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Halo 5: Guardians |OT5| Is HaloGAF irrelevant now?

FyreWulff

Member
It'd be nice to get easier animation controls, some performance optimizations (calculate single surface for welded primitives?) and some additional texture options. Other than that, I can't really think of anything I want out of Forge that isn't in the game. I guess making some of the really awesome stuff people accomplish easier would be nice to elevate the baseline of Forge maps.

Also, going to bookmark that Ragnarok map I hadn't seen the Waypoint browers with custom screenshots before. It's so nice. Crossing fingers we get that at launch; it's nice to have a custom content solution that's finally better than what Reach came up with.

custom textures

and they allow those with Skyrim/Fallout mods (unlike Sony)
 

wwm0nkey

Member
Bethesda is far ahead of everyone else in terms of facilitating community creation.

Steam Workshop? Halo 3 file browser? Such a shame we still don't have as nice of a layout for browsing files as we did in Halo 3, One thing I will 100% say I don't like with 343 is the UI design. Halo 5's menu looks so.....just not good?
 

Karl2177

Member
Frank, is there any way we can get an explanation on why you can't just copy/paste a tested and true Forge map into matchmaking? Or why when oddball came out there was the bug where suicides we're set at +5 points?
 

Cranster

Banned
Frank, is there any way we can get an explanation on why you can't just copy/paste a tested and true Forge map into matchmaking? Or why when oddball came out there was the bug where suicides we're set at +5 points?
To be fair, Bungie couldn't just flip a switch and put maps/gametypes into matchmaking with ease either. It's why they usually do one big playlist update a month rather than daily.
 

belushy

Banned
The whole weapon pad glitch that lets you switch what projectile comes out of a weapon would be a really cool official feature. There could also be weapon modifiers like damage, spread, etc. so we can make changes to one certain weapon and it wouldnt ruin the rest of the sandbox, like using the current damage sliders do.
 
Frank, is there any way we can get an explanation on why you can't just copy/paste a tested and true Forge map into matchmaking? Or why when oddball came out there was the bug where suicides we're set at +5 points?

Because it's 2017 and they're operating on the spaghetti-coded descendent of a 1999 RTS engine for Mac.
 
I truly wonder how many problems would be alleviated if they just made a new engine? It'd certainly be better than the Frankenstein they're dealing with now, wouldn't it?
 

Cranster

Banned
I truly wonder how many problems would be alleviated if they just made a new engine? It'd certainly be better than the Frankenstein they're dealing with now, wouldn't it?
Halo 5's engine is pretty much a brand new engine minus a few remnants. It was the main reason why Halo 5 was short of content at launch as they didn't have time to create a new engine and have all the gametypes/content ready at launch
 

Trup1aya

Member
Halo 5's engine is pretty much a brand new engine minus a few remnants. It was the main reason why Halo 5 was short of content at launch as they didn't have time to create a new engine and have all the gametypes/content ready at launch

H5s engine is heavily modified, but calling brand new seems like a stretch, when 3rd party engines are outclassing it in many ways. When people speak is of a new engine, they mean one built from the ground up to sing on new hardware
 
Halo 5's engine is pretty much a brand new engine minus a few remnants. It was the main reason why Halo 5 was short of content at launch as they didn't have time to create a new engine and have all the gametypes/content ready at launch

A few remnants? Like how it looks 95% like older Halo games?

I never understood engine talk, honestly. Developers are constantly babbling about new engines, but they always look exactly like the older one with a few bells and whistles added on top. The physics, animations, etc. look like Halo has looked for near a decade.

It seems to me that engines like Frosbite and Unreal are some of the only ones that are constantly refreshing themselves to actually push boundaries; proprietary engines surely have their benefits but mostly seem to be falling behind. Part of me wishes Halo would jump ship, focus on making games, and leave the engine stuff to someone else.
 

Karl2177

Member
A few remnants? Like how it looks 95% like older Halo games?

I never understood engine talk, honestly. Developers are constantly babbling about new engines, but they always look exactly like the older one with a few bells and whistles added on top. The physics, animations, etc. look like Halo has looked for near a decade.

It seems to me that engines like Frosbite and Unreal are some of the only ones that are constantly refreshing themselves to actually push boundaries; proprietary engines surely have their benefits but mostly seem to be falling behind. Part of me wishes Halo would jump ship, focus on making games, and leave the engine stuff to someone else.
Completely disagree. Halo has a rich simulation where it's calculating how a box will fall, whereas a lot of those other engines don't prioritize the physics aspect of it. Now Halo 5 appears to be quite different in that regard, as there's a surprising amount of objects that have no physics or are too heavy to do anything with. There's quite a few things with Halo 5 that make me think there's a lot of new code to cover up some parts of blam.
 
A few remnants? Like how it looks 95% like older Halo games?

I never understood engine talk, honestly. Developers are constantly babbling about new engines, but they always look exactly like the older one with a few bells and whistles added on top. The physics, animations, etc. look like Halo has looked for near a decade.

It seems to me that engines like Frosbite and Unreal are some of the only ones that are constantly refreshing themselves to actually push boundaries; proprietary engines surely have their benefits but mostly seem to be falling behind. Part of me wishes Halo would jump ship, focus on making games, and leave the engine stuff to someone else.

I dont know much about engines, but if it makes them priorities the game and its content instead of the engine, id rather they just take something already existing. But I would imagine that stuff like Forge is easier to do if its an engine that you made from scratch.

In the passed, halos engine had crazy physics that made it unique. But lately, the physics have been pretty normal. If its not gonna do anything special, just use an engine thats already made.

Curious to see how the next game will look on Xbox One X.
 

Trup1aya

Member
Yeah i wish new engine was 343s first priority. Rather than trying to get a 360 game out the door. Making a new engine while maintaining the halo feel would have been difficult, but fruitful.

Development of H4 began while reach was still in development. In my alternate world, H4 would have instead been a technical showpiece for the launch of xb1.
and it would have been more halo less trend chaser
 
Completely disagree. Halo has a rich simulation where it's calculating how a box will fall, whereas a lot of those other engines don't prioritize the physics aspect of it. Now Halo 5 appears to be quite different in that regard, as there's a surprising amount of objects that have no physics or are too heavy to do anything with. There's quite a few things with Halo 5 that make me think there's a lot of new code to cover up some parts of blam.

Don't get me wrong, Halo engine has always had some strengths like the ones you mentioned. It's just a gripe, I guess. I'd love for Halo to be a graphical showcase again, but 343i going 60fps with dynamic scaling shows they know where their priorities lie, and that's a good thing.

I don't know if it's anisotropic filtering, geometry or what, but structures as well as "natural" formations look very artificial and sharp (sharp in a bad way, like there's no transition between objects and they don't interblend together, kind of lego-like). Actually, rocks look good in Halo 5. Like I said, it's just a gripe. I love my Halo.
 

FyreWulff

Member
the thing about new engines is it sounds like a great idea but it's a gigantic money spend and you also lose all your battle tested parts of the code and most of the studio idles while the new engine comes up to operational. and all the "institutional knowledge" built up so far.

and switching to another pre-made engine just means you inherit someone else's stupid old shit instead of your own stupid old shit. a lot of times it's better to know the quirks of your engine and work with/around them
 

Fuchsdh

Member
I'd also point out it's not like we've heard Destiny-style "who thought this was a good idea" stuff come out of recent Halo development where moving a plant took all day. There's always going to be difficulties with legacy code and with starting over; the best you can really hope for is that they aren't creating showstoppers that interfere with development unnecessarily.
 
Again, I say: a properly supported forge in H6 could be a BIG FUCKIN' DEAL. Make community creations visible quickly and organically and that shit'll take off all by itself.
 

jem0208

Member
I feel like you guys are massively underestimating how much time, money and resources would go into making a new engine entirely from scratch.
 
Again, I say: a properly supported forge in H6 could be a BIG FUCKIN' DEAL. Make community creations visible quickly and organically and that shit'll take off all by itself.

Forge was properly supported in 5, and did it make a huge difference in terms of player base? Not that i could tell.

Its a "nice to have" but if the rest aint great, Forge wont matter.
 
Forge was properly supported in 5, and did it make a huge difference in terms of player base? Not that i could tell.

Its a "nice to have" but if the rest aint great, Forge wont matter.

Forge didn't even come out until a few months after the game dropped, lol.

I'm talking day 1, even better animation/lighting/texture support, and an extremely responsive community content process so great minigames and maps can make their way into matchmaking in really short order. Couple with a custom game browser and you're there.
 
Forge didn't even come out until a few months after the game dropped, lol.

I'm talking day 1, even better animation/lighting/texture support, and an extremely responsive community content process so great minigames and maps can make their way into matchmaking in really short order. Couple with a custom game browser and you're there.

So what, its not the only halo game that didnt have forge on day 1 and the other games never had problems sustaining population.
 

wwm0nkey

Member
So what, its not the only halo game that didnt have forge on day 1 and the other games never had problems sustaining population.

Pretty sure it was the only one that had Forge that didn't have it day 1 though? Halo 3 didn't get it's good Forge map until Foundry though, but it had it
 
So what, its not the only halo game that didnt have forge on day 1 and the other games never had problems sustaining population.

I... what?

Okay, so, setting aside the giant pile of things you're ignoring here, like the other stuff that goes into "proper support," AND the fact that H5 Forge is a generational leap ahead of anything prior... I'm not making excuses for H5 population? I'm not even talking about H5's population. I think, properly advertised and supported, with a few last technical improvements, H6's forge could be a big fuckin' deal. That's all.

You seem to be having... like, a whole 'nother argument with somebody that's not me.
 

JlNX

Member
Whatever you think about forge or it's viability, I have 100% faith in Tom French that Forge in Halo 6 will be amazing and thats all that really matters to me. Side note now that Tom french is head of multiplayer at 343 not forge directly and Quinn Delhoyo is now a lead designer rather than head of multiplayer. I assume given 343's structure that Quinn will now be working on sandbox and Tom french given his work on the content pipeline for forge will be correcting the issue with the amount of content at launch while also making sure the live team is ready.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
I... what?

Okay, so, setting aside the giant pile of things you're ignoring here, like the other stuff that goes into "proper support," AND the fact that H5 Forge is a generational leap ahead of anything prior... I'm not making excuses for H5 population? I'm not even talking about H5's population. I think, properly advertised and supported, with a few last technical improvements, H6's forge could be a big fuckin' deal. That's all.

You seem to be having... like, a whole 'nother argument with somebody that's not me.

Not to mention according to Frankie H5's population retention was excellent.* Of course that's most likely combined with a lower initial population, so not all roses, but the issue at this point doesn't seem to be at all what he's framing it as.

*Of course this was during the sustain. Which is why I hope they've got more content planned if H6 really ain't coming for a while.
 

Trup1aya

Member
I feel like you guys are massively underestimating how much time, money and resources would go into making a new engine entirely from scratch.

What makes you think people are underestimating that?

A modern engine would be a valuable asset to the franchise, and the company as a whole should they choose to use it for other games/IP as well...

Look at how ForzaTech has paid off...

They would have had to of started after Halo 4 came out

I would have prefered they started on an engine INSTEAD of H4. The 360 didn't need another halo game. Xbox one could have benefited from having a mainline Halo game, earlier, that was also a technical showpiece.

We waited 3 holidays for a new mainline halo. That's pretty cray considering no big MS action title to fill the gap.
 

JoeLT

Member
Making a brand new engine is a massive waste of money, if they really need to use something new I imagine they would go with UE4 at this point. Rare/Coalition have done amazing work with it.
 
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