If you were in charge of Halo what would you do?

digging triple h GIF by WWE
 
I don't know what to do when it comes to multiplayer. Multiplayer shooters are now dominated by GAAS, BRs, and to a lesser extent extraction and hero shooters. Halo is a sandbox arena shooter which doesn't seem to hold the same appeal to todays crowd. I dunno really. Perhaps make an awesome BR mode and extraction mode 🤷‍♂️
 
AeonGaidenRaiden said:
Fbh Fbh As far as mutiplayer, they did all that minus the coop I believe. Its not about the graphics, they need a better writer, someone to make new epic setpieces. I finished Infinite like 2 months ago and I cant remember a single memorable moment.
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From my understanding Infinite didn't have any sort of battle royale or extraction mode, and the selection of maps at launch was rather low.
More importantly, they didn't update it with new content at the pace expected of a modern AAA games as a service, I know doing that is expensive but we are talking about MS here, they've got the money.

And yeah they need a better story.
They had the perfect chance with 4 to start and epic new saga, but in a move I'll never understand they wrote some underwhelming plot that required having read some of the novels to fully understand. The novels are a niche product for hardcore fans, using them as a base to kick off a whole new storyline was beyond stupid. You need something like GOW 2018, not a full reboot but detached enough from the past that new players can pick up the game with no prior knowledge and understand and enjoy the story.
 
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I'd understand that Halo was Bungie and only Bungie and accept that the franchise had a good run all the way up to Reach in 2010 and that it was OK to put it to rest at that point and stop beating the poor dead horse.

I honestly like Halo 4 and Infinity, but they are pale, PALE shadows of Bungie's Halos.
 
Hire Ryota Suzuki.

Serious answer: Give it to MachineGames and tell them to build the multiplayer first, and the campaign second.
 
I'd do exactly what they are doing with Resident Evil, which is cycling between a remaster for the old school fans then something new & unique for everyone. I'd also hire marty back for the music. Keep that going & you'll please both sides. 343 is the king at being too late to the party. They may have passionate devs but it's not on the level of Bungie where they were making a game for fun & that they loved to play. Not much they can do because there's a huge shadow casted over them to live up to the previous games & they thought the key was to make halo their own by changing everything about it, Halo should have been looked at like Star Wars, you don't mess with the art style, you don't change something beloved, just build on it.
 
I would do nothing. It's in a very good state, just ask Riky. Only problem is I need to find my Xbox Series X to play; it's been out of sight for some time now.
 
Black_Stride said:
Unreal Engine was using PhysX physics till they started forcing people to use Chaos (so they dont have to licenses PhysX), but Chaos doesnt do anything PhysX doesnt, if anything im sure developers would rather still be using PhysX.
Lumen is nice, but there are many GI solutions just as powerful, hell if you dont have a dynamic ToD an SSGI solution over baked lighting will outdo Lumen outright.
idTech already had RayTracing so even that is already implemented.
No reason to assuming idTech cant match Unreal Engine in terms of "graphics".

Counterpoint:
idtech is performant as fuck!!!!
id know that engine inside out.
60fps is all but a given even on console and peasant machines.
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Halo infinite runs at 120hz on series x and hdmi 2.1 compliant displays. im sure they could easily achieve a locked 60fps with UE5 too.
 
Next Halo should be a F2P battle royale + extraction shooter with new content every 6 weeks. Get more dev teams on it and make it the Xbox Live Service game that is needed.
 
REDRZA MWS said:
im sure they could easily achieve a locked 60fps with UE5 too.
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At 720p??

There are no benefits to using UE5 over idtech, unless you think the id engineers cant replicate or even have a need for nanite theres nothing UE5 does better than idtech.

idtech is far more performant than UE5, it runs with good "graphics" even on potatoes.
 
I have a few ideas:

  • There's like 15+ years of Human-Covenant war before Halo 1. You can make lots of games in many genres with lots of characters in that time. Personally, I would love a Doom 2016 style game where pre-Cortana Master Chief slaughters his way through hordes of Covenant.
  • "Feet First Into Hell" is still one of the coolest catchphrases for a fictional military group ever. ODST's are criminally underused in the games, and you could make an entire trilogy based on them.
  • There are two ways to reboot Halo, total and partial. A partial reboot back to Halo 3 could work; John could wake up far in the future with a new threat instead of the 5 year gap between H3 and H4.
  • A full reboot would be good to reset the tech level back to resonable, with the events being slightly closer to current times. This would let Earth be a more important part of the story from the beginning.
 
Stuff like this is awesome:

www.halowaypoint.com

Digsite Deliveries | Halo: MCC

<p>Last year, we released a three-part blog series exploring the cutting room floor of Halo, reaching all the way back to not just the E3 2003 demo of Halo 2, but even further back to the 1999 Macworld demo for Halo: Combat Evolved. We announced that an intrepid team of modders, in partnership...
www.halowaypoint.com www.halowaypoint.com
 
Give it to a fresh team of no more than 30 young men who have been playing video games and programming their entire lives. Give them a year to make a gameplay and level design skeleton. THEN have the team of 300 come in and make the story, menus, high res textures, voice acting, etc. They ain't gonna do it though because Managers need to Manage everything to death.
 
I'd probably keep it dormant for a while and then when the time is right, Halo must be the leader of the next big thing. If it just tries following the trends, it will never reach the success that it's once seen. You can't really control that happening though, so in simpler terms, it must be innovate in categories where it would excel.
 
Turn it back into a linear game with great pve elements and a story that is coherent to begin with. Also, deny that Infinite ever existed... And 4 and 5 also. Just soft reboot after 3..nothing that 343 produced brought the franchise forward.. Except for their pvpve mode.. I'll give them that. That was fun. Less MTX and it could've been an even bigger banger.
 
Due to the catastrophic state of Halo. It is easily worse than Sonic the Hedgehog's fall from grace. I also think it may be even as bad as 007's fall from grace In the gaming sector.

WARNING: My recommendations will not be popular.

1.) The original Halo trilogy needs to come to all platforms. ALL PLATFORMS. Sony, Nintendo, Mac, Xbox, PC, and optimized for Steam Deck. REASON: to remind people of the greatness of the original trilogy. Scale back the multiplayer and make it a flawless experience. Target Christmas 2025! Half way thru Xbox/PS5 lifespan.

Kids don't even know what Halo is, other than a meme. Introduce them!

This is being done to salvage the Xbox brand and attempt to build hype. Halo 5 and Infinite have done catastrophic damage to the Halo brand and to the Xbox brand!

2.) Begin a "REINVENTION REMASTER" of Halo. One game at a time. This is very important. PC/Xbox/GAMEPASS exclusive. Games should look amazing and run at a perfect frame rate. HALO1R is a launch game for NeXTBOX.

Single Player: Re-write the story to make it easily adaptable for hollywood blockbuster movie. Polish gameplay and remove bugs. Have branching story paths for slightly unique story for players. Add more mystery and intrigue to the story. The audience should see the story unfold from both the protagonist and antagonist point of view. We should be able to see there is NO CLEAR "Right way".

Campaign should be no more than 8 hours for single player with replay ability being a focus. Learn new abilities, different endings, etc. One ending should be a cliffhanger leading into Halo 2.

Multiplayer: Each Halo game should have basic mutilplayer, but the additional modes should be different so each game can stand on it's own and not be replaced by it's sequel.

3.) Get HOLLYWOOD to make a big budget Halo movie. Something along the lines of a budget of an Avengers movie. Each game is told in one movie. Halo 1, Halo 2, and Halo 3. The movies must follow the basic structure and story of the "REINVENTION REMASTER". HALO1R movie should launch one year after NEXTBOX.

4.) Halo tv series, has only the second season to get the show correct, or cancel it. The Halo tv show needs to move away from Master Chief and become about Halo ODST. So the show is not held to the same standard as the games. Allow the tv show to tell a story about a team of Spartans. Like Star Wars Bad Batch. Not about Master Chief.

5.) Halo mobile. The rumored Battle Royale for Infinite needs to be sunset or canceled. Bring a standalone version to mobile, Xbox, pc, Sony, Nintendo, Mac. Make it more "cartoony" look. F2P with season pass. Free perks and outfits with Gamepass subscription. Essentially, you are going after Fortnite.

6.) Spin-off games like Halo Wars need to be brought back between "Reinvention Remasters". Make Halo Wars similar to a SRPG like X-com. Make a Halo Warriors 3rd person style game. ODST game like Gears or War Or SOCOM. Maybe have Obsidian make some kind of Western RPG in a pre- Master Chief universe.

7.) Support Halo Infinite, but also kind of put it in the background so it can be quietly forgotten. Focus on step #1 and Step #2.

8.) Work on getting the Halo IP more exposure. A better Toy line, get Master Chief into SMASH BROS! Get a Halo villain into Mortal Kombat. Get some sort of crossover into Marathon by Bungie.

9.) Other HALO games should not star Master Chief and should introduce more characters. Including women, etc. They need to expand the brand to appeal to all segments of consumers.

10.) consider using halo novels as source material for further adventures. Or to be incorporated into the Halo1R story

This is a $1 Billion to $2 Billion investment to save Halo franchise. Possibly Xbox as well.
 
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soft reboot.

- start a new story arch separate from the rings and covenent.
- go semi open world/linear game so you can use more resources on graphics instead of rendering the entire game.
- add more realism to the art style.

- spin off a 3rd person series based on the Arbiter taking place after the events of Halo 3. arbitor and shipmaster return to Sanghelios to a civil war happening due to leaving the covenant.

- put out a public apology for the TV Series and make a proper series.
 
Build on the infinate engine and gameplay. Scrap open world and give it a more arcade feel. Introduce some scoring on replayable campaign missions, a few modifiers ala Destiny. Some global ranking leaderboard for competition. Remake Halo CE multilayer maps.
 
Let a new dev make their own spin on the franchise. I would also focus on either SP or MP (the latter is more my speed though). If that deal goes through, I would love to see one of the COD teams make a halo game.
 
A slow soft reboot. Stick to spin offs for the next two 'main' games. Something focused on Arbiter post 3, and another perhaps original odst story also set between 3&4. With modern devs cycles that should easily be 8 years, and then that would be long enough away from 343i trash games that hopefully people will have forgotten about them. Then announce Halo 4, decanonizing all of 343i dogshit story. Whoever was in charge of the change of Humans NOT being forerunners should be prisoned, what a dumbass change.
 
Halo Infinite 2.

No full open world stuff.

Focused on Master Chief.

Inspired on the original trilogy.

Epic cinematics, cool characters, great boss battles.

4 players coop, 2 players split screen.

PVE coop modes: survival modes and raids.

Challenges that rewards players with skins and stuff.

Upgrade the mp from Halo Infinite, cross progression with cool new stuff and constant updates (maps, weapons and adjustments). Make an interesting Battle Pass (cool skins and characters). Stop selling colors and small details for customization. Make skins and even the battle pass obtainable through in game currency for hardcore players (the player can't get everything for free, but can get somethings using the free currency).
 
Create female characters with ginormous boobs, outfitted in Mjolnar armor (that provides next to no practical protection and only acts to accentuates curves of said female characters).

Also while at it rename it A-Hol.
 
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I've been saying this for years: To much mind- and tech debt in 343. Dismantle the studio and hand the Halo franchise to another studio for a full reboot. Even a third party partner would be fine if needed.
 
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Black_Stride said:
At 720p??

There are no benefits to using UE5 over idtech, unless you think the id engineers cant replicate or even have a need for nanite theres nothing UE5 does better than idtech.

idtech is far more performant than UE5, it runs with good "graphics" even on potatoes.
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UE 5 is still fresh and constantly being updated and optimized. You also keep referencing "ID engineers". If MS were to license ID Tech, it would be used by an in house MS dev, 343 or otherwise, not ID or its engineers.

Your assumption of "720p" is ridiculous.
 
REDRZA MWS said:
UE 5 is still fresh and constantly being updated and optimized. You also keep referencing "ID engineers". If MS were to license ID Tech, it would be used by an in house MS dev, 343 or otherwise, not ID or its engineers.

Your assumption of "720p" is ridiculous.
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confused-cat-taking-double-look-dp8coysbh0qfqx8j.gif


License idtech to/from who?
Microsoft owns id and idtech?

id is already an in house studio, they even helped out with visuals of Starfield.
Theres no reason to assume id wouldnt have id engineers working with studio x to make a Halo game, if not id themselves.

P.S I know UE5 is still fresh, i been following it since it launched.........I work in UE5 after my company saw its real time demos and decided it would make an excellent "low quality" or realtime renderer, and ive been "forced" to basically learn UE5 to teach the rest of the render team.
Im thinking of secretly just using D5 or making a bunch of studio levels/environments which the rest of the team can just Datasmith assets into with a few variables exposed for any fine tuning they might want to do.....teaching old dogs new tricks can be a chore.

P.P.S If you are expecting the visuals to look good and the game to run at 60fps then the internal resolution will most certainly be below 1080p....DSR + TSR from 720p - 1080p wouldnt even be remotely shocking.
Fortnite UE5 on nextgen consoles runs with an internal resolution of anywhere from 864p.
 
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Literally just make a multiplayer game with Halo 2's gameplay and ranking system with Halo 1-3's maps. If I wanted a chaotic zoomer meme shooter with fortnite players spazzing all over the map with their superpowers I'd play CoD or any of its other clones. Halo was its own class of shooter and that has been utterly lost with 343.

I bought a Series X just because of the hope I had in Infinite (and because PS5 was sold out for 2 years) and now when I look at that fucking gigantic dust-caked mini fridge sitting under my tv I just become violently angry.

I hate my Series X so much it's unreal.
 
Separate dev teams for Halo MP vs SP

Halo MP turns into a true live GaaS with robust world building and character progression systems with a cadence of yearly big content campaigns with seasonal alterations (ala Destiny)

Halo SP releases every 4-5 years, massive reinvention of the series with a focus back to halo 1 roots of a stoic master chief in a mysterious world of ancient relics to discover. Open world, BOTW style, but littered with new gameplay systems and cool events to discover. Double down on sandbox powers ala TotK. Serious story without the cornball Saturday morning cartoon vibe.
 
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Model it after Halo 2. Do what Capcom did with RE and get back to its roots. Focus on creating interesting missions with large diverse areas that have tons of nooks and crannies to approach each section of enemies and design levels to be fun tackling them with a wide variety of gameplay styles. Whether it's sniper players, mid range weapons player or up close. Make it a lengthy single player experience with good challenge, levels that encompass several different area types.

Cut down on the number of weapons. They added too many.

Problem is, I don't think they have the talent to accomplish these things.
 
Franchise should've been left alone, laid to rest after Reach/Bungie split. I'm not sure most folks here now understand how big the Halo franchise was. It was an icon held in the same regards as Mario, Zelda, Half Life, or GTA.

All 343 have done is created a series of abominations that have devalued Halo to a B-tier FPS at best.

What I'd do is work out a deal with Bungie/Sony to create a final game that retcons everything post 3. Have MC woken up by Cortana and everything that happened in 4/5/Inf was all a nightmare.
 
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Single-player:
I'd keep the general movement and combat mechanics, as well as the semi-open world/separate-feeling interiors, from the Halo Infinite campaign. Otherwise, complete reboot of the story. More focus on the sci-fi elements, and not the future military stuff. Master Chief could still be a part of an elite group of Spartans, but without the military jingoism and with an actual personality. Maybe something more akin to Mass Effect's Spectres. The Covenant can still be religious zealots led by hypocrites.
A great diversity of biomes, complete with dynamic weather and wildlife.

Multiplayer:
Battle Royale in addition to classic Halo MP. This seems simple.
 
You remove 343 from the project, give them a modest budget and tell them to build whatever the fuck so long as it isn't Halo.

You bring in id software and let them do whatever the hell they want to Halo.

Edit: Fuck it you add dlc with a Doom guy coop mode to fight against the covenant and the forces of hell.
 
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REDRZA MWS said:
100% …… Thats what happened to SOCOM (with socom 4). Socom 1-3 were the very best 3rd person tactical and strategical shooters ever. I pray constantly Sony will bring back SOCOM.
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Yea, although you can argue with socom 3 they chased battlefield since it was popular at the time. It was a decent game but the large maps made games take too long and it was hard to find people due to the size of the maps. They had small maps but the maps were clearly made with the large size in mind and you can tell even with the smaller versions since they barely made sense design wise.
 
None of the 343i stories happened. Halo 4 is UNC and Sanghelli fighting Flood that have managed to breed brutes for host bodies and a threat from another galaxy. I want playable Elites in single player damnit. Halo 2's campaign shat on 3's and Reach's for that alone. They are far more interesting than humans.
01011001 said:
Cancel further development of Infinite.

put all resources towards Halo 4... yes Halo 4, we're doing a Terminator/Halloween style sequel reboot.
everything that was established after Halo Reach released will be completely retconned.

the campaign will focus on player choice in wide, but linear, levels.

Halo 4 has NO FUCKING SPRINT, and also of course no clamber.

Halo 4 instead focuses on unique gameplay mechanics, physics interactions, and a focus on the sandbox.

The big new game mechanic in Halo 4 will be the Wallkick. the Wallkick allows you to do a wall jump style move, and you can do it from any direction, no matter if the wall is in front, to the side, or behind you.
the Wallkick adds more movement depth to the game, that raises the skill ceiling while keeping the basic controls just as simple as in Halo 3, since the wallkick is simply performed by pressing jump while in the air+near a wall. you will always kick off of the wall that's nearest to your hitbox.
the wallkick will push you slightly away from the wall you kick off of, but you can wallkick up to a platform that's on top of the wall you kicked off of. since that is slow tho you will have to know where to wallkick and where to crouch-jump.

the game needs to release in a finished and feature complete state. full campaign coop, splitscreen, all major modes, forge, file share etc. day 1. any extra content should actually feel like extra content and not like drip feeding content that should have been there day 1.

Halo 3 equipment returns, with the same philosophy that anything that gets deployed can be used against you. not a single piece of equipment will be in there that only works for your team. Halo Infinite's Thread Sensor is such an example that simply doesn't belong here.

Friendly Fire is enabled, player collision is enables, physics based movement like grenade jumps will be possible again.



so yeah, that would be my immediate plan for Halo
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Clamber is fine as long as maps are not designed to make it necessary, a Spartan should be able to climb shit. I like your other suggestions. Bring dual wielding back and...
25a.jpg
 
Just need a solid team to make a epic singleplayer campaign, reboot the plot because 4 onwards is just the most generic scifi imaginable…

Start post Reach again, focus more on the outlying systems early conflicts with the covenant, play as a early Spartan maybe even the borderline mecha prototype at some point, levels are open but linear, make the Spartan heavy and impactful like the tank they are supposed to be. Large scale conflicts with multiple objectives and sub-objectives, epic set pieces, more weapons and vehicles.

Then have a dedicated studio release a GaaS multiplayer, no p2w, mtx are only cosmetics, Forge integrated so battle pass can be progressed by playing user created maps and gamemodes etc.
 
Halo ODST Tarkov like game. Use microtransactions to pay for free SP/coop missions that unlock stuff for your character. Still have the ability to roam the entire map in SP/coop without other players and just AI running around.
 
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If they made a SP Halo game like a detailed Bethesda RPG, I think it'd be great. MP mode optional, or make it a totally different download.
 
Tiamat2san said:
Complete reboot.
Unreal engine 5.
It needs to be a technical showcase .
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Why UE5 when they have idtech, SlipSpace and ForzaTech in-house?
Full tilt UE5 would be 720p on console.

SlipSpace but nextgen only would be CPU unshackled and they can focus on visuals more
ForzaTech as seen in the Fable trailer looks absolutely insane and im sure they could hit 60fps
idtech is a god tier engine thats super performant.
 
DGrayson said:
Given the failures of Halo Infinite, if you were in charge of Halo what would you do? Reboot? Remakes? Restarts? Multi only? Single player only? More TV show, less TV show?

Personally I've only played Halo 1 and a bit of Halo 2. I've also never seen the TV show. I am not Halo expert but I just am a bit surprised that it fell off so hard after they changed developers.
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Aside from a lack of content upon release, and some persisting bugs, there's nothing inherently wrong with Infinite. I don't know who is in charge of making decisions at 343, but in my opinion their biggest crime and failure is not having new maps regularly added. Halo Infinite is a good game that 343 has allowed to fall into irrelevance. In just under 2 years they've added 7 dev-made maps total. And keep in mind the number of maps are broken up further between BTB and Arena sized maps, depending on your playlist preferences. Forge has been a boon, but that didn't release until well after a year of Infinite's release.

Halo Infinite Release: (Novemeber 15, 2021)
Season 2 (May 3, 2022) - 2 new maps
Forge Beta (November 8, 2022)
Season 3 (March 7, 2023) - 3 new maps
Season 4, (June 20, 2023) - 2 new maps.

If I were in charge I would have had the team pumping out new multiplayer maps like candy.
 
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