Assuming the Halo you grew up with had perks, loadouts, unlocks, mechs, jetpacks, sprint, random power weapons dropping from the sky, text telling you everything, and you can throw the oddball but not the flag. Also, fuck your powerups, you either loadout with that shit or it randomly drops from the sky too.
I've always been extremely impartial to the visual design and fidelity of this DLC. I loved the minimalist approach so much actually that I based many of my own mod maps for various PC games off of it
If all forge maps looked like that, even with just flat colored blocks and great lighting, the color variance and the way the blocks were used/placed would go farther in terms of originality than what we have now.
Would be awesome if Halo had a map development component (even if sold separately) that people could buy if they really wanted access to tools for making better maps than Forge makes possible. Fyre could probably tell you more about how these maps/canvases could be distributed to MM playlists once built/tested/reviewed.
Purchasers could build and share maps using these templates between eachother and could even play customs using these maps while those who don't own the software couldn't, but non-owners could still access built maps via playlists. Wonder how much interest there would be in something like that. Even if it was DLC.
Yup. They're now only available when you respawn and from a few normal weapon spawn points around the map. Oh, you can get them through ordinance drops.
Yup. They're now only available when you respawn and from a few normal weapon spawn points around the map. Oh, you can get them through ordinance drops.
Surely it would be that much memory... 3 floats for the position vector, 4 floats for the orientation quaternion.
That's 7 * 32 = 224B = 28 bytes for each piece. I guess it could stack up with 100 objects (280 bytes), plus all the other properties each object has (most likely bit-flags).
It's got to be compressed anyway, from Euler angle -> Quaternion is only + 1 float.
That's a good point. I tend to err on the side that says they probably had a good reason for it.
I am not sure exactly why it was necessary for them to go down to 2 floats in the first place, but my immediate suspicion is storage and networking.
I know in the Reach networking presentation they were talking about trying to eliminate as many positional/coordinate data bits as possible.
Perhaps they end up having to sync/replicate all this forge piece positional data over the network before every game, during host-migrations and when specific dynamic forge objects move positions?
(Correct me if I'm wrong, can't most of the forge pieces that are typically static also have normal physics? or does that turn off when you get in game? I don't remember)
Assuming the Halo you grew up with had perks, loadouts, unlocks, mechs, jetpacks, sprint, random power weapons dropping from the sky, text telling you everything, and you can throw the oddball but not the flag. Also, fuck your powerups, you either loadout with that shit or it randomly drops from the sky too.
That's a good point. I tend to err on the side that says they probably had a good reason for it.
I am not sure exactly why it was necessary for them to go down to 2 floats in the first place, but my immediate suspicion is storage and networking.
I know in the Reach networking presentation they were talking about trying to eliminate as many positional/coordinate data bits as possible.
Perhaps they end up having to sync/replicate all this forge piece positional data over the network before every game, during host-migrations and when specific dynamic forge objects move positions?
(Correct me if I'm wrong, can't most of the forge pieces that are typically static also have normal physics? or does that turn off when you get in game? I don't remember)
After the grenade spam in Halo 3 and Reach, I think a lot of people are actually excited about not being able to pick up dropped grenades. Everyone who's played Halo 4 has said that gunplay takes primacy, even more so than in past Halo games. I'm cool with that.
And yup, there's a War Games Map Pass already announced, but I don't think it's available for sale yet. It's $25 USD and covers 3 map packs with 3 maps in each pack. There's been no DLC announced for other stuff like armor or whatever.
Yup. They're now only available when you respawn and from a few normal weapon spawn points around the map. Oh, you can get them through ordinance drops.
Would be awesome if Halo had a map development component (even if sold separately) that people could buy if they really wanted access to tools for making better maps than Forge makes possible. Fyre could probably tell you more about how these maps/canvases could be distributed to MM playlists once built/tested/reviewed.
Purchasers could build and share maps using these templates between eachother and could even play customs using these maps while those who don't own the software couldn't, but non-owners could still access built maps via playlists. Wonder how much interest there would be in something like that. Even if it was DLC.
Give people the usual Halo tools (Sapien, etc). Do like Rock Band Network, where you make people register an XNA account, then you can build a map then deploy it to a special lobby in Halo 4 to test it. Then you can submit it to a special process where other people vet the map (checking for copyright infringement and so on).
At this point there's two options:
1) You then have a special process where you submit it to 343. 343 packs together these XNA'd maps and distributes them.
2) You sell your map via XNA, other people can simply buy your map and download it.
That's a good point. I tend to err on the side that says they probably had a good reason for it.
I am not sure exactly why it was necessary for them to go down to 2 floats in the first place.
I know in the networking presentation they were talking about trying to eliminate as many positional/coordinate data bits as possible.
Perhaps they end up having to sync/instance all this data over the network before every game, during host-migrations and when specific dynamic forge objects move positions?
(Correct me if I'm wrong, can't most of the forge pieces that are typically static also have normal physics? or does that turn off when you get in game? I don't remember)
I'm really excited about Halo 4. All the new stuff is exactly what I wanted in Halo. I never like needing to strategically plan my movements around a map based on power weapon cycling. Now I can just press a button and it will appear right next to me! Also, I hated starting everyone on the same foot. I really like how you can now choose what weapons you use and little gameplay altering perks and loadouts. Being surprised in a firefight by an unknowable game mechanic that the other player chose when they respawn sounds like fun! Random surprises are always fun, yay! But we also need to make sure that weapons aren't too powerful and that players can't move very fast, because it was never fun to have one player be significantly better than others. A player shouldn't be able to beat more than one opponent unless they have one of the powerweapons that is randomly selected for them and dropped right next to them. I'm so glad 343 thought of everything.
I have complete faith in 343 and all Halo developers. This forum is so much nicer when we all blindly agree on things even though past experience and logic dictates that caution might be a more appropriate response.
After the grenade spam in Halo 3 and Reach, I think a lot of people are actually excited about not being able to pick up dropped grenades. Everyone who's played Halo 4 has said that gunplay takes primacy, even more so than in past Halo games. I'm cool with that.
And yup, there's a War Games Map Pass already announced, but I don't think it's available for sale yet. It's $25 USD and covers 3 map packs with 3 maps in each pack. There's been no DLC announced for other stuff like armor or whatever.
Give people the usual Halo tools (Sapien, etc). Do like Rock Band Network, where you make people register an XNA account, then you can build a map then deploy it to a special lobby in Halo 4 to test it. Then you can submit it to a special process where other people vet the map (checking for copyright infringement and so on).
At this point there's two options:
1) You then have a special process where you submit it to 343. 343 packs together these XNA'd maps and distributes them.
2) You sell your map via XNA, other people can simply buy your map and download it.
[*]Only needs to be precise to within a few inches @ 100 ft (only affects spew weapons!)
Use fewer control context identifiers in non-forge games (2 bits)
[*]Unit switches happen less frequently
Overlap encoded bit flags for mutually exclusive actions (this is getting extreme!) (2 bits) Bipeds can’t boost and vehicles can’t jump, so have them share a bit on the wire, and interpret it based on whether the player is currently driving a vehicle.
1kbps – this is a very important number. This is the total cost to describe everything one biped is doing to one remote machine, including weapon firing, transform updates, and other properties. This amount of bandwidth gives us roughly a 10hz update rate on most properties.
I'm really excited about Halo 4. All the new stuff is exactly what I wanted in Halo. I never like needing to strategically plan my movements around a map based on power weapon cycling. Now I can just press a button and it will appear right next to me! Also, I hated starting everyone on the same foot. I really like how you can now choose what weapons you use and little gameplay altering perks and loadouts. Being surprised in a firefight by an unknowable game mechanic that the other player chose when they respawn sounds like fun! Random surprises are always fun, yay! But we also need to make sure that weapons aren't too powerful and that players can't move very fast, because it was never fun to have one player be significantly better than others. A player shouldn't be able to beat more than one opponent unless they have one of the powerweapons that is randomly selected for them and dropped right next to them. I'm so glad 343 thought of everything.
I have complete faith in 343 and all Halo developers. This forum is so much nicer when we all blindly agree on things even though past experience and logic dictates that caution might be a more appropriate response.
I'm really excited about Halo 4. All the new stuff is exactly what I wanted in Halo. I never like needing to strategically plan my movements around a map based on power weapon cycling. Now I can just press a button and it will appear right next to me! Also, I hated starting everyone on the same foot. I really like how you can now choose what weapons you use and little gameplay altering perks and loadouts. Being surprised in a firefight by an unknowable game mechanic that the other player chose when they respawn sounds like fun! Random surprises are always fun, yay! But we also need to make sure that weapons aren't too powerful and that players can't move very fast, because it was never fun to have one player be significantly better than others. A player shouldn't be able to beat more than one opponent unless they have one of the powerweapons that is randomly selected for them and dropped right next to them. I'm so glad 343 thought of everything.
I have complete faith in 343 and all Halo developers. This forum is so much nicer when we all blindly agree on things even though past experience and logic dictates that caution might be a more appropriate response.
I'm testing one I've got now - a new MixAmp Pro - no cables though. I'll sell you mine for a fair price of course, if you have the cables or would like to purchase
(both cables would be much cheaper on a site like eBay, etc, and you probably already have the usb-mini.) I'll DM you, and this would've been a DM, but it's slightly over 140.
I'm really excited about Halo 4. All the new stuff is exactly what I wanted in Halo. I never like needing to strategically plan my movements around a map based on power weapon cycling. Now I can just press a button and it will appear right next to me! Also, I hated starting everyone on the same foot. I really like how you can now choose what weapons you use and little gameplay altering perks and loadouts. Being surprised in a firefight by an unknowable game mechanic that the other player chose when they respawn sounds like fun! Random surprises are always fun, yay! But we also need to make sure that weapons aren't too powerful and that players can't move very fast, because it was never fun to have one player be significantly better than others. A player shouldn't be able to beat more than one opponent unless they have one of the powerweapons that is randomly selected for them and dropped right next to them. I'm so glad 343 thought of everything.
I have complete faith in 343 and all Halo developers. This forum is so much nicer when we all blindly agree on things even though past experience and logic dictates that caution might be a more appropriate response.
Technically after the first round of rushing to get map based power weapons the "where" and "when" you encounter an enemy and "what" weapon they have becomes fairly random anyhow. At any rate team work via communication of enemy positions and power weapons becomes paramount in both systems. Do you not see this?
I don't see this argument from players like yourself as being very valid at all. In fact with the drop indicators also specify what weapon is dropping too, so everyone knows where, when and what is happening. So now we have dynamic map control mechanics over memorised map based ones, which both teams will have to strategise for.
One could argue this takes more skill and removes spawn kill farming as well as stale map battle points that get repetitive at best. Personally I consider the Halo 4 mechanic more skilled than memorising player spawns, which is cheap in my opinion.
I think BSangel posted what you're talking about, and she posted some stuff that wasn't entirely true before (unintentionally)/ or she wasn't certain on the answer, I can't remember. I think it was supposed to be cleared up, but never was. Although I've been hit and miss lately on this thread, so I may have missed it.
Technically after the first round of rushing to get map based power weapons the "where" and "when" you encounter an enemy and "what" weapon they have becomes fairly random anyhow.
Not at all; a good team can usually locate with relative accuracy who is weilding a powerweapon and where they are most likely to be. This is only made possible if they know what spawns where at what times.
Keeping track of who has a powerup is obviously required under both systems (although under 4's you wont know who has what until they kill at least one of you with it). However, the strategic element of both teams planning map movements based around static respawn times is not present in Halo 4's system. Not only does it decrease the strategy, it drastically decreases map movement in general; why move if you can bring the powerup to you.
I don't see this argument from players like yourself as being very valid at all. In fact with the drop indicators also specify what weapon is dropping too, so everyone knows where, when and what is happening. So now we have dynamic map control mechanics over memorised map based ones, which both teams will have to strategise for.
Drop indicators do not give a team enough time to plan and react to them. Additionally, only the player who calls in the drop can pick up that weapon for a set period of time after it drops. While I agree that dynamic, on the fly reactions are great, they are already part of the gameplay without sacrificing the weapon spawning system.
Assuming the Halo you grew up with had perks, loadouts, unlocks, mechs, jetpacks, sprint, random power weapons dropping from the sky, text telling you everything, and you can throw the oddball but not the flag. Also, fuck your powerups, you either loadout with that shit or it randomly drops from the sky too.
Halo 1 is never coming back, you need to believe that and let it go man.. Feels a lot better once you can learn to accept not only that, but that Halo 4 is actually looking to be like the most fun Halo game since halfway through Halo 2's lifecycle (talking about what I'm guessing is your thought). I know where you're coming from, I do.. but all that bottled up disappointment, frustration, etc etc over the years is only hurting you breh.
You're way of thinking is similar to those who refuse to have ANY form of Forge maps in Matchmaking because of how Reach ruined them. Think about it guys, you're shitting on BigShow (obvious attitude aside) because he hasn't played the game yet, but the dude brings up many points that in his world are very real.. much like Forge maps to you guys. We can't automatically write something off when we haven't even tried it yet.
Just think about the bigger picture here:
We never have to spawn with a shitty combination of weapons again
Gameplay is faster and the combat seems competitive
All the maps in the game look appealing and could play fun
The weapon/vehicle sandbox looks awesome
The list goes on..
I tend to think we're all experienced Halo fans here and with a rational state of mind can any of you honestly sit here and say Halo 4 looks like hot garbage? All this animosity..
So fun to read! :]
But seriously, some sort of Custom Games Browser would've eliminated a lot of the things we bitch about on here, other than real issues like not giving players the option to drop the flag in customs
and Mk.V and the Grenade Launcher and there was a 3rd thing I added to that list which I can't remember now
..
Random "Crazy" Thought: You know what I think they should do to CTF in Halo 5 if this CTF doesn't work out? They should bring the flag physics back from Halo 2 and to make it work with an explanation they could have the flag sit in a little hovering base* and when you release it, depending on your momentum, it'll travel a little distance.
Random thought that popped into my mind that could bring the original fun of CTF back to Halo because let's be honest, CTF was leagues more fun in H1/H2 than H3/Reach..
Here, let me clarify my position for everyone (except people who have me on ignore... people seriously do that? Thats kind of sad if you think about it.)
I know Halo CE is never coming back.
I think Halo 4 looks better than Reach.
I think Halo 4 could have been better with a few tweaks, based on what I've seen.
Halo is no longer and probably never will be the skill-based FPS I fell in love with. Its now a slower-paced, team-shot centric "fun" experience. However, I had more fun with the former.
No, I haven't played Halo 4, but I'm a grownup who can use reason, experience and buttloads of videos to get a pretty good sense of how the game plays.
Despite calling myself a "grownup," I still use the term "buttloads."
What's wrong with Bigshow expressing his desire for a Halo experience similar to what he loved for 10 years instead of what seems like Halo of Duty? Right or wrong, there's no public beta or demo for him to try, so he has to vent with what he gets from the videos.
No, I haven't played Halo 4, but I'm a grownup who can use reason, experience and buttloads of videos to get a pretty good sense of how the game plays.
Despite calling myself a "grownup," I still use the term "buttloads."
The game looks fun, you agree, and you're just being bitter :] I feel you though, Halo's replayability has been sucking for the past several years IMO, but I'm just happy this game has the style of a Halo experience that I'm pretty sure will last me much longer than Halo 3 and Reach.
The bolded part is something I seriously want to see changed in Halo 5 or hopefully much less in this game..
Here, let me clarify my position for everyone (except people who have me on ignore... people seriously do that? Thats kind of sad if you think about it.)
I know Halo CE is never coming back.
I think Halo 4 looks better than Reach.
I think Halo 4 could have been better with a few tweaks, based on what I've seen.
Halo is no longer and probably never will be the skill-based FPS I fell in love with. Its now a slower-paced, team-shot centric "fun" experience. However, I had more fun with the former.
No, I haven't played Halo 4, but I'm a grownup who can use reason, experience and buttloads of videos to get a pretty good sense of how the game plays.
Despite calling myself a "grownup," I still use the term "buttloads."
These are probably all reasonable points and concerns. However ultimately you'll need to play the game extensively to decide for yourself. I haven't played it yet, I think I'll love it like I do every Halo but I don't really know 100%.
Here, let me clarify my position for everyone (except people who have me on ignore... people seriously do that? Thats kind of sad if you think about it.)
I know Halo CE is never coming back.
I think Halo 4 looks better than Reach.
I think Halo 4 could have been better with a few tweaks, based on what I've seen.
Halo is no longer and probably never will be the skill-based FPS I fell in love with. Its now a slower-paced, team-shot centric "fun" experience. However, I had more fun with the former.
No, I haven't played Halo 4, but I'm a grownup who can use reason, experience and buttloads of videos to get a pretty good sense of how the game plays.
Despite calling myself a "grownup," I still use the term "buttloads."
What I see in your replies is you're upset that the game is building in mechanics that in previous games was up to the "better" team/player to manage and implement. I only see Halo 4 learning from the "better teams from past games" and building the new experience around making all players aware of that level of play in real time.
The main changes I see in Halo 4 with all the bells and whistles are:
1. Keep players up to date on the who, where, what and when - all the time.
2. Put players back into the action quickly.
3. Remove cheap tactics such as spawn kill farming & armour lock.
4. Enable players to choose or tweak their experience to their skill/liking but don't make it completely game changing or overpowered.
5. Introduce developer designed maps moreover forge based maps.
I just don't see the map control issues you're talking about nor do I see a lack of teamwork in Halo 4. In my experience the game has nailed that balance between classic Halo, new industry trends and retaining a skill gap larger than Reach but less than say CE.
All of which I'm in favour of. Look I don't love everything blindly and I completely disagree with no flag dropping and constant flag indicator but you need to move with the times mate. Halo 4 is looking to stamp it's leading developer badge on Halo and that means change. I'm hoping the change keeps the population and updates strive to be frequent while delivering fun AND competitive settings in each of their respective playlists.
That's the other factor you're not considering in your posts; playlists and settings. So relax as a classic playlist will remove the drops and "gimmicks" so you can play that if that's all you want. However prepare yourself for the new Halo 4 dominating the majority of playlists.
Just look at Reach in that it tried to cater to so many and just became known for being a clusterfuck of matchmaking. At least Halo 4 has its own identity and is sticking with it.
The game looks fun, you agree, and you're just being bitter :] I feel you though, Halo's replayability has been sucking for the past several years IMO, but I'm just happy this game has the style of a Halo experience that I'm pretty sure will last me much longer than Halo 3 and Reach.
The bolded part is something I seriously want to see changed in Halo 5 or hopefully much less in this game..
To me, Halo was gaming back in the day. It wasn't this engineered "fun" experience that you played for two months and got frustrated with. It was something you played, practiced, experienced and advanced at for months and years. Newbies had just as much fun as the vets because they recognized what was holding them back and where they could improve in addition to the purity of the gameplay and mechancis. It was the videogame equivalent of a sport. That was true fun for me and that's what I want back. Call me bitter, but if someone took your Corvette and gave you an Accord back, sure Accords are practical and popular, but fuck you, I want my Corvette back.
How do you figure? Sprint doesn't increase the speed of the actual engagements, and it could be argued that it doesn't increase their frequency either. By pure numericals, I don't think the utility weapons kill any more rapidly that previous games (correct me if I'm wrong). Additionally, there are several armor abilites that serve to slow down engagements, not speed them up (Shield and Camo specifically).
To me, Halo was gaming back in the day. It wasn't this engineered "fun" experience that you played for two months and got frustrated with. It was something you played, practiced, experienced and advanced at. It was the videogame equivalent of a sport. That was true fun for me and that's what I want back. Call me bitter, but if someone took your Corvette and gave you an Accord back, sure Accords are practically and popular, but fuck you, I want my Corvette back.
You know I understand what you're saying right? I was there.. The only difference though is that I evolved and realized that my Corvette was never coming back, so ima bleed until my bitchass Accord has outstanding performance not only under the hood, but that it looks sexy.
This year, BigShow, I think I'll finally have an Accord I can rock out with for quite a while until it's time for an upgrade and later break it down to see where I can make even further improvements.
v And what Tashi just said. Forgot to mention that cuz I was checkin out my sexmobile ;]
To me, Halo was gaming back in the day. It wasn't this engineered "fun" experience that you played for two months and got frustrated with. It was something you played, practiced, experienced and advanced at. It was the videogame equivalent of a sport. That was true fun for me and that's what I want back. Call me bitter, but if someone took your Corvette and gave you an Accord back, sure Accords are practically and popular, but fuck you, I want my Corvette back.
So what you're saying is you wouldn't be thrilled about lego style colored blocks in forge. I never accused you of not liking anything else in forge. You sound irate.
It never goes away completely. You can learn and practice and advance at rock, paper, scissors. That doesn't mean that the depth of learning and skill is equivalent.
This year, BigShow, I think I'll finally have an Accord I can rock out with for quite a while until it's time for an upgrade and later break it down to see where I can make even further improvements.
I don't like it when people like Shogun and Karl get too comfortable. Of course, they "ignored" me (seriously?), so my efforts are wasted on you plebians.
How do you figure? Sprint doesn't increase the speed of the actual engagements, and it could be argued that it doesn't increase their frequency either. By pure numericals, I don't think the utility weapons kill any more rapidly that previous games (correct me if I'm wrong). Additionally, there are several armor abilites that serve to slow down engagements, not speed them up (Shield and Camo specifically).
I'm factoring in all the things that contribute to the pace of the game, not just kill times. The movement and kill times are both much faster than Reach, true. But sprinting does affect the pace of combat; spawning in and being able to get back with your team or into a firefight in a couple of seconds, even when it's on the other side of the map, speeds up the pace of the game. You spend more time in combat. Things like reloading seem to take a bit less time, and gunplay is very quick. Movement is agile and fluid.
I've played Halo 4 for a few hours, overall, and combat as a whole is just much zippier than it's been for long time. It's one of those things you know after playing for just a few moments.
It's true that some things may slow it down; I'm nervous about jetpack, camo and the hard light shield. But in my play time, they were not really factors.
So what you're saying is you wouldn't be thrilled about lego style colored blocks in forge. I never accused you of not liking anything else in forge. You sound irate.
Says the guy whos going around replying things "you mad cuz there ain't colored lego block," when I was posting the exact opposite. Reading comprehension ain't on your side today, eh?
