. No geral, a maioria dos bugs mais comuns e flagrantes relatados durante a visualização técnica já foram - ou foram desde então - corrigidos e estamos ansiosos para ver muitas dessas melhorias implementadas em nossa próxima visualização pública. Em particular, sabemos que houve alguns pontos problemáticos em relação às mensagens do Halo Waypoint e ao aplicativo Xbox Insider no console no início e as equipes estão trabalhando para melhorar essas áreas antes do nosso próximo vôo.
Antes de pularmos para os resultados específicos do feedback principal, é importante observar em que ponto estamos nessa jornada juntos. A primeira temporada do multijogador free-to-play de Halo Infinite será lançada em 8 de dezembro e, como você ouviu, a equipe está atualmente em "modo de desligamento" focada na eliminação e aprimoramento de bugs. Em geral, temos três resultados possíveis para um determinado feedback - o item já foi abordado, o item será investigado e tratado mais tarde quanto possível ou o item em questão está se comportando como pretendido e nenhuma mudança é garantida. Como você lerá abaixo, a grande maioria dos resultados do feedback do Tech Preview cai em uma das duas primeiras categorias, com apenas um ou dois itens caindo no balde de "funcionando conforme o planejado". Isso significa que, no geral, os objetivos e ambições da equipe se alinham amplamente com os de nossos jogadores em termos de áreas que gostaríamos de ver melhoradas ou expandidas. Ao darmos início a este serviço e ao próximo capítulo de nossa jornada juntos em alguns meses, é importante lembrar a todos que, de nossa perspectiva, o lançamento é apenas o começo! Nós podemos'
Agora, sem mais delongas, vamos mergulhar nos principais temas de feedback do jogador no Tech Preview e nas respostas das equipes aplicáveis em todo o estúdio. Vamos resolver isso em ordem alfabética por equipe, começando com nossos colegas que trabalham com Acessibilidade.

ACESSIBILIDADE​

• Positivo: Esboços de amigos ou inimigos
• Positivo: Controlador completo e remapeamento de teclado e mouse
• Feedback: Desejo de uma opção de auto-sprint
• Feedback: Desejo de alterar as cores do Sistema de Cor e Marca do Sistema de Danos

RESPOSTA DA EQUIPE DE ACESSIBILIDADE​

Os contornos do sistema Friend and Foe (IFF) são um componente chave para tornar o multijogador Halo mais acessível. Por mais icônico que seja o sistema Red vs Blue, os jogadores daltônicos sempre foram deixados em desvantagem nos títulos anteriores. Estamos satisfeitos em ver que esse recurso ajudou tantos jogadores durante o Tech Preview. A equipe do Sandbox deve ter mais para compartilhar sobre o IFF abaixo!
Embora acreditemos que o remapeamento completo do controle e teclado / mouse seja ótimo para todos os jogadores para permitir mais escolha e personalização do jogador, estamos especialmente animados sobre como essas configurações permitem que jogadores com deficiência removam barreiras que existiam anteriormente com um conjunto limitado de controle esquemas. Queríamos que este título fosse totalmente compatível com o controlador Adaptive do Xbox também.
Estamos muito animados em envolver nossa comunidade no trabalho de melhoria da acessibilidade. Dois comentários que vimos durante o vôo foram adicionar uma opção de "auto-sprint" para que os jogadores não precisem segurar o controle manual para frente, o que pode ser difícil e até doloroso ao correr por distâncias mais longas. O outro item de feedback era que as cores do "Damage System Color" e as marcas do Mark System tivessem suas próprias opções de cores em configurações semelhantes às cores IFF. Concordamos e adoramos essas sugestões e, embora não possamos incluí-las no lançamento, já as estamos rastreando para futuras adições de acessibilidade pós-lançamento.

[Clique aqui para obter a imagem em 4K]

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ÁUDIO​

MÚSICA​

• Positivo: os jogadores adoraram o menu e a música multijogador

RESPOSTA DA EQUIPE DE ÁUDIO​

Nós literalmente amamos ouvir isso. Estamos trazendo uma nova abordagem de estilo para nossos modos multijogador no Infinite, combinando melodias de Halo com o gênero pós-rock. Estamos muito satisfeitos em saber que nossa comunidade adora essa nova abordagem e mal podemos esperar que você ouça ainda mais (sim, há muito mais) sobre o que está reservado para os modos de campanha e multijogador.

ÁUDIO NO JOGO​

• Positivo: as armas pareciam poderosas e realmente adicionadas à experiência
• Feedback: os jogadores queriam que o áudio do Needler soasse mais "cristalizado"
• Feedback: controles granulares de cada voz no jogo (IA pessoal, Spartan Chatter, apresentador multijogador)

RESPOSTA DA EQUIPE DE ÁUDIO​

A equipe de áudio gastou muito tempo para fornecer sons de armas impactantes em uma paisagem sonora clara para tornar a experiência de combate mais divertida e envolvente, por isso estamos muito animados para encontrar muitas palavras como "impactante", "satisfatório" ou "nítido . " Também trouxemos de volta alguns dos sons clássicos de Halo, como Shield recarregue e Plasma Pistol Charge, e estamos felizes que muitos jogadores tenham gostado.
Por outro lado, vimos alguns jogadores apontando que algumas das armas parecem estar muito longe dos sons legados. Alguns jogadores queriam uma sensação mais "cristalizada" e "vítrea" no Needler, por exemplo. Obrigado pelo feedback honesto e construtivo, estamos continuando a iterar no design de som para o Needler e a Pistola de Plasma (Tiro Primário) junto com o aprimoramento do som do Martelo de Gravidade agora. Estamos nos preparando para entregar uma "versão em andamento" desses novos sons para o próximo vôo público, por isso estamos ansiosos para ouvir sua opinião sobre essas atualizações na próxima rodada.
Os jogadores também expressaram interesse em ter controles mais granulares para os sons que ouvem no jogo, especialmente quando se trata das várias vozes no jogo. Não teremos essa granularidade até depois do lançamento, mas nós e a Equipe Multijogador concordamos em expor essa opção ao jogador. Eles terão um pouco mais a dizer sobre isso na seção abaixo também.

Needler render cortesia da próxima Halo Encyclopedia [Clique aqui para obter a imagem em 4K]

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AO VIVO​

PASSE DE BATALHA E DESAFIOS​

• Positivo: os jogadores ainda estão gostando da ideia de um Passe de Batalha permanente
• Feedback: os desafios são a única maneira de progredir?
• Feedback: Temporizador Double XP Boost em contagem regressiva enquanto estiver nos menus

RESPOSTA DA EQUIPE AO VIVO​

Durante o Tech Preview, queríamos testar a funcionalidade de nosso Battle Pass, que potencializa os serviços do nosso sistema Challenge. Este Battle Pass não foi um Season Battle Pass completo, mas sim um muito menor projetado especificamente para este vôo. De uma perspectiva técnica, descobrimos que havia uma configuração incorreta em nossa oferta de Desafios, o que evitou que novos Desafios aparecessem para os jogadores depois que eles completassem outros. Isso não era intencional e deve ser resolvido antes do próximo vôo.
Do ponto de vista do feedback do jogador, ouvimos os pedidos para ganhar XP por partida fora dos Desafios, bem como para que os temporizadores do XP Boost só façam a contagem regressiva durante uma partida. Um dos itens que não estavam totalmente presentes no Tech Preview foi nosso modelo de Desafio Diário, que fornece Desafios ao longo das linhas de “Jogar X Número de Jogos” que se repetem ao longo do dia. Esses desafios são substituídos após a conclusão e fornecem um ganho de XP regular para o seu passe de batalha apenas para jogar partidas e se divertir durante suas sessões com o Halo Infinite. Os Desafios Semanais são onde você verá seus desafios mais específicos que você pode reconhecer em outros jogos; por exemplo, “Mate 10 mortes com um rifle de batalha”. Há uma profundidade significativamente maior com os Desafios Semanais do que você viu no Tech Preview que examinaremos no futuro.
Quanto à contagem regressiva dos temporizadores de aumento do XP fora de uma partida, procuraremos melhorar essa experiência após o lançamento.
Progressão é uma área que continuaremos a melhorar e crescer com o tempo, e teremos ainda mais para compartilhar aqui no final deste mês.

MULTIJOGADOR​

BOTS E BOT ARENA​

• Positivo: os bots eram inteligentes, divertidos e desafiadores
• Positivo: Bot Arena é um ambiente seguro para aprender. Muito útil para aprender o layout e o fluxo de mapas
• Feedback: os bots eram muito precisos ao atirar em armas e lançar granadas
• Feedback: todos os bots começaram da mesma maneira, podiam ficar confusos enquanto se moviam no mapa e não usavam equipamento suficiente
• Feedback: Spartan Bots não eram muito melhores do que ODST Bots e os jogadores queriam que fossem difíceis

RESPOSTA DA EQUIPE MULTIJOGADOR​

A recepção aos Bots foi incrível e quase esmagadora. Ficamos muito felizes em ver nossos combatentes bot se darem tão bem com a comunidade, mas reconhecemos que existem elementos que podemos tornar ainda melhores.
Estaremos atenuando aqueles saltos de granada perfeitamente posicionados em níveis de dificuldade mais baixos porque eles foram mais precisos do que gostaríamos. Também estamos tentando ajustar um pouco a precisão do tiroteio, mas não muito para evitar tornar os Bots muito fáceis (especialmente quando uma quarta e menos desafiadora dificuldade "Recrutar" já existe, mas não estava no Tech Preview).
Os jogadores também notaram que o comportamento do bot nem sempre estava de acordo com suas expectativas em algumas áreas. Um problema comum que as pessoas estavam enfrentando eram as rotas iniciais que os bots estavam tirando do spawn. Embora isso tenha levado a alguns clipes surpreendentes das equipes de bots sendo apagadas antes do tempo, isso era algo que sabíamos sobre o voo e já temos alguma lógica extra em andamento para ajudar a separá-los um pouco mais e atuar mais como um esquadrão de jogadores fariam.
Também ouvimos comentários de jogadores desejando que os bots fossem mais eficazes com o equipamento. Esta será uma área contínua de melhorias para eles. Replicar todos os comportamentos malucos que os jogadores são capazes de realizar com o equipamento é quase impossível, mas continuaremos melhorando como eles replicam as ações dos jogadores com as ferramentas na caixa de areia.
Outra observação era que os bots podiam ficar "confusos" e parar de se mover no meio do combate. Esses bugs acontecem por uma ampla variedade de razões e é algo que continuamos a melhorar à medida que tentamos lançar. Resolvemos muitos dos grandes problemas e continuaremos a resolver outros problemas com seu movimento à medida que surgirem. Eles só vão melhorar com o tempo!
Por último, ouvimos o desejo de ter Bots ainda mais difíceis do que nossos Bots Spartan. Definitivamente, houve alguns ajustes com os Spartan Bots que os fizeram ter um desempenho inferior, mas eles ainda deveriam ser parceiros de treinamento - não profissionais do esporte. Embora ensinar os jogadores seja o nosso principal objetivo com os Bots, seria justo dizer que no futuro queremos alguns bots que talvez sejam parceiros menos poupadores e mais contendores da noite de luta.

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EXERCÍCIOS DE ARMA​

• Positivo: forneceu um ótimo ambiente para aprender armas
• Positivo: os jogadores se divertiram e gostaram de compartilhar suas pontuações de exercícios com armas
• Feedback: desejo de ensinar os modos de disparo alternativo de forma mais clara
• Feedback: alguns queriam uma maneira de alternar entre exercícios de arma mais facilmente
• Feedback: alguns jogadores queriam exercícios de armas de duração indeterminada
• Feedback: muitos jogadores queriam equipamentos e exercícios de movimento

RESPOSTA DA EQUIPE MULTIJOGADOR​

Weapon Drills, semelhantes aos Bots, foram uma nova adição à experiência multiplayer para este jogo. Foi legal ver a comunidade se engajando com o recurso; aprender os brinquedos e desenvolver suas habilidades.
Aprimorou o ensino sobre os modos de disparo alternativo? Sim, nós concordamos. Vamos repassar as informações nas dicas rápidas para melhor explicar os elementos das diferentes armas em cada exercício. No pós-lançamento já estamos investigando opções para explicar melhor as nuances de cada arma nos exercícios.
Trocar entre armas diferentes é algo que planejamos trabalhar com nossa equipe UXUI após o lançamento para encontrar maneiras de reduzir o atrito ali. Há também outro recurso da Academia chamado Modo de Treinamento que estará em nosso próximo vôo que permitirá aos jogadores trocar rapidamente seus loadouts (via menu do jogo) que fornecerá outro caminho para os jogadores poderem experimentar armas (e mais) enquanto lutam bots em mapas.
Exercícios de armas de duração indeterminada? Sim, já programado em nossa lista de pós-lançamento.
Exercícios para equipamentos e movimento? Após o lançamento, estamos planejando vários exercícios para vários outros mecânicos, como granadas, armas brancas, equipamentos e veículos. Basicamente, queremos exercícios para permitir que os jogadores testem tudo na caixa de areia.
É reconfortante saber que a comunidade gostou tanto dos Exercícios de Armas que quiseram mais de quase todos os aspectos deles. Fique tranquilo, continuaremos a oferecer esse "mais" aqui durante o tempo de vida do jogo.

SENSOR DE COMBATE (RADAR)​

• Feedback: alguns gostaram do sensor de combate, embora a maioria o tenha achado confuso
• Feedback: alguns indicadores de altura desejados também

RESPOSTA DA EQUIPE MULTIJOGADOR​

O sensor de combate, ou radar, que fica no canto inferior esquerdo do seu HUD seguia um conjunto de regras diferente dos títulos anteriores do Halo. Ele só exibia inimigos quando eles estavam correndo ou atirando, o que estava mais de acordo com o "Rastreador de Ameaças" do Halo 5. Sabíamos que essa implementação seria diferente, talvez até um pouco controversa, e é por isso que queríamos receber feedback sobre ela o mais rápido possível no Tech Preview.
Embora alguns tenham apreciado a nova abordagem, descobrimos que a maioria dos jogadores sentia falta das propriedades antigas nessas partidas sociais. Atualizamos o Sensor de Combate para ficar mais parecido com o "Rastreador de Movimento" de antigamente, que mostra todos os movimentos além de andar agachado, e deve estar com ele pronto para teste no próximo vôo. Fique de olho nele e diga-nos como funciona!

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IA PESSOAL​

• Positivo: as pessoas adoraram ter sua própria IA pessoal pela primeira vez
• Positivo: as pessoas adoraram personalizar sua IA pessoal
• Feedback: desejo por mais opções de personalização (separar a voz do corpo, mais formas, mais vozes, mais cores)
• Feedback: desejo de visualizar a voz e a personalidade de uma IA pessoal no saguão
• Feedback: desejo de aumentar a variedade de suas linhas
• Feedback: desejo de controlar o quanto a IA pessoal fala (incluindo desligá-los)

RESPOSTA DA EQUIPE MULTIJOGADOR​

Quando o Tech Preview foi lançado e todos começaram a compartilhar sua IA pessoal, foi incrível ver qual deles todos escolheram. Amamos todos eles e foi ótimo ver as diferentes personalidades ressoando com cada um de vocês.
No entanto, à medida que o voo avançava ao longo do fim de semana, começamos a ver temas e comentários surgindo sobre sua implementação atual. Felizmente, a maior parte do feedback centrou-se no desejo de ter mais controle e personalização da experiência de IA pessoal.
Em termos de mais personalização, estamos procurando oferecer suporte a diferentes modelos de IA pessoal, bem como diferentes opções de personalização para torná-los mais personalizados a partir das formas básicas, como chapéus, adereços, etc. Também planejamos continuar a expandir a lista de IA ao longo do tempo e alguns lançamentos que o mundo ainda não viu.
Concordamos que visualizar a voz e a personalidade de uma IA pessoal antes de colocá-la no campo de batalha faz sentido. Felizmente, já estamos trabalhando nisso e deve estar em nosso próximo desenvolvimento de flight, então certifique-se de testá-lo no lobby com antecedência!
Também houve feedback sobre as mesmas linhas aparecendo repetidamente, e nós concordamos. Após o Tech Preview, vimos a frequência das linhas de IA pessoal (bem como as linhas do Spartan Chatter como "Over Yonder!") E já fizemos ajustes para reduzir a frequência com que são repetidas. Este trabalho deve se refletir no próximo vôo. Também estamos interessados em adicionar variantes de linha adicionais para cada pós-lançamento de IA para evitar que suas linhas se tornem muito repetitivas.
Por último, os jogadores expressaram interesse em controlar a frequência com que sua IA pessoal falava e que tipo de informação falavam. Isso não é algo que poderíamos fazer no lançamento, mas gostaríamos de dar mais controle aos jogadores sobre a frequência das linhas de sabor, bem como aumentar / diminuir as linhas de informação, como linhas de captura de armas. Isso traz muitos benefícios para os jogadores que desejam mais ajudar a tornar o jogo mais acessível para eles ou até mesmo apenas ativar diferentes tipos de feedback.

MEDALHAS​

• Positivo: novos eventos de medalha, como Ninja, 360 e Bank Shot foram adorados
• Positivo: os jogadores adoraram que certas medalhas fossem anunciadas no feed do evento
• Feedback: Muitos jogadores estavam preocupados com o tamanho, localização e estilo de arte das medalhas

MULTIJOGADOR E RESPOSTA DA EQUIPE UXUI​

Ficamos felizes em saber que os eventos do Medal, especialmente aqueles que são mencionados no feed de eventos, foram recebidos tão bem. No entanto, não podemos falar sobre medalhas e não reconhecer o feedback e conversa sobre a aparência geral delas no jogo. Muito do foco estava no tamanho, localização e estilo geral da arte. Concordamos que há mais trabalho a ser feito aqui e faremos o que pudermos antes do lançamento.
Também estamos fazendo uma revisão agora que preserva nosso nível de dificuldade (cores) e iconografia, mas direciona o tratamento visual para um design mais clássico de medalha skeuomórfica de Halo. Você pode não ver essas novas medalhas "metalizadas" no próximo vôo, mas estamos pressionando para colocá-las no lançamento.

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CAIXA DE AREIA​

RECONHECIMENTO DE AMIGO OU INIMIGO (CONTORNOS DO JOGADOR)​

• Pro: opções de acessibilidade e personalização
• Feedback: capacidade de leitura do escudo impactado (e Overshield)
• Feedback: desejo por mais opções, incluindo a capacidade de desativá-las
• Feedback: desejo de que o gamertag de um oponente apareça acima de sua cabeça

RESPOSTA DA EQUIPE DO SANDBOX​

Indo para o Tech Preview, realmente queríamos receber feedback sobre nosso sistema Friend or Foe (IFF), então ficamos felizes em ouvir a opinião de todos online e em nossas pesquisas. Considerando que essa foi uma das nossas maiores mudanças no jogo, ficamos maravilhados em saber que o aumento da acessibilidade e da expressão do jogador caiu tão bem. Mas não foi perfeito, e nós sabemos disso.
Já fizemos mudanças significativas no FX para comunicar melhor a saúde de um alvo. Você sempre deve saber se está lutando contra um jogador que tem um escudo protetor, escudos completos, escudos enfraquecidos ou escudos quebrados. Você poderá ver essas melhorias em nosso próximo voo.
Quanto a mais opções, como desativar totalmente os contornos, precisaremos explorar o quão realista isso é, dados nossos cronogramas de lançamento. Sempre somos a favor de fornecer mais opções aos nossos jogadores, mas é muito provável que não possamos fornecer isso até depois do lançamento.
Uma nota comum era fazer com que o Gamertag do jogador aparecesse acima de sua cabeça ao olhar para eles. Estamos totalmente de acordo e podemos confirmar que os nomes não foram exibidos devido a um bug. Alguns de vocês notaram que tínhamos a opção de exibir o nome de jogador ou a etiqueta de serviço no jogo, mas simplesmente não estava funcionando nesta compilação. Essa correção pode ou não chegar ao nosso próximo voo, mas será lançada.

VISANDO​

• Feedback: objetivo de impacto no desempenho
• Feedback: alguns acharam que a sensibilidade padrão era muito baixa
• Feedback: Desejo de controles de zona morta axial
• Nota: confusão em torno de zoom / escopo inteligente

RESPOSTA DA EQUIPE SANDBOX​

O objetivo, semelhante ao IFF, era outra área em que realmente queríamos mergulhar com o Tech Preview. Embora saibamos que o desempenho nesta construção não foi ótimo e afetou o objetivo, ainda recebemos muitas contribuições valiosas de todos vocês. Os dados e comentários do Tech Preview informaram diretamente as decisões e melhorias que fizemos para atingir.
Primeiro, aumentamos as sensibilidades padrão para ambos os jogadores M&K e controladores, incluindo enquanto ampliamos as armas com escopos 5x e acima. Em segundo lugar, desde então expusemos os controles de zonas mortas axiais nas configurações. Você deve ver essas melhorias, bem como aumentos de desempenho, no próximo voo.
Uma última observação aqui foi que havia confusão em torno da função de zoom em armas sem lunetas. Muitos de vocês estavam curiosos para saber se ele mudava as características de mira de uma arma ou aumentava sua eficácia à distância, semelhante ao Smart Scope do Halo 5. Esse não é o caso de armas sem mira em Halo Infinite. Semelhante a muitos títulos Halo anteriores, as armas com escopo terão benefícios devido aos seus escopos, mas as armas sem mira terão o mesmo desempenho, independentemente do seu estado de zoom. Os jogadores verão uma diminuição no FOV, mas não, não há nenhuma mudança subjacente a essas armas quando ampliadas.

ARMAS​

• Positivo: o equilíbrio geral da arma foi ótimo
• Positivo: capacidade de largar armas é apreciada
• Feedback: S7 Sniper e Skewer eram difíceis de usar
• Feedback dividido: o martelo parece muito forte, mas também muito lento

RESPOSTA DA EQUIPE SANDBOX​

A recepção positiva do equilíbrio geral da arma foi ótima de se ver. Continuaremos a ajustar as armas ao longo da vida do jogo e esse trabalho nunca está realmente "feito". Também ficamos felizes em ver que muitos de vocês gostaram de poder largar / atirar uma arma para um colega de equipe sem precisar encontrar uma arma para trocá-la primeiro.
As duas armas sobre as quais vimos mais comentários foram o Sniper S7 e o Skewer, com foco em como era difícil mirar enquanto miramos. As melhorias de desempenho e de mira mencionadas acima devem ajudar aqui, mas também iremos ajustar alguns dos o objetivo do Sniper S7 para este próximo vôo e espero ouvir seus comentários sobre ele.
Por último, vimos o Gravity Hammer receber muita atenção no Recharge. Alguns jogadores gostaram que ela tivesse seu próprio papel único na caixa de areia e "não era apenas outra espada", mas outros acharam que a mudança o tornou muito lento. No geral, o feedback para esta arma foi dividido ao meio entre ser muito eficaz e não ser eficaz o suficiente. Como resultado, não planejamos fazer grandes mudanças, mas continuaremos monitorando.

MOVIMENTO​

• Positivo: o saldo da Sprint foi recebido positivamente
• Feedback dividido: os jogadores queriam um movimento mais suave e menos deformado
• Nota: Screenshake era muito, mesmo quando desligado nas configurações

RESPOSTA DA EQUIPE SANDBOX​

Movimento, com Sprint em particular, tem sido um tópico quente no Halo já há algum tempo. No Halo Infinite, adotamos uma abordagem diferente para equilibrá-lo. Estamos felizes porque a velocidade e o equilíbrio atuais estão funcionando bem, mas tenha certeza de que estaremos sempre de olho nos movimentos.
Embora tenhamos visto alguns jogadores dizerem que o movimento foi suave, também houve alguns jogadores que notaram que parecia desajeitado. Vimos esse feedback chegar devido ao próprio movimento ou como resultado de distorção durante as partidas online. Estamos constantemente melhorando nosso modelo de rede para reduzir o warping e continuaremos monitorando esse feedback à medida que o trabalho continua.
E, para os jogadores que perceberam que o screenhake estava presente mesmo depois de defini-lo como "0", não se preocupe - isso era um bug. Deve haver uma navegação tranquila na próxima versão de flight.

EQUIPAMENTO​

• Positivo: Grappleshot era amado por todos
• Feedback: Drop Wall parecia muito lento e muito fraco

RESPOSTA DA EQUIPE SANDBOX​

Estamos entusiasmados em saber que os jogadores estão gostando da nossa abordagem sobre os equipamentos do Halo Infinite até agora. Vimos execuções de Grappleshot incríveis durante o fim de semana do Tech Preview e mal podemos esperar para ver o que você conseguirá no próximo.
Um feedback consistente que vimos sobre o equipamento foi que muitos jogadores sentiram que o Drop Wall não era eficaz o suficiente devido ao seu ajuste atual. A intenção por trás desse atraso era torná-lo um equipamento que usamos de forma proativa ao nos prepararmos para os combates, em vez de reativo depois que uma luta já começou. Também não queríamos torná-lo muito durável, fazendo com que os jogadores sempre ganhassem quando usassem uma Parede suspensa em uma luta. O objetivo é causar uma ligeira "ruga" na luta, não fabricar um ponto final no ciclo de combate.
Dito isso, reduzimos o tempo de implantação do Drop Wall. Estamos examinando mais de perto a durabilidade, mas queremos avaliar como a implantação mais rápida afeta a jogabilidade antes de nos comprometermos a aumentar a integridade de seus painéis ainda. Essa atualização deve ser refletida no próximo voo, portanto, fique atento e diga-nos o que você achou.

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UXUI​

HUD​

• Positivo: abordagem limpa / simplificada do HUD foi apreciada
• Feedback: Alguns acharam que o suporte da arma era pequeno
• Feedback: Incapacidade de ver o segundo tipo de granada
• Feedback: alguns gostariam de opções de personalização do HUD

RESPOSTA DA EQUIPE UXUI​

O feedback sobre o HUD foi interessante de ler. Alguns jogadores adoraram o novo visual simplificado, alguns queriam um design mais clássico, mas a maioria parecia não se importar, contanto que estivesse fazendo seu trabalho.
Concordamos que o suporte para armas no canto inferior direito da tela parecia um pouco pequeno. Estaremos explorando melhorias para ajudar a garantir que seja mais legível logo após o lançamento.
Também houve um bom feedback sobre não ser possível ver o tipo de granada secundária. A equipe concorda que essa informação é extremamente valiosa, especialmente no calor da batalha. Essa alteração da interface do usuário ocorrerá em uma atualização futura.
Sempre que mudamos as coisas no Halo, sempre há alguns jogadores que querem a opção de manter as coisas como antes. O HUD não é diferente. Esse feedback era esperado, vimos toneladas de mock-ups de fãs e concordamos em fornecer mais opções de personalização de HUD no futuro. Não é algo que possamos buscar para o lançamento, mas é algo que estamos interessados em continuar a evoluir ao longo da vida do jogo.

MENUS​

• Positivo: a apresentação geral recebeu feedback positivo
• Feedback: rolagem na personalização
• Feedback: os itens de personalização eram difíceis de equipar

RESPOSTA DA EQUIPE UXUI​

Foi ótimo ver pessoas compartilhando fotos de seus espartanos no Pelican enquanto esperavam no saguão. Também foi bom ver os jogadores navegando por todo o jogo, sem limitação, enquanto procuram por partidas.
Dito isso, notamos que havia muitos comentários sobre o menu Personalização em particular. Vimos o desejo de ter navegação vertical ou um layout de grade semelhante ao Halo 5 em vez de rolagem horizontal. Muitos jogadores também disseram que o fluxo para 'equipar' os elementos de personalização não era tão bom quanto eles gostariam.
Houve alguns bugs que afetaram esses menus, como "equipar" nem sempre equipar itens, mas reconhecemos que há espaço para melhorias na apresentação geral da Personalização. Embora o layout atual seja o que você vê no lançamento, ele evoluirá continuamente a cada temporada.

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Obrigado mais uma vez a todos que participaram e compartilharam seus comentários durante a primeira Amostra Técnica Multijogador de Halo Infinite!
A parceria com o Halo Insiders para testar e coletar feedback é uma parte crítica do nosso processo de desenvolvimento, que começou nos primeiros dias das atualizações da coleção Master Chief e continuará mesmo após o lançamento do Halo Infinite. Para obter mais informações sobre o Halo Infinite flight e Multiplayer, certifique-se de verificar nossa série de blog Inside Infinite .
Se você quiser se juntar a nós em nosso próximo voo Halo Infinite, que contará com 4v4 Arena e Big Team Battle, certifique-se de se registrar no programa Halo Insider! E, se você já estiver registrado, nunca é demais verificar rapidamente seu perfil para garantir que tudo está completo e verificado - lembre-se de que você pode atualizar suas preferências e / ou cancelar a qualquer momento.
Como um lembrete, o multijogador Halo Infinite é gratuito para jogar no Xbox e PC e acabamos de abrir as pré-encomendas para nossa campanha mais expansiva até agora. Você pode jogar com os dois ainda este ano, quando serão lançados em 8 de dezembro de 2021.
Obrigado pela leitura e esperamos vê-lo em nossa próxima prévia do multijogador!

 

[Paul Soc]

Razer lança mouse, teclado e headset inspirados em Halo Inifnite

A Razer entrou no hype e apresentou ao público novos periféricos exclusivos de Halo Infinite, o jogo será lançado em 8 de dezembro para Xbox One, Xbox

adrenaline.com.br

 

[Paul Soc]

 

[Maximuss]

The Art of Halo Infinite: Exclusive Cover Reveal - IGN

With the release of the next Halo game drawing closer, IGN can exclusively reveal the cover art and packaging for Dark Horse's The Art of Halo Infinite Deluxe Edition.

www.ign.com

 

[Necromicon]

Completei a coleção

 

[Paul Soc]

Completei a coleção

Show. Onde vc encontrou esses produtos?

 

[Necromicon]

Show. Onde vc encontrou esses produtos?

No mercado! Tem pringles versão normal e versão halo. Deve ter no Brasil inteiro porque eles estão divulgando no Instagram

 

[Maximuss]

INSIDE INFINITE – SEPTEMBER 2021​

BY 343 INDUSTRIES - 12 HOURS AGO​

Welcome, one and all, to our latest edition of Inside Infinite!
Every month we sit down with the teams hard at work on Halo Infinite to learn more about contributions to the next chapter of Halo, gain insight about their process, and understand their goals on the road to our December 8 launch.
Before you carry on, if you find yourself interested in learning more about other disciplines and areas of Halo Infinite be sure to check out our previous editions, which at this point cover a wide variety of topics:

• December 2020 – Art, Graphics, and Live
• January 2021 – Sandbox
• February 2021 – Campaign
• March 2021 – Audio
• April 2021 – PC
• June 2021 – Live and Waypoint vNext
• July 2021 – Flighting
• August 2021 – Multiplayer and Bots

In this edition we’re spending a bit more time with the Multiplayer Team. Last month, we had a chance to chat with them about the ins-and-outs of the very first Halo Infinite Tech Preview, this month we’re preparing for the upcoming Multiplayer Tech Preview – which will make available both the Arena (4v4) and Big Team Battle (12v12), bringing brand new ways for players to dive in and check out the next chapter of multiplayer Halo. To learn more about what’s going to be included and how the devs put it all together, we sat down with the Multiplayer Team to get some of the finer details on what their goals were through development, and what they’re most excited for you to play.
Then, we hang out with the Multiplayer Team for just a bit longer to hear more about the Academy, the experiences it offers, and the goals that the team had for players as they set foot in the classroom for the very first time.
Last but not least, we get a recap on the Challenge and Progression systems in Halo Infinite, to learn more about what the ways you’ll be building up your Spartan when the game launches on December 8.
Now, it’s time for the fun stuff.

BTB FOR YOU AND ME​

When crafting the next chapter of Halo multiplayer, no stone can go unturned – digital, physical, or otherwise. When we talked to the Multiplayer Team last month, we heard some of their initial thoughts on what they most wanted to accomplish when creating Halo Infinite’s free-to-play multiplayer experience, from the Academy all the way to the Arena.

Now, with Big Team Battle on the menu for the upcoming Multiplayer Tech Preview, we wanted to take another opportunity to sit down with them to learn more about what’s happened since our very first Tech Preview, along with some first sets of intel about what went into creating the next version of Big Team Battle.

So, sit back, relax, and enjoy as we sit down to hear more from Multiplayer Associate Creative Director Tom French, Lead Multiplayer Designer Andrew Witts, Senior Multiplayer Designer Fernando Reyes Medina, Senior Multiplayer Designer Patrick Wren, Lead Multiplayer Level Designer Cayle George, Multiplayer Bots Designer Sara Stern, and Senior Multiplayer Designer David Ellis. (If you recognize any of those names, chances are good you remember them from August’s Inside Infinite!)

As we’ve discussed a few times before, Halo Infinite is going to be a live game. When creating the multiplayer experiences for Halo Infinite (maps, modes, Academy, Bots, etc.), how do you prepare for an evolving sandbox?

Tom French: Every map and mode combination is really the sum of its parts all playing together in concert. Some of our systems like our Weapon Racks are purpose built to enable us to inject new toys into Quickplay and BTB maps quickly. Other areas like Ranked require more scrutiny which usually begins with our team talking passes on the level placements and then begins the process of discussion and debate over each one to make sure it’s balanced into the environment. Even after we launch, we’ll continue to learn and see what the community is and isn’t excited about and continue to massage everything we do, refining and refreshing the game over time.

Andrew Witts: The main problem we knew we had to solve was - how do we add new sandbox items to our gameplay experiences without creating friction among the player base? In previous Halo games, if you wanted to play the new content then you had to wait for a specific map to appear in the matchmaking queue or hope that it was not vetoed by other players in the lobby. We wanted to build systems that could receive new sandbox toys and populate across the game vs. just in certain maps. We invested so much into the Item Spawner system that players see with weapon racks, equipment pads, grenade pads, and vehicle pads so that we could push a new weapon, equipment, grenade or vehicle into the entire experience. That’s not to say that we won’t put all changes through their paces. We want to make sure we add new sandbox items in a way that generates positive gameplay experiences for our players.

David Ellis: One of the things I learned from working on post-launch content for Halo 4 and 5 was no matter how much you think you know how the community will react to a feature or mode, it’s always critical to ensure you schedule out time to read and respond to that feedback. We’re already talking about future opportunities to go after with Halo Infinite, but as with any live game the further you travel out on a content calendar the greater the flexibility you want to allow for the studio and the community to find the fun together as Infinite grows.

How often do you work with the Live Team in your process? What parts of the free-to-play multiplayer do you often work on in tandem?

Andrew Witts: We work alongside them all the time. I have a sync with the Live Design Team every Monday where we share what we are up to and the challenges we are facing in creating content for our players... but we also geek out about each other’s ideas for Halo and where we want to go next. On a game like this, it is imperative for Live and MP’s features to mesh well together.

Tom French: It’s important for our teams to be able to work in partnership effectively because our work is directly intertwined together. For us to succeed, we need them to succeed, and vice-versa. This means we’re regularly syncing with them to make sure our features are supporting their progression needs and cosmetics are working in harmony with the combat dance demands of the modes and Sandbox.

When approaching Halo Infinite’s version of Big Team Battle, what were some of your most crucial design pillars?

Andrew Witts: The team created the pillars for Big Team Battle after a long meeting where we invited each MP team member to share their favorite moments from past BTB experiences. After doing that we bucketed all those experiences which ultimately became our design pillars:

• Embrace the Spartan Battle Fantasy – We want players to really feel like they are within a Spartan unit pushing through the battlefield and capturing objectives as a team. That’s why we’ve invested in things like Pelican Drops, Commander mode VO, Weapon Pods falling from the sky to resupply the field and a few more dynamic elements – we wanted it to feel like an active battle inside the Halo universe. Additionally, we wanted maps to feel like they were a part of an iconic battle within the Halo universe.

• Empower Player Types to Thrive – There are many different types of players in the Halo ecosystem. Some players are pilots, others are slayers or objective hunters, but we wanted all of them to work together in this BTB experience. Fernando has a fantastic phrase that sums up this pillar well: Make sure everyone can feel like a hero in any match.

• Unleash the Halo Infinite Sandbox – This pillar kind of speaks for itself. We felt like the “big” in BTB was not just the number of players in the match or the size of the maps but the number of options at players’ disposal. All the toys are available in this space for maximum fun.

When the team set out to design the new Big Team Battle experience for Halo Infinite, how did you approach drawing inspiration from the past vs. injecting something new? Were there specific elements you knew HAD to be there from the past?

Tom French: A lot of the discussion came from talking about our favorite past BTB experiences, targeting a set of modes that aligned with our goals, and figuring out any new twists that would partner with the gameplay to give us our own stamp on a fan favorite.

Andrew Witts: When starting to develop BTB, we started by having the Multiplayer Team share memorable stories that they have had in past Big Team experiences in Halo. We talked a lot about how those stories made us feel as players. What more did we want from those stories? What more would we want out of the BTB experience that would make those stories even better? These are all the questions we asked each other to come up with the feature list for BTB. So we didn’t key into specific features as much as we tried to key into experiences that were possible in BTBs of the past.

As you set out to evolve Big Team Battle, what aspects did you specifically see as areas to improve upon and make ‘new’?

Fernando Reyes Medina: We are all really big fans of legacy BTB so we were careful not to mess with what isn’t broken. We wanted a BTB experience that feels classic and modern at the same time. An opportunity I saw to improve Classic BTB was to make sure that the mode rules and balance consider the increased player count and the amazing new maps that level designers made for Halo Infinite. This allowed us to create an exciting pace throughout a BTB match, which, combined with the awesome new toys in our sandbox, makes the perfect stage so players can play out memorable moments with their friends.

Patrick Wren: We took a similar philosophy in how we approached BTB as we did with Arena, but turned it up to 11. There is the core experience of spawning at your base, jumping into vehicles, and going out into the world, but we looked at how we could spice it up. Tanks for example, especially the Scorpion, are extremely powerful vehicles that would tend to dominate matches in previous Halo games. We looked at how we could make them an amazing moment in a match that really punctuates their power.

How did the team arrive at the design for an expanded 12 vs 12 player count?

Andrew Witts: The short answer from me is that we wanted this to feel like a bigger “Big Team” experience and adding 4 players to each team seemed like a natural path to iterate towards. More players means more player interactions which we felt was a net positive to a lot of the strengths of BTB.

Fernando Reyes Medina: The more the merrier! Having said that, we found that 12v12 player count maintains that classic BTB pacing that we all love while increasing the possibility for fun player engagements in all parts of the map. It also contributes towards our first pillar: embracing the Spartan Battle Fantasy. No matter what you are doing in a BTB match you will see awesome moments happening around you.

Patrick Wren: Having worked on Halo 5’s Warzone, it was important to me that we didn’t go smaller than that. There was a lot of learning we could bring forward to create a bigger battlefield for players in BTB. It would feel weird if we lowered our player count back down after that. I wanted to make sure BTB in Halo Infinite started out with a bang and that we scope to make classic Halo modes and new Halo modes better than ever.

What types of new design challenges come with increasing the player count by 50%? And, how did the team attack these challenges?

Andrew Witts: I think one of the biggest challenges has been around game mode pacing. What I mean by pacing is the feeling of escalation or urgency in a match. Ideally you want to start a match with excitement and over time that turns into increased tension so that at match end you feel fulfilled/jubilant as a player when the conclusion is reached, and one team is victorious. Pacing can be a big challenge when you increase the number of players. A lot of the stress of providing good pacing falls on the map and game modes and I think our teams have done a fantastic job working together to crack this puzzle.

When considering Halo Infinite’s maps, what’s the approach from a design standpoint? Are there major tenants you adhere to based on the size or mode being played on the map?

Cayle George: We strive to build exciting levels that offer unique combat experiences within our suite of gameplay spaces. Our aim is to create maps that enable and challenge the variety of play styles within Infinite’s multiplayer. While we want each level to offer a different flavor of the game, we simultaneously are looking to retain the core combat experience and sandbox interactions. It’s a tricky balance and one we are constantly pushing to polish. There are so many cool types of equipment and weapons that it’s exciting to find the perfect spaces for them to thrive.

We keep an open mind to variety in our suite of levels. We don’t feel that gameplay spaces are a one-type-fits-all when it relates to size, pacing, modes or engagement types. We have some good starting metrics, sure, but we find that playtesting and feedback usually lead us in directions that do not always fit the mold. For example, while we aim to find the right balance of speed and rotational gameplay in a Strongholds map for example, we have found that balance may be quite different depending on the unique flavor of the gameplay space.

How does Halo Infinite’s new Equipment factor into BTB?

Andrew Witts: Similar to how Arena is structured, there are equipment spawners all around our BTB maps. The biggest difference in BTB is the amount of equipment charges that you receive per pick up. When you pick up equipment in BTB, up to 5 uses depending on the specific piece of equipment. The reason we made this change is because we felt that increasing the frequency of the equipment verbs, players would be able to see more systemic outcomes of the sandbox more often. We felt it tied very well to our “sandbox unleashed” design pillar and our playtests have been validating this design choice.

Grounding Multiplayer, and BTB in particular, more in the fiction of the Halo universe is something we’ve heard the team mention in the past. Why was this a goal for the team?

Andrew Witts: Grounding MP was a goal that stemmed from Tom’s creative pillar of “you are your Spartan in the Halo universe”. The team loved this pillar and we felt that we needed our designs to own up to his direction. We’ve talked in previous Inside Infinite’s about how we wanted MP to be soaked with “Halo feels” when designing our systems, maps, and modes and it is mainly in service to this creative direction. As a team, we felt that if players are building their own Spartan story, then they need to feel like they are inside the Halo universe when playing our multiplayer experiences. We felt that the best way to immerse you in the universe of the franchise was to take some of the most memorable moments and put them front and center in the gameplay loops of MP.

What is it about Big Team Battle in particular that has made it such a longstanding, resonate favorite amongst the Halo community?

Andrew Witts: I think Big Team Battle is such a favorite in the Halo community because it puts the Halo sandbox on display in such an extravagant way. There are always so many toys in play that you can’t help but feel the rush of sniping from your base and then being a gunner on the back of a Warthog a few seconds later. I think the Team vs. Team fantasy of Big Team Battle is important to the experience. Sieging an enemy team’s base with multiple vehicles full of players is such a memorable thing in Halo. I fondly think back to my days of playing H2/H3 and being in the passenger seat of a Warthog as its flying over the middle hill of Coagulation and I'm just playing the Halo theme in my head the whole time with a big smile on my face.

BTB isn’t just more players – it also features some new modes and mechanics. Can you speak a bit about the gameplay experiences within BTB?

Fernando Reyes Medina: We designed Halo Infinite BTB modes from the ground up to encourage teamwork and support different player archetypes. Whether you are an incredible sniper, a skillful warthog driver, or a stealthy flag runner, you can contribute meaningfully to the outcome of any match. Across both classic modes like CTF and Slayer and brand-new modes like Total Control, the BTB experiences should feel fresh and iconic at the same time.

Patrick Wren: We wanted each mode to have a different life to it to help spotlight those different player types. BTB is a place we want as many different players as possible to come in and have a good time. We also wanted each match to feel fresh. That’s why we invested so heavily in systems that changed up each match. In one map we even have some new ways for players to get a cache of power by interacting with the map a whole new way with their Personal AI.

A key exciting element to BTB is the inclusion of iconic vehicles. How does your design approach account for the huge impact vehicles – both ground and air – have in this mode?

Patrick Wren: This is where Halo vehicles shine! We looked at vehicles in BTB in a few different ways. First what is the combo of map and vehicles that are always there. When players spawn into the map, they will always have a place to go hop in a vehicle just like always. We also wanted a way to escalate the experience over time. As Pelicans drop in vehicles, they will at first start dropping in your standard ground vehicles, but as the match goes on, they will start dropping in more powerful vehicles, air vehicles, and eventually tanks. We wanted the more powerful vehicles in the sandbox to really feel special and create a moment in the game that can change the flow depending on what vehicle is brought in.

What’s your personal favorite BTB memory from the Halo franchise?

Andrew Witts: If you asked me two years ago, I’d tell you about the rest of that match on Coagulation that I hinted at in the previous question, but I’ve played Halo Infinite’s BTB and most of my favorite stories are from this game. One of those stories involves me driving a chopper through a grav-cannon to splatter two enemies, exiting the vehicle and grapple-jacking an enemy Wasp that is chasing a friendly Razorback that’s escorting our team’s flag carrier back to base to score. It was the best, haha.

Patrick Wren: There is always a moment from a Halo 2 LAN party that comes to mind on Coagulation where I am in the middle of the map on the hill by the cave. There is an enemy Scorpion about to shoot me and a rocket launcher on the ground. I run and hold X to try and pick it up, hoping I can shoot it in time, but in the chaos their teammate in a Banshee tries to splatter me so I highjack instead as the Scorpion shoots and I fly away to safety. With Halo Infinite BTB, there are just so many moments like that and more opportunities. One of my favorites is getting into a full Razorback while playing [REDACTED], driving full speed to the objective as the other team does the same. I had picked up a Repulsor on the way and jumped out to throw the enemy Razorback into disarray as my team used that moment to secure the objective and get out.

Fernando Reyes Medina: It’s funny, I feel exactly like Andrew on this one. I have so many fond memories of playing H3 BTB in LAN parties back in the day, but playtesting Infinite’s BTB has created so many new core memories! Probably my favorite one was in one of our last CTF playtests. We were tied 2-2 and there was one minute left in the match. I love being a sneaky flag carrier so I knew it was my time! I snuck into the enemy’s base, got a double kill noob-comboing them (no shame, haha) and nabbed the flag. I had no teammates around so I had to hide with the flag in a little corner, hoping someone would get the hint that I needed a driver. A teammate got the memo and picked me up in a Mongoose, but just as we started the drive back, we got chased down by an enemy’s Wasp. With 5 seconds in the clock, I managed to get the flag capture and win the match for our team! I never felt so cool in my life before!

Tom French: My old favorite BTB memory was more of a development memory at the end of H4 when we would play endless (timeless/scoreless) games all day long while waiting for new bugs to trickle in. I love driving the Warthog and had countless runs trying to jump a squad full of teammates into the front of the enemy bases on Ragnarok to pull the flag and then launch the crew in the hog out of the base for a run back to home. I remember giggling all day long doing that. But like everyone else, Infinite BTB continues to give me amazing “water cooler” moments and playtests are always filled with people yelling and cheering as we play the game. I can’t wait to keep having these kinds of crazy moments with the community in this upcoming flight and when we release!

What else would you like our community to know about Big Team Battle in Halo Infinite?

Andrew Witts: We are super excited for you all to get in and play this experience and give us feedback. We’ve had a blast making BTB what it is today...and we’re just getting started.

Patrick Wren: We worked hard to make sure we made the classic experience shine with improvements from what players expect of a game in 2021. From gameplay experience for how players get Sandbox items, to more flavor of how the world reacts to when a team scores or driving by wildlife that scurries out of the way, this is BTB at its most alive with players laughing and screaming at each other.

Fernando Reyes Medina: When I play BTB, I feel like I am at home because I get to experience everything I love about Halo in a single match. I hope you all feel the same way, and I can’t wait to see all the amazing moments and memories that you will create playing BTB!

Thank you for taking the time to talk through Halo Infinite’s BTB with us! (But, Multiplayer Team, we’re not quite done with you yet.)

During the Tech Preview a great many Halo Insiders got the chance to go hands-on with the Academy for the very first time. We took the chance to ask our friends on the Multiplayer Team a bit more about the goals for this experience, and the design pillars that pulled it all together.

PENCILS DOWN, MA40’S UP​

Halo’s 20-year history spans generations of consoles and players alike. When setting out to create Halo Infinite’s Academy, the Multiplayer Team knew that granting grizzled veterans and freshly enlisted free-to-play Spartans a chance to tool around with their favorite weapons was incredibly important. But, so was doling out some knowledge – be it terminology, tactics, or anything in between.

To learn more about how they accomplished this, and what their goals were, we sat down with a few members of the Multiplayer Team that are responsible for the Academy experience, to find out just what they had in mind for Spartans of all skill levels.

What are the goals and design pillars for Academy?

Tom French: With Infinite’s multiplayer being free, the Academy was born out of the necessity support an evergreen place for new players join the fight and returning players to be able slide back into each season by having ways to warm up with the game and learn the new toys. This became the core driver for the Academy features.

• Give players ways to learn about maps and systems without the fear of being shot in the face by players – Players desires to play a multiplayer experience is often at odds with how good the community becomes at the game. Even dipping one’s virtual toes into matchmaking brings a lot of anxieties to new players trying to get into the game once the game has been released. Academy gives multiple outlets for players to better prepare themselves and even fall back into if they need more practice.

• Provide tools to learn core mechanics and provide pathways to mastery through crafted fun, replayable bite-sized experiences – Learning often comes from repetition on a smaller problem set and this is a game, so learning needs to be fun to compel players to want to learn more. Short burst experience let players try things and try them again to see how they improve themselves in a specific area.

• Give context for the MP Spartan within the greater Halo canon – As we’ve mentioned before, this concept is part of our core pillars for Infinite MP, but the Academy, and more specifically the Tutorial, is where this journey begins. To the initiated, Spartans are cool, but what about new players? The question became, “how do we show everyone how cool Spartans are,” and, in particular the player Spartan, are important in the larger Halo universe as well as Master Chief. On top of that, for fans of Halo it is intended to strengthen their love of their Spartan without interfering with the gameplay they already know and love.

When building an Academy experience that met the goals above, how did the team arrive at the three experiences; Tutorial, Weapon Drills, and Training Mode?

Tom French: It’s funny how sometimes real life becomes a good tool to educate the designs of things. When we kicked off Infinite and the Academy, I was coaching my youngest son’s soccer team at the time. This helped my brain organize how you prepare the players for the big match. We discussed how Academy was like a practice session; giving players drills to focus on their individual skills (Weapon Drills), give them tools to safely experiment with their learnings (Training Mode), and chances to work together as a team and scrimmage without the stress of a “real game” (players vs. Bot Arena).

David Ellis: Initially we thought about shipping another drill type in lieu of Weapon Drills, but when we tested the game with players across a greater variety of skill levels, we recognized that just about every player could aim and shoot. So, one player might fully engage just gaining familiarity with aiming and shooting (later moving while aiming and shooting) while players with more experience are more likely to enjoy Weapon Drills on another level by perfecting their runs and sharing high scores online with friends. Ultimately, we decided to prioritize features that were critical for onboarding new players while also providing opportunities for a greater variety of player skills to enjoy.

Since Academy is filled with firsts for the Halo franchise, there must have been some challenges when designing and building it. What was one particularly tough obstacle that the team had to overcome when creating these experiences?

Sara Stern: It took us some time to find the right balance between experiences that promoted learning and experiences that were fun. We had early prototypes that reinforced sandbox mechanics and explained them to players but felt really flat when you played them. We had other prototypes that leaned so far into “fun” gimmicks that they reinforced gameplay behaviors that would get you in trouble if they carried over into PvP.

David Ellis: Being a “downstream team” from other core foundational teams we’ve had to be agile to make sure Academy content represents the game we’re shipping. The Tutorial itself pulls so many elements together from across the game we regularly keep tabs on items and features as development progresses to ensure we’re aligned with the rest of the game.

Tom French: Trying to find the right lens of “what” Academy need to teach was important for us to figure out. We landed with the mentality that Academy shouldn’t try and teach EVERY nuance of the game to players because it would be too overwhelming to teach every trick jump, every min-maxing method with weapons, etc. Instead, we teach the fundamentals and if players learn about these techniques, they have the tools to experiment with them in a safe place. Eventually, as the game is in the wild and we see all the kinds of crazy things players learn to do in the game, we aim to add more training over time to give players more tools to learn more nuanced details of mastering Infinite.

We’ve only mentioned the Academy Tutorial briefly before in the Multiplayer Overview video. What can players expect when checking it out for the first time at launch?

David Ellis: The tutorial is a unique linear mission where players are introduced to the Spartan Commander Laurette Agryna and explore the grounds of the Avery J. Johnson Academy of Military Science. Here you’ll complete a series of objectives to help acclimate players of all skill levels to the world of Halo Infinite. We want players to come away from the Tutorial with a greater sense for what it means to be a Spartan in the Halo universe and how they can be an example for the rest of humanity.

“Training Mode” is an Academy offering that players will get to experience in the upcoming Multiplayer Tech Preview. What is it and how does it fit into the overall game experience?

David Ellis: Training Mode started as 1v1 Bot experience for players to warm up with more items from the Halo sandbox on our maps. It grew from there to provide a larger literal sandbox where players can experiment with their loadouts and a variety of Bot/player options. Do you want to practice your sniper shots on Behemoth with unlimited ammo, zero risk of dying, and then swap to the Shock Rifle and add Bot teammates without reloading the map, playing in matchmaking or delving into Custom Games? You can do that with Training Mode.

We often talk about “launch is only the beginning” and it’s safe to say that applies to Academy as well as PvP Multiplayer. How is the team thinking about Academy post-launch?

David Ellis: We’ve talked about this publicly, but there are a variety of other drill types we want to explore post-launch, Vehicle Drills for example, to help support the entire Halo sandbox. We’re also excited to find new ways we leverage our multiplayer Bots to create more arcade-like gameplay experiences to help reinforce core gameplay loops and map knowledge.

Sara Stern: We also want to expand the integration of Bot behaviors and Academy experiences. As an example, we’ve discussed ways we could give players more control over the difficulty of the Bots they fight against in Training Mode than we’re currently offering for launch. We'd love for players to be able to toggle off certain behaviors (such as grenade throwing) they didn't necessarily want to deal with, or to combine the aspects of different difficulty levels to create a Bot experience that better fits their needs than our predefined difficulty levels.

Tom French: There’s no shortage of ideas to expand upon Academy post launch and on top of that we’ll be watching what the community is looking for and finding ways to expand the Academy more based on community desires. I think the idea of “scrimmages” as I mentioned earlier is an area where we can really expand the fun/replay-ability of the Academy that leverage the systems/sandbox we have to create whole new gameplay experiences for players to get lost in while having fun playing and experimenting with the game.

Currently Academy is a lone wolf experience – has the team considered ways to expand into multiplayer experiences perhaps in the future?

David Ellis: YES. We decided to focus on “lone wolf” for launch for a variety of reasons. We wanted to account for players who are wary of playing with and against other people, and so we were able to focus on a solo, offline experiences mainly as a priority.

Sara Stern: Although, in future updates, we intend to add or update experiences so players will be able to welcome friends into Academy features.

Tom French: Yeah! The players vs. Bots playlist is more our first Academy co-op experience but there’s a lot of a ways to continue to create more shared experiences within the Academy modes in the live game. We’ve mentioned before we plan to add Leaderboards to things like Weapon Drills to add more lite-social gameplay by letting people compete for scores against friends and the greater community. Also, while you can more-or-less do similar things in Custom Games, Training Mode is another area we look to expand by adding co-op support in the future as well as other new “scrimmage” type experiences we plan to develop.

Do you have a favorite experience within Academy? If so, what sets it apart from the others for you?

David Ellis: Training Mode will always have a special place in my heart. We had a basic proof of concept prototype that was playable, and it showed promise. Because life doesn’t always respect perfect timing, it just so happened I was going out on parental leave just before we were handing the prototype off to an engineer to build out into a shippable feature. I wrote up everything I could think of that I wanted from the feature, including stretch goals and without meeting said engineer I went away to take care of my then baby daughter for several weeks. I came back to the office and discovered the engineer (Hi, Brandon!) had not only tackled the basic asks but had virtually every stretch goal in the build. Seeing his enthusiasm for the mode and the Academy all up was energizing.

Sara Stern: As a developer, it’s the Tutorial. Collaborating with partner teams like art, audio, and narrative on how we could set a tone for a new player entering the Halo universe for the first time was an incredibly rewarding experience. As a player, I spend the most time tinkering with different settings in Training Mode. It’s a great way to practice skill jumps I’ve seen other players do in playtest, or practice against Bots with weapons I’m not as confident with yet.

Tom French: I go back and forth all the time but to me it’s the players vs. Bots playlist. It’s kind of the final step for players to feel comfortable dipping into the 4v4 matchmaking and gives players the chance to really feel the fun of playing with teammates. It gives a lot of the same satisfaction of playing in matchmaking without the same anxieties that the full competitive experience has.

What else would you like our community to know about Halo Infinite’s Academy?

David Ellis: We want to create experiences in The Academy that cater to everyone. Our audience is anyone who downloads and plays Halo Infinite. Just because you might not consider yourself a “new” Halo player doesn’t mean we don’t want to hear your thoughts on how we can help you enjoy Halo Infinite even more.

Tom French: The Academy, like the rest of Infinite Multiplayer, is an “evergreen” feature, meaning we plan on continuing to add new things with each season of the game. New Weapon Drills for weapons being added to the sandbox, expanding options in Training Mode, and adding completely new gameplay loops for players to explore and learn about the sandbox of Infinite.

PROGRESSION, CHALLENGES, AND CUSTOMIZATION​

In the days and weeks since the Tech Preview we’ve heard a lot of feedback and questions around challenges and overall player progression in Halo Infinite. While some of this was lightly touched on as part of the Technical Preview Outcomes blog, today we want to go deeper and provide more clarity around the player experience for launch and what the team is looking into for the future.

PLAYER PROGRESSION​

At launch, Halo Infinite will feature one primary progression path for players which is tied to a seasonal Battle Pass. The pass, which includes avenues for both premium and free unlocks, will offer a large array of cosmetic content (helmets, visors, armor coatings, etc.) along with a few “consumables” (XP boosts and challenge swaps) which are unlocked by earning XP via the completion of challenges (more on that below). Every tier of the pass will require the same, consistent amount of XP to unlock from beginning to end. So, regardless of whether you’re working to unlock tier 2 or tier 52, each unlock across the 100-tier Pass will require the same amount of XP. As a reminder, your Battle Pass in Halo Infinite will not expire – players are always able to progress a pass from any season.

In addition to the primary Battle Pass for each season, Halo Infinite will also offer special limited-time event passes. These free special passes are only available during specified event periods and include a separate track with separate rewards that are often tied to the unique armor core for a given event. In general, an event will be available from one to multiple weeks, including weekends, offering players multiple opportunities to unlock available rewards. The marquee event, (though not the only event) for Season One is the “Fractures: Tenrai” event which is how players will obtain and adorn their “Yoroi” (Samurai) armor core. This event will be available for all players approximately one week per month during Season One, and the event will come and go throughout the season; available for players to make progress. Each time the Fracture returns, your progress will carry over, giving players multiple opportunities to unlock all 20 tiers of rewards on the event pass.

We have heard community feedback around wanting more progression options including things like “match XP” to feed into the Battle Pass and an entirely separate, incremental system along the lines of earning SR152 in Halo 5: Guardians. Expanding Multiplayer progression offerings is something the team is actively exploring, and we look forward to continuing to evolve the experience in future seasons post-launch.

CHALLENGES​

The means by which a player will progress through their seasonal Battle Pass and unlock new items is tied to XP (experience) that is earned via completing challenges. Challenges will come in two different flavors – weekly and daily. In general, challenges are meant to be straight forward and never directly conflict with the objective of the match.

WEEKLY CHALLENGES​

Weekly Challenges are usually more directed and specific while offering more XP in return compared to Dailies. Each week, players will be randomly assigned approx. 20 weekly challenges (exact number not quite finalized for launch) out of a total pool of several hundred potential options. Within this group of 20, some challenges will be pulled from the ‘easier’ tier while others will be pulled from the ‘harder’ tier with the XP reward being commensurate to the difficulty and time investment required. We’ll speak a bit more about these ‘difficulty tiers’ further below in the context of Challenge Swaps.

The specific Weekly Challenges a player gets are unique per player so while there may be some overlap, in general players won’t all be chasing the same specific challenges at the same time. This means that it is extremely unlikely that everyone in the same match will need the same “Get X Kills with the S7 Sniper” challenge. However, the total amount of obtainable weekly challenge XP is the same for every player. By default, all players will have 3 active challenges at any given time but players who purchase a Battle Pass will be granted a 4th slot. Again, the total # of achievable challenges and total potential XP available is the same for ALL players but Pass owners will get one extra ‘active’ slot as a perk.

When a player has completed all their designated Weekly Challenges, a final “Ultimate Challenge” (referred to as “Capstone” in the Multiplayer Tech Preview) becomes available which is the same for every player each week. Completing the weekly Ultimate Challenge will grant a unique Weekly Ultimate Reward such as a coating or emblem.

For further context, here’s a list of 20 randomly assigned Weekly Challenges that a player could receive in Halo Infinite:

• Stay Off My Yard – Kill an Enemy Spartan Attacking a Friendly Zone (0/1)
• For the Win – Win a Quick Play Match (0/1)
• Castle Crasher – Complete a Strongholds Match (0/1)
• Spartan Killer – Kill Enemy Spartans in Slayer (0/3)
• Large Squad Scuffle – Complete a Big Team Battle Match (0/1)
• Play Ball – Play an Oddball Match (0/1)
• Back Smack Attack – Kill an Enemy Spartan from behind with a Melee Attack (0/1)
• Wargames Warrior – Kill Enemy Spartans (0/10)
• Banshee Bomber – Kill Enemy Spartans with the Banshee’s Fuel Rod Gun in PvP (0/5)
• Mortar Minimizer – Destroy an Enemy Wraith in PvP (0/1)
• Spread the Love – Kill Enemy Spartans with the Battle Rifle in PvP (0/15)
• Big Wheel Bully – Destroy Enemy Choppers in PvP (0/3)
• Gaptacular – Knock an Enemy Spartan off the map with the Repulsor in PvP (0/1)
• Noisemaker – Kill an Enemy Spartan with a Rocket Launcher in PvP (0/1)
• Wheelin’ Dealin’ Poultry Mealin’ – Win Any PvP Matches (0/3)
• Chef’s Kiss – Kill an Enemy Spartan using a kinetic semi-auto or burst weapon with peak efficiency in PvP (0/1)
• Flag Switching – Capture Enemy Flags in PvP (0/10)
• Separation Anxiety – Kill Enemy Spartans by Sticking them with a Plasma Grenade or Spike Grenade in PvP (0/5)
• Grapple-jack – Grapple to and Hijack Enemy Vehicles in PvP (0/3)
• Autopilot Engaged – Kill an Enemy Driver of a moving vehicle with a Sniper Rifle in PvP (0/1)

Here’s an example of a corresponding Ultimate Challenge that would unlock once these Weekly Challenges are completed:

• Tactical Precision – Kill Enemy Spartans with a Headshot in PVP – (0/15) – “Rewards Abby Lime Sniper Rifle Coating.”

DAILY CHALLENGES​

Daily Challenges are strictly engagement-focused and essentially serve as the persistent “XP drip” for the Pass. Daily Challenges come in three varieties starting with the “easy tier” and progressing into challenges that have slightly higher and more specific requirements. Initially, players will have a large pool of Daily Challenges along the lines of “play any multiplayer match” which awards XP for playing any MP mode that operates on a trusted server (i.e. Bot Arena, Arena, and BTB playlists). Once a player has completed all of their “Stage One” Daily Challenges, they’ll move into “Stage Two” which includes a slew of dailies that now awards slightly more XP but requires playing PvP matches (i.e. Bot Arena no longer counts). And finally, once a player has exhausted all their “Stage Two” challenges for a given day, they move into “Stage Three” which awards slightly more XP for winning multiplayer matches.

Each day, a player’s allotment of Daily Challenges will refresh and reset back to “Stage One” again and the cycle continues. At launch, we anticipate that on average, it should take a player 16 to 18 hours of playing, and eventually winning, before they run out of Daily Challenges. Of course, this is going to be an area the team monitors closely, and adjustments could be made if necessary. In the July Tech Preview it’s worth noting we had some specific issues which led to some players getting stuck with no way to progress, but that has since been resolved.

While we understand the community’s feedback around wanting a steady drip of match XP and more ways to earn XP for the Battle Pass, we are optimistic that the system available at launch will give players adequate means of continually having something to accomplish and a means to progress. Looking further ahead beyond launch, we expect these systems to evolve in direct partnership with player feedback.

CHALLENGE SWAPS​

A Challenge Swap gives players a means of swapping out one of their assigned Weekly Challenges – they do not apply to Daily Challenges. Remember those “difficulty tiers” we mentioned for the Weekly Challenges? Well, using a Challenge Swap will swap a given Weekly Challenge for another suitable Weekly Challenge from the same tier. This means players will not be able to use a Challenge Swap to get easier challenges, and therefore faster XP. So if you’re already in the last half of your Weekly Challenges and use a swap, you’re going to get a new Weekly Challenge that offers the same level of investment and XP reward. Challenge Swaps will be obtainable via a few different avenues: they can be unlocked as part of a Battle Pass, an Event Pass, they can be purchased via the Store, and they can be earned via partnerships and promotions.

XP BOOSTS​

An XP Boost will award DOUBLE XP for any challenges (Weekly and/or Daily) completed while it is active. For now, an XP Boost is set to last 30 minutes, though we are still evaluating the final duration for launch. For launch, the XP Boost timer will count down in real time once activated – regardless of where you are or what you’re doing in the game. Looking further ahead, this is an area we’ve received feedback on and are looking at ways to make this tied more closely to actual gameplay time. XP Boosts can be obtained via unlocks from a Pass, purchase from the store, or as part of a promotion or partnership.

"SINGLE REWARD VECTORS”​

One of the team’s core pillars for player customization is ensuring that each unlock come from a single consistent vector. With our Player First design pillar, we want to ensure that we’re respecting players’ time for unlocks they’ve earned and purchases they make. For customization, this means ensuring that each unlock comes from a consistent vector. If you choose to purchase a Battle Pass, the content within that pass won’t be offered via any other means. Similarly, customization content a player earns during a Seasonal Event won’t be obtainable again via different avenues. The one current exception to this plan is that there may be times when content that was previously allocated to a specific partnership or promotion may be released broadly at a later date. This specific example is largely to address the fact that in many cases, partnerships and promotions have very limited windows and might not even be available to all players.

Here are all the ways you’ll be able to acquire customization content in Halo Infinite at launch:

• Weekly Ultimate Rewards
• Seasonal Battle Pass rewards (both free and premium tracks)
• Fracture Events - i.e. the “Yoroi” / Samurai armor
• Special or Seasonal Events - i.e. a special nameplate commemorating a real-world event, earning a Unicorn nameplate during a 343 Playdate, etc.
• Partnership and promotional items - i.e. Mega Construx codes or Rockstar Energy Drinks
• Skill Ranks – achieving a specific Skill ranking/tier for a season will award a unique cosmetic itemhttps://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/inside-infinite-september-2021#_msocom_14
• Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Perks
• In- game store purchases
• Halo Infinite Campaign - some unique Multiplayer cosmetics are rewarded for various accomplishments within the Campaign

LOOKING AHEAD​

We’re very excited about the breadth of cosmetic content and the lengths to which players will be able to go while creating their own personalized Spartan in Halo Infinite. While our next Multiplayer Tech Preview will only contain a tiny sliver of what’s coming for launch (essentially the same “Season 0” offering as the July preview), rest assured that there are hundreds of unique items in store for Season One with more armors, coatings, accessories, and other surprises already underway for Season Two and beyond.

As we look into the future, the Halo Infinite team will continue to improve and evolve player progression in conjunction with your feedback. There’s already some great ideas in the works for grander systems that weren’t in scope for launch and we look forward to delivering new experiences in partnership with our players. In the meantime, we look forward to jumping into our next Multiplayer Tech Preview together and getting your updated feedback!

Inside Infinite – September 2021

<p>Welcome, one and all, to our latest edition of Inside Infinite! Every month we sit down with the teams hard at work on Halo Infinite to learn more about contributions to the next chapter of Halo, gain insight about their process, and understand their goals on the road to our December 8...

www.halowaypoint.com

Ultimo inside antes do lançamento!

 

[PELO]

Xbox Series X temático de Halo Infinite entra em pré-venda na quinta (23)​

Aparelho custa R$ 5.699 no Brasil​

A edição especial do Xbox Series X temático de Halo Infinite entra em pré-venda nesta quinta-feira (23), a partir das 15h. O aparelho que celebra os 20 anos da franquia chega ao mercado brasileiro em 15 de novembro de 2021 pelo valor sugerido de R$ 5.699.

O console temático tem um design exclusivo inspirado no universo atualmente liderado pela 343 Industries. As laterais remetem a paineis metálicos acentuados por ouro irídio. A parte superior conta com uma estampa de estrelas, que remete o céu visto da superfície do Zeta Halo.

Logo abaixo, na abertura superior, há uma pintura de azul claro, que remete às cores da Cortana. O Xbox Series X temático de Halo liga e desliga com sons personalizados da franquia. Há também um controle de Xbox temático no bundle do console.

Em um comunicado à imprensa, o gerente de categoria sênior para Xbox no Brasil, Bruno Motta diz: "Queremos que os fãs de Halo no Brasil possam aproveitar a oportunidade para adquirir a versão especial do console baseada nessa franquia tão querida para nós. Além de ser lindo, esse modelo traz todo o poder do Xbox Series X para a mesa, tornando-se a plataforma perfeita para jogar Halo Infinite em seu lançamento."

Mais informações podem ser consultadas no site oficial. O Xbox Series X temático de Halo Infinite foi anunciado durante a apresentação da Xbox + Bethesda na E3 2021.

Após um adiamento no final de 2020, o aguardado Halo Infinite será lançado para Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One e PC em 8 de dezembro de 2021. A campanha e o modo multiplayer serão lançados simultaneamente. Para mais, confira como participar do preview do multiplayer.

Xbox Series X temático de Halo Infinite entra em pré-venda na quinta (23)

Aparelho custa R$ 5.699 no Brasil

br.ign.com

 

[Paul Soc]

Multiplayer Technical Preview Overview

<p>Back at the very tail end of July a great many Halo Insiders joined us in our tech preview – the very first public test for Halo Infinite. That weekend brought us laughs, memories, and perhaps most of all, data and feedback from you, our community. That’s why this weekend and next (September...

www.halowaypoint.com

 

[Maximuss]

 

[BOPC]

Primeiro Final de Semana Apenas Com Arena, Academia e Modo de Treino​

• 23 de Setembro; Flight é disponibilizada para download e modos de treino e academia são abertos.
• 24 de Setembro; Multiplayer estará aberto nos seguintes horários: 14:00-18:00 e 21:00-1:00
• 25 de Setembro; Multiplayer estará aberto nos seguintes horários: 14:00-18:00 e 21:00-1:00
• 26 de Setembro; Multiplayer estará aberto nos seguintes horários: 14:00-18:00 e 21:00-1:00
• 27 de Setembro; Flight fecha às 14:00

 

[Matsu]

Gurizada aproveitando o Hype do Halo Infinite, a Ordem correta de se jogar a saga é aquela que ta no MCC? Nunca joguei nenhum game da saga e queria aproveitar já que o Infinite ta prometendo.

 

[Paul Soc]

Gurizada aproveitando o Hype do Halo Infinite, a Ordem correta de se jogar a saga é aquela que ta no MCC? Nunca joguei nenhum game da saga e queria aproveitar já que o Infinite ta prometendo.

Opa, dae.

Cronologicamente aos acontecimentos, seria assim:

Halo: Reach
Halo: CE
Halo 2: Aniversary
Halo 3: ODST
Halo 3
Halo 4
Halo 5: Guardians (não está no MCC, mas está no GP)

Isso para a saga completa do MCC. Ainda tem os jogos que não são FPS...

Mas se você quiser seguir a ordem de lançamento - Halo CE, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 4 e Halo 5 - também rola. Aí depois você passaria pelo Reach e ODST.

 

[Ripthorn]

Conseguiram cagar de um beta pro outro, 343i nunca decepciona